On National Teacher Day, meet the 2024-25 Kenan Fellows
Running head journal response2 journal response2
1. Running head: JOURNAL RESPONSE 2
JOURNAL RESPONSE 2
Journal Response
Name
Class
Institution
Date
Journal writing is important in people’s lives. By writing a
journal and reflecting upon different experiences, individuals
can identify vital learning events or occasions that had taken
place in their life. Individuals can also find the source of their
inspiration that can define their today. People can also discover
their authentic self and even get a better understanding of their
thought process. The purpose of this essay is to reflect on the
different experiences recorded in my journal. The essay will
include my experiences, observations, and major concepts in
reference to the experiences.
2. Experiences
Creating a professional journal is one of my greatest
experiences. As I stated earlier, I have never created a
professional journal. This has been my first experience and as
far as I know, it has been interesting. Creating a professional
journal has enabled me to reflect on my experiences and
determine my authentic self. Creating my professional journal
has enabled me to brainstorm ideas. It has also helped me to
rethink my career goals. As stated earlier, I am a director of E-
commerce at Sunway Nuts USA. My career goals include the
following: enhance my networking skills, start my own
company, and become an expert in my field.
Conducting an interview is also my other greatest experience. I
have never conducted an interview before. As indicated before,
I interviewed with my supervisor, Frank Li. Frank is the Chief
Operational Officer of Sunway Nuts USA. He is in charge of all
operational areas in the organiza tion. Interviewing my
supervisor seems like an easy task, but it is not. During the
interview, I was so nervous at the start as I was dealing with
one of the most leading individuals in the company. Frank was,
however, humble and ready to share a lot with me. I learned a
lot of things during the interview which I think they will
strengthen my career. One of the things I learned about is
change and how management can ensure an effective and
successful change in the company. I believe this experience will
enable me to become the better me in the coming years of my
career.
Observations
Based on the interview, I noticed that culture plays a vital role
in organizations. Organizational culture establishes expectations
for how individuals work and behave. It can define an entity’s
external and internal identity, it can transform an organization
into a team, it can impact employee wellbeing and performance,
and can also influence decision-making. A culture can also
influence change. While culture itself is resistant to change, it
can be a significant enabler of change within an entity. It is,
3. therefore, important for change managers to figure out the
strengths of their organizational culture to initiate a successful
change.
I have also noticed that for a change to be effective and
successful within an organization, top-level management team
and CEO must respect and listen to employees’ views. Listening
and respecting employee’s views, shows that the management
value and care about its workers. It also helps the manager s
share what their goals and intentions are and even understand
the employees’ expectations, hence, having everybody in
agreement. When individuals within an organization concur,
change becomes effective. This aspect will further my career.
As a director, I need to respect and listen to my team members.
I can't succeed without their inputs and efforts. Their opinions
and views matter in all my endeavors.
I have also noticed that for a change to be effective, change
managers need to share the vision of the change before
implementation. A vision offers meaning and orientation for
change managers and their team (Martin et al., 2014). It also
creates a sense of ownership. A sense of ownership can make a
huge difference in employee motivation, engagement, and
investment. Sharing the vision before implementation can also
drive a culture and environment that allows workers to thrive.
All these aspects are vital to change management.
The other thing I have observed is that dictatorship of top-level
management and CEO on what needs to be changed is
dangerous. Controlling everything during change harm
creativity among the team and prevent growth. Teamwork is
important during change. As much as people always believe that
dictatorship can generate consistent results, encourage short-
term increases in productivity, and can lessen the effects of
mistakes when top-level management and CEO allow employees
to share opinions and ideas on what needs to be changed,
employee motivation, engagement, and morale will improve.
Key Concepts
Effective leadership is important. Effective leaders usually
4. bring together different groups of people and assist them to find
a mutual purpose and vision. Effective leaders also ensure their
employees work towards achieving the common goals. They
empower and inspire individuals to recognize their fullest
abilities and utilize their abilities to attain common goals (Hao
& Yazdanifard, 2015). They also promote a culture of
collaboration and cohesion in the workplace. Effective
leadership entails listening and respecting employee’s views,
sharing a vision with employees, and allowing employees to
participate in decision-making processes.
Change is important in any organization. An organization
cannot survive without change: Change is growth and it is
unavoidable. New products and companies are entering the
market every day, technology is advancing and changing, and
consumer preferences are also changing. Companies, thus, need
to adapt to change to avoid being disappointed. Change allows
workers to learn new skills, practice their creativity, and
explore different opportunities. Change also encourage
innovation, enhances skills growth, and can promote efficiency
in the workplace. In order for organizations to have an effective
change, top-level management and the CEO must respect and
listen to the employees’ opinions and views. They must also
share the vision of change before the implementation. The top-
level management should also estimate the strengths of its
organizational culture to initiate a successful change.
Conclusion
Journal writing is so important. By writing a journal and
reflecting on it, individuals can identify vital learning events or
occasions that had taken place in their life, individuals can find
the source of their inspiration, they can discover their authentic
self, and even get a better understanding of their thought
process. Writing a journal is one of my greatest experience. I
have learned a lot throughout the process and I believe my
career can nourish through the experience. Conduc ting an
interview is also my other greatest experience. I learned a lot
through the interview and I believe my career will build up
5. through that experience. Based on the interview, I observed
some aspects which I think are very important in my career.
