PDP-B00312909 - This paper has been originated as a requirement of the DBA program at University PDF

Preview

Summary

This paper has been originated as a requirement of the DBA program at University of the West of the Scotland. It deals with the personal and professional development plan (PDP) that will shape my future. This plan reflects on my past experiences and what I have learnt from those experiences through ...

Description

Professional Development Assignment

MD. WALEE ULLAH B00312909

Executive Summary This paper has been originated as a requirement of the DBA program at University of the West of the Scotland. It deals with the personal and professional development plan (PDP) that will shape my future. This plan reflects on my past experiences and what I have learnt from those experiences through the use of Kolb’s reflection cycle. I have a good academic background along with working experience in several companies. In this PDP, my personality has been assessed with combining views from me and my colleagues through personal SWOT analysis and Johari window to find out my strengths and weaknesses. There is also a plan regarding my future goals which will help me organize my learning to achieve those goals. Finally, there is an evaluation of this PDP telling how much helpful it was.

1

Table of Contents Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................1 Introduction......................................................................................................................................3 PDP: Definition...............................................................................................................................3 Personal Learning Development Statement.....................................................................................4 Reflecting on Prior Learning...........................................................................................................5 Reflection Process.......................................................................................................................5 Gibb’s Reflective Cycle...........................................................................................................5 Kolb’s Reflection Cycle...........................................................................................................6 John’s Model of Reflection......................................................................................................7 Prior Learning..............................................................................................................................8 Secondary School....................................................................................................................8 Higher Secondary and Graduation in Bangladesh...................................................................8 Graduation and Post-graduation in UK...................................................................................8 Work Experience......................................................................................................................9 Applying Kolb’s Reflection Cycle...........................................................................................9 DBA program in my career............................................................................................................11 Learning from DBA program....................................................................................................11 Personal Analysis.......................................................................................................................12 SWOT Analysis.....................................................................................................................12 Johari Window (Self-Assessment).........................................................................................13 Setting future goals........................................................................................................................14 Personal Development Objectives and Contingency Plans...........................................................16 Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................16 References......................................................................................................................................17

2

Introduction Personal and professional development plan refers to the course of analyzing own abilities and inabilities to know the strengths and weaknesses one has and the need for further improvement to better handle both the personal and professional life. At this stage of DBA program one must be informed about the qualities and shortcomings of oneself to clearly appraise the learning from prior academic studies and trainings and the requirement from this program for future life. This can be done through PDP where individuals can be aware of the skills they have, lacking to be covered through training and other programs to make them efficient for the competitive professional arena (Smith, 2011). This plan includes an analysis of prior knowledge and skills, current progress through DBA program and a plan upon accomplishment of this program. My academic learning and work experience started in Bangladesh and later I completed my graduation and post-graduation in UK. I also have some experience in different organizations through which I have gained some practical knowledge. Through this program, I want to gain the competitive edge that will help me achieve the personal and career goals set in the stages of PDP.

PDP: Definition Personal or professional development plan (PDP) is a structured way to aware someone about the skills and knowledge he/she has and those which require improvement in order to attain some personal and professional objectives (Rodgers, 2002). PDP is distinct as a structured and maintained procedure to create the capacity of individuals to replicate upon their own learning accomplishment to plan for individual’s educational and career development (QAA, 2001). Firstly, it carries out a reflective study based on the knowledge and experience gained from earlier academic and training programs to find out whether the individual is capable enough to go through the DBA program. Next it focuses on the areas to be developed through this program to make further improvement. Then it sketches the appropriate career goals to be achieved through successful application of the knowledge and expertise to be learnt from this program and those learnt from the prior ones. This model is used to increase the effectiveness of individuals for better fit into the professional arena to achieve individual as well as career goals (). The figure below shows the stages in preparing a PDP that work in cyclic order.

3

Figure: Developing a PDP. Source: Liverpool University, 2012 As someone reflects on their goals they get to know the areas to be developed for achieving those goals. After planning how to overcome the shortcomings, executing the plans lead to attainment of the goals.

