Personal Development Plans

Executive Summary

The primary objective of this assignment is to understand my career aspirations and understand the ways of developing the same. In the first task, my dream job, my strengths and weakness, and personal development plan are identified to achieve above mentioned primary objective. In the second task, workplace problems, effective communication and time management are discussed since those areas are very important for career development. Finally, my own learning style is identified and it is integrated with lifelong learning styles and sources of information. Thus, the ultimate goal of this assignment is to identify my own responsibilities for my career growth.         

Task 13.1.a How my strengths and weakness are related to my dream job?

After the proper analysis of current job market I can determine my dream job as human resources officer.

The human resources officer is a highly skilled job which needs specific competencies. In that case, not only skills but also proper knowledge and attitude are needed to perform this job well. Skills which need for the post of human resources officer can be summarized as follows;

Ø  Peoples’ management skills

Ø  Work supervision skills

Ø  Team building skills

Ø  Grievance handling skills

Ø  Counseling skills

Ø  Time management skills

Ø  Communication skills

Ø  IT skills

Ø  Administrative skills

Ø  Effective negotiations skills

Ø  Problem solving skills

As identified above, the most important skill for a human resources officer is people management skills. Human resources management, by nature, is all about how we can manage people to achieve ultimate corporate goals. Also effective work supervision skills are very important. Human resources officer has to supervise all related work of his job. Those include supervision of workers’ discipline, workers’ engagement activities, worker facilities, training and development, etc. Human resources officer should be a good team player. He/she should know how to motivate his/her team and how to achieve organizational goals through his/her team. As a business partner, he/she should support the ultimate corporate goals of the organization, which are to achieve profit or superior performance. Maintaining a best motivation level of workers is a one of the main responsibilities of human resources officer. Thus, he/she should have good grievance handling skills and counseling skills. Also, time management skills are essential in the today’s turbulent world. The best performance of the human resources officer is depended on how he/she manages time. Further, effective verbal and written communication skills are needed. Those include presentation skills and report written skills. Also, negotiation skills are critical. He/she has to negotiate with different stakeholders to perform his/her job well. Administrative skills include administration office work, document handling, and maintaining personal files, managing human resources information systems, IT management, etc. Finally, problem-solving skills are very critical, as the human resource officer has to attend day-to-day HR related problems.

Before develop my career in the field of human resources management and as a human resources officer, it is very important to asses my internal strengths and weaknesses. These strengths and weaknesses can be summarized as follows;

Strengths	Weakness
Good peoples management skills	Lack of presentation skills
Listen to others	Difficulty in meeting dead-lines
Strong written communication skills	Take emotional decisions
Sufficient academic background in management and administration	Lack of academic qualifications in labour laws, counseling, work place safety and health
Ability to work with teams which have diversity	Inability to work in remote areas because of family commitments
Experience in the field of human resources management	Inability to work under pressure

                     

As summarized above I have identified some strengths and weaknesses before I start my career as a human resources officer. The most important strength I have is people management skills. I have experiences in this skill when I lead my football team at school and when I was doing my academic work with colleagues. Further, people management skills are interrelated with my ability to work with team. In my college, I have experiences regarding working with teams, which have more diversity. Also I am good at listening to others and I can understand their problems. Further, my strong communication skills, sufficient academic background and my experience as a human resources trainee can be identified as strengths.

On the other hand, I have my own weaknesses. The first and foremost weakness is lack of presentation skills. I have a stage-fear from childhood. I believe this weakness can be a significant impact on my career if I fail to correct the same. Also, I used to postpone my work until deadlines are reached. The result is, sometimes I have failed to meet deadlines. Further, I take emotional decisions, which are not professional. When we consider the nature of this job emotional decision taking will be a definite disadvantage. Also I need to gain some academic qualifications in related fields to human resource management such as company law, counseling, and workplace safety and health. Finally, I have some family commitments and if I fail to resolve the same, it would be a definite weakness in my part.

As discussed above, I can identify by dream job, what skills are required to perfume the job and finally I can identify my strengths and weaknesses.     

          

Task 13.1.b – Self assessment inventory

Purpose – The primary objective of this self assessment inventory is to identify the major skills which need for a human resources officer. The secondary objective is to identify my strength and weaknesses in relation to respective skills.

