Comprehensive Professional Development Plan for Real Estate Management

The assignment is designed as a Professional Development Plan tailored for individuals in the Real Estate Industry, particularly focusing on those involved with international markets such as Dubai and Europe. The plan addresses key areas like political, economic, social, technological factors via PEST analysis, and evaluates competitive forces using Porter’s Five Forces framework. It emphasizes skills enhancement and strategic understanding crucial for navigating high competition and regulatory challenges in the sector.

Running head: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
Strategic Management
Student’s name:
Name of the University:
Author’s note:

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Table of Contents
Task 1: Strategic Management........................................................................................................4
1. Introduction..................................................................................................................................4
1.1 Company Overview...............................................................................................................5
1.2. Business Case.......................................................................................................................6
1.2.1 Issues in designing organisation for international environment.........................................6
2. Literature review..........................................................................................................................9
2.1 Entering global arena.............................................................................................................9
2.2 Designing structure to fit global strategy.............................................................................10
2.3 Building global capabilities.................................................................................................11
2.4 Transnational model of organisation...................................................................................12
3. Analysis and Restructure...........................................................................................................14
3.1 Design and restructure.........................................................................................................14
3.1.1 Internal structure of marketing department......................................................................16
3.1.2 External environment of Aldar Properties........................................................................18
3.1.3 Structural dimension.........................................................................................................18
3.1.4 Redesign of international environment for Aldar Properties............................................19
3.2 Monitoring process..............................................................................................................21
4. Recommendations......................................................................................................................21

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5. Conclusions................................................................................................................................22
Task 2: Professional Development Portfolio.................................................................................24
1. Introduction................................................................................................................................24
2. Critical Reflection......................................................................................................................26
3. Focused areas of development in professional life....................................................................28
4. Conclusion.................................................................................................................................30
PDP Action Plan..............................................................................................................................0
Reference List..................................................................................................................................0
Appendices......................................................................................................................................3
Appendix 1...................................................................................................................................3
Appendix 2...................................................................................................................................5

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Executive Summary
This report focuses on the strategic management of Aldar Properties organisation, which is in
Dubai, UAE. At the managerial level, strategic organizational failures occur due to the lack of
depth in corporate strategies. In Aldar Properties, the management is thinking to expand the
organisation in other parts of the world also; therefore, the Board of Directors gave the charge to
make strategies of the global expansion of the organisation. However, a marketing department
could not do this job well. In addition, I have been given the charge to frame the
internationalization strategies of the organisation. In this report, in the first part of the report, the
business case of Aldar Properties has been discussed with the issues faced by the organisation. In
the second part of the study, focuses mainly the literature review section. In the literature review,
a theoretical framework has been given in entering an organisation in the global arena.
Moreover, designing structure to fit the global strategy and building global capabilities are some
of the spheres discussed in this structure. In the latter part of the study, analysis of restructuring
of the strategy has been given to changing the strategy based on the findings of the organisation.
In this section, internal and external organisations have been discussed. Structural dimensions of
the organisation need changes as it is going to entre global market. In entering the global market,
the organisation can partner with the global organisation for growth and they need to focus on
mainly cultural diversity.

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Task 1: Strategic Management
1. Introduction
This report will highlight the strategic management failure of organisations and the
redesign of the specific structure that could help organisations to escape from this phase. As
stated by Hill et al. (2014), at the managerial level, the failure of organisation’s strategic context
is occurred due to the combination of four major factors that are communication, coordination,
collaboration and control. In this project, the focus will be on Aldar Properties PJSC organisation
and its specific issues faced in while they are trying to expand the company in the international
market. This report will shed light on the organisation design and the corporate strategy of the
chosen organisation, strategic planning and the change management issues of the organisation in
designing of the international environment. In the first part of the project report, a business case
of the organisation in an international environment will be explained by instances of the media
report. In addition, in the second part of the study, a literature review will be conducted based on
the scholarly articles of the international environment redesigning. Through the literature review
section, organisational structure design issues will be delineated with the theoretical insights of
the subject. In the following part of the project report, the analysis of chosen department of the
organisation with the external environment of the organisation will be highlighted. The
restructuring of the strategies and the departmental work will be highlighted in the following
structure. Most importantly, some of the possible recommendations will be provided at the end
of the report.

