Personal Development Portfolio for Business Management Students

This portfolio includes evidence of personal and academic development for business management students, including life goals, team contracts, forming habits, and referencing skills. It also includes reflective statements on becoming an effective student and acquiring skills for personal and future success.

FdSc Business Management
BAM4008
Academic and Personal Development Plan
Assessment 1
Personal Development Portfolio
Contents

Contents
Introduction ..................................................................................................................2
Portfolio evidence (1)....................................................................................................2
Portfolio evidence (2)....................................................................................................3
Portfolio evidence (3)....................................................................................................3
Portfolio evidence (4)....................................................................................................3
Reflective statement (including 2 x models).................................................................3
a)Reflect on being an effective student of Business Management in higher
education...................................................................................................................3
b)Reflect on how acquisition of skills through completion of this module would
assist me to achieve personal and future success...................................................3
Explanation of two models of academic and personal development and how this has
improved my learning. .................................................................................................3
Model 1 .................................................................................................................3
Model 2..................................................................................................................3
Reference List: .............................................................................................................3
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Introduction
Academic and personal development of students is a life-long processes and
supports students in achieving their academic as well as career goals (Chang,
2019). Academic goals are facilitated by personal development as it helps improve
skills which are essential for performing well in an academic context. Personal and
academic development can be facilitated by constructing life-long objectives which
cover both career and personal areas. This report includes four portfolio evidence
collected in personal development portfolio. The portfolio evidence are in context of
life goals, team contracts, forming habits and Harvard reference list. In addition to
this, a reflection on achieving personal success and becoming effective business
management student in context of completion of personal development portfolio is
included in this report. Two models of personal reflection and learning are explained
and their role in improving learning is induced as a reflection.
Portfolio evidence (1): Life Goals
It is important to construct a life goal so that a meaningful life can be created
and actions can be taken in all aspects of lie to support attainment of life goal. I have
constructed life goal of improving life I all its aspects which has also supported me in
my persona and academic development his is because I have taken action to
determine my strengths and weaknesses which play an important role in moving
forward with life betterment. This allowed me to take action in improving my skills
and capabilities so that my academic journey can be improved.
My personal focus of living healthier life and academic goal to ensure high
academic performance is maintained throughout the University will be attained with
the help of my personal and academic development. I have taken action to enhance
my study skills such as note taking and time management to improving my academic
performance. In case of developing healthier lifestyle I have taken action to develop
plan for melting my healthy lifestyle goals. This includes increasing regular exercise
and adopting balanced diet.
My personal and academic development which will support attainment of life
goals includes communicating with my peers and faculty members to gain feedback
on academic performance and personality traits. This feedback will help me
determine My weak areas and take further action towards continuously improving my
academic performance and adjusting my personality traits for becoming a better
business management student.
Portfolio evidence (2): Team Contracts
Team working capabilities are needed for academic development because
academic activities include team tasks which need to be performed with high quality
to gain higher grades (Ford and et. al., 2019). In addition to this class discussion and
other group activities also require team spirit because it helps gain the bets
educational experience. I was able to evaluate and develop on my team working
skills as a part of personal and academic development. I have understood as part of
personal and academic development that the primary strategies which can be used
for performing well in a team context include collaborating an coordinating with
others. In addition to this building a proper communication channel is also essential
for effectively communicating with others in a team activity and ensuring timely
completion of team activities.
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I have understood that my team role personality is of a coach. This also
helped me in my personal and academic development as now I will be able to
develop relevant skills which can help me perform effectively at various team
personality role. The team personality of a coach revolves around creating
agreement in a team and building harmony so that the team focuses on completing
various objectives in a timely manner.
The primary team working skills which are needed for performing at the team
personality role of coach are conflict management skills, collaboration skills,
communication skills, interpersonal skills, strategic planning skills, listening skills,
optimism and emotional intelligence (Istomina and et. al., 2020). I have been able to
utilize this knowledge by participating in the lecture of this model. After becoming
aware of my team personality and the main skills which need to be developed I will
be able to take actions for developing my weak areas in context of becoming a
better coach in team activities.
