Scenario
Assignment Brief
Diploma in Management Level 5
5.9 Personal & Professional Development Unit Level 5, Credit value: 15
It will have become evident to you from your time as a student, from your experience in employment and indeed from life in general that personal and professional development is on-going. An important aspect of this is making progress, fulfilling your potential and achieving success in life.
In order to take this forward you have decided to produce a learning log which will consider theory and capture your plans and progress in relation to future career progression. You must carry out a number of tasks:
Task 1
In the first section of the log you wish to understand how self-managed learning can enhance lifelong development.
 Evaluate approaches to self-managed learning
 Evaluate the benefits of self-managed learning to the individual and organisation.
Task 2
Before completing the second section of the log you must carry out some research relating to the role and industry sector, where you are interested in progressing your career. This research will provide information on likely professional standards which you can benchmark yourself against and the organisational objectives of the business. You must state these in the log. Using this information:
 Evaluate your own current skills and competencies against professional standards and organisational objectives
 Identify own development needs and the activities required to meet them
 Devise a personal and professional development plan with clear aims and objectives and
timescales based on identified needs
 Discuss the processes and activities required to implement the development plan including
effective time management strategies.
Malta Business School | The Penthouse | Sean Building | Psaila Street | B’Kara BKR 9078| Malta www.mbs.edu.mt |[email protected]
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Task 3
The next section of the log should be produced as a detailed record of progress against your plan. You should:
 Undertake and document the development activities as planned
 Reflect critically on your own learning against the original aims and objectives set in the
development plan
 Evaluate the time management strategies used
 Update the development plan based on feedback and evaluation.
Task 4
In the log you wish to demonstrate some of the interpersonal and transferable skills you have acquired.
 Using the information provided below you should select solutions to these typical work based problems.
 A conflict has developed at a personal level between members of a team which are delivering an important project for the business.
 A manager is concerned about the poor time keeping of a junior manager who directly reports to her. This is both arrival times and the late delivery of completed work.
 There is poor liaison between the front and back offices of the organisation and this is leading to poor customer service, with billing and customer complaints.
 Using the information provided below you should develop communications in the
Task 5
appropriate style and manner.
 A manager has received an email from a customer complaining that the goods
received were damaged. This was discovered by the customer after the delivery
van had departed.
 A manager wishes to inform her team about a training day for them which details
all of the relevant information.
 A manager wishes to make a formal presentation for the introduction to a session
on personal development planning.
In the final section of the log you should reflect on all the work completed to date and:
 Propose ways in which lifelong learning in professional and personal contexts could be encouraged
 Identify development opportunities to meet current and future defined needs
Malta Business School | The Penthouse | Sean Building | Psaila Street | B’Kara BKR 9078| Malta www.mbs.edu.mt |[email protected]
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Guidelines for assessment
Assignment Structure
The following are guidelines for the correct presentation of your assignment:
1. You must include a Title page which includes your name and surname, your student ID number, the Unit name and number and the word count of your assignment.
2. Your assignment must include page numbers. It is suggested that you include your name and surname in the footer in every page.
3. Your assignment must include a ‘Table of Contents’. This follows the Title page. The ‘Table of Contents’ must include a list with headings (and sub-headings if appropriate) in numerical order.
4. The next page (usually page 3) is the ‘Executive Summary’ or ‘Introduction’. This is the start of the assignment and should include relevant details as per this assignment brief.
5. Following the different sections asked of you from the assignment brief it is expected that you include a list of references. References should be cited according to the Harvard Referencing System and be in alphabetical order. Please refer to your ‘MBS Notes for Academic referencing’ guide found on your online learning space.
References should also be adequately referred to in the text of your assignment. Be careful of plagiarism.
6. The last section of the assignment is the ‘Appendix’ which should include only relevant material. This is material that you refer to in your assignment, but do not write at length about.
7. Care must be taken to write grammatically correct English language.
Malta Business School | The Penthouse | Sean Building | Psaila Street | B’Kara BKR 9078| Malta www.mbs.edu.mt |[email protected]
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Learning Outcomes and Assessment Criteria
The assignments must achieve the Learning Outcomes and meet the standards specified by the Assessment Criteria for the Unit. The suggested evidence listed below is how you can demonstrate that you have met the required standard.
Task number
Assessment criteria
Suggested evidence
1.
1.1, 1.3
The log must be organised and laid out in sections. The first section must include an evaluation of various approaches to self managed learning. There should be a balanced evaluation of the benefits which must cover both individuals and organisations.
2.
2.1, 2.2, 2.4 3.1
4.3 (part)
There must be a clear statement of the standards used for the evaluation and the business objectives.
The evaluation of own skills and competencies must be specific and related to the standards and objectives. The development needs must show a link with the above evaluation and the activities required to meet them.
The plan should be clearly set out with relevant sections and linked to the needs.
The learner must show an understanding of the processes and activities required to implement the plan including effective time management strategies.
3.
3.2,3.3,3.4 4.3 (part)
There must be a detailed record of the application of the plan with a critical and incisive reflection of the learning achieved.
In addition there must be an evaluation of the time management strategies used. The learner must show what feedback and evaluation has been obtained and how this has been used to develop the plan.
4.
4.1, 4.2
The solutions to the given problems must be appropriate, realistic and practical. The material produced for the communications must be of the correct standard in relation to style, manner and level for the given situation.
5.
1.2, 2.3
The proposals must be convincing and cover several ways of encouraging lifelong learning.
The identification of opportunities must be realistic, wide ranging and explained clearly.
Malta Business School | The Penthouse | Sean Building | Psaila Street | B’Kara BKR 9078| Malta www.mbs.edu.mt |[email protected]
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