PERSONAL

DEVELOPMENT
Task 1

Analyze the self managed learning approaches and identify the benefits it brings to the
organization. Propose ways that can be used by an individual regarding self managed learning
for own development.

Approaches to self managed learning

Self-managed learning is a way in which individuals can manage their own learning. This means
organizations can have self-managed learning programmers that fit within their structure and
ensure staff is developing in a certain direction; or individuals can take responsibility for
decisions about what and how they learn, and when and where they learn. Self-managed learning
programs can be designed and developed, allowing individuals to lead and manage themselves
through learning, so that can continue to extend their repertoire of capabilities without the need
to necessarily be reliant on another human resource to teach or manage their learning. It is a form
of development where we take the initiative in learning new skills, knowledge and attitudes with
the support of the organization.

Following are some of the methods that can be used by individuals as a source for self managed
learning.

 Internet

A Personal Learning Environment is comprised of all the different Internet tools we can use for
learning. Social software is increasingly being used in education and training through such
applications as web logs, wikis, tools and applications for creating and sharing multimedia and
tools for sharing all kinds of different personal knowledge bases including bookmarks and book
collections. Examples of the software you can use for your personal learning environment
include a word processor, an e-mail client for communication, a Web browser, making
multimedia presentations, a content management system for creating websites, a photo editing
program and sharing service.

 Seminars and conferences

A wealth of knowledge usually, presented by many speakers at one time in one place A lot of
"learning" at one clip, with most material compressed into two or three days' worth of time.
Seminars and conferences gives people the opportunity to present their knowledge about
something to other people who end up learning new things. Seminars and conferences helps
people becoming confident in speaking in the public and develops presentation skills which are
needed in the organization
Benefits of Self managed learning to an organization

Organization try to make sure their objectives are met and such objectives need to be SMART
(specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time bound), this is by evaluating the qualities
and expectations they need from the staff to those whom they have contracted with in achieving
such objectives. They need staffs that have potential skills such as leadership skills, time
management, and team player. Writing and communication skills, ambitious etc, such skills
could be linked with objectives of the organization.
The first benefit of self managed learning is that it helps the employees to adapt to change. Most
of the organizations face difficulties in managing change which impacts their performances
drastically. This could be avoided when the employees have a self disciplined learning approach.
A lifelong learner will keep up with society by staying current and aware of changes in such
areas as technology, news and political trends or finance and money issues. We adapt and grow
and seem to thrive on staying up on the latest technology. Those learners look for opportunities
to embrace the new technologies.
The hugest benefit of self managed learning is that it enriches and fulfills the lives of employees.
To people for whom continuing education, they can look forward to active and meaningful lives.
We all have subjects in which we are interested in. A learner uses opportunities to explore these
topics which they find compelling. The end result can be less stress on the body, in the home or
most importantly at workplace.
Task 2
Construction of own personal development plan
Everyone should develop personal and professional development plan to find out what are the
required skill is necessary for the long term development in life. Education is the initial stage of
our life to acquire knowledge and skill and professional life is stage where we can implement
those knowledge and skill, Professional life is also help us to enhance our existing skill and
knowledge. Personal development plan will analyze our skills, values, interest and knowledge.
We will also find out the gaps and develop the action plan for further development on that sector.
This will show us a clear path for our future career progression in professional life.

Career Selection

Currently I’m a Senior HR executive and I like to become the head of HR department in the
future.HR is one of the most important roles in a company. My next step is to become a HR
manager. It’s a very important role because he/she deals with human resource which is one of the
most intangible valuable assets for the company. Organization success completely depends on
the employee performance and human resource manager play an important to enhance those
performances. One of the important roles of HR manager is to develop the organizational
structure on which organization run successfully.
There are several reasons why I choose HR manager as my career and they are described below:

 Each of the organization has employee and to manage the employee organization need a
department named as HR department. All over the world each of the organization has its
own HR department, so there is ample of job opportunities around the globe. This will
ensure me a secure job for a smooth transition in my career.

 HR management role is very challenging job and much passionate about to take very
challenging job role.

 HR manager plays a significant role for development of organizational policy that is one
of the integral parts for organization to run in a very smooth way.
Short term plans
Short term career planning means to develop a career plan a shorter time period. In the short term
development plan I will start with the self-evaluation process. I will evaluate my personality
skills by self-evaluation process. In the self-evaluation process I will conduct self-analysis where
I will find what my interests, values, skill and personality is. One the other side I will conduct an
occupational analysis. In this process I will try to find out what qualification is required and what
the occupational trend in the industry is. In this stage I also select my goals what I want to
achieve in the short term and long term.
Long term plan

Long term usually refer to career plan for a longer period of time. I want to practice my career as
a HR manager. In this time period I want to conceptualized all the HR skills and learn all the
tools and techniques during my work tenure. My long term plan is to learn all the industry HR
management skill, tools and techniques. Different industry has different organizational structure,
recruitment, training process, appraisal system, policy development techniques and some other
HR factors.
Hence I need to concentrate and develop the skills that are required to fulfill my responsibilities.
I found that following are the skills required for my current and further career development.
Handle and manage difficult employee.
Develop and consistent positive attitude
Good verbal and communicational skill
Efficient conflict of interest management skill
Good negotiation skill and negotiate with more confidence
Effective learning and listening skill
Develop and conduct performance appraisal
Good supervision skill
Good knowledge about HR policy
Efficient and effective implementation skill
Complete understand about the HR rule and laws

My Self evaluation

In order to come up with a proper plan, I must know what are my current capabilities, what is the
skill level needed to achieve the tasks and responsibilities and what I should do to mitigate the
gap between and current and expected outcomes. To find the answer to this, I must do a self
evaluation of myself.