I have taken action for improving my conflict management skills by learning
about suitable conflict management strategies. I have learned about several conflict
management strategies including accommodating, compromising, avoiding,
competing and collaborating. In addition to this I also improved my knowledge in the
area of interpersonal skills and communication skills. I will utilize the development in
these skills to ensure that I am able to create harmony in team context and avoid
derailing of team because of conflicts between team member.
This supports my personal as well as academic development because now I
am able to understand my roles and responsibilities in a team context by learning
about my proffered team personality. Development of my personal strengths in
context of proffered team personality will hep me gain suitable role in team activities
and perform my responsibilities at position of coach effectively. I will be part of high
performing teams by developing my team personality as a coach which will further
my academic development and also support my effective functioning in professional
environment.
Portfolio evidence (3): Forming Habits
It is important to develop habits which lead to success in study and
professional field. I have understood that the main method of forming positive habits
is to shift from negative paradigm to positive paradigm. This helps create a more
focused and positive outlook towards life. I have taken efforts to shift from positive
paradigm to negative paradigm by developing habits of acting on my thoughts and
developing knowledge of my personal self. I have understood the difference between
role of conscious mind and sub-conscious my in adopting habits which help develop
positive paradigm. Sub conscious minds is related with emotions while the conscious
mind focuses on taking educated action.
I have determined ways of understanding which actions are facilitated by my
sub-concision thinking and which actions are facilitated by conscious thinking. This
has helped me take balanced decisions which consider both emotional and educated
factors to ensure that right decision is taken. In addition to this, I have also gained
knowledge about the knowing doing gap which helped me take immediate action to
initiate development of my study habits and shift towards a more positive paradigm.
The knowledge doing gap helps individuals determine the difference between
knowing and doing (Konstantinou and Miller, 2020). The concept of knowing and
doing has been recognized as one of the most important concepts in facilitating
learning and development of individuals. The knowing element of this concept covers
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areas which are known by individuals such as theories and practices. The doing
element of this concept covers areas which are actually implemented by the
individuals during practice (Levin, 2019). The element of doing is complicated
because it is subjective in nature.
I have understood that I know vast amount of theoretical knowledge and tools
which can help me effectively manage my time but actual implementation of these
tools is different. I have taken action to reduce the gap between knowing and doing
in all academic areas. This has helped me develop a more positive paradigm and
ensure that study habits which can help me gain success in my academic journey as
well as professional life can be attained.
Portfolio evidence (4): Harvard Reference list (CRAPP)
Researching on various topics is an important part of academia as students
are required to complete projects and assignments. The two types of research
conducted for academic writing are secondary and primary research. It is important
to find quality resources for completing secondary research as it helps increase
credibility of the investigation and reach accurate conclusions in a timely manner. As
a part of my personal development I focused don building my referencing skills which
started with improving ability to found quality secondary sources for secondary
investigation.
I have learned from my secondary experience that my research skills are
weak because I am not able to find quality sources for research in a timely manner.
This affects the time schedule for completing the research and affects timely
completion of the academic project at hand. I improved on my ability to develop
research skills by learning and applying CRAPP test. CRAPP test is an acronym for
currency, relevance, authority accuracy and purpose. I have now learned to apply
CRAPP test during research to identify suitable sources for specific piece of
academic writing.
The first element of CRAPP tests is currency which focuses on determining
the time and functionality of the source. I apply this element of the TEST by looking
at the publishing data and the last date at which the source was updated to
understand if the source is recent to be used in academic wring. The concept of
relevancy in the CRAPP tests focuses on determining the relation of the subject
included in the source to the target audience, report subject matter and level of
difficulty needed. I am now able to recognize if the source is relevant to the aim of
academic writing so that only suitable sources are taken for completing the research.
The element of authority looks at the author of the resource while the element
of accuracy looks at reliability of the source. After completing my personal
development in area of researching and referencing, I have understood the
importance of looking at authors credibility while selecting source for completing
academic writing. In addition to this I also easily able to identify bias from the point of
view of author which helps me select accurate resources.
