Course

Diploma in Management Studies

Module1:
Advanced Professional Development

Submitted by:
Devang Patel Registration Number: STU20770

Submitted on: August, 2011

Introduction
Personal development is essential for every individual at every stage of their life and career. This process is also very crucial for every business and professional organization to increase the knowledge and skills of their employees. A personal and professional development can be achieved by attaining a workshop or seminar, performing a research or working with professionals who are experienced. People take up a professional development course to build their expertise in business, teaching, management and contribute to organizational development. Professional development courses are either general, or skill- based. General professional development offers general skills like presentation, business writing and personality development through basic personal education. Skilled development on the other hand, deals with the current profession, leadership qualities, managerial skills and enhancing a person's productivity. Professional skills development courses are developed based on individual and/or organization need and person's current level of competency and professionalism. Professional development requires self-directed, independent learning. It also demands an active rather than passive approach to learning. It differs from other forms of learning because it requires us to decide that how to learn it, and how to test and assess our learning. There are several ways by which we can improve our personal or professional development which include mentoring, coaching, and counseling.

Task 1
1.1 your answer.

Methods to improve personal and professional skills

Explain the difference between counselling and mentoring. Give examples of each in

1.1.1 Mentoring In organizations, mentors are more experienced employees who guide, encourage and support younger or less-experienced employees. Their relationship is a developmental. Mentor is the person that serves career enhancing and psychosocial functions for the protg. In simpler terms, within an organization mentoring is the process by which an experienced person (mentor) guides his inexperienced/less-experienced colleague to gain/improve his skills. Mentoring facilitates the learning-to-learn of the employees and contributes to the process of meaningmaking in the organization and hence to its responsiveness to its environment, while meeting the

developmental needs of employees. Although mostly mentoring is a one way process, mentors also gain greatly from being challenged to understand their own jobs and the organization, and to find ways of helping their protgs share this understanding and work effectively. 1.1.2 Counseling Counseling is one of the methods used to offer advice and assist members of staff in an organization. It is not only limited to personal matters affecting members of staff but can also be used to assist with the professional development of individuals and can help to steer one in the right direction in terms of performance development. In simpler words, counseling is the processes by which individuals are assisted for identifying their problems, and finding solutions to the same. Counseling is a very important aspect of management specifically in conducting performance appraisals, handling grievances and taking disciplinary action against employees. There are two methods of counseling those are widely accepted: directive counseling involves the counselor issuing directives to the counselee about the possible consequences of a particular action and taking the initiative to show or lead the counselee in the correct path. Indirect counseling encourages more interaction on the part of the counselee and assumes that the most effective way of arriving at solutions to particular problems/issues is if the counselee is involved in the discussion and ultimate solution to the problem. These solutions are therefore not implemented unless the counselee is in total agreement and accepts the possible outcomes. 1.1.3 Differences between Mentoring and Counseling Mentoring Ongoing relationship that can last for a long period of time Can be more informal and meetings can take place as and when the mentee needs some advice, guidance or support resolves more around developing the mentee professional Mentor is usually more experienced and qualified than the mentee. Often a senior person in the organization who can pass on knowledge, experience and open doors to otherwise out-of-reach opportunities Counseling A Short term intervention Goal is to help people understand the root causes of long-standing performance problems/issues at work Broader focus and greater depth Counselor knowledge level is not necessarily higher than counselee, counselor usually a good listener and possess great knowledge (not necessarily experience) of specific or divorce fields

Mentoring Focus is on career and personal development

Counseling Counseling can be used to address psycho-social as well as performance issues The agenda is generally individuals and the counselor agreed by the

Agenda is set by the mentee, with the mentor providing support and guidance to prepare them for future roles More long-term and takes a broader view of the person Many time more than one person are involved

Effect can last for longer time periods due to the breadth of issues to be addressed Other stakeholders are rarely involved

