Professional Development Plan: Analyzing Career Goals and Planning

This report presents a student's professional development plan, developed after an internship as a project manager. The primary objective is to formulate a career-planning model to achieve a management position. The plan emphasizes self-awareness, including personality traits, values, emotional intelligence, and leadership skills. It then addresses opportunity awareness, focusing on career paths within the industry sector and location, particularly Elkem in Norway. The report also covers decision-making and planning to set goals for career advancement. The student highlights the importance of transformational leadership, self-confidence, and understanding of the business environment to become an effective manager. The plan includes a discussion of the company Elkem, where the internship was completed, and the student's aspirations to secure a management role within the organization. The report also includes a discussion of the SODI model, boundaryless career, and protean career.

Running Head: PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN
Professional Development Plan
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Executive Summary
The study focused on the professional development plan, which helps the individual to grow as
well as achieve success in the organisation. The purpose of the report was to provide a clear idea
about the opportunities that prevail in the organisation and enables them to make a decision and
plan accordingly in their career. It had also displayed that transformational leadership skills as well
as personality traits that are there in me. The study helped to identify as well as analyse the
situation which are there in the organisation so that the employee or individual can plan their future
career plan. Lastly, the study focused on how these targets can be achieved and setting up of the
target or goals in the career to grow and become successful in the near future.

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Table of Contents
Introduction..........................................................................................................................................3
Self-Awareness....................................................................................................................................3
Personality.......................................................................................................................................4
Values and Motivators.....................................................................................................................4
Emotional Intelligence.....................................................................................................................5
Leadership........................................................................................................................................5
Power and Politics...........................................................................................................................6
Opportunity Awareness.......................................................................................................................6
Career...............................................................................................................................................7
Industry Sector and Location...........................................................................................................8
Decision Making and Planning............................................................................................................9
Goals..................................................................................................................................................10
Conclusion.........................................................................................................................................11
References..........................................................................................................................................12

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Introduction
The study will provide an overview of the professional development plan, which is being
notice after the completion of the internship as a project manager. The main aim of this study is to
frame the career-planning model, as the main goal is to reach the position of the management, so it
is important to analyse the career-planning model as per the report of the internship. The study will
focus on the self-awareness where my strengths and weaknesses will be reflected. Self-awareness is
further categorizes into small topics namely, personality; values and motivation; emotional
intelligence; leadership as well as power and politics. Then the study will focus on the opportunity
awareness, which is segment into two parts career along with industry sector and location. Lastly,
the study will focus on how decision is been made and plan accordingly, which will help to set the
goal to become a manager in an organization.
It can said that developing a professional plan is to some extent important as it helps the
individual to grow in their career and set a goal. This professional development is require in every
job field as the person set some goals as well as target which they want to achieve in some time in
their life (Horn, DeMers, Lightfoot and Webb 2019). Therefore, it is important for the person to go
through the process and develop a professional plan with time duration.
Self-Awareness
Self-awareness is essential for the learning of the behaviour and understanding ourselves in
a better way possible. Therefore, it is important for the employees to know about themselves, which
will automatically help them to grow in their career as well as know the strength and weakness.
This will automatically help the individual to grow in the organization and develop their skills as
well as knowledge in the organization (Zhu and Chang 2016).

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As a person, I possess the knowledge of the self-awareness. This will help me to grow as
well as help me to improve my strengths and weaknesses. This will also help me to build my career
in the organization so that I can achieve my target and goals.
Personality
The way a person reacts as well as interact with other people along with the traits that the
individual exhibits is mark as the personality of that person. The personality of an individual
changes according to the situation, surroundings as well as hereditarily. Personality is the only
thing that describes about the behaviour of the person (Clark and Vanderbleek 2016).
The Big Five personality model is the one that can provide a clear picture about the
personality of the person. The model displays five big personality features namely, 1. Openness to
Experience (curious, artistic, sensitive nature and imaginative). 2. Conscientiousness (responsible,
dependable, organized and persistent). 3. Extroversion (assertive, sociable and gregarious). 4.
Agreeableness (co-operative, trusting and good-natured). 5. Emotional stability (insecure when
stress, calm, self-confident, secure when stress and nervous) (Pei-Lee, Chen, Chin and Siew 2017).
From the big five model it can be note that the personality which is possess by me are
curiosity, responsible, dependable, organized, social, co-operative as well as calm along with self-
confidence. This help me to know about the qualities/personality characteristics, which is there in
me so that I can know what are my strength and weakness. The weakness which can be notice in
me is that I feel insecure when stress.
Values and Motivators
Value is the one, which help to understand the behaviour as well as attitude along with the
motivation of an individual and cultures. The value influence the perception around the world. It
also helps to interpret what is right and what is wrong (Mirvis 2019). Therefore, it is important to
maintain the values as it plays a vital role in the person.

