Centre name: ICS Learn

Candidate name: Erika Marveggio

CIPD Membership 57483311 ICS student 40266866
Number: number:
Qualification title: Office Administrator and Business Consultant
Unit title(s): Developing Professional Unit code(s): 5DVP
Practice
Assessment number 2

*Online Class Date 25.11.2020 *Tutor Name Carol

Margerrison
* Not required when submitting a Draft or Formative assessment

Please Note - You cannot submit your assignment until you have
attended your Online Classroom – all details must be filled in above
before your work will be marked.

Please tick below whether you are submitting a draft, formative or

summative assessment:

Draft ☐ Formative ☐ Summative ☒

1st Submission Date 23.12.20 Word Count 2650

2nd Submission Date 05.02.21 Word Count 2848

Candidate declaration:
‘I confirm that the work/evidence presented for assessment is my own unaided work.’

I have read the assessment regulations and understand that if I am found to have ‘copied’
from published work without acknowledgement, or from other candidate’s work, this may be
regarded as plagiarism which is an offence against the assessment regulations and leads to
failure in the relevant unit and formal disciplinary action.

I agree to this work being subjected to scrutiny by textual analysis software if required.

I understand that my work may be used for future academic/quality assurance purposes in
accordance with the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation 2018.

I understand that the work/evidence submitted for assessment may not be returned to me
and that I have retained a copy for my records.

I understand that until such time as the assessment grade has been ratified by internal and
external quality assurance verifiers it is not final.

1
Contents:

1. HR Professionalism …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….3
1.1 Skills, Knowledge and behavior to develop the professionalism of HR ……………………………………….3
1.2 Why follow the Profesional MAP? ………………………………………………………………………………………………4
1.3 Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….4
2. Professionalism On a team …………………………………………………………………………………………………………4
2.1 How a team can act? …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………5
2.2 Example of Conflict ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………5
3. Project Management And tools………………………………………………………………………………………………….6
3.1 A Problem-Solving tool: Fishbone chart………………………………………………………………………………………7
3.2 Influencing, Negotiation, Persuading …………………………………………………………………………………………7
4. CPD …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….8
4.1 SWOT Analysis ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………9
4.2 My continuous personal development ……………………………………………………………………………………….9
4.3 My PDP …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….11

Appendices...........................................................................................................................................12
Appendix 1 – My current CPD Log …………………………………………………………………………………………………..12

Appendix 2 – My Personal Development Plan ………………………………………………………………………………..13

References ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………14

2
1. HR professionalism

As the Cambridge dictionary describes, professionalism "is a combination of all the qualities that are
connected with trained and skilled people”. So, it is possible to explain that to be professional an HR
needs specific skills and qualities.

The role of HR is in continuous development cause to social progress, economic and work condition
changes. In the last few years, the role of Strategic Partner was born. It is an HR professional that
through knowledge, behaviors, and professional skills, can influence the board of director’s decisions
and the business direction.

1.1 Skills, Knowledge and behavior to develop the professionalism of HR

The HR Professional is defined as a Thinking performer, who proposes new ideas based on his
knowledge and the principles: added value, improvement, cost reduction, and efficiency. This model
was developed from the CIPD by graph 1 in which the levels of effectiveness and efficiency are
combined, and a Thinking performer has a high level of both characteristics.

Graph 1

The main purpose of the Thinking performer is to adopt efficient and effective changes to the system
related to the creation of welfare on a personal, professional, and corporate level from which
everyone can benefit. This purpose is the center of the Professional Map, created by the CIPD in
2018.

This objective is achieved through the development of knowledge and behaviors linked both to the
internal sphere of the company and to the economic and working context that characterizes the
outside.

