Manage Work Priorities and Professional Development Assessment

This assessment focuses on managing work priorities and professional development. It covers topics such as setting goals for a job role, creating a personal development plan, principles and techniques of management, and strategies for maintaining work-life balance. The assessment is based on Woolworth Limited, an Australian food retail company.

Manage Work Priorities
And Professional
Development Assessment

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
Development of plan to meet 4 goals of job role........................................................................1
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
Personal development plan for development in relation to job role...........................................6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................7
Principles and techniques involved in the management.............................................................7
Organization's policy plans and procedures................................................................................8
Types of learning styles and their relation to individuals...........................................................8
Plan to use business technology to priorities work task..............................................................9
Ways of plan to maintain personal work performance...............................................................9
Methods of planning to access competency against competency standards...............................9
Methods of seeking feedbacks....................................................................................................9
Strategies for maintaining appropriate work life balance.........................................................10
Strategies for participation in network that employees want to plan........................................10
Reflection on the new skills that have planned to develop.......................................................10
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Professional development is a process of increasing skills and knowledge of all members
via training opportunities and practising within workplace. Managing work priorities and
professional development help an organization to provide satisfactory services to customers in a
timely manner and increase productivity. This present study is based on Woolworth limited
which is a major Australian food retail company with having extensive retail interest throughout
New Zealand and Australia. This report is going to show performance outcomes, knowledge and
skills that are required to manage HR performance and professional development. It puts main
emphasizes on setting goals for taking growth in the career and personal life. Further it will also
show some ways of maintaining work life balance, prioritizing workload, benefits of personal
development plan and importance of reviewing personal growth.
TASK 1
Development of plan to meet 4 goals of job role
HR plays an important role in any type of organization. It is an employee who works for
the company for managing resources related to employees. They perform several functions and
role which can help the company in accomplishing its strategic goals by attracting as well as
developing employees. Job role for Woolworth Group is Human resources who has several goals
and that are described as follows:

1st Goal/Objective
Description: The main goal as a HR of Woolworth is “To maintain productivity by
recruiting skilled and efficient workers to the company”. This is my main goal
which can help me out further in my career and can provide several opportunities.
This goal can be achieved within 3 months.
Measurement: For measuring effectiveness this goal and for knowing whether it is
accomplished or not, I can take feedbacks from employees and manger. By knowing
their views and by analysing sales report I can measure effectiveness of this goal.
Importance: Essential Important Desirable
This goal is important to accomplish because this goal can show the company and
manager about my strength and capabilities. This is the main goal which can help me
out in accomplishing my other goals.

2nd Goal/Objective
Description: “To strengthen team working and critical decision-making skills” is
my other goal that can help me out in my future growth. Woolworth is a pioneer
among the oldest companies that want to introduce the modern retail trade model. By
increasing decision-making and team working skill within 2 months, I can help the
company in accomplishing its goals.
Measurement: By overseeing work quality and measuring overall productivity I can
measure this goal.
Importance: Essential Important Desirable
Team working and decision making skills are essential for performing all activities of
HR. It is important as well because it can help me out in performing all my HR
related function in an effective manner.

3rd Goal/Objective
Description: “To increase job knowledge by taking appropriate training within 6
months”. I face difficulties in locating informations whenever required and sometimes
fail in demonstrating mastery of basic concepts.
Measurement: By taking feedbacks from customers and making an effective use of
quantitative measurement I can measure effectiveness of this goal. By asking random
questions related to effective services to customers, this goal can be measured.
Importance: Essential Important Desirable
It is essential as well as important because having proper job knowledge and
identification of problems can helpful in performing activities effectively. By identifying
problems and accomplishing this goal I can satisfy customers' needs by providing and
solving their queries in a timely manner.

4th Goal/Objective
Description: “To take promotional growth and become HR manager within 1 year is
my personal work goal or career objective”. By accomplishing this career as well as
personal objective I can increase my self-esteem and confidence level and help the
company in becoming the market leader in the industry.
Measurement: By asking to manager to take my interview for recruiting HR manager I
can evaluate and measure effectiveness of this goal.
Importance: Essential Important Desirable
This goal is desirable as it is my personal goal that can asset for job performance. By
accomplishing this goal I can influence employees and can motivate them to take growth in
their career life.

TASK 2
Personal development plan for development in relation to job role
Objectives Success criteria Actions Implementation
What do I
want to be
able to do
or do better?
How will I recognise
success?
How will I review and
measure my
improvement?
What methods will I
used to achieve my
learning objectives?
How will I practise
and apply what I
learn?
Improve team
working skill
By taking feedbacks
from employees I can
know my improvement
in team working skill.
Working in a team
minimizes errors and
save time, so by
overseeing effectiveness
and number of errors in
task I can review my
improvement.
For achieving this
learning objective, I
can involve myself in
each activity of
employees. By helping
them out in all
activities and
continuously focus on
communicating with
them I can improve this
skill.
By assigning task in
sharing with
employees and
asking from them
about my strength I
can apply what I
learn.

