Personal Development Portfolio - Essay Example

 Personal Development Portfolio Personal Development Portfolio A personal development portfolio is an action plan, which is based on goal-setting, reflection, values, awareness as well as planning for development associated with education, self-improvement, relationship and career. The current personal development portfolio has been prepared within the context of the module on organisational change, which I had successfully undergone. In this PDP (professional development portfolio), I shall describe my enhanced knowledge and skills, analysis of risks and opportunities and future career positioning based on the module. A critical reflection of Literature Review process and presentation of the group Under the broad topic of organizational change, a presentation was assigned to each group. The presentation discussed on the issues of internal and external changes and their influence on organizational change. Our group firstly distributed the work among them and started at an early phase in order to ensure work quality (Anglia Ruskin University, 2013). The major task during the entire preparation of presentation was collection of appropriate literature review. In general, the presentation was based on collection of past evidences in numerous industries, which resulted in organizational change. The first analysis was made on the packaging industry across South East Asia. The market of aluminium can is extremely competitive and hence, firms operating in this industry, such as, Westcan Aluminium, have to keep their prices low as the threat is from both branded and un-branded local firms (Ridgman, 1996). During initial stages of the literature review process, various difficulties arise. A major difficulty was in term of sourcing statistical data for the required industries. PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) is a small fragment of the packaging industry. Consequently, it was difficult to find appropriate information on its usage, share among different firms as well as total number of unidentified or local companies selling the material (Cameron and Mitchell, 1993). The next problem occurred in terms of group management. I realized that some of the team members were less participative compared to others. As such, issues and conflicts began to arise between group members. However, I was able to clear the misunderstandings by assigning each member with particular task with a fixed deadline. As I took on the most difficult task, I was applauded and immediately positioned as leader of the group. The next issue that occurred was that of assigning parts during the presentation speech. Conflicts of interest occurred as two or more members wanted to present on similar topics (Ghaye, 2000). By properly segregating the topics as well as making the group members realize the importance of every part, issues could be settled while enhancing overall confidence of the group. From this, I learnt about critical aspects of group management and conflict handling within a team. Discussion and reflection of Learning Set In order to improve our overall understanding and knowledge about organizational change, a learning set was formed in the class. This set consisted of four members, where each member was assigned certain tasks. The members of the learning set were chosen on the basis of a compatibility questionnaire set, which was given during the initial formation of learning set. The major objective of this learning set was to prepare case studies, presentations and all other group activities during the module (Bamford and Forrester, 2003). As the module was directed at organizational change, it is imperative that primary aim of these learning groups would be to inculcate work place learning, team management, group management as well as management during crisis situations. Our learning set team was a balanced one with two boys and two girls (Moon, 1999). The learning set significantly enhanced my group skills, communication skills and also my anger management skills. During the initial days, I was slightly reluctant to participate in the group as I like to work alone. Also, I had little patience when others take more time to solve any particular problem. As a result, during the initial days, I had few group conflicts with my learning set team members. Nevertheless, during course of the module, I was able to overcome those traits that would have been detrimental in my future (Covey, 1996). The learning set helped in by providing moral support during crisis situations. Furthermore, while working with my learning set, I was able to realize the importance of workload sharing and its positive implications on me as well as other members during the course module. This benefitted me particularly as before the learning set, I was inclined towards doing projects on my own, which is why I was frequently overloaded with work and pressure (Slaughter, 1996; 2000). Another important learning, which substantially enhanced my overall competency, was literature review and presentation made by our group. During the literature review presentation, I was able to recognise important aspects, which result in a successful group formation. During the literature review and group presentation, learning was facilitated through group work activities, which required similar efforts from all group members, discussions about the issues and finding the appropriate solutions for problems arising during the process (University of Wolverhampton, 2012). The learning set was critically useful in providing a forum, where I could formulate important questions as well as discuss them with my learning set or group. This also allowed me to assess more difficult problems occurring during the course module. While self-learning is important, discussing issues and critical problems with the learning set group not only enhanced my overall understanding, but also compelled me to consider deeper and underlying issues. As a consequence, my overall learning was greatly enhanced (Aswathappa, 2007). Lastly, learning sets facilitated formulation and presentation of the personal development portfolio to a great extent. During initial stage of the course module, we were asked to prepare a personal development portfolio at the end of the module program (Cambra-Fierro, 2007). The objective of the learning program was a reflection on the current and future career prospects, along with aspects, which I learned during the module. Thus, learning set formed an important part of the personal development portfolio as a major stage, which inculcated in me various skills such as, communication, group dynamics, team management and conflicts handling (Hampton, 2010). Discussion and reflection of significant learning themes From the module as well as group literature review presentation, four major learning topics were evaluated. These were nature of change (planned and