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1.1 Company Overview
Aldar Properties PJSC organisation works in real estate development, investment and
management and it has it headquarter in Abu Dhabi. Aldar Properties PJSC was founded in the
year 2005 and it has been in the real estate industry by doing significant works like development
of projects and buildings, real properties, hospitality and national housing. It made projects such
as Al Jimmi Shopping Centre, Al Raha Beach, Al Raha Gardens, Abu Dhabi Central Market and
Yas Island (Marina Circuit for Ferrari World). The owner of the organisation is Abu Dhabi
Institutions. This company is currently doing its operations in the development and re-
development within the UAE, Abu Dhabi (Aldar.com 2017). This organisation is trying to
reshape and increase the urban fabric in Abu Dhabi. The operation of the organisation is done
only in UAE, however, it has projected from the international companies. Aldar Properties has
its share in Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange. This organisation operates to a high standard of
corporate governance and it offers sustainable business with ongoing value for the shareholders.
Vision:
Aldar Properties wants to be the most trusted and famous real estate lifestyle developer in Abu
Dhabi and beyond
Mission statement:
Aldar Properties wants to maximise the stakeholder value through passion and manage quality in
living spaces
Values:

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Aldar Properties seeks to create quality, desirable destinations and comfortable living that can
enrich the lives of the Abu Dhabi residents and the tourists that are coming to the UAE. Aldar
provides emphasis on values like team spirit in working, ambition to strive for better and
commitment that helps to take responsibility and diversity in the workplace to respect people's
opinions and culture.
1.2. Business Case
I have been working in the Aldar Properties since 2010 and I have been working there as
GIS manager. I am in the organisation's Master Planning Department. I am currently working in
the Design and Master Planning Department responsible for the effective management of Aldar's
Geographic Information Systems, Property Registration. My responsibility in the organisation to
drive the Aldar GIS strategy and action plans. However, the organisation has been thinking over
to expand the business in an international environment. The marketing department of the
organisation is trying to research the international market in which part the organisation could
expand and design its business. However, the Board of Directors is not satisfied with the works
and strategies the marketing department has made. Therefore, I am going to evaluate the chances
of restructuring the designing organisation for the international environment.
1.2.1 Issues in designing organisation for international environment
Aldar Properties has decided to make the movement of the business in an international
environment. The Board of Directors of the organisation have given the responsibility to the
marketing department of the organisation so that they could design an internationalisation
strategy of the organisation so that the business could enter the international environment.
However, the marketing department yet not made a global expansion strategy of the organisation
and the business is doing well in the local market. The localisation of the business defines the

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adaptation of services or products that meet the language, requirement and cultural aspect of the
specific target market (Shafriz et al. 2015). In addition, Aldar Properties is one of the leading
organisations that provide world-class services to the people of Abu Dhabi. Moreover, the
organisation has been doing the project of Abu Dhabi local government and community welfare.
However, the organisation intends to move the organisation in the global market and the
marketing team has been documented to make a suitable strategy in order to enter the global
market. The Board of Directors briefed that the marketing department should research the global
market and suggests some of the potential markets for Aldar properties. However, the team
leader in the marketing department could not motivate the staffs so that they could bring out
good results for the organisation. In addition, a 4 member's team visited the UK in order to
research about the real estate market in the year 2016 and another team of 5 members visited
Germany in order to take account of the real estate market to understand the potentiality
(Aldar.com 2017). Additionally, internationalisation is about the developing and designing the
plan that could remove the barriers in localisation includes the structure of the organisation,
regulations, cost calculation, currency issues, payment methods and political risks (Daft 2015).
Aldar Properties has already ventured with international companies in making their
project in the Abu Dhabi; however, they did not do any project in the international arena. The
organisation has been following the structure that could be helpful in the local market and it is
less complex; however, in expanding the business in the international market, the organisation
needs complete restructure of the company structure (Aldar.com 2017).
Aldar Properties has been in the real estate field and it has no global presence yet. The
organisation might face issue while venturing into the international market due to laws and
regulations varied in international spheres. Till now, the organisation has been following only

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UAE laws, now the organisation needs to follow different laws in different countries. Tax
implication, trading laws and employment laws are some of the spheres where the organisation
needs to bring changes.
Aldar Properties needs to learn about the global pricing strategy as the organisation has
been trying to enter the global market and the brand position needs to enhance so that the pricing
could touch the international standard. The marketing department did not figure out which
pricing strategy will be helpful for the organisation in Europe. In addition, universal payment
method is needed in order to expand the international market as determining the acceptable
payment method is very important for an organisation to flourish in the international market
(Waldman and Jensen 2016).
One more issue that the marketing team could not comprehend is the cultural diversity in
the international market. The marketing team has decided to recruit from the Abu Dhabi people
in the international market; however, the polycentric recruitment strategy has some issues in the
international market. Aldar Properties will not get the chance to recruit people from the
international country with the polycentric approach as the lack of coordination will be seen in
this approach. The people from the host country will not be able to understand the market
conditions of the foreign countries. Good communication is required for the organisation to
follow in the international market and the marketing department has not understood yet the
appropriate communication strategy in international environment designing (March 2013).
I'll try to provide the Board of Directors a summary of the identified issues for Aldar Properties
in expanding the business and the departmental issues in the marketing department. Moreover,
the marketing department is a failure in designing organisation international environmental