 

Scale:               10        - Highest skills

1                    - Lowest skills

Area of skills	Scale
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Peoples management skills
Work supervision skills
Team building skills
Grievance handling skills
Counseling skills
Time management skills
Communication skills
IT skills
Administrative skills
Effective negotiations skills
Problem solving skills

As identified above, my most strong skills are people management, IT skills, administrative skills, effective negotiation skills and problem solving skills. I am average in work supervision skills, team building skills and communication skills. But when analyze this inventory properly, I can determine that those are my strengths rather than weaknesses. I can identify my weaknesses as grievance handling skills, counseling skills and time management skills.

Task 13.1.c. – CV for the post of Human Resources Officer   

Eduardo Cruz

123/1, Misty Avenue,

Bradford, BS8 7SK

Tel – 01274871180

E-mail – Eduardo.cruz@gmil.com

OBJECTVE:

To develop career as a human resources officer in the hospitality industry

CAREER HISTORY (In reverse chronological order):

Human Resources Assistant – Midland Hotel, Bradford - January 2011 to date

Ø  Assist human resources manager for HR administration which include; staff attendance, staff leave, documentation, personal file handling, payroll administration and statutory requirements

Ø  Coordinating recruitment and selection activities

Ø  Facilitating for company induction program  

Ø  Assist human resources manager for staff engagement activities

Ø  Coordinating staff medical schemes with insurance agents

Ø  Follow the company grievance handling procedure and handle grievances where necessary

Ø  Coordination of training and development activities

Ø  Following the exit procedure of employees    

Human Resources Intern – Hilton Bradford, Bradford – January 2010 to December 2010

Ø  Assisted the HR consultant to prepare job descriptions for non-executive level staff members

Ø  Assisted human resources assistant to maintain personal files

Ø  Engaged with staff engagement activities at Hilton Bradford

Ø  Coordinate staff transport facilities

Ø  Maintained staff lockers and staff accommodation facilities

Ø  Maintained on-line time attendance system by providing appropriate information

PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS 

BTEC Higher National Diploma in Human Resources Management - Overall GPA: 3.2 / 4.0  

BTEC Certificate for Business Management – Overall GPA:3.0/4.0

IT SKILLS

Ø  Excellent knowledge in SAP system.

Ø  Excellent knowledge in frequently applied computer applications (MS word, Excel, Access & Power point, etc)

Ø  Sound knowledge in data base Management

 REFERENCES

Available upon request

I solemnly declare that all the above particulars given by me are true and accurate to the best of my knowledge.

----------------------------                                                 --------------------------

Signature                                                                                 Date

13.1.d. Personal Development Plan of Eduardo Cruz

Objective

To become a Director of Human Resources in an international hotel chain by 2020.

Sort term goals

Find a job as a human resources officer in Hilton international by June 2012.

Moving close to Hilton international by June 2012 to balance work-life.

Medium term goals 

Complete Post Graduate Diploma in Human Resources Management at the University of Bradford by 2014.

Develop presentation skills by 2014 by actively participating to the cause related presentations.

Develop time management skills by 2014 by regular practicing of time management

Long term goals   

Complete Master of Business Administration by 2016 at the London Business School.

Gain international exposure by working for different international organizations in hotel industry which have different organizational cultures.    

Become a Director of Human Resources by 2020 in an international hotel chain.

Core-Values   

I will be standout wherever I am. Fineness and integrity will be kept for all professional work. All actions will be done to gain sustainable competitive advantage in the turbulent world. Close interactions will be kept with all people who engage with me. All actions will be proactive rather than reactive.

Task 13.3.a. Work base problems and the possible solutions

Work-base problems can be identified as the related problems, which can be happened when an organization is functioning. These problems can be related to any resources of an organization. Further, these problems can be affected to any levels of hierarchy of an organization. These levels of hierarchy can be identified as top management, functional management, and operational management (Daft, p10).

