Development of Action Plan - Essay Example

Role Analysis Model Table of Contents PART 3 Development of Action Plan 3 Personal Development Plan 6 Implementation of developing PDP 11 PART 2 14Critical analysis of the evidence base for the action plan by the application of current management theory 14 References 22 Bibliography 24 PART 1 Development of Action Plan With time, as a human move ahead in his or her career, it is quite essential to keep oneself focused towards the ‘career goal’ and the ‘milestones’ to be achieved. One should conduct required analysis to identify his or her strengths as well as weaknesses so with help of adequate planning the strengths should be enhanced further to overcome the weaknesses. Therefore, a person, irrespective of the position at which he/she is employed, should conduct role analysis with the help of a model to find out the required skills for fulfilment of job responsibilities. Later on, the person should find out whether he/she possesses these skills or not. There is a possibility that the person may not possess all the skills, or he/she requires some updating to cope up with contemporary work environment. Therefore, the action plan should be developed to fulfil the existing loopholes. In general, a planning is done by people to develop oneself within a predefined time frame; so a personal development plan is quite effective in fulfilling the requirements in most effective manner. “Personal development plan (PDP) sets out the actions that people propose to take to learn and to develop themselves” (Armstrong, 2000, p.158). With the help of PDP people formulate the plan and implement it to achieve the required goal. However, just developing a PDP is not enough; person should also be determined and focused (Elearn Limited & Pergamon Flexible Learning, 2005, p.38). Considering the above given facts, I decided to conduct a role analysis for identifying the strength as well as weaknesses on which I need to work. There are several models which can be used but I decided to follow ‘Johari Window’. This model is used for self examine and it was proposed by Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham in 1970. It talks about four distinct parts of ones personality called open window, blind window, hidden window and unknown window (Sutton & Stewart, 2002, p.21). Figure 1: Johari Window (Source: West & Turner, 2008, p.275) This window helps people to understand themselves in a more in-depth manner and thus I decided to use this to understanding myself in a better manner. As per this model, I tried to identify the open window; that is my behaviour and attitude which is commonly displayed and is freely visible to others. The second window is blind window that covers the part which is not visible to me but others can identify it. This is my body language or facial expression about which I am not much aware of. To know about them, I asked by friends and known ones to provide feedbacks. I found that the points noticed by my friends differs to some extent from the one identified by my colleagues. This means, my behaviour is different in different situations and it deviates a lot. As per the Johari Window, a human has a hidden part which he/she prefer not to disclose to others. I do agree with this because many a time I try to hide my weaknesses as I feel ashamed to disclose to others. Except me, no one else is aware of them so I am the best person who knows the hidden self within me. Finally, the Johari Window talks about the part which is unknown to all, so this is the closed window. There are my hidden potential, unconscious needs and anxiety about which I am still unaware of. So it was quite difficult for me to know about this without assistance of a professional councillor. Thus, I decided to have a thorough concealing where I had to face some behavioural tests like Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), Rorschach inkblot test, Sentence completion test and few more. Finally, I followed an exercise where I have to answer several questions regarding myself, such as how I feel about my culture and family members, my education, employers, the values and believes that influences me a lot, my strengths, weaknesses, virtues, vices and many more. The information gathered assisted my to discover several facts about myself which I never took so seriously ever before. Using the information I selected five main elements of my personally on which I need to work upon. These are my leadership style, motivation level, communication skill, and time management process and diversity management at my work place. To improve these elements I developed a personal development plan (PDP) that provides the targets to be achieved, the process to be followed and the time duration allowed for achieving the objective. Personal Development Plan Department: ACUTE STROKE AND REHABILITATION UNIT Timescale Development Area/Objective What knowledge or skills do I want to develop? Planned Development Activity How will I do this? What support and resources will I need? Evaluation How will I know I have been successful? Target Date When will I achieve this by? Short/Medium Term To meet the immediate needs of your role and objectives 1. Leadership 1. Identifying my leadership style by asking questions to myself as well as to known ones. 2. Selecting a leader whom I admire and pointing out his leadership qualities so that I can incorporate them within me. 1. Collecting the feedback of my colleagues and friends. 2. Self appraisal. 15 days 2. Motivation 1. Practicing positive attitude and motivating myself. 2. Developing a positive attitude towards self failures by developing a habit to be more logical in different situations. 3. Setting targets for oneself and if I achieve the target it will motivates me to put more attention and labour in achieving career goals. 1. Analysing the change in my attitude that how boldly I can face harsh situations. 2. Asking self questions that how confidence I am to take up new challenges. 3. Maintain a tract that how many time I succeeded in achieving the rewards. A positive result indicates success. 30 days 3. Communication 1. Collecting feedback regarding my communication ability. 2. Instead of avoiding communication, actively participating in verbal communication. 1. Asking known ones to provide feedback that whether they find any improvement in my communication. Positive response will decide the successful change. 20 days 4. Time management 1. Identifying the reasons because of which I fail to achieve my targets within pre-decided time limits. 