Learning and Development: Current Trends, CIPD Profession Map, Project Teams, Group Dynamics, and Self-Assessment

This article discusses the current trends and practices in learning and development, the CIPD Profession Map, project teams, group dynamics, and self-assessment. It covers the skills, knowledge, and behaviors needed for success in any professional field.

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Learning and development
By [Name]
Course
Professors’ Name
Institution
Location of Institution
Date

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Activity 1
Current trends and practices in learning and development
Learning and development has become a fundamental for retention and progression of
talents which are connected directly with the high performance and growth of any professional
field like business, teaching, healthcare and many other professionals (Bolden 2016, pp. 143-
158). Some of the roles have emerged due to new learning and development trends, they include
one, supporting performance of employees in a business. The new trends in learning and
development increase the performance of workers. Another emerging role of learning and
development is professional learning. Leaning and development’s new role is to improve the
skills of professionals.
There are some current trends and practices in learning and development. The example of
current trends and practices are first, learning has now become social and collaborative. In the
past learning was formal and everything was done formally but today, people want a more
interactive learning and development. Second learning is developing from face to face approach
to digital media method (Cullen 2017, pp. 429-439). People now use the internet for learning and
development unlike in the past where individuals were to present themselves personally in class.
The third trend in learning and development is to measure the value of the content not the
volume. Currently the value of what a person has learned is measured not the content. Fourth,
learning emphasizes in improving the skills of people (Andrews 2014, pp. 121-132). When a
person undergoes learning and development practice, he/she will improve the skill he/she has.
Fifth, currently learning and development is just on time because there many institutions that

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facilitate learning and development (Nelson, Lau & Jarcho 2014, pp. 99-108). The last trend is
that the instructors in learning and development are seen as coaches not facilitators.
CIPD Profession Map
The CIPD Profession Map document has provided set of regulations and standards the
human resource personnel around the world should follow. The document has outlined the
knowledge, behavior, and skills needed for success in any professional field (Qi & Melhuish
2017, pp. 268-284).
The CIPD Profession Map show skills any person should have. The skills include one,
advising the students if they feel that they have some issues that are troubling them. The second
skill is to understand the process of monitoring the activities that are going on in the group for
example, when a customer wants to open a bank account, the banker must follow up and see if
the client is satisfied The group leader should have knowledge on how he/she can conduct
monitoring skill to see the progress of students. The third skill is operating with less guidance
and doing the right thing at the end of the day. Operating with less guidance means that a leader
is working without supervision and providing quality output.
Knowledge in the CIPD Profession Map includes one quick decision making skills. A
professional must know how to make quick decision, second is the communication within the
project team. A professional leader must have good command of communication skills. The third
knowledge is the understanding skills. Understanding helps in reducing conflicts between the
people you are leading. If you understand them, you can predict their next move Qi &Melhuish
2017, pp. 268-284).

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The CIPD Profession Map also highlights some of the behaviours professional need in
their line of leadership which include one, how the leader spends his or her/ time and with which
type of people. Secondly, being flexible to accommodate all opinions and third behavour is the
behavior to understand things and the consequences after an action. The behavour, skills, and the
knowledge that the CIPD Profession Map highlighted are vital to team leader. For example, a
team leader must always understand the people he/she is leading because if you do not know the
needs of your team then you will have a hard time working with them PandeWadhai&Thakre
2016).
Activity 2
Project Team
Introduction
Project team is group where its members are from different cluster but they all work to
achieve the goals and objectives of the group (Stansfeld 2014). The project team can be
separated into other small groups if there a demand to do so. The project team does not last
forever rather; it is dissolved when the tasked it assigned for is complete (Colditz & Proctor
2013). I was working as a teacher for a project team to equip the school students with knowledge
in English and Computer at the university building. I was also managing the front office desk
and customer service. The self-management skills I have helped me in managing my time well. I
divided time for teaching and attending to customers. The skills in the judgment and assessment
of value helped me to judge the students, who were weak in English and computer, assess them
and them recommending the method of learning and developing they would require. The ability
I had in organizing my documents at home helped me when I was working as a customer care, I