There are also some key concepts that I believe are vital to my
overall professional practices.
References
Hao, M. J., & Yazdanifard, R. (2015). How effective leadership
can facilitate change in organizations through improvement and
innovation. Global journal of management and business
research. https://globaljournals.org/GJMBR_Volume15/1-How-
Effective-Leadership.pdf
Martin, J., McCormack, B., Fitzsimons, D., & Spirig, R. (2014).
The importance of inspiring a shared vision. International
Practice Development Journal, 4(2).
https://www.fons.org/library/journal/volume4-issue2/article4
Running head: JOURNAL RESPONSE 2
JOURNAL RESPONSE 2
Journal Response
Name
Class
Institution
Date
6. Journal writing is important in people’s lives. By writing a
journal and reflecting upon different experiences, individuals
can identify vital learning events or occasions that had taken
place in their life. Individuals can also find the source of their
inspiration that can define their today. People can also dis cover
their authentic self and even get a better understanding of their
thought process. The purpose of this essay is to reflect on the
different experiences recorded in my journal. The essay will
include my experiences, observations, and major concepts in
reference to the experiences.
Experiences
Creating a professional journal is one of my greatest
experiences. As I stated earlier, I have never created a
professional journal. This has been my first experience and as
far as I know, it has been interesting. Creating a professional
journal has enabled me to reflect on my experiences and
determine my authentic self. Creating my professional journal
has enabled me to brainstorm ideas. It has also helped me to
rethink my career goals. As stated earlier, I am a director of E-
commerce at Sunway Nuts USA. My career goals include the
following: enhance my networking skills, start my own
company, and become an expert in my field.
Conducting an interview is also my other greatest experience. I
have never conducted an interview before. As indicated before,
I interviewed with my supervisor, Frank Li. Frank is the Chief
Operational Officer of Sunway Nuts USA. He is in charge of all
operational areas in the organization. Interviewing my
7. supervisor seems like an easy task, but it is not. During the
interview, I was so nervous at the start as I was dealing with
one of the most leading individuals in the company. Frank was,
however, humble and ready to share a lot with me. I learned a
lot of things during the interview which I think they will
strengthen my career. One of the things I learned about is
change and how management can ensure an effective and
successful change in the company. I believe this experience will
enable me to become the better me in the coming years of my
career.
Observations
Based on the interview, I noticed that culture plays a vital role
in organizations. Organizational culture establishes expectations
for how individuals work and behave. It can define an entity’s
external and internal identity, it can transform an organization
into a team, it can impact employee wellbeing and performance,
and can also influence decision-making. A culture can also
influence change. While culture itself is resistant to change, it
can be a significant enabler of change within an entity. It is,
therefore, important for change managers to figure out the
strengths of their organizational culture to initiate a successful
change.
I have also noticed that for a change to be effective and
successful within an organization, top-level management team
and CEO must respect and listen to employees’ views. Listening
and respecting employee’s views, shows that the management
value and care about its workers. It also helps the managers
share what their goals and intentions are and even understand
the employees’ expectations, hence, having everybody in
agreement. When individuals within an organization concur,
change becomes effective. This aspect will further my career.
As a director, I need to respect and listen to my team members.
I can't succeed without their inputs and efforts. Their opinions
and views matter in all my endeavors.
I have also noticed that for a change to be effective, change
managers need to share the vision of the change before
8. implementation. A vision offers meaning and orientation for
change managers and their team (Martin et al., 2014). It also
creates a sense of ownership. A sense of ownership can make a
huge difference in employee motivation, engagement, and
investment. Sharing the vision before implementation can also
drive a culture and environment that allows workers to thrive.
All these aspects are vital to change management.
The other thing I have observed is that dictatorship of top-level
management and CEO on what needs to be changed is
dangerous. Controlling everything during change harm
creativity among the team and prevent growth. Teamwork is
important during change. As much as people always believe that
dictatorship can generate consistent results, encourage short-
term increases in productivity, and can lessen the effects of
mistakes when top-level management and CEO allow employees
to share opinions and ideas on what needs to be changed,
employee motivation, engagement, and morale will improve.
Key Concepts
Effective leadership is important. Effective leaders usually
bring together different groups of people and assist them to find
a mutual purpose and vision. Effective leaders also ensure their
employees work towards achieving the common goals. They
empower and inspire individuals to recognize their fullest
abilities and utilize their abilities to attain common goals (Hao
& Yazdanifard, 2015). They also promote a culture of
collaboration and cohesion in the workplace. Effective
leadership entails listening and respecting employee’s views,
sharing a vision with employees, and allowing employees to
participate in decision-making processes.