3
As internal and external Knowledge, defined as well as Core and Specialist Knowledge, The MAP
shows the following:

People practice/ Employee experience: understanding skills, knowledge and experience of the
people involved in the organization
Culture and behavior: Understanding employee's behavior, relations and creating the shareable
culture based on inclusion and diversity
Business acumen: Understanding the organization as world of work, and the commercial contest
Being analytic: creating value and using a systemic approach
Digital working: applying the new technology to the organization with new solutions
Change: Understanding how to effectively enable change
People analytics: process using to inform about the decision making

The purpose is not only achievable through knowledge but also behavior. These are defined within
the map among the Core knowledge and the specialists.
These behaviors have been described in 4 groups in the Code of Professional Conduct, published by
the CIPD in April 2020, that every HR Professional needs to follow. These groups are: Professional
competence and behavior, Ethical standards and integrity, Representative of the profession and
Stewardship

Ethical behavior should not only concern the personal sphere or the relationship between people,
but it should also be implemented by the organization itself through corporate social responsibility.

1.2 Why follow the Profesional MAP?

The Profesional MAP was created to help future HR Professionals to develop the knowledge, skills,
and key behaviors to work effectively and efficiently. So, anybody can analyze themself and
understand where they are on the map and undeveloped areas.

1.3 Conclusion

Therefore the role of the HR professional is characterized by numerous tasks and projects to be
performed, all based on behaviors and knowledge that should be developed at high levels to be able
to achieve effective and efficient results. To build a solid career an HR Professional will need to
intersect all the skills described with the continuous updating of notions based on the constant
change of the external environment.

2 Professionalism On a team

HR must use its professionalism also within groups in such a way as to, organize the team, avoid
conflict, use problem-solving, and achieve the pre-established effective and efficient objective.

Leigh L. Thompson (2008) defined a team as a group of people, with different characteristics, skills,
experiences, and knowledge, who collaborate to achieve the same goal. A team is formed when the
members follow shared rules, there is a well-defined structure, and relationships between them.

4
The training process is characterized by five stages studied by Tuchman and Jensen (1977).

Forming is the stage where the members of the group study the personalities of others and try to
stabilize their own identity. The Storming is the phase in which each member exposes his purpose to
the others, this is the step where conflict borns.
Once the conflict has been managed, the group moves into the Norming phase in which a shared
culture is created, thus leading the group to collaborate in the performing phase. The last step is
adjourning, where the group melts due to the end of the project or continues to work on a new one.

2.1 How a team can act?

The action of a group depends on the intersection of the different personalities within the group and
the synergy that the members create; this is what defines a Dynamic team. (Kurt Lewin, 1939)
Depending on their personality, each member can play a specific role that can clash with each other.
Belbin (1981) described nine different roles: Coordinator, Implementer, Shaper, Plant, Resource
Investigator, Monitor Evaluator, Team worker, Completer, and Specialist.
The problems that could develop are also linked to individual actions such as: "Hidden Agenda"
when members pursue different purposes, "Blind Spot" member is unaware of having weaknesses
and for this, the members do not consider his ideas, "Group Think" where the members are so
cohesive as not to contradict that the idea they had is imperfect, "Dependence" when insecure
members think they do not make it without the group and "Creativity" when a member feels
suffocated by the group, so he doesn’t express himself.

The combination of the above aspects can develop conflict, which causes the loss of effectiveness.
As Cambridge defines, conflict is “an active disagreement between people with opposing opinions or
principles”.

2.2 Example of Conflict

To have empirical evidence of the conflict we can think of ourselves and episodes in which we have
been involved or not.

Case number 1
I was part of a group of five new people whose aim was to offer high-quality services in the shortest
possible time. The conflict arose whit different ideas on how to achieve the goal. This type of

5
conflict, defined by Tony L. Simons and Randall S. Peterson (2000) as “Task Conflict”, is linked with
the Relationship conflict where different ideas and personalities develop tension and incompatibility
towards others.
My manager, after a personal interview with each member, introduced an hour a week of team-
building practices where, through games as The Name Game, trust was created among the members
of the group, and the conflict was reduced between the members.

