Learning Team Reflection Essay Example for Free

Learning Team Reflection Essay Learning Team D discussed the learning objectives provided for Week Three. Each Team Member posted a response to three informational questions posted by the Team Leader. During week three The Team Members felt comfortable with different topics. Sherly, Andrea and Katrina all felt the most comfortable with the topics dealing with Technology, R D, and Efficiency which were covered in chapter 11W. Sherly found the topic of invention the most fascinating because it allows people to just think up of an idea, experiment with it and develop it before finally developing it with the intent of putting it out on the market and earning some profits. An example of invention at work is a TV show on ABC called Shark Tank where inventors present their invention to members of the panel who are entrepreneurs/potential investors with the intention of selling a percentage of their business or product. Andrea felt that the chapter was an easy read and was more of a review on how businesses stay profitable and viable. From this chapter Andrea was able to learn that creating a fresh product at the optimal price is the key to success. Katrina was most interested in Technological Advance and Efficiency section covered in the chapter. The fact that improving ones technology can also contribute to economic efficiency was something that Katrina found interesting. Mark was comfortable with all the topics covered in week three and especially enjoyed learning more about the differences in operating in a monopoly, monopolistic competition, and an oligopoly. Danielle felt most comfortable with the process of supply and demand and how it plays an important role in the economy. Danielle feels that understanding how the supply and demand process works is beneficial and can be used to analyze decisions about prices and quantity. For Danielle having Learning Team D struggled with different topics that were covered during week three. Sherly struggled with Exploiting University and Government Scientific Research. Sherly thought that any product or potential product created by an individual or members of an organization could be patented. Andrea found it hard to understand visual presentations of the data by the example graphs. Andrea considered herself to be a visual learner but cannot seem to understand the graphs given. Katrina, like Andrea, found it hard to follow the examples given within each chapter but the reason behind her confusion dealt with actually being able to match the example to the reading. Katina felt that having to flip back and forth while reading to match the example that was given within the reading caused her to not fully understand what the example was trying to get across. Nonprice barriers to entry was the topic that Mark felt the most unsure about this week. Mark found it challenging to look beyond the numbers when analyzing something. Danielle struggled with pricing decisions, price elasticity, inelasticity, and elasticity of demand. The differences in monopolies and oligopolies was a bit of a struggle for Danielle but the examples that were provided within the reading helped her to grasp the information better. Each Team Member was able relate topics of the week to their organization’s field of business. Sherly works as an underwriter for an insurance company which provides health, life and disability insurance products and services. Reduced cost via process innovation was the topic that Sherly felt related to Underwriting. Sherly and her team are always looking for ways to change/update processes, reduce turnaround times between the receipt of an application for life/disability insurance coverage request to making the final determination whether to approve, postpone or decline a file. As an example, the introduction of a new system where applicants could go online to apply and depending on the information entered and the amount being requested, a determination can be done right there. This new system saved the company both time and money. We do not have to go through the omission process with this system since every question must be answered for the online application to be processed. When, we have to send applicants omission letters, the entire process takes longer since we have to wait to receive the missing information back from the applicant before the application can be processed. Andrea works in the finance industry for an airport. Andrea was able to apply the topic of mergers the most to my daily business field. At the airport, the airlines and rental car agencies combined resources on a regular basis. Department of Justice generally gets involved with these types of mergers to prevent monopoly behavior. For example, American and US Airways are currently under review and comment period for their merger. In addition to combining ticket counter space, it is anticipated that gates will be combined as well. The airport will lose money on the merger but customers will benefit from lower fares. The more customers that fly will make up for the shortfall in revenue for space rent lost by the airport. Katrina works in the field of Worker’s Compensation as a Claims Assistant. The topic of invention related the most to the type of work Katrina does at her job. Each day new claims are called into her office on a day to day bases and the way in which those calls are entered into the system must be efficient. Katrina and her team at her office created a new system for entering a new claim that is called into the office. Mark relates the topic of most of cost control and using developing technologies to lower cost to his field. That is an area we are constantly trying to improve upon whether the ideas come from our staff or from outside our organization and we work out a plan to implement them to help our business. Our franchise location does not develop technology but we have the opportunity to seek technology to increase the efficiency of our workers and also help save costs. Danielle works as a project manager for an energy efficiency consulting agency. As a project manager Danielle’s role is very significant in budgeting for a project for he/she is the one who determines the project costs and project budgets in line with the stakeholder’s specifications and resources. Budget allocation, collaborates with the project stakeholders and project financial coordinators to build a sensible budget plan that will sustain the whole project in all of its phases. Using cost control measures to insure they are staying within budget, as we understand the importance of increasing revenue and staying within budget. Revenue management is integral to a companys long-term strategy; without adequate income administration, the company may not be around long enough to implement its operating tactics. Each member of the Learning Team experienced a learning curve for Week Three. Sherly learning curve increased a little bit during this week. The additional information on monopoly provided Sherly with more information that helped her better understand what was taught in week two. The fact that certain opics such as monopoly, oligopoly, short run and long run, are being covered more in depth has also helped to increase her learning curve. Andrea’s still struggles with the graphs presented representing the demand curves. The economy of scale section has also been a struggle for her this week but Andrea has gone over the text in these sections multiple times for a better understanding. To increase her learning curve she finds that the lectures provided by our instructor breakdowns the topics in a mor e day to day format for easier comprehension. This week Katrina’s learning curve increased because she started to feel more comfortable with the terms and having a chapter that was easy to read through and understand made her feel more at ease with learning new Economic information. Mark’s learning curve for this week was changing his focus to look at big picture items using more theoretical concepts rather than concrete numbers. Mark enjoys the challenge that is presented by applying a different approach to analyzing what will impact a business from a market structure standpoint which will continue to increase his learning curve. Danielle feels that she’s beginning to understand the importance of Economics and how it relates to more than just money. Danielle hopes to continue to improve her understanding of the mathematical equations and graphs representing demand curves as the week’s progress. As the weeks go by the team still struggles with a few concepts but as the team moves forward they are developing and getting a better hold on the topics that are covered on a week to week bases.