Developing Personal and Management Skills: Portfolio of Tasks

This project is a comprehensive personal development portfolio designed to enhance management and leadership skills. The assignment is divided into two main tasks. Task 1 requires reflection on personal management and leadership skills, utilizing models of reflection, a skills audit, and a SWOT analysis to inform the creation of a detailed Personal Development Plan (PDP) with at least five objectives. Task 2 focuses on applying theoretical knowledge to practical scenarios. It involves developing five sub-sections for each of the following topics: Supportive Communication, Motivation, Empowerment, Conflict Management, and Team Effectiveness. Students are expected to define these concepts using academic sources, discuss their benefits and challenges, provide examples from a chosen organization, and link these examples to the relevant theory. The portfolio concludes with a conclusion, a reference list, and appendices containing the completed skills audit and SWOT analysis, demonstrating a thorough understanding of the course material and the ability to apply it in a practical context.

DEVELOPING PERSONAL AND MANAGEMENT SKILLS
SUGGESTED STRUCTURE FOR THE
PORTFOLIO OF PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT TASKS
Please listen to the ‘live chat’ adobe recordings for further
advice:
Use the link at the end of the main module webpage and
look for October 2019 Sessions.
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DEVELOPING PERSONAL AND MANAGEMENT SKILLS
PORTFOLIO OF PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT TASKS
CHECK THE WORD COUNT POLICY ON THE ASSESSMENT AND ALSO
IN THE ASSESSMENT DISCUSSION FORUM AND ADOBE SESSIONS.
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INTRODUCTION: (100/200 words)
Outline what you are going to discuss in your assignment portfolio
HEADING: TASK 1
SUB SECTION: (600/700 words)
Reflect on own management and leadership skills using a range of models…
- Briefly discuss ‘management’ and ‘leadership’.
- You could use of one or more of the models of reflection that are
considered in the lessons and are summarised in lesson 10 to help you
reflect in more detail.
- You could also include discussion relating to your learning style,
supported by theory and the practical examples you may have
completed as part of the lesson activities
- Here you could also complete a skills audit and SWOT analysis in
preparation for the next part of the task. The skills audit and SWOT
analysis can be placed into the appendices and will not be part of the
word count. Refer to these documents at the end of this part of your
assignment.
SUB SECTION: (600/700 words)
Develop and justify a Personal Development Plan…
- Table format or narrative style, or both.
- Whatever you choose…
- You should include:
- Clear objectives that are focused on skills development (helped by the
completed skills audit and SWOT referred to above)
- Aim for at least 5 objectives
- State how you plan to develop in order to achieve the objectives
- What resources will you use? Be specific – what course? books?
- Who could you approach for guidance? Why? How could they help?
- When will you review progress? Deadline? Interim reviews?
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PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN
What are my
development
objectives?
What activities do I need to
undertake to achieve my objectives?
What support/ resources do I need to
achieve my objectives?
Target date for
achieving my
objectives
Interim dates to
review progress
Communication
skill- It refers to
communicating
views, ideas and
opinion to other
people in effective
way.
Objective is to be
able to
communicate
effectively with
others.
I will join coaching classes to improve
my current level of written and oral
communication skills. I will take help
from my English teacher to gain more
clarity on concepts and theories.
To improve my communication skills I will
read English newspapers on continue basis.
For example – Business Standard etc.
20-10-19 8-10-19
Decision-making
skill – It refers to the
skill of taking
decision in different
situations.
The objective is to
gain ability to choose
best alternative
I will attend classes after attending the
classes of main subjects in the
university. I will also take support of
faculties whenever I will face any
difficulties.
To develop excellent skills for making
effective decisions, I will read various types
of books two times in a week. Such as -
Thinking fast and slow, Smart choices etc.
1-1-20 25-12-19
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among various
available options.
Motivation skill -
It refers to the
ability to motivate
others.
The objective is to be
able to influence team
members to perform
their work in effective
way.
I will join training classes to gain
motivational skills for acquiring
knowledge of how to motivate other
people. I will participate in group
activities in university.
To attain the objective of influencing team
members by improving motivation skills, I
will read magazines and books on daily basis.
For example – Awaken the giant within, the
power of positive thinking etc.
15-03-20 10-03-20
Problem solving skill
-
It can be described
as the capability of
an individual to
solve complex
problems.
The objective is to
be able to predict
best solution for
I will take support of my tutor for
developing problem solving skills.
I will use problem solving skills in a
working environment to improve
the process of solving complex
problems.