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arranged the documents for clients neatly making them easy to find and evaluate. However, there
were some challenges faces among the members of the group. The biggest challenge was
division of the responsibilities. Some members say they were given a lot of task than others
hence; the leader of the project team called a meeting and divided all the responsibilities equality
until all the members were satisfied. Another challenge was about pay, the members of the group
wanted to know how much they will be paid after the job. The team leader entered into an
agreement with them and they agreed on how much they will get.
Influence, Persuade, and Negotiate
Influence is the ability of a person to manipulate, affect or control the other person hence;
making the influenced person do what the influencer wants (Chartier 2014, p. 7). Influence is so
essential in the project team (Braithwaite 2012). I influenced my influenced members to my
group to come early for group activity by availing myself early at the meeting place. Persuade is
to urge or convince a person to do what you want (Gill 2012, p. 105). I persuaded for my project
by writing an emotional speech for the group so that we could get funds to fund our project. The
persuasion speech helped us secure funds (Loeppke 2014, pp. 927-934). Negotiate is coming to
an agreement by spilling out some terms (McMakin 2018). I saved one of the group members by
negotiating for him not be thrown out the group. Negotiation is one of the best actions that
should be taken when you want to bring peace among the project team and project team leaders
should be flexible during negotiations time (Marmot 2015).
Activity 3
Group dynamics

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Group dynamics are activities that take place in a group (Phillips 2016). The dynamics are
influenced by the members’ feeling, thoughts, non-verbal communication and the connection
between each member of group with the group (Stewart & Wild 2017), pp.11-19). The group
dynamics can help in understanding how the actions, thoughts and feeling of a person in a group
scenario (Blanchflower 2011, pp. 241-267). An example is where how a student narrates to
his/her colleagues on the reasons he/she normally fails the school tests and why he/she come late
everyday. Two members of the group feel for him/her and advice the student on what to do but
the other members of the group look at him with disgusting eyes and do talk at all. The student
then regrets on why he/she told them his problem and decides to keep quiet for the rest of the
meeting. There are models that describe the group dynamic which include Tuckman model.
Tuckman describes the stages to follow when coming up with a group (Wiltink 2012, p. 32-39)).
A new group cannot function when it has just been formed, it must take some time. The staged of
Tuckman’s model are formation, storming, norming, and performing (Boswell 2014, pp.733-
741). In the formation stage the members of the group are still new to each other and others do
not even know what to do. The stage can be experienced for a period of time and then the
members of the will start knowing each other and work together which leads to stage two. A
leader therefore, should understand the members and play a dominant role in stage one of group
formation. Storming is where the members are in a conflict and most teams fail here (Brunton &
Scott 2015, pp.786-799). The members of the team do not respect each other and do not
understand their responsibilities hence clashing. A leader should therefore, find a way to stop
the conflicts. Challenges will never miss in any group hence; leaders of the groups should be
ready with the solutions.

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In the norming stage, the group members start knowing their roles, appreciate one
another and respect the team leader. Norming stage is where the members cannot start to
socialise, ask one another for help and answer each other correctly. The group then goes to the
last stage performing state where the members work without any problem to achieve the group’s
goals. The performing stage is where the group works together and closely. The team will
eventually adjourn at some time in life due to many reasons. The reasons may include
responsibilities conflicts and salary issues.
Political Behavior
Political behavior in organizational is a situation where a leader uses his power and
influence to improve the interests of the firm or personal interest. The leaders may use their
position to force the employees to produce a higher output Qi &Melhuish (2017, pp. 268-284))
calls this ideal political behavior in an organization. According to studies by Christensen (2018))
manages with political knowledge always do better to gain political power in an organization.
They also have the best ability when it come s to managing the job stress and managing
demands. Leaders who apply politics in business are better than politically naïve leaders.
Political behavior in an organization can occur when a leader what to be in control. A leader can
also adopt political behavior when he/she wants some work to done in a faster way because the
job is needed urgent. Political behavior can have both positive and negative effects on the
leadership and development functions. Political behavior can make the firm achieve tremendous
production and good profits. If a leader uses political behavior, he/she can make employees work
harder due to the pressure to the benefit of the company. Political behavior can help the leader
know how to manage stress and job demand. A leader can also use the employees to work an
extra hour so that the goal of the day action plans is met. Political behavior also has some

