Personal Development Issues - Essay Example

Running Head: 360721 Personal Development Portfolio 360721 Personal Development Portfolio Insert Name: Tutor: Introduction   This paper is a product of my course work in the MBA programme .It critically examines the outcomes of the coursework as it relates to my professional development over the years in a real work context and sets out my personal development plan as a branch manager of an organization. A personal development plan by definition is a private collection of evidence which demonstrates the continuing acquisition of skills, knowledge, attitudes, understanding and achievements. It is both retrospective and prospective”. (Brown 1992).I will analyze my past employment and career development over the years and reflect on how the activities of the programme course work have enabled me take stock of my skills inventory, both weaknesses and strengths, training and my personal learning capabilities, personality and psychometric tests evaluation interviews in relation to the requirements of my future career. A review of my education and career background will suffice first. During my college years I worked as assistant Employee affairs in Jeladan Establishment and thereafter graduation I moved on to be a branch manager. In the course of my career I have faced several psychometric and personality tests, undertook several training in personal management, Customer care and management, team work and working in groups. The focus will be how the outcomes of this course will enable me improve my weaknesses, and position me to take advantage of my strengths in attaining best results and satisfaction in my current and future careers. It is also an insight on how to employ and recruit personal who are destined to succeed in their specific job roles. Content All organizations perform interviews and evaluations of their potential and current employees for employment, promotion or moving departments. The key challenge has been as to whether the tests performed are pre-indicative of the employee’s performance in their assigned roles and duties in future. Various theories and ideas have been developed to support a number of the pre-indicative tests and their applications. Organizations often subject their employees through various personal and skill development training and learning all aiming at creating the best attainable production and job satisfaction from their employees. Organizational and personal efficiency is based on the learning methods that one adopts or is inclined to adopt based on the environments they have been exposed to. There are different characteristics of leaning styles available to individuals and organizations in the work environment that could be grouped as first as preferences, that is easiest ways for an individual to take in, process, and express information and or knowledge; secondly as many different frameworks as stipulated by various theories all focusing on senses, personalities, initial learning hooks and cognitive modes; and thirdly as multiple styles which is a combination of different frameworks and preferences. The five leading frameworks of learning styles include; Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences, elder-Silverman Index of Learning Styles (ILS), Fleming & Mills’ VARK, Kolb’s Learning Styles Model and Experiential Learning Theory (ELT), Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) – Jung. Most of these were covered in the MBA programme activities and are reviewed as below. Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences evaluates learning styles based on; Verbal Linguistic, Logical-mathematical, Musical, Spatial, Bodily Kinesthetic, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal and Naturalist. Felder-Silverman ILS talks of aspects of cognitive processing such as reflective versus active, verbal versus visual, sequential versus global, intuitive versus sensing in the following preference dimensions : Reflective versus active compare method for processing info example introspection against physical or social engagement . Verbal versus visual talks of modality of sensory information that is verbal (spoken or written) against visual or what can be seen. Sequential versus global deals with methods of gaining understanding such as logical, small steps against holistic and leaps steps. Intuitive versus sensing deal with the type of information such as memories, ideas, insights against sensory. Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) - Jung talks of the personality and is a combination of personality Extroversion (J), Introversion ( I), Judgment (J), and Perception (P) and cognitive modes Sensing (S), Intuition (N), Thinking (T), Feeling (F). According to Myers-Briggs Type Indicator each person's personality fits into only one of 16 types. These categories are based on four features of personality, each consisting of two opposite preferences. According to the theory, all people have an innate preference that determines how they will behave in all situations. This theory has been extensively used for career guidance and recruitment since the 1950’s. The four dimensions are:Extroversion (E) vs. Introversion (I). This dimension reflects the perceptual orientation of the individual. Extroverts are said to react to immediate and objective conditions in the environment. Introverts, however, look inward to their internal and subjective reactions to their environment. Sensing (S) vs. Intuition (N). People with a sensing preference rely on that which can be perceived and are considered to be oriented toward that which is real. People with an intuitive preference rely more on their nonobjective and unconscious perceptual processes. Thinking (T) vs. Feeling (F). A preference for thinking indicates the use of logic and rational processes to make deductions and decide upon action. Feeling