Personal Learning Development Statement In his book named ‘Motivation and Personality’ Abraham Maslow stated that people opt for doing something only after being motivated by something else (Maslow, 1954). He divided these motivating factors into five hierarchical steps. People get motivated firstly by psychological needs and then by safety, belonging, esteem and finally by self-actualization needs. After fulfilling the lower order needs one opts for esteem and self-actualization where he/she tries to bring the best in him/her (Mittelman, 1991). My need for self-actualization has motivated me to enter the DBA program. Completing graduation and post-graduation in business administration and having several work experiences in different companies, I started my career as a team leader in Pepe’s Piri Piri Ltd. Later I joined Grill Hut Steven age Ltd. in the position of a supervisor. But, as the business is going on and competition is intensifying I need to upgrade my knowledge and skills to remain competitive enough to beat the new entrants in this job sector. That is why I have chosen to pursue the DBA program. Besides gaining academic excellence in this particular area of knowledge, it will also help to shape my career in a more specific way and optimize my outlook towards continuous learning. This will help me excel not only in my professional life but also in my personal life through sharpening my skills and capabilities and improving my attitudes and behavior. 4

Reflecting on Prior Learning Reflection Process In general, reflection means the replica of an actual thing. Here the reflection process also refers to the replication of what we have experienced in the past, in similar situations in the future (Smith, 2011). It indicates learning from experiences. Either in personal or professional life, after being faced with a new circumstance, we learn something new about that situation (Mezirow, 1990). We tend to apply the same knowledge in future if faced with any similar situation. That is the reflection process which is learnt from experiencing. It improves individual’s analytical ability for self-assessment and the assessment of social systems. Several models can be found that define the critical reflection process. Most of them are based on theoretical methods and barely describe the actual understanding. Though there are many models, I have found the following ones to be more convincing. These models describing reflection process are discussed below. Gibb’s Reflective Cycle Gibb’s reflective cycle provides a way of organizing the reflection procedure in a systematic format. Professor Graham Gibb’s broke this cyclic process into six stages in his book Learning by Doing in 1988. Those six stages of the critical reflection process are description, feelings, evaluation, analysis, conclusion and action plan (Gibbs, 2013). The figure below shows the stages of Gibb’s reflective model through which one can evaluate and analyse own past experience and apply the knowledge similar situations in future.

Figure: Gibb’s reflective cycle This reflective model supports me to assess my academic knowledge that I have acquired in my past academic years as well as currently on DBA course. At the same time this give me opportunity to find out the lack and the strength sight that I have and gives guideline for my 5

future standard career. I evaluate the experience that I had from my workplace such like managing people, driving sale to increase, using analytical tools to figure out sales and cost of sales and customer service. While I Find out the difficult part from my experience such like changing business culture or strategy and consulting the business to make it more successful and come to a very crucial decision to take part of DBA program. Which providing me more practical understanding about the upper level management culture, nature and driving forces to build up business more sustainable. Kolb’s Reflection Cycle David A Kolb developed this model in 1984 that shows the relationship between learning and experience (Holman, 2012). It shows learning occurs as a result of experience. His model consists of four stages namely, experience, reflect, conceptualize and plan. The cyclic steps of this model are shown below.

Figure: Kolb’s Reflection cycle This is a simple model that provides an easy way to the critical reflection process through reflecting on prior experience and generalizing the learning for applying it in future (Holman, 2012). This model helps me to link between my academic knowledge and my workplace where from I can identify and plan about the path of future career. By analyzing and reflecting my knowledge throughout this model I have realized that the responsibilities and the role that I am playing on my job place is improved by taking strategic into action and strategic into value management assessment which provided me the vast knowledge about the advanced managerial responsibilities as well as globalized business nature and also how to create value to the organization.

6

John’s Model of Reflection John developed a model of reflection focusing on the thoughts and feelings one has when encountered with a situation. Instead of simply learning from the experience, it focuses more on how someone felt about what happened and how the situation could have been handled better and then learning the best way to handle such situations (Gold et al, 2013). John developed this model in 1995 that has five cyclic steps. The steps are shown below.

Figure: John’s model of reflection The steps start with the reflection of what happened and the factors influencing the situation. Then it figures out the best possible ways to handle such incident and learns from it. Finally, the reflection describes the experience with the best solution. This model of reflection helps me to reassess my act which I dealt with while taking academic learning and while engage with various roles on my workplace. In addition to that it also helps me to gather idea and concept to handle the situation in future in more effective way.