Change is important in any organization. An organization
cannot survive without change: Change is growth and it is
unavoidable. New products and companies are entering the
market every day, technology is advancing and changing, and
consumer preferences are also changing. Companies, thus, need
to adapt to change to avoid being disappointed. Change allows
workers to learn new skills, practice their creativity, and
9. explore different opportunities. Change also encourage
innovation, enhances skills growth, and can promote efficiency
in the workplace. In order for organizations to have an effective
change, top-level management and the CEO must respect and
listen to the employees’ opinions and views. They must also
share the vision of change before the implementation. The top-
level management should also estimate the strengths of its
organizational culture to initiate a successful change.
Conclusion
Journal writing is so important. By writing a journal and
reflecting on it, individuals can identify vital learning events or
occasions that had taken place in their life, individuals can find
the source of their inspiration, they can discover their authentic
self, and even get a better understanding of their thought
process. Writing a journal is one of my greatest experience. I
have learned a lot throughout the process and I believe my
career can nourish through the experience. Conducting an
interview is also my other greatest experience. I learned a lot
through the interview and I believe my career will build up
through that experience. Based on the interview, I observed
some aspects which I think are very important in my career.
There are also some key concepts that I believe are vital to my
overall professional practices.
References
Hao, M. J., & Yazdanifard, R. (2015). How effective leadership
can facilitate change in organizations through improvement and
innovation. Global journal of management and business
research. https://globaljournals.org/GJMBR_Volume15/1-How-
Effective-Leadership.pdf
Martin, J., McCormack, B., Fitzsimons, D., & Spirig, R. (2014).
The importance of inspiring a shared vision. International
Practice Development Journal, 4(2).
https://www.fons.org/library/journal/volume4-issue2/article4
10. 1
JOURNAL FOR INTERNSHIP COURSE 2
2
Journal for Internship Course 2
Student’s Name
Institution Affiliation
Course
Professor’s Name
Date
Journal for Internship Course 2
Introduction
People need to keep journals as it helps in reviewing and
reflecting on the individual’s activities. Having a habit in
journal keeping promotes the documentation of every step that
takes place in an individual’s life be it career wife or any other.
Through journal writing, records are well kept and they can be
used in the future with different people for reference. Also, it
makes one acknowledge their success and challenges throughout
every development. The purpose of this paper is to describe the
11. professional portfolio which includes the accomplishments and
the skills recognized together with how they contribute to the
portfolio. The paper will then review how the success and
challenges of the internship experience are leading to growth.
Success
Working as a Director of E-Commerce in the food trading
company, there are many things encountered that have
contributed to the success and promotion of the portfolio. They
are in relation to my career goal which is coming up with my
own company, enhancing networking skills, and becoming an
expert.
Creating a professional journal is the first success achieved.
This was seen from the first journal ever created which was of
great importance and impact. The journal enabled the reflection
in the experiences, observations, and key concepts. A
professional journal enables the involved parties to track the
progress made career-wise. Besides, one is able to reflect on the
experiences and get the best out of them. To the portfolio, it
keeps the personal investments safe and easy to be reviewed.
Carrying out successful interviews with different professional
and specialized people is the second success that is leading to
career growth. Interviews were carried with the supervisor and
the chief operating officer of the organization. Even though it
was the first time conducting the interview, it comes to success
as a lot of things which promote the career progress was
learned. Through the interview, a lot was learned which
included balancing between the wholesales and the e-commerce
retail business. Besides, different ways of incorporating change
to the organization were learned that helped in the career
promotion due to the increased knowledge and skill that has
been impacted by the professionals.
Balancing between the e-commerce retail and the whole
business is another success encountered that promoted growth.
Achieving a balance between the two promoted the sales of the
organization hence increased revenue. It was a good experience
trying to balance the two cultural support and good leadership
12. from other organizations. The experience of good organizational
culture during the internship enhanced the well-being of the
employees which increased the rate of decision making and
performance. Abiding by the culture and changes being
incorporate helped in ensuring there are success and
effectiveness in the growth. Teamwork, good communication
skills, and professionalism enhance the success and facilitated
growth. Through these, knowledge is shared and skills and
experience increased which promotes growth.
Incorporating her hometown culture of the United State into the
organization is another success achieved. Different countries
have different cultures which vary from country to country.
Being able to incorporate a new culture and people follows it
results in great achievements as culture plays an important role
in the development of the organization (Addey, 2017). Culture
highly influences the behaviors of the employees; all-round
culture promotes success. Implementation of the United States
cultures increased the identity of the organization both internal
and external and positively influence performance. More
cultures at the organization increase the diversity hence success
and growth.
The other experience in the internship that I witnessed which
led to growth is the clear vision. A clear vision gives an exact
intention of the business and guides the employees through the
accomplishment of the organization’s goals (Martin, et al.,
2014). This is because it gives the purpose of the company and
the things that they want to achieve at it inspires them through
its achievement (Martin, et al., 2014). Besides, it gives the
characteristics of the organization that will influence its growth.
Through this, growth and the increase in the portfolio were
experienced by knowing the ways of setting an appropriate
vision for the organization.
The last experience that promotes growth is effective
communication among different people in the organization. In
this experience, I was able to learn that it is important to listen
to others as it gives a symbol of value and care. Besides, it
13. promotes decision making and finding solutions as there is an
understanding amongst different parties (Doyle, 2017). Also,
good communication facilitates knowledge sharing and
achieving strong productivity hence a strong working
relationship that promotes growth.
