Arden University: Developing Personal & Management Skills HRM4001

This report delves into the development of personal and management skills, crucial for individual growth in both academic and professional spheres. It highlights the significance of management skills, such as business planning and decision-making, alongside personal skills like self-control and emotional intelligence. The report utilizes models like Kolb's experiential learning theory and John's reflection model to analyze leadership and management skills, drawing from experiences as a warehouse operative at Amazon. A personal development plan is crafted to address identified skill gaps in communication, problem-solving, and time management, with specific activities and resources outlined for improvement. Furthermore, the report examines transferable skills, particularly supportive communication and motivation, emphasizing their importance in fostering effective teamwork and achieving organizational goals, referencing Amazon's approach to promoting these skills within its workplace culture. This assignment is available on Desklib, a platform offering a wide array of study tools and resources for students.

Developing Personal
and Management
Skills

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................1
Leadership and Management skills........................................................................................1
Personal development plan.....................................................................................................3
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................7
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................12
Appendices.....................................................................................................................................14

Introduction
Personal and management skills plays an essential role in the overall growth and
development of an individual (Aydın and Baș, 2018). It helps them to achieve their desired
career goals and objectives and perform better in their academic and professional life.
Management skills are the abilities of an individual that allows him to effectively do business
planning, decision making, problem solving, and communication and so on. These skills allow
the individual to effectively run and manage an organisation and achieve desired business goals.
Whereas the personal skills are the ability to control ones actions, feelings and thoughts. This
report highlights management and leadership skills using various models also personal
development plan to enhance effective management and leadership skills. In addition to this
various transferable skills using relevant theory is also highlighted in this report.
Task 1
Leadership and Management skills
Leadership and management are the essential factor of the business organisation which
leads the business towards growth and success (Carnall, 2018). The management and leadership
are two different concepts but goes hand in hand. The management is defined as the process of
planning, organising, directing and handling business operations and activity. The main purpose
of manager is to manage the things effectively achieving desired goals and objectives. Whereas
the leadership is defined as the ability of an leader to lead and influence the team members
towards performing better and achieve desired goals. Also motivating the team members on the
right direction. Both the concepts plays an essential role in the growth and success of the
business. The reflection of management and leadership skills are essential to the business to
drive them towards growth. The organisation focus on improving employees knowledge through
using learning process within organisation, the learning and development comes under the
human resource department to improve the business learning management (Drayton, 2019).
There are various models used in order to describe the leadership and management skills
like Kolb’s experiential learning theory, Gibbs model, Rolfe’s reflective model, John’s model for
structured reflection and so on. In this report Kolb’s experiential learning theory and john’s
reflection model is taken into consideration.
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Kolb’s experiential learning theory
(Kolb’s experiential learning theory)
The Kolb’s experiential learning theory was given by David A. Kolb, it includes four
stages as mentioned below:
Concrete experience: This stage includes learning from new experience in order to
enhance their learning or re-interpreting old experience
Reflective observation: This includes observing particular thing by doing
Abstract conceptualisation: This stage includes creating new idea or information based
on the learning
Active experimentation: Under this the idea created by the learner is applied effectively.
As a warehouse operative at Amazon this leadership learning theory helped in enhancing
learning capabilities. On the basis of this experiential learning, the learning pattern depends on
hid preference (Farr, 2019). The learning was influenced by the level of education, culture,
career preferences, current job task and personality level. The organisational culture of the
Amazon was the main factor to enhance learning. Working at the amazon allowed me to enhance
learning and analyse leadership and management skills. Experience of the working at the
Amazon as warehouse operative helped in enhancing learning (Flaherty and Taylor, 2021).
John’s reflection model
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(John’s reflection model)
The another model considered is the John’s reflection model, this model was given by John
c. which is based on five questions, enable to break down the experience and reflect the process
of learning outcomes. As per this model the learning always emphasis on the reflect of the
outcome. It should support career goals and enhancement of the business organisation (Fenn and
Plake, 2020). The role of reflection is a motivating the enhancement of independent, qualified
and effective professionals, also developing effective leadership and management team along
with motivating personal, career development and create effective relationship among theory and
practice. The reflective learning allowed me to enhance my knowledge and learning while
working as a warehouse operative at amazon also enhance the skills of professional practice.
This allowed me to enhance my skills and knowledge (Liebowitz, 2019). Amazon is considered
to be one of the top and well established organisation, which involves essential management and
leadership skills which allows the manager and the leaders to manage and lead the team towards
growth and development and achieve desired goals and objectives. Working at this organisation
helped me enhance my skills related to management and leadership.
