Employability and Professional Development Report

This report focuses on personal skills, development needs, communication styles, time management strategies, team dynamics, problem-solving tools, and impacts on business in the context of project management at Geeks Ltd.

EMPLOYABILITY AND
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................................1
TASK 1........................................................................................................................................................1
1.1 reflect on own current skills and competencies against professional standards and organizational
objectives.................................................................................................................................................1
1.2 Evaluate own development needs for the selected job role...............................................................2
1.3 Devise a personal and professional development plan that include current performance and future
requirements............................................................................................................................................3
1.4 Reflect on own development against original aims and objectives set in the personal and
professional development plan................................................................................................................4
TASK 2........................................................................................................................................................5
2.1 communication with team members in various styles.......................................................................5
2.2 time management strategies...............................................................................................................6
TASK 3........................................................................................................................................................1
3.1 Analyse team dynamics discussing the roles people play within a team outlining how they can
work together to achieve shared goals for the software project..............................................................1
3.2 alternative ways to complete tasks and achieve team goals..............................................................2
TASK 4........................................................................................................................................................3
4.1 Review tools and methods for developing solutions to specific problem.........................................3
4.2 Develop an appropriate strategy for resolving a particular problem.................................................5
4.3 potential impacts on business of implementing the strategy.............................................................6
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES............................................................................................................................................8

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Team development stages............................................................................................................2
Figure 2: Effective leadership in project management................................................................................3
Figure 3: Deming- Shewhart Cycle.............................................................................................................4
Figure 4: Appreciative Inquiry method.......................................................................................................4
Figure 5: Eight Discipline Methodology.....................................................................................................5
Figure 6: critical path in red colour.............................................................................................................6

LIST OF TABLS
Table 1: Personal and professional Development.......................................................................................3

INTRODUCTION
Individual’s skills and capabilities to solve the problem and achieve the desired outcome in
business are crucial to understand as it helps to determine the potential improvements to meet the
goal as specified in standards and business operations. Therefore, present report will focus on the
personal skills and potential improvements those are required to make them adaptable in
professional environment. Development needs and plan will be introduced along with evaluation
of improvements in skills and capabilities to meet professional objectives. Report will discuss the
communication styles and time management strategies for a project manager so that it can be
used on team members for effective outcomes. Various team dynamics and their impacts on the
project completion will be discussed. Alternative approaches to complete the project will be
discussed. Project might face issues so that report will also focus on the identification of
problem, proper resolution technique selection and its efficiency to resolve the issues. Impacts on
business due to strategic implementation for new requirements will be discussed.
Geeks Ltd is a software development organization in London, providing services for desktop and
mobile applications along with support to enterprise systems. The organization is planning to
implement payroll management system and present job role in development is as project
manager.
TASK 1
1.1 reflect on own current skills and competencies against professional standards and
organizational objectives.
As for my own current skills and competencies against professional standards of the
organization, I am an IT project manager at geeks ltd. this job requires proper skills to meet
professional standards and the objectives of company. Individual skills of handling work are
important along with the professional skills this makes work efficient, more recommendable and
appropriate ( Lester, 2014) These qualities are important for an IT project manager to approach
the objectives and profits for an organization. Some of the skills which an it project manager
should possess are discussed below:
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Responsibility of individual: there are some roles and responsibilities a project manager takes
control of. The management and handling of the projects assign to them and appointing and
guiding a team for the work is major key work for a manger.
Relationship with employees: the IT manager should have good communication skills which
could make his work effective and he can communicate with his colleagues properly. This makes
their team work easier and efficient which helps organization to achieve its objectives. Favorable
relations can also help in spreading knowledge from senior to junior employees. Projects assign
to the team selected by manager can become more productive with the proper management and
leadership of the project manager (Kuzu and Özilhan, 2014.)
Proper selection and decision making: when a project is assign to the project manager it has the
opportunity to show its skills to meet professional standards. The manager has to take decisions
about selection of the team members, use of techniques which are favorable, consideration of the
skills of members appointed and at last assignment of work to individual employee for the
project. Dividing of the work with leadership is an essential work of project manager.
Ability of learning and development: a project manager should have ability to posses’
knowledge about the new techniques which are invented and used to improve quality and
accuracy of the product. The manger should also pass knowledge to other colleagues working for
organization. (Martinelli and Milosevic, 2016.)
According to the above discussion I have the skills to manage the firm and their objective with
leadership and professional skills of mine. The communication skills are important for a project
manager and with these qualities I can achieve the standards of Geek ltd. and improve with
developing even more.
1.2 Evaluate own development needs for the selected job role
For the enhancement of the personal and professional growth development and improvement of
skills required are essential. For an IT project manager following are some skills which could be
developed in me:
Project scheduling: project schedule is a schedule made by the project manager to accomplish
the project in its given time. Project scheduling is said to be the basic or vital work for the project
manager. The schedule made by manager is useful for other employees as they can get idea or
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framework of project they must be working on. The work divided into employees, techniques
will be used and time period for project are mentioned in the project schedule.
