HRMM048 HR SKILLS portfolio

HRMM048 HR SKILLS

Personal Portfolio

2013-2014

STUDENT NUMBER: 630051365

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http://www.exeter.ac.uk/

Sections of the portfolio

o Personal development planning

o Summary of development

o Appendices

Professional Learning Logs

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Personal development planning

CIPD Professional HR skills

1. Manage Self more effectively at work or in another professional context

My starting point with this skill(ranked 1 – 10) plus description of my skill

I would give myself 3, as a starting point for this skill, which talks about self-management. (for when I arrived here in Exeter)The self-management skill can itself be divided into the following:

Time Management and Personal Organising skills

Managing Stress Continuous Professional Development Personal and Ethical Approach for

management at work Personal Values Strengths and Weaknesses

1. Time management/Personal Organising skills/Management at work- I’ve never been very good with managing time effectively.

1st term- In the first term I spent most of my time trying to settle into the place, making new friends and generally trying to understand and get accustomed to the teaching methods and assessment methods here. We had just two days of classes per week and had just 3 subjects to deal with, and looking at how hectic things are now, I feel I could have utilised my time better in terms of dividing time for each activity every day. I spent a lot of

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time with my friends exploring the city and we were all just getting to know each other better. While I feel spending time on this was justified as I am in a different country for the first time in my life and was also making new friends after a very long time, I feel I perhaps could have spent time on other productive activities as well.

2nd term- In the second term I had to spend a lot more time on work. There was a lot more pressure on that front. If in the first semester I spent a lot of time with friends and away from work, in the second term I spent most of my time, or maybe even all my time on work. Even this was wrong in a way because you’re supposed to be able to balance both work and other activities at all times. I would spend all my time in my room ‘trying’ to study.

3rd term- In the third term, things have been very similar to the second term in terms of work pressure, or perhaps there’s been even more pressure. I have again been spending most of my time on work, even more than in the first term. In terms of activities apart from work, I’ve even lost touch with all my friends. I barely see them anymore. I’ve been spending all my time here in the library. I’ve even stopped cooking to save time and have been buying food.

All in all I don’t think I’ve been efficient in handling all the work. Everyone in the HR class has the same amount of work. But my classmates have all been travelling, going out regularly and also working well and scoring well, while I’ve been putting in a lot of hours of work but without balancing it with other activities. For every assignment, I took more time than anyone else in class. For example there was an assignment for the International Human Resource Management module. It was just a 2000 word essay carrying just 30%

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weightage. I ended up spending more than 2 weeks on it while working from 9 to 6 everyday; while everyone I asked spent 3 to 7 days on it, getting better grades. This has been the case with nearly every piece of work. It all boils down to being aware constantly of how much work you’re doing per hour or day and trying to improve on it. It is also about trying to work smart.

To conclude, although I have been able to put in a lot of hours of work, and that can be recorded as a competency, the important thing is to learn how to do things faster and then also spend time on other activities in life. This is something I still need to learn how to do.

2. Managing Stress- When it comes to stress management I have been good in a few areas and not so good in a few others. I’ve also been through various phases where I’ve been through a lot of stress and then managed to calm myself down.

1st term- In the first term there wasn’t really any academic pressure. We just had 3 modules to deal with, with assessments due only in January, falling into the second term. Here therefore it was more about dealing with pressure related to the fact that I was away from home for the first time and that I had to manage everything on my own. This, I was to my surprise, able to deal with very easily. Except for the first couple of weeks, there was no homesickness even. I worked on the essays due in January during the Christmas break. There was a bit of stress here. I was working on essays of this kind for the first time. I had no clue how to write essays and didn’t know how to go about the entire process. All my friends had also gone back home so even the atmosphere was a bit dull. I dealt with this by watching a lot of movies of the comedy genre during

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my breaks. This helped quite a bit actually.

2nd term- The second term was a lot more stressful than the first. We had an exam in January first up and this was stressful for me because it was my first ‘written exam’ in years. I had exams with multiple choice questions during my bachelor’s degree so I had sort of forgotten how to prepare for such exams with essay questions. To add to this, all my friends in other courses were free and I was the only one in my group studying during that time. This made it even more difficult. The exam was then terrible, so much so that I was sure to fail it. We then got the results for both the essays during the same week. I had less than 50 in both, although I passed one of these modules because it had other assessments. I therefore had failed two out of the three modules of the first term and all this happened in just one week. This was the most stressful week for me and I really can’t say I handled the stress well. This really dented my confidence and I struggled to recover leading to every assessment causing a lot of stress since then. We had our HR skills assessment workshop at the end of the term. We had a presentation to give and this was stressful for me as I tend to get nervous during presentations.

3rd term- In the third term the first assessment we had was an exam carrying 70% weightage for the International Human Resources Management module. There was a lot of stress here as I had failed the previous exam. I tried to handle the stress by just working very hard for it. The exam thankfully was much better than the previous one I wrote and that really helped me gain a bit of confidence.

Through these terms what I noticed was that watching comedy movies, going out with friends on walks do help, but they

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only help temporarily in my case. The best and in fact only way to handle stress is by working hard, getting work done daily and then by actually getting good results. Other ‘stress management techniques’ for me give only temporary relief. I have to get work done at a reasonably good pace and then actually get decent results. I find it difficult to sleep well otherwise.

To conclude, I can say that I’m now slightly better at handling stress, and I’ve done this by simply working harder. I’ve also seen better results and this has helped more than anything else.

3. Personal Values/Strengths and Weaknesses-

Strengths:- Punctuality: I make it a point to get to

places on time. Whether it’s to class or a meeting with a lecturer or even something completely informal like meeting friends I absolutely have to be there on time. I don’t like anyone waiting for me.

- Ambition: I’ve always been a very ambitious person. More than anything else it’s the desire to be in a powerful position all my life. Because of what I’ve gone through and all the failures I’ve seen in my life as a student, there is this incredibly strong desire to prove my worth, to myself and to others around me. In a way my failures have made me more ambitious.

- Resilience: Like I said in the earlier section, I’ve seen a lot of failure in my life as a student. More than one can imagine. But I still have hopes about a good future. I’m still as ambitious as ever.