Personal development plan
Personal development plan is an essential practical technique used by an individual in
order to analyse and identify their learning need or the skills needed to be improved by the
individual in order to further enhance their performance and achieve desired career goals. It also
helps the individual to analyse their skills gap and the activity needed to be considered by them
as well as the sources needed to be used by them in order to improve their skills. Hence also
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helps the individual to determine within how much time the target goal will be achieved by the
individual. Personal development plan helps them individual to effectively and properly manage
and organise their personal, educational and career development. It is kind of action plan which
is prepared on the basis of self-awareness, values, goals, setting of personal growth with the
career enhancement. Proper development of personal development plan allows the individual to
enhance their needed skills and achieve desired career goals. Through the skills audit prepared I
have analysed that being warehouse operator at the Amazon helped me to enhance my
organisational skills, numeracy and literacy skills, reliability and dependability skills and self-
motivational skills. But through the skills audit and the SWOT analysis I have analysed that I
lack in written and oral communication, problem solving skills, time management skills. Also I
have poor analytical and critical thinking skills. I have analysed that in order to further enhance
my career as an accountant I need to improve this skills, because for being an accountant these
skills are very essential. Improving these skills will help in my professional career as an
accountant and achieve my desired goals. In order develop my skills required for being an
account a personal development plan is prepared.
Development
objective
What activities need
to undertake to
achieve objectives
What support/
resource need to
achieve objectives
Target date of
achieving
Written and oral
communication skills
Written and oral
communications plays
an essential role in
effectively and
smoothly transfer the
ideas without any
misunderstanding
among the parties and
also helps in building
the moral. The actions
that can be taken into
consideration in order
to improve the
The resource that can
be used to improve
the oral and written
communication skills
can be to read various
books on improving
communication skill
and also attend
seminars on
communication
development.
6 Months
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communication skills
can be prepare and
present 10 minutes
presentation in review
meetings every month
also regularly practice
to write an essay or
journals to improve
written
communication.
Problem solving skills The problem solving
skills allows the
individual to analyse
the issue and find the
right solution for the
problem. The activity
that can be considered
to improve the
problem solving skills
can be seeking for the
opportunity to involve
in the problem solving
and also looking for
various alternative
options available for
solving problem.
The resources needed
to improve the
problem solving skills
is to effectively focus
on the solution not on
the problem and also
find various
alternatives available
for the problem and
also think practically.
7 months
Time management
skills
Time management is
one of the essential
skill required by an
individual in order to
complete their task on
The resources that can
be used to improve
the time management
skills can be to read
various books on time
8 months
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time and achieve
desired goals. The
actions that can be
taken to improve time
management skills
can be to first divide
the work and set the
priority for doing each
work. Also divide
each task as per their
time requirement and
then accordingly carry
out them.
management, also
attend seminars on
improving time
management skills.
Also to improve the
time management
skills the 80/20 rule
can also be taken into
consideration.
Analytical skills This skills allow the
individual to effective
deconstruct the
important information
in order to draw the
conclusion. The
action that can be
considered in order to
improve analytical
skills can be to gather
relevant information
only and also do
proper research for
relevant sources.
The sources that can
be used to improve
the analytical skills
can be to read more
books, also prepare a
journal. Also learning
more will also help in
improving this skills.
5 months
Critical thinking
skills
The critical thinking
skills allows the
individual to
determine the facts in
The sources that can
be used in order to
improve the critical
thinking can be to use
4 Months
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order to create a
relevant judgement.
The action that can be
considered in order to
improve this skill can
be express oneself in
multiple mediums,
also ask others to
effective explain their
thinking process. Also
experiment with the
brain teaser.
critical thinking
companion. Also use
future focused
learning and reading
book on improving
critical thinking skills.
Task 2
The transferable skills are the abilities of an individual that are effective and suitable in
various areas of personal life and professional life. These are also the kind of skills enhanced
through employment, education or training (Meissner and Shmatko, N., 2019). The effective
transferable skills allows the business organisation to effective manage and lead their task and
employees towards achieving desired goals and objectives and enhancing the overall
performance of the business. some of the transferable skills that are essential are mentioned
below:
Supportive Communication: One of the most essential skills required in today’s world is
the communication skill. The effective communication allows an individual to smoothly transfer
their ideas to others and communicate with them without any barriers. It helps them to gain
confidence and perform better. According to MacGeorge and Burleson, the supportive
communication is defined as the verbal and non-verbal act by the individual with intension of
offering assistance to other understands their view point. This skill allows the individual to
communicate accurately in challenging situations. There are mainly eight attributes of supportive
communication introduced by Whetten and Cameron such as congruent, descriptive, problem
oriented, validating, specific, conjunctive, owned and supportive. The business organisations
always focus on supportive communication. As this help them to enhance their productivity,
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avoid problems or misunderstanding, offer high quality product and services to their target
customers. in addition to this having proper follow of communication in the workplace
environment and avoiding any kind of communication gap also help the building effective
employee engagement and reduce conflict among the employees. The organisation like Amazon,
promotes and support supportive communication in their organisation, they have an ethic on their
conversation to encourage supportive communication in their organisation (Newstead and Isles-
Buck, E., 2019). with increasing competition in the marketplace, proper communication in the
organisation allows the employees to have clarity of their roles and accordingly contribute to
achieve desired goals and objectives of the business. This helps the organisation to enhance their
performance and gain competitive advantage in the marketplace. The organisation like Amazon
also has rules of meeting and constructively building the discussion. The main focus of the
company is to create a constructive discussion among the team members leading to drive for
employee innovation. The ensure that the leaders and manager of the company follows
supportive communication.
