Professional Practice in IT: Skills, Problem Solving, and Teamwork

This report delves into the essential aspects of professional practice within the IT sector, drawing upon a case study involving a new operations analyst at Salesforce. The report examines the demonstration of interpersonal and transferable communication skills, focusing on general and written communication, and the application of time management techniques for organizing a seminar. It analyzes the importance of positive attitude, collaboration, and appreciation within a team environment. Furthermore, the report explores critical reasoning and problem-solving scenarios encountered during event planning, including time constraints and venue selection. The impact of team dynamics, including the roles of team members and the creation of content for presentations, are also discussed. Finally, the report highlights the need for Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and its significance in the workplace.

Professional practice in IT

Table of contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................5
LO. 1. Demonstration of a range of interpersonal and transferable communication skills to a
target audience.............................................................................................................................6
LO.2 Apply critical reasoning and thinking to a range of problem solving scenarios................9
LO.3 The importance and dynamics of working within a team and impact of team working in
different environment.................................................................................................................11
LO.4 need for Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and its role within the workplace
and for higher-level learning......................................................................................................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................15

INTRODUCTION

The capability of a person to guide and coordinate the group for performing certain task
for accomplishing the organizational objectives is called as team management. This function of
human resource management consists of communication, performance appraisals, and teamwork
and objective settings. Team management requires various skills like problem solving,
leadership, time management, motivation and many more which make team members to
complete their work properly (Kelley, 2017). The current file is based on the given case scenario.
In context to this, the report includes demonstration of range of interpersonal and transferable
communication skills and critical analysis of problem solving scenario. Along with this, study
involves importance and dynamics of working within the team and need for CPD.
LO. 1. Demonstration of a range of interpersonal and transferable communication skills to
a target audience
According to the given case study, I am a new operation analyst at the Salesforce. As I
am an Analyst in the company so I will play significant role in Cloud Sales Strategy group which
is located at London. I have to assist the firm in planning, organizing a seminar and delivering a
presentation for the senior executives. In context to this, communication skills are as following:
General Communication: It is necessary to develop interest of the audience while giving
seminar and presentation (Heller and Cassady, 2017). Initially, I will identify the type of
audience we are looking for, kind of language they use, etc. With respect to the collected
information I will develop a proper way for placing my words together in appropriate manner. I
will also try to identify the way in which I will deliver the message and information the team
wants to deliver to the targeted audience. While giving presentation and seminar it is necessary
to develop a proper contact with the audience for maintaining their interest and making them feel
like we are interested in them (Jonas, 2016). I will involve audience, their interest areas, age etc
for communicating with them in effective manner.
Written Communication Skills: In seminars and presentations, it is necessary to have proper
documents. Along with this, the planning and delivering of the seminars and presentations
require proper documentation for avoiding any issue later (Lăzăroiu, 2015). With respect to this,
I will use my written communication skills for writing all the needful processes properly. Along
with this, proof reading is one of the effective skills of the written communication. I will

proofread my work properly before sending them to the seniors because improper formatting,
grammatical mistakes, etc will impact negatively on the reader.
Another factor which will I consider in my writing communication skills will be spelling
and grammar. It is necessary to use appropriate grammar and spelling for writing emails, fax or
report. The emails may contain invitation to the clients, report can contain proper procedure of
organizing event and many more, in such situation it is necessary to have appropriate grammar
and spelling skills otherwise it can affect the first impression and meaning of the message as well
(Herzberg, 2017).
The plan for the event with the design of professional schedule with justified time
allocation is as follows:
Time Activity Notes
9.00-9.30am Preparation for the seminar Creating setup like
placing tables, chairs,
arranging room, etc
9.30-10.00am Registration for the guests Registration of the
audience
10.00-10.30am Introduction Ist Speaker Introducing firm,
audience and seniors
10.30-10.50am Introduction Continue IInd Speaker Explaining the
purpose of seminar
10.50-12.00pm Information about the
product
IIIrd Speaker Starting of providing
information about the
product
12.00-12.30pm Demo of the product Product demo for
better understanding
12.30-1.00pm Lunch break Arrangement of food,
tables and other things
1.00-1.30pm other information
about the product
Remaining
information about the
product will be

