Personal and Professional Development - Essay Example

Personal and Professional Development I. Executive Summary This paper has been prepared to explore personal learning and development focusing on the concepts, themes and ideas raised within the module. Personal development plan encapsulates the first trimester of my studies at Kingston University, where I was doing my MA in Marketing. The paper starts with two learning experiences. It is followed by application of specific theories of personal development i.e. SWOT analysis and NEO PI-R in the same context. The next part of the paper discusses factors that helped or hindered the process of learning. Communication and language difficulties have been identified as major obstacles of my learning process. On the basis of this analysis personal development plan was prepared. This included an action plan which specifies the skills to improve within a specific timeframe. II. Identification of Learning Process i. Team Work In the beginning of the course, I had problems in expressing my ideas. It was not only obvious in the group meetings but also in the lectures and tutorials. Often I knew the answers of the questions rose in the class or had different idea or thought for the topic discussed but my language problem created major hindrances. I was not able to persuade my classmates and teammates for my opinions which I could have easily done in my mother language. The reason of this situation was not just language problem. The other major problem that I had developed was lack of confidence. This lack of confidence stopped me even when I knew the answers or appropriate arguments of the topic of discussion. This lack of confidence created another hindrance to my learning process and developing my skills. Identifying this I decided to become more adventurous in terms of my verbal communication. The easiest place for me to speak out was the group. These groups were created for class assignments, group presentations and case studies. I started actively participating in the groups. This positively affected my marks in the group assignments, improved my level of communication and confidence. I started observing myself and other students who has been considered to be excellent or good in their communication skills. I found out that it hardly matters if I know the absolutely right answer or not, I would not get punished for the same. I learnt that process of generating answers are crucial than the answers itself. The other learning was benefits of group works. Group work generates unexpected ideas, provides different views and angles to the same situations that a single person can miss out. Group work is far more challenging, because everybody has to make concessions in order to get the work done. This was a positive revelation, because I like to spend my free time with other people; however I did not have much experience of working in teams. ii. Written Assignments The problem I was facing was with communication in English language. Written assignments again have posed similar challenge for me. However I felt more comfortable in written assignments. My second learning experience was result of my two assignments. I had written these assignments in different styles. My first assignment was in Marketing Strategy and in that I had to analyze The Daily Telegraph. Right from the start I was overwhelmed by the readings I had to do prior to any analysis. Without any planning I started reading about the company and collecting more and more information about the same. This led to the situation where I had to read a lot irrespective of its relevance. It also took more time to analyze the single organization. The result was that my final work was not organized and there were several avoidable errors and mistakes in the final work. The second assignment was in Market Research. I perceived that the assignment would be more difficult. There were two reasons for this perception. The first was lack of interest in the subject and the second was less time available to complete the assignment. This time the experience of my previous work helped me. I was not ready to repeat the same mistakes which I did on the previous assignment so I started planning for the assignment. I gave a quick thought to the subject and analysis and prepared the basic framework. This effort paid off. I finished my work quickly and within the time frame allotted. The work was more professional and with least errors and mistakes. I was taking English lectures every week during the course. I felt that it might have also attributed to the final work. III. Application of Theory to Learning i. SWOT Analysis According to Contract Journal (2004), SWOT analysis can be employed as a method to create a personal development plan. The SWOT matrix consists of four components i.e. strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. The first two factors are considered to be internal factors which can be controlled and influenced by an individual while the other two factors can not be controlled or influenced by an individual. (Kindly write SWOT Analysis done on (Date)) (Your threat also includes the competition in the job market) Hooley (2004) argues that SWOT analysis aligns strengths and weaknesses together with opportunities and threats. Thus it helps to create strategy formulation. Firstly I had some problems in accommodating myself to new learning style. I had already experienced that my weaknesses were affecting my studies. This was clearly indicating that I need to work on myself by expanding strengths and overcoming weaknesses. Regarding opportunities I might have to learn a foreign language that was preferably German and take advantage of the growing opportunities in Slovakia where the economy was booming at that point of time. On the other hand there are some health issues that I can not control or influence. I knew that these might have an effect on my future studies and employment. ii. NEO PI-R In this section the NEO PI-R model is applied. This model was elaborated by Paul Costa and Robert McCrae. (Woodall, 2004) According to this model, personality consist of 5 traits; emotionality, extraversion, openness, agreeableness and consciousness. By applying the same model I scored high in extraversion, low in emotionality and moderate in the remaining three characteristics of personality. Based on the results, I am sociable person and suitable for teamwork. I have an ability to cope with stress therefore workplace with high stress situations should not cause problems for me. My adaptability level is medium. This means I like to change things in my life but not very often and preferably using continual modifications. Furthermore I am a person between tough-minded and tender-minded hence I would benefit the organization more working as a negotiator. The last facet of my personality shows that I am a combination of goal