Challenges
Apart from the successful experiences that promoted growth,
there are also several challenges the lead to growth. The first
challenge is time control. During the interview, it was hard to
control time as there was an overflow from the set time of the
interview. However, this led to growth and development as,
during the internship experience, I was able to learn how to
control the time for interviews and other things. Good time
management enables an individual to accomplish a lot of things
within a short time. This results in more of the free time that
can be put to other uses for the accomplishment of other
projects and activities.
The other challenge experienced is the implementation of the
change in an organization. It is challenging to implement
change in any of the organizations as a little mistake will mess
up everything. Even though it was a challenge, it led to growth
as it was addressed and matched to the vision of the
organization. Through its capabilities in creating the plans,
setting the goals, coordination of work, and the projects and the
decision, it highly promotes growth as activities are done in an
organized manner.
Conclusion
From writing the journal, we have been able to identify the
success and challenges of the internship that led to growth.
Through it, it is clear that good communication promotes the
growth and development of both an individual and the
organization through knowledge sharing. Besides, helps in
saving time and articulating change which are major challenges
to the organization. Even though time management and visual
articulation are challenging, they led to growth by aligning
them to the proper consideration and undergoing in the
14. organization. Also, writing the journal there was growth from
the interviews carried out on the different people. Through the
successful interviews, I was able to learn from the professional
and grow my career and skills. It is important to interview
people with experience as they can correct and recommend the
right career path to be taken for further development.
References
Addey, C. (2017). The assessment culture of international
organizations:“From philosophical doubt to statistical certainty”
through the appearance and growth of international large-scale
assessments. Pupil assessment cultures in historical perspective.
Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.
Doyle, A. (2017). Communication Skills for workplace success.
The Balance Careers.
Martin, J., McCormack, B., Fitzsimons, D., & Spirig, R. (2014).
The importance of inspiring a shared vision. International
Practice Development Journal, 4(2).
https://www.fons.org/library/journal/volume4-issue2/article4
Week 1 DQ
Question:
· Provide a short biography to the class as an introduction
helping to create a community environment. Also, you can
respond to the questions shown in the Introduction as an
example. The introduction is found in the Internship Course
Resources in Supplementary Material in this GAP course.
· Be sure to add what country you are from along with your
educational background and previous work experience.
· Explain your internship job description.
· Identify the College of Business course that you are currently
enrolled in, or if there is no business course that you are taking
this session.
Answer:
15. Hello everyone,
This is my second year in Westcliff University, and I have taken
8 MBA courses so far. I am currently taking the GAP, so this
internship course is the only class I am taking for this semester.
My concentration is the Business Statistics and Data Analytics.
I chose this concentration because I am in the management
position in the company, and I wish I could better develop our
business using the analytic skills that I learned through the
courses.
I am from Japan. However, since my mom is Chinese and
my dad is Japanese, so I am fluent in both Chinese and Japanese
as well. I went to the elementary school in China, middle school
in Japan, and I came to the United States 9 years ago from the
Junior year of the high school. I went to the high school in
Massachusetts call Wilbraham and Monson Academy. After I
graduated from high school, I went to the Northeastern
University in Boston for my Freshman year. Since the weather
in east coast was too bad during the winter, I transferred to the
Pepperdine University from Sophomore year. I received the
bachelor’s degree in international business from Pepperdine
University in 2018.
I started to work in the largest Asian E-commerce
company based in Los Angeles call “Yamibuy” immediately
after the graduation as the Account Manager for Marketplace
department. My main job responsibility was to maintain the
relationship with sellers and help them to achieve the better
sales performance on our platform. I worked in Yamibuy for
one and half year, and I switched my job to my current company
“Sunway Nuts USA, Inc.”, because I got the better working
opportunity and I think my current company could give me more
chance for the personal growth. Sunway Nuts USA, Inc. is the
startup trading company. Main business of our company is to
import the food from China and selling it in the United States.
We have two business model which are wholesale and retail. I
am working in the e-commerce department which is mainly
responsible for the online retail business as the Director of E-
16. commerce. I am leading our team to sale our products on
various online platform such as Amazon, eBay, Yamibuy and
Taobao US, etc as the third-party seller. I am responsible for the
team management, business development and performance for
our whole team. Our goal this year is to expand our business to
more website like delivery app and create our own website.
Another goal for us this year is to expand the category such as
electronic and home goods.
I wish I could learn the various job experiences of
different fields and positions from my classmates through the
course to explore the career opportunities and get some
inspiration of the business management and strategies. At the
same time, I would like to share my experience with my
classmates and professor to get some advices as well.
Additionally, I hope I could develop my professional journal
during the course to help with my career path in the future.
Something I am proud of that I accomplished recently is
that I successfully settled the new account in delivery app,
which is the brand-new selling channel for us. I wish this could
be the great opportunity for us to develop the business. Another
thing is that I got the authorization from one of the biggest
electronic brands in China call “Xiaomi Youpin” as the
distributor in the United States. I am excited to cooperate with
them in 2021 to start the new filed of our business.