- Teamwork- I absolutely enjoy working in groups. It drives me for some reason. I start competing with my teammates in a non-confrontational

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manner. In the sense, I tell myself that the least that I can do is to contribute as much as the others are contributing. I realise that I approach work more positively when I work in a group. It takes the form of a fun activity for me, more than ‘work’.

- Emotional Intelligence: I see myself as an emotionally intelligent person, simply because I put myself in the other person’s shoes in most situations. It then becomes easier to deal with others’ issues delicately.

- Observant: Before reacting to anything I have the tendency to observe and try and decode what exactly is happening. It’s the opposite of being judgemental about any person or situation.

Weaknesses:- Introverted: I’m a bit of a quiet person

and take time to break the ice with people. But once I get through this stage I’m fine and I open up more. But this shyness makes it difficult when I need to make a presentation and this is something I need to work on.

- Slow: I’ve always been very slow with things. Whether with work or any other activity I take much more time than I should.

- Opinionated: I have strong opinions on things and find it difficult to change them. I’m not intolerant of others’ views by any means but it can be difficult to change my view on things.

- Procrastinator- I’m absolutely terrible at multi-tasking. I

just find it very difficult to do more than one task at a time. I feel the need to finish one task to get to the next.

Strength/Weakness:- Non-Conformist: This tendency of

mine really stands out. I like questioning rules, norms and the ‘way things are run/done’. For instance this

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insistence on using ‘academic/formal language’ in essays/reports. When you have something to say in an essay, as long as you’re presenting your case well, using correct English, and as long as the person on the other side understands what you’re trying to say, nothing else should matter. It doesn’t make sense. In fact academic writing makes things boring. This explains the style of writing I’m using presently.

At this stage of the degree and of my experience in Exeter, I would give myself 6, on the basis of what I explained above.

The areas to develop and my action plan Time management:Areas to develop- I need to work on my time management skills and try and balance both work and other things in life.Action plan- I don’t believe in having a time-table for things. It’s too restrictive and you turn into a machine. My plan is to just be more aware at all times as to how much time I’m spending on each activity and try and reduce the time spent. I spoke about this even in the weaknesses section where I said I’m slow with things and that I tend to procrastinate.

Stress Management:Areas to develop- I need to develop and increase my levels of endurance to stress causing factors and block things that could cause stress altogether, where possible.Action plan- This is in my case closely related to time management. If I can learn to manage my time well and get things done faster and more efficiently by being aware of how much time I’m spending on each activity, I’ll have more time for every activity. My quality of work will then improve and I’ll also have time for other things leading to a reduction in stress.

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Introversion:Action plan- This, yet again, is related to time management in a way. If I spend more time on socialization I can overcome this issue.

Who can I ask for honest feedback?

For this specific skill, you can’t really ask anyone for feedback. No one really knows what is going on as well as you do. I would therefore ask myself for feedback. In fact, this write up itself amounts to feedback.

Where and how will I record progress?

I’ll make a mental note of my progress. If there’s any progress that is actually ‘noteworthy’ I’ll actually make a note of it, including what I did that proved to be effective. Same goes in the case of mistakes I may make. I’m against maintaining a personal diary, simply because I feel when you have a diary of this sort, you tend to focus on the negatives and write those down. You keep giving yourself negative feedback.

Where will I find my evidence?

If I actually get better grades, while spending more time on other activities, that’ll be my evidence of development.

When are my review points?I’ll need to review this once a month and whenever there’s a notable improvement.

What have I read and its relevance?

I’ve watched videos on YouTube on time management. But in the case of self-management, in most cases you know what to do. Actually doing the activity is where people falter. I therefore believe one doesn’t need to read anything specific on this topic. Also, the same tips might not even be suitable for everyone and fit all contexts. The focus here should just be to apply consciously, what you already know.

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2. Manage interpersonal relationship at work more effectively

Suggested method to evidence these 8 skillsCompletion of a learning Log and reflective essayRecord in portfolio


I would give myself 2, as a starting point for this skill. ( For when I arrived in Exeter)Management of Interpersonal Relationships can be divided into the following:

Assertiveness and Negotiation Communication and Interpersonal skills Handling Emotion and Conflict Written, Verbal and Non-Verbal skills Customer Service and Liaising with

various stakeholders

1. Assertiveness and Negotiation: I haven’t had any kind of work experience and so these skills haven’t really been tested in actual settings. We did have a few group activities, but I’ve been lucky enough to have had group members who aren’t dominating or forceful with their ideas. Or maybe it’s because I like group work in general and when you like something things just come together. All in all I didn’t need to speak in an assertive manner at any point. This therefore will be based on the HR skills assessment that we had at the end of the second term. Same goes with the negotiation skill.

The assertiveness exercise- I didn’t even clearly know what assertiveness was, until Inma’s lecture for research methods. She made us practice this skill in class explaining to us the tone to use exactly, and that it lies in between passive and aggressive tones. Apart from the tone, she

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also spoke about the posture, body language and eye contact that is needed for this.

We had a chance to test this skill at the HR skills workshop where a situation was simulated.

‘The situation’- I was assigned to play the role of an HR director of a call centre. Inma then played the role of an employee who’s struggling to cope with the pressures associated with working at a call centre and also finding it difficult to balance work and taking care of family.

She then supposedly was on a longish sick leave. But this was the issue: An employee saw pictures of her on Facebook, holidaying in an exotic location. My job now was to talk to her about this. This was therefore both a disciplinary issue and also a situation where I had to try and solve to as far an extent as possible, the problems that she has been facing. I had to do this by talking to her for about 10 minutes.

I felt I didn’t do a great job here when I look back at this. I wasn’t sure of what exactly to say to her and perhaps spoke a bit aggressively although I managed to come up with a suggestion that could help her a great deal.

Even in general, although I can’t think of specific situations, I’m mostly passive when dealing with people. I do try to fight this and become aggressive at times. So I need to find a way to balance this and be assertive.

Negotiation- During the HR skills assessment workshop again we had a ‘negotiation skill’ exercise. A situation was simulated again where our team was to represent a trade union, and we had to

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negotiate terms of redundancy with the employer. We were also given guidelines for negotiation. I chose to lead the negotiation activity as I’ve always felt I’m good with talking in a pleasing manner and presenting my case while avoiding a confrontational tone. This turned out to be a lot of fun and the activity overall proved to a certain extent what I’ve felt, although in an actual situation the pressures would be much higher and the implications much greater. We arrived at a win-win situation and that is the aim of a negotiation activity; that both sides are happy with the outcome. So although I can’t really say that I’m good at this for certain, through the negotiation activity and through my experiences in general, I can say that I possess this skill to a decent extent.