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strategy. I am going to discuss the theoretical framework of the issues and the process to
redesign the internationalisation approach of the organisation with an appropriate strategy.
2. Literature review
2.1 Entering global arena
In recent times, most of the large organisations are doing business in global scale as the
awareness of global borders is reducing day-by-day. The global organisations are trying to keep
the CEO who is not from the host country and the trend is popular due to the broad marketing
aspect of the organisation. The world is developing towards the unified global field and another
factor is the world is interconnected through technology. As stated by Johnson and Mattson
(2015), development of technologies, communication, competition, transportation benefits and
landscape of marketing facilitate the international marketing of the organisations (Trudgen and
Freeman 2014). Headquarter of the organisations are trying to expand the market in global
sphere to have uniform speed in profitability and no company can escape from the global
influence.
There are certain motivations that facilitate the companies to enter the global market. The
trend of shifting the company's approach to globalisation can be reflected the shifting of the
global economy (Wach 2014). The first factor could be economies of scale as this trend started
with the Industrial Revolution as the companies were sparked by the large quantities productions
and the economic profit was larger than anything. The Economic scope is related to the offering
of the companies in the global market if the company is going to offer something new with low
cost, the economic profit will be large. The technological factor is an important motivation for
the organisation to succeed in the global sphere, in this scenario; the organisations need to

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improve the technology so that they could be entered in the global market. There are four stages
of international evolution:
Domestic International Multinational Global
Orientation Domestic Export Multinational Global
Stage of
development
Foreign
investment
Competitive
positioning
Explosion Global
Market potential Mostly domestic Large Very large Whole world
Structure Domestic
structure and
could export
International
division
Worldwide
geographic
products
Matrix
Table 1: Four Stages of International Evolution
(Source: Daft 2015)
2.2 Designing structure to fit global strategy
As opined by Waldman and Jensen (2016), when organisations try to venture into the
global market, the managers try to strive global strategy for the organisation. However, the
organisations face one issue related to the dilemma between global standardisation and national
responsiveness. Global strategies of the organisation are related to the low-cost products, high-
quality and the doing the business by merging into another organisation. When an organisation
tries to expand the business, the organisation starts to follow social and economic changes. The
organisations need to follow the international division as the organisation till now follows the
national structure for the organisation and in international structure needs to provide equal status
to the major department (Dachs et al. 2014). In addition, global product structure is commonly

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used by the managers in effective management in a variety of business in the international
sphere. This product structure provides effective control on competition in the international
market. In addition, product structure helps to keep control in production and sales around the
globe. Moreover, the organisation needs to divide the global geographic structure as this helps
the organisation to segregate the division into a geographic group by giving the functional
activities to the geography. However, in each geographic region, the companies can use different
cost, marketing and production. The growth of the organisation in each geographic region is
evaluated after the penetration of the international market. In each geographic region, the
organisation faces the issues of the legal boundary and technological limitation. In this scenario,
most of the large organisations use the Global Matrix Structure as this structure provides help in
horizontal and vertical coordination (Harrison 2017). In multinational organisations, geographic
distance has been differentiated by the coordination among the departments with making a
balance.
2.3 Building global capabilities
In order to build the global capabilities of the organisation, the organisation needs to
transfer the products, ideas and services from host country to foreign land. In this aspect, the
multinational organisations try to expand the business by increasing the capability of the
organisations. However, the challenges in expanding the business are huge:
When an organisation enters the global market, the organisation faces trouble in external
and internal levels. The organisation faces the issues related to the structure that it operates. The
changes in political, governmental, social, cultural and economic factors can impact on the
structure of the organisation (Wach 2014). The complexity will increase and the infrastructure of
the organisation related to the communication and transportation needs to be developed. The