Case number 2
With the development of new knowledge and the updating of new high responsibility tasks, I
expected an increase in the salary. Feeling dissatisfied and unappreciated, my focus on work
decreased and an internal conflict arose with my manager. As a resolution of the conflict, the
practice of negotiating wages using the win-win strategy was used between me and my manager.
Both negotiators are aware of the party's request and “The goal is to resolve
the parties’ differing interests and deliver joint benefits for both as the desired outcome of
the specific negotiation” (Zachariassen, 2008). Given the salary increase proposed by me and the
difficulties that the company was bringing back from the situation of the Covid-19, an adequate sum
was found for both parties.

3. Project Management and tools

Project Management Institute (2013) defines a project as “a temporary group activity designed to
produce a unique product, service or result” and project management as “application of knowledge,
skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements”.

A project develops in five fundamental phases: Initiation, Planning, Executive, Monitoring, and
Closeout. (Roli Pathak, July 9, 2020).
In each phase, specific tools can be used to complete the project itself. For example, in the Initiation
phase, T. Doran (1981) defined the tool to identify the object: it should be SMART or Specific,
Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-bound.

The project that I followed concerned finding new agents in UAE, Italy, and Spain who could offer
our company incorporation service to new clients.
The tool I used was the Pareto Chart, a bar graph that displays the tasks to which to devote more
time or effort to achieve better results. This instrument is born from the law 80:20 that Taman
Powell and Tanya Sammut-Bonnici (2015) stated have as the implication “that most efforts are not
efficient and should be reduced”. I used this tool to locate 20% of current agents who make up the
bulk of revenue and invest my time in understanding and researching similar agents. The categories
of subjects found were: accountants, law firms, and commercial agents.

During the planning step, I also used the Gantt chart to organize the timeline. As the Association for
project management defines it is “a project management tool assisting in the planning and
scheduling of projects of all sizes”. The diagram takes into consideration the start date and the
number of working days for each task and any unforeseen events as meetings and bank holidays. In
this way, I was able to calculate the end date of the project.

6
3.1 A Problem-Solving tool: Fishbone chart

As a problem-solving tool, I used a Fishbone (cause-effect diagram) invented by Kaoru Ishikawa

(19960), during a meeting with all my colleague and Managers. Its realization is given by placing the
problem at the head of the diagram, and through brainstorming, indicating all the effects connected
to it. The analyzes carried out, related to my previous project, revealed the virus pandemic and
Brexit, who our subjects were, with which tools to contact them and which services to offer them.

3.2 Influencing, Negotiation, Persuading

Bruce Woodckock, a teacher at the University of Kent (USA) defined Influencing as changing the
other person's mind without being aggressive. This is linked to the power that a person has, French
and Raven (1958) developed different modes of power, and the most popular is the reward power.

7
Persuasion is defined as “any message that is intended to shape, reinforce, or change the responses
of another or others” (Communication for Governance & Accountability Programm).
This concept is related to assertiveness, Drew S. and Bingham R. (2001) identified some technique to
be.

Solomon Akinlua (2015) said that “Zohar (2015) defines negotiation as finding a resolution to
conflicts between people and groups and sharing resources in such a way that a win-win situation is
achieved”

As empirical evidence, I describe three different techniques that I used during a meeting that
focused on website development.
Initially, I used the technique to be “increasingly firm” (Drew S. and Bingham R. in 2001) to be able to
persuade my manager and CEO to consider my idea: create video content, brochures, and
presentations in English, Italian, French and Spanish to overcome language barriers and reduce
misunderstanding.
To influence their decision, I was exposed to research on how the offer of services in various
languages is scarce and considered with more value, based on the technique “Scarcity” defined by
Robert Cialdini in his book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion.
Through the win-win technique (Zachariassen, 2008) we have negotiated to organize the entire
website in various languages as long as I will be in charge of the Italian and Spanish translations,
because I know that language, to reduce costs.

4. CPD

CPD means Continuing Professional Development. It is a record/portfolio of the skills, knowledge,

and experience that a person gains from the past, present, and future and shows the development
as a professional.

