Developing the Professional - Case Study Example

Name Instructor Course Code Date Developing the Professional Table of Contents Table of Contents 1 Introduction 2 Learning Method 2 Team Work 6 Communication 9 Conclusion 10 Work Cited 12 Introduction This reflective report looks into various attributes involved in the development of professionals within an organisational context with a practical application of a group project. From a critical point of view, learning methods, teamwork and communication attributes have been regarded crucial issues in the daily development of professionals, nevertheless, their input have not been emphasised appropriately within my learning process until the time of undertaking the group project. The need for efficient and reliable professionals involves ensuring the human resources are made of competent workers in accordance with the organisational culture. This report looks into the learning methods covered in class, team work as evidenced in the charity work and communication aspects within a professional context. In context, the paper will highlight key aspects learnt in the course study as well as linking them to Developing the professional module with regard to various and relevant theories. The various models and theories utilised in this regard involves Learning Cycles, Social Learning Theories and VAK Leaning Styles which indicate the usefulness of comprehending the style of learning, as well as analysing the most effective method for the team development model and communication model in this context. This report highlights the attributes of appropriately coming up with effective professionals within an organisational context. Learning Method The need to develop a competent and experienced professional is crucial in any organisational context, and ensures acquisition of effective cognitive and intellectual skills for efficiency purposes in the organisational management and operation (Somekh and Saunders 185). The aspect of being able to work effectively is stemmed in the fact that a professional must possess the necessary skills and experiences. Nevertheless, these skills and experiences have to be acquired through a progressive process of professional development (Batenburg, van Walbeek, and in der Mauer 910). From a critical point of view, a professional is expected to work effectively through embracing critical thinking strategies as well as being creative. This is achieved through managing creative process in individuals, as well as organising thoughts, analysing and synthesising them critically and eventually appraise the necessary steps to improve their tasks. From a theoretical perspective, the aspect of professional development entails embracing both cognitive and social learning aspects to enhance effective professionalism (Gabriel 982). The attribute of cognitive perspective have majorly centred on notions brought by the beliefs or knowledge of the educator. On the other hand, social perspectives consider professional learning through participation. Social Learning theory (STL) gives a critical theoretical approach that integrates both cognitive aspects and social effects of learning (Gabriel 985). In this context, the effects of STL has been explored to interpret the effects of a professional development programme to help staff approach their tasks through a collaborative approach to solve prevailing problems. The coming up with solutions involves taking the open-ended tasks and activities, as well as coming up with in-depth understanding of available solutions that may enhance motivation and engagement in the practice. After utilising VAK learning styles, I acquired more insights into the reason for listening attentively to others and acquire more experiences from their accounts of practice. Effective development of a professional entails ensuring staff are capable of working in harmony and communicate effectively (Webb 66). The attribute of effective communication is paramount within an organisational context as it promotes operation processes enhancing the overall outcome. In respect to the learning process and group project, interacting with other member gave me the opportunity to embrace diversity and realise the rich resource of ideas held by various individuals. Thus, professional development can embrace a collective approach to promote holistic development of staff within an organisational context (Yukl 502). In a business operation, staffs have to communicate among themselves as well as with their senior. Further, employees have to attend to clients or represent the organisation in official functions which all involve communication. Thus, for an organisation to be sure of making effective leads and make good impression in any business venture, there is need for having efficient communicators to represent the company in any front of operation. Effective communication ensures that any intended organisational information is delivered to the recipient in the most credible manner (Forsyth 126). Further, an effective communicator sells a company brand or idea in an efficient and credible manner. Nevertheless, for communication to be effective in the process of professional development there is need for establishing the appropriate medium of communication. Any arising issues has to be evaluated and the best communication option chosen to ensure imperative realisation of the communication objective (Forsyth 376). Effective presentations ensure delivery of ideas to a given audience or market share within an organisational context. The need for having credible tools for coming up with effective presentations is inevitable to ensure success of tasks undertaken by various professionals. In this context, acquisition of skills and techniques to prepare and conduct attractive and convincing presentations is inevitable for competent professionals (Somekh and Saunders 190). From the coursework, it is evident that practice enhances presentation skills. At the onset, I was very poor in making presentations, but after studying the importance of effective presentations in professional development, I became interested in perfecting my presentation skills and have gained considerable experience. With increased technical skills, effective communication is equally enhanced and delivery of ideas and strategic measures made paramount. With a strong and articulate sense of presentation skills, conducting professional meeting becomes easier. Individuals are able to present new ideas and projections for the organisations to their seniors or to financiers, hence making meetings progressive and accountable. Murphy and Rodriguez-Manzanares (444) opine that activity theory and the principle of contradiction greatly brings up insights to