The top management level is in the summit of the pyramid. Also, top managers are the policy makers of the organization. One of the main work-base problems faced by top management is how to implement policies, which have been prepared by the top management. Policies are a tool of strategic implementation of an organization. Thus, those policies are very important to gain the competitive advantage and finally to gain superior profit or performance. Thus, effective implementations of policies are so important. Many organizations have prepared various policies for their organizations, but those policies have been limited to documentation and some policies are not practical. There are many possible solutions to overcome this problem. The first argument is that policies can be included as objectives for the function level managers and operational level managers. Policies are a broad area but it can be narrowed down as specific objectives of individuals. On the other hand, this is called manage by objectives. When policies are included to objectives, they have to be followed and implemented by the down the line. The second solution is to strengthen communication channels to communicate policies to the next level of hierarchy. By proper communication, all will be aware about the policies and finally organization will be able to achieve the ultimate goal of the organization.

The next level of the hierarchy is functional level. The identified problem is how to maintain the different organizational culture of different SBUs. On the one hand, diversified organizational culture is advantageous to superior profit or performance of the organization and on the other hand, it would be a one of the main obstacles. Thus, in today’s turbulent business, world managing organizational culture is vital. In a diversified organization there can be different strategic business units (SBUs). Some of these SBUs may operate in an international scenario and others may operate in a local scenario. Because of these circumstances organizational culture can be differ from on SBU to other. One of identified solution to overcome this problem is to accept all cultures and make fair policies for all workers of the organization. Accepting all cultures will bring equal opportunities to all. On the other hand, fair policies for all cultures will build the trust among workers. As the second solution, team building activities are very important. This includes staff engagement activities. By effective team building activities, an organization is able to overcome cultural differentiations. Also, staff engagement actives will help build the trust and harmony among workers who are come from different cultures.

The next level is operational level. This level is very important for the workplace problems since they directly engage with the operations of organization. The identified problem of this level is how worker can be motivated and on the other hand how to handle de-motivated workers. Workers’ motivation is an essential part of the success of an organization. Also, de-motivated workforce will create unproductive scenario of an organization. There are many motivation theories which have been introduced by many scholars (Cole, p95). These all theories are not applicable to one workplace and the applicability can differ from one organization to another. But there are many identified ways to overcome the problem of motivation. The first identified way is objective based reward system. In this system, all workers will be given objectives or goals. Finally, end of the year they will be evaluated as per their performance. These performances will be measured according to their achievements of the objectives. The objective based reward system is a good tool for motivation. In this system, workers clearly know what their objectives are. On the other hand, if they cannot perform well, the circumstances have been prior defined. The second most effective solution for workers motivation is recognition. This is not necessarily monitory rewards. Workers should be recognized for their good work. This includes rewards for superior performance, appreciation letters, appreciation certificates, promotion for exceptional performers, etc.

Task 13.3.b. –Effective ways to communicate among various levels of hierarchy

Communication is one of the vital areas of workplace problems. If communication is effective, work place problems can be reduced. On the other hand, if communication is ineffective work place problems will be increased. Thus, proper communication is one of the modes to solve workplace problems effectively. Communication can be defined as “the process of which information is exchanged and understood by two or more people, usually with the intent to motivate or influence behavior” (Draft p537).

In this discussion communication among various levels of hierarchy is important. This communication is done through ways of communication. In today’s world, there are plenty of communication channels, which have been emerged with the new technology. But not all these communication channels are applicable to all hierarchies of the organization. Top managers have to communicate their decisions by using various communication channels but those may be not practical if the same is used by operational level managers.

As discussed above, there are many communication channel but most effective communication channels can be identified as face-to-face communication, telephone, electronic massage, letters, memos, and reports (Draft p541).

In a well structured organization, communication is flowed from top to bottom. The feedback communication will be bottom to top. Thus, flow of the communication can be identified as from top management to functional management level and then to operational level management. At the first step from top level to functional level communication will be identified. The identified workplace problem of the top level is how to implement policies which have been prepared by the top management. This communication should be a very formal communication and thus most effective communication channels would be Letters, memos and reports. Since, this is a policy matter documentation is very important.

The second level is from functional management to operational management communication. The identified workplace problem of this level is how to manage different organizational cultures of an organization. To solve to this problem, face-to-face communication, letters and memos are important. When it is a policy matter, letters and memos are important. If the problem solving way is informal, it is advisable to use a channel like face-to-face communication. This communication channel is very important when addressing problems related to sensitive matters like culture.