Week 2 DQ
Question:
· Read the articles on journaling, review the template in the
GAP resources in the course and identify what approach in the
articles you found useful and why?
· Post to the discussion board that you have reviewed the
journaling materials and what you learned, let us know if you
have experience journaling, share your thoughts. If you have
questions, please post. Be sure to respond to a peer.
Answer:
The first time that I started to write the professional journal was
17. from my last internship course. Through out my last corse, I
was able to earn the good habit of writing the journal. At the
same time, I realize the importance of keeping the professional
journal which could help to record the achievement that I have
done during the job, the lessons that I learned, time
management and scheduling the work by prioritizing it, etc.
Keeping the journal could not only help me to look back my
journey and get more improvement, but also could help me to
expand my career opportunities. I am looking forward to
continuing my professional journal in this semester, and I think
the content of the journal could support me through my future
career life.
Week 3 DQ
Question:
Outline and describe in the discussion those components that
you will be working on in this session to build or improve your
professional portfolio and post to the discussion board.
Answer:
According to the Winsor and Ellefson (1995),
"A professional portfolio is a thoughtful, organized, and
continuous collection of a variety of authentic products that
document a professional's progress, goals, efforts, attitudes,
pedagogical practices, achievements, talents, interests, and
development over time." A well-organized professional
portfolio could quickly help you to introduce yourself and
represent your work experiences with the achievements to the
person who does not know you such as the interviewer.
Therefore, professional portfolio is the good tool to share your
talents, attitudes, efforts, responsibility, achievement, and goals
to the others.
The components that I will be specially working on this
session to build my professional materials are my work
experiences with the projects that I have involved, achievements
that I have previously made, my professional skills and
18. strengths, and my future plan with the goal. I hope I could
develop and improve my professional portfolio through the
semester by getting the inspiration from the course and peers.
Week 5 DQ
Question:
· You will upload the total interview in the Week 5 assignment
file in GAP for the professor.
· In the Week 5 discussion forum you will describe the main
points of the interview content and experience.
· Conduct the interview. Share with the class a description
about the interview content in the Week 5 discussion (you can
upload a file attachment for the professor and place a
description in the discussion and converse with your classmates
about the interview).
· What are some of the major observations you made in regard
to your interview; were you satisfied with the information
gained during the interview?
· What are some of your own personal strengths and weaknesses
related to the interview process?
Be sure to make entries in your journal about the Interview.
Answer:
I conducted the interview with our CEO, Frank li, he is the
founder of our company Sunway Nuts USA, Inc. and below is
our interview content:
1. How do you consider the trade war between China and
U.S? Is that a challenge or risk for your company?
Back to 2020, the Trump Administration announce the new
import rules which add punitive tariff 25% on all products from
China. I really had struggle moment for my business at that
time, because my business starts the idea that importing the
Chinese dried foods into U.S market. The first reason was the
China really have long historic culture on foods which I really
familiar with it. The second reason was the Chines foods have
19. advanced price competing foods’ price on almost developed
countries. However, the punitive tariff reduces the advantage on
price. During that time, I started to consider the product of
market positioning. I redefine the customer base, start mid-
high-end customer, the age considering young and middle ages’
people. They more attention to product’s quality and package
design. Comparing the quality and package design, price not
priority to consider. I switch the risk to become the chance. The
product in market is keeping growing and attractive.
2.As international business, how you balance the China team
and U.S team?
Due to culture and education difference, they have different
thought and ability. I will keep my China team focus on
executive ability, and let U.S team focus on creative ability.
They all play an important role in our company. To be specific,
one side focus on building cooperation relationship, another
side focus on marketing expand.
3.What’s your goal for your business?
My goal is to make Sunway corporation goes in public. My plan
is building food industry chain to get IPO from investors.
4. How you schedule your work time to manage two teams?
During daytime, I work with my U.S team in physically, and
nighttime I have conference call with my China team. But I
focus on program manager, have meeting with them. Let them
have power and support to lead their team finish the
achievements.
5.What is core value of your company?
I believe it is strong logistic and product development. In
addition, cultivating teamwork is also a core value for my
company.
20. Week 7 DQ
Question:
· Describe what you think of a message contained in the video?
· What are the two top skills that you need to make your
internship successful based on the video advice and/or other
recommendations you have received?
· How to make the most of your internship, what is one change
you will make to excel?
· Do you have a recommendation for class members?
Answer:
Describe what you think of a message contained in the video?
The most mentioned message in the video is that internship
experience could give us a chance to find out what job we are
passionate about and explore more career opportunities as an
intern. From the perspective of employer, interns could bring a
lot of energy as well as fresh ideas to the company, and they
usually have a strong commitment into the work. Internship
could also help employers to learn the characteristic of the
interns during the work period, instead of evaluating the people
from the short interview.
· What are the two top skills that you need to make your
internship successful based on the video advice and/or other
recommendations you have received?
The two top skills that needed to make internship successful
based on the video advice is bringing the energy, new ideas to
the workplace, and show the good attitude and commit to the
work.
· How to make the most of your internship, what is one
change you will make to excel?
