Impact of Professional Development on Employees

The assignment analyzes the benefits of professional development for employees and organizations. It highlights skills like communication, time management, and leadership that are enhanced through professional development programs. The report emphasizes how these skills contribute to improved employee performance and organizational success.

Professional Development
Plan for Strategic Managers

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
1.1: Using appropriate methods to evaluate personal skills required to achieve strategic goals 1
1.2: Applying techniques to assess the professional skills required to support strategic
direction of organisation.........................................................................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................4
2.1: Carry out skills audit to evaluate the strategic skills needed to meet current and future
leadership requirements..........................................................................................................4
2.2: Applying appropriate techniques to identify preferred learning style.............................6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................7
3.1: Constructing a personal development plan that meets leadership development
requirements...........................................................................................................................7
3.2: Suitable methods to assess the outcomes of a personal development plan against personal
work objectives.......................................................................................................................9
3.3: Evaluating the impact of own learning against the achievement of strategic goals......10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Every organisation has main objective to achieve its desired goals and objectives within
limited period of time and it can be possible only when their managers have enough skills and
knowledge to make an effective decision and planning to operate business activities in more
effective and efficient manner. Therefore, it is important for an organisation to focus on
improving their skills and abilities through making professional development plan which help
them in achieving its professional career goals as well as aid company in achieving competitive
advantage in competitive environment. Nestle (Malaysia) Berhad which manufactures and sells
food and beverage products in Malaysia and across worldwide is taken for the purpose of
preparing this report (Crosby & Bryson, 2010). The project covers the various methods which
help in evaluating the personal skills required to achieve strategic direction of the organisation.
Personal development plan that support in meeting leadership development requirements is also
summarised in this report.
TASK 1
1.1: Using appropriate methods to evaluate personal skills required to achieve strategic goals
It is important for an organisation to have skilled and knowledgeable manager who has
capabilities to manage and monitor all business activities in such an effective manner that will
help the business in gaining competitive advantage and surviving in competitive market world
for longer period of time. To perform in profitable manner, the managers should evaluate their
own personal skills through adopting following methods:
Hard work/Dedication: According to the Guest, (2000) there are two traits or qualities
which are essentially required in managers i.e. Hard work and dedication. An individual who
finds such qualities in them can be called as a successful manager. Through having such traits,
the managers help an organisation in achieving competitive advantage through grabbing
competitive advantages that makes them different from their rivals. As Nestle (Malaysia) Berhad
is a big insurance company who covers the largest market share in competitive environment thus,
it is important for them to maintain their strong brand image in market. Therefore, the managers
need to give their maximum efforts in identifying the needs and requirements of customers
through conducting research and accordingly meeting them as quickly as possible so as to attain
reliable image in market (Danielson, 2011).
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Stress Management: It is considered as important and crucial skills the managers need to
have which help an organisation to direct and operate business operations in case of
emergencies. Mentally stress is not good for an individual or manager in an organisation which
may bring negative outcome to company as well. As there are large number of employees who
contribute their maximum efforts in achieving desired goals and objectives thus while
performing they faces may problems and issues regarding working environment, salary etc.
which harm their interest and working behaviour. Thus, the managers should have such quality
which helps in sorting out their problems through providing optimum solution in particular
manner. Sometimes due to entry of new firms in market brings threat to company. Here, the
manager plays a vital role in handling and managing situations an organisation faces due to their
rivals. Acting in complex situation and making an effective decision on time will help in
knowing the exact capabilities of managers.
Time Management: As time is more precious than money thus it is important for
manager to utilise time in an effective manner that will bring positive result to company. An
individual can be a good manager if they have skills and capabilities to manage work through
making schedule to complete specific activities within given time frame. They need to have
allocate time for particular activities on the basis of outcome received in future and accordingly
motive its workers to perform in order to execute business activities as per set priorities. The
manager needs to focus on task which bring profitable outcome to company and accordingly
make an effective decision and planning so as to achieve competitive advantage in market
(DeCuir-Gunby, Marshall & McCulloch, 2011).
