Fatma Al-Balushi

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Introduction

The main reason of selecting Enterprise and Innovation in Practice was because of the
knowledge and skills learnt in all my 3 years of my Degree course which could be use in
more practical in nature. Enterprise and Innovation in Practice is all about analyzing the
Innovation and Creativity module I tool in 2nd year of college. The subject is all about
analyzing practical thinking and knowledge that I developed in this module could be used
practically when working for an organization. it was an interesting subject as it would help
me personally when I start my job in an organization.

The duration of this course was for 3 months. The module professor taught us the lectures
and tutorials which in turn helped us to do the group assignment effectively. We had chosen
Sidab Women was chosen as our project. Sidab Women is an Organization that makes
handmade products mainly for the tourist who visit Oman and could take Souvenirs back to
their country as a memory for Oman. The main idea was to come up with an effective system
for accounting system in Sidab, we also wanted to make sure there were more women that
were contributed towards the organization. We also helped them to make a proper plan
regarding their business model so that they could be more recognized in Oman and more
people could buy their hand made products. The experience that I had while working with my
group and on I.C.E assignment is as follows

Group meeting was held on 15TH February 2017. In this meeting, we discussed the type of
company that we should select weather to choose hosted company which is an existing
company that we would have to work on and make the company better or weather to choose
an independent company which is proposing a fresh new idea with the fresh new business
plan. In the first meeting, we had designated the jobs to the respective members of the group
so they would know who would be the bookkeeper, presenter, leader and note taker.

Observation: in the meeting as it was our first official group meeting I was been given the
role of the group leader and as group leader my job was to listen to my group members and
come up with a final conclusion. I was too excited and I was trying to give my ideas as the
other were doing so, we had one member who was writing all the ideas. I mostly was
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jumping to conclusion as I was not able to focus on what the other members are saying as all
were giving different ideas. I was analyzing all the group members as they were giving the
ideas and I was reading them, I was just trying to know the level at which the whole group is
thinking and weather everyone was on the same page.

Reflections: In my opinion what I did was not a good leader would do, I should have calmed
things down and allowed one member to speak at a time and giving other a chance to
evaluate all the options and critically analyze it.

Group meeting held on 20th February 2017. In our second meeting, we took off the discussion
from the last meeting as we had come up with many ideas and we had to critically analyze
them. The meeting had some good point and views drawn by all the group members. The
group had selected two companies that were of the same background but two different fields.
We had to choose from the Charity organization Dar Al Harfiya. The second option was
Sidab Women which a small group of people that produces handmade products which is ran
by a small group of women’s in the Sidab area in Oman. The next step was to choose the
company that we were going to work on. My personal opinion was to work on Sidab Women,
but the other group members were skeptical about my option and went to choose an easier
company which was Dar AL Harfiya. As they have many things that they do for charity all
over Oman, in addition one of our group member knew the Chairman /Owner of the
organization.

Observations: I was mostly looking for the details of the organization and that we could work
on many areas and there is a lot of opportunity in making them a huge Organization, as
compared to Dar Al Harfiya which was an well organized and a known Organization as we
had to think in a particular manner which was a huge Organization and would take us time in
understanding the Internal study of the Organization.

Reflection: I would definitely keep in mind to do my brainstorming and check the

specification that would be required to reduce the disagreements between the different group
Members. As a result, we could not do Dar Al Harfiya as the owner/Chairman was not
available and the organization was not entertaining project work to be done. Having me
brainstormed I could use that which could helped the group member t think in one direction
and there would have been better ideas and work done in a systematic and in a good way.
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Group meeting held on 2nd March 2017. In this meeting, we had discussed the other option of
choosing Sidab Women. We had done the brainstorming as all the group members had to find
out information about Sidab Women and Dar Al Harfiya. We then started thinking about
other companies that could be done. I was the only one to have researched on Sidab Women
as others were thinking of choosing another company. When everyone failed, I managed to
convince the group member to choose my option

Observation: we did start to know that Oman’s Culture was really strong as the organization
was totally using the Oman heritage in order to preserve it and having it depicted in the
product with a touch of modern art to it.

