Gibbs Reflective Cycle

Gibbs reflective class was formed by Graham Gibbs in 1988 and it focuses on the importance of experience in learning. Gibbs reflective cycle emphasizes the experience and its importance in learning, as per Gibbs if we focus and learn from each situation in life and learn from our experiences the probability of failing in a similar situation the next time decreases. Gibbs gave a reflection model for the same, known as Gibbs model of reflection. Gibbs model of reflection has five elements i.e Description, Feelings, Evaluation, Conclusion and Actions. 

Similarity Between Gibbs Cycle And Mayo’s Theory

Each element in Gibbs cycle is very important to gain from experience and not repeat mistakes in similar situations. Let’s look at all five elements of Gibbs reflective cycle.Elton Mayo’s theory is also relatable to Gibbs reflective cycle as Elton Mayo’s theory focuses on treating employees with empathy and giving them respect and social recognition for better output rather than focusing on financial aspects. In the profession of nursing both Gibbs and Elton Mayo’s theory can be applied as learning from mistakes gives nurses a better perspective of their patients and also gives their profession a respectable position, also treating them with respect and empathy can bring out better productivity.

Describing the first element is knowing about the problem in detail, how much one is able to explain about the problem, why it happened, who all were present during the problem and what was your expectation that could have happened. The Feeling part is how did you feel in that situation, what was the immediate reaction and what came immediately to your mind after the incident. 

Evaluation is taking out time to analyse the situation and evaluate the situation, what went wrong, what could have been done, what could have been the better way to act or resolve the situation. 

Conclusion is the next part of evaluation, after evaluating the situation, what is the final conclusion, what according to you happened, rightly analyse the problem and conclude your state of mind for the same situation. Final element is the Action plan, action plan is the detailed plan of action. This includes all the first four elements and bases your understanding and analysis of the situation on what could be the desired action plan in order to learn from the past experience.

A Quick View To Woolworths SWOT Analysis

Woolworths, one of the biggest supermarkets in Australia, did a Woolworths SWOT analysis based on its experience, the same can also be attributed to Gibbs reflective cycle. The strength for Woolworths is the wide range of products that it offers, for all ranges across all categories. Weakness was found to be the confusion that was created due to the extremely high range and category of products, Woolworths was not able to position itself for a particular segment. 

Opportunities for them was the sheer experience as market leaders and their ability to capitalise the same. Threats were very less counting on growing competition and increasing their focus on health products as society is getting health conscious. If Woolworth also applies Gibbs reflective cycle along with its SWOT analysis, the threats can be minimised as Gibbs Cycle focuses on learning from past experiences, the past experience and mistakes, if realised using Gibbs model, supermarkets like Woolworth can improve on their experience and reduce threats and increase opportunities. Also it would give them a more stable position in the market.