Business Journal

Reflective Journal weekly entry 3 [reflecting on Week 3]

Reflective question 3: What is your opinion about acknowledging others when you refer to their work? When and how do you think this happens in the business community? Discuss the possible advantages and disadvantages of acknowledging the work of others in business.

I believe that acknowledging others when referring to their work, not only avoids plagiarism but also strengthens your own arguments and conveys to the the reader that you have done further research in the area you are examining. Acknowledging others also reinforces your own thoughts and ideas. This may even allow for you to effectively portray contrasting arguments, which further assists you to advance your explanation as to why you do not agree with the person to whom you are referring to. In addition, by sharing the knowledge you have gained from various sources allows for others to locate and analyse their work.

Similarly, acknowledging a work colleague’s or business partner's ideas and thoughts will reflect the type of individual you are - particularly when trust and honesty is so crucial in today’s business environment. Furthermore, the industry area of technology (where innovation is a key driver to businesses in this industry) it is important, via legal means, to gain the right of an individual’s/entity’s ideas; this perhaps may be through contracting or a licensing agreement which permits the right of one business/company to use a method/idea/material from an individual/business. Conversely, there are disadvantages from acknowledging sources, particularly if they are not credible sources. Therefore, it is important to know how to assess the credibility of sources (specifically, online sources).