1.1.4 Examples of mentoring and Counseling. Nearly ten years back, I joined AstraZeneca India Private Limited. I was a fresh graduate and new to work environment of a multinational pharmaceutics company. Before assigning my work, I went through a week long orientation program. During this time, I was introduced to structure of the organization, work ethics, rights of employee, obligations of employee, standard working procedures. Considering the content of the orientation, I believe it was a coaching for a new employee which help him to adjust in new work environment. After completion of the orientation I was introduce to a colleague who was senior to me and was an expert in the molecular biology techniques. I worked together with him and learned all necessary techniques I will be using in future. Later, I started my independent work but he helped me to improve my skills in the field of molecular biology and provide smoother work environment. In my term this process was mentoring which helped to gain/improve required skills to improve my professional performance and so productivity. After couple of months of my tenure, I was facing problems in managing my finances. My income tax deduction in the company was way higher than I was liable to pay. I talked the same to my supervisor and he introduced me to our finance officer for the assistance. The person explained me the details of corporate finance, taxation and tax liability. He helped me to plan my finance so my overall tax deduction can be reduced. He also helped in filing my tax return. Advice and talk with the finance officer had short and long term effect on my finance management. As per my opinion this was counseling, here financial counseling.

1.2

Identify three professional development skills that help you to meet your personal or

organization's goals and objectives. The followings are the major personal and professional skills that are needed to meet my personal and professional goals. Communication skill Communication plays a part in almost every aspect of the business, so being able to communicate well can boost your overall performance. Good communication is essential to building a cohesive and effective team. It is also essential to managing the performance of your team members and enables you to work more closely with your team members. Team morale tends to be higher in a workplace where communication is good. People feel more in control when they have all the relevant facts and they are warned of issues well in advance. They are likely to feel more confident and secure when they know where an organization is headed, where they have the information to plan their medium and long-term future. Communication skill is not only part of business world but a very important part of your performance as an individual. Effective communication is a key part of your professional and personal development. For example in the field of research, scientists need to acquire external funding to carry out their research and for that you need to approach funding organizations. Irrespective of how good you are in science, you cannot succeed until you sale your ideas and you cannot sale your ideas unless you present your ideas clearly and effectively. Managerial skill Motivation, control, planning, implementing and organizing are the main managerial skills which are must for every manager. Without these skills he cannot be a good manager. Motivation is the process of encourage people to increase their efficiency and interest in their current jobs. To be a good manager, he should have motivation skills. He should have good knowledge of motivation theories. Control is another managerial skill which is needed to every manager. He can control the staff with responsibility, dignity and passion. Planning is equally important for the manager. He should formulate the plan and execute it efficiently and effectively in his department in the organization.

Training skill Training is another important skill which is essential for every employee in the organization. Training is the act of increasing the knowledge and skills of an employee for performing the job assigned to him. It is a short-term process. After an employee is selected, placed and introduced in an organization he must be provided with training facilities so that he can perform his job efficiently and effectively. Development is a long-term educational process utilizing an organized and systematic procedure by which managerial personnel learn conceptual and theoretical knowledge for general purpose. It covers not only those activities which improve job performance but also those activities which improve the personality of an employee.

1.3

Describe time management. What are its benefits? Explain how it can enable you to

use your time more effectively. Time management is the act or process of exercising conscious control over the amount of time spent on specific activities, especially to increase efficiency or productivity. Time management may be aided by a range of skills, tools, and techniques used to manage time when accomplishing specific tasks, projects and goals. This set encompasses a wide scope of activities, and these include planning, allocating, setting goals, delegation, analysis of time spent, monitoring, organizing, scheduling, and prioritizing. Initially, time management referred to just business or work activities, but eventually the term broadened to include personal activities as well. A time management system is a designed combination of processes, tools, techniques, and methods. Usually time management is a necessity in any project development as it determines the project completion time and scope. Time management skills are skills that employ prioritization. Time management is important for your personal life and career success. It teaches you how to manage your time effectively and make the most of it. By applying the time management skills one can optimize his effort to ensure that he concentrate as much of his time and energy as possible on the high payoff tasks. This ensures that you achieve the greatest benefit possible with the limited amount of time available with an individual. Here are a few of the reasons why it is so important, and how it can help you use and manage your time more advantageously:

y y

Wise time management can help you find the time for what you desire to do or need to do. Through right time management, one can create the time he need, and not just wait for it to come. By planning time wisely, person will have more time to do more things.

y y

Time management will help you set up your priorities. Time management helps to make conscious choices, so person can spend more of his time doing things that are important and valuable to him.

Person can become more productive using improved time management skills and tools, and can accomplish more with less effort and time. Time management can help to reduce wasted time and energy, help to become more creative and productive, and enable to do the right thing at the right time. This will of course lead to more balance and fulfillment in your life.

