DEVELOPING PERSONAL AND MANAGEMENT SKILLS

SUGGESTED STRUCTURE FOR THE

PORTFOLIO OF PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT TASKS

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ARDEN UNIVERSITY

BA (HONS) BUSINESS

DEVELOPING PERSONAL AND MANAGEMENT SKILLS

PORTFOLIO OF PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT TASKS

Word Count

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 Table of Contents

Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 4

Task 1 ......................................................................................................................................... 4

Overview of Management and leadership ............................................................................. 4

Reflection on own management, leadership and learning styles ........................................... 5

Summary .................................................................................................................................... 6

Action plan ................................................................................................................................. 6

Reflection on own learning style ............................................................................................... 6

Personal Development Plan: Template ...................................................................................... 7

TASK 2 .................................................................................................................................... 13

Supportive communication .................................................................................................. 13

Motivation ............................................................................................................................ 14

Empowerment ...................................................................................................................... 15

Conflict Management........................................................................................................... 16

Team Effectiveness .............................................................................................................. 17

Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 17

References ................................................................................................................................ 19

APPENDIX 1:.......................................................................................................................... 20

SKILLS AUDIT TEMPLATE ............................................................................................. 20

APPENDIX 2:.......................................................................................................................... 24

SWOT ANALYSIS ............................................................................................................. 24

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Introduction

What distinguishes a leader from a manager is their level of experience. In general, experience

is gained through a variety of conditions and situations in the past, present, and future. As a

result, learning can be seen as a constant process of improving one's strengths and flaws to

attain continuous development. I have developed my leadership and management skills for

several experiences which I have had in my workplace along with my style of learning as well.

Concrete experience is followed by introspective observation, abstract conceptualization, and

active exploration, with a total of four components.

Reflecting on my leadership style would not only help me realize how successful it has been

but also how it might be improved shortly. I've done various leadership assessments to figure

out my strengths and shortcomings, as well as my leadership style. The outcomes of those tests

were used to analyse my leadership problems and suggest ways to enhance them. I have also

completed a skills audit followed by a SWOT analysis of myself to understand my different

aspects.

Task 1

Overview of Management and leadership

Management can be regarded as the particular activity of setting and organization strategy as

well as coordinating the efforts which are put by individual employees for accomplishing and

achieving the goals and objectives of the organization. The objectives of the organization can

be achieved through the implementation of resources available including manpower,

technological resources as well as capital. Management involves the coordination of 5 activities

including planning at the first step, organizing at the second, staff at the third, leading at the

fourth, and controlling at the fifth step (Boon, 2021).

Leadership on the other hand can be regarded as something very different from management

as it involves leading an individual group of people within an organization or out of it.

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Leadership is the ability of an individual to influence others as well as guide them regarding

their right path. The philosophy of leadership states that it is a system of belief that guides the

process of decision-making for individuals.

Reflection on own management, leadership and learning styles

The Gibbs reflective cycle can be used to understand my experience of developing

management and leadership styles:

Description

I began by employing the authoritarian style of leadership and management, which was

successful in a few situations but not in the majority of them, and then I moved on to the

democratic style of leadership and management, which fostered a sense of carelessness as well

decreased efficiency and production among employees. The level of commitment was also

quite low, necessitating the use of a transformative leadership style.

Feelings

Individual leaders, according to what I feel, are responsible for setting a vision for the future

and motivating their followers to accomplish it through the development of individual team

members through transformational leadership and management. As a result, I felt like not only

supporting those around me but also inspiring and motivating them to make inventive new

improvements that will help shape and build the organization's success, as well as their success.

Evaluation

My leadership and management style has evolved through time since I first imposed an

authoritarian leadership style, but as I learned and unlearned new things, my leadership style

changed as well. As a result, rather than delegating authority to everyone, I began to use the

transformational leadership style, in which I let everyone work independently so that they could

have complete autonomy. My scores on the various leadership and management exams have

been more than average, indicating that I have a transformational leadership style. Self-

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confidence and a positive attitude are two of the most fundamental attributes of successful

leaders.

Summary

I concluded that When I first started working with my juniors in my previous workplace, I

would normally delegate the least amount of authority. I used to make all the decisions, and

the juniors had to carry out my orders, but as time went on, I realized that they, too, require

their level of drive and authority to perform as successfully and efficiently as possible. As a

result, I decided to change my leadership style to complete the project and to motivate and

support team members while offering suitable guidance.

