Drafting Personal Development Portfolio - Admission/Application Essay Example

Personal Development Portfolio Executive Summary A personal career development portfolio can be used as a guide in terms of enabling the students to keep track of their professional growth, achievements and other related work experiences. In line with this, the process of analyzing and reflecting the leadership skills and personality of the students is necessary in terms of enabling the students learn more about each individual’s future professional growth and learning experiences On-line personality tests like the Myers-Briggs indicator and assessment of leadership styles can be utilized when developing a personal career portfolio. Aside from developing useful curriculum vitae, the on-line personality test results enable each individual identify specific skills and areas that needs further improvement. Introduction Learning can take place not only within the four corners of a classroom but also through our own personal experiences. According to Houle (1980, p. 221), this particular learning can be gained by going through reflection of our daily experiences within and outside the educational institution. As a person, I have always considered learning as an essential part of developing each individual’s ability to cope with professional challenges in life. Because of my desire to organize and manage my own business someday, I gained a large part of my knowledge about managing business by reading books, journals, and attending short business courses and training programs. It is a long process to develop a strong career path in business management. As part of identifying some of the key skills required in competitive managers, some of the highly recommended strategic ways on how I can effectively improve my business knowledge and skills in managing people will be tackled in details. Knowledge and Necessary Skills in Business Management Reflective and Continuous Learning Continuous learning is important in developing a strong career path in business management. In fact, there is a strong relationship between learning and knowledge in the sense that a person can make use of acquired business knowledge at the same time that the person is constantly searching for new business ideas to experience and learn about (Jarvis 1987). In line with this, Kolb and Fry (1975, pp. 33 – 36) explained that the four stages of learning includes the concrete experience abilities (feeling), observation and reflection abilities (watching), forming abstract concepts abilities (thinking), and testing in new situations abilities (doing). Therefore, managers should consider these four stages of learning when going through reflective learning. According to Boud, Koegh and Walker (1985, p. 19), reflection means that a person is able to “recapture their personal experience, think about it, mull it over, and evaluate it”. It means that reflection is all about a person’s ability to connect with their own feelings before finally evaluating these experiences into practice (Boud, Koegh and Walker 1985, pp. 26 – 31). With regards to ‘evaluating experiences’, it is necessary on the part of the managers to re-examine their current and past business management experiences in accordance to their existing knowledge in managing people within a business organization. Donald Schön (1983) explained that reflecting our personal experiences is important because it enables us to easily engage ourselves in the process of continuous learning. Likewise, reflective learning allows us to think rationally and apply what we have learned either through our personal experience with other people or information we gathered out of reading. As a result of going through the different stages of learning, managers could develop logical and more rational ideas. Leadership and Communication Skills The behavioural perspective of leadership can be applied when managers manages task or people (Ahlstrom and Bruton 2010, p. 240). Being task and people oriented is referring to the manager’s ability to effectively delegate specific task to each employee based on their credentials and ability to perform the task whereas people oriented behaviour is referring to the manager’s ability to establish mutual trust and respect among and between each of the team members. Aside from the importance of having good leadership skills, business managers should be capable of developing new business management ideas, be creative and have good communication skills. Aside from having good leadership skill, a good communication skill is also considered as one of the most influential factors that could contribute to the business success (Ahlstrom and Bruton 2010, p. 40). In line with this, developing one’s own leadership and communication skills is important since business managers are responsible in developing and implementing strategic plans that could enable the company overcome new business challenges from time to time. Having these skills will enable business managers effectively solve internal and external conflicts which may arise in the future. As defined by Yukl (1989, p. 14), power is “an agent’s potential to influence over the attitudes and behaviour of one or more designated target of people. In line with this, a good leader should have an authorized power to rule over a group of subordinates. To become an effective leader, each individual should have a natural personal