Motivation: Another essential transferable skill is the motivation. It is one of the most
essential factor for the business organisation development. It is defined as the factor that is
present in an individual directly influencing their behaviour towards work (Nyoni and Bonga,
2018). It allows the individual to perform better and effectively. With the growing marketplace
each and every organisation are looking for highly motivated employees who will perform with
their full potential without having clear understanding of what motivates their workforce.
Management of the business organisation is responsible for assigning the job role to their
employees and ensuring that it is done in the correct manner. In order to do so management
needs to ensure that the employees are motivated, there should be suitable motivational tools
needs to be followed with effective leadership and management leading to achieve desired goals
and objectives (Saptono, 2018). There are mainly two kind of motivation, one is intrinsic which
is derived from internal factors and other one is extrinsic motivation, derived from external
factors. There are various motivational theories used by the business organisation to motivate
their employees such as Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory which was given by Abraham
Maslow in 1943, as per this theory satisfying the basic needs of the employees helps in
motivating them to perform better. Other motivational theory includes Herzberg’s two factor
theory, McClelland achievement affiliation power and so on. The organisation use various tools
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and techniques in order to enhance the performance of the employees. The organisation like
Amazon uses various financial and non-financial motivational factors in order to motivate their
employees. Not only financial factors but non-financial factor like rewards, recognition,
promotion also plays an major role in motivating employees towards performing better. The
manager of the Amazon Company ensures that financial or non-financial rewards or benefits are
offered to their employees as per their performance in order to motivate them (Sharma, 2019).
Empowerment: The term empowerment is defined as the process of enhancing, improving
the capabilities of an individual and team members that will help in continuous enhancement. It
is one of the essential development strategy used by the business organisation to improve the
productivity of their employees. It involves offering power to the employees to use their own
skills and capabilities, thereby allowing them to take decisions and participate in the discussion
as well. It helps in building confidence among the employees, making them realise their own
potential and strength. To effectively deal with the increasing competitiveness and satisfy the
needs of the customers organisation needs to change their strategy and should go beyond their
traditional directive management concept. Positive contribution of employees in the organisation
and empowering them will help them to gain competitive advantage in the marketplace. The
employees empowerment allows the business organisation to improve their employees moral,
enhance their creativity level, also enhance the productivity (Srai and Lorentz, H., 2019). It also
helps in improving the team work and effective quality of product and services. But it also leads
to increasing the business risk in terms of confidentiality, more time in decision making and so
on. In case of John Lewis and partners UK, the company calls their employees as their partners,
sharing the responsibility of organisations enhancement. This helps them to drive the business
towards growth and success together with the management and employees (Thompson and
Wolstencroft, P., 2021).
Conflict Management: Another essential skill that is required in the management of the
business is the conflict management. conflict is defined as inappropriate behaviour among the
employees arose due to some misunderstanding or problem. The organisational conflict leads to
directly impacting the performance of the organisation as well as productivity. Organisational
conflict can be of any form like task conflict among employees, relationship conflict, process
conflict, interpersonal conflict and so on. Organisational conflict directly impact the work, lead
to wasting employees time, employees dissatisfaction and demotivation. Additionally there are
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some advantages of organisational conflict such as it leads to improving team cohesiveness,
improving analytical thinking, offering creative and innovative ideas also analysing employees
problems. It is the responsibility of the management to reduce organisational conflict to perform
better. For example, the coca cola company follows the policy of whistle bowing which gives the
authority to their employees to speak about any mis practice and unfair treatment. This helps the
organisation to reduce conflict among their employees and enhance productivity. The
management of the organisation allows their employees to directly contact to them or any
authority about any inconvenience or problems (Thompson, 2021).
Team Effectiveness: The last skill that is essential for effective management of the
organisation is the team effectiveness. Team plays an essential role in driving business towards
growth and success and enhancing the performance of the business. effective collaboration
among the team members helps in enhancing the productivity of the business. team effectiveness
is termed as teams capacity and capability to achieve desired goals and objectives determined by
the management team. There are mainly four stages involved in effective team development as
per Bruce Tuckman such as forming, storming, norming and performing. Large number of
business organisation uses team concept in order to improve the performance of the organisation.
organisation allows the team members to participate in the group discussion and put forwards
their ideas which helps in building their moral and enhancing their performance also required
training is offered to the employees so that they can smoothly work with each other and achieve
desired goals and objectives. Organisation like Amazon uses project based team assignment and
regularly measures the performance of the team members. This helps them to enhance
effectiveness of their team members and achieve desired goals and objectives. There are various
models like Lencioni model, Hackman model, T7 model and so on are used by the organisation
in order to enhance the performance of their team members.
Conclusion
From the above report it has been concluded that effective management and leadership skills
helps the business organisation to achieve desired goals and objectives and enhance their overall
performance. Proper management and leadership skills like communication, problem solving
skills, critical thinking skills and so on helps an individual to enhance their performance in their
academic and professional life. This report helps in analysing the importance of leadership and
management skills in personal and professional development. In order to further enhance the
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