Action plan

I started incorporating a new style of leadership but one of the challenges I encountered

throughout the transition to a new leadership style was that different projects require different

leadership styles, and as a result, I was unable to apply the democratic style of leadership. As

a result, I established a transformational leadership style, which normally fluctuates depending

on the situation and the project's requirements. The four aspects that make up the

transformative leadership style and are a part of my action plan are:

F1: idealized influences are as follows.

F2: invigorating motive.

F3: stands for "intellectual stimulation."

F4: taking into account persons

Reflection on own learning style

My learning style is based upon Kolb's Theory of Learning styles as I believe that my learning

styles have emerged not only because of my genetics but also, I have had in life followed by

the need to meet the current demands of my environment.

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Personal Development Plan: Template

What is my development What activities do I need to What support/resources do I The target date The actual date

objectives? undertake to achieve my need to achieve my objectives for achieving my of achieving my

objectives? objectives objectives

Improvement in my ● It should be very ● In a face-to-face 25th April 2022 20th April 2022

communication skills. important for me to conversation, I will not

listen well because for require any kind of

me to be a good resource.

communicator I have to ● In indirect

listen to the set of communication, I will

instructions most require good

effectively and connectivity along with

efficiently. proper technology and

● I should always try to devices for

develop personal communication.

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 relationships and ties ● I will also require

with the people that I confidence as an

engage in inherited resource

communication with. followed by individual

● I should follow A sound employees to talk with

body language and must and understand my

take notes along with communication skills

watching the tones. and their success rate.

Encourage my team members as ● Is very important for me ● To make the schedule I 30th April 2022 30th April 2022

well as motivation. to set goals that are will need a diary as well

clearer as it will not as a calendar for writing

only help me to get a my feelings about every

better vision of day of my

everyday activities but accomplishments as

also for my long-term well as marking the

date.

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 and short-term goals as ● I should give myself

well. small treats upon

● I should always focus completion of small

on what is my priority tasks and activities.

rather than privatizing

others over myself.

● I should always reward

myself for achieving

small activities and

milestones. This will

not only help me to be

motivated but also

improve the urge to

complete my activities.

Improvement in my self- ● I should give 1 hour to ● I will require a personal 20th May 2022 25th May 2022

awareness component myself every day after trainer for meditation

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 waking up from sleep to who can guide me in the

meditate. This will help process and practices.

me to focus on myself ● To take the

as well as improve my psychometric test I will

overall awareness. require a computer as

● I should always take well as a stable internet

psychometric tests often connection.

to understand how ● I will also require my

aware I am about colleagues as an added

myself and if there are additional source of

any hidden or manpower for me to

undiscovered portions accomplish this

of me. objective through their

● I should try to get feedback and changing

regular feedback from myself accordingly.

my colleagues at work.

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Effective and efficient ● I should always start ● Smart devices. 25th May 2022 25th May 2022

improvement in my time whatever task that has ● Time audit

management skills been provided to me as development

early as possible ● Using the 80/20 rule.

without waiting for

others to start along

with me.

● I should try to give

myself breaks and not

overboard and myself

with long hours of

work.

● I should your smart

devices and technology

to help me and give

notification upon the

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 completion of different

tasks.

Improvement in my emotional ● I should always try to ● Inherit motivation. 30th March 2022 15th April 2022

intelligence skills. respond during any kind ● Inherit passion.

of conflict rather than ● Inherit social skills.

just reacting to it with

my conflict resolution

strategies.

● I should always keep

my mind free and have

a positive attitude at

work.

● Criticism must be taken

positively and I should

work on them.

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TASK 2

Supportive communication

In stress, sadness, physical and mental distress, and other stressful stages of life, supportive

communication refers to linguistic and nonverbal support. The purpose of this help is to help

people in need of your help. For example, supportive communication can be used to help people

deal with emotions such as anger, frustration, pain, and even physical distress. Individuals may

seek supportive communication from family, friends, and other trusted sources if they are

unwilling to deal with the problem on their own. Individuals, such as relatives and friends, may

contact people in need of support (Ramadanty and Martinus, 2016).