attributes which other people admires. Aside from possessing extra ordinary skills when it comes to problem solving, it means that a leader should be a good example to the rest of the team members. As explained by Posakoff and Schriesheim (1985), having a strong personal charisma is necessary because it attracts the team members to cooperate well with the leader. I strongly believe that the qualities of a competitive leader should include: having the wisdom to develop an organizational vision, good communication skills, knowing one’s skills and employing it, ability to empower and motivate the rest of the team members, ability to establish trust by being reliable and constantly competitive, creativeness and resourcefulness. In line with this, one of the best ways to win the trust and respect of the business stakeholders is to show competitive business management knowledge needed when managing the business. To avoid unnecessary human errors caused by miscommunication, managers should improve their communication skills at all levels. Competitive leaders should have the ability to make use of authoritative, participative, and delegative leadership style depending on what the situation calls for (Ahlstrom and Bruton 2010, p. 250). After taking the assessment test for leadership style, the test results revealed that my leadership style includes participative and delegative. Although the leader has the power to make the final decision, participative leadership style is referring to the leader’s ability to accept input coming from the members of the team when managing and making important decisions when solving organizational problems (About.com 2011). Similar to participative leadership style, delegative leaders encourages the team members to participate in decision making process except that delegative leaders tend to lack the expertise in managing different organizational situations (ibid). (See Appendix IV on page 26) A corporate vision is very important as it provides the members of the business organization with a feeling of unity in the sense that the company has a future goals and directions (Dilenscheneider 1992, p. 24). Since my leadership style is more focused on participative and delegative, it is a challenge on my part to develop my authoritative leadership style approach. According to Ahlstrom and Bruton 2010, p. 250), authoritative leadership style motivates people in times of serious business difficulties because this type of leadership approach mobilizes each of the team members through enthusiasm and the use of a new organizational vision. A business organization that is united in terms of reaching the same goal has a better chance of becoming a successful organization. In line with this, Dilenscheneider (1992) explained the some ways in which a manager could effectively develop a corporate vision. First, the leader has to develop a personal vision prior to communicating it to the organization. In order for this stage to become effective, the leader should be able to convince and persuade the members of the organization to accept the proposed vision. For this reason, the application of authoritative leadership style is important since it enables the business managers to immediate act on short-term solutions for internal and external business conflicts. Professional Background and Learning Experiences Since I was 6 years old, my father who is a successful businessman, started introducing a lot of basic business theories and concepts to me. Having a strong basic business management background made me develop enthusiasm in learning and knowing how to effectively manage a large group of employees and potential investors with different culture and background. With the purpose of fulfilling my future goals, I am currently enrolled in Master in Business Administration – MSc Management. To further enhance my knowledge and skills as a business manager, I intend to establish a strong connection with other successful business people. By staying connected with business owners, I can learn new management techniques and business strategies from them. Because of my desire to pursue a career as a manager of my own business enterprise, I spent a lot of time reading books and magazines related to business management each time I have a free time. I read books not only with regards to human resources management but also issues related to globalization, impact of business downsizing on the overall business profitability, the advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing, political business environment, and micro- and macro-business economics among others. Aside from spending a lot of time and effort on self-learning process, I exert effort to mingle and communicate with other young business entrepreneurs around the world. Team work is essential part of a successful business management. Within a business organization, implementing a new strategic plan among the team members is necessary to enable companies effectively deal with challenging tasks. Aside from good leadership and communication techniques, developing a strong organizational culture that is open to organizational change could help increase the team performance (Vecchi and Brennan 2009). In line with this, the development of a strong organizational culture minimizes the risk wherein employees or team members would initiate resistance-to-change. Considering that each of the team members are working together