Professional Development Report: Retail Industry Challenges and Goals

This professional development report begins with a self-introduction, followed by an analysis of the retail industry, including its megatrends and challenges such as consumer behavior changes, infrastructure issues, customer loyalty, and technological adaptation. It highlights the industry's current trends, like informed customers and innovative pricing strategies. The report then outlines personal career goals, emphasizing the importance of strategic decision-making, risk assessment, and leadership skills for a project manager. Ethical and professional values, including honesty, selfless service, and a strong work ethic, are discussed, along with the role of top management in promoting ethical behavior. The report concludes with a competency assessment, identifying strengths and deficiencies in areas like leadership, team management, and communication, and suggests areas for improvement to enhance professional growth.

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Professional Development Ethics

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Self-Introduction
My name is Syed Saddam Ali. I am from India. My marital status is single. My birthday is on
10.02.1994. I have completed my graduation from India in the Civil engineering stream.
Currently, I am pursuing my Master’s in Project management from Melbourne Australia. I
aspire to become a successful project manager and want to develop all the necessary
management qualities within me through my education.
Megatrends and challenges
In the business environment across the world, organizations are facing a lot of challenges
every now and then. Top management authority are always focusing on ways to cope up with
the challenges and competition they are facing each day. The industry which is chosen for
this report is Retail industry. In the retail industry the main challenge which is being faced is
the continuous alteration of mind of the consumers. Fernie and Sparts (2018 p.4) states that
the demand and need of the consumer changes very often. The retailing industry is mainly
concerned with the fact of product availability. So, this is considered to be one of the major
challenge that is being faced by the higher level authorities of the organization operating in
the retail sector. According to Aminu (2013) another challenge which is being recently faced
by the retail industry due to the introduction of online shopping is the problem of
infrastructure. Rapid adaptation in terms of infrastructure has become a major issue. Other
challenges that the retail industry faces are maintaining the loyalty of the customers. Few
organisation operating in the retail industry sometimes think that it is easy to replace existing
customers. This is considered to be a negative mind-set and gradually this can affect the
sustainability of the business in the market in a very negative way. Managers also find it
difficult to adopt the best technology solutions for the retail industry. Technology solution is
of utmost importance in order to simplify the complex process of business.
According to Klepac (2010) retail industry is facing competition every now and then and
organisation are focussing on the strategies of customer retention in order to increase their
respective market share. Data mining methods are being adopted in order to retain the
customers. Organisation operating in the retail sector also faces other competitions. One of
the main aspect of the competition is determination of the pricing method of the products. It
is important for the organisation to undergo the strategic analysis on pricing in order to cope
up with the competition faced from other organisation. Campaign analysis of the competitors
is one of the most fruitful technique which can be adopted in order to know the competition.

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It is being expected that the operating income in the retail industry is being rising at an
alarming rate. Companies operating in the speciality retail sector, drug store and auto retail is
in the growth phase. Organisation operating in this type of retail industry is experiencing a
significant amount of revenue generation. According to Varley (2014) the current trend of the
retail industry is the customers are better informed due to the increase in the use of social
media marketing. Grewal et.al. (2011) states that advancement in technology has also became
a trend. Another trend which is currently followed by the retail industry is innovating new
strategies in order to develop the pricing method and promotional techniques. The paramount
concern of the organisation working in the retail sector is profitability. The size of
supermarket in current scenario is considered to be much bigger compared to earlier times.
Bolton et.al. (2010) states that currently 20% of the sales in the retail sector comes from
strategic promotions and marketing.
Goals
It is important to develop conscious goals. Developing conscious goals helps an individual to
guide the actions that they might take in the near future. Goals can be both short term as well
as long term. Goals are considered to be the primary set which leads to the motivation of the
individuals. Locke and Latham (2013) states that People focus on choosing their goals so that
they can increase their commitment in attaining the goals. Career goals should be very
specific in nature, it should be measurable, action-oriented and the goals must be very
realistic. Career goals help a person to follow his/her passion. It has been stated by various
authors that there exists a strong relationship between the career goal of an individual and
with the commitment of a particular organisation. Weng et.al. (2010) states that there are
various factors which conceptualize the career growth. The various factors are development
of the professional ability, growth in remuneration, progress in the career goal as well as the
growth in the remuneration. While setting up the career goal it is very important to set up
plans which can help to execute that goal.
Since, I am pursuing my masters in project management, I aspire to become a successful
project manager in the near future. It is important to set long term as well as short term goals.
My goals as a project manager is to complete each and every project allocated to me at the
stipulated amount of time. As a project manager it is important to be strategic and make
decisions strategically. The main task of a project manager is to understand the financial
impact. My career goal is to assess the risk which is involved in the project with my skills.
Adapting to changes can bring success to my career in a broader aspect. One of the most