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organisation in this scenario can develop highly with more specialised position and the
department needs to cope up with the changes.
As opined by Cavusgil et al. (2014), the organisations in foreign countries need
integration of different factors that can impact heavily on the organisation as integration can refer
to the partnership with different units in an organisation. High differentiation in the
organisational department can make issue within the firm, moreover, the operating units of each
department have a separate goal. Integration of the departments' goal is very necessary and there
could be some language barriers as well.
When an organisation starts its operation in a foreign land, the organisation sends some
of its employees to the foreign land to run their business. In this case, the transfer of knowledge
and innovation happens, however, the diversity and intercultural factor pose challenges for the
business (Dunning 2014). The employees get to learn about various capabilities through training
and each of the departments of the organisation facilitates the employees to learn skills of the
business.
2.4 Transnational model of organisation
The transnational model can address the challenges of the organisation in the
international market by creating an integrated network of operation. The philosophy of the
management could be interdependence on each department. Some of the characteristics of the
internationalisation of the organisations could be:
In a large multinational organisation, they have resources and assets dispersed in various
geographic locations and that can be linked with the interdependent relationships (Daft 2015).
The organisation tries to share the resources and capabilities worldwide so that it can flourish in

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the global market. The resources of the organisations could be technological innovations,
physical resources and human resources. Sometimes, the organisations open the cross-subsidiary;
this does the overall acts of the organisation.
Figure 1: Transnational model of organisation
(Source: Agarwal et al. 2014)
In global organisations, the structure could be flexible and ever-changing; however, the
transnational model operates in flexible centralisation. The organisation needs to decentralise the
concept of dispersed operation. In the global environment, the subsidiary managers initiate the
global strategy of the organisation where the transnational companies can use the capabilities of
the organisation to the core in order to take the opportunity (Pukall and Calabro 2014).

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3. Analysis and Restructure
3.1 Design and restructure
Aldar Properties has been thinking about to expand the business in international sector
and the marketing department could not make internationalisation strategy of the organisation.
However, the draft that has been made the marketing department needs change. The redesigning
of the international strategy can be done through identifying the internal structure of the
marketing department and external environment of Aldar Properties in the global market.
Moreover, internationalisation strategies will be formulated for the organisation so that it could
penetrate the foreign market.
Kurt Lewin’s Change Model
Kurt Lewin’s model represents the understanding of change process that can create a
perception of change in the organisational process. Aldar Properties’ intention to enter the global
market needs change in all levels of the organisation. The organisation needs to move toards the
new, intended level of behaviour and solidify the new behaviour can make the organisation
changed.

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Figure 2: Kurt Lewin’s Change Model
(Source: Burnes 2017)
Unfreezing: Before Aldar Properties could implement the changes, it must take the
initial stage that is unfreezing. Some of the employees and stakeholders can resist the changes,
therefore, the objective of the unfreezing stage is to aware the employees and stakeholders about
the current level of acceptability and status quo. The management of Aldar could monitor, old
thinking, behaviour, process and people to maintain a competitive advantage. The process of
searching for the international market could be done.
Changing: Change is the process that helps the organisation to go through the transition
(Burnes 2017). This stage is the implementation stage and employees and stakeholders struggle
for the new reality. The employees and management can face fear and uncertainty. The

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employees must give about internationalisation education, communication, structural changes
and support system for internationalisation.
Refreezing: In this stage, Aldar needs to reinforce the changes and solidify the state. The
changes need to make on the organisational process, structure, employee engagement, recruiting
and selection, management and communication. The employees need to follow the new changes
and the management needs to ensure that the organisation must come back the old days. The
changes must be cemented into the company's culture.
3.1.1 Internal structure of marketing department
The marketing department of the organisation Aldar Properties is small and the
organisation is in real estate. Moreover, the organisation has a marketing department with 6
members and there is a team leader who leads the team. In the marketing department, there is
segregation; one part does the traditional marketing and other part does digital marketing.
Marketing department had been doing the marketing research for expanding the business in
international structure and they could not follow the team leader’s opinion (Harrison 2017).
Aldar Properties organisation has strengths in the valuation of different capacities and
the organisation has a higher degree of resources. Moreover, the organisation has strength in a
good level of productivity and well defined individual competencies. Aldar Properties is a big
name in Abu Dhabi and the organisation has an effective and productive team.
On the contrary, the organisation has weaknesses in the adaptability of changes and till
now this organisation cannot expand the business in the international sector. There is a gap in the
leadership of the organisation and lack of training. Aldar Properties has limited levels of abilities
in motivating the staffs and the organisation does not have organisational policies.