towards a single organizational goal, there is a higher chance of increasing the team members’ motivation at work (Barbuto 2005). In line with this, the benefits of developing cohesive group within a business organization includes a higher production and performance rate, lower rate of absenteeism or lateness at work, and lesser organizational conflicts. Specifically the Myers Briggs Personality Test aims to measure the ability of each individual to react towards the rest of the team members including how the members of a team would perform a given task (Bradbary and Garrett 2005). After taking the Myers Briggs test, the results revealed that my personality type is “administrator” (Similarminds 2011). Basically, my personality is more of extrovert (70.59%) rather than introvert (29.41%), sensing (74.19%) rather than intuitive (25.81%), thinking (66.67%) rather than feeling (33.33%), and judging (84.33%) rather than perceiving (15.63%) (ibid). (See Appendix II on page 21) Upon analyzing the Myers Briggs personality test results, being more extrovert than introvert is advantageous on my part in the sense that being extrovert would allow me to have a better chance of being able to successfully build good business relationship with my prospective employees, suppliers of different consumer goods, and valued customers. The 29.41% introvert is also good in terms of allowing me to have quiet time for me to develop new business strategies for future business expansion plan among others. Professional Goals In order to earn industry accredited qualification as a business manager, I decided to pursue MSc Management course. Basically, my decision to enrol in this programme could strengthen my technical knowledge with regards to the proper way of managing employees, shareholders, and the public investors, manage international business arrangements, increase my existing knowledge on financial management, significance of business mergers and acquisitions, and learning more about the modern marketing techniques among others. As a way to improve my academic performance in this course, I read not only business related books but also business magazines, real-life business news report, and business-related journals. Even though I am still in the process of finishing the MSc Management course requirements, I am already developing a business plan which I would implement as soon as I graduated. Designing a business plan while I am in the process of completing this course enables me to accurately identify the strengths and weaknesses of my future business plan. In fact, this is the best time wherein I can easily seek some of my professors’ personal opinion with regards to business ideas that would come through my mind. There was one occasion wherein I was puzzled whether or not it is best to outsource some of the human services for the website business I am planning to implement. In order to accurately identify the advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing human services, I decided to seek the personal opinions of some of my professors. As a result, I realize that there are pros and cons associated with hiring the service of highly qualified individuals from third world countries. It is significantly cheaper to hire the professional service of highly qualified individuals coming from a third world country. However, the cultural differences between foreign hired employees and the employer may create misunderstanding in the long-run. Therefore, it is necessary on my part to consider learning more about the cultural differences of each individual when I end up deciding to push through my business plan someday. Planning The following time table will be used in reaching my career goals: Year Agenda 2010 - 2012 Complete all requirements for Master in Business Administration: MSc Management 2013 - 2015 Implement my future business plan Apply the business management skills I acquired from higher education and self-learning process into real-life business practice. Future Career Development Opportunities As part of reflective and continuous learning, I intend to participate and become active in business organizations that are providing extra training and development programmes. This strategy will enable me to keep my existing knowledge and skills updated to the future business demands. In line with this, my decision to make continuous learning a habit could significantly improve my future career development opportunities. Joining group of business seminars will allow me to become more familiarized with the latest business practices and ethical standards behind running a business in Europe. Becoming engage with some international business organization could increase my knowledge and understanding with regards to different culture. This strategy is useful in case I decide to outsource some human related services to manage and monitor the business website 24/7. Progress Before I enrolled myself in MSc Management course, my perception about managing my own business is more focused on typical buying and selling of products and services. Taking advantage of hiring cheaper human resources from third world countries to do some business monitoring and selling for my company was the least part of my business concerns. It was only after my first year in MSc Management when I started realizing about the importance of global outsourcing of human resources. Conclusion & Recommendation Aside from enabling