Muhammad Farrukh Saleem

Question 1 Activity 1 A positive role model must exhibit the following characteristics at workplace:-. High energy Goal orientation Desire for collective success and growth Hard worker Innovative and unorthodox Ability at prioritizing work Integrity Courage Staying ahead of competition Question 2 I remember our school teacher as a positive role model. He had command over English subject and always taught us giving clear distinctions between different things and giving clear examples to convey his point of view. He was quite friendly a d never neglected his weak students. He used a participative approach in the class and always encouraged students who prepared well for the class. Overall he was a pleasant personality which appealed us a lot. As described above, his qualities to be mentioned included his technical grip on his subject, his frank behavior with his students, his encouraging attitude, his punctuality and neatness of his dress. Some of these qualities would be his personal traits developed over time like punctuality, tidiness etc. while other were influenced by his behavior and other field norms. I learnt that to be an influencer we must have appropriate field knowledge, be well organized, and cooperative in person with people you are engaged with. Question 3 Definitely not. He may prolong on the position for the time but could not become a workplace role model because it takes certain qualities to influence others around you. If a person misses vital qualities of operational effectiveness and workplace organization, his colleagues and juniors will not follow him as desired, may get de-motivated and become laggards and this may e eventually affect the team and org performance. Activity 2 Question 1 In modern personal organization studies, setting personal work goals can be done in a systematic way. The following steps to achieve goal congruence at work environment can be followed: 1. Firstly, one needs to define clear goals that he is aiming to achieve at work in both short and long term which satisfies his responsibilities and accountabilities as well as org goals. 2. Ensure that he understands the goals properly and knows why they have been set for the business or for their department. 3. It is then important that he understands how he can help the company achieve the goals. He needs to fully understand the unique part that he plays. As a team, put together a plan to achieve the goals and allocate responsibility of who is going to do what. 4. Next, it will be encouraging to know how he will benefit when the company achieves its goals. 5. Follow the plan and continually remind him about the goals - at the daily, weekly and monthly meetings. Question 2 Given the scenario, the person’s goals are not aligned with that of his team and the new target to launch the new product in the market. This person needs to be consulted by the senior to explain and convince what are the future things to do as per the overall organizational goals pertaining to his team and department. He must be made aware of his position in the overall picture and what is expected of him to achieve in the whole quarter. He would be advised to set out his priorities accordingly according to the new goals, a monthly break-up of the goals to know what to be achieved in the short term and may note down the mind map of the things-to-do in the next quarter. He would be told the performance measures during the next quarter and encouraged to achieve his goals well in time for personal and organizational growth. Question 1 Activity 3 Table (Scanned page 1) Question 2 Contingencies happen when there are interruptions in the normal course of work. Some of the contingencies which may occur at workplace include: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Power breakages or infrastructure problems Legislation changes Fire and other Natural disasters System down or other operational break downs Severe Health issues with own or a critical person Emergency orders from HQ First phase to accommodate contingencies in the work plans is to carry out a detailed risk assessment, impact/ranking of risks, setting a contingency plan (also called Plan B) to tackle these contingencies happening. Work plans must ensure that responses suggested are appropriate and employee are trained and well equipped to cope with the situation and finally their performance measurement is adjusted accordingly to the changed situation. Question 3 The following five broad KPIs can be used for personal development: 1. Productivity. No. of products made, cases solved, documents processed. 2. Quality. Standards upheld. Complaints, reworks needed? 3. Budget Management. Economy and efficiency achieved during performance of duties? 4. Personal development. Punctuality, tidiness, health etc. 5. Creativity and innovation. Question 1 Activity 4 Competing demands can be managed properly by prioritizing tasks and doing the preferred first either in personal life or in a work environment. This could effectively be done by using a to-do list. This list will contain all the necessary works to be done on daily basis. You may note it down beforehand what you’ll do in the morning and at what time. It is also useful to identify your peak time (when you feel more active and energetic) and plan the difficult and most important tasks at that time while leaving less important tasks to be done at a time when you are exhausted. While preparing this to do list, adequate time must be allocated to each task to make realistic plan of things. Hence the completion of tasks at time and meeting deadlines will boost self confidence and increase work effectiveness. Question 2 Depending upon the personal habits and work environment, there may be many things which would be procrastinated inevitably resulting in poor work performance and less self satisfaction. My tendency to procrastinate also prevails in some tasks like: 1. In taking notes of the subject studied. I sometimes feel irritated writing the concepts in mind. I am working on developing self control regarding this and convincing myself of the importance of taking notes and following it positively. 2. To bring perfection in work, allocating more time to a single tasks delaying the others. Due to my personal inclination to refine my understanding up to the mark. Am making my planning better that I complete a topic within the time specified for it and move to the next topic to complete the whole work within deadline and allocating any extra time to areas of less satisfaction. 