8
Linked to this there is the concept of "Continuous improvement", Tom Peter and Robert Waterman's
(1982) theory states that continuous improvement efforts should be the goal of each person within
an organization.
Based on these assumptions, my Continuous Professional Development of the last 12 months,
included in the appendix, was characterized by a path divided into two parts. In the first six months, I
focused on developing administrative knowledge and skills through training done by my colleague.
Over the next six months, I focused on economic knowledge to develop the role of business
consultant and work more in contact with customers.

4.1 SWOT Analysis

To improve our skills, knowledge, and tasks, a Personal Development Plan must be carried out, in
which the strengths and weaknesses are identified to the role we cover or what we want to
recapture, to develop our features.

This study of oneself develops through the SWOT analysis in which we find strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities, and threats.

4.1 My continuous personal development (CPD)

To form my continuous personal development I analyzed various areas of the Professional Map by
building three different swot analyses.

Business Acumen is a core knowledge that includes information about the business as the direction,
the influence on the market, and the future projects. My swot analysis, related to this, is:

Strengths: Weakness:
- Your organisation's current priorities, and the issues and causes - Your organisation's financial and non-financial
associated with them measures of performance
- The connections between your organisation's strategy and the - How to interpret financial statements, track
people strategy, and the range of products, services and customers costs, and forecast spend in your work
the organisation has
- Your organisation's current priorities, and the issues and causes
associated with them
- The different external trends - such as social, economic,
technological - which impact your organisation
- What good practice looks like in your area of the people profession
- How external factors and the people strategy can make a difference
to your organisation's performance
- How your work connects with and supports wider people and
organisation strategies
- The role and purpose of governance, its structure in your area of
work, and the broader regulatory environment you work in
- How to manage relationships with suppliers and partner
organisations, and how to choose them 9
- How your own work creates a better quality of work for others, and
how your organisation contributes towards society
Learning and development is s specialist knowledge. Implementing your knowledge is important as it
is the way for personal and professional growth. My swot analysis is:

Strengths: Weakness:
- How to support others with their - How to define the capability needs of
continuing professional development individuals and teams
- How to apply adult learning and - How to support and use coaching and
motivation theories in different learning mentoring approaches in learning
contexts
- Theories and methods that underpin
- The principles that underpin the design
and use of face-to-face learning effective learner engagement, learning
- The principles that underpin the design transfer and impact
and use of digital technologies in
learning
- How to create, co-create and curate
content with subject matter experts to
meet learning needs
- The principles that underpin the choice
of learning facilitation methods
- How to facilitate social collaborative
learning activities

Opportunities:
- request to the manager area a course
for learning support knowledge that
issues a certificate
Threats:
- Possibility that the course is not there
- Possibility of finding aversion on the part
of managers
- Possible exams to take, and working days
to take

Ethical practice standards is a core behavior that favors ethically correct decisions and actions within
the business. My swot analysis is:

Strengths:
- Make responsible choices about your
work, applying professional principles
and values
- Provide explanations and reasons for
the choices you make and the advice
you provide
- Demonstrate professionalism and
consistency in what you say and do in
order to build trust
Weakness:
- Consider the purpose and implications of
actions, decisions and people practices
for all stakeholders
- Raise concerns about people practices
and policies which are not consistent
with values or legislation

Opportunities:
- Learn to distinguish stakeholders based
on their importance and involvement
within the company
- build communication with them
Threats:
- stakeholders don't feel involved enough
in the purpose of action
- difficulty in locating stakeholders

10
4.2 My PDP

From the SWOT tables carried out, three major areas of weakness are highlighted and I can build my
Personal Professional Development.

The first weakness is not knowing my organization's financial and non-financial measures of
performance, financial statements, track costs, and forecast spend. To develop this knowledge I will
request training in the financial area from my senior colleague and I would like to focus to learn how
to use the software Xero that will help me to have a clear idea about the financial situation of the
company and project development.

The second weakness identified it's my coaching skills and knowledge of learning techniques.
I would like to take certified courses to develop the appropriate knowledge.

