Strategic Management and Professional Development Plan

Question: Discuss about the Professional Development Plan. Answer: Introduction: Professional development plan reflects specific path that individuals develop for fulfilling all the professional objectives. Individuals generally develop professional plan based on their knowledge and skills so that the objectives can be fulfilled in an appropriate way. Many studies have also highlighted the significance of aligning professional development plan with organizational design for making realistic goals (Zakarevi?ius and Ã… ½uperkien? 2015). Now, my professional goal is to hold senior management position in marketing department in a reputed organization. In this study, I will focus on providing in-depth analysis of my professional development plan for achieving all my goals in an appropriate way. I understand the fact that I have to come up with the organizational hierarchy for holding senior management position in the marketing domain. For that reason, development of clear plan is necessary for fulfilling all the objectives in an appropriate way. It is clear that I hav e to start from the executive position to fulfill my professional goals and objectives. The study will provide the amount of benefits that proper development of professional plan can have on individuals. Furthermore, the study will also provide an action plan for achieving the desired objectives in an effective way. The action plan will focus on including each detail so that it can provide a clear idea regarding the present professional condition. Critical reflection: I believe professional development plan is extremely important to provide individuals a root map regarding the career enhancement process. I believe proper utilization of professional development plan allow individuals to assess their strengths and weaknesses in an appropriate way. Therefore, it has become easier for the individuals to take necessary steps to reduce the amount of weaknesses. Furthermore, it allows individuals to identify next step towards the fulfillment of professional objectives. As per the article by Moon (2013) professional development plan provide realistic aims or goals for an individual, which influence them to give their best at the workplace. As a result, I believe it has increased the efficiency level of the employees that also create positive impact on the effectiveness of the operational process of an organization. I also feel that professional development plan allow individuals to focus on enhancing specific skill set so that they can able to counter dif ferent organizational challenges. For instance, I am focusing on enhancing my communicational skill level so that I can perform the job responsibilities of a senior marketing manager in an appropriate way. However, I feel that becoming a senior manager in the marketing department requires specific skills and attributes. Therefore, it is necessary for me to evaluate all the attributes mentioned in the How to fit the design in an appropriate way to have a clear idea about my positive and negative aspects. Now, the first attribute of How to fit the design is focusing on teamwork aspect. I believe teamwork is necessary for any marketing team for fulfilling its objectives in an appropriate manner. Therefore, it is necessary for me to focus on the teamwork aspect in a detailed way (Leong et al. 2014). However, I believe that I am naturally a team player, as I have successfully completed several team projects already. Furthermore, I feel that working with other individuals allow understanding same situation from different perspectives, which also can create positive impact on the operational process. Furthermore, I have captained my school football team for 2 years successfully. Therefore, I feel that it will not be a big issue for me to work in a team appropriately. Furthermore, development of teamwork requires in-depth understanding from the leaders regarding the emotional and perceptional attributes. For that reason, I believe that it is necessary for any leader to gather in-depth knowledge regarding the maintenance of the emotional attributes, which is necessary for developing string team commitment. The second attribute of How to fit the design focus on personal networking aspect. As per the article by Jeffries et al. (2013), proper utilization of personal networking process can actually help managers to resolve issue of the subordinates in an effective way. Proper utilization of networking system allows organization to capture best talents available in market, which is necessary for fulfilling any business responsibilities. For that reason, I have tried to increase my personal network as much as possible so that it can help me in the professional career as well. I have mentioned strong relationship with my old school friends and other charitable causes for enhancing my management skill as much as possible. However, I do not like giving unwanted advice to other people, which might have affected my personal networking skills. Thirdly, How to fit the design has focused on the international role that managers have to play for providing additional benefits to the organizations. In the globalized business environment, every organization is looking on to expand its businesses all across the globe. Therefore, I believe it is necessary for any managers to focus on enhancing the skill level so that they can able to handle international business challenges in an appropriate manner. In the present globalize business environment, managers need to possess skills to handle entire internal issues of the businesses (Cross, Belich and Rudelius 2015). I feel that the kind of skills required for handling international business issues come only with the experience. Therefore, I will have to focus on enhancing my professional experience level for fulfilling all the international requirements of the organization in an appropriate way. Fourth aspect of How to fit the design focuses on the corporate cultural preferences as it also can create major impact on the effectiveness of the operational process. As per the article by McConnell, Delate and Newlon (2015), corporate culture plays a significant role in developing proper working environment where employees can give their best at the workplace. Therefore, it is regarded as one of the prime responsibilities of the managers to utilize corporate cultural preferences in such a way so that all the business objectives of the organization can be fulfilled in an appropriate manner. Therefore, as a manager it is necessary to evaluate cultural perspective of the employees in an in-depth way so that they can able to maintain healthy work culture, which is necessary for achieving sustainable growth in the market. Fifthly, How to fit the design has focused on the goal setting attributes of the managers, as it helps to direct the employees towards same direction. I feel that managers need to have proper goal setting skills to motivate employees to give their best at the workplace. I believe setting realistic goals influences employees to give that extra effort towards the fulfillment of organizational goals. As a result, it helps employees to complete all the tasks within the provided responsibilities (Lantos 2015). Now, I have assessed that I do possess skills to develop realistic goals for the employees, which will help me to develop healthy work culture. I am also very clear in defining goals to other employees so that the entire group remains on same page. I feel that goals setting skills would help me to fulfill my professional objectives in an appropriate manner. Thereafter, the focus of How to fit the design is