Reflective Essay

Olivia Kimiko Ileana - 1134718

In the midst of this uncertainty due to the current situation that affects not only me but
other people, we’re somehow trying to keep our mind busy such as working out, trying out
new recipe, or as simple as reading a book just to make sure that we’re alright in some way.
Furthermore, being away from my family and having the fact that I’ve already spent 2/3 of
my master’s degree in the University of Melbourne in an online based learning, was really
devastating. Researchers says the underlying reason of why social process occur is with
social interaction between two or more human beings (Umanailo, 2020), which means that
communication is a way of how human interact plays a huge role in our lives. Luckily
Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) unit allows their students to engage more in
class by having a two-way interaction where we can exchange opinion and discuss it with our
fellow classmates.

In terms of the assignments, there’s one individual assignment which I personally

enjoy doing it since it doesn’t required me to discuss the assignment to other people as I think
with COVID-19 being around for some time now coupled with the university’s capabilities to
shift from offline to online environment it allows me to do everything in my pace. Therefore,
at a certain point of the semester I would rather to do everything on my own rather than in
group. However, one major assessment within this unit is to create an IMC plan for the
chosen client (Foodbank Victoria) where we can’t choose who will be our group members.
Being in a random group without knowing someone has been one of my fears during my
studies as I don’t know the other person capability. I always believe that, if I’m in a group
with at least one person I know I would feel much more safer.

After receiving the information about who’s our group members, we immediately
change contact details to further discuss about the assignment. From what I’ve seen since the
beginning, my group was eager to get things done as soon as possible which frighten me up
as I’m afraid I couldn’t keep up with their pace or we have different style in approaching th4e
assignment. Within the semester, we learned that one of the underlying factors of creating a
clear and defined pitch is through planning (Percy, 2013). By having everything planned out
such as what type of activity, how we will execute it, and take into account the budget needed
to undergo the campaign it will give a thorough analysis of whether or not the plan will be
applicable.

Not only that, when putting the pitch together, we realise that FBV need to increase
their content engagement with its audience through the use of brand communication. As
brand communication requires the firm to have a constant engagement with its audience
which leads to better outcome (Dahlen, Lange & Smith, 2010). On the first meeting we were
just talking about the first assignment and sharing what we have found during the first task,
but one thing I realise all of our group members have their own opinion and it took us long
enough to have one idea for the pitch.

Reflecting on how we put the pitch together, as the only one who doesn’t speak
mandarin in the group, language is one of the barriers in how we communicate to each other.
As language barrier is one of the examples of noise which can distort the message
(Lunenburg, 2010), we often have a bit confusion in designing the pitch as some of the group
member doesn’t really understand what I meant. As a result, the other group member tries to
explain it in mandarin to achieve our desired outcome. I also feel somewhat insecure when
they speak full mandarin even if we’re still in the group meeting as I don’t understand
whether or not they’re talking about the pitch or discussing something else. Which affected
my relationship with the group members, as they can speak more freely to one another
without thinking. However, I overcome this by putting it aside and tell them I’m okay as long
as they tell me back what they are discussing on that time to ensure that we have the same
idea towards the pitch. Not only that, typically when doing my past assignment from other
projects or unit we use Facebook or WhatsApp group chat, but with this case of being the
minority of the group I need to make adjustment to change to their platform which in this
case is WeChat to ensure the communication runs smoothly between the group members.

Researcher says that culture and group are coexist, therefore, the way how someone
works based on their culture or habit will influence on how they will contribute in the group
(Weinberg, 2003). There’s one time where the one who can attend the meeting is only myself
and the group leader where she’s concern with the other two group member working culture,
she stated that there’s a quite difference between how Chinese people works and people from
Hong Kong. However, I overcome the problem by advising her to give them more time as
maybe they have other assignment or something else to be done before taking it to our tutor.
As I personally think that we’re already in master’s degree and it’s unnecessary to let our
tutor know small problem like this, if we were to talk to our tutor about this problem it means
that we cannot solve small problem.