focused and ordered person. Most probably I would be placed in General Management placement for the business and functions that are convenient to me. To be more specific I would be more suited for finance or sales positions. The results of NEO PI-R are similar to my characteristics which I was able to observe during the first three months of the course. There was a little difference in the attribute agreeableness. I have experienced some difficulties working in groups but the NEO results showed that I am somewhere in middle of the spectrum. IV. Factors That Have Helped or Hindered Learning Process As I have mentioned earlier communication was the biggest problem in my learning process. Although I considered my English to be above average level but Masters Course requires high standard of English. My problem in English language ranged from accent, vocabulary, grammar to written. Accommodating with the new accent with the native speakers was the biggest challenge in front of me. However this had improved as the course progressed and with my consistent efforts. I also tried to improve my written English. But still the biggest problem for me was developing ability to express my opinion effectively and fluently on the issues of discussion. Time management was another factor affecting my studies and development process. I learnt with time that it is important to prioritize my tasks and set goals rather than reading each and everything. In the beginning of the course, I was facing problem in working within groups. I was not paying attention to the opinions of other members of the group. Even if I felt that the opinions of other members might be right I wanted everything to be done on my ways. My ability to accommodate in various situations helped me to overcome this situation. I understood the importance of considering others’ views. This helped in finding the most agreeable situation for all by considering other members’ views and opinions. Another factor that helped me in my learning process was the fact that I had worked twice in USA’s multicultural environment. I learned the way to communicate with colleagues in a multicultural environment. This opportunity also helped me to understand differences among people from different nations and the appropriate ways to approach them. Even my class consisted of students from various backgrounds and nationalities. This gave an opportunity to understand diversity in various aspects of thinking and doing things. The social and cultural factors that each individual considers before making any decision were an important learning. V. Changes in Perceptions and Actions i. English Language Once I realized that I need to improve my verbal and written English language I directed my efforts in this direction. The best way to improve my English was to speak more and more about various topics and in various situations. I started preparing myself for the specific expressions which I wanted to share with my group members or classmates. I started reading as much as possible and sharing the knowledge and ideas with other members of my groups. I was aware of the fact that I did not have time for learning English only, so I started reading various marketing and management articles. In this way I combined English learning process with the current knowledge of marketing world. I was following a systematic learning process. Firstly, it was in a form of translating unknown terms by using my electronic dictionary. This method was particularly useful for preparing for the lectures where I needed to go through lots of information. This was an effective way to strengthen vocabulary and learn idioms and phrases. I also wanted up to date information of the various markets and industries so I incorporated reading magazines like The Economist and Marketing and other journals. The English classes along with the above mentioned methods added on improving my communication skills. ii. Systematic Work I am a goal oriented person. I know quite specifically what I want to achieve but my characteristics is negated by the way I treat my work organization. Even the results from NEO PI-R indicate that I am unmethodical and disorganized person. Therefore even if I can set realistic objectives I am not able to accomplish the same. In attempt to solve this problem I started using my computer in more systematic ways. I organized myself. I created a hierarchy of folder system in my computer and cleaned up all the junk items and unnecessary files and documents. I updated the information stored in my computer on regular basis. The other thing which I did was using PDA to reduce disorganization. This way I was able to store everything that was relevant my studies and work. I also managed to prioritize my goals as a result I improved my time management strategies substantially. iii. Group Work As I mentioned earlier, I was not effective in my group due to various reasons. I was one of them I had to admit that I was one of them but it took lot of time to realize that. Initially I did not make enough efforts to prepare for the group meetings. Language problem was another barrier to contribute sufficiently. As soon as I realized these factors of hindrances, I started preparing for the meetings thoroughly. I was expecting results to come but I did not work although I was preparing. I had different views than other group members. Soon I found out that I need to make concessions in order to progress with our group work. The other problem was little effectiveness of our group although we spent much time working together. It was neither required nor necessary. Therefore I proposed that division of work among each member, discuss the final findings of their parts and finish the work together. iv. Presentation Skills For my first presentation at Kingston University I opted to learn the whole text by heart. I thought this would facilitate the presentation; however the result was far from my expectations. I got nervous during my presentation and was not able to speak properly. This resulted in many mistakes. In addition to all these I forgot the text completely in front of my audience and started reading text from the projector. The presentation was a mess. After few unsuccessful presentations I learned that I can not continue my presentations like this. I chose a different approach. I wrote few notes on the topic of my presentations. This strategy led to minimizing the mistakes and increased the fluency and effectiveness of the presentation. This success increased my confidence level. I had other challenge to improve on the real time presentations. I felt the best way to learn this would be teaching somebody else. The exam from survey analysis appeared to be more convenient. Not only I managed to teach other students and improved my presentation skills but also reinforce my survey analysis knowledge. VI. The Action Plan Read More