To achieve the objective of developing
problem solving skills. I will solve
practical case studies on once in a week.
Further, I will also read books on
problem solving such as – Think smarter,
What do you do with a problem etc.
23-06-20 18-05-20
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solving complex
problems.
Leadership skill -
It can be explain as
the skill to lead
other people
(Bolden, 2016).
To improve skill for
give directions to
others while working
in a team.
I will attend practical classes to
improve leadership skill by seeing how
leader leads other people.
To improve my leadership skills, I will watch
English channels on daily basis. Further, I will
also read books and magazines related with
stories of successful leaders. For Example –
How to win friends and influence people,
Emotional intelligence etc.
30-08-20 16-07-20
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HEADING: TASK 2 (1,400/1,500 words)
DEVELOP FIVE SUB-SECTIONS FOR EACH OF THE TOPICS MENTIONED IN THE
QUESTION
- Supportive Communication
- Motivation
- Empowerment
- Conflict Management
- Team Effectiveness
- See lessons 4 and 5
- Plus the range of texts plus academic and industry articles available on
Ebsco and EBook Central
- To help you develop your work please access the study skills modules
on paraphrasing and referencing plus academic writing:
-
For this Task 2 you should use the various theories to show your general
understanding of the five topics from a business viewpoint. So, the
discussion in your own words will be built up using these theories and the
reference sources in support of your discussions. Then you will apply this
discussion to a specific organisation that you have chosen to use as a base for
this part of the assignment. This could be a previous or current employer or
even an organisation of interest to you. Doing this will then show your
ability to apply theory to practice. You need to do this for all five sub section
topics.
For example, for the Empowerment sub-section, you could use a basic
structure like this:
- What is empowerment? - define using an academic reference source.
- Build a discussion showing the benefits and challenges of using
empowerment in business, again using some academic and industry
reference sources and theory.
- Provide examples of empowerment from your chosen organisation.
- How do these practical examples link to the theory/literature? Compare
and contrast using more reference sources.
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CONCLUSION (100/200 words)
REFERENCE LIST
- In Arden Harvard Style
- See the study skills modules using the link referred to above
APPENDICES
- Completed Skills Audit (See below)
- Completed SWOT analysis (See below)
- Any other evidence that you may have referred to in your assignment
answers, for example, courses you may have completed that have
helped develop your skills.
- Perhaps some relevant information on the organisation you have
chosen as a base for Task 2. Not essential.
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APPENDIX 1:
SKILLS AUDIT TEMPLATE
SKILL TYPICAL DESCRIPTORS SKILL LEVEL
Low High
SPECIFIC COMMENTS
Organisation and time management Prioritising, dealing with
paperwork; interruptions; planning
your day.
1 2 3 4 5
Decision making and problem
solving
Ability to make decisions; selecting
suitable solutions; analysis of
appropriateness.
1 2 3 4 5
Planning Leading teams; consulting team
members; task allocation; objective
setting.
1 2 3 4 5
Delegation Matching tasks to staff; providing
guidance and advice; maintaining
staff motivation and focus.
1 2 3 4 5
Motivation Applying motivational techniques;
understanding individual motives;
making tasks challenging;
encouraging creativity; providing
team support; engendering trust
and openness.
1 2 3 4 5
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Coaching Providing guidance; listening skills;
ability to draw out information;
reinforcing behaviour using
feedback; negotiating; planning
goals and objectives.
1 2 3 4 5
Target setting Understanding and communicating
organisational objectives; use of
SMART objectives to achieve
targets.
1 2 3 4 5
Interpersonal skills Relating to others; building rapport
and positive relationships; being
sensitive to peoples’ needs; using
influencing and persuasive skills to
help others improve performance
or overcome problems; listening
effectively and providing feedback;
being assertive; use of body
language.
1 2 3 4 5
Written communications Structure and format of letters,
memos, e-mails, reports
1 2 3 4 5
Oral communications Structure and format: techniques
for effective presentations; using
the telephone; meetings.
1 2 3 4 5
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OTHERS SPECIFIC TO YOUR ROLE
1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5
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APPENDIX 2:
SWOT ANALYSIS
Strengths:
What do you do well?
What unique resources can you draw on? What do others see as
your strengths?
Weaknesses:
What could you improve?
Where do you have fewer resources than others?
What are others likely to see as weaknesses?
Opportunities:
What good opportunities are open to you? What trends could
you take advantage of? How can you turn strengths into
opportunities?
Threats:
What trends could harm you?
What is your competition doing?
What threats do your weaknesses expose you to?
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ANY OTHER APPENDICES…
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