provided to the
audience
1.30-2.30pm Question-Answer
session
This will include
query resolving
session. The speakers
will provide
appropriate answers to
the questions of the
guests
2.30-3.00pm Key Takeaways and
Next steps
The firm will provide
all the necessary
documents, reports,
etc to the guests for
helping them in
understanding the
seminar more
appropriately
3.00-3.30pm Wrap-up/ Conclusion This will include
keynote speaker and
closing thoughts
The time management skills which will be required for forming the proper and scheduled
seminar are as follows:
Prioritizing: I will prioritize the work according to their importance for planning and delivering
the event effectively. This will include most important work at the top priority, less important at
second and least important at the end (Alshmemri, Shahwan-Akl and Maude, 2017). This skill
will help me and other team members to complete essential work at first rather than the less
important ones.
Organization: I will keep my desk organized by segregating the work and documents according
to their importance. I will keep three boxes with label “Most Important”, “Less Important” and

“useless”. These boxes will have files according to their labels which will help in keeping my
work organized and preventing time from wastage. I will also keep a to-do list at my desk for
having all the information about the work which is need to be done properly.
Interpersonal skills plays important role in designing, planning and delivering the training
event properly. The effectiveness sand applications of the interpersonal skills are as follows:
Positive Attitude: It is necessary for the organizers and speakers to have positive attitude
towards the seminar and presentation. This positive behavior will motivate other members to
work and perform with full zeal and enthusiasm. Along with this, positivity will also help in
maintaining the interest of the audience. Positivity from the beginning to the end will help in
making the event successful (Sabater-Mir, Palma-Zurita and Cuadros-Oller, 2016).
Collaboration: While organizing any event, it is necessary for the workers to work together with
cooperation and coordination. It also requires an ability to respect each employee and their work.
With collaboration, all the team members will able to accomplish the objectives of the seminar
and presentation. This interpersonal skill will also develop strong bond and understanding among
the team members. This skill will deliver the event effectively and successfully (Rudolph, 2016).
Appreciation: While working in a team and organizing an event, it is necessary to appreciate the
work of the team. Appreciation results to enhance the motivation and confidence of the workers
which lead to better performance and emotional connection with the company. In context to this,
after the proper organization of event, it is necessary for the seniors to appreciate the work of the
employees. This will make the staff motivated enough to perform next work more efficiently
(Voogt and et.al., 2015).
LO.2 Apply critical reasoning and thinking to a range of problem solving scenarios.
Organization of a training event is not an easy task because it needs proper planning and
techniques to handle the issues. At the time of organizing event, I and my team also faced some
challenges but resolved them with the help of appropriate method and technique. These
challenges are explained below:
Short-period of time for organizing event: The Company provided short period of time for
organizing the training event effectively. It was a big challenge for me and my team to plan,

design and deliver the event properly within the give time period. However, the team members
were ready to perform well and work hard for completing the whole process on time but it was
not possible without using any particular strategy or technique. So, in order to manage the time
and finishing the entire event on given deadline we used effective time management strategies
(Carpenter and Krutka, 2015).
At the first point we started the planning process at the same day the firm ordered to
organize the event. We the team conducted a meeting for having proper discussion on the event.
However, it was very fast to start the planning process but due to the limited time it was essential
to begin with the things we had. Along with this, later we create and maintain a planning
calendar having all the information about all the steps with proper time and date (Kennedy,
2016). However, it was not an effective way to complete task on time as it only provided us
information about completed, ongoing and remaining work. In order to complete our all tasks on
time and delivering the event on given deadline we use prioritizing method. Under this strategy,
we the team will priorities our work on the basis of their importance. This will help us in
completing the important work first and less important at the end. All these strategies will help
the team in managing and delivering the event on the given time period (Power, 2018).
Choosing the appropriate venue: One of the most important tasks of the event will be selection
of proper venue according to the event. The challenge for the team will be selection of venue
according to the purpose and budget (Haas and Mortensen, 2016). As venue develops the tone of
the event and helps in determining the other subsequent information the team will have to decide
on such as whether there will be need of transportation or not, what will be the equipments
required, it will need décor or not and many more. In contrast to it, less importance to the venue
can affect the satisfaction level of the audience. It is also important for the company to select
such place which can be known and reachable for the target group (Chang and et.al., 2015).
It is not an easy task to select a venue for organizing the training event. In context to this,
we will have to identify the purpose, requirements like space, equipments, décor, etc. All the
collected information helped in selecting the required place. It was also be important to pay
attention to the budget. In contrast to it, venue having lot of value added like projector system,
free wi-fi, table and chairs, etc were more appropriate for the event. Because the value added