2. Making a habit of planning the activities on daily basis. 1. Maintaining a record of time overrun to fulfil the plan. 2. Developing a list of common mistakes because of which I failed to achieve the target within time. If I find that the numbers of mistakes are reducing, I will consider it as a good progress. 45 days 5. Diversity Management 1. Developing understanding regarding importance of diversity management in an organisation. 2. Identifying the common issues regarding diversity in workplace and trying to avoid those. 3. Becoming more conscious towards cultural differences among the subordinates and other colleagues. 1. I will analyse the number of conflict within my subordinates because of cultural clash. Reduction in such conflict is a good indicator that I succeeded in achieving the target. 30 days Timescale Development Area/Objective What knowledge or skills do I want to develop? Planned Development Activity How will I do this? What support and resources will I need? Evaluation How will I know I have been successful? Target Date When will I achieve this by? Long Term To meet the changing needs of your role/career and Department 1. Leadership 2. Reading books on leadership development. 3. Going through autobiography of famous leaders. 4. Participating in workshop to develop leadership skill. 1. I will notice the change in my leadership style with help of Blake-Mouton leadership grid. I will consider myself to be successful if I can attain 9,9 position in the matrix. 24 months 2. Motivation 1. Gathering knowledge regarding different motivational theories. 2. Practicing them and maintaining records of the outcome. 1. I will take help of a professional councillor to determine the improvement in my motivational level. 15 months 3. Communication 1. Conducting classes on communication development. 2. Participating in chat shows and debates. 3. I will practice to overcome the common hurdles identified in the earlier section of PDP. 1. I will use a self maintained record about reduction in psychological hurdles in the communication process. 2. I will use 360 degree feedback to verify improvement in my communication skill. 12 months 4. Time management 1. Learning tactics of time management. 2. Setting targets, developing plan and achieving them. 3. Cultivating a practice of developing a plan and segregating it into small sections so that the progress can be traced stringently. 1. Maintaining a graph of progress that shows how the plan is progression. Reduction in the deviation in the plan indicates a positive progress. 24 months 5. Diversity Management 1. Learning about different cultures. 2. Gathering information about cultural diversity and management in work place by on-line articles and journals. 3. Arranging get-together activities were the subordinated can meet with each other and can share their values and cultural issues. 1. The change in the attitude of the employees in the department will be monitored in terms of bonding in between them and sensitivity towards each others culture and background. 2. Improvement in the motivational level and performance of the subordinates indicates successful achievement of the target. 20 months Implementation of developing PDP Success of a PDP partially depends on the planning session and rest on the efficiency with which it will be implemented in day to day life. While developing the PDP, I gathered ample information regarding the five main elements on which I have to work upon. From my early childhood I was quite interested to play leading role in social activities, so I have the leadership qualities. However, I realised that in an organisation one should adopt a leadership style which suits the organisational culture and work environment. In places like hospital as well as a healthcare centre, the nurse managers should be equally concern about the task as well as for the staff members working under them. Therefore, I took the help of Blake-Mouton Managerial Grid to realise which leadership style is the most suitable for me. This model provides information about the type of leadership to be followed by managers who have different degree of concern for task and employees (Lurie & Rosenberg, 1984, p.124-125). Figure 2: Blake-Mouton Managerial Grid (Source: Swansburg, 1996, p.428) As I realised that ‘team management style’ is the best to suit my profile, hence I decided to gather more information about the successful leaders who practiced this leadership style in their work place. Communication is a vital element for a manager to be successful in his/her career. After conducting the role analysis I found that a nurse manager should possess this skill to handle the staff members and to convey the message up to the higher management. I noticed that in certain situations my emotions (like anger, nervousness and excitement) adversely affect the communication ability. Therefore, I decided to participate in such activities were I can get chance to communicate on verities of topics and thus I planned to participate in chat shows and corporate debates. To be successful in developing and implementing different plans, a manger should possess time management skill so that the project can be complemented within pre-determined time frame. Generally, time overrun leads to cost overrun and thus whole of the budget gets disturbs. Therefore, I decided to enhance my time management tactics by planning the activities for each day, prioritising the work on basis of urgency, documenting the progress (Centre For Good Governance, 2006, p.23-42). In the contemporary organisational culture, increasing diversity is a major issue to be taken care of. In the globalised world, people from different culture, education, family background and age work in a same department as a team. Therefore, the management has to be effective enough in handling such diversified workforce. To enhance my diversity management skill, I decided to gather ample information about different cultures and their value system. I planned to encourage the staff member to interact with each other so that they can learn and respect other’s values. To achieve the above mentioned targets, I segregated my PDP is two distant parts; the short term and long term. To monitor the process of implementation for each of the factors, I finalised different tools to measure the success. This will help in identifying the loopholes in PDP and to rectify them. PART 2 Critical analysis of the evidence base for the action plan by the application of current management theory This part of the project produces en evidence base for the