Improve time
management
skills
I am lacking in
identifying problems
and completing tasks on
time.
By measuring results
and tracking time spent
on each task as compare
to other I can review my
improvement.
By making an effective
use of Trello and
priority matrix tool I
can improve my time
management skills.
These tools allow to
create a detailed card
of important tasks and
expected time to
complete it.
By doing the same
work 4-5 times I can
practise to improve
time management
skill. By taking
critical tasks and
making sure to
manager to complete
task before the time I
can apply this skill.
Improve job
knowledge
If HR has proper job
knowledge then it leads
satisfactory customer
services. So by taking
feedback from
customers about service
provided by employees
and HR, I can review
my improvement.
Job knowledge
involves all those skills
and knowledge that are
required to perform HR
function. For
accomplishing this
learning outcome, I can
take proper training for
this.
By practising all
skills like research
speed, repeating the
same speech in front
of mirror in polite
manner I can
improve. By taking
an active
participation in all
activities and
seminars I can apply
this.
TASK 3
Principles and techniques involved in the management
Performance measurement: Some principles of performance measurement includes: it should
support Woolworth's aims, there is a requirement to establish a formal champion in order to lead
the development of PM system.

Personal behaviour, self-awareness & personality traits identification: Some key areas on
improving and managing self awareness includes personal values, habits, needs, emotions and
psychological behaviour (Cheng & Chau, 2016). It helps in developing skills, , motivation and
decreasing stress.
Personal development plan: Some techniques of managing personal development plan includes
some steps such as defining goals, prioritizing, setting a deadline, developing new skills and
taking appropriate action.
Time: Some principles and techniques of time management can be done in some steps such as:
breaking big tasks into small, doing small tasks first, stop procrastination, using pomodoro
techniques, changing different kind of techniques and give some time for unexpected tasks.
Organization's policy plans and procedures
According to the policy plan of performance development for casual workers, line
manager determines as it is appropriate for all members to take participate in performance and
development review dependent on number of working hours and duration of employment.
Unpaid staff members are not included in conducting and reviewing performance development
and review process. Once in a year, annual PD and review discussion guidelines required to be
used in order to conduct a formal PD process. At the time of requirement of additional
informations, staff can consult with HR as per the policy of PD.
Types of learning styles and their relation to individuals
There are several learning styles that have relation with individual as different styles have
different impacts on their performance. Visual, auditory, writing/reading and kinesthetic. In the
type of audio learning, learner listen content carefully which are being taught to them. This type
of learning is beneficial when teacher is not present there or give online training. By rewind and
re listen, employees can increasing their learning capacity. Visual learning is called the best
learning style because in this style, teacher is present visually, and they try to make all
employees and leaner able to learn through pictures and videos. Kinaesthetic learners learn
through their experience (Penn & Pennix, 2017).

Plan to use business technology to priorities work task
There are some ways to plan and priorities work task by making an effective use of
technology. The main important way and step is consolidation. By consolidating tasks into the 1
list, an individual can increase task productivity. If there are several tasks then they can make
several lists: to do list, meeting actions etc. Tools for consolidation includes MS outlook, Google
calendar etc. By scheduling or making a big task list that can allow individuals to schedule their
priorities for that day and for future days. Outlook and notes are some tools as a technology that
help in scheduling. By converting Emails into task with the help of lotus notes or outlook ,
individual can convert electronic task list into tool. Woolworth's get their some works via E-
mail, so this can be useful in this.
Ways of plan to maintain personal work performance
There are some ways of maintaining and managing personal work performance. Some
ways include: To start development plan early and as soon as possible, communicating plan, by
discussing with the manager about future role and by continuously working and taking feedbacks
from seniors and manager. All these steps can help an individual and employees in maintaining
personal work performance (Parsai & et.al. 2018). By communicating and feedbacks from
seniors, employees can know about improving areas and their strengths as well.
Methods of planning to access competency against competency standards
Company will analysis the competencies of employees and accordingly prepare the report
on the performance of employees. After that, Company will give training to the employees for
the purpose of developing required skills and assign them the tasks and decide the standards on
the basis of performance measurement tools (Jackson, 2016).
Methods of seeking feedbacks
There are some ways of getting feedback with the main aim of knowing about own
strengths and weaknesses. As a HR it is important for them to help the company in
accomplishing their goals. So it is important for them to know if they are performing in the
effective manner or not. Qualitative and quantitative are 2 types of collecting data. It includes
interview, survey on consumers, questionnaires, E-mail questions etc. By asking random
question regarding services and weakened areas from seniors, customers, manager, HR can know
their views and make appropriate changes accordingly (Van Wingerden, Derks & Bakker, 2017).