There are some different types of supportive communication.

Emotional: Such supportive communication is used to help individuals facing emotional

discomfort. Many environmental causes can cause emotional discomfort, some of which are

explained above, but they are all emotional stressors. It is intended to help emotional suffering,

but it cannot help physical pain.

Esteem: In contrast to emotionally supportive communication, grateful supportive

communication will encourage the poor at different levels. This form of support will enhance

one's feelings towards oneself (Gad Elbeheri, Reid and Everatt, 2018). When a supporter

identifies the need for social support, the supporter emphasizes the person's achievements,

talents, and/or attributes to provide support.

Network: This type of supportive communication is a type of communication that gives people

the feeling that they belong to a community of people who may have experienced the same

difficulties as they do now. This can be determined by forming a support group with someone

who is already known, or by joining a support group that specializes in the type of support that

person needs.

Advantages and Disadvantages

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Supportive communication seeks to ensure that workers' relationships are not compromised

when management or other workers need to rebuke or point out misbehaviour. Social media

not only provides a platform for exchanging information but also a platform for finding

supportive communication. Positive affirmations and social media communication are linked

to positive psychological interests and encourage communication concepts that are effective in

emotional circumstances.

The problem with this type of communication is that is both parties do not listen properly then

a conflict gets created.

HSBC is a bank in the UK that has a very good environment that provides good support to the

employees working there. They listen to their employees' demands and act on them giving the

employees opportunities to grow.

Motivation

Motivation comes from the term motivation to describe a person's needs, desires, desires, or

drives. It's a process that motivates people to take action to reach their goals. Motivation

consists of biological, emotional, social, and cognitive variables that promote behaviour. The

term "motivation" is often colloquially used to describe why someone is doing something. It is

the driving force of human behaviour (Evans, 2016).

When action is necessary, motivation might be intrinsic. If the agent's purpose is to acquire

extrinsic benefits separate from the action, it is intrinsic because it is essentially engaging or

amusing. It has been proven that intrinsic motivation produces greater results than extrinsic

motivation. Agents' motivational moods may also be characterised based on whether or not

they are completely aware of why they act the way they do. This is the distinction between

conscious and unconscious motivation. Practical reason and motivation are intricately

intertwined. A key notion in this field is that we must be inspired to do something when we

feel compelled to do it.

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Advantages and Disadvantages

MO is relevant for motivational studies because it helps to better understand behavioural traits

that operant conditioning does not address. The role of the reinforcer in operant conditioning

is to influence future behaviour. According to this concept, the presence of stimuli that appear

to act as enhancers does not explain the actual behaviour of the organism. Only previous

examples of this behavioural enhancement do so. Through the behaviour modification effect

of MO, it is possible to influence the current behaviour of a person. This is another piece of the

motivational puzzle.

If all employees do not get equal amount of motivation, then it affects their performances. As

a result of that, tension and conflicts are created within the work environment.

Employees in HSBC Bank has to work all day long attending to the customers and meeting

their demands to do this they all need to stay motivated all the time and the bank also does

things that keep their employees motivated.

Empowerment

Individuals and groups are empowered when they have a high level of autonomy and self-

determination. Individuals may thus represent their interests properly and freely, acting on their

authority. It is the process by which you gain strength and confidence in your ability to take

control of your life and claim your rights. Behavioural empowerment is the process of

overcoming feelings of powerlessness and lack of influence and identifying and using one's

resources, through both empowerment and professional support.

Advantages and Disadvantages

Empowerment is a resource-oriented practical intervention in social work. In the field of civic

education and democracy education, empowerment is seen as a method to enhance civic

responsibility. Empowerment is a concept, defined by the shift from a deficit-focused

perspective to a more strengths-focused perspective, that is becoming increasingly prevalent in

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management ideas. Employee empowerment can foster greater confidence in leadership,

increase employee engagement, drive more innovation, and improve employee retention, all of

which contribute to business growth.

The challenges with empowerment are that the business risks get enhanced. It consumes more

time to take a decision. It hinders the productivity of the efficiency. The chain of command

gets blurred.

HSBC Bank provides great empowerment so their employees stay motivated and have trust in

the organization. This also increases their creativity and make them more fruitful to the

company increasing the company performance. The feedback of their employees matters to the

organization and they also provide opportunities for growth that makes the employees more

empowered.

