Portfolio 4: Reflections on Professional Development Skills & Ethics

This report presents a student's reflections on their professional development, focusing on interpersonal skills, communication, teamwork, and ethical considerations. The student analyzes their experiences, including a debate, reading comprehension, and team presentations, to illustrate their abilities. The report also explores a scenario where the student had to choose between social relationships and professional ethics, highlighting the importance of boundaries. Furthermore, the student discusses the impact of cultural diversity on their communication skills and the use of ICT technologies. The report concludes with the student's perspective on the unit, emphasizing the importance of understanding cultural diversity and ethical conduct, and suggests improvements for the course, such as incorporating step-by-step skill development and real-life examples of leaders. This portfolio demonstrates the student's growth and understanding of professional concepts.

Portfolio 4 – Reflections
Author’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Date

Part A:
1. An example of my use of Interpersonal skills with listening and verbal communication
includes a debate between friends where I had to listen to the thoughts of my peers before I
could keep my points and convince them effectively that my stand on the subject was more
positive.
2. I used my reading skills to develop an academic document in the last assignment that I wrote.
I read a lot of existing researchers on the subject that I was writing on. I exert some pressure
on summarizing certain texts before I can use that information and ensure that I paraphrase a
particular information rather than using as it is. My reading skills have always helped me in
analysing existing researches in the best manner.
3. Teamwork skills include the need for ensuring that the participation and contribution of
every team member is acknowledged during a presentation. It also entails the need for giving
an opportunity to every team member to present their contributions and thoughts on a given
subject. I can recall the low confidence of one of my team members in giving the
presentation on his parts. Hence, I used my interpersonal skills, to understand his
apprehension and convinced him to give it a try at least once to overcome his nervousness
and fear of public speaking. I used my team work skills of uplifting the spirits of the team
and getting them to participate in a team presentation in class.
4. An example of an assessment where I had to choose between my social relationships and
professionalism. It includes the demand of information on one of my clients by my friend.
Although my friend and his family would benefit largely from the information I could give
and the company would not have suffered in any manner, I would not mix my social and
professional life at all. I would explain the situation to my friend and tell him exactly how I
feel. The task helped me in understanding my morals better. It assisted me in understanding
how important it is to follow ethics otherwise all friends tend to take you for granted every
now and then. It is best to put a stop to the sharing of professional information and lay
boundaries in the beginning itself.
5. The skills that I learnt from different cultures was the ability to respect other cultures,
understand the perspectives of others and the adaptability to be able to become sensitive
towards the strong feeling of others in a group. Cultural diversity can be seen clearly in every
part of the world. It is an excellent way to become a more rational individual and using the

same to empower oneself with better communication skills that can eventually help the
society and the peers both.
6. I used ICT technologies by researching on the subject and ensuring that I understand every
topic with depth before discussing it in detail. An example is the marketing topic that falls
under the category of Commerce and Business Administration.
7. The two examples of communication and collaboration technologies that were learnt include
Mobility and Virtual Collaboration. These would help the corporates to give a new direction
to innovation, offer a competitive edge to companies and assist them in cutting down costs to
a large extent.
Part B:
The two major things that I liked about the Unit was the importance of understanding and
integration of Cultural Diversity in the day to day life of individuals and the ability to understand
the ethical code of conduct in varied scenarios. I strongly believe that this knowledge would help
me in becoming a better individual personally and professionally. These factors have also made
me a more open-minded person and stronger individual who understands the meaning of ethics
and respects people.
The two suggested improvements for the Unit could be the integration of processes or step by
step introductions of how a person can improve the aspects that he/she lacks. Another
improvement could be the addition of certain examples of existing leaders who have used the
varied skills to become a better person. Relating a subject with real life stories always adds a
motivational aspect to the discussion in every unit.