Unit overview for GSB9003 Personal Development - Professional Advancement

Unit objectives

Students will be able to:

1. Demonstrate knowledge of current concepts, research and best practice in career and personal development.
2. Demonstrate awareness of identity, aspirations and positioning.
3. Demonstrate an awareness and ability to coach others using multi-rater feedback and personal improvement planning.
4. Demonstrate an ability to understand, critically evaluate and apply corporate personal development tools and methods (such as personal development plans, personal competencies, 720 assessments etc.).
5. Articulate an awareness of research in best practices of corporate personal development strategies.
6. Define and articulate a strategic personal plan for employability and long-term career and lifestyle success.
7. Demonstrate knowledge of win-win work contracts for recruitment, career development and leadership perspectives.

This unit aims to assist students to:

1. Understand the core concepts of personal development for career planning in the global workplace
2. Conduct a qualitative multi-rater assessment for career and lifestyle coaching.
3. Position oneself for targeted work markets
4. Know how personal development is used in companies for human development 
5. Write a Personal Enterprise Plan  (PEP)

Students will attend 39 contact hours divided into 2 modules:

• 15-hour Personal Development Module + 5 hours of tutorials
• 15-hour Career Strategy Module + 4 hours of tutorials

Besides attending class, students are expected to do required readings, prepare case studies, conduct market research and complete exercises in class. Estimated time for work outside class is a ratio of 3 hours personal work for 1 hour of teaching.

Attendance at all classroom and tutorial sessions is essential for successful completion of this unit.

The backbone of the unit is the systematic development of a Personal Enterprise Plan. This is like a business plan for a start-up company. To complete the plan you will integrate content from the assignments, such as the positioning statement, the 720 assessment, lifestyle and career priorities, personal competencies and market research.

A variety of learning methods are used: personal development teams supported by tutorial sessions, individual and corporate case studies, role playing, decision-matrices, video interviews and questionnaires.

A typical 3-hour classroom session would have the following parts:

• Presentation of content with Q&A
• Case study with discussion
• Individual or group work using a specific personal development method