The third weakness is knowing how to distinguish stakeholders and raise my concerns concerning
ethically incorrect practices. In this regard, I would like to ask the manager to introduce me to the
knowledge of the stakeholders and develop a relationship with them. Also, I would like to work on
myself to express what I think without being afraid of not being heard.

Appendices
Appendix 1 – My current CPD Log

CPD Reflection/Development record

MEMBERSHIP
NAME: Erika Marveggio 57483311
NUMBER:

COVERING THE
October 2019 TO: October 2020
PERIOD FROM:

How have/will you use

What did you learn from this?
Key dates What did you do? Why?
this?
Any further action?

Become an Office To become an Office I started in this role
Administrator Administrator I had without any previous
training from my Senior experience, and to
admin colleague. impress the Manager
Area I decided to learn
all about this role to
develop other skills in the
I have learned to be I would like to use my
responsible for: administrative skills to be
- storage of sensitive able to become a
data and documents professional HR
and invoices
- How to be
professional on mail

11
 future. and call,
- strong attention to
details
- How contact Authority
- How to take trace of
every step of a project
- How to book a courier
- How to deal with
client
To become a Business When I Achieved the I have learned: I will use this knowledge to
Consultant I had knowledge in the - Difference from LTD have long term career
training from my previous role, I decided and LLP advancement by having
manager to develop more skills - All the duties of a economic and incorporation
and knowledge in finance Company knowledge
and economy incorporated in UK
- Opening Bank
Become a account
Business - How to support and
Consultant help client
- How to communicate
with them in a polite
manner
- Nominee services
- Accounts due dates
- Order important
certificate
- Share allotment

12
Appendix 2 – My Personal Development Plan

Personal development plan

NAME: Erika Marveggio MEMBERSHIP NUMBER: 57483311

COVERING THE PERIOD FROM: January 2020 TO: October 2021

Planned outcome

. What is your planned outcome for the period of time your PDP covers?

What will my success criteria be?

What do I want/need to learn and What resources or support will I how have I implemented my learning Target dates for review and
What will I do to achieve this?
why? need? and what impact has this had (at completion
work/outside of work)?

knowing my organization's financial Training on financial software Xero I will start with theories definition of My measure of success will be to base 31.03.2021
and non-financial measures of what included financial and non-
performance, financial statements, financial measurement performance
track costs, and forecast spend

how to develop my learning in Develop training plans through I will need the support of my manager I will realize that I have achieved my 30.06.2021
coaching theories, methods for courses with certificate to understand how to organize a goals as people start requesting help
effective learner engagement, learning learning plan on this area to support their learning
transfer and impact

distinguish stakeholders and raise my find empirical evidence to support the Study the organization within where I I will understand that I have achieved 30.10.2021
concerns concerning ethically thesis involved and build a relationship with my goals when I will understand the
incorrect practices the stakeholder purpose and implications of actions

13
Reference:

Cambridge Dictionary – Definition of Professionalism [online] [Accessed on 23 November 20],

available at. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/

CIPD Professional Map (2018) [onlie] [Accessed on 23 November 2020], available at.
https://peopleprofession.cipd.org/profession-map

CIPD Championing better work and working lives (April 2020), Code of Professional Conduct - Ref:
7460 [online][Accessed on 23 November 2020], available at. https://www.cipd.co.uk/about/what-we-
do/professional-standards/code
Exploring Business v. 2.0, 8.1 The Team and the Organization [online] [Access on 31 January 21],
Available at. https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_exploring-business-v2.0/s12-01-the-team-and-the-
organization.html

Mind Tools Essential skills for an excellent career, Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing
Tuckman's Model for Nurturing a Team to High Performance [online] [Accessed on 25 November
20], available at. https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_86.htm

University of Notre Dame (17 December 2020), Understanding the Importance of Team Dynamics
[Online] [Accessed 30 Janary 20], available at.
https://www.notredameonline.com/resources/leadership-and-management/understanding-the-
importance-of-team-dynamics

Cambridge Dictionary – Definition of Conflict [online] [Accessed on 26 November 20] available at.
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/

