May 3, 2022
Senior capstone project is the crown of education at RIT
Croatia for graduating students of the Hospitality and Tourism Management
program. Senior year students choose topics based on their own interests, which
gives them the opportunity to tackle anything they find interesting and worth
exploring. Creating a successful senior capstone project is a complex process
which requires a lot of maturing along the way, a lot of problem solving,
researching and, above all, a good and firm connection with the faculty member
mentoring the whole process.
Students get to present their findings to the jury made of
faculty members, and presentations are open for other RIT Croatia students, as
well as faculty, staff and family members of graduating students. Among many
fascinating topics of this year’s senior capstone project presentations, one
stood out as being especially inquisitive and quite abstract – "Analytics or Intuition in Decision Making?” by Antonio Jakobušić, HTM graduating student. We’ve asked Antonio to share his
experience with us.
Q: From a student’s perspective, what are all the phases of
a senior capstone project?
Antonio Jakobušić: "The journey actually starts the moment when you start thinking about choosing the mentor and bringing to awareness that you are about to graduate. You realize that your senior capstone project is ahead of you, and you really want to choose a good mentor and a good topic which will represent something meaningful to you and to the others. Before all that comes, there are challenges which include a lot of reading, researching, discussing and most importantly, asking yourself : "what am I about to do that will help someone or something to improve and make a long lasting effect, even when the college is finished?”. Phases include a lot of failures, a few mismatched topics, a lot of meetings and coffees with the mentor and, off course, discussions that ultimately lead you to your final topic. If I were to sum it up in bullets, it looks like this:
Q: What is your topic and what was the goal of your
research?
Antonio Jakobušić: "The topic of the final presentation was
"Analytics or Intuition in Decision Making?” This OR is not explicit
mathematical OR, meaning that one does not exclude the other. It is to point
out that we as humans need to use our informed human intuition in combination
with analytics in order to reveal all the possibilities and outcomes in our
daily lives or in our business environments. My topic for the senior project
paper was "Strategy predictions with Systemic Constellations Work- A Pilot
Study”, meaning combining intuition and analytics in order to gain the best
possible outcome for the company. The core of the project were the Systemic
Constellations and their application in business settings, which is
increasingly used as an aid to decision-making process. Constellations have
been used as a very useful tool in decision making. Constellations are purely
intuitive method, which were devised by German psychotherapist Bert Hellinger.
We are all part of one big-shared field. We can be aware of that, or we can
ignore it, but one thing is sure - we all have it. That purely intuitive method
in combination with analytics brings the best of both because the modern
planning and consulting has limitations. That is why the constellations in a
form of workshops are used in order to see beyond the limits of planning and to
gain insights which will bring fresh and useful moments for the individual and
for the firm.”
Q: How did you come up with such a complex topic for your
senior capstone project?
Antonio Jakobušić: "With the help of my mentor, Domagoj
Nikolić, and his experiences that were quite similar to mine, but still
different enough to be challenged. We share similar views on certain things
connected with intuition, human capacity, development, and that brought us to
this topic which provided us with very beneficial results.”
Q: How does it relate to your plans for the future in terms
of your career development?
Antonio Jakobušić: "It relates quite a lot because
throughout this research I realized that I want to implement similar methods
that are coming from the subconscious parts of our brain and highlighting the
body sensations, which are for sure pointing our attention to the important
things. It opened new opportunities for me and it offered me some new
perspectives about how we should approach things and events, and that is with
an open heart. Meaning, your body already knows everything- we just need to
know where to look.”
Q: How important is it for a student to have a strong and
trustful relationship with the mentor in order to have the best possible
outcome with his/her senior capstone project?
Antonio Jakobušić: "Highly important I would say, if not the
most important part of this experience. This relationship is something that
keeps you going even when you don’t feel like working. Being tired, frustrated
and all other feelings that people and students are facing in their careers can
be managed throughout good and healthy relationship. Having the same passion
and interests help for sure, but most importantly, the inspiration that a good
mentor can provide for a student is unbelievable, at least for me. It showed me
how support in projects and in life is of a high importance if you want to
succeed.
As I mentioned before, I was mentored by Domagoj Nikolić,
and my experience was unique. My mentor was so much more than a mentor to me,
and it just helped me realize where I am, and how much more I need to work in
order to reach my full potential. It showed me how things always unfold nicely
if you believe in it, and by doing small steps, day by day, even if sometimes
you are not feeling like it. My experience confirmed me that people, support
and constant improvement are of high importance in life.”
Q: What were the biggest challenges in completing such a
complex project?
Antonio Jakobušić: "Biggest challenge for me was managing
the time and roles that I was assigned with throughout this period. This senior
project was not the only project that I was involved in. There were things
related with current job position that is connected with development of the
bar, service, cocktail offer and establishing the new products for the guests.
There were a lot of spillovers between the roles. Those spillovers were from
private life, job, senior project and college in general, so the management of
my time was crucial. Balancing the time and staying productively were the most
challenging parts of this project which pretty much represents how the life of
an entrepreneur or successful person looks like.”
Q: What is the biggest learning outcome for you from this
experience?
Antonio Jakobušić: "Relationships. Importance of following
your intuition. Importance of staying focused. Believing in the process and
integrating all parts together: intuition and analytics, left and right side of
the brain, things you like to do and the things you do not like to do. Bringing to awareness that it is really
important to integrate all your parts in order to be you. After six years at
this college I realized that the teacher is coming when the student is ready in
a metaphorical sense. It is not about what you want to learn, it is about what
the teacher wants to teach you. That is the importance of good guidance.”
Q: What would be your advice for future senior year
students when it comes to choosing the topic for their senior project and the
overall process of developing it?
Antonio Jakobušić: "Don’t look at it as something that you
need to do. Rather look at it as an opportunity to develop yourself more and to
learn the importance of going deep into something that you are truly interested
in. Take it as a project where the outcome of it will improve something and
help someone. Take it to the level where you are 100% confident and
knowledgeable about the things that you are talking about at the end. Embrace
the change. The harder it gets, the better you will feel at the end. Senior
capstone project is the time to push your limits, not to stick to something that
you are comfortable with entirely.”