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In case of opportunities, the organisation can implement the new technologies and it may
result to weaken the competition. The organisation can use the strategic visibility in real estate
and it can expand the business in the international market (Han et al. 2015).
Moreover, the organisation has threats from a high level of risks in investment and
changes of real estate positioning. In real estate market, the organisation has been facing the
threat of changing of real estate market.
Strengths
 Valuation of different capacities
 A Higher degree of resources.
 Good level of productivity
 Well defined individual competencies.
 Aldar Properties is a big name in Abu
Dhabi and the organisation has an
effective and productive team
Weaknesses
 Adaptability of changes and till now
this organisation cannot expand the
business in the international sector.
 Gap in leadership of the organisation
 Lack of training.
 Limited levels of abilities in motivating
the staffs
 It does not have organisational policies
Opportunities
 Implementing new technologies
 It may result to weaken the competition
 It can use the strategic visibility in real
estate
 It can expand the business in
international market
Threats
 High level of risks in investment
 Changes in real estate positioning
 Changing of real estate market
Table 2: SWOT analysis

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(Source: Self-developed)
3.1.2 External environment of Aldar Properties
In the understanding of the Aldar Properties condition in expanding in the international
market, the condition of external environment needs to understand. In this regard, political
condition of the or the real estate industry in Europe, the laws, taxes and government rules are
not helpful for the Middle East companies to flourish in the European country. There are certain
conditions for the companies that want to business in European countries as EU puts some
political issues. In economic condition, the GDP, inflation rate and disposable income of
European countries have been rose (Alvesson and Sevingsson 2015). In this regard, the housing
market has been crashed in last few years; however, the market is trying to take the ladder. The
social condition of the people who can purchase the property has been changing from the
perspectives of the population growth and changes in preferences. In addition, the technological
factors in the real estate industry have been enforced typical changes as the organisations are
trying to use technologies in running of the business and they can use technologies in the
building of the projects.
(Porter’s Five Forces and PEST analysis are attached in Appendices)
3.1.3 Structural dimension
Organisational dimension is of two types, one is structural dimension and other is the
contextual dimension of the organisation (Searle 2014). In order to expand the business in the
international market, the organisation can follow the structural dimension; the first part of
dimension is formalisation. In the formalisation, stage includes the procedure of working, job
description, policy manuals and regulations. Specialisation is the process in which organisation

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tasks can be divided into a subcategory of the organisation and the employees have to perform
the narrow range of the tasks in the foreign lands. In Aldar Properties, the organisation follows
the vertical structure and in the top of the position, there is Board of Director. Hierarchy of
Authority can check the span of working at each level of the organisation structure. In addition,
centralisation refers to the hierarchical level when the hierarchy can follow the basic decision of
the organisation. Professionalism in the Aldar Properties is seen and in expanding the business,
the organisation needs to educate the employees with training. The last factor of structural
dimension model is related to the personnel ratios and it refers to the deployment of the
employees in various sections.
3.1.4 Redesign of international environment for Aldar Properties
International Company Structure:
Aldar Properties needs to change the structure of the organisation as the organisation
follows simple vertical structure. In expanding the business in the international sphere, the
organisation needs to follow complex matrix structure (Daft 2015). The structure could follow an
effective multinational structure and each of the geographical location can oversee by the
president.
Functional structure: Aldar Properties can make the structure of international
companies which have diverse products. In each geographical location, there should be one head
and each head could have duplicate functions. The functional structure of the organisation can be
grouped according to the traditional business and these are an ideal for narrow services offering
with sharing similar technology. In functional structure, authority is centralised, however,

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communications are slow. The functional structure will give Aldar Properties’ managers the
experience of one field only.
Team structure: Aldar Properties can also maintain team structure as it has separate
functions on one objective. The cross-functional teams are made of members from different
departments from different cultures that can help to solve the issues and explore the
opportunities. In international business, the region-centric approach of recruitment of Aldar can
help them to break the functional barriers.
Cost calculation and global pricing:
In the Abu Dhabi, the organisation has been following the price for the services and
designs. In this regard, the organisation needs to change the cost-calculation strategy as the
economic condition will change when the organisation will enter a new market. The cost of
Aldar Properties' services will influence the branding of the organisation in the different market
of global scenario. Aldar Properties can use predictive pricing as this pricing helps the
organisation to look ahead to business and use custom segmentation.
In order to set the prices for the organisation in a different market, the finance team of
Aldar Properties needs to understand the currency rates in the different market. The currency
rates fluctuation is obvious in a different market and it is one of the challenging business
scenarios for the business (Dunning 2014). In addition, the finance team needs to evaluate the
global economic volatility in order to understand the currency rate. Moreover, in the opening of
the branch in the global scenario, the organisation needs to start to use the universal payment
method. The Board of Directors needs to determine the payment method that is acceptable for
the business to trade internationally.