The third level is from operational level to workers who are in the operational floors. This is a crucial area where communication should be very diplomatic. The identified problem is how to motivate workers and how to maintain the maximum productivity level. The given solutions are objective based reward system and workers recognition. For the objective based reward system, letters, memos and report can be used as communication channels since they are is very formal and structured. On the other hand, for the worker recognition it is very important to use face-to-face communication because recognition should be done, soon after where it is identified. Thus, it is very important to use very effective communication channel like face-to-face communication. On the other hand, telephone, letters and memos can be used more effectively.

How can recognize worker’s good performance by using letters?     

The selected scenario is an operational manager needs to motivate one of his/her worker by using letter as a communication channel. This scenario was identified as a workplace problem at the third level of organizational hierarchy.

07^th April 2012

The General Manager,

Midland Hotel, Bradford

Eduardo Cruz

123/1, Misty Avenue,

Bradford, BS8 7SK

Dear Eduardo,

Appreciation.

This refers to a written comment made by a guest of room No 705 who was our in-house guest from 01^st April 2012 to 06^th April 2012.

The service rendered by you is been highly commended by the guest that has made him very much happy. The management recognizes and thank you for the contribution made by you on your part in rendering a good service that has made the guest happy and feel comfortable during the stay.

Once again, a Big thank to you and wish you all the best for a bright future.

Thanking you,

General Manager.  

Task 13.3.c. Impact of effective time management in maximizing the productivity of managers

Time management can be defined as the “behaviours that aim at achieving an effective use of time while performing certain goal-directed activities” (Claessens et al., p262). This definition explains that time management needs effective usage of time to achieve a specific goal.

There are many effective time management strategies, which have been introduced by many scholars. These strategies can be summarized as goal setting, planning, prioritizing, and decision-making, delegating, and scheduling (Claessens et al., p263). Goal setting strategy explains that by setting goals prior to begin work, time can be managed. The goal setting and planning has close relationship. Thus, proper planning will manage the time. The next characteristic is prioritizing. By this method, managers can identify what work is urgent and important. Then priority should be given to top urgent and top important work. Past and correct decision making is one of the characteristics of effective time management. It will bring down the unnecessary cost involved with operation. Further, delegating is important. Not all work can be done by managers. They have to delegate certain work to others. By doing that managers can save time. Finally, scheduling is a good time management strategy. This strategy is used by project managers very effectively. In scheduling, all work has to be prior scheduled and specific times should be given.    

Effective time management maximizes the productivity of managers in different ways. The first identified way is cost reduction. It has been proved that ‘time is cost’. By using effective time management techniques, managers are able to reduce the cost, which is related to time.

Further, effective time management helps increase the production or service. All unnecessary activities will be reduced by the effective time management and finally it will help increase the production or service of the organization.

Also, if managers follow effective time management techniques they have more time to supervise their departments and workers. This regular supervision will help maximize the productivity of the department.   

The most important area of effective time management is it will help to save more free time for managers. This free time will help managers to maximize their productivity by different ways. Managers can use this free time for learning and development. On the other hand, they can use this free time for new initiatives. Finally, leisure can reduce the pressure of managers and reduced pressure will help uplift the motivational level of managers.            

Task 13.4.a Understanding different learning styles and identifying my own method. 

Learning can be defined as “a change in behavior or performance that occurs as the result of experience” (Daft, p458). Many scholars have introduced many learning styles that can be used for personal and professional development. These learning styles can be summarized as labeled diverger, assimilator, converger, and accommodator (Draft, p459).

Dominant learning abilities of diverger are concrete experience and reflective observation. Divergers have creativity and imagination ability. They generate more ideas (Draft, p460).

Assimilator’s dominant learning abilities are abstract conceptualization and active experimentation. Assimilator’s can Understand and create theories (Draft, p460).

Dominant learning abilities of convergers are abstract conceptualization and active experimentation. Convergers have practical applications of idea (Draft, p460).

Accommodator’s dominant learning abilities are concrete experience and active experimentation. Accommodator’s involve them self in experience (Draft, p460).