In the self-evaluation process one can easily find out what the skills the individuals have and
what are the skills the individual need to acquire more. For self-assessment I use SWOT analysis
tools and techniques that are described below.
Strength: My main strength is to handle difficult people. I believe that I can effectively supervise
the difficult people as a HR manager. I have the positive attitude for any difficult work to be
handled more effectively. I can solve critical problem more effectively. I have strong
communication skill both written and verbally. I can also handle the conflict management more
effectively. I have also good negation skill that one HR manager should have during the salary
selection. I am very good at work prioritization, that means how to evaluate each of the jobs
effectively and which work need to be perform first.
Weakness: I have few weaknesses also. I need to develop my presentation skill that is required
for employee training process. I have less customer service skill and I’m not too much friendly
with people. Again my selling skill is not that much effective. I feel difficult to handle too much
stress but I need to develop this skill because in HR management there are lots of works which
create stress. I have very little knowledge in conducting performance appraisal. I need to know
how the performance appraisal is conducted. I’m also poor in networking development with
people.
Opportunities: There are lots of opportunities in HR sector. Each of the organization has HR
department. So there are lots of job opportunities all over the world. So that is one of the biggest
opportunities to select a career in HR department. I will graduate in business administration and
I have some knowledge and skill from my university and with the initial amount of knowledge
and skill in HR I can easily apply for jobs in initial entry level jobs.
Threats: HR career is one of the most tentative careers for student, who is studying in business
administration. HR job has a huge demand all over the world. So this is a big threat. Since the
supply is very high in the market, I need to be extremely competitive in my profile to outperform
other candidates. At the same time I need to keep on perform well in a consistent manner to
climb the ladder in the corporate world.

Task 3

New skills and competencies I have gained

Due to all these self managed learning techniques I have gone through, I have gained lots of
skills and competencies in my chosen filed. The following mentioned are some of them.

Competencies I have improved

 Organizational competencies

Organizational competencies relate to the ability to effectively organize and manage work and
work-related activities. I have become more efficient and effective in the work that I do
comparing to my previous state due to the learning I have gone through.

 Leadership Competencies

Leadership competencies are skills required to lead others. This is highly required at the
managers and supervisors level. However, I have been able to develop leadership skills in myself
to influence my coworkers or to work effectively as part of a team. Leadership competencies
may include the ability to provide effective feedback, give clear direction or evaluate the
performance of others.

 Interpersonal Competencies

Interpersonal competencies are skills required to get along effectively with others. I lack this
competency earlier. However, I have been able to develop this competency level in myself now.
These others may be internal (fellow employees) or external (customers) to an organization. This
has helped to develop my skills in listening non-defensively, and teamwork and customer service
skills.

 Intellectual Competencies

Intellectual competencies can be defined as what the employee needs to know to perform the
functions of the job. Hence, I have gained the industry knowledge, background and expertise in
the relevant field. An accountant, for example, needs to be good with numbers. A writer needs to
have strong spelling and grammar skills. Hence a person in the HR field, I have been able to gain
the knowledge regarding the labour laws and regulations, different acts, employee grievance
handling and more.
  Self management Competencies

I have been able to direct myself toward the accomplishment of goals and specific work
assignments. I have also become competent in making effective judgments, the ability to adapt
and be flexible as new requirements emerge, and the ability to effectively plan and organize my
work to achieve required results.

Time management skills

Time management” refers to the way that I organize and plan how long I spend on specific
activities. Due to enhanced time management skill I have gained following benefits as shown.

o Greater productivity and efficiency

However due to lack of this skill I used to face below difficulties before.

o Missed deadlines
o Inefficient workflow
o Poor work quality
o Higher stress level

Skill and ability to work with others to achieve group goals

I have gained following skills improved which are very vital in working for an organization.
Because working with other people is vital to achieve the overall goal of the firm.

 Flexibility:

Being “likable” or having a “good personality” are highly contingent and context dependant
attributes. Supreme communicators have a keen ability to shift gears when the context calls for
it, and a deep well of communication options to choose from. This way, I have been able to
respond accordingly to what the current situation requires.

 Genuine interests in others

People know when you’re truly interested in them, If you’re not showing a genuine interest –
asking thoughtful questions and considering about their answers – your interaction can actually
have an opposite effect to the one intended. Hence I always take care to remember names, dates
and important life events.
  The ability to persuade others

There’s a good chance that at some point in your career you’ll have to sell others on your ideas,
products or services. Hence having a good people skill will facilitate this task.

 Good Judgment

Good judgment is a key people skill that comes directly from learning, listening to others and
observing the world around you, It allows me to wisely select friends and associates, determine
reactions and responses, and make sound decisions.

 Negotiation skills

Good negotiating skills are beneficial with both internal and external discussions. Internally, job
offers and salary discussions greatly benefit from solid negotiating, as well as when it’s time to
pitch a new idea or sway coworkers to your way of thinking. Externally, both vendors and
customers often require negotiations and you can really become the hero when you are
successful in either scenario.
Reference

 Maslow, A. H. (1996). Higher motivation and the new psychology. In E. Hoffman (Ed.),
Future visions: The unpublished papers of Abraham Maslow. Thousands Oaks, CA:
Sage, page 89
 Albert Bandura (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: Freeman
 Bennett, Elisabeth E. (2009). Virtual HRD: The intersection of knowledge management,
culture, and intranets. Advances in Developing Human Resources,
 Stevens, Michael J.; Campion, Michael A. (1994). "The Knowledge, Skill, and Ability
Requirements for Teamwork: Implications for Human Resource Management". Journal of
Management