Management of risk: there are many risks which a project could come with. The skills of risk
management should be possessed by an IT project manager which helps teamwork to run
smoothly. Risk can come in any form and damage the organisation for loss, the manager should
have knowledge of every risk and its possible solution (Christoffersen, 2012). Strategies for
management of risk can be made by project manager which leads organization to its objective.
Costing control: budget management and its control is a prior quality of a project manager.
Budget fixation and its management done by manager helps firm to be aware of expenses
regarding to the project. All the expenses should be supervised and controlled by manager for
efficient results of the project. The manager can consult to financial department of the firm about
the cost and investment on the project and take their advices on control and management of the
budget (Hofstede, 2012.). Budget management is helpful for manager in making further
decisions and strategies regarding to project.
1.3 Devise a personal and professional development plan that include current performance and
future requirements
Table 1: Personal and professional Development
Skills Current performance Strategies for Future needs
Communication Communication between project manager and team
members is essential and it is done through various
skills. It should be establish between other
departments also for work effectiveness.( Keyton et al,
2013)
These skills of communications can
be improved in project manager
through team meeting and practicing
in social groups. These can help
manager in future projects.
Leadership Leadership of present time is effective as it can be
seen in the results of the work team on projects. But it
could be improved for further work due to lake of
motivation between the employees.
For future some strategies for the
encouragement and development of
employees’ skills can be made by
manager, this will help in improving
project practices.
Time management In current time management is done by scheduling
workload and dividing roles and works between
employees. This is not as effective as these scheduling
is not proper and estimation of time can be difficult.
Strategies regarding time
management such as using of
internet timescale and new
technologies for scheduling should
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be used.
Decision making Project manager of the firm has the responsibility of
taking decisions regarding to distribution and
completion of a project or task. In present time the
decisions taken are effective but can be improved in
future,
Several strategies are used by the
manager and firm to meet the
requirement of project along with
staff. But manager can observe their
employees and understand their
needs to improve and increase
quality of the work and make
decisions accordingly.
1.4 Reflect on own development against original aims and objectives set in the personal and
professional development plan
The personal and professional plan plotted above is about skills of an IT project manager of
Geeks ltd. above plans shows various skills and future strategies for a project manager which can
be modified for further use. These gives an idea about various department of the firm and there
development and which areas are left behind. These strategies are helpful in skill development
and communication. Some of the below are my points of views on the above plan:
Communication skill development: communication skills are core essentially for an IT project
manager. According to above plan it is not just sufficient for the manager to communicate with
their team but also with other department involved in the firm. By organizing some meetings and
events with other department including the project team for the discussion on the development
and other prior topics for approaching the objectives of the firm can be done. To improve the
professional relationship within the firm communication is essential (Jackson, 2014.).
Progress of leadership and decision making: for a leader it is essential to make decisions for the
team and enhancement of work quality. The leader is made to guide its team and receive a good
outcome for the task assigned. From the above development plan it can be seen that a team could
activate with better guidance and motivation. The leader should be effective enough to make
decisions for the whole team and team could obey them at one command (Nixon et al, 2012).
Time schedule managing development: some strategies by the project manager are made for the
management of time required for a project or task. These skills of time scheduling using time
scales and charts are often used to analyze the effort and cost of the project at a period.
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TASK 2
2.1 communication with team members in various styles
Project manager of an organisation has to communicate with all the employees in the firm for the
better achievement of the objectives and aims set by organisation for profit. As for the firm when
has some issues regarding to the system and employees cannot face them, they communicate
with manager and solve the problems. Communication can be done through such means which
are discussed below:
Verbal and non-verbal means: the verbal means can be defined as source of communication
through talking, meeting and guidance to employee individually. Whereas non-verbal means can
be defined as communication through emails, messages and letters to an individual. These means
are essential for a team to work, share information and ideas to another. However the verbal
communication can change according to the time, place and person (Jackson, 2014).
Communication through passive style can help in monitoring the work and new ideas as on the
other hand aggressive modes can be used to command the orders to employees and get better
results. Non-verbal means are used to exchange information, design presentation, report work
and ideas. These activities are done in the firm among the employees under the guidance of
project manager.
Behavioural means: behaviour of an employee has a very major impact on the work he is doing.
The project manager should analyse the body language of a worker towards its work. Openness
is very essential between team members so employees can openly discuss about the risk and
managements in a project. New information between team can be discussed easily without
hesitations. Social groups, mail and other approaches can be used for the encouragement of
workers towards their work for high performances. Motivation and good advises for their
behaviour and work should be given to team members by project manager (Kinicki and Kreitner,
2012).