The final element of CRAPP test looks at the purpose of the source ad if wt
was made for spreading propaganda, stating opinion or providing factual data
(Meissner and Shmatko, 2019). I also look at ideological, political, cultural religious,
institutional or personal biases which affect the source and can impact the objectivity
of the investigation. By learning about application of CRAPP test I am able to to find
suitable resources for any piece of academic research. I have acquired the ability to
reference suitable sources accurately by using Harvard referencing so that I gain
high grades in all my academic or research projects. This is an example of personal
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and academic development which will not only benefit me in my academic career but
will also help me complete high quality professional research in future career.
Reflective statement (including 2 x models)
a) Reflect on being an effective student of Business
Management in higher education.
The higher education field of business management is one of the popular field
of completing higher education because it provides many employment opportunities
after education (Menz, 2020). My personal and academic development facilitated by
this module has supported me in becoming a better student in field of higher
education. It is because of personal and academic development I have been able to
identify my teamwork personality of coach and have taken action to improve skills
needed for performing well as coach. I will be able to ensure that I work effectively as
a coach in team assignments and am able to create harmony among team members
so that the finally product given for the assignment is of high quality. In addition to
this identification of my teamwork personality have also helped me understand my
main skills which can be used for performing well in class discussions. Reflecting on
my past experience as a student of business management I have understood that I
have been able to utilize my interpersonal and collaboration skills during class
discussions to extract maximum knowledge and clear my doubts about a specific
topic.
In addition to this my collaboration skills have supported me in collaborating
with my peers to complete team assignments and projects. The main area of
weakness which hinders my academic performance as a higher education business
management student are my referencing skills. I ma not able to find quality sources
for secondary research in time which delays submission of important projects and
assignments. The module of personal and professional development has helped me
understand the application of CRAPP test which can be used for finding reliable
sources for specific research quickly. Business management students need to have
high level of research skills because taking business management decisions
requires researching on various topics. My effectiveness as a business management
student in higher education field will increase because of participation in this module.
b) Reflect on how acquisition of skills through completion of
this module would assist me to achieve personal and future
success.
I have learned various skills by participating in the module of personal and
professional development which will support me in achieving personal success and
also contribute to my future success as a professional. Personal and professional
development focuses on developing capabilities of an individual in relation to thiser
life and career goals (Neiles and Bowers, 2020). The primary skill which I have
gained from the personal and academic development module is the skill of
immediately acting on my goals and taking effective measures to ensure that the
goals between my knowledge and implementation is reduced. This skill has
contributed to my personal development as I am now able to increase my study
skills. In addition to this, I have also been able to determine areas which require
improvement in case of implementation such as my theoretical knowledge of
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business management concepts because of the knowing doing concept I learned
during this module. The knowledge of disconnection between my theoretical
knowledge and practical implementation of business management concepts will
support development in future career as I will be able to perfectly implement
business management concepts for my future employer. Employers demand best
performance from employees which involves effective application of knowledge to
make informed decisions (Verma, Chandra and Kumar, 2019). This will enable me to
gain quick promotion during my employment period.
I have also improved my team-working skills during this module. This is
because I have understood that I have personality of coach in team situations. I have
also recognized that the most suitable responsibilities according to my personality I
team tasks is to create harmony and ensure that the team is always focused on
attaining team objectives. I have improved my performance in team tasks by
understanding the main skills which need to be improved to ensure that my role as a
coach is fulfilled. Apart from this I have gained knowledge of team working strategies
which support effective functioning of a team in any situation. The improvement of
my team working skills and betterment of my team working knowledge will support
me in attainment of my personal life as i will be able to gain better grades in team
based academic assignments. Team working skills are some of the most common
employer expectations when it comes to business management students. The
development of my team work skills with the help of this module will support my
professional development as i will be able to work as coach with my co-workers and
attain team objectives in a timely manner.
Explanation of two models of academic and personal
development and how this has improved my
learning.
Model 1
The personal growth model is one the most commonly used models
which facilitate personal development of individuals and help the enhance their
strengths while improvise their weak areas (Sanford, 2017). The personal growth
model offers five stages which need to be covered in order to facilitate personal
growth of individuals. The five stages which are included in this model are belief,
plan action result and review. I have utilized this model of personal development to
work on my weak areas so that my life goals and academic objectives can be
attained.