Life today presents so many distractions, and therefore, it is very easy to lose time on unimportant activities. Thinking, planning, finding out how others manage their time, and reading books and articles on time management, will develop these skills and give you good ideas.

1.4

What is the value of a Continuous Professional Development (CPD) programme to

both an organization and an individual? Include evidence from an organization with which you are familiar. Managers who operate effective Personal Performance Management systems for their business change professionals can very easily attract external recognition for their staff and the organization for those career development activities. The objective is to enable and motivate change professionals to extend their skills and expertise through an accredited Continuing Professional Development (CPD) program. Growth and success in the ever-changing world of work is increasingly about individuals taking responsibility for their personal development. Our evolving culture requires that individuals be accountable for self-direction, to practice self-management of their own learning and to actively search for wider experience and opportunity. This does not take place in isolation. The CPD process should also bring direct benefit to the team in which the individual works and the organization as a whole.

Currently I am in a medical research industry and continuous professional development is very important to be competent in the industry. Currently medical science is advancing faster than ever. Each and every day scientists are coming up with new research and advance techniques. I must say that reading text book is not enough since by the time book published, several new versions of the research must have been published. In this competitive world we must keep our self acquainted with current research and its possible implication on medical practice. As part of continuous professional development, we must regularly attain scientific meetings on current medicine and also take part in the workshops on recent techniques. Attaining meetings and workshops are a part of continuous professional development and without that it is not possible to achieve different peaks of science. Similarly in every industry there are regular updates are coming up and company must consider these things in their professional development program. Every employee of every organization should take personal interested and responsibility in his personal CPD.

Task 2 Personal skills audit

2.1 Describe the stages of a personal skills audit. How can it be used to develop the skills needed for effective management and leadership? A skills audit is a review of your existing skills against the skills you need both now and in the future. It can help you to identify your existing skills, identify what skills you may need to carry out your existing voluntary work and role more effectively and to plan, develop and improve the skills and knowledge needed for your future career. Carrying out a skills audit is a five stage process. Stage 1 Listing of existing Skills and Knowledge Identification

First we need to make a list of the knowledge and skills which we consider to be important for the current work. Stage 2 Future Skills and Knowledge Identification

Next is to make a list of the knowledge and skills which you consider to be important for your future career. In both the list try to cover as much skills as possible which are relevant to current and future job list.

Stage 3

Rating Your Ability

Once list is ready every individual has to rate his current abilities against each skill. Stage 4 Review Your Ability Ratings

Once person is evaluated for his skills, an experience person can rate your current skills level. Stage 5 Your Future Development

Based on evaluation and expert opinion company or the individual can concentrate on developing the skill(s) and knowledge areas where he is falling behind or have identified that he is not fully competent. As mentioned before unless we do not evaluate the present skills level using the skill audit it is difficult to know persons present skill level. With help of skill audit designed for evaluation of management and leadership skills, we can evaluate the persons present skill level and skills need to be improved. Based on the obtained data we can take necessary action, like mentoring, coaching or counselling, to improve their management and leadership skills. 2.2 Discuss the importance of identifying learning style. How can you monitor the

effectiveness of your own learning style? Every individual is different and we do not process incoming information in the same way. Neither do we store it, organize it or retrieve it in the same way. Every individual has varying learning styles, and no single teaching style can fulfill everybodys' needs. A person's learning style has to do with the way he or she processes information in order to learn it and then apply it. No one approach or style is more or less effective than any other. What does matter is whether it is suited to a particular everyday task or academic situation. By understanding different 'learning styles' we may gain insights into ways of making different information more accessible to our diverse groups of learners. Most people learn best when the style of presentation is in agreement with their preferred learning style. A learning strategy is one of many different ways of dealing with learning tasks that a people develop to facilitate performance. If person become aware of their preferred learning styles they will then be more able to recognize their strengths and weaknesses. By doing this they can then develop

strategies when or if there is a mismatch between their preferred style and their learning situation.

