Throughout this assignment I will be reflecting upon the creative and innovative actions that I took, when faced with a problematic scenario at place of work a few years ago. I will also be ‘stepping back’ from the situation to analyse the possible reasoning behind my behaviour when faced with this predicament. Whilst reflecting upon my actions I hope to be able to consider in a wider context all the other potential solutions that I could have offered to tackle the problem that I faced, and by doing so test my original interpretation of the problem.
To assist in my reflecting breakdown of the problem in hand, I will be using certain features of the framework provided by Hatton and Smith (1995). This framework consisted of 4 types of reflective techniques including; 1. Descriptive writing 2. Descriptive reflection 3. Dialogic reflection 4. Critical reflection As well as this framework, I will also be tying in applicable theory and models provided by authors in this particular field to underpin my analysis of my actions.
I hope by the end of this assignment that the research I have gained in the field of creative thinking and the tools learnt for lateral thinking will assist me in my future, so that I can contribute to any problem I am faced with in a fast and effective manner. The Problem Described I spent 2 years working at the local Tesco in Leicester as a check out assistant, during this time I came across many scenarios that required me to be creative and innovative in the way in which I greeted and served customers, such as sorting out there shopping into appropriate bags to ensure that the products inside will not be damaged in transit etc.
However the biggest problem that I faced at Tesco did not involve any customers, nor did it involve any products that they sell… The problem that I was faced in the early months of my employment at this particular Tesco superstore was the lack of lockers to keep my personal belongings safe, these belongings consisted; wallets, keys, mobile phone etc. Ideally they would remain in the locker whilst I carried out my shift. There were enough lockers in the staff changing rooms to meet the demand of the workers carrying out their shifts for that particular day. However the lockers worked on a policy of the individual employee placing a i??
1. 00 piece in exchange for the key. This lead to a considerable amount of employees reserving a locker for themselves for their next shift and not returning the key and keeping the pound in the locker in return for the reassurance of a locker for their next shift. I can only imagine the reasons for doing this would be the comfort of knowing where your locker was and being able to arrive at their shift not needing a i?? 1. 00 piece to ascertain a locker for themselves. The lack of lockers presented me with two dilemmas, do I keep my personal belongings in my pockets and hope that I do not get caught by my supervisor for doing so.
Carrying personal belongings on the shop floor was not tolerated by management at Tesco, due to the likely hood of mobile phones going off and leaving customers with a dissatisfied shopping experience, employees carrying money in wallets on the shop floor was an even greater offence, as in the unlikely situation of tills being short of money, managers wouldn’t be able to distinguish between the money in the tills that were short and the money that the employees were carrying on the shop floor.
The second dilemma that this problem presented to me was the fact that if there are no lockers available to store my belongings, and I was not aloud to take them on to the shop floor, then I was left with no other option than to leave my belongings in my coat on a hanger, which isn’t the safest of options as I was informed from some of my colleges that possessions had been misplaced on more than one occasion so this deterred me from the second option, and as a result I carried out my shift with my belongings in my pockets and hoped that wouldn’t get caught for doing so.
A considerable amount of months had passed and I was beginning to get rather annoyed with the tedious task of making sure my pockets didn’t give away any sign of a wallet or a phone, I also began to get quite paranoid when supervisors would randomly stop me to ask questions hoping that they hadn’t spotted the bulges in my pockets.