represents a preference to make decisions that are based on subjective processes that include emotional reactions to events. Judgment (J) vs. Perception (P). The judgrnent-perception preferences were invented by Briggs and Myers to indicate if rational or irrational judgments are dominant when a person is interacting with the environment. The judgmental person uses a combination of thinking and feelings when making decision, whereas the perception person uses the sensing and intuition processes. The Belbian team roles define people into nine roles according to their personality and traits. These are said to be very useful to an individual to determine their role or responsibility either in a social setting activity or at work. Plant is person who is a creative, imaginative, unorthodox and is relied by the other team members to solve the difficult problems. Resource investigator is an extrovert, enthusiastic, communicative person who is known to develop contact and explore new opportunities. Sharper is the challenging and dynamic person who thrives on pressure. They have drive and courage to overcome obstacles. Coordinator is an individual is radiates confidence and maturity. He is the chairperson of the team and clarifies goals and delegates duties and responsibilities. Monitor evaluator is the person who radiate sobriety and strategic and discerning, has the tendency to see all option, with accurate judgment. The team worker is the cooperative mild character; perceptive and diplomatic .Listens builds and averts friction. The implementer is the person who turns ideas into practical actions. Completer finisher personality delivers on time while specialist provides knowledge and skills in rare supply I addition to learning styles and personality based information, key success of employees is based on their performance in teams and group based activities. The belbin’s team roles gives us a clear indication on how one can selected the most productive role when working in a team. Many organizations have cross-functional roles across many groups. In the computer software application development most of the work today is dine by various cross-functional teams some of whom in different physical global locations. This bring about the new concept in the twenty second century in that die to technological advancement and shortening of distances outsourcing of work and collaboration across diverse geographical regions is now possible. However multicultural interactions have lagged behind and this has increasing become the new soft skill for many global corporations who have various footprints across the globe. Other skills that are prerogative for a successful individual include communication skills, critical thinking skills and career planning. Reflective Critique As part of personal development I have attended various courses that enhance my skills in logical analysis and decision making, and interpersonal relations within our organization. I have been keen on technical performance and delivered all my projects in time. I meet most of my project and work based deadlines .I meet all my goals and expectations in most of the times. In past company appraisal I have been rated from good to above average in my technical skills but fall short in my soft and interpersonal communications with a rating of fair. I have taken a reevaluate of my day to day work against assessment and tests in psychometric and different learning and thinking methods .This has enabled me to understand different types of personalities and the best way to interact with them on business and team work. I will continue to with personal development by attending more focused training activities especially in areas where I am weak based on the personal career SWOT analysis and clear understanding of my personality as brought about by various personality and learning style tools. From various employments I have trained in Customer care and appreciation, personnel management, personal career guidance and development of career plans. I have further trained in personal skills marketing and identifying the most satisfying employment opportunities. All of the courses have enabled me to gain critical technical skills that had a positive impact on my work results. On voluntary and community based work I have been involved in community based and corporate social responsibility projects offered by our organized to enable me meet different types of people and personality and appreciate them as persons and their capabilities. Currently I have planned to engage in the following activities 1. Psychometric testing techniques 2. Emotional intelligence for executives 3. Decision and negotiation skills for executive managers 4. Learn a new language and interact with different cultures References Brown, R.A.(1992) Portfolio development and profiling for nurses.Central Health Studies Series No 3. Lancaster. Quay Publishing. Harvard, B (2001) Performance appraisals. Kogan Page Ltd. London. Kolb, D (1987) Experiential learning: Experience as a source of learning and development. Englewood Heights. HJ:Prentice Hall. Tieger, Paul, D. and Barbara Barron-Tieger. “Personality Typing: A First Step to a Satisfying Career.” Journal of Career Planning & Employment, Vol. 53, No. 2 (January 1993), pp. 50-56. Corlett, D., Sharples, M., Chan, T., Bull, S. (2005) Evaluation of a Mobile Learning Organiser for University Students, Paper submitted to Journal of Computer Assisted Learning Corlett, D. & Sharples, M. (2004) Tablet Technology for Informal Collaboration in Higher Education. To appear in Proceedings of MLEARN 2004: Learning Anytime, Everywhere, Rome, 5-6 July. Divitini, M., Haugaløkken, O., Morken, E.M., Petersen, S. A. (2005) Learning Pedagogy in the Field: Social Structures, Interactions and Mobility, Proceedings of HCI International, Las Vegas, Nevada. 22-27 July 2005 Read More