Responsive means: the responses are essential for any work done. The feedback given through
manager to their fellow members informally and formally helps to encourage and gives them an
idea about their work techniques whether they are right or not. Whereas feedback given to
manager can help improve their skill which leads to a better leadership and project. Team
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meetings are also organised for the analysis of team work and progress according to project
schedule.
2.2 time management strategies
Time management through schedule timing helps the project manager to complete their work
effectively along with the management of cost and efforts. This guides the organisation to high
profit and desired goals. Time management can be done though following basic fundamentals:
Adopt prioritising workloads: division of the work among the members using work breakdown
structure and approaches for the better use of time. The firm can reduce the cost, time and efforts
by analysing the priorities and their effective selection. It also gives information of availability of
resources using for workload dispersion.
Setting work objectives: all members working on a project should know about the objectives and
aims of the project as it is essential for the better results to meet the quality required and
expectations of the firm.
Appointments and reliable estimates using time effectively: organization can arrange
appointments and meeting of the project manager and other employees to conserve time and
communicate regarding progress on the project. Changes in management can also be discussed
during these meetings and estimation of time is concluded (Kerzner, 2013). Reliable estimates
are used for the prediction of outcome of projects which helps in cost budgeting and quality
control.
Making and keeping task time: monitoring of the task to ensure the time management by which
changes regarding to the quality and cost of project can be made can be made if they are not
reaching the level of satisfaction for the organisation. Task time of a project is a period used for
observing the workload, expense and efforts done on a project so it can be stored and used in
further similar projects.
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TASK 3
3.1 Analyse team dynamics discussing the roles people play within a team outlining how they can work
together to achieve shared goals for the software project
Team work is required in the organization to achieve the long term business objectives and goals as a
team can share information and collaborate to each other for a common outcome. Team work is also
required to keep the employees motivated and engaged for project outcome (Dorairaj et al, 2012).
Therefore, organization can promote formal and informal team dynamics those vary in their operations
and nature of interaction. Problem solving skills and adaptability within project context are some of the
consideration associated with team groups. Following are major roles in team along with their
approaches for shared goal:
Project manager: role of project manager is to plan, coordinate, control, implement and monitor the
project progress and outcomes. Project manager is liable to form the team, monitor the performance and
productivity and ensure the effective delivery of work. Project manager is the foremost person in project
responsible for leadership, innovative solutions and smooth execution of the project modules. Project
manager plans the way, in which project can be executed and allocated among the team members.
Requirement identifier: project design and implementation is based on the information collected from
the organization and users (Georgiadis, 2014). Therefore, requirement identifier in project has role to
understand the requirements of the users and project modules and then communicate the information to
designer when it is approved by project manager.
Designer and implementation staff: logical design of payroll system can be accomplished by designing
staff those can prepare database structure and data flow diagrams along with potential and attractive user
interface. At other side, implementation team uses the logical design to implement the system through
coding. In this manner, both staff has role to deliver the system with proper collaboration and data
sharing. Overall process and its requirements in term of budget, time and efforts are managed by project
leader or manager.
Testing staff: main role of testing staff is to verify the implementation of the requirements taken from
the users and expected by the designers (Costa et al, 2012). Testing staff has to collect the information
from developers and requirement identifiers to ensure that designed system is capable to meet the user
expectations with additional options functions and features.
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3.2 alternative ways to complete tasks and achieve team goals
Organization can use following two major alternative ways to complete the project activities and achieve
the goal:
Team development
Without an effective team development, it is difficult to achieve common goals. Therefore, team goals
needs to be defined and achieved with team formation. First of all, project manager has to form the team
which means to come together the employees for a common goal and objective. Later, individuals’ skills
and capabilities need to be determined for work allocation in project. Responsibility should be
developed among the employees for the contribution and loyalty along with their commitment to the
delivery of outcome and quality. To complete the tasks effectively, project manager also has to evaluate
proper balance of workplace and personal life. Individual’s health should be considered to achieve the
goal on time and within constraints (Woodcock, 2017). In this manner, proper sharing of the knowledge
and flexibility, project manager can direct the team to complete the task as common goal.
Figure 1: Team development stages
Effective leadership
Project manager has to recognise individual’s contribution in project. Project related directions and
standards can be communicated with team members along with standards so that unwanted delay and
internal disputes can be resolved. Therefore standards and directions for the project can be set and
employees can be motivated for high performance and innovation in work. Innovative approaches can
uncover the hidden skills and capabilities to achieve new solutions for better profitability in project
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development (Yukl, 2012). Leadership at workplace can be directed for basic five requirements:
innovation, communication, responsiveness, consistency and reliability.
Figure 2: Effective leadership in project management
TASK 4
4.1 Review tools and methods for developing solutions to specific problem
Project manager is facing the issue of time management to complete the project with high profitability.