Reflection: we had used up most of our time in choosing the company. We could not make an
opinion as all the members had their own opinion. I should have asked the members to follow
a structure that would have made it easy for me and the other group people that would have
helped them to think clearly.

Group Meeting on 4th and 5th March 2017. On the 4th March 2017, we had gone to Sidab
Women in order to check the place, their operation and how they work and how they network
themselves. We did get all the vital information needed. we also understood that were being
pointed out by one of the member some of the things that the company lacked.
On the 5th of May , during the meeting we organized the information that we got from the
company that we visited and we distributed the work and asked them to start reading and
finding more information that we could use in the assignment.

Observation: in this assignment, we were asked to le, it was very interesting as we get to
learn how work is done in an organization. it was a good exercise as we got to learn First
Hand information on the methods that are used in order to run an organization
the owner was very friendly she patiently answered all our question and she had the proper
knowledge about running and how to make it a better organization.
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Reflection: we could not prepare many questions that we could ask, but if we made a
questionnaire it would have been much easier in order to get to know them better. I learnt
some important information as the owner had given us vital information that could help our
group member that would give us some vital information and also set the laying structure of
the organizations and where to start from.

Group Meeting on 6th March 2017. In this meeting, we had gone to Sidab Women and we
knew the issues which was making an Accounting program for the Sidab Women and also we
had to make sure how could the other women’s in the region of Sidab be helping with the
Sidab region could contribute towards the better doing of the company. We had to come up
with ways where they could have a smooth system with better business model.

Observation: we were successful in having a unified accounting that would allow them to
keep a track of their Accounting system. In regards of the business model where they would
get a chance to visit in Sidab Women sewing Group and could know about the Omani culture
in a better way and also tasting the Homemade Traditional Food would be one of the main
strategy used for attraction. The usage of the 6 Six Thinking Hats I have followed the Green
Hat technique.

Reflection: we could have this assignment much better as we could have improved on the
strategies used during brainstorming like the robin Brainstorming technique that would have
been equal amount of contribution from each group member. The Green Hat technique would
use only if this technique was used to give each member the roles based on the personality. I
would mostly use this technique in the near future.

As we had all the information required we then had to assign the group members with the
specific tasks that they would do in order to successfully complete the assignment. My part
was to focus on the introduction, conclusion and the Accounting Method used as they could
keep a proper flow of the money that is earned or spent. I used the Accounting Model that Is
easier to understand and also very easy to maintain and keep recording day to day sale.
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Observation: as per my part in the assignment it helped me to learn how important is it to
follow the process of the organization and come up with an effective model that would be
suitable for the company. I did recognize the main aim of the company was to create an easy
model that could help them to keep a track of the Accounts.

Reflective: implementing the Accounting method as it could be used for the future use made
it a little difficult during determining a good method. As this is because of a little complexity
in using Tally as I am not an Accounting student so it took time for me to understand the
process and it would be ineffective. I would like to apply a model that could be easy to
understand and also understanding the method with more depth in it.

Once all the group member had done their respective we then moved on to the editing and
putting all the member’s parts in order as it was the main reason of the meeting. Once we had
assembled everyone’s part before we could give it to the module professor for Draft
checking, it striked me that we had missed out on the other possible products that could be
proposed in order to allow Sidab Women to grow in other product lines.

Observations: my group member were all satisfied with the work that they had done I had
done the editing part and made sure that little unwanted things were omitted. I played the role
of compiling everyone’s information and reading as per what has been discussed and as the
work had been done as per how I should have been done.

Reflection: I learned how important it is to keep in mind the little details that would make the
assignment go either way and could be a grade change for us. This helped me to remain
focused on the part where checking for grammatical errors and reviewing the work before it
had been given to the module professor.

Once we got the feedback from the module professor we then went ahead and gathered all the
group members in order for them to rectify the mistake and make the assignment a better one
as it could help us in getting a better grade. We also discussed about the presentation that we
had to make and divided the parts as per the topics that were given in the assignment.
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Observation: a very constructive feedback was given to us by the module professor as it was
important to take it seriously and also make those changes and completing the assignment on
time. The module professor was very helpful in explain to us the problem with assignment
and also giving us ideas on where to ho wand in what direction to work in.

