Academic Personal & Professional Development - Essay Example

Academic Personal and Professional Development Plan Name: Tutor: Course: Date: Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Section 1: Introduction 3 Section 2: Skills and Evaluation 3 Section 3: Action plans 5 Section 4: Application 8 Section 5: Conclusion and Evaluation 9 References 11 Armstrong J S 2012, Natural Learning in Higher Education. Encyclopedia of the Sciences of Learning. London. 11 Aubrey B 2010, Managing Your Aspirations: Developing Personal Enterprise in the Global Workplace McGraw-Hill. 11 Bandura A 2007, Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: Freeman 11 Chickering A 2003, Education and Identity (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1969); second edition updated with Linda Reisser, published in 2003 by Jossey-Bass. 11 Herminia, I 2003, Working identity : unconventional strategies for reinventing your career. Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business School Press. p. 199. 11 Hewlett, S A 2007, Off-Ramps and On-Ramps, Harvard Business School Press. 11 Le Blanc, R 2008, Achieving Objectives Made Easy! Practical goal setting tools & proven time management techniques. Maarheeze: Cranendonck Coaching. 11 Ryan, M R & Deci, L E 2000, Self-Determination Theory and the Facilitation of Intrinsic Motivation, Social Development, and Well-Being. American Psychologist. New York. 12 Seligman, M 2008, Building Human Strength: Psychology’s Forgotten Mission, Vol. 29, Number 1. 13 Section 6: Appendices 14 Section 1: Introduction I am a prospective undergraduate student interested in pursuing business administration at the university. I have just completed high school with good qualification in languages and business. I am 18 years old and recently obtained my high school certificate from an international school. I have ambitions of becoming a middle level manager five years after my university graduation. I also desire to obtain a professional certificate in marketing from a recognized institution to run alongside the degree in business within the first two years of university education. I am analytical, devoted, and aggressive in pursuing my goals. I also take my work seriously and consult whenever possible. I am not reactive but take positive any criticism or compliment. I like being honest and responsible. In the next five years I yearn to be a business professional with superior knowledge in business planning, administration and risk management. I would like to play a leading role in strategic marketing planning and risk management analysis. This means that I have to provide reliable and responsive services to clients of my prospective employers (Hewlett 2007). I need to assert a change in thinking and perspective in order to bring about charismatic leadership and followership with greater agreement with organizational goals. Section 2: Skills and Evaluation To succeed in my higher education I will need interpersonal skills which will help in creating bonds with my colleagues. I will also need research skills to help access information from libraries, internet and periodicals. The use of catalogues and search engines will be easier if I dedicate my first three months in learning how to obtain academic information (Seligman 2008). I need good communication and analytical skills to write term papers and respond to tutorial questions in good time. I also need excellent report writing skills through article writing, broad reading of abstracts and completed student projects. In my employment, I will need to have interpersonal and team skills to fit into the organizational team goals. Aubrey (2010) notes that one needs to assert problem solving skills such as reaching a resolution, making transactions and formulating vision in present to adopt in the future. I also need planning and organizational skills so as to organize and prioritize information. I also need management and leadership skills such as broad knowledge on organizational goals and self-confidence which inspires and motivates my team. My colleagues in the university will find it easy when I am developing interpersonal skills since they will desire to talk and engage me in healthy conversations. With good grades and excellent grasp on business concepts I believe that I am destined for great achievement at the university and during employment. I feel that I need a good transcript together with professionalism to excel in the corporate world. It is believed that being adaptable or flexible is a winning strategy to learning and employment (Locke 2001). I believe that I will gain a lot from being open to new concepts and ideas or by adapting to working hours and its environment. I have learned that with positive attitude and energy it is easier to achieve even in areas where success is scarce. I appreciate the fact that higher learning and employment values productivity and positive work ethics. I think that professionalism in education emerges from being honest like undertaking original work and avoiding plagiarizing papers and assignments. The same applies to employment through adopting professional skills and working with goals in mind (Maslow 2006). I need these