University of [University Name]: Learning and Development Plan Report

This report presents a comprehensive learning and development plan. It begins with a self-introduction outlining the student's career aspirations in supply chain management, including association with professional bodies like APICS and pursuing certifications. The report then analyzes mega trends and challenges impacting the retail industry, the student's chosen field, considering political, economic, social, technological, demographic, and natural factors. It establishes SMART goals, categorized as short-term, middle-term, and long-term, focusing on interpersonal skills, creativity, lean and agile manufacturing, and warehouse management. The report also addresses ethics and professional values, conducts a competency assessment, identifies strengths and weaknesses, and includes references and appendices with competency assessments and sample job advertisements and descriptions. The plan emphasizes continuous learning, adaptation to emerging technologies, and sustainable business practices, aiming for a successful career in supply chain management.

Running head: LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT PLAN
Professional Development and Ethics
[Learning & Development Plan]
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

1LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT PLAN
Table of Contents
1. Self-introduction..........................................................................................................................2
2. Mega trends and challenges.........................................................................................................3
3. Goals............................................................................................................................................9
4. Ethics and Professional Values..................................................................................................12
5. Competency Assessment...........................................................................................................13
5.1 Improvements..........................................................................................................................16
6. Strength and weakness analysis.................................................................................................17
Strengths........................................................................................................................................17
Weaknesses....................................................................................................................................17
References......................................................................................................................................19
Appendices....................................................................................................................................23
1. Competency Assessment.......................................................................................................23
2. Two advertisements and two job descriptions.......................................................................25
Advertisement 1.....................................................................................................................25
Advertisement 2.....................................................................................................................27

2LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT PLAN
1. Self-introduction
A structured and systematic professional development plan is necessary to build up a
progressive career in irrespective of the industries (Kennedy, 2016). In a likewise manner, I am
also needed to groom my career in such a way that the required competency skills remain
untouched for me. In this regard, APIC’s chart of professional competencies can be extremely
helpful in building up my career as an effective supply chain manager.
I am currently pursuing a bachelor in management. In the future, I am intended to have an
association membership with professional bodies such as APICS. Additionally, I could also go
for professional competency-based certification courses that include, but not limited to, Certified
Supply Chain Professional (CSCP) from APICS, the Association for Operations Management.
My goals by being at the current position is to attain the different set of skills specifically
being classified as ‘Occupation-Related Competencies’, ‘Foundational Competencies’ and
‘Profession-Related Competencies’. I have already mentioned the ‘occupation-based
competencies’ which I am intended to achieve. In regards to basic or foundational competencies,
I am determined to attain the skills that include ‘Effective Communication’, ‘Creativity’,
‘Problem-solving & decision making', ‘Teamwork' and ‘Conflict Management’. In context to
professional competencies, my list of goals include ‘Strategy making capabilities’, ‘Execution &
planning of implementation’, ‘Supply chain management’, ‘Lean management’, ‘Warehouse
management’, ‘Logistics management’, ‘Risk management’ and ‘Business ethics management’.
Being a student of bachelor in management, I am always into learning about the various
useful elements. The study modules are being designed in a way to cover both fundamentals of
business management as well as the practical case examples. I personally find this both

3LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT PLAN
interactive and engaging as well. Fundamentals-based modules help me to understand the way to
deal with tricky situation based on the proven strategies such as the use of appropriate business
models. On the other hand, practical case studies assist me to figure out the strategy making of
different firms in different situations. Moreover, it allows me to understand how business
fundamentals can be used or applied in real situations. Such things will definitely be a good
future guide for me at a time when I will become a supply chain manager.
2. Mega trends and challenges
Macro-Element Explanation Reference
Political 1. The trade policies and
government
regulations keep on
changing. Such
political instability is a
challenging situation
for the manufacturers
in terms of keeping the
operational costs at the
competitive level and
also maintaining the
highest standard of
quality (Handley &
Limao, 2015).
1. Handley, K., & Limao, N.
(2015). Trade and investment
under policy uncertainty: theory
and firm evidence. American
Economic Journal: Economic
Policy, 7(4), 189-222.
2. Ziv, G., Watson, E., Young,
D., Howard, D. C., Larcom, S.
T., & Tanentzap, A. J. (2018).
The potential impact of Brexit on
the energy, water and food nexus
in the UK: A fuzzy cognitive
mapping approach. Applied
Energy, 210, 487-498.

4LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT PLAN
2. Cataclysmic events are
the threats to business
environment. For
example, the United
Kingdom separation
from the European
Union is expected to
affect the business
environments both in
the UK and the Europe
(Ziv et al., 2018).
Economic 1. The world of
manufacturing is
heading to the fourth
industrial revolution
which will require both
the investments and
the knowledge
management. An
economic downturn in
one region can limit its
manufacturers’
capability to take the
1. Rollins, M., Nickell, D., &
Ennis, J. (2014). The impact of
economic downturns on
marketing. Journal of Business
Research, 67(1), 2727-2731.
2. Llopis, J. A. S., Millán, J. M.,
Baptista, R., Burke, A., Parker, S.
C., & Thurik, R. (2015). Good
times, bad times:
entrepreneurship and the business
cycle. International
Entrepreneurship and
Management Journal, 11(2),

5LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT PLAN
advantage from
(Rollins, Nickell &
Ennis, 2014).
2. Economic instability
can also affect the
consumers’ buying
behavior (Llopis et al.,
2015).
243-251.
Social 1. An unstable consumer
behavior can cause
over-stocking if the
manufacturer is not
equipped with skills to
make the effective
demand-forecasts
(Zhang, 2015).
2. Manufacturers face the
challenge in offering
quality products at the
competitive prices
(Plewa et al., 2015).
1. Zhang, Y. (2015). The impact
of brand image on consumer
behavior: a literature
review. Open journal of business
and management, 3(1).
2. Plewa, C., Conduit, J.,
Quester, P. G., & Johnson, C.
(2015). The impact of corporate
volunteering on CSR image: A
consumer perspective. Journal of
Business Ethics, 127(3), 643-659.
Technology 1. Emerging technologies
like ‘Big Data’, IoT,
1. Brettel, M., Friederichsen, N.,
Keller, M., & Rosenberg, M.
(2014). How virtualization,

6LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT PLAN
and Industry 4.0 etc.
can really impact the
efficiency of supply
chain operations
(Brettel et al., 2014).
2. Skills required to deal
with the different
emerging technologies
do also pose the
challenge (Lee, Kao, &
Yang, 2014).
decentralization and network
building change the
manufacturing landscape: An
Industry 4.0
Perspective. International
Journal of Mechanical,
Industrial Science and
Engineering, 8(1), 37-44.
2. Lee, J., Kao, H. A., & Yang, S.
(2014). Service innovation and
smart analytics for industry 4.0
and big data
environment. Procedia Cirp, 16,
3-8.
Demographic 1. Some of the
demographic
behaviours such as age
and gender can also
impact the supply
chain operations. For
example, Millennials
have a different set of
choice for clothing
than the middle-aged
1. McKnight, O., Paugh, R.,
Waltz, J., & Kirkbride, E. (2016).
Improving College Football
Attendance with Demographic
Analysis: Understanding the
Importance of Benchmarking in
Sport Marketing. Journal of
Business Diversity, 16(1), 86-94.

7LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT PLAN
and elderly people. On
a similar note, men and
women different from
each other in regards to
fashionable skills, the
lifestyle etc. Hence,
this will directly
impact the warehouse
management
(McKnight et al.,
2016).
Natural 1. Natural factors such as
air pollution and
wastes do require a
strategic counter from
the manufacturers. The
greenhouse gas
emissions, CO2 and
Nitrogen Oxides
(NOx) are all the major
concerns for the supply
chain operations
(Schandl et al., 2016).
1. Schandl, H., Hatfield-Dodds,
S., Wiedmann, T., Geschke, A.,
Cai, Y., West, J., ... & Owen, A.
(2016). Decoupling global
environmental pressure and
economic growth: scenarios for
energy use, materials use and
carbon emissions. Journal of
Cleaner Production, 132, 45-56.

8LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT PLAN
Table 1: Mega Trends
The industry of my choice is the "Retail Industry" where I want to pursue the role of
supply chain manager. Being the supply chain manager which is also my dream job position, I
will be needed to address all these and more others challenges.
At the Political level, I will be needed to find solutions for the political challenges which
I have mentioned in the above table. During such political instability, I will be required to focus
on strategies which will ensure a quality in production while also limiting the operational costs.
Few key strategies will be the warehouse management, taking care of overstocking, focusing on
the forecast capability and selecting the most feasible of lean & agile manufacturing (Saebi &
Foss, 2015).
In the context of Economic instability, currency behavior will be one of my priorities.
Manufactures which partially or fully depend on imports will be highly affected by a varying
nature of currency (Miles & Vijverberg, 2018). I am at this point in time can just figure out the
fundamentals needed to put in place to counter such challenges. However, my understanding of
supply chain operation will really be tested in terms of decision-making and the leadership.
Consumer behavior as mentioned is never static. It rather keeps on changing in terms of
their needs and demands (Cantallops & Salvi, 2014). I am needed to have both the fundamental
and practical understanding of consumer behavior. Moreover, during my entire journey, I will
focus more on case-studies which deal with varying consumer behavior. Such case studies will
help me to learn both of the result-oriented and failure strategies.
New technologies keep on coming and the one is needed to upgrade his or her
understanding of situation either by using the suitable strategies or by learning from the

9LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT PLAN
successful cases. The set of skills which will help me to be in the managerial position will be
required to be adjusted with respect to the circumstances.
In terms of demographic, I will be needed to work with people belonging to different
genders and the age groups. I am being at the academic level, can have a feel for the challenge of
working with a diverse workforce. However, I am expecting a more than what I know about it at
the moment. Challenges are expected; however, my role would be to extract the best out of
fundamentals and the successful case studies.
Environmental issues are constantly testing the supply chain management skills. Efforts
like using the sustainable methods of manufacturing to overcome the issues have just been
insufficient (Shen et al., 2017). Being the manager, I may have a new set of challenges and will
be required to think out of the proven strategies. My sustenance as the manager will depend a lot
on how I am able to apply the established or new strategies to produce an impact.
3. Goals
SMART goals:
Short-term goals Specific Measurable Acceptable Realistic Time-
bound
1. Interpersonal skills Ability to
work in
teams
Ability to
interact with
clients and
different
organizational
members in
I will closely
observe my
supervisors
handling the
different
interpersonal
If everything
goes as
planned, I will
be able to
develop a few
skills in me
2 years
down
the line

10LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT PLAN
initial few
years while
getting a hold
of conflict
management
in years to
follow.
related issues such as
efficient
interaction with
clients, bearing
a positive
attitude, active
listening skills,
effective
communication
and also the
conflict
management.
skills
2. Creativity To be
able to
identify
the
emerging
technolo
gies
Modify, adapt
and improve
ideas by even
looking at the
others
I am being
the supply
chain
manager will
use my own
ideas and the
others as well
I will be able to
use the creative
ideas; however,
I will be tested
for applying
the others’
3 years
after
being
into the
dream
industr
y
Middle-term goals
1. Ability to work with both
lean and agile manufacturing
Over-
stocking
Successful
experiences of
working with
both lean and
agile
In my long
career as a
supply chain
manager, I
will be
It is
comparatively
easier to
implement
strategies than
5 years
into the
supply
chain
operati

11LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT PLAN
manufacturing needed to
deal with
issues such as
unpredicted
consumer
behavior and
wastes etc. A
successful
identification
of the most
feasible
manufacturin
g process will
indicate the
progress.
to execute. I
am sure that I
will be
equipped with
the skills
needed to make
the decision.
However, I am
not pretty sure
about whether I
will equally be
able to execute
also.
ons
2. Warehouse management Ability to
speed up
the
warehous
e
operation
s
A continuous
adoption of
emerging
technologies
Selecting the
most feasible
and best out
of the list of
emerging
technologies
On being
tenured, I will
be able to
identify the
best of
technologies;
however, my
skills will be
tested while
during the
execution of
7-8
years as
the
supply-
chain
manage
r