emergent), changes from the perspectives of power and politics, change from the standpoint of organizational learning and communicating change (sense making process) (Burnes, 1996). The first important learning theme was planned and emergent changes occurring in the organization. During the learning model, I was able to evaluate various important aspects of change. Change management can be described as a process where an organization’s structure, capabilities and direction are continuously renewed and revived so as to serve the ever changing requirements of internal and external customers (Moran and Brightman, 2001). From the module, I learned that changes can be planned or emergent. For instance, if an organization intends to diversify after 5 years of establishment, then the planned changes will include capital building and intensive research about the industry or sector. Simultaneously, emergent changes occur due to changes in the external environment (Van Woerkum, Aarts and De Grip, 2007). For instance, emerging requirements from customers of Apple persuaded the giant to transform its business priority from desktops to laptops, palmtops and other technologically enhanced devices. The theory of planned and emergent change was evaluated though an interactive case study of Nike, where the company’s strategic changes were studied overtime (Bond, 1999). The next important topic was changes in terms of power and politics. During this module, I realized that organizational changes can lead to conflicts in power as well as create political issues within the organization. For instance, in case of mergers and acquisitions, two different set of companies come together (Maleska, 1995). The employees of the acquired company often feel the pressure of being demoted or fired. Politics can surface in departments such as, human resource, where preference is given to vested interests and not the performance. As a result, it is necessary to maintain a smooth transition process during organizational change (Cole, 2004). The third topic was changes from the perspective of organizational learning. I learned that organizational learning is an important tool for improving and enhancing an organization’s effectiveness. Organisational learning can be influenced by multiple external and internal factors. For instance, factors such as, cultural diversity, employee identity, technology, power distribution within the firm, language barriers and organisational culture can have significant positive or negative effects on overall learning within a company. The module helped in by enhancing my knowledge regarding the conflicts that may occur during organizational learning (Caldwell, 2006). Communicating change was another important topic that was studied during the module. During the course, I had understood that effective communication of the change process is one of the most important strategies for a successful organizational change. A critical task while implementing the change is that of encouraging employees and other members to work as a single team (Graetz, 2000). Also, it is important to motivate and encourage the senior level leaders, who in turn can maintain the enthusiasm. For building trust, effective and continuous communication as well as involving members of the organization in decision making processes is also essential. Sensemaking process forms a part of organizational change (Doyle, 2002). Here, individuals who are experiencing change are given a meaning. An important learning from the module was the various properties of sensemaking, which can be extremely beneficial in future organizational learning and change (Randhawa, 2007). The major sensemaking elements, which I learned during the module were identity and its importance, retrospection, importance of narratives and dialogues during organizational change, sharing process, continuity in terms of communication and sharing of experience, extracting important cues from the process and giving importance to plausibility (Fenton and Pettigrew, 2000; Carnall, 2003). Application and Integration of Learning The objective of this personal development portfolio has been to assess my current strengths and weakness with respect to my prospective career. Before the module, my overall knowledge and understanding was confined to previous learning experiences, books and other articles, which I had come across during my previous courses. Even though I have been an attentive student, yet my knowledge was conventional and lacked creativity. The module course helped me in realizing the critical aspects of organizational change, which in turn will be helpful for my future career course (Johns, 2004). During organizational change, several factors are found to influence the overall process of change. The module helped me in identifying those change and making appropriate strategies so that conflicts and problems arising during the change process can be minimized and successful change can be established (Brookfield, 1995). For example, communicating change is a critical aspect of the change management process. Similarly, employee engagement is major influencer while implementing change (Caldwell, 2006). Engaged employees are ready to accept change as well as simultaneously motivate their peers and subordinated. In addition, engaged employees are ready to use their brainpower, energy, time as well as dedication beyond limitations, thereby enhancing effectiveness of the organizational change process (Boud and Walker, 1998; Burnes, 2004). During the module, I was also able to explore the effects generated by organizational change. Some of the central issues that I shall apply during my future work in any organization are to understand the importance of power and politics, planned and emergent changes and that of people during the change process. After completion of the module, I intend to be a practitioner who provides consulting to organizations undergoing change (Johns, 2006). Considering the substantial increase in internal and external organizational change and issues while managing change, it can be said that future prospect of a consulting practitioner is lucrative. While achieving 100 percent success in organizational change is practically impossible, implementation of the strategies and control process evaluated in the module will be helpful. Reference List Anglia Ruskin University, 2013. Reflective Writing. [pdf] Anglia Ruskin University. Available at: [Accessed June 20, 2014]. Aswathappa, K., 2007. Human resource and personnel management. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Education. Bamford, D. R. and Forrester, P. L., 2003. Managing planned and emergent change within an operations management environment. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 23(5), pp. 546–564. Bond, T. C., 1999. The role of performance measurement in continuous improvement. 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