concepts and business ideas during job interviews. It will worth attending mock interviews to prove the effectiveness of the concepts that I will have gained. The positive attributes that I have are honesty, responsiveness, reliability and team spirit. It is good to be honest and fair by taking a situation without duping or misleading people into a contract that is void or misguided (Armstrong 2012). I love being responsive to queries and getting to the bottom of an issue in good time. I cherish when people see me as dependable and one to be counted on. I also like liveliness of people who we work or study together. I need to improve on probing skills to now my colleagues and juniors better. Seligman (2008) reiterates that understanding how people think and react is a guide to behavioral and personality tests. I also require the assistance of my mentor to guide me through how to react to dishonesty situation without getting involved in a brawl or disagreements. There is need to improve on people’s skills especially when addressing individuals of various ages (Ryan & Deci 2000). I like meeting new people and making friends which will require that I develop good communication and probing skills. According to Bandura (2007) these skills can be further enhanced by acquiring a reading culture of motivational literature and books and watching great public speakers and evangelical preachers. Section 3: Action plans Strategy Action steps Responsible person Time frame Procedures Others Academic skills Learn new business concepts and ideas Check the dictionary for new words and phrases to build understanding Me Attend public speaking sessions on Fridays, and visit the audio visuals on Saturdays. Visit audio visual section of the library. Buy audio business presentations Arrange to purchase a DVD and TV to watch at my convenience Develop positive attitude and energy to classroom learning Stay with peers with positive energy. Always wake up with a ‘go getter’ attitude. Colleagues, I Start immediately when before a enroll in the university Take physical exercises in the morning. Avoid talks which lack senses of direction Have a working program from morning to evening Professional and Personal skills Develop good work ethics and industriousness Learn from fellow employees and ensure work is finished on time Supervisor, team members Immediately I start working on my first employment Observe how colleagues respond to tasks, assignments and duties. report to work and leave after completing required tasks Call on team members to assist in case of overload or sickness Become a team player and charismatic leader Become courageous and responsive to sound leadership. Offer feedback on quality of managerial service Me The first one year after employment Meet with my supervisor or superior to discuss my performance and provides suggestions on how to improve operations of my function Call on the manager during tea or lunch breaks to learn on managerial and leadership roles Assignments Writing project reports Checking past students project form the library. Collecting relevant data from the respondents. Performing data analysis and presentations Lecturer, tutorial fellow In may third and fourth year of study Reading widely from literature and research journals and books. Administering questionnaires and surveys to target groups. Using statistical tools like SPSS to analyze and present data Purchasing a computer and statistical software to assist in project completion Undertaking examinations Reading and revising before examinations begin. Forming discussion groups to discuss past questions and broaden our thinking Team members, I End of every semester Reading relevant materials with good literature for examination purposes. Taking exams with ease and relaxed mood Purchase revision materials like pens, papers and reading materials Attending industrial attachments Choose suitable organizations to undertake attachment or internships Seek a good recommendation from the supervisor Supervisor, Function head Third and fourth year of my undergraduate studies Apply to the organization using the authority of attachment coordinator. Attending all the sessions of the attachment without fail and in close relationship with the supervisor Seek for accommodation within the auspices of the organization. Ask for upkeep and financial support from parents Section 4: Application Time-management has been an essential skill in my studies. I have learnt that time is valuable resource which when lost cannot be recovered. I need to manage time in my studies and during my employment. I believe I know why people excel by keeping time. I can change events and my destiny by being time conscious and steadfast. Since realizing that time is essential, I have gone to classes on time and meet my appointments before they are late. I used to come late to lessons and discussions but I have changed through time management skills. I have known how to manage time during library hours, leisure, meeting friends, engaging in excursions and walks. More significant has been how to manage time when taking examinations (Chickering 2003). I have learned that any assignment should be completed in time by doing the