My Personal Development Plan and Progress Review - Essay Example

PDP Report [Type the document sub [Pick the Contents Introduction 2 Section Professional Development Plan 2 Self: Time management 3 Group work- Team work 5 Academic Goal: Writing skills 7 Section 2: Progress Review 9 Self Goal: Time management 10 Group Goal: Team Work 10 Academic Goal: Writing Skills 11 Section 3: Long-term Plan of Action 12 Conclusions 14 Introduction This report consists a personal development plan, progress review and a long term plan of action increasing the overall employability by enhancing my skills and abilities. The realization of my strengths and weaknesses is important for success of this endeavour. Hence the development areas in all three perspectives were identified along with the goals that can help me become a better candidate for employment, a better team player and a more skilled incumbent. Section 1: Professional Development Plan After studying and generalizing modern theories on learning needs analysis, it was decided that a peer feedback is the best technique to identify the development goals (Whetten and Cameron, 2011). In order to have clear idea of my skills and capabilities of performing different roles in my future employer organizations, I also took a Belbin Team Inventory test as well. This test is based on a theory that different individuals tend to be effective in varied roles in a team and these team roles are not equivalent to personality types. With the help of this test, it is examined how different person exhibit different characteristics of nine different team roles. It is possible that one person can express traits of more than one team role (Belbin, 1981). The feedback gathered from peers (both instructors and class mates) must also be in line with my self-assessment. After conducting the exercise, the three developmental goals identified are; Self: Time management It was found that I lack the necessary time management skills and whether it be homework or scheduled meet ups; I end up pushing myself to the 11th hours which creates stress and pressure on me, disappoints others and results in time wastage. It is important for me to develop this skill as it would help me both academically and professionally. In order to develop tis skill I first started to fulfill my commitments during the time I allocated to a certain task (Schwartz and McCarthy, 2007). I also plan to organize myself better using technological means and keeping a to-do list along with a schedule that helps me follow a strict routine. I keep on referring to my schedule and evaluate the shortcomings that I have exhibited in managing my time (Schwartz and McCarthy, 2007; Saunders, 2013). This evaluation of time management came from studying some management theories including Pareto Principle and the four quadrant theory of time management. According to Pareto, usual 80 percent of organizational efficiency is a result of 20 percent workforce’s efforts. Similarly, an individual’s efficiency is dependent on spending time in doing things that comprise 20 percent of the whole day but provide the net result (Payne, 2012). On the other hand, the four quadrant theory provides a combination of things that are urgent-important, not-urgent-important, urgent-not important and not-urgent and not-important (Covey, 2004). Analysis of my daily routine showed that my emphasis was on first, third and fourth quadrant with first and fourth quadrant occupying most time whereas I should have been trying to keep a balance between urgent-important and not-urgent and important to avoid any kind of anxiety and stress. Further effort should be on adjusting other unimportant and not urgent things in my schedule according to my convenience. These theories helped me examine what is important and how my time management skills can be improved in order to avoid any kind of stress and workload. The objectives identified for development of time management skills are; # Short Term Objectives (Accomplished by 15th March 2013) Medium Term Objectives (Accomplished by 15th May 2013) Long Term Objectives (Accomplished by Graduation date ) 1 Assemble a list of activities performed in a day Distinguish between routine activities and unplanned contingencies Identify necessary and unnecessary activities and achieve more efficiency 2 Prioritize each activity during the day Keep a schedule and a to-do list Refine routine list and keep room for unplanned contingencies 3 According to the priority allocate time to each activity Minimize time spent on routine activities to cater more development related activities Initiate activities with other students and schedule these activities considering their availability and mine. 4 Achieve an 80% success rate Increase achievement rate to 85% Success rate : 95% Group work- Team work The group development goal identified was team work, team work is an essential elements required in academics and later on during the professional life. I need more assertiveness in me and the ability to connect with people more, give good suggestions and undertake friendly conversations as well as healthy arguments. Analysis of my team working skills was performed with the help of leader-member exchange theory. According to this