Conflict Management

Conflict management is the practice of reducing the bad elements of conflict while reinforcing

the good aspects of the conflict. The goal of conflict resolution is to improve team outcomes

and learning, such as organizational effectiveness or performance. If conflicts are managed

properly, they can give fruitful results. Appropriate sorts and amounts of conflict may help

businesses. That is the goal of conflict management, not conflict rejection. Conflict

management is not the same as conflict resolution.

Advantages and Disadvantages

Conflict management aims to minimize the bad effects of conflict while promoting the good

effects of conflict to improve learning in the organization (Yazici, 2018). Well-managed

conflict promotes organizational learning by increasing the number of questions asked and

causing employees to question the status quo.

Blake and Mouton first proposed some styles to handle interpersonal conflicts they are:

forcing, withdrawing, smoothing, compromising, and problem-solving.

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Some other conflict management models are:

• Khun and Poole’s Model

• DeChurch and Marks's meta-taxonomy

• Rahim's meta-model

Participation at the organizational and individual levels is an important feature of conflict

management in inter-organizational interactions. Conflicts in connections between

organizations must be controlled by a set of formal and informal governance systems. These

mechanisms not only affect the likelihood and nature of the conflict but also how the conflict

is resolved between the parties.

The key issues with conflict management is that it the emotions of the employees get hurt.

There are employees in every organisations who work hard and devote their time to the

organisation, but if they do not get adequate return or become a victim of favouritism, then

their performance get hindered.

HSBC bank also does this type of conflict management that makes good outcomes and

increases the performance of the company.

Team Effectiveness

The ability of a group to achieve the goals or objectives set by authorities or organizations is

called group effectiveness. A team is a group of people who work together on tasks, share

responsibility for outcomes, and see themselves as a unit within an institutional or

organizational system operating within defined system boundaries. Teams and their members

are independent of each group's role, skills, knowledge, or goals, so within the scope of

research on the process and its effectiveness, the team and group maintain their independence

as two separate entities. While building a homogeneous relationship. Groups and their

members, on the other hand, depend on each other's roles, skills, knowledge, or goals (Mehta

and Mehta, 2017).

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Advantages and Disadvantages

Effective teams can achieve goals consistently. They get more done and care more about their

work and interpersonal relationships. They are also resilient and dynamic, which has a big

impact on their culture and the teams around them. The evaluation of a team's effectiveness is

accomplished via the use of several components developed from research and ideas that aid in

the creation of a description of the varied nature of team effectiveness (Michinov and Juhel,

2018).

In a team, there are some team members who want to dominate others. The team members can

face issue with each other’s time management which eventually can hinder the overall the

performance. More competition can be found within team members rather than working as a

team.

HSBC bank has highly effective teams that do the work fluently and efficiently which save

time and makes the company more productive and do more work at a given amount of time.

They also have a diverse team culture where people from different fields of life come and work

together and share their experiences and learn new things from others' experiences.

Conclusion

If the above-mentioned topics are implemented successfully in an organisation the organisation

can be more productive and fruitful. The topics supportive communication, motivation,

empowerment, conflict management and team effectiveness are some of the aspects that are

needed in our daily lives too and these can make our life easier and also make us more

productive. Organizations like HSBC bank implement these things this makes their employees

productive that benefits the organization. People working there have many opportunities to

learn new things from the different persons working there and this empowers them more. Some

of the models that are stated above work well in implementing the topics in real-world

organisations.

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References

Boon, Q.W., 2021. A Review Of The Management Theory For Special Education Task Load

Perspective. Turkish Journal of Computer and Mathematics Education (TURCOMAT), 12(11),

pp.5234-5238.

Evans, P. (2016). Motivation. Psychology Press.

Gad Elbeheri, Reid, G. and Everatt, J. (2018). Motivating children with specific learning
difficulties : a teacher’s practical guide. London ; New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis
Group.

Guhr, N., Lebek, B. and Breitner, M.H., 2019. The impact of leadership on employees' intended

information security behavior: An examination of the full‐range leadership theory. Information

Systems Journal, 29(2), pp.340-362.