Project modules are determined as two lengthy with lack of predefined approaches for completion so
that time consumed in one activity of the project is drawing impact on next activity. Therefore,
organization has to resolve the issue of time management in project through the use of following
problem solving tools and methods:
Deming- Shewart Cycle
This method of problem solving is designed on the basis of plan, do, check and act method but it has
replaced check phase with study as model is designed on concept that each failure stage must be
analysed in depth to resolve issues. Therefore, this tool is significant in project review process to
identify the activities those are time consuming and unable to deliver quality outcomes (Madu, 2012).
This model can be used to improve process toward the continuous learning for completion.
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Figure 3: Deming- Shewhart Cycle
Appreciative Inquiry
In comparison of traditional methods used to divide the work in smaller and manageable modules, this
model focuses on the interlinking of modules o reduce the wastage of time. The model can be used to
deliver best of the modularization of project so that more values can be achieved. It is based on discover,
dream, design and destiny concepts to optimize the time value for project activities. In project, this
method can be used to appreciate the contribution of individual for more optimistic results.
Figure 4: Appreciative Inquiry method
The Eight Discipline Methodology
It can be defined as the team based methodology to resolve the problem. Project manager can use this
methodology to determine the potential problems and recurring nature so statistical methods can be used
along with data collection, root cause analysis and problem resolution to determine the most suitable
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solution. It is effective to resolve the issue with study to minor factors (Puppe, 2012). However, it needs
expertise and time to inspect the roots of problem occurrence.
Figure 5: Eight Discipline Methodology
From the above methods and tools, organization can prefer to use eight discipline methodologies as it is
simple and most effective to resolve the recurring issues. However, attention should be given on the
optimal use of technique.
4.2 Develop an appropriate strategy for resolving a particular problem
In order to resolve the issue of time management, project manager can implement critical path analysis
methodology as it can help the organization to determine the potential stages to reduce the time and cost.
To develop the strategy for time management, organization can use following approach:
Source of information: first, project manager has to collect the information about issue so that it is
essential to determine the source. Valid and accurate information is required to achieve benefits. Source
of information needs to be available, consistent and static to support faster execution (Schwalbe, 2015).
Solution methodologies: from the set of possible solutions, organization has to determine the best
suitable methodology like critical path analysis to resolve the issue. Such methodology needs to be
analyzed in mapping of requirements.
Critical path analysis can be used in project where critical paths of the project like requirement
verification and design and implementation into codes can be determined. Critical path analysis strategy
can be used to calculate the cost and time required to reach the completion of project (Kerzner, 2013).
For example, organization can prefer to use following critical path analysis during the implementation
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phase to reduce the time of completion. In below diagram, optimization of time is achieved through the
better utilization of available resources and assets through parallelization.
Figure 6: critical path in red colour
4.3 potential impacts on business of implementing the strategy
The change in the predefined plan and strategy of the organisation has made some impacts on the input,
processing and outcomes. Strategy need to be cross-checked and analyse so that it can be implemented
to approach the following organisation expectations and meet the objective. Some of the major impacts
are listed below to meet the expected profit from new strategy.
Time of project delivery: Implementation of flexibility in the plan for time is not possible. Some of short
term goals and objectives need to be achieved in a limited time. For such cases, in support with the new
demands organisation has adjusted the internal structure and services (Harmon, 2014). Therefore
resource allocation and role definition according to new strategy can impact business.
Resource Arrangement: number of resources needs to be arranged for improving their performance,
distribution of work and increase their speed of execution, in order to achieve value for the organisation.
Organisation might need to pay additional cost for these resources and their training and practice this
process for their betterment.
Financial impacts: additional cost may lead to financial impacts in process to reduce the risks and
improve the outcomes. Profitability impacted on the outcomes of the business. The reduced cost might
result in positive manner with the increase in profitability and it can be negative if there are major and
increased changes in the business (Bradley, 2016).
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Disputes: Motivation and performance are two connected things. Benefits and services to the team
member need to be assured to avoid any dispute and conflicts on the workplace, in order to achieve the
time management process. New implementation need to be managed by the organisation through
communication and policies according to new strategies to avoid any dispute.
CONCLUSION
Presented report has been concluded that personal skills and capabilities like communication, analytical
problem solving skills and time management are effective to meet the professional gaols but still, there
is need of improvement in skills like team management, quality delivery and performance measurement
and improvement for employees. Therefore, report has summarized the needs and their improvements
through a development plan. Skills required at project manager side for communication and time
management among the employees have been discussed. Report has also focused on team dynamics,
team member roles and alternative ways to complete the project within the defined constraints in which
various strategies and approaches have been discussed. In report, it has been discussed how to determine
the problem and solutions and evaluate the effectiveness of the tools and techniques being used for
solution.
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