theory, the relationship between leader and a member takes place at three stages: role taking, role-making and routinization (Mindtools, 2012a). I realized that at the second stage, sometimes my relationships with my leader did had trust and necessary effectiveness due to which I was an out-group member. Hence, my relationship with my leaders and other group members suffered. Another important theory that helped in understanding my team work and team building skills was McClelland’s Human motivation theory. This theory indicated that power, affiliation and achievement act as the major source of motivation. Understanding of these elements would help me to be a better manager having necessary team management skills (Mindtools, 2013b). Team work gives us more perspectives and in both academics and professional life one needs to brainstorm for solutions in order to come out of difficult situations. It is essential for a manager to have team management skills, for this purpose I assigned myself certain tasks that will build my team management skills (Buchannan and Huczynski, 2010). Also, Belbin’s team roles helped me analyze my skills inventory and also understand roles that I perform with maximum efficiency and effectiveness (Belbin, 1981). # Short Term Objectives (Accomplished by 15th March 2013) Medium Term Objectives (Accomplished by 15th May 2013) Long Term Objectives (Accomplished by Graduation date ) 1 Initiate 5 academic related conversations per day Initiate 10 academic related conversations per day Initiate at least 20 academic related conversations per day 2 Agree on an outcome in at least 2 conversations Agree on an outcome in at least 5 conversations Agree on an outcome in at least 10 conversations 3 Be a part of 2 brainstorming sessions including at least 4 students per day (express my opinion in all) Be a part of 4 brainstorming sessions including at least 6 students per day (express my opinion in all) Be a part of 10 brainstorming sessions including at least 6 students per day (express my opinion in all) 4 Start a brainstorming session after research on a case study, conduct it completely while valuing opinion of others Start 2 brainstorming sessions after research on a case study, conduct it completely while valuing opinion of others Start 4 brainstorming sessions after research on a case study, conduct it completely while valuing opinion of others 5 Help at least 1 classmate with a personal or academic problem Help at least 2 classmates with a personal or academic problem Help at least 4 classmates with a personal or academic problem 6 Be a part of a project and help the team achieve success Lead a project, counsel team members, assign tasks and achieve success Lead an extra-curricular activity, gather volunteers, funds and execute the activity completely astounding results Academic Goal: Writing skills Another important attribute that I need to develop is my written communication, I need to enhance of writing skills, so I can excel in my academia and in my career. It is essential to address this goal during my academic life as most organizations with multiple offices and integrated structures communicate a lot by written means. Using emails and writing appropriate words would help me communicate my message across. It is seen that written communication, for example chat, emails and other means create the most confusion if right tone and words are not used. In order to improve my written communication I need to read and write more in a formal tone along with the support from my instructors who can point out my grammatical mistakes and enhance my business English skills. This perception of doing self-learning and frequent practice came from constructivist learning approach. This approach asserts that in order to learn academic writing, one can observe the experts and then perform the tasks accordingly and frequently in order to gain efficiency. According to Turan Eroglu (n.d) “Constructivist approach to learning involves both the individual’s mental activity and the interaction with the social context person in dwelling in and intra-mental and inter-mental construction of knowledge go on simultaneously (p.4).” What I could make out of this research was the importance of practice along with learning new concepts. Hence, performance comes hand in hand with learning. Since English is not my first language therefore for second language acquisition, I will further explore impacts of listening, reading, writing and speaking on gaining proficiency in English (Anson, 1993). Learning and practicing new vocabulary will further enhance my expertise in this language and also help me in achieving my objective of proficient writing. # Short Term Objectives (Accomplished by 15th March 2013) Medium Term Objectives (Accomplished by 15th May 2013) Long Term Objectives (Accomplished by Graduation date ) 1 Read 2 papers on management and summarize concepts of each Read 5 papers on management and leadership and summarize concepts of each (Yukl, 2003) Write a paper on management or leadership trends in the modern world. Have it published in any magazine 2 Learn and write 3 professional emails. Have it checked by the instructor Learn and write 5 professional contracts. Have it checked by