Strategies for maintaining appropriate work life balance
It is important for employees to maintain a healthy working life and balance between
personal and professional life for staying fresh and stressed free. By organizing a paid lunch and
company outing, employers can boost employees morale. Holiday parties, happy hours, birthday
celebration are some ways to improve work life balance. By wasting time on playing games and
on gadgets, employees can complete their tasks before or on the time. By taking active
participation in all activities organized by company, they can make themselves happy and
energetic. So these are some ways of maintaining work life balance.
Strategies for participation in network that employees want to plan
Communication strategies will help employees to participate in the network along with
that they will take develop employee engagement strategies which will help in developing the
networking of employees in the organization (Andrews, 2016).
Reflection on the new skills that have planned to develop
For the development of time management skill, I will understand the importance of tasks
and the time required to complete that tasks. After that I will determine the time in which the
tasks needed to be done. Along with this, I will do plan the schedule and tasks delegations.
For the team working skill development, I will try to communicate with people and try to
be open up with them so that I can understand them, befriend with them and respect them.
TASK 4
1. Discuss three ways to be a good role model.
Loyal — HR manager should become loyal towards the organization,
employees, customers, peers, superiors and subordinates.
Positivity — Business is all about taking the risks. Thus, manager should handle
it with positivity and inspire others to do the same.
Communicators — A good role model is great communicator who listens to
others and understands their emotions (Fontaine, 2018).
2. Discuss the PDCA cycle.

PDCA Cycle is a model which is being used for the purpose of continuous
improvement. This cycle has 4 steps which are as follows -
Plan — It refers to the process of recognizing the opportunity and accordingly
do change.
Do — It refers to the activity through which company do research about its
planning.
Check — It refers to the procedure of checking out about the viability of
planned things.
Act — Here, the required actions are taken for the purpose of grabbing the
opportunities (Zhu, Y., & et.al. 2018).
3. What is the intention of reviewing personal progress and performance?
Reviewing personal progress and performance is an important task for the HR
manager as it will help them to analysis its closeness with objectives and stay
focus toward the objectives. It will also help to mitigate the performance gap
and possess the required skills in order to perform a particular tasks (Blaik
Hourani & Stringer, 2015).
4. Discuss five ways of prioritizing your workload at work.
HR Assistant has to delegate their works to their employees along with roles
and responsibilities.
They can set the time boundaries in which employees have to do their work.
Assistant can communicate with their employees and ask them to support.
They can use various tools such as researching tools, information sharing &
communicating tools and analysing tools etc. these all help manager to do work
effectively and in less time.
HR Assistant should prepare the schedule plan for everyone in order to ensure
about the workflow and work co-ordination.

5. What ways can you use technology to efficiently and effectively to manage your
work priorities and commitments?
As a HR Assistant, I can use computer technology to efficiently and effectively
to manage the work priorities and commitments by creating the plan schedule in
which they assign the tasks and put the name of team members. These all
should be recorded on the computer so that everyone can see it and start their
work.
6. Discuss at least three ways you can strike a good work-life balance.
I will develop my time management skills so that I can complete my all the
tasks on time.
I will try to prioritize all the activities according to their importance so that
important tasks can be completed.
I will leverage technologies in order to work smartly and effectively.
7. Where can you find information about further training or professional development
options in your workplace?
I can find the information from that person who has specialization in that field
in which I need training. Another source to find the accurate information is
Internet.
8. How can you accept negative feedback gracefully?
I will try to find some positive thing in that negative feedback. Along with that,
I will work on that feedback so that my work can be improved.
9. What are the benefits of a Personal development plan to your working life?
A personal development plan is beneficial for me as it will help to get to know about
my strengths and weaknesses. It will also help me to adopt those strategies which
will mitigate the weaknesses. Along with this, PDP will tell me about which skills
are required to develop so that I can work properly and effectively.

CONCLUSION
From the above it has been summarized that professional development plan played an
important role as it helped individual to increase its knowledge and skills that are required to
perform activities of their job role. Setting goals also helped individuals to analyse that in which
area they lack behind and need to improve for supporting the company for which they perform.
By analysing area of improving with the help of personal development plan and setting
objectives, HR made professional and personal growth. Further, it has shown the way of
accepting negative feedbacks gracefully, maintaining a work life balance, importance of
technology in setting priorities and importance to review personal development plan.

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