Mehta, A. and Mehta, N. (2017). Knowledge Integration and Team Effectiveness: A Team
Goal Orientation Approach. Decision Sciences, 49(3), pp.445–486.

Michinov, E. and Juhel, J. (2018). Multilevel influences of team identification and transactive
memory on team effectiveness. Team Performance Management: An International Journal,
24(1/2), pp.106–120.

Ramadanty, S. and Martinus, H. (2016). Organizational Communication: Communication

and Motivation in The Workplace. Humaniora, 7(1), p.77.

Yazici, E. (2018). Transborder identities, bias, and third-party conflict management. Conflict
Management and Peace Science, p.073889421880081.

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APPENDIX 1:

SKILLS AUDIT TEMPLATE

SKILL TYPICAL DESCRIPTORS SKILL LEVEL SPECIFIC COMMENTS

Low High

Organisation and time Prioritising, dealing with paperwork; 1 2 3 4 5 I am very much conscious of my deadlines.

management interruptions; planning your day.

Decision making and Ability to make decisions; selecting suitable 1 2 3 4 5 I use the available resources for making

problem-solving solutions; analysis of appropriateness. Strategies and decisions for not only the short

term but also long term.

Planning Leading teams; consulting team members; 1 2 3 4 5 I am not that good at planning as I always tend

task allocation; objective setting. to keep things unassigned.

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Delegation Matching tasks to staff; providing guidance 1 2 3 4 5 I can soundly delegate authority as I follow

and advice; maintaining staff motivation and transformational leadership.

focus.

Motivation Applying motivational techniques; 1 2 3 4 5 I am always very much motivated by looking

understanding individual motives; making at my role models.

tasks challenging; encouraging creativity;

providing team support; engendering trust

and openness.

Coaching Providing guidance; listening skills; ability to 1 2 3 4 5 I am decent at coaching others.

draw out information; reinforcing behaviour

using feedback; negotiating; planning goals

and objectives.

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Target setting Understanding and communicating 1 2 3 4 5 I am very slow to understand the goals and

organisational objectives; use of SMART objectives and align myself with them.

objectives to achieve targets.

Interpersonal skills Relating to others; building rapport and 1 2 3 4 5 I have a decent sense of understanding others

positive relationships; being sensitive to and their emotions.

people's needs; using influencing and

persuasive skills to help others improve

performance or overcome problems; listening

effectively and providing feedback; being

assertive; use of body language.

Written Structure and format of letters, memos, e- 1 2 3 4 5 I can write business letters and other formal

communications mails, reports letters with much ease.

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Oral communications Structure and format: techniques for effective 1 2 3 4 5 I can make someone understand my thoughts

presentations; using the telephone; meetings. and emotions in the most effective and

efficient way

OTHERS SPECIFIC

TO YOUR ROLE

1 2 3 4 5

1 2 3 4 5

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 1 2 3 4 5

APPENDIX 2:

SWOT ANALYSIS

Strengths: Weaknesses:

What do you do well? What could you improve?

What unique resources can you draw on? Where do you have fewer resources than others?

What do others see as your strengths? What are others likely to see as weaknesses?

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● I am highly enthusiastic. ● I have inexperience with different kinds of programs and

● I am very much trustworthy. software.

● I have a great level of creativity and imagination. ● I always tend to tire myself out with added Responsibilities.

● I am very much disciplined. ● I am very much nervous about speaking in public.

● I have a great level of patience. ● I am very much hesitant about delegation of authority and

● I am always respectful towards everyone. tasks.

● I am very much determined. ● I cannot take risks and am also very impatient with

● I am dedicated. bureaucracy.

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Opportunities: Threats:

What good opportunities are open to you? What trends could harm you?

What trends could you take advantage of? What is your competition doing?

How can you turn strengths into opportunities? What threats do your weaknesses expose you to?

● I have opportunities to get more experience by challenging ● Insecurity of job in this tough pandemic situation.

myself. ● Management of change along with restructuring.

● I have opportunities to get involved in the decision-making ● Lesser opportunities for big jobs.

process by representing departmental groups. ● The huge amount of competition that is out there in the

● Structured plans for development in my skills and knowledge external environment.

through training and workshops can help me. ● Undeveloped work-related infrastructure in underdeveloped

and developing economies.

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