the Instructor Ability to write professional and formal emails, contracts, memos and other company literature 3 Actively seek 2 written pieces of classmates and check their grammar Actively seek 6 written pieces of classmates and check their grammar Ability to check written material 4 Achieve an 80% success rate Achieve a 90% success rate Achieve 99% success rate Section 2: Progress Review It is difficult to evaluate self and identify strengths and weaknesses that can result in success or downfall in one’s academic life and career. In order to have a successful career one must actively work on weaknesses identified by peers and instructors. The progress against the SMART goals identified is satisfactory for me and I hope to further strengthen my skills related to each identified development goal (Whetten and Cameron, 2011). Self Goal: Time management It was difficult to follow a routine with strict timelines but as I started to list down the activities that I perform each day, I realized that a lot of it was taking my ample time without much purpose . So I deliberately removed useless activities from my routine freeing up time for my development goals. It is important for a student and a manager to prioritize each task and allocate appropriate time for each. I started keeping a written list of tasks important for me and allocated time with 15 minutes break between each items for contingencies (Saunders, 2013). This helped me a lot and I started executing the pending things that I have been planning to do for a long time. As my time freed up I started concentrating on my group and academic goals more. So far I have maintained a success rate of 85% which is more than my expectations. I intend to use a scheduler on my laptop or my cell phone, so my schedule becomes handy. Group Goal: Team Work In the beginning it was difficult to conduct academic conversations with students I either do not talk to or talk to about other topics. It was difficult to find students who would be interested in talking about the same topic but as I read more I had more to talk about. Gradually I noticed that the conversations attracted more student’s and I discussion started where I not only presented my tale on the subject but also agreed or disagreed with other classmates. I have read many articles on team work and in order to be an effective member of the team I need to be honest, accept my role in the team and discourage bias within myself and in team members (Zaccaro et al., 2001). I also learned that diversity should be cherished and once people are open to express their feeling different perspectives make a conversation an interesting one (Buchannan and Huczynski, 2010; ). I conducted a brainstorming session with my friends and observed that research and facts can prove pivotal in changing misconceptions of others. I actively inquired if anyone needs my help and realized there are a lot of students who can benefit from my skills. I helped two students with their studies and helped them catch up as they were absent during a particular class. Academic Goal: Writing Skills Written communication is an important part of our lives, while the preferred is always spoken but the use of written communication is inevitable in both schools and in professional careers. I realized that students rarely use formal written means to express their feelings. The biggest gap I identified within myself was in this area, as I researched there are many formal documents and office contracts that we don’t know about. I started with emails and wrote a few professional ones, followed up by office memo with its formal style and language. I also accessed HRB.org and read at least 5 articles on management, leadership and team work. Section 3: Long-term Plan of Action Long Term Objectives (Accomplished by Graduation date ) Self : Time Management Identify necessary and unnecessary activities and achieve more efficiency Refine routine list and keep room for unplanned contingencies Initiate activities with other students and schedule these activities considering their availability and mine. Success rate : 95% Group Goal : Team Work Initiate at least 20 academic related conversations per day Agree on an outcome in at least 10 conversations Be a part of 10 brainstorming sessions including at least 6 students per day (express my opinion in all) Start 4 brainstorming sessions after research on a case study, conduct it completely while valuing opinion of others Help at least 4 classmates with a personal or academic problem Lead an extra-curricular activity, gather volunteers, funds and execute the activity completely astounding results Academic Goal : Written Communication Identify necessary and unnecessary activities and achieve more efficiency Refine routine list and keep room for unplanned contingencies Initiate activities with other students and schedule these activities considering their availability and mine. Success rate : 95% In long term I intend to enhance my time management skills, team management skills and written communication skill, developing these goals should help me excel during my studies and help me secure a better job. In continuation to these developmental goals I would like to pursue study and research on the phenomenon