Task 3
3.1

Personal development plan

What is the purpose of a personal development plan? A structured and supported process undertaken by an individual to reflect upon their own

learning, performance and/or achievement and to plan for their personal, educational and career development is referred as Personal Development Planning. The personal development plan (PDP) is designed to capture agreements between reviewer and reviewee on key areas of learning and development including how these needs will be supported. Studies already showed that PDP has a measurable effect, increasing the likelihood of success. In addition to the research, three big reasons behind the personal development plan: y Clarity: Knowing what you are trying to accomplish gives me a clear idea of what you are working on. y Define the why: Oftentimes, along the way you will come across tasks and situation that you simply dont enjoy doing. Having a personal development plan shows you why you are doing what you are doing. y My compass: You are a very driven, ambitious person but if I dont have a plan of what you are trying to accomplish, you end up expending energy in many different directions. A personal development plan keeps me headed towards consistent goals.

3.2

Skill Audit Skill/Ability Being creative Planning events Organising others Leading a team Using IT packages Communicating verbally Making formal presentation Researching Information Selling an idea, concept or product Interpreting financial information Understanding scientific concepts Thinking theoretically Applying theory Visualising things Interpreting diagrams Solving problems Using listening skills Managing your time Creative writing Motivating and enthusing Taking the initiative Paying attention to fine details Keeping the big picture in view 2 4 3 1 1 4 3 3 3 4 4 4 1 4 2 4 4 5 3 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 5

Based on the above skill audit, I need to develop my financial, time management and business writing skills and I would like to focus on improving above mentioned skills in next six

month time. I would also like complete at least my post graduate diploma study by end of August, 2012.

Personal Development Plan for Year 2011-2012 What am I trying to What internal What external threat is Who/where can I go How I will review Target dates achieve? weakness is standing worrying me? for help? Progress completion in the way? Improve my efficiency work Lack of proper time Hamper management progress my career Meet a counsellor and Regularly (biweekly) Mid-August take expert opinion review weekly November 2011 Look for a person who activity chart can mentor me during Efficiency in meeting my day to day work deadline If necessary take a proper training Improve professional skills my Lack of confidence in Send out writing written message communication wrong Look for coaching good Weekly write a November 2011 to business report or Feb 2012 and get Look for a mentor and letter reviewed by an expert a friend who can guide you Improve my knowledge finance Not exposed to the Inability interpret Complete the Successful subject financial data of the managing financial completion company principle and subject techniques subject Take help from companys CFO or CA Complete graduate my diploma post Organising skills in RDI program and Successful completion course of August-2011 the December-2012 to March-June-2012 of the a for

to

course co-ordinators

management study

References
1. Carol W. Elis., 2004. Management Skills for New Managers. 1st Ed. New York: AMMCOM Div American Mgmt Assn. 2. Conor Hannaway and Gabriel Hunt., 2003. The Management Skills Book. 5th Ed. Burlington: Gower Publishing Company. 3. David Hussey., 1999.Strategy and Planning. 5th Ed. West Sussex : John Wiley & Sons. 4. Frank Adorant., 2006. The Managers Guide to Understanding Commercial Contract Negotiation. 1st Ed.London: Lesson Profession Publishing. 5. Harvard Business School., 2005. Time Management: Increase Your Personal Productivity and Effectiveness.1st Ed. Boston: Harvard Business Press. 6. Hollingsworth, M.J., 1999.Purpose and Values. British Journal of Administrative Management. pp. 22-23 7. Jessica Edward., 2007. Presentation Skills. 1st Ed. s.l: Global Media.John C. Maxwell., 2005. Developing the Leader within You. 3rd Ed. s.l: Thomson Nelson. 8. Pamela Dodd and Dong Sundheim., 2005. The 25 Best Time Management Tools and Techniques. 1st Eds Peak Performance Press. 9. Padfield, C et al. (1998) Lifelong Learning in Engineering Education: A Call to Action. SEFI Document No. 20. Brussels: European Society for Engineering Education. 10. Paula Jacobs., 1998. Negotiating for Success. Info World Magazine, 20(49), pp. 131. 11. Richard L. Daft and Dorothy Marcic., 2008. Understanding Management. 6th Ed. Natorp Boulevard: Thomson Nelson. 12. Roger A. Kaufman, Hugh Oakley Browne, Ryan Watkins., 2003. Strategic Planning for Success: Aligning people, Performance, and Payoffs. 1st Ed. SanFrancisco: John Wiley and Sons. 13. Useem, M., 2001. How to Groom Leaders of Future in Pickford. Financial Times Mastering Time Management 2.0. Financial Times. Prentice Hall.