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The application of personal growth model is provided below:
 Belief: In the first step a suitable mindset ed to be prepared which supports
attainment of personal growth. In this step I utilized various strategies to
enhance my intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. This included using rewards to
maintain motivation and visualizing future success to develop intrinsic
motivation.
 Plan: The second step involves creating goals an developing strategies which
support timely attainment of the goals (Viinikka and Ubani, 2019). I developed
goals which help me improve my team work skills as a coach and also
prepared measurement parameters which can be used for ensuring timely
attainment of the goals.
 Action: This step of the model looks at taking action and executing the plan to
support personal development. I have adopted the 4-D time management
model to ensure that I am productive towards attainment of my goals. In
addition to this I am also continuously mounting my progress so that my
actions provide desired results.
 Result: In this stage the measurement parameters are used to assess each
goal and determine the result of the actions taken. In addition to this I have
also used feedback from my peers and faculty members to determine
development in various skills which are part of my personal growth.
 Review: The last stage of the model looks at reviewing the progress made so
that further action can be taken. I will review my progress so by conducting
personal SWOT analysis. This will help me determine which weaknesses
have been eliminated through implementation of the model
Model 2
VARK Learning Styles
This model helps determine learning style of an individual. I have applied this
model to determine my learning style so that it can support personal ad professional
development. The application of this model is provided below:
Visual learning style
This learning style involves the usage of visual elements such as graphs and charts
to learn information (Wain, 2017). I ca use this style to improve my ICT skills.
Auditory learning style
This learning style uses audio and sound for leaning. I can apply this learning style
during class discussions.
Reading writing learning style
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This style is used by gaining theoretical knowledge through reading and note
taking. I can use this style to understand and retain theoretical knowledge for a long-
time period.
Kinesthetic learning style
This learning style is used by gaining practical knowledge. I can apply this
style to gain knowledge during team activities.
My preferred learning style is visual learning style which will help me
understand concepts clealry and retain them for longer time period.
Reference List:
Chang, B., 2019. Reflection in learning. Online Learning, 23(1). pp.95-110.
Ford and et. al., 2019. Assessing student pharmacist communication skills:
Development and implementation of a communication rubric.Currents in
Pharmacy Teaching and Learning, 11(11). pp.1123-1131.
Istomina and et. al., 2020. Innovations in application of professional skills
development among supply chain managers. International Journal of Supply
Chain Management, 9(5). pp.481-486.
Konstantinou, I. and Miller, E., 2020. Investigating work-integrated learning and its
relevance to skills development in degree apprenticeships.Higher Education,
Skills and Work-Based Learning
Levin, D. M., 2019. The listening self: Personal growth, social change and the
closure of metaphysics. Routledge.
Meissner, D. and Shmatko, N., 2019. Integrating professional and academic
knowledge: the link between researchers skills and innovation culture. The
Journal of Technology Transfer, 44(4). pp.1273-1289.
Menz, M., 2020.Integrating Academic Skills and Employability-Revisiting the
Learning Journal.Journal of Research in Higher Education, 4(2).
Neiles, K. Y. and Bowers, R. A., 2020. A General Chemistry Cocurriculum Focused
on the Development of Professional and Academic Skills. In Integrating
Professional Skills into Undergraduate Chemistry Curricula (pp. 105-
146).American Chemical Society.
Sanford, N., 2017. Self and society: Social change and individual development.
Transaction Publishers.
Verma, V. K., Chandra, B. and Kumar, S., 2019. Values and ascribed responsibility
to predict consumers' attitude and concern towards green hotel visit
intention. Journal of Business Research, 96. pp.206-216.
Viinikka, K. and Ubani, M., 2019.The expectations of Finnish RE student teachers of
their professional development in their academic studies in the light of twenty-
first-century skills.Journal of Beliefs & Values, 40(4). pp.447-463.
Wain, A., 2017. Learning through reflection. British Journal of Midwifery, 25(10),
pp.662-666.
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