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Motivation is the process that helps to identify the factors of individual’s effort, which
consists of persistence as well as intensity along with the direction so that they can achieve the
desire goal that they have set in the process (Wang, Arditi and Damci 2016). There are various
types of motivational theory namely, Maslow’s Theory of Need Hierarchy, which is use along with
that Motivation-Hygiene Theory is use to motivate myself.
The values are instrumental in nature along with that high motivation according to the
McClelland’s theory of needs with positively motivated mind-set. I possess the positive mind-set,
which help me to guide other in a positive direction so that they become motivated as well as
possess value, which can be display as I respect the other person irrespective of caste, creed or
gender.
Emotional Intelligence
Emotion is an intense feeling, which possess an affect as well as mood. All the three factors
are interdependent to each other in the process. Emotions sometimes motivates us to work hard or
work efficiently. Emotions can vary according to the sources, so it is important to understand the
emotion of the person as that may vary from time to time. Emotions possess both the positive as
well as negative affect. It also depend on the situation a person is been into; therefore, it plays a
vital role in the process (Serrat 2017).
I am emotionally strong as well as intelligent so my mood is not affect even in tough
situation. This makes me a good leader and help me to handle the situation in a positive way.
Leadership
Leadership can be defined, as the skills or ability to influence a group or an individual in a
direction in order to achieve the target they are aiming for. The leaders use the framing process to
influence others and the framing of the language is essential in leadership skill. Further, there are
different types of leadership skills or techniques, which one can follow in the process to display a
useful leadership skill (Komives 2016).

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The transformational leadership skill along with Behavioral Theory of Leadership is
inherent in me, which elevates the power to take decision spontaneously and influence the political
view to some extent. In transformational leadership skills, efforts are made to look after the
employee's needs and help to solve the problem in the least possible time.
Power and Politics
Power is different from leadership as power is something that enables a person to influence
the behaviour together with the action of others. In this process, the second person becomes
dependent on the first person’s behaviour, action, thoughts and words (Dierdorff, Fisher and Rubin
2018).
Politics is dependent on the power as the person who possesses the power influence the
politics to some extent that is why it is essential to hold onto the power. There are different types of
political behaviour, which can be noted in the process, namely, legitimate political behaviour and
illegal political behaviour (Graham 2018).
These features enhance me to become an effective and efficient manager in the
organisation. I personally possess strong political views and follow the politics regarding business,
which provide me with a clear idea about the policies, and laws that have been changed in the
country. This adds an extra advantage for me to become an effective manager.

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Opportunity Awareness
Opportunity awareness is considering the second segment in the SODI model, which help
the person to understand and also gain knowledge about the workplace environment along with the
training process in it. The main aim of the opportunity awareness is to identify the opportunities,
which prevail how the individual can access that opportunities along with the changes that occur in
the workplace and how the occasion will create an impact on the individuals (Jackson & Wilton
2016). Therefore, it is essential for the individual to possess a clear idea in relation to the
opportunities that are there to explore, which will automatically help the individual to perform well
in the organisation.
Career
The overview of the self-awareness in the process about myself helps me understand that I
possess the ability to become a manager in the same organisation, where I will complete my
internship. There are qualities, which prevails in me as a manager, and the qualities will enhance
my performance in the organisation. The style, which is being followed by me as a leader, is quite
different, as it will enable all the employees under me to work hard and increase the productivity of
the organisation.
The context that helps me develop such image, is the transformational leadership skills, as
this leadership style will help me engage with the employees as well as improve their performance
in the end. There are other present characteristic features in me, such as responsible, curious,
dependable, trustworthy and co-operative along with calm in nature, which is rare to find in one
manager. I possess the quality of self-confidence, which is a crucial factor to take up any sort of
responsibilities during the time of crisis and solve problems in the least possible time.