the transformations brought about by utilisation of ICTs in organisational contexts. With respect to effective presentation, utilisation of standard IT skills is necessary to promote professionalism. Activation theory greatly puts to task the fact that human activity promotes acquisition of experiences and skills within a working setting. Somekh and Saunders (190) further indicate that knowledge in socio-cultural practices is greatly enhanced by actively engaging in the practices that promote coming up with viable meanings of the team members. Within an organisational setting, various relationships are created and interactions bring about collisions that may bring up conflicts. Analysing the developing the professional model, it is evident that embracing learning cycles is inevitable to acquire the various stages necessary in increasing knowledge and ideas among the members of the team. The need for effective ways to approach conflicts and ways to overcome them through negotiation are paramount. Competitive forces within workers may bring up conflict, but it is necessary for team leaders to act as mediators and motivators to ensure competition among workers thrives well and effectively any conflict resolved amicably without affecting existing tasks or performance of workers (Forsyth 382). Professional development greatly relies on imparting experience and nurturing talents and abilities within the organisation. To enhance and nurture skills and talents among human resources, coaching and mentoring are paramount. Recruits or newly hired workers are engaged in programs and assigned senior or experienced staff to coach, guides, and mentor them through their practical tasks. The mentor or coach acts as the teacher or leader while the recruit acts as the follower, and they work as a team to ensure every entity works effectively. The mentor directs while the worker acquires experiences to effectively work in the organisation and improve their performance. Team Work Team work in professional development is paramount as depicted in the group’s project involving fundraising for charity. The main activity in the group involved Developing of Professional (DTP) module necessary to be embraced by professionals, as well as promote teamwork to achieve set goals and objectives. To effectively achieve the set goals and objectives of the charity fundraising, teamwork ensured that every member understood the various tasks required to make the project a success, and thereby, share ideas on how to effectively approach the whole exercise. The creation of the team not only involves having goals and objectives, but also having co-ordinated efforts to realise the set goals. Synergy and cohesiveness in the group enhances team work and propels the efforts of the group towards achieving set goals (Forsyth 116). Being in a country with different cultural background from our home countries and eventually being of diverse backgrounds initially proved a challenge to come together and work as a team. However, after understanding each other and focusing on the objectives of the project, every member became aware of the need to work as a team and cooperate for effectiveness in the exercise ahead. From a theoretical perspective, Belbin’s Team Role’s theory clearly identifies how the team functioned. According to Belbin’s proposition, team plays diverse roles and with each role being carried out effectively and efficiently, the team achieve holistic success (Belbin 21). Teamwork involves effective leadership; the charity fundraising project involved management and leadership of the team to ensure smooth flow of the activities. The group unanimously appointed one member to lead others during the first meeting. However, it is evident that a leader ought to possess flexible and synergistic qualities to influence and enhance change in the entire group’s activities. Our team leader maintained the position as co-ordinator of sorts making sure all activities are conducted on time and the right approach and direction towards set goals is followed. Thus, the group’s leadership borrowed heavily on the ‘Laissez Faire’ type of leadership which ensures every member assumes responsibility of their tasks and the leader acts as just a co-ordinator towards achieving the set goals and objectives (Yukl 20). From the project work, having experienced members with fundraising enabled other group members to borrow ideas from them on how to enhance their operations and improve on the performance of the group’s roles and objectives. The group leader also acted as the main coach and mentor to other members of the team, and having experience made all members look up to the leader for guidance or direction on the best course of action to achieve better results. The leadership approach embraced in the project worked well to the overall goals and objectives of the study amid many authors pointing out that laissez faire leadership model as the least effective (Bass and Bass 34). One of the major reasons that the model worked effectively involved the context in which the project was being carried out. Every member of the groups was aware of the various tasks expected of them to achieve the project’s goals and objectives. Consequently, the project also doubled as a learning process and thus, group members were enthusiastic of the need to understand the concept behind the project and the various approaches to effectively achieve the objectives. Thus, the group members had in-built motivation during the group project and in such a situation, laissez faire leadership becomes effective since every entity in group is self-motivated and thus, has the self-will to move on with little guidance and coordination. However, this does not apply in other situations like in a business setting. In reference to formal organisations, the responsibility of success lies with the leader, thus, making the leader possess crucial information not available to other members. This makes laissez faire approach reliably ineffective due to the fact that there lacks clear communication or directions prompting the need for other leadership styles with most effective being the democratic model (Yukl 43). The other attribute that essentially promotes teamwork is evidenced by planning. Effective planning amounts to ensuring all group members are made aware of their tasks and responsibilities, as well as how to effectively address them amicably. Effective lessons arising from the project work involves the need for having practical skills involving understanding or planning and organising an event. Organisation works involves engaging with clients, as well as other persons in the public domain and thus, the charity fundraising project gave an impetus in the preparation