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negative effects (Gullette 2016, pp. 43-50). First, the workers’ rights can be violated when the
leader uses power and influence to force them to work and extra hour without pay. Political
behavior is also a dictatorship type of leadership where the employees are not given chance to
make their own decisions. It should also be acknowledged that political behavior is as a result of
scares resources in organizations. If the resources are there and there are enough workers on site,
the company will reach its goal without straining the workers. However, the organizational
leaders should use learning and development to improve their knowledge on the matters of
politics to avoid the negative side of politics
Activity 4
Self-Assessment
Self- assessment is learning about yourself to understand your abilities and what you like
in life (Carrollm2015, pp.201-208). Self-assessment drives a person to study his/her own self-
verification, self-motives and self-enhancement. Self-assessment enables a person to understand
his or her own knowledge and where it has reached. In an organization a person can conduct self-
assessment to determine the value of work output he/she is delivering for the firm and where to
makes some developments. After assessing myself using band two, I have realized that
understanding is the key behavior either in project team or group dynamics. A person should
understand the issues and their parameter, the consequences after evaluation of the problems. I
need to develop my management skills, decision making skills and problem solving skills. Any
person in any profession must have the know how to manage, it does not matter which field you
are. Decision-making is also an essential activity in leadership. After self-assessment I have
learnt that my decision-making speed is low hence I cannot solve problem at hand. I need to

Learning and development 9
improve in my decision making ability. My professional development needs are ability to solve
problems, decision making activity, and the ability to manage a team.
Developmental options
Developmental options are the issues that need to be addressed so that a person can grow
professionally. In terms of behavior, I would like to develop my understanding ability. The
ability can help look at issues in a different perspective which can help me find solution to
problems. I would like also to improve my management skills that can help me to be a good
leader. Leadership requires management of the highest level.Qi &Melhuish (2017, pp. 268-
284)reported that management is a profession therefore, if any person wants to be a great
manager, he/she should go and learn the skill professionally. Below is personal development
plan I have to achieve my goal in addressing the developmental options.
Personal Development Plan
Name……………………………...................................................................................................
Covering the period from…… May 2018…………… to……… November 2018 …..………….
Where do I want to be by the end of this period? What do I want to be doing? (This may be
evolutionary or “more of the same”.)
What do I
want/need to
learn?
What will I do to achieve
this?
What resources or
support will I need?
What will my
success criteria
be?
Target
dates for
review and
completion
Understanding
skills
I will learn understanding
skills by attending the
leadership conference in
my city. The conference
will be talking about how
I will need money for
transport because the
venue where the
conference will be is
After finishing this
leadership
conference, I belief
that I will improve
my understanding
May to
June 2018

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to be a leader. The speaker
of the conference is vast
with leadership
knowledge.
far from where I reside. skills. I will also
interact with many
other prominent
leaders who will be
present at the
conference. I belief
the leaders in turn
will improve my
overall leadership
abilities.
Learning
management
skills
I will attend the
management classes. I will
also engage with more
books about management
skills and practice them
when conduction of
activities with my friends
and I
I will need money to
pay for the school fees
at the institution I will
be learning on. I will
also need funds to pay
my daily transport
because the place am
staying is a little bit far.
I will also need time to
attend the classes and
balance them with the
current learning and
development classes
are attending.
Management skills
are vital for
anybody who
wants to be a
leader. I believe in
future after
attending the
management skills
classes, I will be
well equipped to be
a great manager
because it will be
my profession by
then.
September
to
November
2018
Reflection on the PDP plan
During my efforts to develop my professional needs I faced some challenges which reduced my
learning progress down for a while but I cough up with the system and learning continued. When
I was training management skills, it was hard to interact with the new faces but I adopted faster.
The progress of my learning is smooth. The conference ended well and now I can control my self
during the tough situations and understand the consequences. Similarly, my management skills
have improved a lot. Where I am currently working, my progress with the two developmental
profession I improved in my training are helping me to solve many issues and also a god manger.
In future I want to further my training to learn more about leadership a part from understanding
and management skills. I will adjust my personal development plan to incorporate the activities

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that will make me know how to make quick decisions that are relevant and problem solving
skills.

Learning and development 12
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