Professional Development Plan

A Personal Development Plan (PDP) is one of the most important tools for student and at times for professionals. Eth PDP is at most times instrumental in providing knowledgeable tools and techniques to students who want to plan and reflect on their performance. This harnesses continuous improvement on performance, especially for students in higher institutions of education (Hartley & Woods 2005 p. 131). Moreover, PDP is a necessity in making decision making even to working professions (Sinha & Labi 2007 p. 12). Below is an example of a PDP for a student who wants to improve academically in business management.

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What are the Professional Development Plan (PDP) goals you enlisted in the initial PDP

  • To enhance learned managerial skills and be able to transform skills in both personal and professional contexts.
  • To take part in all the curriculum activities during the semester.
  • To score a minimum of grade B+ in all the management units for the semester.

Evaluation of the activities participated in and the performance based on, benefits achieved during the semester as indicated in the initial PDP.

Activities that I proposed to work on during the semester included;

  1. Thorough re-examination and review of the course unit “the principles and practice of management” and the book “principles of scientific management”.
  2. Strict observation of the class timetable, rules and regulation and establishment of a personal timetable.
  3. Be active in the class-based activities and non-class based activities.
  4. Establish good managerial skills and behaviours and practice them in class and at work.
  5. Attend all group work based discussions and activities. For example, the workshops and group assignments.
  6. To balance co-curricular activities with professional work and class work by having a plan.
  7. Have a personal reward system after dully completing all planned activities.
  8. Plan a meeting with at-least two renowned management scholars in the profession of business management before the end of the semester.
  9. Conduct a research on the impact of technology in modern business management in an international business enterprise within the region.

Evaluating the initial PDP performance and its benefits.

During the semester, my PDP followed a timetable that involved all my plans. The timetable also ensured that all activities followed a strict time line with both time and date limits. With the time table, I was able to re-examine the course unit “the principles and practice of management” and the book “the principles of scientific management”. From the book and course unit analysis, I have been able to apply both management knowledge and skills in all situations. For example, I have been able to lead various group-based activities without any problem. Above all, I was able to attend 99% of all the class-based and group activities during the semester. However, I was only able to meet one renowned management scholar in the region. The scholar is one of the leading Chief Executive Officers of a management consultancy company. Moreover, I conducted a research on one of the McDonalds franchise outlets in the region, and was able to apply my management and research skills in understanding how technology has impacted on business and management. My performance on balancing work, class work and co-curricular activities have not in any way inconvenienced my performance in any of my activities, and therefore, I have been able to follow all the planned activities as per the timetable.

As a result of the initial PDP, I have experienced incredible benefits. Among these benefits are that I have been able to assimilate managerial skill and expertise and learned to modify my managerial behaviours. In this aspect, I have learned a variety of management techniques to apply in specific contexts. The initial PDP has furthered my development in managing time, and other resources such as finance. Various managerial techniques have also harnessed my ability to resolve conflicts among people and solve variety of problems by applying principles of scientific management in a technological world. To sum it all, the PDP of the semester has been instrumental in my improved grades, since in all course units done, I was able to score a mean grade of A.

Reflecting on PDP activities and how they have benefitted my development as a business management student and/or profession

The activity of reading thoroughly and critically managerial materials have improved and added my knowledge and skills as a management student. Moreover, my school and academic performance has improved as result of the same. Observation of timetable and strict observance on rule and regulations has aided my ability of following orders at work and understanding the importance of working under pressure and with limited resources. Working in group work has harnessed my interpersonal relationship skills. This has been instrumental in solving work related problems at work. Meeting a management scholar and a professional and even conducting a research has positively impacted my interest in business management. Basically, all the PDP activities that I undertook during the semester have positively contributed to my academic position as a business management student and as a professional at work.

A PDP based on the current performance

Step 1. Skills audit- Based on the current performance, a personal SWOT analysis indicates that I have strengths in strong research skills, good learning abilities, good interpersonal relationship skills and string leadership skills. Some of the weaknesses that inhibit my performance are lack of a wide professional exposure and inexperienced leadership skills. However, there are few opportunities that I can use to harness my performance. Such opportunities include using my experience at the current work place to apply management principles. A good access of information also offers a good opportunity to improve my academic and professional performance. In addition, threats to my performance in academics and profession cannot be ruled out. These threats include lack of a plan, lack of cooperation from fellow students, workers and instructors. Inexperience in modern technology and research techniques.

Step 2. Writing an action plan- From the current performance, I need to make some few changes as will be indicated below. These changes will be my new action plan for the next PDP. The objective of making these changes and improvement strategies as my PDP action plan is that, I need to improve my performance in the next four semesters. Moreover, the course units are deemed to become more demanding and difficult with time, hence a need to have an effective action plan. However, the new action plan will follow a rule of thumb. This means that the plan will be specific, will entail goals that are measurable, viable, and realistic and will be realized within a specific period of time.

Step 3. Monitoring- Strict monitoring of the action plan should be initiated to ensure control of the same.

Step 4. Record keeping- Each PDP for every semester should be recorded for the purpose of an effective and informed evaluation and performance assessment. Therefore, good record keeping method I required. For example, electronic documentation can be of great help.

What are the developmental aspects that need to be changed and/or improved during the next four semesters of the course?

After the above evaluation and reflection of the initial PDP performance during the current semester, the following areas of interest need to be changed or improved in the future.

  1. Change PDP goals for each semester for the next four semesters of the course period.
  2. Improve on group behaviour management.
  3. Change time allocation on co-curricular activities against class work and occupational work.
  4. Improve on leadership skills at school and at work.
  5. Improve on research skills.
  6. Change group leadership strategies for the next PDP period.

What are the changes to initiate in the next fours semesters in order to realize the academic goals within the remaining academic duration?

The initial PDP goals will be changed and replaced by new learning goals. The PDP goals will be changed each semester. For example, in the next four semesters, the PDP goals will be focused on understanding the role of technology in business management, new managerial techniques, problem solving, acquisition and improvement of research techniques, applying problem solving techniques in various contexts and understanding the role of management in project management. The PDP goals in this perspective will be focused on personal development through a personal and group approach. Changes and improvement on group behavioural management will entail learning new methods of managing groups. This means that previous group learning and involvement strategies will change. This will entail enlisting in new groups with new settings and different characters. This will be instrumental in learning different behaviours and how to manage and modify behavioural management techniques. In changing time allocation, more time will be allocated on class-based activities and work than in co-curricular activities. This time allocation strategy will be based on the fact that the need to achieve academic goals becomes more profound than those that do not necessarily add value to academics. Therefore, the change in time allocation will constitute making new timetables, schedules and activity plans. Improvement on leadership skills will be harnessed by attendance to leadership workshops and intensive studying. Moreover, leadership skills will also be furthered by academic tours, surveys and interviews with renowned corporate leaders in the country or in the region. Advancement in researching skills will also be initiated by changing the mode of researching. This will require learning new quantitative and qualitative research techniques and skills.