To make the most of my internship, I would cherish the
opportunity of the internship and learn from the industry
experts. At the same time, I would like to socialize with the
people from different departments and positions to learn about
their job to explore more career opportunities and fid out what I
really like.
21. · Do you have a recommendation for class members?
Internship is a great opportunity for us to learn the experience
from industry experts. Therefore, I recommend my class
member to socialize with different people from the company to
learn their experience and get some career advices from them.
Socializing with different people in the company could also
help you to quickly learn the company culture and better
involve into the company. Last but not least, showing the great
attitude and brining the energy to the workplace is definitely
important as an intern!
References:
The Value of an Internship for Employers - Employer
Prospective [Video file]. (2015, May 12). Retrieved February
16, 2021, from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnTGVPfnTm8
1
JOURNAL FOR INTERNSHIP COURSE 2
2
Journal for Internship Course 2
Student’s Name
Institution Affiliation
Course
22. Professor’s Name
Date
Journal for Internship Course 2
Introduction
People need to keep journals as it helps in reviewing and
reflecting on the individual’s activities. Having a habit in
journal keeping promotes the documentation of every step that
takes place in an individual’s life be it career wife or any other.
Through journal writing, records are well kept and they can be
used in the future with different people for reference. Also, it
makes one acknowledge their success and challenges throughout
every development. The purpose of this paper is to describe the
professional portfolio which includes the accomplishments and
the skills recognized together with how they contribute to the
portfolio. The paper will then review how the success and
challenges of the internship experience are leading to growth.
Success
Working as a Director of E-Commerce in the food trading
company, there are many things encountered that have
contributed to the success and promotion of the portfolio. They
are in relation to my career goal which is coming up with my
own company, enhancing networking skills, and becoming an
expert.
Creating a professional journal is the first success achieved.
This was seen from the first journal ever created which was of
great importance and impact. The journal enabled the reflection
in the experiences, observations, and key concepts. A
professional journal enables the involved parties to track the
progress made career-wise. Besides, one is able to reflect on the
experiences and get the best out of them. To the portfolio, it
keeps the personal investments safe and easy to be reviewed.
Carrying out successful interviews with different professional
and specialized people is the second success that is leading to
career growth. Interviews were carried with the supervisor and
23. the chief operating officer of the organization. Even though it
was the first time conducting the interview, it comes to success
as a lot of things which promote the career progress was
learned. Through the interview, a lot was learned which
included balancing between the wholesales and the e-commerce
retail business. Besides, different ways of incorporating change
to the organization were learned that helped in the career
promotion due to the increased knowledge and skill that has
been impacted by the professionals.
Balancing between the e-commerce retail and the whole
business is another success encountered that promoted growth.
Achieving a balance between the two promoted the sales of the
organization hence increased revenue. It was a good experience
trying to balance the two cultural support and good leadership
from other organizations. The experience of good organizational
culture during the internship enhanced the well-being of the
employees which increased the rate of decision making and
performance. Abiding by the culture and changes being
incorporate helped in ensuring there are success and
effectiveness in the growth. Teamwork, good communication
skills, and professionalism enhance the success and facilitated
growth. Through these, knowledge is shared and skills and
experience increased which promotes growth.
Incorporating her hometown culture of the United State into the
organization is another success achieved. Different countries
have different cultures which vary from country to country.
Being able to incorporate a new culture and people follows it
results in great achievements as culture plays an important role
in the development of the organization (Addey, 2017). Culture
highly influences the behaviors of the employees; all-round
culture promotes success. Implementation of the United States
cultures increased the identity of the organization both internal
and external and positively influence performance. More
cultures at the organization increase the diversity hence success
and growth.
The other experience in the internship that I witnessed which
24. led to growth is the clear vision. A clear vision gives an exact
intention of the business and guides the employees through the
accomplishment of the organization’s goals (Martin, et al.,
2014). This is because it gives the purpose of the company and
the things that they want to achieve at it inspires them through
its achievement (Martin, et al., 2014). Besides, it gives the
characteristics of the organization that will influence its growth.
Through this, growth and the increase in the portfolio were
experienced by knowing the ways of setting an appropriate
vision for the organization.
The last experience that promotes growth is effective
communication among different people in the organization. In
this experience, I was able to learn that it is important to listen
to others as it gives a symbol of value and care. Besides, it
promotes decision making and finding solutions as there is an
understanding amongst different parties (Doyle, 2017). Also,
good communication facilitates knowledge sharing and
achieving strong productivity hence a strong working
relationship that promotes growth.
Challenges
Apart from the successful experiences that promoted growth,
there are also several challenges the lead to growth. The first
challenge is time control. During the interview, it was hard to
control time as there was an overflow from the set time of the
interview. However, this led to growth and development as,
during the internship experience, I was able to learn how to
control the time for interviews and other things. Good time
management enables an individual to accomplish a lot of things
within a short time. This results in more of the free time that
can be put to other uses for the accomplishment of other
projects and activities.
The other challenge experienced is the implementation of the
change in an organization. It is challenging to implement
change in any of the organizations as a little mistake will mess
up everything. Even though it was a challenge, it led to growth
as it was addressed and matched to the vision of the
25. organization. Through its capabilities in creating the plans,
setting the goals, coordination of work, and the projects and the
decision, it highly promotes growth as activities are done in an
organized manner.