The Honey and Mumford Questionnaire was developed to identify the learning method preference of individuals. This questionnaire was developed by Peter Honey and Alan Mumford in 1986 (Cole, p323) Based on the Honey and Mumford Questionnaire I can understand my learning style as diverger. According to the Honey and Mumford Questionnaire the first justification is that, I am good at generating ideas. At school, I have participated many brainstorm sessions. Further, I can see a situation form multiple perspectives and being aware of meaning and value. In that case, I have used to see a situation from 360⁰ perspective. Also, I am interested in people, culture and art. I generally respect the views of people and also respect different cultures. Finally, according to the Honey and Mumford Questionnaire I can determine that I am good at human resource management.

Task 13.4.b. Ways in which lifelong learning could be encouraged. Which method attracts me the most?   

Lifelong learning can be defined as “all learning activities undertaken throughout life, with the aim of improving knowledge, skills and competence, within a personal, civil, social and/or employment-related perspective” (www.esae.org, accessed April 2012). Further, these lifelong learning ways are included formal education, non-formal education and informal education.

There are many ways to encourage lifelong learning. When someone is motivated with lifelong learning, they may use formal, non-formal or informal education to achieve their goals. Personal life goals will encourage lifelong learning. Researchers have proven that many individuals tend to learn after 24 years since they need to achieve personal life goals.

Further, today’s world is very challenging. Thus, to gain competitive advantage, learning and development is essential. Many people come up with many initiatives, findings, new products and new technology. To survive in the today turbulent world, day-to-day updating is essential. Many individuals have engaged in lifelong learning since they need to survive in today’s turbulent world.

Also, learning new things are very interesting. With the new technology, initiatives, finding and product development, there are many things to learn on-going basis. Not only above but also, many scholars come up with new theories that are very interesting to learn. These new things have encouraged professionals and also academic individuals to follow lifelong learning.  

The most attractive way for my lifelong learning is that personal goals. As I have mentioned in my Personal Development Plan, I have many areas to develop prior to become a director of human resource management. Thus, my all lifelong learning activities will depend on my personal goals.   

Task 13.4.c Sources of information utilized to answer Task 4

Two kinds of sources of information were used to answer task 4. Those include book references and web sources. Especially Honey and Mumford Questionnaire has been illustrated by many web sources. The questionnaire has been defined in deferent ways by many web sources. But the result is same. On the other hand, many books have introduced Honey and Mumford Questionnaire. But web sources are still more efficient and the result can be obtained within few minutes with a proper analysis.  Thus, web sources are more effective for the Honey and Mumford Questionnaire. But different learning styles have been introduced by many books and those sources are very important. Thus, to identify learning styles it is better to use book sources.

Lifelong learning also has been introduced by many web sources and book sources. But ideal illustrations have been given by book sources. On the other hand, encouragement for lifelong learning can be differed from time to time. There are many reasons for that. For examples with the development of technology and with the development of new industries, the purpose of lifelong learning has be changed. In that case, web sources provide more updated information. Thus, both book sources and web sources are important to study lifelong learning.      

Task 13.2.a, 13.2.b. Evaluation of my personal/professional learning and development.

According to my personal development plan all of my learning and development activities are depended on my ultimate career goal, which is become a director of human resources in hotel industry. My learning and development activities are twofold. The first activity is personal learning and development. The aim of personal learning and development is to minimize my weaknesses that have been identified by SWOT analysis. The main weaknesses that identified are; lack of presentation skills, difficulty in meeting deadlines, take emotional decisions and inability to work under pressure. All my personal learning and development activities will be focused on correcting these weaknesses. Since these areas are very difficult to address in an academic scenario, informal learning activities will be applied to achieve this goals. Further, these areas are directly related with my lifelong learning activities.

The second learning and development activity is professional learning and development. Under this area, I will focus on my professional development as human resources personnel. These activities included following postgraduate diploma in human resources management and completing master of business administration. As same as personal learning and development, these activities are also related to my lifelong learning activities. These learning and development activities are very structured and formal learning methods will be used to achieve the aim.         

Conclusion

Individuals are responsible for their own career development. The first step of professional development is to understand a clear career path. Also, personal development plan is essential to set future career goals. For that understanding, the internal strengths and weaknesses are very important. Once personal development plan is clarified, it is essential to understand the business environment. Understanding hatchery of the organization, workplace problems, communication and time management are important for that case. Finally, maintaining professional development is vital. All learning and development activities will help to maintain the professional development.

References

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http://www.esae.org/library_items.htm, accessed April 2012

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