reduced the investment in other activities like arranging table and chairs, other technologies, etc.
So, in case of value added venue, the team can spend much on it (Sandoff and Nilsson, 2016).
LO.3 The importance and dynamics of working within a team and impact of team working
in different environment
During the event, I also get a chance to present a demo of the new online courses in front
of the clients. This activity provides me an opportunity to work as a part of team on the content
creation for accomplishing the pre-defined objectives (Hesse and et.al., 2015). With respect to
this, team dynamics helped me a lot in providing appropriate information with confidence to the
audience. The unconscious and psychological force which influences the behavior and
performance of the team is call as team dynamic. This is developed by the nature of team work,
personalities involved within the team, the relationship between the team members and many
more (Kwiatkowski, 2019).
Team dynamics play essential role in success of the group work as it make team members
to work with cooperation and coordination (Falzon, 2018). Team dynamics also helps in
developing effective working environment for the team members which keep them motivated
and enthusiastic all the time. It is necessary to have appropriate team dynamics among the team
members otherwise it can result to failure of the entire project. Lack of team dynamics lead to
increase the misunderstandings, conflicts, etc which makes the environment stressful. All these
factor leads to the inappropriate execution of the processes. Thus, team dynamics is very
important among the team for accomplishing the desired objectives (Noe and et.al., 2017).
My role in the team was to give presentation on one of the online courses to the audience.
It was a difficult task for me to give presentation as I never did it before. I had to create effective
and creative content for presenting it in front of the guests. There was a team whose
responsibility was to create and check the content of the speakers for making it relevant to the
courses and audience. The team members helped me a lot in developing appropriate content for
the courses and making it interesting for the audience. Impressive words and lines were also
suggested by the team to me for making my demo impressive in front of the audience. I
understood my role, course which I had to present, prepared my speech and many more for
avoiding any issue later. However, after so much practice I was feeling nervous and tensed due
to my first presentation. I was not confident which was affecting my demo during the practice.

But the team members boosted me and helped me in reducing my frustration. Due to tension, I
was forgetting the lines and breaking the connection between the course and audience. But I
practiced my part of demo in front of the group twice to thrice time and the team gave me honest
reviews each time. This cooperation and coordination of the team members motivated me. Due
to the help and cooperation of the team members I was able to deliver my presentation properly
in front of the audience. During the presentation, I got enough confidence after few minutes that
I started enjoying it.
Thus, from the above evaluation, I found that the team dynamics between the firm’s team
members was effective. There was cooperation, understanding, strong bonding, problem solving
nature, etc which helped me in accomplishing my objectives. However, sometimes there were
conflicts among the team members due to the clashes of ideas but the maturity and understanding
among them never created the chances of increasing the conflict (Kong and Ko, 2018).
LO.4 need for Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and its role within the
workplace and for higher-level learning
The process of tracking and documenting the skills, information and experience which an
individual gain in both formal and informal way beyond the initial training is called as
Continuing Professional Development (CPD). This is essential for the people because it
provides ongoing professional development. This method ensures that the capabilities of the
employee have pace with the present standards of the others in the same area of work. Along
with this, it also enhances the skills and knowledge a worker require for delivering his or her
professional service to the clients (Jiandani and et.al., 2016).
From my contribution in the event, I found that I am good at time management, problem
solving and communication skills but there are some areas which I need to improve for
enhancing my career opportunities. I found that I am not good in public speaking however I gave
the presentation and achieved the objectives but I need to improve it. Along with this, I need to
develop proper body language as it also plays essential role in giving proper presentation. I also
need to develop team management skills for improving my contribution within the team. By
considering all these aspects, I found that there are various skills which I need to develop for
improving my professional career. In context to this, CPD method is one of the most appropriate
methods which can keep me motivated all the time for working on my weak points. This