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important skill which I need to set up is focussing on the leadership skills. Leadership
qualities of every manager is of utmost importance. I also aspire to learn the skills of team
management because it is important for a project manager to handle teams with proper
efficiency. If I can handle team with proper efficiently it can help me to achieve the goals
which I have set for myself.
Ethics and professional values
Iacobucci et.al. (2013) states that one’s professional identity and the ethical behavior can be
constructed through education and learning on the ethical code of conduct. There is a
relationship between the values, ethical decision making and self-esteem of an individual. It
is very important to develop professional ethics before joining any organisation.
 Honesty and integrity in the work is very important in the professional world. As a
professional one should focus on keeping the promises that has been made to the
customer and they should abide by the law.
 Selfless service is considered to be one of the professional service in the service
industry.
 It is very important for a professional to develop strong work ethic among themselves.
Employees should learn the most efficient process of accomplishing a work. Time
management skills, self attributes and personal values all fall under work ethics.
 Each and every professional or employees in an organisation should possess positive
attitude. A positive attitude helps the employee to complete the work and also
motivates other employees to do the work in a stipulated amount of time.
Furthermore, it is important for all the members of an organisation to promote ethical
behaviour in the workplace. Positive culture and the ethical behaviour in the workplace helps
in creation of the value of the shareholder. Ethics can be defined in a broad way. According
to Onyebuchi (2011), the original definition of ethics is the systematic approach on a study
which is completely based on the moral principles, various reflective choices as well as the
standards which identifies any conduct as right or wrong. Theories of ethics help to
understand the professional conduct in general. According to Singer (2011 p.5) ethics is
considered to be very relative and subjective. Ethical behaviour is not universal. A particular
kind of behaviour can be considered ethical in one country and can be unethical in other
country. The kind of behaviour which is consistent in terms of moral is termed as ethics The
main responsibility of promoting ethical behaviour in the workplace is of the top manager.

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According to Singh (2011) transformational leadership skills of managers can help to develop
and promote ethics in a large scale. Transformational leader is focussed on commitment
towards the work and thus it helps to promote high level of ethics in the workplace. The top
managers should conduct himself/herself in such a way that he/she becomes a role model for
other employees and subordinates in the organisation. Training on ethics and values should
be provided to the employees in order to promote ethics in the workplace. Ethical behaviour
among the employees of the organisation can be promoted with the help of consultation,
supervision as well as with the use of proper modelling. Cleary et.al. (2013) states that
promotion of integrity is also important in order to maintain ethics in the workplace. Threat to
integrity in any organisation can corrupt the work environment in a large extent. Organisation
should maintain a strict rule while hiring employees. Employee background verification is
very important before hiring an employee. Any employee caught doing any unethical work
should be immediately fired from the workplace. In order to promote ethics in workplace
employees should feel free to come up with the truth in front of the higher authorities.
Competency Assessment
Individuals generally propose various self-assessments which help them to judge their
competencies. Various techniques are being used to assess the proposed self-assessment of
the individuals. This generally happens in organization to assess the competencies of the
individual. Bok et. al. (2013) states that with the help of learning and development the
competencies of individuals working in any organization can be increased to a significant
level. In this report I am assessing my competency on the basis of various parameters. The
various types of socio-cultural and leadership competencies are Leadership, Team
management, Resource management, communication, planning, leading, organizing, change
management and cognitive skills and knowledge.
Description of Competencies Deficiency Statement
Leadership I have the theoretical knowledge of
leadership and various styles of leadership
but I have not experienced any situation
where I have to prove my leadership skills.
Team management I have a knowledge about the rise in
possible team issues but I have not gathered
any efficiency to solve them.