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3.2 Monitoring process
In monitoring of the redesign of the international expansion of the business strategy, the
organisation Aldar Properties can clarify the intended outcomes when the organisation is going
to implement the process and the objectives of the changes required. The intended outcomes of
the redesign of the strategy of internationalisation have been goal-oriented of the organisation.
The overall outcomes of the business can monitor the organisational changes with monitoring the
employees' values.
The management of Aldar Properties needs to discuss the changes and the
internationalisation policies with the stakeholders of the organisation, customers, Board of
Directors, government, suppliers and employees. The final method for prioritising, identifying
and understanding of the redesign of the changes should come from the monitoring of
stakeholders.
Monitoring can be done by communicating the redesign process to all levels of
employees and the management can take the feedbacks (Searle 2014). The reinforcing the core
messages of the design would be difficult for the management. Therefore, soliciting and
incorporating others’ communication could be assistance for the design plan to be fruitful.
4. Recommendations
a) Partnering for growth
In starting a business in the European countries, it will not be easy for Aldar Properties in
doing it singlehandedly. In this case, it is recommended the organisation to make a partnership
with any real estate company in the European region and in this arrangement of partnership, the
organisation can agree to cooperate themselves in mutual interests.

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b) Cultural diversity within organisation
In Abu Dhabi, the most of the employees from the Aldar Properties are from Muslim
religion, however, when it will expand into European region, the organisation needs to follow the
cultural diversity and it would help the organisation to make the organisation non-discriminatory.
The organisation must attract the values and ceremonies of all religions and the favouritism will
not be entertained.
c) Corporate strategy should be geocentric approach in international business
Aldar Properties needs to follow the communication and cultural barriers in the opening
of the business in different areas of the world. The organisation is thinking of opening of a
branch in Europe, hence the cultural differences would be obvious. The communication barriers
will be solved through workplace management and training. The Aldar Properties management
can use the geocentric approach in recruiting of the people and it would provide benefit to the
organisation as it provides different styles of communication. The expertise of each manager can
be utilised in accomplishing Aldar Properties objective as a whole.
5. Conclusions
It has been noticed that Aldar Properties has been planning to enter the global market and
this report has explored the Aldar Properties redesign structure in the strategy of
internationalisation that could help the organisation in designing the organisation for the
international environment. Aldar Properties has been doing well in the Abu Dhabi section and it
is taking the leap in expanding the business in the international section. The internationalisation
strategy had been formulating the marketing department; however, they could not devise the
international environment design. Aldar Properties needs changes in the organisational structure

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as the functional and team structure to be global. Aldar Properties follows local structure;
however, it is needed to follow international structure. Global pricing is needed for the
organisation to go for global as the cost calculation would be changed. Aldar Properties needs
partners in the international sector that could help the organisation to flourish and they need
restructuring workplace diversity.

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Task 2: Professional Development Portfolio
1. Introduction
Professional development activities are related to the systematic and ongoing evaluation
process that helps to review the professional development of an individual (Johnson 2014). I am
currently working as Manager GIS in a real estate organisation in Abu Dhabi. My working
department in the organisation is Designing and Master Planning Department and the
responsibility of this department is to acquire geographic information. I have been working this
organisation since 2010 and before that, I had worked as GIS Engineer. I have Land Surveying
Diploma and I have successfully completed B Sc. in Surveying and Geomatics Engineering
(GIS). Currently, I am pursuing MBA in order to be a manager. I am self-motivated, results-
driven and highly versatile persons as I realised this in my academic lives. I have had solid
educational training and hands-on experience in Geomatics in large multinational companies
throughout the Middle East. I already have acquired 13 years of experiences in the GIS field,
analysis and development. I have extensive experience in land information, property registration,
and strata division. I have knowledge of ArcGIS Server, ArcGIS Desktop and Portal for ArcGIS.
In addition, I have a graduate degree in Geomatics Engineering; however, I am doing MBA in
order to acquire my knowledge in management. I want to shine in management career as in
management; I will get a chance to work in the business field and that will give me the
opportunity to stretch across any industry and sector. My career options are going to vary in
choosing of MBA. In professional development plan, I want to be in the business management
sector and work as a manager in the large multinational organisation in which I will get a chance
to manage a team. I am trying to decide on the area I want to work. I want to get the relevant