me to determine the best strategies on how I could make my future career path more realistic, drafting a personal development portfolio enabled me to identify and strengths and weaknesses as a future manager of my own business enterprise. For this reason, I should regularly keep track of my personal progress in this career development plan. Appendix I – Curriculum Vitae – Cover Letter Date Contact Name Title Company Name Address City, State, Zip Dear (name); I am a currently enrolled in MSc Management at the (name of university). With my two years work experience in managing a business, I am submitting my job application for the post of part-time manager in your company. My strong points include good leadership and interpersonal communication skill. Based on my past work experiences, I am capable of managing a small group of employees under my supervision. Thank you. I am looking forward to hear from you soon. Sincerely yours, Print your name Job Applicant Appendix II – Curriculum Vitae Your name Address Contact number e-mail address Summary: With two years of work experience in a restaurant as a manager. Strong points include good leadership and interpersonal communication skill; capable of managing a small group of employees. Skills: Leadership skills Interpersonal communication skills Quality control Strong problem-solving, critical, and analytical skills Excellent use of computer software: MsWord, MsExcel, and MsOutlook Competitive business management skills Professional Experience: Restaurant Manager (2006 – 2008) Responsibilities: Monitor the work quality and services of the team members Organize daily business activities and internal scheduling Education: (List down your past educational attainment) Appendix III – Myers Briggs Personality Test Questionnaire Answering these questions accurately requires honest reflection on how you really think, feel, and act and maybe taking the test on more than one occasion.  Some of the questions on this test measure personality traits differently than you might guess so trying to answer the test in a way you think would be ideal is just going to screw up your results, so just focus on being honest if you want the most accurate results. Source: Similarminds, 2011 Appendix II – Myers Briggs Personality Test Results Source: Similarminds, 2011 Appendix III – Assessment of Leadership Style Source: About.com, 2011 Appendix IV – Assessment of Leadership Style Test Results Your results indicate that your leadership style is both: Participative and Delegative Participative Leadership Participative leaders accept input from one or more group members when making decisions and solving problems, but the leader retains the final say when choices are made. Group members tend to be encouraged and motivated by this style of leadership. This style of leadership often leads to more effective and accurate decisions, since no leader can be an expert in all areas. Input from group members with specialized knowledge and expertise creates a more complete basis for decision-making. Delegative Leadership Delegative leaders allow group members to make decisions. This style is best used in situations where the leader needs to rely on qualified employees. The leader cannot be an expert in all situations, which is why it is important to delegate certain tasks out to knowledgeable and trustworthy employees. Note: Good leaders utilize all three styles depending upon the situation. For example: Use an authoritative style if a group member lacks knowledge about a certain procedure. Use a participative style with group members who understand the objectives and their role in the task. Use a delegative style if the group member knows more than you do about the task. Source: About.com, 2011 References About.com, 2011. Quiz - What's Your Leadership Style? [online] Available at: [Accessed 1st January 2011] Ahlstrom, D. and Bruton, G., 2010. International Management: Strategy and Culture in the Emerging World. Southern-Western Cengage Learning. Barbuto, J., 2005. Motivation and transactional, charismatic, and transformational leadership: a test of antecedents. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies , 11(4), pp. 26 - 40. Boud D., Koegh and Walker, 1985. ‘Reflection: Turning Experience into Learning’ London: Kogan. Bradbary, D. and Garrett, D., 2005. Herding chickens: innovative techniques for project management. Sybex Inc. Dilenscheneider, R.L., 1992 ‘A Briefing for Leaders: Communication as the Ultimate Exercise of Power’ New York: Harper Collins. Jarvis, P., 1987 ‘Adult Learning in the Social Context’ London: Croom Helm. Kolb, D.A. and Fry, R., 1975. ‘Toward an Applied Theory of Experiential learning’ in Cooper, C. (Eds) ‘Theories of Group Process’ London: John Wiley. pp. 35 – 36. Posakoff, P.M. and Schriesheim, C.A., 1985. ‘Field Studies of French and Raven’s Bases of Power: Critique, Re-analysis, and Suggestions of Future Research’ Psychological Bulletin. 97, pp. 387 – 411. Schön, D.A., 1983. ‘The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action’ London: Temple Smith. Similarminds, 2011. Myers Briggs Test Results. [online] Available at: [Accessed 1st January 2011]. Vecchi, A. and Brennan, L., 2009. Quality management: a cross-cultural perspective. Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal , 16(2), pp. 149 - 164. Yukl, G.A., 1989. ‘Leadership in Organizations’ Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Read More