Time differences also affected on how we planned our pitch, as one of our group
members was outside Australia at that time. We need to make adjustment to ensure
everybody can attend the group meeting so that we don’t need to re-explain what we have
discussed in the meeting. For me the time where we start the meeting was not a big problem,
but how long the meeting lasts were overwhelming as I have other assignment to do and
prepare of the next week’s lecture. Throughout the assignment, the meeting usually lasts for
more than 2 hours and at by the end of the time we can’t really absorb any information
because it’s already 10 or 11 PM. What I did is that I usually keep the meeting short and
straight to the point by having some bullet points to talk about in the meeting to ensure that
we’re right on track.

Being proactive was also a huge key in determining the success of our pitch, luckily, I
was blessed to have group mates that are proactive. In essence, we try to share our opinion
and correct each other. Without having a proactive attitude when doing a group project, it
will raise up a problem as I’ve previously experienced these kinds of problem before.
However, being proactive could also hinder the group as everybody tries to communicate
what they think towards the idea so as a result it took us long enough to get the big idea
settled down. On the other hand, when doing the first presentation we get a substantial
amount of feedback from Jen and Andrea, thus, we have many things to be fixed. As a
consequence, we can get all the things done right on time with the proactive attitude.

I must say this semester was like a roller coaster to me as I mentioned before both of
my first and second semester in the University of Melbourne are online. I start my first day in
my master’s degree feeling so motivated that hopefully my journey will be filled with
adventures and great experience. But as we know we couldn’t handle everything in our life,
and the first few months of lockdown was the lowest days of my life. I experienced what so
called anxiety and constantly thinking going back to my home country as maybe I may feel
better as I’m closer to my family. But looking back at it now I’m beyond grateful I didn’t
listen to myself that time, I remember that one day on April or May I was telling myself that I
know it’s so hard try to focus on lectures and getting my assignment done on time but it’ll be
worth it in the end.
Not only that I’ve to focus on my studies, I was fortunate enough to get the chance to
work in the middle of the pandemic while others might be struggling with their works as we
know a lot of people are losing their job due to COVID-19. In addition, balancing between
university and work is quite a challenge for the first few months as everything is new to me
and I haven’t really adjusted with the working culture, along with the restrictions posed by
the government encouraged workers like me work from home it makes everything more
harder. Until one day I met someone in the elevator asked what I currently doing and I said
that I’m currently studying and working, then the person replied “You’re so lucky!”. Which
makes me realise that in this current situation that’s uncertain I do need to embrace what I
have.

Over the semester I’ve learned to be more mindful about everything not just what I
eat, how to keep myself healthy during this hard time but to be mindful on every step that I
take. To know when to take a break when I need it, and how to keep myself motivated
throughout the semester. I also learned how to support my friend during this crisis time of
COVID-19 and to be there for them as some of them need my support. Furthermore, I
develop my communication skills as there’s a lot of group work and we can only do meetings
via zoom calls, not only between my fellow groupmates but with my fellow classmates as we
have discussion over breakout rooms in zoom when attending zoom class.

To sum up, being in an online environmental learning brought both the good and bad
out of me. I now know that I can focus on the things that’s important when I need it but also,
I can be distracted so easily. Taking IMC this unit also told me to trust my instinct, in essence
I need to convince myself that I can do groupwork without knowing anybody from the group
and I can contribute to the group project even if I’m the minority of the group. But most
importantly, as we don’t really know what other people might experiencing in their life I
learned to be more aware of my surroundings and try to understand more. Lastly, as I tried to
balance out between work and study, I appreciate the time more than before and how we can
do so much in 24 hours.
Reference

Dahlen, M., F. Lange, and T. Smith. 2010. ‘How Marketing Communications Work’. In
Marketing Communications: A brand Narrative Approach, 22-48. John Wiley and
Sons..

Lunenburg, F. (2010). Communication: The Process, Barriers, And Improving

Effectiveness, 1(1), 1 - 11.

Percy, Larry. 2014. "Introduction To IMC". Strategic Integrated Marketing Communications,

1-67. doi:10.4324/9781315164342-1.

Umanailo, M., 2020. Human nature as Individual and Social Beings, the Dynamics and
Dilemma of Social Interaction. (1).

Weinberg, H. (2003). The Culture of the Group and Groups from Different Cultures. Group
Analysis, 36(2), 253-268. doi: 10.1177/0533316403036002011