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work experience. GIS career provides me with the chance of exploring the great outdoors and it
gives me competitive salaries.
In my school and universities life, there have been various extra-co curricular activities
such as taking a role in a team and maintaining membership in a team also. These types of
activities helped me in team building capacity and I have managed to acquire commercial skills
in my GIS management. I have completed my courses in Microsoft, in which I acquired my
knowledge in GIS. I am from geography background and in my career geography plays an
integral part of my career. In my career of MBA, I could shine in the real estate, retail, logistics,
and natural resources organisations. In this spheres, the organisations faced the issues in
recruiting the best candidates as the candidates with strong spatial skills are rare. In doing the
MBA in order to increase my chance in making a career as managers in organisations as it
provides high salary potential, be the boss of own organisation, better career opportunities, it is
ideal for networking and it provides flexibility in working as managers. Moreover, in my
workplace, I have faced the issues while managing a team under me. I have issues in
communication and in GIS career; I have faced the issues in work-life balance. In my present
career, I have realised that it would be difficult for me to work in abroad, in doing MBA, it may
give me chance to flourish my career in aboard also.
In this professional development plan, self-reflection of me and the focus of this section
will be on the tools to evaluate my professional compatibility and professional development
issues as well. In this section, self-tests will be conducted in order to understand the potentiality
as a manager and an action plan will also be given in order to achieve the professional goal.

26STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
2. Critical Reflection
In an organisation, the managers view the world through various mental frames. The first
one is about the structural frame and in this perspective managers see the organisation as a
machine. The organisation needs to be economically efficient with the routine task. In the human
resource frame, managers see the organisation as people and the managers try to provide
empowerment and support to the employees. In addition, the political frame of the manager
observes the organisation as competition for scarce of resources. Lastly, in the symbolic frame,
the managers try to put emphasis on culture, vision and inspiration (Walsh and Craig 2016). In
my perspective, my strongest skill is interpersonal skill and technical expert is the best thing to
describe me. People in the workplace are most likely to notice my concern to other people as I
am sympathetic to other people and my leadership trait is caring and supporting others. In
understanding the stable or uncertain position in an organisation, I have been working on
mindfulness in the organisation. Though I believe that in organisational condition, most of the
organisations are uncertain in nature and it is a very important factor that one must be mindful in
the work. In under pressure, I always try to bring out the best in me and sometimes I asked dumb
questions in the meeting. I try to remain calm on the controversial topic in the workplace and this
has been me since my childhood. In my workplace, most of the works do not go through
traditional way and I have to perform technological expertise. However, in an uncertain
environment, I try to facilitate new thinking, new ways and new ideas.
I always try to go for personal networking as this networking helps me in building a
personal rapport with the other employees. In an organisation, it is helpful for the employees to
build workplace relationship and I network to help others in solving the issues. I try to join the
professional groups and I sometimes talk with peers in other organisations also. Recent

27STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
organisational structure follows the inter-organisational partnerships. Networking helps to build
a social relationship, career relationship and facilitate mutual benefits. Actually, I do not have to
do sales contract in my own career as I am in GIS sector, however, in communicating with some
other people for selling products or manipulate the people, I will face the issue on this section. I
am not very outspoken kind of person and I am not the very good listener. I have patience in my
work and a bit argumentative in order to convince others. In addition, sometimes, I run late for
the meeting and office as I have a bit time management skills. I always have better knowledge in
subjective cases in my professional life. I always try to understand the subject matter at the core
and try to make the decision carefully weigh each option I have. In my career, I try to check the
options I have, therefore, I selected to study MBA when I thought I have got stuck in my career.
My work style is concentrating on one task at a time because, in multitasking, I could not focus
all at a time; most importantly juggling in work is not my way of work. As stated by Nicholls
(2014), people have two thinking way, intuitive and visual and people have different types of
knowledge, technical, quantitative data and analytical information.
In setting a goal for my career and for my life, I have always been set clear and specific
objectives before me that I have to achieve within a time frame. I set definite outcomes in life
that I want to achieve and I choose general goals. I make a plan at the beginning of each week
that I have to follow, sometimes, out of work pressure; I cannot follow all the planning.
However, this type of plan helps me to make work-life balance and achieve my desired goals. As
opined by Dixon et al. (2014), a significant part of organisational life is measuring the results
from the goal settings, without objective, one cannot grow within a workplace. Progressive
people must set a goal and try to overcome the loopholes in the career. In my organisation, there
is no goal setting and review system for my performance, I generally go to my supervisors and

28STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
ask them to give feedback on my performance to judge my development. In addition, I prefer
predictability and stability in my career and the organisation I work for. However, I am always
ready for the change and service is an important determinant of promotion and pay. Before I
make a contract with an organisation for employment purposes, I want to be sure that the
organisation provides benefits to me to develop my career. I have been working in a large
organisation that has its branch in different parts of UAE. The Large organisation provides extra
benefits and it is well-established, it is stable and it has rules (Knobel and Kalman 2016). In an
organisation, I do not feel attached to the organisation as family and I think organisation as
adaptability culture where the organisation is changing and dynamic. People have to take risks
and management style is characterised by teamwork.
3. Focused areas of development in professional life
Talents or strengths Development areas
Knowledge and experience in my GIS
Open-minded and working in large
organisation
Comfortable taking risks
Working in team
Theoretical knowledge
Subjective knowledge
Managing in change situation
Communication skills
Enhance leadership qualities
Developing time-management skills
Cross-functional expertise
Developing strategic thinking
Table: My strengths and development areas
(Source: Self-developed)

29STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
Communication: I have an issue in communicating with seniors as I am a bit reserved
and introvert type. I feel lack of confidence when I need to communicate to my seniors for my
own purposes. I am less manipulative and I don't indulge in corporate politics. I have an issue
with the listening capability and my mind diverts sometimes when I am in a meeting.
Leadership: Since my childhood, I have always been a team player and I can perform
well when I work in a team. In leading a time, I face lack of confidence and in goal setting, I can
set goals for my own purposes, however, for a team purposes, it has always been an issue.
Decision-making skill should be improved.
Time-management: I have an issue when I have a meeting or early arrival at the office
as I have a problem in time management. I have to make a schedule for my time and work should
be done like.
Strategic thinking: I am proceeding to be a manager, therefore, strategic thinking
capability should be developed from my side. I have prejudged the situation for my organisation
and take decision according to it. Strategic thinking comes from experience in the field and
reading books of management can give theoretical knowledge.
Cross-functional expertise: In a role of a manager, I have to manage a team where there
should be people with different functional expertise. The team must work toward a common
goal. In managing a cross-functional team, I have issue leading a team with diverse knowledge. I
have to understand marketing, finance, HR, operations and many other spheres.
Financial knowledge: In the financial knowledge, I have to develop my ideas of
financial knowledge. My area of expertise is GIS and I am gaining knowledge in management,

30STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
however, I don't have enough knowledge in finance. I have to gain knowledge in a simple
calculation of cost-profit analysis or making a small budget for my team or organisation.
4. Conclusion
Developing professional development plan helps a person to understand the strengths and
weaknesses in themselves. In analysing my career and objectives in my life, I have recognised
my own strengths and functional areas and what I want in my own life. I have to improve my
communication skills and presentation skills with leadership qualities. In presenting a role of a
manager, it is very important that I have financial knowledge; However, I will develop myself in
setting a professional development plan with short, mid and long-term ways. Before that, I would
like to set a trainer or motivator who can train me and enlighten me for development of my
career in management.

Running head: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
PDP Action Plan
Short-term goals
Target Actions to achieve Target time frame (within 3
months)
Evidence of completion
1. Time-management skills
2. Leadership skills
 Set deadlines in work
 Stop doing multitasking
 Delegate responsibilities
 Use the downtime
 Reward yourself
 Have clear vision
 Be passionate
 Maintain positive attitude
 Speak to leaders and
mentor
 Live accordance with
moral
01.01.2018- 01.04.2018 Reached the office on time
Finish the work on time
High morale
Enhance knowledge
Mid-term goals
Target Actions to achieve Target time frame (within 6
months)
Evidence of completion
1. Communication skills
2. Cross-functional expertise
management
 Listen to others carefully
 Body language
improvement
 Be specific in
communication
 Think before speaking
 Short course on
communication skills
 Gain knowledge in
different department
 Trying to gain knowledge
in subjective matter in
different section
Within first six months of 2018 Improved communication with
seniors
High confidence level
Improved public speaking
Improved presentation skills
Improved negotiation skills
Gaining knowledge in different
spheres of organisation
Long-term goals
Target Actions to achieve Target time frame (within 12 Evidence of completion

1STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
months)
1. Managing change
2. Financial knowledge
3. Strategic thinking
 Face the fears
 Confront the feelings
 Be flexible
 Communicate the ideas
 Be part of the change
 Take short courses on
professional finance
 Take help from finance
guy
 Read subjective books
 Communicate with leaders
 Online tests on strategic
thinking
By the end of 2018 Facilitate the change
Improved in confidence
Gaining knowledge about finance
Strategic knowledge about
management
Gaining knowledge about roles of
managers
Table: Professional Development Plan
(Source: Self-developed)

Running head: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
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