Conclusion
From writing the journal, we have been able to identify the
success and challenges of the internship that led to growth.
Through it, it is clear that good communication promotes the
growth and development of both an individual and the
organization through knowledge sharing. Besides, helps in
saving time and articulating change which are major challenges
to the organization. Even though time management and visual
articulation are challenging, they led to growth by aligning
them to the proper consideration and undergoing in the
organization. Also, writing the journal there was growth from
the interviews carried out on the different people. Through the
successful interviews, I was able to learn from the professional
and grow my career and skills. It is important to interview
people with experience as they can correct and recommend the
right career path to be taken for further development.
References
Addey, C. (2017). The assessment culture of international
organizations:“From philosophical doubt to statistical certainty”
through the appearance and growth of international large-scale
assessments. Pupil assessment cultures in historical perspective.
Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.
Doyle, A. (2017). Communication Skills for workplace success.
The Balance Careers.
Martin, J., McCormack, B., Fitzsimons, D., & Spirig, R. (2014).
The importance of inspiring a shared vision. International
Practice Development Journal, 4(2).
https://www.fons.org/library/journal/volume4-issue2/article4
26. Week 1 DQ
Question:
· Provide a short biography to the class as an introduction
helping to create a community environment. Also, you can
respond to the questions shown in the Introduction as an
example. The introduction is found in the Internship Course
Resources in Supplementary Material in this GAP course.
· Be sure to add what country you are from along with your
educational background and previous work experience.
· Explain your internship job description.
· Identify the College of Business course that you are currently
enrolled in, or if there is no business course that you are taking
this session.
Answer:
Hello everyone,
This is my second year in Westcliff University, and I have taken
8 MBA courses so far. I am currently taking the GAP, so this
internship course is the only class I am taking for this semester.
My concentration is the Business Statistics and Data Analytics.
I chose this concentration because I am in the management
position in the company, and I wish I could better develop our
business using the analytic skills that I learned through the
courses.
I am from Japan. However, since my mom is Chinese and
my dad is Japanese, so I am fluent in both Chinese and Japanese
as well. I went to the elementary school in China, middle school
in Japan, and I came to the United States 9 years ago from the
Junior year of the high school. I went to the high school in
Massachusetts call Wilbraham and Monson Academy. After I
graduated from high school, I went to the Northeastern
University in Boston for my Freshman year. Since the weather
in east coast was too bad during the winter, I transferred to the
Pepperdine University from Sophomore year. I received the
bachelor’s degree in international business from Pepperdine
University in 2018.
I started to work in the largest Asian E-commerce
27. company based in Los Angeles call “Yamibuy” immediately
after the graduation as the Account Manager for Marketplace
department. My main job responsibility was to maintain the
relationship with sellers and help them to achieve the better
sales performance on our platform. I worked in Yamibuy for
one and half year, and I switched my job to my current company
“Sunway Nuts USA, Inc.”, because I got the better working
opportunity and I think my current company could give me more
chance for the personal growth. Sunway Nuts USA, Inc. is the
startup trading company. Main business of our company is to
import the food from China and selling it in the United States.
We have two business model which are wholesale and retail. I
am working in the e-commerce department which is mainly
responsible for the online retail business as the Director of E-
commerce. I am leading our team to sale our products on
various online platform such as Amazon, eBay, Yamibuy and
Taobao US, etc as the third-party seller. I am responsible for the
team management, business development and performance for
our whole team. Our goal this year is to expand our business to
more website like delivery app and create our own website.
Another goal for us this year is to expand the category such as
electronic and home goods.
I wish I could learn the various job experiences of
different fields and positions from my classmates through the
course to explore the career opportunities and get some
inspiration of the business management and strategies. At the
same time, I would like to share my experience with my
classmates and professor to get some advices as well.
Additionally, I hope I could develop my professional journal
during the course to help with my career path in the future.
Something I am proud of that I accomplished recently is
that I successfully settled the new account in delivery app,
which is the brand-new selling channel for us. I wish this could
be the great opportunity for us to develop the business. Another
thing is that I got the authorization from one of the biggest
electronic brands in China call “Xiaomi Youpin” as the
28. distributor in the United States. I am excited to cooperate with
them in 2021 to start the new filed of our business.
Week 2 DQ
Question:
· Read the articles on journaling, review the template in the
GAP resources in the course and identify what approach in the
articles you found useful and why?
· Post to the discussion board that you have reviewed the
journaling materials and what you learned, let us know if you
have experience journaling, share your thoughts. If you have
questions, please post. Be sure to respond to a peer.
Answer:
The first time that I started to write the professional journal was
from my last internship course. Through out my last corse, I
was able to earn the good habit of writing the journal. At the
same time, I realize the importance of keeping the professional
journal which could help to record the achievement that I have
done during the job, the lessons that I learned, time
management and scheduling the work by prioritizing it, etc.