provided on organizational size. Thus, it actually focuses on to evaluate the individuals perspective for selecting a particular job. For instance, I would definitely like to work in the prime well-established organizations, as it expected to provide me more challenge to fulfill my responsibilities. I feel that working in large size organization will definitely help me to gather knowledge regarding all possible aspects of marketing. I also believe that working in large size organization as manager, will help to handle more employees for fulfilling organizational responsibilities, which will help to improve my skills as managers. On the other hand, Janssen et al. (2013) have focused on the evaluation of mind in order to provide an idea regarding the kind of intelligence is required to fulfill the entire managerial responsibilities. Now, I believe that I am capable of working under extreme pressure situation, which will allow me to hand le employees in an appropriate manner. Thereafter, the focus will be on strategy formulation capabilities of individuals, as it is required to become a successful manager (DeConinck and Stilwell 2015). I feel that proper utilization of organizational strategies is necessary for fulfilling all the responsibilities in an effective manner. Finally, How to fit the design has focused on the innovative skills of the managers, as it can have great impact on the overall effectiveness of the business process. As per the article by Zepeda (2012), increasing competition in the global market has influenced organizations to develop innovative strategies for gaining competitive advantage in the market. Therefore, as a marketing manager, I will definitely have to focus on developing innovative strategies to maintain the growth rate of the organization. Professional development action plan: The above discussion has highlighted several factors that managers need to focus on for fulfilling all the objectives in an appropriate manner. However, I have focused on the three attributes for becoming better leader in the organizational environment. For instance, I have selected team development perspective to handle organizational challenges in an appropriate way. I have evaluated that my How to fit the design score in the team development attribute is 5, which highlighted the fact that working within a team is not a big challenge for me. Furthermore, the score also highlights the fact that I am comfortable enough work alone with the limited guidance, which I believe will help me to grow up in my professional career. Now, in order to enhance my skill as a team player, I have focused on being part of several groups at the similar time. I feel that the more I will interact with different individuals, the better I will become in handling team challenges. I have already devoted myse lf with a non-profit organization, where I have been a part of around 25 members team. I believe it will help me to gain practical experiences regarding the team development aspect. Furthermore, I am trying to enhance my communication skills as much as possible to ensure that I can able to communicate effectively with all members of the team in an appropriate way. Moreover, I am also looking to evaluate my performances as a team player in order to identify the areas where improvement is required. I am also trying to assess the level of bond I am capable of creating with other members so that it can provide me an idea regarding where I stand as team player currently. Secondly, I am focusing on enhancing my perspective regarding the size of the organizations. I have analyzed that my How to fit the design score in this attributes is 7, which has highlighted the fact that my preferences is biased towards the large size organization. I have already mentioned that I am more focused towards working in well-established organizations. I believe that working in large size organization will expose me in different types of challenges, which will enrich my knowledge as a manager. However, Eady and Hardy (2015) have mentioned that small size organizations also do have their separate set of challenges that marketing managers will have to counter in an appropriate manner. For instance, majority of the time small size organizations invest very limited amount on the promotional activities. As a result, marketing managers will have to be extremely careful regarding the utilization of provided fund so that it can able to create maximum impact on the market. For tha t reason, I believe I have to open my mind on working with small or mid size organizations as well, as it can also provide me greater knowledge regarding the management skills and liabilities. For that reason, I am currently focusing on to have face-to-face communication with different individuals working as marketing managers in several sectors. I believe it will help me to understand all the managerial perspective in an appropriate way. I am also trying to understand the differences between working in large size and small size organizations. I believe it will help me to prepare myself for all kind of distinct challenges that a marketing manager has to face for fulfilling organizational responsibilities. However, I feel that large size organizations are very much concerned regarding the employee development. For that reason, I believe it will focus on proving enough training to the all levels of employees, which will allow them to enhance their level of knowledge and skills in a ma jor way. I believe working in large size organizations will help me to grow up in my professional career in an appropriate way. Thirdly, I will focus on the goal setting attributes, as it will help organizations to fulfill all its objectives in an appropriate way. I have evaluated my How to fit the design score in this attributes is 8, which highlighted the fact that I am very much versed in setting realistic goals for the subordinates. It also established the fact that my goal setting strategies are versed enough to fulfill all the aims and objectives of the organizations in an appropriate way. I believe that goal setting skills is among the prime skills that marketing managers need to have for fulfilling all the provided responsibilities. For that reason, I am trying to assess the kind of goals several successful managers are setting to encourage the employees to give their best at the workplace. I believe it is crucial to identify the factors that can have impact on the effectiveness of the goal setting strategies. For instance, I have identified that evaluating the capabilities of the employees, provided fund of the organizations, provided timeframe can also have major impact on the effectiveness of the goal setting strategies. Conclusion: The above discussion has highlighted the fact that effective utilization of professional development plan can help individuals to fulfill their professional objectives in an appropriate way. However, the above assessment has highlighted the fact that individuals will have to consider several factors for fulfilling desired objectives. The study has also highlighted the fact that holding the post of marketing managers require continues improvement. Therefore, a proper plan can help individuals to move towards the right direction in an effective way. References: Cross, J.C., Belich, T.J. and Rudelius, W., 2015. How marketing managers use market segmentation: an exploratory study. InProceedings of the 1990 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference(pp. 531-536). Springer International Publishing. DeConinck, J.B. and Stilwell, C.D., 2015. Turnover Intentions of Marketing Managers. 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