of leadership. All these three goals will help me in this long term goal and by further pondering over what makes a great leader I shall continue grooming my personality and skills to achieve high success in my career. I would also like learn use of different software used in the corporate firms these days, software like Microsoft office suite, SAP and other used ERPs. I have started researching over the above mentioned long term goals and should be in a great position by my graduation date. Conclusions I found the PDP process as an invaluable tool to evaluate self and determine strengths and weaknesses that can be worked upon. The process helped me review myself and identify the gaps I had, it all looked very daunting and useless in the beginning but as I sat down to develop my goals and objectives I realized that it was a very helpful activity that can improve me as a student, as an employee and a person. This learning is for a life time and even later in my career I will use SMART goals to identify the objectives I want to achieve, set milestones for each goal and reflect on the progress honestly and objectively. References Anson, C.M. et al., 1993. Scenarios for Teaching Writing: Contexts for Discussion and Reflective Practice.Urbana, Illinois: National Council of Teachers of English, Belbin, R. M., 1981. Management Teams, New York: John Wiley. Buchannan, D.A. and Huczynski, A.A. 2010., Organizational Behaviour. Harlow, Pearson Education. Cherry, K., 2012. Leadership Theories - 8 Major Leadership Theories, [Online] Available at http://psychology.about.com/od/leadership/p/leadtheories.htm [Accessed 31 March, 2013]. Covey, S.R., 2004. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change. Free Press. Mindtools., 2013a. The Leader Member Exchange Theory, [online] Available at: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/leader-member-exchange.htm [Accessed 31 March, 2013]. Mindtools., 2013b. McClelland’s Human Motivation Theory, [online] Available at: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/human-motivation-theory.htm [Accessed 31 March, 2013]. Koch, R. 2004., Living the 80/20 Way: Work Less, Worry Less, Succeed More, Enjoy More, London: Nicholas Brealey Publishing. Saunders, E.G. 2013., How to Allocate Your Time and Your Effort. Harvard Business Review. Schwartz, T. and McCarthy, C. 2007., Manage Your Energy, Not Your Time. Harvard Business Review. Snee, T., 2010. Leverty Finds That Bad Leadership Wrecks Companies, Despite What Leaders Wish. Available at: http://tippie.uiowa.edu/news/story.cfm?id=2440 [17 January, 2013]. Turan Eroglu, M., (n.d). Constructivist Approach to Developing Academic Writing Skills, [online] Available at: http://library.atilim.edu.tr/kurumsal/pdfs/elt2/meltem_turan_eroglu.pdf [Accessed 31 March, 2013]. Whetton, D.A. and Cameron, K.S. 2011., Developing Management Skills. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Yukl, G., 2003. Leadership in organizations. 4thed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Zaccaro, S. J., Rittman, A. L., & Marks, M. A. 2001. Team leadership. Leadership Quarterly, 12: 451-483. Appendix Summarized Readings Leadership Theories The phenomena of leadership is not a new one, it has been around since start of civilized world although it became a major area of research in the beginning of industrialization. In ancient times war heroes, rulers and rich people were considered as leaders. Although in the 20th century leadership was studied in both political and business domains. Various researchers took the endeavour to explore the phenomena and historic leaders were considered as model subjects. The initial theory of leadership that further highlighted the term was trait theory of leadership which basically explains that great leaders are born with certain traits and attributes, these traits and attributes cannot be learned by the common man. It further explains that no matter the situation or surroundings, a leader would rise up amongst the common people and lead them to glory and success. Later on with the industrial revolution and modernization, some new theories such as human relations theory and participative theories evolved that called for a more humanistic approach of management. Furthermore as contingency and situational theories of leaderships emphasized on scenarios and adjustment of leadership style according to environment, followers and other external factors. With the information economy at its peak leadership is now seen as much more than theories explained by old school. The modern day leader must have the ability to respond to situations, have a humanistic approach towards employees with an inventive and innovative business sense that can lead the organization in to the future. Furthermore the leader of today must also develop leaders under him that can share his vision and motivate employees as per the given situation (Cherry, 2012). Management Practices As a driving force within the organization poor leadership or managerial behavior can result in colossal damages. These damages can range from quantitative damages in form of monetary returns and decreased revenues to qualitative damages such as reputation in the market, decreased good will and demotivated