7

Prior Learning Secondary School My educational training started from the secondary school in Bangladesh. It founded the basic building block of my today’s life and career (Munns & Woodward, 2006). As my school was under the supervision of the cantonment of that area, it prioritized discipline and punctuality which have helped me lead a well-disciplined life. Not only my career but also my personal life is shaped by the knowledge and skills I learnt from here. My ability to maintain routines, manage time schedules and work hard was learnt from here that has helped me a lot to pursue my career and this DBA program. Higher Secondary and Graduation in Bangladesh My interest toward business studies has led me to the completion of higher secondary and bachelor degree in this particular area of learning. I have completed my higher secondary in Business Studies from Siddheswari College and then graduated in Business Administration from Asian University of Bangladesh. Both these institutions are very renowned in Bangladesh for their quality of education and success rates. Initially I was very afraid of facing the audiences in any presentation but this fear was gradually lessened by actively participating in group discussions and presentations. I was amazed at the different models and systematic processes through which large businesses were managed and operated with efficiency. These encouraged me to pursue further higher studies and establish a career in this sector. They helped me a lot to profound my knowledge in business sector and choose the right career path for me. Graduation and Post-graduation in UK After successful completion of graduation in Bangladesh I started working in Pepe’s Piri Piri Ltd. in UK, as a team leader. This job required me to gain more knowledge regarding managing businesses efficiently. So, I pursued Honors in Business Management top up and Masters in Business Administration from University of Sunderland. Through these two degrees I have gained deep knowledge about the internal management of business organizations and their operations that has opened several new windows of opportunity for my career as well as personal life. During these programs, I had to work in different teams that taught me how to handle different personalities within the group as well as in other groups. It was very challenging for me to resolve interpersonal conflicts among group members as there were people from different nations, cultures and beliefs. Passing through the teamwork phase made me more patient, communicative and considerate toward others’ thoughts and decisions. Upon completion of the MBA program I have applied for the DBA program in University of the West of Scotland which will help to enrich my knowledge regarding business administration.

8

Work Experience I started my early career as an intern in Rahman Group in Bangladesh which was required by the authority of the graduation program to complete the course. Working with such a large and wellknown company provided me the opportunity to implement my academic knowledge into practical situations. But I explored that there was a gap between the theories and the reality. Sometimes, unique situations peeped up that required unique solutions. By observing the decision making of its management I got to know how real businesses operate. After graduation, I joined Pepe’s Piri Piri Ltd. in UK as a team leader and worked there until 2014. This job taught me how to manage people who work under or with me. Managing different personalities was a tough challenge there. But my previous experience of teamwork during BBA helped a lot in managing and making them work together. Afterwards I joined Grill Hut Stevenage as a supervisor. Through this job, I learnt to control critical situations in different business segments. Making decisions in unique problems was challenging as I did not know whether it would be fruitful. It taught me forecasting and managing risks in business and taking decisions based on the risk-return tradeoff. Applying Kolb’s Reflection Cycle In my academic and professional journey until now I have had the opportunity to gather many experiences. As I have learnt from these experiences I think Kolb’s simple reflection cycle can describe this process best. Experience: Experience is defined as the congregation of knowledge through participation in activities and events with other people (Smith, 2011). I have the experience as an employee in several organizations which has helped me to reach this far. Working as an intern helped me to understand that there are a lot of tactics outside what is written in the books through which businesses handle critical situations. Moreover, working as a team leader and supervisor in other organizations helped me handle practical scenarios. Reflection: It refers to the specifications of learning (Rodgers, 2002). After reviewing the experiences, I have found several aspects that I have learnt from them. As a team leader in Pepe’s Piri Piri, I learnt to analyze risks and returns and take decisions based on them, improve communicational skills, handle interpersonal conflicts, delegate and control authoritative power etc. As a supervisor, I, have learnt to control group of individuals, logistics and procedures in different business segments, managing different parties internal and external to the business. Because of these experiences, I have established my skills in team management, social and communicational skills, problem solving skills etc. Generalizations: It involves relating the outcomes with the theoretical aspects and demonstrating the principles (Holman, 2012). Working as an intern as well as the team leader and the supervisor gave me the opportunity of excelling my personality in front of others. I have found that seniors, colleagues and subordinates tend to like people who are disciplined and 9

punctual. They like to interact more with people having outgoing and extrovert personality but at the same time having greater analytical skills. As I was very good at communicating with others my colleagues and subordinates shared their personal feelings and experiences with me. My superiors also asked for my suggestions in several matters after sensing my analytical skills. Planning: In this step, I shall plan for the future career that can utilize my skills and capabilities in the best way to direct me toward success. After analyzing my skills through the past three steps it can be said that managing businesses in this dynamic world will require continuous upgrading of the current possession of abilities (Munns & Woodward, 2006). For this reason, I need to complete this Doctorate degree to enrich my knowledge as well as upgrade my skills to keep pace with the dynamic business world. Pursuing this degree will also change my outlook toward learning and allow me to learn continuously from every situation I will encounter in future and apply the knowledge in proper situations.

DBA program in my career It can be assumed from previous descriptions that this doctorate degree is very important in improving my knowledge and competitiveness in the professional as well as personal life. Here are some specific reasons for which I actu...