3. Complete chapter quizzes. This normally happens as I feel confident on the basis of my understanding of the subject that I knew the answers well. I am training myself to be pragmatic about myself and take quizzes mandatorily to actually know my preparation level. Question 1 Activity 6 Family Quadrant  Getting bread and milk early in morning.  Leaving younger siblings to school  Proving lunch to father Self Quadrant  Morning walk  Offering prayers  Meals  Bath, shaving and washing  Rest and sleep Friends Quadrant  Social networking via FB, Whatsapp etc.  Meeting in the evening Work Quadrant  Studies  Travelling to the workplace  Greetings to all colleagues  Taking charge and work till leave time  Maintain quality of work Question 2 Redraw (Scanned page 2) Question 3 My desired work/life balance is slightly different from how it is at present. As I am basically from Pakistan, came here in Australia for studies. There will be little more swelling in the quadrant of family as I miss it. As I’m engaged now so it’ll take a little more time to spend with her. There will also be an increase in the friends section as I would like to spend some more time with them particularly doing video gaming with them. My friends from university will also receive more warmth from my side as we’ll help each other out in our study problems. Social media has made it very easy to remain in touch still not underestimating the need of physical contact. Activity 7 Every job requires unique set of skills and capabilities to perform it suitably. Suppose a job at officer level in accounting field. All knowledge and skills required at officer level will be expected of me, for example: 1. Accounting treatment of income, expense, capital and asset and liability items 2. Knowledge of accounting package used by the employer 3. Following the daily weekly and monthly cut off time to post the entries into the system 4. Preparing summaries and presentation to seniors 5. Use of MS office applications of work excel and PowerPoint 6. Month end closing procedures 7. Multi tasking and team work abilities 8. Dealing with juniors and trainees I possess some of the above knowledge and skills like the personal and work organization, meeting deadlines, communication skills, software etc. while getting more from my studies here in Australia. Definitely God willing, in future, I’ll move to a senior position like management level. Skills at superior level are more demanding and challenging like:-. Effective leadership Clarity in goals and objectives Team management Managing stress and meeting deadlines Budget management Performance management Superior technical knowledge and skills I will pursue my studies to enable myself to take on these responsibilities in future. I plan not only to get knowledge and soft skills rather I’ll focus on my technical skills and practical application of knowledge at the workplace, follow my seniors and learn from them and keep myself abreast of latest developments in my field. Activity 8 Feedback can be useful when some of its characteristics can be ensured like: 1. It must be specific to the area under consideration rather than general. 2. Honest responses should be welcomed and accepted with open mind to remain realistic. 3. Avoid bias and prejudice in expecting the feedback. Feedback is very important tool in assessing self position (may be called “Position Audit”) and identifying any gaps between what is required and what actually is. This will help to identify what needs to be done further to reach at the desired position. I have sought feedback from my friends on “how timely I reply to their queries?” The result of the feedback was a mix of opinions however overall I was judged as an appropriate response-maker. Majority said that I made response in appropriate time and attended their queries well. Some termed me a bit dilatory but some of those instances were due to messages which I checked late and some were about things for which I had no immediate answer and I took long to give them the required answer. Very few instances were those which never received my response either because personal reasons or the type of query involved. I feel I could be better in this domain by checking my inbox at email or other apps on time, giving prompt response even to queries which need more time for me to take and using courage to say ‘no’ to queries which I do not like to participate or answer. Activity 10 I have recently joined the largest network of professionals on the internet “Linkedin.com” and very exciting to reap benefits from it not only in my studies but in my work life afterwards. I have made few dozen contacts directly while have joined some of its internal groups like some big Australian universities, business studies groups etc. Some of the benefits using this vast network are:-. Relevant and useful contacts Seeking advice from appropriate person Getting help and materials from fellow members Personal friendship with close minded people Personal and professional development opportunities Awareness of latest trends in our field Knowledge of seminars, conferences Subscribing to industry news, articles and other services While interacting with people, they give information about practical developments in the field. Their caliber gives us important insight into required skills of the current times and an incentive to be like them. Articles and other information shared by the contacts and members of the groups give important tips on study methods, techniques, hints and much more. I intend to use it more effectively as my network grows and I become more confident on using it. Question 1 Assessment Tool 2 There are 3 steps we can follow to become better at managing our time. 1. Setting goals Setting realistic and achievable goals will help stay motivated and manage time more efficiently. Work on long-, medium- and short-term goals. Set goals that are SMART:  Specific  Measurable  Attainable  Realistic  Timely 2. Prioritization Take the time to list all the things that need to get done. Sort this list from most important to least important. it should be honest and realistic when prioritizing tasks to avoid over committing to something that may not be achievable within the time frame. 3. Planning Your list of prioritized tasks will become your plan. You should revisit the plan regularly and make adjustments to it when needed. By breaking larger tasks down into smaller, more manageable tasks will find each task easier to keep track of and achieve. Question 2 Five traits of effective leaders as identified by Cox are: 1. High energy They come each new day with renewed vigor. Have clear directions in mind. Work towards their goals enthusiastically and enjoy the sense of achievement. 