Reflection; the feedback was good as my part of the assignment was clear and module
professor had pointed out there would be a problem in the business model used which had to
be rectified or written in a better way. This was where I explained to the group member what
exactly the module professor wants from us and this is exactly how the work should be done.

Our group presentation was on the 2nd may 2017 in Sidab Women Sewing group as we had to
present it to them. The module professor also had come with us as we were presenting it to
Sidab Women Sewing Group. The responsibility of each side was been given to the members
based on the assignment parts that were assigned. The presentation went really good and the
module professor was impressed and also like the presentation that we showed to the group
liked the presentation. We were worried about certain parts like the marketing strategy and
accounting model.

Observation: it took us time as there were many of the group members that had put
paragraphs in the slide rather than bullet points. regarding my part I had to put in a proper
explanation as it would be clearer for the people whom presenting to have a good idea and
may implement it in the future. The feedback from the module professor was really good as
he like the presentation. We took notes of the analyze done by the module professor and also
making the changes in the presentation. I was good during my presentation as I kept close eye
contact with the module professor, made sure he understood my part.

Reflections: my part looked to be easy but was not easy, I had to rush through my part as we
were running out of time and it became a little panicking for me as I had to cover and explain
the important part. If I had done more practice I would have been able to have done it much
more better in much more systematic way.
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In conclusion, I learnt a lot from this module it was a subject that I was really interested in
and was hoping to do really good in this assignment. The knowledge that I had in the past
about the internals of the organization changed completely and gave me a new prospective to
look into. I would advise people to take this course as this helped me to make me think in a
creative and innovative way and also polish my working abilities. This helped me to know
what is to be done in a more practical way.
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Appendix 1
Action Plan
ACTIVITIES
The group had the problem in
choosing between
independent company and
hosted company
The group took a decision
was to take up hosted
company but was not sure of
it
Duties were assigned to the
group members
Knowing the changes that
should be made in the
organization in order for the
smooth running of the
organization
PROBLEMS
The members were not able to
decide and were in a d
problem
All the topic was equally
difficult but also, the
company that we choose
initially were not interested
There were problems with the
understanding of the
information as the data was
not available easily
Group member’s ideas were
different and made it difficult
to make a final decision
ACTION TAKEN
 Asked the opinion
between 2 companies
 majority votes to a
company was taken
The company had to be
changed and positives and
negatives were taken into
consideration and then topic
was chosen
We had helped each other
regarding the topic with the
information gained by visiting
the sites
The group decided to go with
the majority of the decision
that the group came up with
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Appendix 2

Activity Log

Activities Date

15th February 2017  deciding the company independent or hosted

assigning the group roles

 choose the hosted company Dar Al Harfiya

20th February 2017  but they were not interested in allowing us do the project
 we then choose Sidab Women sewing group
started intial finding about the organization
2nd March 2017

4TH March 2017  went on a field trip , to meet with the Owner of the Sidab
Women Sewing Group

19th March 2017  handed in the first Draft to the module professor

28th March 2017  got the draft back with the feedback and understood the
changes that had to be made

10th April 2017  submitted the second draft to the module professor

23rd and 24TH May 2017  worked on the presentation slides and made the

2nd May 2017  Final Presentation where the Module Professor was
present in front of Sidab Women Sewing Group.
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Any constructive
Name Did you feel feedback on how
you feel this person
that you/this performed?
person fulfilled
What did they
their do well?
What they could
responsibilities have improved?
Punctuality/attendance

Contribution to Group
Level of Commitment

Recommendations
Standard of Work

for future.
Enthusiasm

within the
TOTA

group?
L

Fatma Al- N/A This will be in

Balushi Yes/No your report
10 10 10 10 10 50 Yes
Mohammed Al-
Harthy Yes/No
10 10 10 10 10 50 Yes
Sarah Al-
Hashar Yes/No
10 10 10 10 10 50 Yes
Zuwaina Al-
Mawali Yes/No
10 10 10 10 10 50 Yes
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