2. Communication and Interpersonal Skills:

My communication skills have always been very poor, simply because I haven’t had a great social life and I haven’t had too much of an opportunity to mingle with people. Coming here for my masers presented more opportunities for socializing.

1st term- In the first term I had plenty of opportunities to mingle with people as I explained in the logs. The fresher’s week especially was a wonderful experience where I probably met as many people as I met over the entire decade before this. This is how you develop communication skills - by socializing as much as possible. I had formed a decent friends circle by the end of the first week itself and it helped that all my friends lived close by. We would meet nearly every evening and go out to explore the city at every opportunity.

There was also the Indian festival of Diwali which was celebrated on campus here. I spoke about this at length in the logs. I

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volunteered for this event where I had to distribute flyers in the city. I communicated with a lot of new people through the course of this event.

All in all the first term really helped develop my communication skills and helped me break out of my shell to a certain extent.

2nd and 3rd semesters: As I’ve explained earlier, the second and third terms were very dull as far as my social life is concerned, thanks to the work pressure building up.

To talk of communication skills in group assessments I somehow never had any kind of a problem with any group and never had any issue communicating my ideas to the groups.

There, therefore has been a marked improvement in my communication skills in general. What is notable though is that my skills here went down a bit again in the second and third terms simply because I haven’t been meeting my friends often. Although this is supposed to be about communication skills in a professional context more specifically, I haven’t had many opportunities there apart from group work.

In general I’m not very good with communication until I ‘break the ice’. But once I get through that stage I don’t have any issues.

3. Handling Emotion and Conflict:

As far as conflict is concerned I make it a point to avoid conflict. So much so that I don’t even need to make an effort now to avoid such a situation. I don’t mean to say I run away from such situations. I just don’t let conflict happen. I think the fact that I

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talk less has a role to play here. I can’t really show development of this skill here because this skill is something I’ve always been good at. Not to be boastful, but people who talk less in general don’t really get themselves into such situations. We’re non-controversial. So this has remained stable over the course of this year.

As far as handling emotion is concerned it depends on whether I’ve been in a similar situation before. If there’s something happening for the first time I tend to get nervous, whether it’s to do with academics or with social life. Emotions are truly tested when you face challenging situations. If I look at challenging situations term by term,- Term 1- The challenging/new thing

here was that I was in a new country and also away from my family for the very first time. A month before coming here this started to bother me and I started get nervous while feeling excited at the same time. When I got here even, I was nervous for the first couple of days. But as I started to make friends the nervousness went away. Shows how important friends are. That I’m not home sick and haven’t been since the first couple of days is only because of the friends that I have here.

- Term 2- We had assignment submissions and an exam here. I was a little nervous here as I wasn’t sure of how to do the essays or the exam like I explained in the logs. That both the essays and the exam didn’t go well added to my nervousness. I fought this negative emotion by just working harder.

- Term 3- By this term I had started to put in more effort, at least when compared to the first term and this

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helped me a great deal in handling my emotions.

There is one factor which stands out here. It is to do with friends being there for you. When you’re away from home your friends become your family and you’re always there for each other. Especially for me in the second term there was this friend who helped me a great deal. She actually set up a time table for me and made sure I abided by it by reminding me constantly. She also kept reviewing my progress. You can’t really be thankful enough to such friends. Friends therefore are very important to me, although I haven’t been spending much time with them because of the workload. I still meet them whenever I get the chance.

4. Written, Verbal and Non-Verbal Skills:

I’m clearly better with written and non-verbal communication than verbal. In fact in the case of written and non-verbal I feel there isn’t much room for improvement, although one can always improve and do better.In the case of verbal communication I feel I lack majorly. I’m generally a quiet person and barely talk. This is something I really need to work on. Although to a certain extent it is also to do with the amount of work that I have. If I have work to do I find it difficult to think of anything but my work. If I have less work, I tend to talk a bit more than usual. I feel in this case I’ve seen slight improvement. Although I’m generally shy, to a certain extent I’ve improved on this front.

As things stand now, I would give myself 6 for these skills overall. This is simply because I’ve had more opportunities for socializing, at least in comparison with when I was at home.

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The areas to develop and my action plan

Assertiveness:Areas to develop and action plan-Like I said in the section above, I’m mostly passive and then in an effort to break out of it I sometimes become aggressive. I need to learn how to strike a right balance here.My action plan here would be to just take the time out to meet people as much as possible. I don’t really believe in reading material on assertiveness, I don’t think it’s something that can be taught. We all know what assertiveness is. It’s about practicing it consciously. You tend to run into situations sometimes where you need to be assertive, but this hasn’t happened much in my case.

Communication and verbal skills:Areas to develop and action plan- Even here it’s to do with the fact that I’m a bit of a quiet person and like in the earlier case I’ll need to mingle with people more often. That would be my plan of action.

There is just one clear specific area where I can develop here and it’s do with the fact that I don’t socialize to the extent that I need to. Just this one area is a problem area for me and tackling this would solve most issues.

My plan of action here therefore would be to do just that. This is also related to time management again, which I spoke about in the previous section. I don’t avoid people consciously. It’s just that I haven’t been able to take time out from work. Once I learn how to manage my time well, I will automatically spend more time with people and then develop all these skills. If this course lets me do this, I can improve these skills here. Otherwise I’ll just have to work on these after I get the degree.

Who can I ask for honest feedback? I do get feedback from friends and family about my communication skills all the time. It’s fascinating how varied it is. While some people say I’m way too quiet and introverted, some

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others say I actually talk a lot and that I’m extroverted. Like I said earlier, for me it’s all about the situation that I’m in and the kind of people I’m with. Both these factors affect the way I behave. It depends on how much my personality matches with somebody else’s to a certain extent. Sometimes it’s just about my mood.Same goes with my sense of humour. Some people think I’m quiet and nerdy, while others find me funny. The way I see it, I have a silly sense of humour and whether it’s funny or irritating depends on the other person’s mood.


Since this skill is connected to people around me, my progress is something I can record by asking all the people who know me closely. This will include both family and friends. When I start working, my colleagues would be a part of that list.