Aritzeta A., Swailes S. and Senior B. (2007), Belbin’s Team Role Model: Development, Validity and
Applications for Team Building, Journal of Management Studies, 44 (1), pp 96-115, [online],
[Accessed on 27/11/2020], available at.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/4771221_Belbin's_Team_Role_Model_Development_Val
idity_and_Applications_for_Team_Building

Tony L. Simons and Randall S. Peterson (2000), Task Conflict and Relationship Conflict in Top
Management Teams:The Pivotal Role of Intragroup Trust, Journal of Applied Psychology, 85 (1), pp.
102-111, [online][Accessed on 22.01.21], available at.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/12575274_Task_Conflict_and_Relationship_Conflict_in_
Top_Management_Teams_The_Pivotal_Role_of_Intragroup_Trust

Diana Bailey (4 February 2019), 5 Improv-Inspired Games to Build Trust in Your Teams [online]
[Accessed on 22.01.2021], available at.
https://www.honestly.com/blog/team-building-games-team-trust/

Stephanie Thomas, Jacqueline Eastman, C. David Shepherd, Luther Trey Denton, (2018) A
comparative assessment of win-win and win-lose negotiation strategy use on supply chain relational
outcomes, The International Journal of Logistics Management, 29 (1), pp.191-215, [online][Accessed
on 22 January 2021], available at. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJLM-10-2016-0238

14
Tom Seymour and Sara Hussein (2014), The History Of Project Management, International Journal of
Management & Information Systems, 18 (4), pp. 233-240 [online][Accessed on 28 January 2021].
available at.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/298341808_The_History_Of_Project_Management

Dr Ruth Murray- Webster (2013), What is project management?, APM Body of Knowledge, 7th
edition, editor, [online], [Accessed on 29/11/20], available at. https://www.apm.org.uk/book-
shop/apm-body-of-knowledge-7th-edition/

Osahon Ogbeiwi (2017), Why written objectives need to be really SMART, British Journal of
Healthcare Management, 23 (7), pp. 324–336 [online][Accessed on 25 january 2021] available at.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318390296_Why_written_objectives_need_to_be_really
_SMART

Taman Powell and Tanya Sammut-Bonnici (2015), Pareto analysis, Wiley Encyclopedia of
Management, Wiley Encyclopedia of Management: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd [online][Accessed on 26
January 2021], available at. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272352932_Pricing_Strategy

Association for project management, What is a Gantt chart? [Online] [Access 01 february 2021],
available at. https://www.apm.org.uk/resources/find-a-resource/gantt-chart/

Kam Cheong Wong (2011), Using an Ishikawa diagram as a tool to assist memory and retrieval of
relevant medical cases from the medical literature, Journal of Medical Case Reports, 5 (120), [online]
[Accessed on 28 January 2021] available at.
https://jmedicalcasereports.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1752-1947-5-120

Cambridge Dictionary, Definition of Influence, [online][Accessed on 28 November 2020], available at.

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/influence

French and Rave (1959), Chapter 6: Leadership as an influence process pp 153- 163, The bases of
social power, Univeristy of Michigan, Institute for Social Research, [online], [Accessed on 29
November 20] available at.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/215915730_The_bases_of_social_power

The Art of Getting Others to Follow Your Lead, Power and Influence , èonline][Accessed on 29
November 2020], available at. https://www.theelementsofpower.com/how-influence-works/

David Van Rooy (2015), 6 Universal Methods That Will Help You Master the Art of Persuasion. The
need to influence is everywhere. These 6 methods are proven to work. [online][Accessed on 30
November 2020], available at. https://www.inc.com/david-van-rooy/the-art-of-persuasion-6-
universal-methods-to-influence-others.html

15
Drew S. and Bingham R. (2001), Developing Professional Practice, Section 3, p 25

Su Mi Dahlgaard-Park & Jens J. Dahlgaard - In Search of Excellence - Past, Present and Future [online]
[Accessed on 01 December 2020], available at. https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?
doi=10.1.1.114.4785&rep=rep1&type=pdf

16