Assignment On Learning and Development Plan

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Learning and Development Plan
Name
(Affiliation Institution)

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Section 1: Self Introduction
My name is xxxx xxxx xxxx. Am currently studying postgraduate masters in business
and project management at xxxxxx University in Australia. I also graduated with a bachelor’s
degree in Business and Project Management from xxxxx University in 2014. I hold various
certificates and acknowledgements from short courses as well as seminars, conferences and other
contributions that I have achieved with various educational and non-educational bodies. The
certificates and acknowledgement include a certificate in computer basis, leadership, community
development as well as entrepreneurship.
My professional career in business and project management field started at CBA
Company in June 2014 where I was attached for 3 months before joining AUBA as an intern in
the Business Administration department. During the short duration spend with these companies, I
gained various soft and hard skills such as communication, data entry, adapting to changing
environment, working in team, management, organization, use of ERP software to handle and
manage various tasks as well as decision making. The combination of skills and experience that I
gained from these companies formed a backbone for my career development as I gained
employability skills and experience that fueled my ability of landing job with my current
employer. Presently, I work as a part-time employee at 7-eleven Company as a customer service
representative.
Section 2: Megatrends and Challenges
My profession is in the project management industry. According to Ika, Diallo &
Thuillier (2010), Project management industry entails reviewing of contracts in an organization,
planning, overseeing all operations and providing assistance for employees in an organization to
reach top productivity levels. Over the last few years, some megatrends and challenges have
been experienced in the business and project management industry. The megatrends and

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challenges have created an opportunity for some employees and at the same time threatened the
careers of others. The significant megatrends in the project management include increased in the
industry size, economic growth after COVID 19 leading to high investment and increased in
technology. According to Lee and Lee (2015 p.431), by 2020, over 70% of companies in the
project management industry will have managed to invest in the industry.
The trend that there will be a growth of the industry after the COVID19 pandemic which
is affecting both local and international markets is a megatrend that is circulating the project
management industry. With an increase in the project management industry’s size due to
economic growth that the world has experienced in the last decade, the rates of investment have
turned to be high. Furthermore, in the future, the project management industry is expected to
expand rapidly with many investors erupting and creating more employment opportunities.
Besides, with the economy of Australia and the world expected to grow, macroeconomics
megatrends like growing income levels, declining in dependency ratios and increased in urban
migration will increase globalization in the business. This will cause a great shift in economic
power forcing major adjustments in strategies adopted by companies operating under the project
management industry.
Access and rapid use of new technologies is also another mage trend surrounding the
project management industry. Increased in Automation and expansion of Artificial Intelligence
(AI) in project management has created significant opportunities and threats in the industry. With
most companies likely to use Artificial intelligence in the near future, the demand for skilled
project managers and business administration has increased as the automation requires
competency to capture insight and make informed decisions. The Project Management Industry
needs to fill 9.7 million of project manager position by 2027 with demand for the industry’s job

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reaching 52.4 million by 2020 (Project Management Institute). Further research conducted by
Project Management Institute (2020 p.4) has shown that 77% percent of high-performing
projects around the world have been completed successfully through the use of software and
other related technologies. The automation of many jobs in the project management area such as
scheduling, project balancing, allocation of resources and budgeting minimized the opportunities
of a number of employees involved in the minor activities.
There is also a trend that the growth of the internet will increase the gig economy and
remote working in the near future. With the remote working, the rate of investment is likely to be
high and there will be minimized costs and availability of a human resource. Besides, there is
also a megatrend that Salaries of managers and employees in the project management industry
are forecasted to increase rapidly in the near future. As of December, the manager's salaries
operating in the project management industry was at $90,000 and the figures are projected to
increase more rapidly in the coming days (Project Management Institute, 2020 p.4)
Inclusion of hybrid project and business management is a megatrend facing project
management industry. According to Chaghooshi, Arab and Dehshiri (2016 p.447) hybrid
approach is a method in which agile world businesses or project management are combined with
those of traditions. With the hybrid approach, the business will be able to make effective
business choices such as making deadlines, budgeting and defining the scope in the future as all
human resource, tasks and activities are brought together.
Failure of big many businesses as well as project locally and around the world has been a
challenge in the project management industry. Besides, with the industry experiencing rapid
growth, the project management market has become flooded with skilled and experienced
employees which have significantly limited career growth of others.