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The manager should be able to understand and identify the challenges that might be occur,
in addition, have a clear idea about the organisation purpose, skills and tasks along with the nature
of the management. The manager should also have the idea regarding contextual awareness by
creating an understanding about how to manage the development historically. Furthermore, the
manager should know the alternative way to solve a problem in different ways, to avoid suffer in
the organisation. The manager should be able to manage along with organising new ways by
inventing and imagining.
As a manager, it is essential to question the authority as well as yourself regarding where it
went wrong in the process. It is also necessary to ask the question concerning the crisis, which will
help them to evaluate, identify and analyse the performance of the employee along with the process
in the organisation.
Industry Sector and Location
The company where the internship will be been done is named Elkem and is situated in
Norway. The company was established in 1904, as the world’s leading metal and material
manufacturer. Elkem is responsible for the production of quartz and silicon along with a speciality
in ferrosilicon alloys and carbon in the Silicon Valley of Norway. The headquarter, of the company
is situated in Oslo and possess 27 sites for production, along with the sales office, including agents
for connecting the network around the world. There is almost 6200 skilled labour employed in the
organisation, and the company possess an efficient and effective research and development team
who help the organisation to grow in the market. The company was enlisted on the Oslo Bros 22nd
March 2018 (Elkem 2019). This company is where I will complete my internship as a project
manager to pursue a career in the same organisation as a manager. This will help me grow as an
individual and enhance my capabilities to aim for a higher position.

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Decision Making and Planning
Decision making is considered as the cognitive process, which is related to the problem-
solving activity of an individual. The choice is being made with the help of the decision-making
ability of an individual (Ziegler et al. 2018). Therefore, it is essential for an individual to possess
this ability to help him/her plan their career accordingly in the future. Decision-making skill is
important to gain, especially if the person is trying to climb up the ladder (Romiszowski 2016).
There is a big chance for me to become a manager in the organisation I will do my
internship in, which is my new goal to achieve in life.
Planning, on the other hand, is very dependent on the decision-making ability of a person.
The person needs to take some decision at the initial stage, or the person needs to set a target or a
goal, which he/she want to achieve in a period. The planning will be done accordingly by the
person to reach the destination or the target, which is being set in the least possible time
(Allmendinger 2017). You must consider the planning process of the individual to reach the aim or
goal.
The organisation provides training, which is relevant to the study done by me, and the
organisations' development plan will help me achieve my goal and enable me to use my potential to
the fullest. There is a huge opportunity for me to grow and develop my skills and become a
manager in the future, combined with more help me to achieve my next target after becoming the
manager in the organisation.

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In the SODI model, decision-making and planning are considered the third segment after
the self-awareness and opportunity awareness, because an individual will set the target after
gathering the knowledge of the own ability with the help of the self-awareness segment. Then the
person will look into the opportunities that can be used in their favour to climb up the ladder in an
organisation and will automatically take the decision to achieve. Furthermore, accordingly plan
how the person should act in the process to achieve the goal in less possible time (Hassanain,
Assaf, Al-Hammad & Al-Nehmi 2015).
A decision can only be made, and planning can only be possible if the person is well versed
with the Stages in Kolb's Problem-solving Model. The first step in this model, is to investigate and
analyse the cause of the problem (Seman, Ahmad & Haron 2017). In the next step, the person
comes up with the best solution that can be taken in the process to solve the problem in the least
possible time. Lastly, the person implements the solution in the process to solve the problem and
achieve the next goal (Morris 2019).

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Goals
Goal setting is the process that enhances the motivating factor in an individual to achieve it
soon. This is important for the individual to grow in the organisation and achieve what he/she want
to accomplish in the near future (Beal 2017). Goal setting depends on the SMART model as it helps
to segregate the target that the individual is willing to achieve in the organisation. Therefore, it is
essential for the person to set a goal they can achieve and set a new target in their career (Schwartz
& David 2017).
The top five goals can be set in the career to grow and achieve great height in the career are
namely:
1. Career Satisfaction,
2. Status and Respect,
3. Gain Management Experience,
4. Improving Leadership Skills and
5. Learning New Skills and Technology
These are my five-top priority goals in my career growth plan and should be achieved in the
process to shine in my career. I need to be specific to achieve the target and measure the risks along
with the opportunities to achieve my career growth plan to be able to see whether the goals are
attainable or not. Lastly, I need to set a desired timeline to reach my future targets. Therefore, it is
important for me to analyse and identify the goals correctly along with a proper way to make it
possible to grow in my career. These five goals are yet my most important goals to achieve at the
beginning stage of my career.