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Planning I can understand the exact time when
planning for a change is required but cannot
gather ideas which is required for planning
and evaluating.
Attitude It is important for every individual to
develop an attitude. I know that I have
positive attitude in built in me but when it
comes to developing mental toughness in
order to get the work done from the peers at
that point of time I am unable to react
accordingly.
Communication I love to communicate with people but when
it comes to any type of formal
communication in the team I tend to get
nervous. I am also afraid of public speaking
which also holds me back to become a
successful leader along with a good
communicator.
Self- Direction I personally think that I am quite a self-
directed individual. I can make my own
decisions or I am efficient to choose my
own path. Though I am self-directed but
when it comes to direct others in a team I
tend to get nervous. To become a successful
manager, I need to work on that.
Learning I need to increase the natural tendencies of
learning. I need to be well informed about
the behavioural skills of people. This will
help me to understand the mentality of my
peers or the team members very easily.
Table 1: Tabular representation of competencies deficiency (Socio-cultural and Leadership
competency)

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Professional Development summary
According to Bennison and Goos (2010) development of an individual in the professional
sector make a person more confident. For example, if a teacher learns the use of technology
before entering in to the classroom for teaching purposes it will help the teacher to gather
more confidence in teaching. According to Mizell (2010), various individuals working in the
corporate sector intends to increase the professional development in order to learn new skills
and become a better version of themselves. As discussed in the previous section it can be
seen that I am aware of the various leadership styles but I have not developed the required
skills to become a leader. To become a leader first I should develop the skill of team
management. Managing a group of people, handling their grievances, addressing the problem
of the team members are various skills which should be developed in order to be a successful
leader. In corporate industry it is very important to develop the leadership and managerial
skills. In the tabular presentation it has been mentioned that though I have knowledge about
team management but I fail when it comes to manage team in real. To manage a team at first
I should develop a vision and objectives. It is very important for a manager to develop the
objective. I should be adaptable to change and work under any circumstances. I should
effectively communicate with the team members and should learn the various motivational
skills in order to involve the peers in the task. I also need to learn about the behavioural skills
of various people. I need to go through various behavioural models proposed by various
researchers in order to gather knowledge about human behaviour in workplace.
In addition to this, in the previous tabular representation I have mentioned that though I have
positive attitude towards everything but I find it difficult to be strict when it comes to team
management. In order to extract work from the team members it is important to develop a
positive as well as strict attitude. In order to be a role model it is very important for me to
develop few skills within me. I need to learn how to motivate employees with my words.
Matured communication, understanding the motive of the team members towards work can
help me to change the attitude. I have also done a SWOT analysis on the basis of my
competencies. It has helped me to understand the areas in which I can improve and how I can
grab the opportunity. The strength which I possess to become a competent manager or team
member is that I have all the required theoretical knowledge on Leaderships skills, leadership
styles. I am also very creative in nature which can help me to innovate new ideas of team
management. The greatest weakness of mine is I am afraid to handle a set of people. I also
lose my confidence when I am asked to speak on a particular topic in front of the public. To

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overcome my fear, I can take the help of my professors and attain various soft skills training.
Attending soft skill training programme can help me to increase my communication skill and
can reduce the fear of public speaking. So, attending soft skill training programme is my
opportunity. Since, I do not have a strict attitude so when it comes to managing team people
might not follow my idea in the team and thus can create a chaos when it comes to execution
of the work.

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