Academic & Professional Skills Development: A Business Student Report

This report explores the critical academic and professional skills necessary for business students to succeed. It identifies challenges such as academic writing, paraphrasing, and referencing, and emphasizes the importance of skills like problem-solving, leadership, and communication in the professional world. The report includes a comparison of academic and professional skills, a personal SWOT analysis, and an action plan for developing time management and problem-solving abilities. Ultimately, the report underscores the need for business students to continuously develop these skills to thrive in both academic and professional environments. Desklib provides a platform for students to access similar solved assignments and study resources.

Professional and Academic
Skills Development

Table of Contents
 Introduction
 Key challenges that business students may face:
 Skills required at working conditions:
 Importance of developing academic and professional skills for
business professionals
 SWOT Analysis and Identification of skills that I would like to develop:
 Conclusion

Key challenges that business students may
face
Academic writing: In this, the students may become exposed to lexical difficulties
regarding improper linking of words and phrases during academic writing. In relation
to this, the students can make an error in applying correct grammar rules while doing
academic writing. Moreover, plagiarism is the other aspect that can become a challenge
for business students(Fang, 2021).
Paraphrasing: The other challenge that an student can face is incorrect phrasing of
words during academic writing process. The usage of more than few direction
quotations can interfere with flow of writing during academic writing. In relation to
this, expression of people's ideas without transforming enough words is also related to
wrong paraphrasing in the course of academic writing.
Referencing: The use of irrelevant reference style can pose a major challenge in front
of business management students. The students may struggle with doing relevant
citations in academic writing which may confuse readers to remember what
information come from where if correct citations are not added.

Skills required at working conditions
The skills is important for any student in order to achieve success in professional business world. There are
some skills which is important for business students to excel in business environment:
Problem solving:
The skill of solving complex business problems is important for any working professional in order to
survive in highly competitive business world. The ability of business professional to define and determine root
cause of problems and selecting alternatives for finding solutions is crucial aspect in order to succeed in
professional career.
Leadership skills:
The business professional must develop leadership skills in order to succeed in their professional
career. The ability to effectively formulate and communicate new strategic decisions in order to achieve
organisational goals falls in leadership skill of business professionals. In relation to this, the ability to motivate
employees to perform their best is crucial for business professional to succeed.
Communication skills:
The skills to communicate effectively is an important skill for business professionals in order to
succeed in business world. The ability to communicate properly with other employees helps the organisation.
In relation to this, proper communication skills can help the professional to delegate tasks and responsibilities
in an effective manner(Mitani, 2019).

Importance of developing academic
skills for business students
Researching:
This type of skill is necessary for business students in order to excel in their research and
presentation projects. The research activity followed by proper evidence helps students to find out
necessary information without the fear of plagiarism.
Prioritising work:
The business students must focus on crucial activities that is considered essential for
developing standard research projects and presentation. Prioritising work over other things helps the
student to put its focus on work which leads to success in academic world.
Team working:
The performance of tasks as a team helps the student to gain knowledge from other team
members that can help them to successfully achieve their academic targets(Rastegar and et.al., 2020).

Importance of building professional
skill
Problem solving:
It is important for business professionals to develop problem solving skills in
order to make right decisions and cope with challenging situation that can arrive in
business environment.
Leadership:
It is important to develop leadership skills in order to ensure harmonious
working environment. The business professional should align employee objectives with
business objectives in order to achieve organisational growth (Soundararajan, Spence
and Rees, 2018).
Communication skills:
The business professional should adopt effective communication techniques
while communicating with other team members in order to achieve growth and success
in professional world.

Comparison between two academic skills
Basis Researching Academic writing
Similarity The proper research activities
helps the students to develop
academic writing projects.
The academic writing is done by
undertaking systematic
researching of projects.
Difference This skill helps the students in
doing research activities.
This skills helps the student to
develop well structured and well
citated projects.

Comparison between two professional skills
Basis Leadership Communication skills
Similarity The effective
communication skills helps
business professional to
develop leadership skills.
Proper leadership skills is
driven by using effective
communication style.
Difference It is concerned with making
and implementation of
strategic decisions.
It is concerned with day to
day communication in order
to achieve personal
objectives.

SWOT Analysis and Identification of skills
My strength is to continuously allow myself to learn new skills
which helps me to attain personal development and growth and unleash
my inner power to handle most complex problems in an efficient manner.
In addition to this, my strength is my interpersonal skills which allow me
to build social bonds with fellow members and influence others to achieve
targets successfully. On the other hand, My weakness is Time
management skills, as I am not able to finish my work on time and thus
struggles in meeting deadlines of completing tasks. In relation to this, I
also lack in Problem solving skills as I lack in solving complex issues and
tasks related to my assignments.

The following skills I want to develop in
future with proper action plans
Skills need to be improved Sources to improve How can I improve Required time in order to improve
Time management skills I will develop time management skills by
taking part in time management building
activities.
I will find out how much time I need to
complete my task and set my personal
deadline regarding completion of each
tasks and try to meet with the deadlines.
I am planning to improve this skills in the
duration of 3 months.
Problem solving skills I will develop this skill by playing games
focused on building problem solving
skills.
I will improve this skill by taking part
activities requiring complex decision
making.
I will improve this skill in the course of 6
months.
Research and analysis I will read newspaper in order to improve
my analytical skills.
I will take part in research improvement
programs.
I will improve this skill in the course of
one year.

Conclusion
It has been concluded that there are various challenges faced by
business students in their academic tasks. It was further analysed that
Academic writing , researching, prioritising work and team working is
key academic skills that is important for students to succeed in their
academic writing. It was further concluded that Problem solving skills,
leadership skills , communication and interpersonal skill is crucial for
business professional in order to succeed in professional world.

Referencing
Fang, Z., 2021. Demystifying Academic Writing: Genres, Moves, Skills, and Strategies.
Routledge.
Green, F., 2021. British teachers’ declining job quality: evidence from the Skills and
Employment Survey. Oxford Review of Education, 47(3), pp.386-403.
Mitani, H., 2018. Principals’ working conditions, job stress, and turnover behaviors under
NCLB accountability pressure. Educational Administration Quarterly, 54(5), pp.822-862.
Quinlan and et.al., 2019. Business research methods. South Western Cengage.
Rastegar and et.al., 2020. English Translation Students’ Attitude towards Teamwork Skills
in Subtitling Training Classroom. Language Related Research, 11(3), pp.95-119.
Soundararajan, V., Spence, L.J. and Rees, C., 2018. Small business and social
irresponsibility in developing countries: Working conditions and “evasion” institutional
work. Business & Society, 57(7), pp.1301-1336.
Vo, S., 2019. Use of lexical features in non-native academic writing. Journal of Second
Language Writing, 44, pp.1-12.