2. Goal orientation They have sufficiently defined goals. Choose their partners and coworkers wisely in achievement of those goals and provide a team work environment for successful achievement of goals. Question 5 Key Performance Indicators (KPI) are measurements for goals or targets that indicate how well an organization or individuals are doing on achieving its overall operational objectives. Key Performance Indicators (KPI) must be objectively defined in order to provide a quantifiable and measurable indication of the organizations progress towards achieving its goals. KPIs are based on the competencies. Indicators may take into account the following broad factors for measurement:          Quantity Quality Accuracy No of complaints/reworks Cost control Budget management Contributions to teamwork On-job behavior Attendance/timeliness Performance indicators may consist of more than one competency. Competency describes what needs to be done while performance standards say how it should be done and KPIs measure how well standards are kept. For example, if a booking clerk at a bus station is working, his main KPIs would be  Speed of booking  Accuracy of bookings  No of complaints  Behavior to passengers Question 6 There are four main learning styles: 1. Activists These people are learners through “kinesthetic” style. They are energetic, learn through physical activities. Remain visible in the interactions with people, conduct meeting, are team players and like to experiment new things without fear of failure. I personally find myself in this learning style and try to adjust my priorities and options accordingly. 2. Reflectors They can broadly be termed as “observers”. They stand behind, analyze and observe the whole process, draw conclusions and as a result, develop their understanding. They take their time to think upon and understand and then act accordingly. Project Managing my work priorities and professional development Introduction I belong to a moderate family background from Pakistan where education is still not a priority for most of the people. However, situation is improving gradually and people are getting more aware about the benefits of studies as they have seen the change of living standard of the parents who educated their children at high level. My parents also belong to the same class who, despite their limited resources, want to educate their children at highest level. They have sent me to Australia with high hopes to become a successful person. I am also inspired to be such successful professional in my life. However, being successful takes a lot of qualities to be adopted and leaving some habit which may become in my way to become so. This will need to ensure that I develop the required skills and competencies in myself over time. For this purpose, I have decided clear goals about my studies, my soft skills, computer skills and technical competency in my field of work. My study here in Australia is helping me a great deal in understanding how to achieve all these targets and through which techniques they are possible. For example, in this assignment, I have learnt many skills to develop myself personally and at work. One of the most important skills is learning how to prioritize my work. This is because I have limited time to do a lot of things which means that I have to realistically set priority to different tasks to be done. For example I have identified the following steps which can help me prioritize: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Collecting a list of all tasks. Identifying urgent vs. important. Assessing value. Ordering tasks by estimated effort. Being flexible and adaptable. Knowing when to cut. In similar way, I need to develop myself continuously against the standards or the requirements of the job and employer and my future aspirations. Developing me is not a simple thing to pursue rather it takes a lot of areas to be considered for improvement. My development not only deals with my personal traits but also my conduct with my juniors and seniors. In this way, I’ll focus on multi-dimensional progress and would focus on the following major areas: 1) How would I become a role model? In practical life, we take inspirations and inspire others. It takes some leadership and role model qualities to be an example for others. I personally have identified that people observe the following in me how I: 5) How do I measure and maintain my personal performance? Personal performance is concerned with being both efficient and effective at workplace. This means giving the best output by consuming least resources and the output must be targeted towards the goals set by the organization. Focused approach is a key as suggested by Pareto principal or the 80:20 rule. Whereby 80 % of unfocused activities produce only 20% results while 20% focused activities are said to produce approximately 80% of the output. Therefore I have learnt and am learning to remain effective and efficient in my work like using the following: 1. Plan work Using the to-do list to note the things to be done and their relative importance. 2. Prioritize works As per their importance and urgency, I prirotize my works. As my experiences increase, I get more accurate in meeting my deadlines. 3. Defining realistic goals I set my goals in a realistic way keeping some necessary cushion of time for uncertainty. This makes things to be achieved as a challenge. 4. Personal organization Giving appropriate time to myself, taking short breaks during the working hours to meet colleagues, timely leaving for lunch etc. 5. Manage paperwork/filings I like to have a tidy place around myself. By proper planning and prioritizing, I’ll use my in-trays and out-trays, keeping files at their designated place while discarding any useless papers. 6. Time management This means that I follow my schedule effectively. Giving allocated time to prioritized works, avoid being perfectionist, managing phone calls time, meetings time. 6) How good I am at prioritizing tasks? I make a to-do list to note down the things which I have to do in near future. I do this on my diary and smart phone. First, I have to decide which things are important and which are urgent, which are routine and which are discretionary. I am more energetic during the period from 8am to 1pm. I put most important things in this period as well as any meetings or mentoring session with my professors. I also would like to give presentations within this period. It is a dynamic learning process how I could conclude meetings on time, getting the tasks done on time, communicating tasks to juniors etc. and I learn it every new day. This approach is bringing discipline in my life and I have developed self control not to give time to distracters but to things which need my attention to achieve the goals. 