employees. The evolution of industrialization paved the way for modern management practices and the emphasis shifted from autocratic management to human relations style of management. The human resources, once considered as menial labor earned importance through their inventive and innovative ways. With time it got apparent that businesses that realized the importance of human resources and their skills grew in size and acquired a competitive advantage in the market. Those managers that can gather their teams under one objective and achieve results were valued, consequently those who could not motivate their teams became redundant in the modern era. A manager or leader is entrusted to keep their subordinates motivated and actively working towards achievement of organizational goals. Modern firms realized this threat and consequences of bad decision making, hence as a precaution these organizations invested heavily in leadership development programs. These programs were geared towards identifying and developing incumbents into future leaders. Those who cannot only motivate their teams towards desired organizational objectives but also have the business acumen that can help them in facing future challenges. These businesses deliberately designed intrinsic and extrinsic rewards for their employees, in order to keep them motivated and loyal. Within the scope of intrinsic rewards, the decision making practices by management and behavior of managers towards employees acquired immense importance. With the rise of knowledge economy visionary leaders became the scarcest commodity in the market place. Regardless of the product, size and prevailing market dynamics, it is proven through many case studies that effective leaders can take organizations to greater heights. These leaders have unique characteristics and attributes while their decision making style suites the appropriate situation. Organizations these days understand that in today’s economically fragile and dynamic market place, poor decisions made by individuals or appalling attitude towards employees or customers can devastate an organization. With probability of making bad or untimely decisions by even seasoned professionals always hovering above the organization. Hence it is importance to research and find out the measures that can minimize effects of poor leadership and managerial behavior on the organization. Additionally a comprehensive study in to the phenomenon of leadership and organizational behavior shall also help in identification of an appropriate leadership style. The challenges faced by managers and leaders that result in poor decision making and behaviors (Snee, 2010). Professional Emails Dear Mr. Xavier Fernandez, It was a pleasure meeting you at the golf club, I was surprised and yet pleased to see such an old friend after decades. Our time at college is still remembered with admiration, seeing you working for Nexus Consulting was very pleasant. In the position that I currently occupy at Vela Informatics, I consider Nexus not as my competitor but a team player that is constantly motivating us to do more as a company and compete in a healthy market with ethical practices. We at Vela are planning to explore the emerging markets of Africa and my reliable sources tell me that Nexus is on the verge of opening its first branch officer in Central African Republic (CAR). It has been on the back burner for a few weeks now but seeing you reignited my passion for working together in a partnership to explore the African continent. You may know that we currently occupy 3rd position in consultancy services in Senegal, and I must share that they are in dire need of technical consultant both in their banking sector and legal institutions. It is a great opportunity for both companies to work together and reap the benefits mutually. Please find attached with this email a detailed proposal for partnership that I have myself compiled. I would appreciate if you can push it up to your leadership team and look forward to hearing from you very soon. Regards, Patrick Olsen CEO – Vela Informatics Dear Mr. Patrick Olsen, I hope you are doing well and enjoying the pleasant summer weather. With reference to our telephonic conversation on 18th March 2013, where I informed you that our management would conclude the consideration today 1st April 2013 on a potential partnership with your prestigious company. I regret to inform you that the management of Nexus Consulting has decided to pass on the lucrative opportunity and a chance to work together in the emerging markets of Africa. This was not an easy decision and it remained under constant discussions throughout this month, the reasons for opting against the partnership are evident in our firm’s mission and vision. We have certain long term and short term objectives along with our core values and principals by which we conduct our business. A partnership would dilute our efforts and keep us away from our own individual long term goals. I, on behalf of our whole management team wish you the very best in your future endeavors and hope to compete with you in the potential markets in a healthy and conducive way. Yours Sincerely, Mr. Xavier Fernandez Chief Information Officer Nexus Consulting Read More