easy tasks before going for the more challenging ones. Positive attitude to studies is another aspect that has helped me approach lecturers and students with zeal and energy (Herminia 2003). I feel the sense of achievement and belonging with positive attitude. I know I will succeed in my future career as a business professional. I am now motivated and concerned with plight of others. I now like all the units and subjects than before since I decided that I should change my view about the personality of the lecturers and my fellow students. Positive attitude to studies has helped me increase the uptake of classroom assignments and view them as opportunities to better my understanding of the subject area. A good presentation skill is also an area which I have found convergence and ease (Aubrey 2010). I used to present randomly without regard to the pattern of organization and trend. I now know that presentation skills can be aided by projection equipment but I needed to reorganize my points in mind before presenting. I do not tense anymore before my colleagues and I know how to arrange key points on paper before presenting them in front of my colleagues and lecturers. I have learned that with excellent presentation skills, I may not only land on corporate jobs but also secure opportunities at institutions of higher learning as a lecturer in future. I need to improve on language and grammar so as to perfect my readership and presentation. I also require the assistance of a native speaker since I am an international student to be able to comprehend other words not commonly spoken by second language learners. My group consists of; Jackson, Elma, James, Jane and Wendy. Our group has been tasked with analyzing the skills required in higher learning and during employment. My task was to identify the key skills required in excelling as a student and also as an employee. My role entailed listing all the skills and discussing them in detail. My colleagues were tasked with developing action plans from the skills that I helped to draft. I did the wording and ordering of the power point slides to match the flow of the assignment. I also ensured that animations and flow of the presentation reflects a detailed research. Section 5: Conclusion and Evaluation I have noted that with a good personal development plan, it is easier to know the direction one is heading. I am confident of the future since I know how to handle challenges and respond to future opportunities. I have appreciated that skills need to be developed through learning and training. I realized that attending higher learning institutions is one way of developing research skills, time-management, note taking, presentation and creation of positive attitude and professionalism. With action plans in mind, it is easier for me to know where am going and what to do (Bandura 2007). I am now confident in handling assignments like projects, taking examinations and attending industrial attachments. I am confident that a business professional should have a collection of personal interests, goals, values and personal determination. Having a good personal development plan is akin to passing examinations because it provides direction and guidelines on what to adopt, what to drop and when to start doing the two (Le Blanc 2008). I cherish acquisition of study skills because I know the future is mind and that I am in control of my destiny. I suggest that in future, students should make a comparison between personal goals and organization goals. For instance, a personal development plan can be compared with that of a university to obtain convergence. I also recommend further studies on challenges of study groups techniques such as nominal group techniques or focus groups in developing team synergies. References Armstrong J S 2012, Natural Learning in Higher Education. Encyclopedia of the Sciences of Learning. London. Aubrey B 2010, Managing Your Aspirations: Developing Personal Enterprise in the Global Workplace McGraw-Hill. Bandura A 2007, Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: Freeman Chickering A 2003, Education and Identity (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1969); second edition updated with Linda Reisser, published in 2003 by Jossey-Bass. Herminia, I 2003, Working identity : unconventional strategies for reinventing your career. Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business School Press. p. 199. Hewlett, S A 2007, Off-Ramps and On-Ramps, Harvard Business School Press. Le Blanc, R 2008, Achieving Objectives Made Easy! Practical goal setting tools & proven time management techniques. Maarheeze: Cranendonck Coaching. Locke, E A 2001, Motivation by Goal Setting, Handbook of Organizational Behavior, 2: 43-54. Maslow, A H 2006, Higher motivation and the new psychology. In E. Hoffman (Ed.), Future visions: The unpublished papers of Abraham Maslow. Thousands Oaks, CA: Sage, p89 Ryan, M R & Deci, L E 2000, Self-Determination Theory and the Facilitation of Intrinsic Motivation, Social Development, and Well-Being. American Psychologist. New York. Seligman, M 2008, Building Human Strength: Psychology’s Forgotten Mission, Vol. 29, Number 1. Section 6: Appendices Read More