and planning to conduct and host public event in the future professional practice. Further, the coordination by the group’s leader initiated a synergy among members of the team promoting cohesiveness and working as an entity to achieve set goals. This supports Forsyth’s outline of a team’s definition as structured groups of people working together with a common interests or goals that calls for co-ordinated interactions to meet certain goals and objectives (Forsyth 2). From the onset, the group made clear its objectives and chose a leader to co-ordinate the activities of the group and accomplish the project goals. The synergistic effect made members have a pull towards together and at the same time work individually towards overall realisation of the set goals. The formation of a group may be a cumbersome task, but our group being a study group had a mandate to complete the task in the limited time and thus, every member was keen to meet the deadline and ensure achievement of the best results in the project. Communication Effective communication promotes professionalism and ensures efficient delivery and realisation of organisational goals within a given setting (Forsyth 316). In the current dispensation, the advent of technology has enhanced communication by coming up with various platforms for interaction. Mobile telephony has not only enhanced the mode of communication, but has also made access to communication application much easier enhancing messaging, emailing, and social media a reality with the use of a mobile phone. From a critical perspective, the communication processes has been promoted by the fact that messages are efficiently transmitted through wide range of mediums constituting cloud computing, Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP), teleconferencing, emails, cloud computing among others to enhance the speed of interaction with other people. The technical developments have increasingly indicated the need for improved communication strategies within a professional setting highlighting it critical importance. In the group project, face-to-face strategies of communication helped the group to carry out strategic management practices to make the charity fundraiser a success. The need for concerted efforts from all members was evident with the necessity for accuracy of instructions and management of the project to achieve set goals and objectives. From a personal perspective, conducting group meeting appeared more effective in the discussion and clarification of prevailing information relating to the issues affecting the group project or any given professional work. For example, a group meeting to discuss arising issues in the group project is prudent rather than the group writing emails or instant mobile messages to seek clarification or ideas. This is because the duration taken in the communication process may be less due to the advantage of interaction where group members come together and share ideas to solve or come up strategic improvement measures. Another reason for group meeting is the fact that members get to be updated and acquire first-hand information, hence alleviating the eventuality of any member claiming lack of getting arising issues on time. With regard to emails or messages, some individuals may take time to open their mails or even respond to messages, but during a meeting, a member is compelled to give out their perspective or respond to issues regarding to their area of operation or duty. Conclusion From the professional development module and the charity fundraising project, my professional insights have been enhanced with respect to effective communication, teamwork and having reliable leadership skills. I gained immense experience of working with people in a group set up which directly translates into organisational setting. Having interacted with individuals of diverse culture and beliefs, my cultural awareness was enhanced to a new level and effectively embraced the need to understand diverse global cultures to acquire global professional standards which will aid me in working within any nation of the world. However, one great lesson learnt with respect to cultural awareness involves embracing dynamic cultures and understanding the diversity while learning to cope with others without negative criticism. Having gained prominent skills of teamwork and professional development, my nest initiative involves enhancing on my personal learning attributes in exploring more concepts to enhance my future assertiveness at work. From the charity fundraising project and the developing the professional model, it is paramount to state that effective realisation of success involves self-will to learn and develop more skills to enhance efficiency in their profession. With increased personal learning and assertiveness in learning and professional practice, my aim is to create a professional practice track record to be proud of. Nevertheless, there is need to point out the need for every professional to embrace a dynamic approach in ensuring the eventual achievements of set goals in their professional practice. This will not only enhance their experience but improve their emotional intelligence and thereby promote their indulgence and engagement in the professional practice. Work Cited Bass, Bernard M, and Ruth Bass. The Bass Handbook of Leadership: Theory, Research, and Managerial Applications. 9th ed. New York, USA: Simon & Schuster Press, 2008. Print. Batenburg, Ronald, Wouter van Walbeek, and Wesley in der Mauer. “Belbin Role Diversity and Team Performance: Is there a Relationship?” Journal of Management Development. 32. 8 (2013): 901-913. Print. Belbin, R. Meredith. Team roles at Work. Oxford, U.K.: Butterworth Heinemann, 1993. Print. Forsyth, Donelson R. Group Dynamics. 5th ed. Belmont: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2010. Print. Gabriel, Rachael. “A Practice-Based Theory of Professional Education: teach from America’s Professional Development Model.” Urban Education. 46.5 (2011): 975-986. Print. Murphy, Elizabeth, and Maria A. Rodriguez-Manzanares. “Using Activity Theory and its Principle of Contradictions to Guide Research in Educational Technology.” Austalasian Journal of Education Technology. 24.4 (2008): 442-457. Print. Somekh, Bridget, and Lesley Saunders. “Developing Knowledge through Intervention: Meaning and Definition of ‘Quality’ in research into Change.” Research Papers in Education. 22. 2 (2007): 183-197. Print. Webb, Graham. “Theories of Staff Development: Developing and Understanding.” International Journal for Academic Development. 1.1 (1996): 63-69. Print. Yukl, Gary. Leadership in Organisations. 5th ed. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall Inc., 2002. Print. Read More