Prioritising Work Tasks: Every managers always focusing on getting employees who
reach at work on time and willing to take responsibility assigned to them. The manager needs to
have skills such as dependable, responsible, contributor committed to excellence and success.
The manger should have qualities to find out the task which ensures in giving profitable result to
company and accordingly set priorities for each work on the basis of their upcoming result and
accordingly delegate roles and responsibilities to employees on the basis of their skills and
knowledge so that prioritised work should be completed on time that will help company in
achieving competitive advantage.
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1.2: Applying techniques to assess the professional skills required to support strategic direction
of organisation
There are different techniques which help in assessing the professional skills in order to
support the strategic direction of organisation. Such techniques are as follows:
Mentoring: It is also helpful in giving contribution to achieve desired goals and
objectives of an organisation through overcoming different problems or issues that may arise at
workplace. A mentor is someone which has skills and abilities to give proper direction and
guidance to others for better future. They are the one who act different roles such as appraiser,
supporter, communicator etc. and if it is available in an individual, then he or she is eligible to
become a manager in an organisation. The manager should have coaching skills which helps in
increasing the skills and knowledge of its subordinates in order to direct them towards achieving
its desired goals. As a manager of Nestle Company, he should need to spend time on thinking
and bringing out some new and innovative ways to executing business activities and accordingly
applies in an organisation without any delay in order to achieve best profitable outcome
(Geertman & Stillwell, 2012).
Multi-tasking skills: In order to attain important position in an organisation, an
individual needs to perform lots of work at the same time in their professional life. Therefore, it
is important for professional to have multi-tasking skills which help them in giving wisdom and
vision to complete different task within limited period of time in more effective and efficient
manner.
Leadership skills: In order to achieve growth and success in professional life, an
individual need to have leadership skills which is considered as the backbone. An individual
having leadership skills will have such confidence and charisma to lead in order to determine
whether they are qualified or not. Leadership gives guarantee to success. But attaining leadership
skills, an individual should have other skills such as communication skills and time management
as they are essential for leadership skills. As there are different problems or issues which may
arise at workplace which are difficult to resolve. Thus, hiving leadership skills helps in finding
out optimum solution which maximises the interest and working behaviour of employees.
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TASK 2
2.1: Carry out skills audit to evaluate the strategic skills needed to meet current and future
leadership requirements
In order to perform my roles and responsibilities as a manager of Allianz Malaysia, the
manager can able to realise the skills and knowledge which are essentially required to negotiate
and coordinate with all the staff and customers of the company and the different people of small
and medium businesses. Some of the skills which are required to execute Strategic manager have
good numeric, good interpersonal skills and should be fair and reliable person. In the Allianz
Malaysia, an effective managerial and leadership skills are valued more than any other skills. In
order to achieve desired target, the manager need to evaluate their skills in order to find out their
capabilities to perform allotted roles and responsibilities as strategic managers (Johnson, 2014).
Communication skills: It is an important skills which helps in influencing the behaviour
and interest of customers to get insured from Allianz Malaysia company after making some
amount of payment on monthly basis. As strategic manager, they need to coordinate and
communicate with their clients in such an effective way that influence them to show their interest
and willingness to become customers of their company. Collecting feedbacks and solve their
issues through finding optimum solution also requires good communication skills. Thus, the
manager need to excel in the art of negotiation and debate. However, after analysing such skills it
has been observed that the manager need to work on identifying the main aim of customers and
according offering them suitable insurance plan for making them regular customer to company
(SWOT Analysis, 2017).
Leadership skills: As the strategic managers in Allianz Malaysia, they must need to
motivate its employees to achieve their target as soon as possible so as to achieve desired
objective of an organisation. The manager need to provide training program to their staff
members which helps them in identifying the customer's feeling and recognise different people
and their needs in life.
As the manager have an educational qualification and experience, he must have a self-
confidence to be good manager. Here are the SWOT analysis about him.
Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats
The managers has self Feeling hesitating Performing assigned Due to large number
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manager and
motivated which help
in dealing with any
kind of risk and issue.
while dealing with
unknown customers
due to which he failed
to bring confidence
among customers.
roles and
responsibilities in an
effective manner will
help him in getting
higher position in
Allianz Malaysia.
of rivals, the chances
of losing customers
will be more..
Good communication
and interpersonal
skills.
It has been found that
he have high tempered
due to which if
customers show less
interest in getting their
services then he may
irritated from them
due to which the
chances of losing
customers will be
more.
Involves in training
and learning programs
conducted by Allianz
Malaysia.
More educated people
will may brings
difficulties in front of
managers in order to
attract other people.
He is hard working
and also disciplined
person.
In complex situation,
the manager
sometimes hesitate to
make an effective
decision in order to
avoid failure. Thus, he
consumes more time
due to which
competitive
opportunity may failed
to grab.
Need to enhance skills
in order to attract
small as well as
medium business
towards getting longer
term insurance.
He has skills and
ability to influence
The manager may
show less interest in
Dealing with more
people increases the
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customer's interest
towards getting
services provided by
company.
working after working
hours which causes
problems to company.
chances of improving
their learning skills
and working
capabilities.
2.2: Applying appropriate techniques to identify preferred learning style
Every person has different way of thinking which need to be properly understood by the
managers in order to offer insurance services to them accordingly. There are different leaning
styles which need to adopt in an organisation with the purpose leaning new things with the help
of which the company can achieve profitable outcome in near future (Lamote & Engels, 2010).
Honey and Mumford Learning style: This learning style has been develop by Peter Honey and
Alan Mumford with a motive of identifying the characteristics of people having different nature
and behaviour. It has characterized people by their preferred learning styles into:
Activists: They are the one who learn something by doing practically. Such type of
person always focusing on involving into some action and experience when they tying to learn
something new. They are generally open minded and do not influences according to the
situations.
Reflectors: They are the one who learn something new through observing someone who
is doing task. Such type of person wants to gathered information regarding different aspects and
find out the effects they perceived in future.
Theorists: They are the one who believe in learning something new through
understanding the theories behind the action. They preferred to follow models and reading up on
facts to involve in the learning process. They love to reading stories and quotes with the purpose
of finding information regarding performing business activities in an effective manner.
Pragmatists: They are the one who believes in doing some experiments with theories.
Ideas and techniques and focus on adopting such ideas and techniques into actions. They prefer
to get new ideas through doing practically rather than books (Nicholls, 2014).
The roles and responsibilities of Strategic manager in Allianz Malaysia are linked with theorist
learning style where he must give the higher priority to the following points:
 He must not to deal with every emotional situations
 he need to get logical explanation for everything
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 Involved in new experiences, problems and opportunities
 Interacting with small and medium businesses
 Conducting meeting and leading discussions
 Pragmatist situation quite helpful for manager.
 Absorbing and understanding data
 He prefer to understand interest of customers
 Improved learning while discussing the views and experiences of others.
TASK 3
3.1: Constructing a personal development plan that meets leadership development requirements
Learning
objectives
Standard
proficiency
Actual
proficiency
Opportunities for
improvement
Time period
Communication
skills
5 4 This type of skills
help in setting
desired growth in
their professional
career as it help
manager to
communicate and
interact with their
customers and
employees
without any
nervousness.
With the help of
having such
skills, the
manager can able
to make healthy
relation and bring
customers and
1 month
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employees into
confidence in
relation with their
insurance
services.
Leadership skills 5 3 It is also an
important skills
which the
manager need to
have as they can
direct and guide
its employees to
achieve their
given target
within given time
frame. They need
to teach their staff
members to
identify the
customer's
interest first and
accordingly
influences their
interest to p
purchase their
insurance policy.
1.5 month
Learning skills 5 5 Through having
such skills, the
managers can get
new ideas and
2 month
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suggestions from
their staff
members which
help them in
giving new
insurance plans to
people.
Time
management
skills
5 5 Through having
such skills, the
managers can
able to allot roles
and
responsibilities to
their staff
members with the
time frame so that
they are focus on
desired target and
attracts lots of
people.
1 month
3.2: Suitable methods to assess the outcomes of a personal development plan against personal
work objectives
There are several methods which helps in assessing the outcomes of a personal
development plan against personal objectives which are as follows:
Performance management: There are
Developing channels of communication: The managers has roles and responsibilities of
establishing communication channel through which they can communicate with different
departments. It helps in maintaining healthy relationship with them and creating healthy
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atmosphere at workplace. Formulated plans and policies need to define to their employees so that
they are directed towards achieving desired goals and objectives.
Organisation structure confusion reduction: Assigning roles and responsibilities to the
staff members after identifying their skills and knowledge ensures company in getting profitable
outcomes in near future. Therefore the manager need to tech their employees to find out the
interest and behaviour of their clients and accordingly offering insurance plans to them in order
to fulfil their needs and demands.
3.3: Evaluating the impact of own learning against the achievement of strategic goals
Strategic goals are the statements of what an organisation wants to achieve in near future
thus it is important to evaluate the impact of own learning against the achievement of strategic
goals. As according to the professional development plan, it has been observed that there are
some skills on which the managers need to worked on so as to achieve desired goals of an
organisation (Rao, 2012).
Communication skills: It has been observed from above professional development plan
that the manager attained good communication skills which help in maintaining healthy relation
with the customers and staff members. Understanding multiple languages help them in dealing
with clients of small and medium business in more effective and efficient manner.
Leadership skills: From above professional development plan, it has been observed that
the manager need to worked on improving their leadership skills as sometimes managers takes
more time to make an effective decision which causes delay in performing allotted task by the
staff members. The mangers sometimes focused on completing specific work due to which he
failed to give time for their staff members which brings demotivation among them. Thus, it is
important for manager to enhance such skills for the betterment of an organisation
Learning skills: As per PDP plan, it has been notified that the manager is good enough in
learning views and suggestion from their staff members as it is helpful in collecting feedbacks
and issues that their employees may face related with their customers. Such skills help managers
in making an effective decision to resolve all issues.
Time management skills: It has been observed from PDP plans that manager has given
work to their employees with time frame so that their staff members are motivated and directed
to achieve allotted task in an effective manner within given time frame. Having such skills help
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manager to grab opportunities regarding offering insurance service to the public (Saks &
Haccoun, 2010).
CONCLUSION
It has been concluded from the above project report that professional development is
helpful in enhancing the efficiency of employees as well as performance of company. In order to
achieve growth and success, an organisation need to have sufficient skills such as
communication skills, time management skills, leadership skills etc. through which they can
direct motivate others in order to desired goals and objectives.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Crosby, B. C., & Bryson, J. M. (2010). Integrative leadership and the creation and maintenance
of cross-sector collaborations. The Leadership Quarterly. 21(2). 211-230.
Danielson, C. (2011). Enhancing professional practice: A framework for teaching. ASCD.
DeCuir-Gunby, J. T., Marshall, P. L., & McCulloch, A. W. (2011). Developing and using a
codebook for the analysis of interview data: An example from a professional
development research project. Field methods. 23(2). 136-155.
Geertman, S., & Stillwell, J. (Eds.). (2012). Planning support systems in practice. Springer
Science & Business Media.
Johnson, P. (2014). Fundamentals of collection development and management. American
Library Association.
Lamote, C., & Engels, N. (2010). The development of student teachers’ professional identity.
European Journal of Teacher Education. 33(1). 3-18.
Nicholls, G. (2014). Professional development in higher education: New dimensions and
directions. Routledge.
Rao, M. (2012). Knowledge management tools and techniques. Routledge.
Saks, A. M., & Haccoun, R. R. (2010). Managing performance through training and
development. Cengage Learning.
Spee, A. P., & Jarzabkowski, P. (2011). Strategic planning as communicative process.
Organization Studies. 32(9). 1217-1245.
Online
SWOT Analysis, 2017. [Online]. Available through: <http://www.business-to-you.com/swot-
analysis/>. [Accessed on 29th September, 2017].
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