7) How do I use technology to manage my work? We are living in the age of technology where we use a lot of technology hardware and software to make our life easy and more productive. There are a lot of things which help us organize ourselves at workplace, these range from a simple to-do list in our smart phone to complex software which can help manage work and prioritize work at large projects like building a dam etc. I too use different technology equipment to manage my work including: 1. Telephone I use both landline and mobile phone to remain in contact with my friends and colleagues at college and workplace. This is an effective communication tool to personally interact with people and a better way than a letter and email which are passive communication methods. Conversation over phone is more comprehensive. Now technology also allows use of SMS and MMS over mobile phone to send short messages, pictures, small files etc. Fax is also a useful version of phone to communicate important documents instantaneously all over the world. 2. Computer Computers are key to study and work needs in today’s world. I use both desktop and laptop computers to perform my tasks. Laptop is more accessible than desktop and facilitates portability and its battery allows working in remote areas. Computers run all the software whether for study or office use. 3. Internet Access to internet is now a basic need as identified by UNO. Internet is accessible through both computers and the smart phones. One of the most important facility for me over internet is email, can be both official and private like Gmail, yahoo etc. it allows my simple and complex communications within seconds around the globe, file sharing. 4. Software Different software allow different kinds of work to be done. Microsoft Office is in my use and is a basic software to perform most of the office duties. Other software like Skype, Teamviewer help teamwork. ERP software also run over computers which allow transactions throughout the organization and allow to check real time performance. I am quite confident with these skills now and improving over time to be more adept. I’ve learnt many techniques through my studies to organize myself, manage self at work, team work and supervising others towards goal achievement. 10) How do I satisfy my development needs? It is said that anything which is constant is “change”. With changing times, we need to periodically develop ourselves to face the new challenges. Therefore, I have started doing my position audit after frequent intervals whereby I know what are my strengths and weaknesses and identify any opportunities and threats that exist. Strengths and weaknesses are internal factors which represent things in my control. I am working towards overcoming my weaknesses and at the same time, increasing my strengths. Weaknesses affect personal skills more than the professional skills as I have noted from my experience while strengths are a combination of personal traits and technical knowledge and skills. External factors like opportunities and threats are indicators to mould myself within short time available. This may be change in legislation, rules of the university, employment criteria, promotion criteria etc. Once identified, I can easily do a “gap analysis” to identify the competencies I lack/need to develop and then finding ways to close those “gaps”. I find that taking interest in practically applying techniques which I study is an easy way to adopting new skills, getting guidance from mentors and professors is also very useful tool. Interacting with my peers and seniors in study while taking classroom and on-job training is also very convenient way to learning best methods. 11) How well I use my learning style? I am a “kinesthetic” learner or an “activist”. I have defined myself in this category by reading different characteristics of people in different learning styles. Being a vibrant personality and keen to interact with people, I plan and organize myself with techniques which fall under this category of people. I prefer to attend classes physically than to watch recorded lectures and prefer recorded lectures over audio lectures. Love to attend sessions and workshops and question the reasoning behind established norms and practices. I have enrolled myself in all committees which arrange workshops, subscribed to information relating coming seminars and conferences, any free webinars available through internet relating to my subject. 6. Advice and support From my professors, management professionals, finance professionals on Linkedin, I aim to remain in touch with them and seek their advice where I feel myself less knowledgeable. 14) How would I maintain my competitive edge? In line with my aspirations to be a successful business professional, I want to not only continuously maintain my professional competence but also the competitive edge. It takes an extra mile to be at such a position and I would need to be more update with latest knowledge, skills and competencies than my peers. To this end, I would get memberships of professional bodies, networking associations, will grow my connections at Linkedin.com, will interact more with close friends in physical gatherings and through social networks. Conclusion Given my aspirations and struggle to excel in life, I am in Australia becoming better and better every passing day. I am studying in a quality educational institution as well as absorbing the skills taught to me. I am learning in both formal way as well as informally whereby I’m developing myself according to the standards required by my potential employer. I am learning technical skills, personal skills as well as management skills required in life and workplace. There was time I wasn’t even aware of them but now I know exactly what they are, how to apply them and how to continuously improve myself. I hope that my respective learning and improvement in all the questions attended above have made a mounting difference in my professional capabilities or what I was before learning them. Though I’ll keep learning throughout my career and life, I designate the success up to now in the name of my parents, teachers and all who supported and encouraged me during this period.