Where will I find my evidence?My evidence would depend on what people I collect feedback from, say about me.

When are my review points?

My review points would be once a year, because these skills take time to develop, or also whenever there’s a reasonably big social events, because it’s at event like these where such skills are put to test.


About assertiveness alone I’ve read the notes that Inma gave us during her class and also during the workshop. Again even in the case of these skills you can’t really be taught how to develop them. Reading articles and watching ted talks is one thing, but applying them is something else altogether. These skills can only be developed through experiences.

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3. Lead and Influence others more effectively



I can’t really give a starting point for this skill because I’ve never had an opportunity to lead anyone before. But there was one instance during the skills workshop where I chose to lead.

This was during the negotiation exercise which I’ve spoken about in the log and one of the sections above. We had to choose a chief negotiator for the skill and I chose to lead here. This was where for the first time I was in a position when I was leading a team. I chose this mainly because, like I spoke about earlier, I feel I’m good at talking to people in a non-controversial and non-confrontational manner. This also spills into the skill of conflict management, or rather, the way I see it, conflict avoidance.

We had to represent a trade union here and we as a team at every step discussed points among ourselves before going on to make our pitch. I think for a leader, To it is very important to take everyone’s opinion on board. In my view, the true power must lie with the people. This wasn’t truly an exercise which tested my true leadership qualities as such; moreover it just lasted for about an hour. I took this as an opportunity nevertheless, to test whatever leadership skills I may inherently possess. This led to me taking the following steps:

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- I worked out, well before the start of the negotiation activity, what our aims and objectives for the trade union would be. I worked out what we would ask the employers for and also what we could give in return. It’s important for a leader to have clear aims and objectives in mind and at the same time have an upper and lower limit for these aims and objectives.

- Our group then discussed these aims and objectives and also how we could present our case. Every group member’s opinion was given equal attention. Only then did we go to the negotiation table.

- During the exercise we had to keep going back and forth with our arguments and this wasn’t as difficult for us as I had already planned in advance for adjustments to the ultimate aims. I think it’s important for a leader in general, in the real world, to plan for all sorts of scenarios and possible responses for such scenarios.

All in all, just the fact that I was leading the negotiation exercise increased my interest and heightened my motivation levels to a good extent.

About Leadership also in general I feel the focus should be on employee motivation and satisfaction. A company with a workforce that is happy would do much better. Given a chance to lead, I would have an employee focus rather than a customer focus. I would do the following:

- Work out the aims and objectives for a company but while giving room for small modifications.

- Chalk out a clear plan to achieve those aims and objectives.

- Go to the employees, and not just the board, with these aims and plans chalked out for getting there.

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- Take the suggestions of the employees on board (the point of giving room for modifications)

- Finalise plans while also planning for contingencies. (work out all possible responses for all possible situations)

- Have an employee focus at all times, making sure the employees have as much power as the board.

- Cut down as much as possible on additional perks for the senior management so as to reduce the power distance between them and the employees. I personally would opt not to have a cabin specifically for myself and sit with the employees instead. This might seem funny, but a cabin is the most visible and glaring symbol of power distance. I don’t see the need for senior management to be given such special treatment.

- Create a culture in the company where there’s mutual respect, admiration, appreciation and support.

- Not have a ‘long-term fixed strategy in place’ and have a flexible one instead. (contingency planning)

- Promote flexibility and stress the need for change at all times.

- Have in place flexible working options for the employees.

- Promote an informal atmosphere at the workplace. Personally I don’t get why people need to wear formals to the workplace. It doesn’t make sense. I wouldn’t have this rule. I wouldn’t even have fixed workstations for the employees. They would be given the freedom to sit anywhere, with this applying to the senior management as well. No special cabins for anyone. There wouldn’t also be any divisions between workstations.

- Promote teamwork to as far an extent as possible.

- Have a small entertainment centre at the office, like maybe a mini-theatre

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system, where movies would be screened randomly once in a while. This would be an effort to remove the seriousness attached to work in general. The office would be a place not just for work but also where one can have fun.

All this would make the company attractive to employees. People should choose to come in to work over staying at home, even if they’re given the option. This would be my aim.

The areas to develop and my action plan Areas to develop: (Since I haven’t had any work experience, this would be based on the negotiation activity and my personality in general)

- During the negotiation activity while readjusting the aims and what we could ask for, I was a bit unsure of what we could do exactly and how we could present our case. The other group representing the employers had better arguments and reasons for what they wanted at times. This shows that there was a lack of clarity of thought on our side. This was where, we as a team we felt slightly vulnerable. Clarity of thought and action is important for a leader.

- A leader must have great communication skills and have the ability to connect with all kinds of people. This I lack majorly as I explained in the ‘interpersonal skills’ section.

- Like I also again in one of the skills above, I feel vulnerable and nervous when I face situations I haven’t faced before. A true leader must have enough confidence to face such situations.

- I’ve also been very slow with things

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and struggle when faced with a situation where I’ve to make a quick decision. I need to work on my decision making ability.

Action Plan:

- Getting some work experience would solve most issues here for me. I could develop my communication skills and I would face new situations all the time and would learn how to deal with them through the experience.

- Joining a society or doing voluntary work would be a good place to start. I believe it helps if you do small things first and then move onto bigger ones.

- Even in the case of clarity of thought, it is experience alone that can help. You learn things when actually experience them. This can’t be taught.


I can’t look at feedback from others in this case because this wasn’t truly a leadership opportunity. It doesn’t fall clearly enough into that domain for me to seek feedback, or even for anyone to provide feedback, without it sounding vague.


When I actually start working, the performance appraisals would show my progress.I would also ask my colleagues for their feedback.

Where will I find my evidence?As in the section above, the appraisals would also be the evidence for my skill development.

When are my review points?

I would review my performance twice a year or whenever there’s a notable leadership opportunity.

What have I read and its relevance? My dissertation will be on transformational leadership, so there’s an influence to a certain extent of what I’ve read on that specific style of leadership. At the same time I believe in originality when it comes to leadership. In the sense, I don’t believe in reading something and blindly copying it. I will read, but lead in my way ultimately. One must take advice but do what they truly want to do by listening to the voice that

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comes from within.


4. Demonstrate competence in PG study skills



My starting point with this skill would be 4.8, on the basis of my performance in the first term.PG study skills could be classified in the following way, going by the guidelines provided:

Accessing and evaluating published research Referencing Critical thinking and the development of

original arguments Essay and report writing; Revision and exam

preparation.

1. Accessing and evaluating published research:

As far as accessing and evaluating published research is concerned I’ve mainly struggled with one issue. That I’m incredibly slow at this. I know where to access data from. I also know to a certain extent how to evaluate it based on tips from Graham. But when it comes to actually going through this process I’ve been frustratingly slow at it and I haven’t seen much progress on this front.

2. Referencing:

When we were taught about referencing, initially it seemed pretty daunting. But I surprisingly got it right the first time itself. I haven’t had issues here that I can talk

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about but again speed is the issue, and I’ll probably say this in every case here.

3. Critical thinking and the development of original arguments/Effective essay and report writing:

In general I do think critically and try and develop original arguments. I think what I’ve written so far in this portfolio is reflective of this.In the first term though I didn’t know I had to critically analyse even in the main body of the essay. I only did it in the conclusion, which is one of the reasons why I did poorly. In the essay after this, I did critically analyse and got a better grade for the ‘critical analysis and the development of original arguments’ part.But there is one thing I don’t get here. People stress on the importance of critical thinking and the development of original arguments but also talk about the need to use literary evidence absolutely everywhere. How is an argument based on literature, an ‘original argument’? It is only a modified version of an argument or arguments put forward by somebody else. Throughout this degree, I found this part frustrating to say the least. There is talk of the importance of original arguments, but we aren’t given the space that we need to make purely original arguments. In fact this is exactly what I did in the essay that I wrote in the 2nd term. I constructed my own arguments and then looked for and found evidence to support my arguments. I was awarded a good grade for the argument part but a poor one because I didn’t use the suggested readings.

There are rules that talk about the format and the tone to use when writing essays. We are advised to write essays using the 3rd person perspective and not use ‘I’. We are also supposed to use formal language when writing essays. In the case of the

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usage of formal language, I haven’t made much of an improvement going by the feedback I got on my essays. It is difficult to improve on something you don’t agree with.

4. Revision and Exam preparation:

I spoke about this at length in the self-management section. To talk about this in brief, compared to where I was in the first term, I’ve made a bit of progress on this front. I still do struggle with this nevertheless because I’m not used to writing exams of this sort. I tend to get nervous and read as much as possible till even 5 minutes before the exam.

Overall, where I stand presently, I would give myself 6 for these skills, purely based on grades.

The areas to develop and my action plan Accessing and evaluating research:Areas to develop- As I mentioned, I’ll need to learn how to do this faster.Action plan- I’ll take the advice of my lecturers and my supervisor. I’ll also do a bit of reading and watch videos on how to evaluate articles and decode what they’re trying to say more quickly. Ultimately though, as in every case, practice is what is required here.

Exam preparation:Areas to develop- I need to figure out a way to prepare for exams like these more effectively.Action plan- Each person prepares for exams in a different way, so I really can’t take anyone’s advice here. I’ll need to find an effective way to spot the most important parts in a lecture, focus on those parts and try to predict the questions related to those parts. I have to certain extent developed this skill but I need to be able to do this

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more efficiently and that’ll only come through experience.


I can and have been asking my lecturers for feedback informally. We also get official feedback on each of our assignments.


The feedback I get on essays and exams hereafter will be used to record my progress. Something I’ve done since the 1st term.

Where will I find my evidence?The feedback and the marks I get will be my evidence.

When are my review points? Each time I get any feedback or results.


I read the material that was given to us at the beginning of the program. Clearly this hasn’t helped much. What helped has been my own experience with all this work.

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Summary of development

Self-management:

In the case of time management, although I’ve been spending more time on work and have been more aware of what I’ve been spending my time on, I can’t say that I’ve learnt how to manage my time more effectively. Because, managing time more effectively, in its truest sense actually means, learning how to spend time on all activities, not just on work. It’s about being able to multi-task, and do so, effectively. On the basis of that description of time management I haven’t seen much improvement. But at a general level, my awareness has increased.

In the case of stress management, I have learnt that the only way I can manage my stress is by working, and by getting work done. Going out with friends and things like that help, but only for a few hours or a day or two. You just escape reality for a bit when you do that. I’ve been working more and directly fighting the reasons that are causing the stress.

I’m also slightly more aware of my strengths now, as I described in the self-management section. Once you’re aware of your strengths it becomes easier to build on them. It’s all about embracing your personality.

Interpersonal skills:

My communication skills have improved since I’ve come here because I have had more opportunities to mingle with people, well, at least in the first term. My skills in this case I’ve realised, is related to work pressure. If there’s less work pressure my communication skills automatically improve.

Leadership skills:

The negotiation exercise gave me a sense of my own leadership skills to a small extent. Although this can’t truly be taken as a measure, it happens to be the only thing I can talk about in this case. This portfolio in particular, made me think about what I would do, if placed in a position of authority (or ‘greater responsibility’ as I see it). Having said this, a true test of leadership is when you actually are placed in such a position and when you actually face all the pressures that come with it. I can’t really talk about possessing leadership qualities till I’m placed in such a situation.

PG Study skills:

As far as accessing and evaluating research is concerned, although I’ve learnt how to do it, I still need to learn how to do this faster and this can only be learnt through experience. In the case of critical thinking and the development of original arguments I’ve realised that I think critically even in general and that I don’t take things at face value.

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Since the first term, I’ve picked up a few skills necessary for essay and report writing, and a comparison of the essays in the first term and the essay in the second term shows this. In the case of exam preparation, I’ve learnt how to pick out the important parts of a lecture and then focus more on those areas. But I still need to figure out a way to predict possible questions and then construct answers to those questions before hand.

To conclude, the focus for me should be on learning how to manage my time more effectively. I did try following a time-table before, but that didn’t work too well, because each time I missed targets it affected my self-confidence. I therefore would first need to focus on where I’m wasting time. Once I identify those areas, I can work towards being more aware of how I’m spending my time. After that I can construct a flexible time-table, depending on the amount of work that I have.

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Appendices

BEMM048 HR Skills: The Professional Learning Log

1. Scoping:

What challenges and opportunities are approaching with regards to my personal or professional effectiveness?

I landed in Exeter yesterday. This is the first time I’m stepping out of my country. This is also the first time I will be staying away from my family. This presents many challenges as well as opportunities for my life ahead. Challenges in terms of coping with all the pressures associated with this, and opportunities in terms of learning new things and meeting new people. Friendships that could last a lifetime.

What skills can I practice or use?

This is definitely going to be a learning experience for me. I can’t depend on anyone like I used to before. I’m not going to have anyone to tell me to do things all the time (except on the phone maybe!). I’ll have to learn to manage everything on my own.

How do I feel about the week ahead – why might I feel that way?

This is the fresher’s week. There are a lot of events organised to help us settle into life in the United Kingdom, to help us learn about university life and to give us an idea of what to expect during this year. I fell this will be one of the most interesting weeks in my life as there are a lot of firsts associated with it.

2. Learning:

Readings, conversations, lectures, social media etc:

What learning have I engaged with and what questions did it raise for me with regards to my own practice? How could I use or apply the concepts and ideas from this learning, how can theory help me to better understand my own effectiveness?

This was first time I was travelling alone and stepping out of my country and going to a country with a completely different culture. I was even worried about how I would spend 10 hours 40 minutes in the flight without the company of anyone I knew. When we reached Heathrow, I was worried about how I would even find my way out of the airport and meet the ‘Exeter Welcome Team’ waiting outside for me.

I finally got to where the welcome team was waiting without too much of a hassle. I learnt a couple of things there. That I excessively and unnecessarily worry about the simplest of

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things. The other thing I learnt was that when you’re in doubt you’re just supposed to follow all the right signs and also keep all your senses active. I looked at all the signboards and also kept my eyes and ears open to see where the majority of the people were going, and found my way out.

Ideas, innovations and relationships: What ideas could I explore further – what are the strengths and limitations of those ideas? What resources do I need, who can I connect to?

In the case of ideas that I could explore further, I would like to follow up from what I just said. In life in general, when you’re in doubt about anything, you need to look out for things happening all around you. There are signs giving you an answer all around.

3. Reflection: Insights and challenges - focus on an activity or an incident and explore how you responded, what were your assumptions, how did you feel, what skills did you use, what skills could you have used, what challenged you or excited you, who did you connect to, what did you learn?

What happened (Description) Why (Probe and Analyse) So what? (Overall Meaning or implications of this event)

What did you notice about yourself and about others….?

I reached Heathrow sometime in the afternoon of the 15th of September. I managed to make it through the immigration check and the customs and managed to find my way to the place where the Exeter welcome team was waiting for me and a few others. It was like stepping into a completely different world for me. To add to that I was absolutely exhausted as I left my house almost 20 hours before that. We were guided to the area where the bus was parked and it was a very long walk. It seemed never ending because of the factors that I just mentioned.

The bus ride from Exeter to Heathrow was a good experience. To my knowledge there were people from at least 6-7 countries in the bus. Surprisingly we all connected instantly. What connected us was the similar experience all of us were going through. We were all equally tired, thirsty, hungry and excited. The ease with which we connected was what surprised me. It was funny actually. We all had different English accents and were talking about the same things. About how long the journey was, about how thirsty we were and how nobody had water to drink. It shows how people can connect easily when they’re going through the same thing, and the background and cultural differences blur out.

Action: is there any learning that I need to take forward to improve my effectiveness (can I record anything as competency, what should I practice more of - why?)

I realised that we all presume that it might be difficult to connect with people just because

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they happen to be from a different country and culture. Realised that it isn’t so.

4. Critical thinking: a thought or idea that needs your consideration

The question that I would like to spend some time thinking through this week is………………………………….

Are people from different cultures and countries really that different?

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1. Scoping:

What challenges and opportunities are approaching with regards to my personal or professional effectiveness? What skills can I practice or use? How do I feel about the week ahead – why might I feel that way?

It’s been a week since I landed in Exeter already. The fresher’s week for me somehow seemed like a very long week.

Regarding the challenges and opportunities approaching, the classes are going to start this Tuesday. I met my classmates the other day briefly and also the head of the program Mr. Stephen Taylor. It’s a small class and that gives you the advantage of knowing everyone and also promotes an informal atmosphere in class.

To talk of the challenges specifically, the system of education here seems completely different. Stephen spoke of essays and the format for essays. I’ve never written essays of this sort before, in fact the last time I wrote an essay of this sort was in school. So this is definitely going to be intellectually challenging for me. I have no skills that I can use here, but skills that I need to pick up by looking for information on the internet for how to write such essays.

Pretty excited about the week ahead. It’s the first week of classes after all. The method of teaching I heard is different here and I look forward to it.

2. Learning:



The fresher’s week which just got over had a lot of events. Introductory seminars to tell us international students about life in the U.K., others to tell us about the university itself and also give us academic tips. I learnt a bit about the country’s culture and also about what to expect academically. I’m hoping to make use of these tips when classes start and we are given assignments.


I’ll need to apply what I’ve learnt in terms of the culture of this country and also the academic tips that were provided. It’s easy to pick up these tips, but the real challenge lies in application and that can only come through practice.

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I joined the Asian Society during the fresher’s week and we had our first social at a restaurant called Strada. There were students from India mainly and also from Pakistan. This was the first time I met so many new people at one place and at one go. For an introvert like me this proved to be quite challenging. Striking up conversations is something I have never been good at and there were quite a few awkward conversations. I still managed to make a few friends there and a few of us even walked around the city a bit and had dinner together. What I noticed was what I basically knew all along. I find it difficult to mingle with people initially but once I break the ice it isn’t so bad.




Why do people try and judge others on the first meeting itself?

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1. Scoping:


I have an individual presentation to do next week. This is something I’ve never done before in my life. I’ve never given any kind of a presentation before. I’m supposed to create a poster related to recruitment, with information about the company and what kind of applicants it’s looking for on it. It’s both an opportunity and a challenge for me because doing this successfully can give a lot of confidence in general. The good part is that it’s only a 90 second presentation so maybe I won’t have enough time to get nervous.


Regarding the skills that I can use, I’ll need to create a poster which should have an image or images, and information about the company. So I’ll need to use Microsoft word or PowerPoint to create it. I’ll use word because I’m not too comfortable with PowerPoint. I’ll also need to work on what I’ll say for those 90 seconds. I’m supposed to talk about what is given on the poster and also tell people why they should join the company that it’s talking about. I’ll need to come up with a good script and practice and time it. Since I’ve never done this before, I’m still wondering if I should write the entire text and practice it or if I should just write points and expand on them during the presentation.


I’m excited about the week as I have this presentation coming up.

2. Learning:



I learnt how to use Microsoft word more effectively thanks to this presentation. I earlier would use it only to type in text, but now know how to use templates and also how to put pictures and text on the same page. I’ve also been reading up on how to give presentations and gain the attention of the audience in a short time-span. There were also tips on how to keep nervousness under check which can be applied in any social situation.


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There was the Indian festival of Diwali last week and the Exeter Asian Society organised a huge event to celebrate it. There were singing and dance performances and also fireworks later on in the evening. It wasn’t just students from the university but the entire Indian community from in and around Exeter seemed to be present there. It was also great to see a lot of locals and students of the university from other countries attend the event. I volunteered for the event and found the entire experience incredibly fulfilling. My job was to distribute flyers in the city centre, help set up stalls and them help dismantle them after the event.

Distributing the flyers was fun. It gave us a chance to interact with a lot of people and tell them about the event. Initially people were walking away and were ignoring us, which was a bit demoralizing. We then moved to a different area of the city and upped our levels of enthusiasm by competing against each other for fun. We then managed to give away all the flyers in just about half an hour. Whereas before that we just distributed about 10 flyers each in an hour. There was a bit to learn and take away from this. We learnt that if you actually take interest in the work that you do and treat it as a fun activity you can be much better at it.


I would want to try and implement this everywhere. Try and treat each and every activity that I need to do as a fun activity.



I feel the present education system needs a massive overhaul. The seriousness attached to it must be diluted and educators and education boards must try and make it fun to study. Words such as ‘formal and ‘professional’ must be dropped because to me these two

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words translate to ‘boring’.

1. Scoping:


We have a group film to present this week. It’s for the Resourcing and Talent Management module and carries 30% weightage. We are nearly done with the shooting and just need to meet once to talk about how we might answer the questions that could be asked. We can’t really predict what questions people might ask us and there lies the challenge. If we can do well here it’ll give us a lot of confidence and there lies the opportunity.



I’m pretty excited about the week ahead as I’ll be seeing myself on screen in class.

2. Learning:



Our group had to meet regularly to come up with ideas for the film and then actually shoot it with dialogues. This was the first time I was working in a group and it was a good experience. We all had to put our heads together and come up with the content of the film. I learnt how to put my ideas across while in a group, and modifying it keeping the opinions of others in mind.



What happened (Description) Why (Probe and Analyse) So what? (Overall Meaning or

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implications of this event)


The individual presentation that I was talking about happened last week. I was among the last people present and it was an agonizing wait. The people who presented ahead of me seemed to be doing very well and it was all good to see. The way they designed the posters, the way they were talking without looking at the script and the way presented overall was impressive.

It was then my turn and even though I didn’t use the time well, I thought I did a decent job considering it was my first presentation. I was nervous for the first few seconds and then it got better. I had to read from my script mostly though.

Whether it was in my case or the others what I noticed was that, everyone gets nervous in the beginning. The difference though was that most of my classmates had given presentations before and this was noticeable. Shows how experience can make a person improve whatever the activity may be.


I just need to improve me confidence and do things better by thinking positively rather than worry all the time.



How does one build confidence in general?

1. Scoping:

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The university’s closed for the Christmas vacation. But this isn’t truly going to be a vacation for me as I have 2 big assignments to write. I’ve never written essays before this and I have no idea how the format should be and how to go about doing the research for the essay. I don’t even know where to start. This therefore is truly a challenge for me. This is also an opportunity to learn how to write an essay.


I don’t really have skills at present that I could use here. I’ll need to look up websites for tips on academic writing. There were also a few articles that were shared by the lecturers on ELE. I have been reading some of them.


I feel like it’s going to be a bit of a dull week because a lot of my friends are either going home or travelling, while I’ll be here working on my assignments.

2. Learning:



I’ve read the material on ELE about academic writing for the essays. Apart from how to structure essays it also has information on how to look for resources and what kind of resources to look for. It also has information about how to do referencing. I had never even heard of the term referencing before this. The problem with such material is that you can’t really ‘effectively’ apply them directly. Learning about how to write an essay is more of a learning process, where you learn as you go along.


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What did you notice about yourself and about others……..

We were divided into groups of 4 to make the film for the resourcing and talent management module that I was talking about. The process of coming up with ideas for the film was a good experience. The task seemed daunting at first. We had to come with a good basic idea or outline, write dialogues for the film and then actually shoot it with a good camera and also edit the film. I’ve never been good with cameras and I was hoping somebody else would be able to do it. Luckily for out group there was one person who seemed to be an expert with cameras and editing as well, so that bit was sorted. We managed to come up with the outline by the end of our first meeting. Once that happened things started to move at a brisk pace. We also somehow didn’t have any issues while working in the group. We all were patient and everyone’s ideas were given equal attention.

Shows how we presume without trying that things could be difficult. Especially in this case, group work. People always talk about not liking group work and that there could be idea clashes. This was my first group activity and we had no issues whatsoever. It all comes down to how flexible one is and how open minded one is.


It helps a great deal to be open-minded while doing group work.



If people in general could be tolerant of other people’s views, wouldn’t the world be a better place to live in?

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1. Scoping:


We have a written exam this week for the Leading, Managing and Developing People module and it carries 100% weightage for the module. I’m very nervous about this exam as I never had written exams with essay questions while doing my bachelors back home. We just had multiple choice questions. I don’t even remember the last time I actually wrote an exam of this sort. This therefore is definitely challenging for me as I don’t even know how one prepares for an exam of this sort.


I could maybe read and then write the most important parts that were given in the notes given by the lecturer and also ask my friends how they plan to prepare.


I’m obviously very nervous about the exam as I’m not sure how to go about the preparation.

2. Learning:



Like in the case of essay writing, I did the same thing here and read the information on the university site about how to write exams and structure the answers. I’ve also been asking my classmates for tips on how to write exams. It’s one thing though to read and listen to what people have to say. When it comes to actually applying things it becomes difficult. It’s something you learn through experience.


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My friends and I went to London for the weekend. This was my first trip out of Exeter and I was very excited about exploring a big city like London. It was also the first time I went on a trip with people other than my family. We were a group of 12 and while I knew some of them very well, the others I just about knew. Planning the trip actually and making reservations was an interesting experience. A few friends who had already been to London had a few places to visit on their list, while me and a few others had the usual touristy ones. So although we were going as a group we had to split once we got there.

Personally, the trip had a positive effect on me. There was this positive vibe about London, a truly multi-cultural city; it seemed like the capital of the world. I felt very ambitious while walking around the city.

Even for us as a group it was a good experience as it brought us together; by the end of trip I got to know very well even the people I just about knew. Shows how a fun activity can be used anywhere to bring people together.

Also, when you go on a trip like this, you tend to notice who the leaders are, or who has more leadership qualities, and who the followers are. Although the people who had seen London before had an advantage as they knew where to go and were guiding us around.

The only issue we had was getting everyone ready on time. We all had to really push each other to get ready on time in the morning. We had just 2 bathrooms for 10 people and we were all competing against each other to go in first. In a way it was still fun.


I’ve done some reading on essay writing but I’ll still need to apply what I leant in actual exam settings.

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As a country gets richer, do relationships become less important?

1. Scoping:


We have a two day HR skills assessment workshop this month. We’ve been divided into groups of 4 for this. The assessment carries 50% weightage and we’ll be tested on the practical application of various skills. Most importantly we’ll have to come up with a business plan and give a detailed presentation talking about our plan. We’ll need to do a lot of research for all these activities, especially for the presentation.


I really enjoy group work and am usually more excited about work when working in a group. I like taking the initiative and try and push myself to come up with ideas. I can use this to initiate activity during our meeting. It usually takes the presentation of an idea, whether good or bad, to start off discussion in a group.


I’m excited about the weeks ahead as I like group work like I had said earlier.

2. Learning:

Readings, conversations, lectures, social media etc.:


We, as a group, have been doing a lot of research in preparation for the HR skills assessment workshop. We’ve been reading up on interviewing skills, negotiation skills, presentation skills etc. Especially for the presentation we’ve been doing a lot of work to come up with a business plan.

As far as application is concerned we’ll need to apply all this theoretical knowledge during the workshop. But application becomes easier here since it’s a group. We can practice the skills during our group meetings. Also, in a group you feel protected and less vulnerable

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and that makes things easier.





We just got done with ‘day one’ of our two day workshop. We first had to do an interviewing exercise. The job description was given to us and on that basis we had to interview one person, with an observer looking at how we were going about the activity. We all had questions to ask and also follow up questions. It was interesting although we weren’t 100% sure of what we were doing, especially when we were asking the follow up questions.

We then had a negotiation exercise and this exercise involved two teams. We were presented with a situation where one side was a trade union and the other side was the management. We were representing the union and were given guidelines for the negotiation. We had to choose a leader for this activity and I chose to lead because I felt I would be good with this. This was probably the most fun activity of all. We were discussing our stand in the group, picking points on which to negotiate and then presenting our view. We finally arrived at a win-win situation which was the aim of the exercise.

We had our presentation after this. We had done a lot of research for this one and we were the last group to present and waiting is always the worst part. Once we started with our presentation though we were fine. My part was to talk about the SWOT analysis and I got nervous in the beginning as always and got better slowly. Although I just read from my script - this always happens in my case. All in all a decent presentation and we were just relieved after this because were more worried about this than the other parts.

What I could notice after all these activities, not just about myself, but about the others as well, was that our confidence levels in general had gone up. This was perhaps because we were all comfortable with each other as a group.


There was a lot of learning here because there was actual practical application. From the negotiation exercise I learnt that could actually maybe be a good negotiator, although in

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actual settings things get much more complicated and negotiations run for ages.

From the presentation I thought I had a lot more work to do. I need to start depending less on the script and try and explain things myself.



Can an ambitious person be good with balancing other things in life along with work?

1. Scoping:


We have a month long break now for Easter but I have my dissertation proposal to work on. By now it’s pretty clear that I won’t have a true break till I get done with my masters. By working on the proposal you’re basically starting on the dissertation and by the end of it you’re expected to have a reasonably clear idea as to how you would structure it and go about the research.

The first stage in a dissertation is supposed to be one of the most challenging stages. I’ll need to do a lot of reading around the subject and figure out how I would go about my dissertation. On the other hand, once I get through this stage, things would be clearer for me when it comes to working on the actual dissertation.


I can use the study skills that I’ve picked up so far while working on my other essays and also try and manage myself more effectively by being more aware of the work that I’m doing per day.


I feel like I could take a couple of days off before I start on the proposal and reconnect with friends. I feel this would be like pressing a refresh button and that this would perhaps help me work more efficiently.

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2. Learning:



My dissertation is based on the concept of transformational leadership and I’ve been reading up on this topic. I’ll need to use the knowledge that I gain through this for the proposal.





We had the second and final day of our HR skills assessment workshop yesterday. This was divided into two sessions, the first one relating to HRM in an international context. The second session after the break was about assertiveness as a leadership skill.

The IHRM session had three activities. There was expatriate management where we had to calculate the compensation package for an employee being sent on expatriate work. There was then recruitment advertising where we had to design an advertisement for two multi-national companies, while keeping cultural factors in mind. The third activity involved advising a company on performance management.

We then had the assertiveness activity after the break. This was an individual assessment. A situation was simulated where we had to deal with an employee in distress. How we were responding and what we were saying to the ‘employee’ was being scrutinised carefully.

Both these sessions were fun overall. Time was a bit of an issue for our group is what I noticed. All four of us in the group turned out to be similar in a way. We realised we all had the potential but were all slow with things in general.

The two-day workshop was the most interesting part of the entire program because we actually learnt how to apply skills. I learnt more in these two days than the rest of the

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program.


For once in the program, actual learning took place. I learnt that I’m way better when it comes to practical application than at accumulating theoretical knowledge. I can’t wait to start working so I can actually practice these skills more.



I feel, at least at the masters’ level, a much greater focus should be given to practical application of skills. I wonder why educators don’t want to change things.

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HRMM048 HR SKILLS portfolio

Documents

Transcript of HRMM048 HR SKILLS portfolio