development of the action plan. The most important areas identified for the development in the plan are leadership, motivation, communication, time management and diversity management. These are considered to be some of the key areas of development from the perspective of a nurse. Since nurses have to deal with several other nurses and coordinate activities with them for the delivering services effectively, it would require great leadership skills. She may have to motivate other people in their activities which would require motivational skills. A nurse always has to stay in touch with the patients and their relatives for which she requires great communication skills. Moreover, she also undertakes several activities at a time which requires proper prioritising and scheduling of activities in order. Thus a critical factor would be the time management skills of the nurse. Lastly, she also needs to coordinate between several departments and needs to undertake a wide variety of jobs. At times the nurse is responsible for prescribing and dispensing medication and even performing minor surgeries (World Health Organisation, n.d., p.1). That is why the need for diversity management finds importance for her. These are the few attributes fit for the role of a manager. The following evidence throws light on the need for leadership in organisations. Recently a study was conducted in Tajikistan before the family health nursing was introduced. Here, the nurses who had been once proud of their nursing standards despair over their present condition of services. This is because their lack of knowledge in clinical research. They regret that their performance have been greatly hampered by the physician’s attitudes because they do not have the required power or leadership skills. It was recognised by the nurses that without the skill of leadership, nursing would not be able to bring about practical changes as proposed by the health reform program. It was recognised that promoting the concepts of leadership and developing “a culture of leadership and scholarly activity” (SAGE Journals Online, 2002) were the perquisites in the nursing activities. Even the technically competent nurses felt powerless for not having the requisite leadership skills. According to a recent report by the United Church of God, the BP oil spill was one of the worst disasters in the world, which spread across the Gulf of Mexico, caused tremendous pollution and caused a loss of numerous billions of dollars. The industrial leaders and government officials have been blaming the oil company on grounds of organisational incompetence, red tape and chaos. Despite the efforts of all, the problem has not been brought under control. The reason is primarily because of incompetent leadership (Walker, 2010). Several studies were conducted to find the relationship between leadership and performance of followers. Leadership has been considered to be social requirement, which forms the most importance basis for its inclusion in the personal development plan. The need is further stimulated in case of group activities. McClelland said that people begin to acquire various leadership skills while socially interacting with another. People working in groups often have to act in the interest of others. This is the time when some people have to acquire the role of a leader while some would be mere followers. In the absence of a proper leader the work may not be conducted adhering to the group’s goals (Bodla & Hussain, 2010, p.461). Research has proved that motivation has a direct relation with the performance of employees in organisations. However, monetary payments are not the only factor which would motivate employees. “Contrary to popular belief incentive pay has limited positive effect on performance of employees or executives” (Robinson, 2006). It was seen that individual incentives or highly differentiated rewards and distribution of recognition make more meaning when performances are measured objectively and are the results of individual efforts and not interdependent efforts. A survey was conducted on 1700 employees of high performance from 16 organisations. It was found that the top performers considered maintaining a favourable reputation to be the most important and critical factor behind their motivation. Appreciation was given the second most importance. This was followed by the belief that the work they were performing was important and interesting appointments came fourth. Financial rewards were given the least importance by these top performing individuals of the organisation. It was also observed that in order to obtain employee motivation, it would be useless to signal people through contingent and lavish financial rewards. Rather it would be more effective in making them feel the experience of drawing other benefits related to their job, such as being a part of a socially useful and supporting community. This would make people gain satisfaction from the social relationships at workplace. They would also be motivated to work and perform better when their performance would result in benefitting others or would enhance their reputation. For example “working for Google has great career cache, or that they are working on life saving or enhancing technologies” (Robinson, 2006). It was once commented by an executive from Phillips Medical Systems that organisations must humanise the corporate objectives and goals. Employees would be least interested and motivated towards enhancing shareholders’ value. Thus it is seen that motivation would be a critical factor in enhancing performance, however the techniques should be chosen judiciously. This could be elaborated by providing the example of Southwest Airlines which aims to bring the people together. Its motivation strategy has been the key reason behind the high productivity of the workforce and not only because of its competitive strategies (Robinson, 2006). Communication seems to be simple process within the purview of the health industry, However it is an important factor for the personal development of a nurse who has to constantly deal with patients and members of his family and relatives. Patients have to communicate with the nurses and members of the staff. At times nurses also need to communicate about the treatment options with patients. However, obstacles may come in the way of understandable and quality communication. Poor quality of communication lowers the quality of service provided to the patients. It may eventually make the patients feel frustrated and unpleasant (Salehi, Strawdeman & Ruff, n.d.). Experts on management, organisations and leadership have asserted that communication forms the foundation of effectiveness of the organisations. Many times communication has been misinterpreted as paperwork and bureaucracy and has been avoided. But today managers and leaders have realised the need for effective conveyance and retrieval of information and their contribution towards organisational performance (McNamara, n.d.). In every organisation communication performs the function of ensuring that all members in the organisations are aware of what is expected of them. It is critical for the coordination of activities, individuals, departments and groups. The reason for considering communication as an important aspect of the action plan is that it enhances an individual’s ability to convey the right information to the right person and achieve coordination between departments. It enhances people’s ability to successfully control and implement the organisations’ plans and strategies. The management’s plans and strategies can be effectively communicated without discrepancies. It helps to avoid problems like distortion, bias and omissions. It also helps reduce and avoid conflicts to a considerable extent (Ball, 2003). Poor communication results in poor control, ineffective control and management failure. Good command over communication should be the most important attribute of any manager. The success of his team depends on his ability to handle the team efficiently which comes only with effective communication. This is the major reason why organisations today increasingly screen employees on the communication power before considering them for appointing in the organisation. A good communicator would be able to handle a crisis situation more effectively than a person without good communication abilities. The role of manager is to handle several activities within a stipulated period of time. He is accountable for the results of his teams’ activities in that time. Thus it is important to develop proper time management skills. A manager’s activity is also extremely stressful. He is required to budget the time which would ensure that the things are performed according to the order of their importance. The importance of scheduling the time is that it reduces the stress of things left incomplete and figuring out the things which needs to be done at the earliest. The best result of time management is that it helps to balance the work schedules. Analysing the schedules, responsibilities and daily activities form an important aspect of time management. Proper timing of activities is specifically important from the perspective of a nurse. It is important this aspect is included into her development plan because she has to ensure that she can take regular breaks between activities and prioritise her tasks which would not leave her tired and stressed (Segal, 2010). However it must be supplemented with updates and reviews on the consequences. The action plan developed for the purpose should contain how efficiently the deadlines are met. This is because that the work is performed within the stipulated time, otherwise the plan would require restructuring. Most importantly, developing the schedule would provide a basis for finding a relation between time management and productivity of performance. Improper management of time for workers result in fall in performance and dissatisfaction of workers. Research reveals that workers in Japan remain dissatisfied with their work schedules. The number of overtime work, unpaid overtime also remains high. They have very little flexibility of their work. Workers who are given greater flexibility have better attitudes towards their jobs. In fact there are numerous victims who have suffered till death due to overwork. There are numerous instances of depressions caused due to long hours of work and other demerits. Thus it is also recommended apart from scheduling activities workers are also given the benefits of leaves and vacations (Ogura, 2009, p.95). The following figure reflects the fact that workers in Japan have long working hours and less of time management. Figure 3: Monthly average amount of actual total working time (ATWT), overtime (OT) and unpaid overtime (UOT) (Source: Ogura, 2009, p.88) Leadership plays an important role in diversity management. Leaders have to coordinate between several and diverse activities. Research has revealed that proper mentoring helps to reduce the diversity gaps by a considerable extent. Inputs were taken from several employees regarding the importance of the mentoring programs. The results which followed have been presented in the following figure. Figure 4: Importance of Mentoring Programs verses Age (Source: Babu, Cherian & Agarwal, n.d., p.13) Figure 5: Mentoring Program Importance (Source: Babu, Cherian & Agarwal, n.d., p.14) The research shows that respondents agreed to the fact that the mentoring programs have helped in the reduction of diversity gaps. Moreover, respondents aged between 25 and 34 years are more involved and aware of this aspect. Managing diversity in organisations has become an important practice in human resource management. A manager is specifically responsible for coordinating diverse activities. Thus he should try to enhance the associated skill. This is the reason why it has been added as an important aspect in the personal development plan. Diversity not only appears with regard to the organisational strategies, but may also arise out of different cultures and procedures. This program is specifically important from the perspective of a nurse because she has to work with a diverse human resource and activities. In order to attain the role of a manager she should adopt the practice as an important aspect of human resource management. This would help to ensure the optimal coordination and interaction of skills and knowledge of people. In order to attain competitiveness managers must learn to gain strategic over the highly dispersed operations in the organisations. The action for the purpose would have to be supplemented by the support from the human resource department. The situation is still more applicable in multinational firms which requires integrating between several strategic activities and strategic human resource management policies and practices (Paelmke & Erwee, 2008, p.29). References Armstrong, M. 2000. Performance management: key strategies and practical guidelines. Kogan Page Publishers. Babu, R., Cherian, S. & Agarwal, V. No Date. 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