Keeping the journal could not only help me to look back my
journey and get more improvement, but also could help me to
expand my career opportunities. I am looking forward to
continuing my professional journal in this semester, and I think
the content of the journal could support me through my future
career life.
Week 3 DQ
Question:
Outline and describe in the discussion those components that
you will be working on in this session to build or improve your
professional portfolio and post to the discussion board.
Answer:
According to the Winsor and Ellefson (1995),
"A professional portfolio is a thoughtful, organized, and
29. continuous collection of a variety of authentic products that
document a professional's progress, goals, efforts, attitudes,
pedagogical practices, achievements, talents, interests, and
development over time." A well-organized professional
portfolio could quickly help you to introduce yourself and
represent your work experiences with the achievements to the
person who does not know you such as the interviewer.
Therefore, professional portfolio is the good tool to share your
talents, attitudes, efforts, responsibility, achievement, and goals
to the others.
The components that I will be specially working on this
session to build my professional materials are my work
experiences with the projects that I have involved, achievements
that I have previously made, my professional skills and
strengths, and my future plan with the goal. I hope I could
develop and improve my professional portfolio through the
semester by getting the inspiration from the course and peers.
Week 5 DQ
Question:
· You will upload the total interview in the Week 5 assignment
file in GAP for the professor.
· In the Week 5 discussion forum you will describe the main
points of the interview content and experience.
· Conduct the interview. Share with the class a description
about the interview content in the Week 5 discussion (you can
upload a file attachment for the professor and place a
description in the discussion and converse with your classmates
about the interview).
· What are some of the major observations you made in regard
to your interview; were you satisfied with the information
gained during the interview?
· What are some of your own personal strengths and weaknesses
related to the interview process?
Be sure to make entries in your journal about the Interview.
30. Answer:
I conducted the interview with our CEO, Frank li, he is the
founder of our company Sunway Nuts USA, Inc. and below is
our interview content:
1. How do you consider the trade war between China and
U.S? Is that a challenge or risk for your company?
Back to 2020, the Trump Administration announce the new
import rules which add punitive tariff 25% on all products from
China. I really had struggle moment for my business at that
time, because my business starts the idea that importing the
Chinese dried foods into U.S market. The first reason was the
China really have long historic culture on foods which I really
familiar with it. The second reason was the Chines foods have
advanced price competing foods’ price on almost developed
countries. However, the punitive tariff reduces the advantage on
price. During that time, I started to consider the product of
market positioning. I redefine the customer base, start mid-
high-end customer, the age considering young and middle ages’
people. They more attention to product’s quality and package
design. Comparing the quality and package design, price not
priority to consider. I switch the risk to become the chance. The
product in market is keeping growing and attractive.
2.As international business, how you balance the China team
and U.S team?
Due to culture and education difference, they have different
thought and ability. I will keep my China team focus on
executive ability, and let U.S team focus on creative ability.
They all play an important role in our company. To be specific,
one side focus on building cooperation relationship, another
side focus on marketing expand.
3.What’s your goal for your business?
My goal is to make Sunway corporation goes in public. My plan
31. is building food industry chain to get IPO from investors.
4. How you schedule your work time to manage two teams?
During daytime, I work with my U.S team in physically, and
nighttime I have conference call with my China team. But I
focus on program manager, have meeting with them. Let them
have power and support to lead their team finish the
achievements.
5.What is core value of your company?
I believe it is strong logistic and product development. In
addition, cultivating teamwork is also a core value for my
company.
Week 7 DQ
Question:
· Describe what you think of a message contained in the video?
· What are the two top skills that you need to make your
internship successful based on the video advice and/or other
recommendations you have received?
· How to make the most of your internship, what is one change
you will make to excel?
· Do you have a recommendation for class members?
Answer:
Describe what you think of a message contained in the video?
The most mentioned message in the video is that internship
experience could give us a chance to find out what job we are
passionate about and explore more career opportunities as an
intern. From the perspective of employer, interns could bring a
lot of energy as well as fresh ideas to the company, and they
usually have a strong commitment into the work. Internship
could also help employers to learn the characteristic of the
interns during the work period, instead of evaluating the people
from the short interview.
· What are the two top skills that you need to make your
32. internship successful based on the video advice and/or other
recommendations you have received?
The two top skills that needed to make internship successful
based on the video advice is bringing the energy, new ideas to
the workplace, and show the good attitude and commit to the
work.
· How to make the most of your internship, what is one
change you will make to excel?
To make the most of my internship, I would cherish the
opportunity of the internship and learn from the industry
experts. At the same time, I would like to socialize with the
people from different departments and positions to learn about
their job to explore more career opportunities and fid out what I
really like.
· Do you have a recommendation for class members?
Internship is a great opportunity for us to learn the experience
from industry experts. Therefore, I recommend my class
member to socialize with different people from the company to
learn their experience and get some career advices from them.
Socializing with different people in the company could also
help you to quickly learn the company culture and better
involve into the company. Last but not least, showing the great
attitude and brining the energy to the workplace is definitely
important as an intern!
References:
The Value of an Internship for Employers - Employer
Prospective [Video file]. (2015, May 12). Retrieved February
16, 2021, from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnTGVPfnTm8