GRIZLI777

Career Development
Plan
Action Based Learning

Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................ 1
Change management................................................................................................. 2
Resistance to Change................................................................................................. 3
Personal Development Plan........................................................................................ 5
Evaluation of Action Based Learning Experience........................................................6
Introduction of Organization....................................................................................... 7
Responsibilities in the Organization............................................................................8
Review of the Performance......................................................................................... 9
Setting of Career Direction....................................................................................... 10
Conclusion................................................................................................................ 11
Reference List............................................................................................................... 12

Introduction
The organizations expansion and transformation are now become the method of life. As a part of
an organization it is essential to know many problems that arises ion the organizations and how it
will have an effect on others. As an individual it is the duty of every one to understand the
organizational matters and to adjust our own life with the expansion and modifications of the
organizations. Many changes occurs in the organizations, some of which are, the introduction of
innovative technologies, amalgamations, takeover/merger, hiring and firing of staff at any time,
increased competitiveness etc. These changes effect the individual as well as the groups that are
present in he organization and their performance are also affected by these changes. One has to
adopt these changes very carefully and to act in such a way that he could perform his duties
accurately individually as well as in the groups.

As far as individual is concern is concern there are many challenges of feelings, reflection of
others, planning and management that leads to success. The individual has to focus clearly and
be ready for any kind of change. Individuals life is in their own hands. People are living in the
time era. Everything that comes our way becomes our history when it passes away. Past, present
and future are these things that every human being has. Every person has its own past, present
and future. Every person feel, act, make decisions, get experience and as the time passes it
becomes persons history and then he thinks make decisions again. This cycle goes on and on.
Person cant change its past so it is essential for every human being to focus on their present so
that their future can be secure and safe.

Change management
Change means modifications. The main focus of this study is planned changes. The change can
be intended or entire when it happens rapidly and well managed by the leader. It is the main
quality of a talented leader to identify the need of change quickly and change the things by
managing accurately. The model of change presented by Lewin and the first step according to
this model is unfreezing, change and refreeze: sustain it as a general recipe for development of
organization. when the technology changes it is necessary for the organizations leaders to define
the roles clearly again to their employees and to train them accordingly with the particular
change. Those organizations who adapt to changes quickly and accurately will reach to the
success quickly. The four important characteristics which are essential for leaders to understand
as mentioned in Lewins Model (1959) are appreciate new behavior, focus on people as a basis
for change, realize the need for change and distinguish the survival for existence (William &

Kazanas 2003). Kotter described the table which shows the steps that are parts of change
process.

Resistance to Change
Individuals are comfortable when they get what they want. As far as employees are concerns the
employee are satisfied when they know their tasks correctly and when they know their fellow
workers. When some change occurs in the organization they become tensed and dissatisfied. The
change creates the feeling of uncertainty and lack of confidence in them and activates an
unconscious defense mechanism in them. Because of this resistance the large scale projects and
the change process delayed. The concentration of the resistance is different in different
individuals. The factors that affect this resistance include the culture in the organization and
different characteristics of the employees such as their age, gender, experience, character,
personality, etc. Example: it has been observed that the young workers are more comfortable in

accepting changes while the older workers feels discomfort in adapting changes and they like to
do their routine works as they are doing regularly. The main task is to maintain the resistance
level in the change process.
Different persons respond differently to a change, Kubler Ross invented a change curve model
which demonstrates the different levels of human beings while they are reacting to the change
when they get to know that they have a serious disease. This model can easily be utilized in
business concerns and given the information of the individuals regarding the change that occurs.
It also gives the idea that what time is correct to announce the change or passes the information
to employees regarding the change. This can guides for implementing the better behavior when
change occurs. Another Model presented by the Satir (2012) and this model is similar to the
Kubler Ross Model.

The Satir (2012) Model explains that the change occurs from the overseas aspects and the people
adopt it because of the drawbacks in their current system. While facing any change the resistance

of the people creates confusions in the working environment. The next phases are integration and
development of new status quo. The Ross model is similar to this model. According to him the
basis of change is not recognized and the phases differ from annoyance to resistance for adapting
the change. The importance of these Models is significant for leaders to realize the outcomes of
the change. For managing the resistance level the policies are communicate smoothly and with
firm attitude (Lynne & Denise 2013).

Personal Development Plan

Personal Development Planning (PDP) is refer as the prearranged process utilized by an
individual to increase his learning and to boost his performances, principles, attainment
benchmarks to plan for private and professional activities (McKee 2012). The phases of PDP are
very varied that gives a variety of choices to individual in every phase of persona development.
PDP covers all the management functions i.e. planning, organizing. Leading, and controlling.
The feedbacks are also very significant and helpful in every phase of PDP.
In the course of action based learning process of this module, I have selected to start the learning
experience based on working in a low fare domestic airline in UK. During this work experience,
the personal development phases are covered and evaluated simultaneously to prepare a report
on this experience for the assessment in this module of change management. In this process, I not
only have gone through the literature review of change management ion organizations and in
personal life but also have made notes to make a change plan during my work experience.
Laycock & Stephenson (2013) asserted that the behaviour of employees varies with their
specialization field, sector of working, and the culture of organizations. For intance, in airline
industry, multi cultural environment in highly diverse employees and technology intensiveness
affected the ways of operation and working styles as xcompared to other industries and sectors.

Hence, when I joined this small but diverse airlines customer rel;ationship de[partmen as an
internee, my behaviour needed to be adapted as per the need of organization. Y su[ervisor has
expected ro learn the organizations rukes and policies quickly as to satisfy the queries of
customers and handling their complaints need a clear understanding of company policies.
Therefore, I have to fulfill the expectations of my supervisor in efficient manner, though, I have
learnt the main CRM strategies of this company in a shorter duration as compared to my other
senior colleagues due to my expertise in business administration concepts.
I was assigned to work in a small team of four customer relationship officers, mostly comprised
of young and sociable, and warmly welcomed me in their team at the head office of the company.
These colleagues were cooperative and courteous in helping me out and sharing their knowledge
from time to time about different issues related to airline customers. My learning experience is
largely dependent on their mentoring and facilitating the tasks assigned by supervisor.

Evaluation of Action Based Learning Experience

Geoff et al (2001) proposed that action based learning is a different experiential learning
as compared to the traditional classroom based learning processes. In the case of my work based
learning experience, a negotiated learning agreement facilitated the process of learning from
work in the selected organization. The impact on skill development, knowledge sharing, and
expertise acquirement are considerable in work based learning environment. The major
contribution of this learning experience is towards the classroom learnt theories and concepts
verifications in the areas of organizational behaviour, customer relationship management,
marketing, and management during the tasks performed at the job. The experience was also
comprised on the training and mentoring from my immediate supervisor and internal trainer of
the organization. According to Kizer (2010), the practical skills learned in action based learning

environment play crucial role in career planning and management. Hence, this learning
experience can also be treated as a working experience as it significantly contributed towards the
practical skills development and application of learned concepts.
In my action based learning experience at this airline, based on negotiated learning and change
management and part of the personal development plan (PDP). The evaluation of this experience
is also based on the nature and working structure of the selected organization along with the role
of management. The main contributors in this learning were the organizational culture,
management style; marketing strategies, customers care strategies, and offered services as a low
cost human and goods carrier in Europe

Introduction of Organization
The airline which was selected for this action based learning environment is a low cost passenger
and goods carrier in Europe region. The size of the airline is small as compared to the other
regional players but the working environment is quite pleasant and standardized. The services of
the airline ranges from in flight hosting, online reservations, meal free low cost packages, and
vacation trips for individuals, families, and corporate sector. Like other airline businesses,
customer care department is crucial in success of satisfying the regular travelers and attracting
new leisure and business travelers. The main revenue is generated from regular business travelers
and families/tourists in holiday seasons. The secondary airports are also used by this air line to
cut civil aviation costs. Salary structures are quite normal and mostly students and flexible term
workers are working in customer care department which is comprised of desk offices and
regional call centers.

I was placed in the head office of customer care in main branch and corporate clients services
were my major domain. My team was responsible for coordinating with the frequent corporate
clients and to generate new clients to increase business. Marketing and sales department also
provides liaison to our department to handle the queries and claims of corporate clients. The
dynamic nature of airline business and cut throat competition in low fare airlines sector due to
the major players like Ryanair and Easy Jet, our airline also strives to acquire trained and less
expensive workforce which can deliver the desired targets. The operations department and
marketing and sales are major functional areas, whereas accounts and finance, management
information systems (MIS), and human resources are some support departments. The chief
executive officer is responsible for a fleet of 25 airplanes and around three thousand employees
in more than twenty regional offices of the company in Europe.

Responsibilities in the Organization

The immediate responsibilities after joining in CRM department were data entry and filing
management. The team which was allocated to me is responsible for the corporate sector mall
businesses clients. Therefore, organization and update of regular client companies records were
my initial set of responsibilities. The update of clients services is received from call centre
records and customer care representatives of the company. Therefore, I had to work in
coordination with the call centre staff and customer care representatives in the field. Once I had
understood the work and started doing record keeping and data entry tasks, my team leader also
involved me in regular team meetings about the decisions related to the clients companies
complaints and offered packages.

The information technology role in my responsibilities was

major, therefore, I had to improve my word processing, excel, and access expertise, along with
the command on the formation of power point slides. My team members assigned me the task of

presentations preparations and tracking the website transactions of clients companies. These
records are electronically updated and these tasks enriched and polished my proficiency on
information technology and airline software used in the company.
The customer services tasks include the verification of clients luggage lost claims, flight
cancellation or rescheduling problems, arrangement of suitable flight routes and dealing of group
travel packages. Our airline deals with the air cargo of corporate clients, therefore, most of the
customer services are related with freight handling issues. As per my interest and support of team
members, I had soon leant all the clients dealing procedures and started making coordination in
different concerned departments of the company in the case of any complaint or query handling.
Kiser (2010) asserted that the greater the role and responsibility given to employees shows larger
the trust on the abilities of certain employee and in turn, these responsibilities increase the
learning and skills of the employees in a particular area. In contrast, if my team leader did not
trust my abilities, I was not able to develop the [positive change in my abilities and resist to the
changes implied from the external environment as mentioned in the Ross model earlier in this
paper.

Review of the Performance

The performance review on this placement position was periodically and randomly done by
team leaders and department heads along with the self appraisal and peer reviews. The current
issues, technical knowledge, training needs, promotion, and extension of working period depend
on these reviews. In this whole learning experience, I have received positive appraisals from my
supervisors and colleagues as I have adopted the learning attitude and never refused any assigned
duty and task. During this short tenure, I have gained the trust top my team leader in customer
care department and the records and files maintained by me never objected by concerned

officials for any discrepancy. During this period, I have developed many presentations also for
client services marketing and handling of clients assigned projects.
The business of the airline in this period also faced recession issues like other airlines; therefore,
strict measures of performance appraisal were adopted as only skilled employees can stay in the
company. Hence all staff in the CRM department also worked extremely carefully to avoid any
job loss or reduction in salaries. The increased number of airlines and decreased leisure travel in
Europe due to economic downturn after year 2008 had affected the airline business the most.
One good opportunity of our airline was its low fare policy and economical packages to survive
in this tough competition. I have also performed strictly according to the instructions of my team
leader and never step outside the boundaries for corporate clients problems. Our team took every
measure to keep these corporate clients satisfied and retained them for long term in economic
downturn.
The other challenges faced during my placement were my temporary position and the student
status in the organization. Long term tasks and responsibilities like direct clients; accounts
handling were not assigned to me as my learning negotiated agreement was for specific period of
few months only. Also, I was not entitled to any bonuses or salary increments during this period
due to the nature of this internship experience. Also, my performance was reviewed against the
goals and objectives set for the whole team and my share in achieving these targets during the
period of my working in this airline.

Setting of Career Direction

The contribution of this action based learning placement in this airline was to facilitate the
setting of this career direction in future profession. Customer relationship management always be

my field of interest in business education, therefore, I have selected this department to asses my
abilities in this area during this learning experience. My career plans also involved working in
airline industry and selection of this small airline was part of my experience of real working in
airline sector. Since, customer care is a vital functional area of airline business; therefore, this
action based learning has facilitated my real learning and skill building in this area. Also, the
inside issues and problems facing by airlines also become clear to me and the selection
procedures and standards are known now. This knowledge will help me to prepare for the
selection on management positions in CRM of any reputed airline after completion of
professional formal education.
The placement experience also added the confidence in my information technology,
management, and communication skills as these skills not only have developed during this
period but also proved to be part of my success. The remarks given by my team leader were also
related to my communication and data management abilities in the department.

Also, the skills

like interpersonal communication, change management, and time management are also learnt
during this experience. The contacts of clients organization which were maintained during this
experience will also facilitate my job search after completion of education.

Conclusion
Action based learning experiences facilitated the practical learning of students along with the
formal and traditional class room learning. The placements achieved under the Negotiated
learning agreements also become the source of key skills development like in my case of
working in a small airline company. The skills of analysis, data management, communication,
negotiation and organization will help in my real professional experiences of future. My
placement in CRM division of this airline has provided me to look closely into the matters facing

buy the company related to its corporate clients and how the company facilitate the customizes
flight solutions for the companies and individuals. Also, the key management issues and
customers complaints handling systems learnt from these experiences will surely qualify me for
the management positions in a reputed airline after completion of formal education. The
development of my key skills in marketing and sales with specialization in CRM will surely get
me real life ideas of airline industry issues. Therefore, action based learning with proper
performance measures and controls can produce career management opportunities for students
during their education period in universities.

Reference List
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Second Edition, Teachers College Press.
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Graves, N. (2013). Learner Managed Learning: Practice, Theory and Policy. Routledge.

Kiser, P. M. (2010). The Human Services Internship: Getting the Most from Your Experience:
Getting the Most from Your Experience. Cengage Learning.
Laycock, M., & Stephenson, J. (2013). Using Learning Contracts in Higher Education.
Routledge.
Lynne, H., & Denise, C. (2013). University Teaching in Focus: A Learning-Centred Approach.
Routledge.
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William, J. R., & Kazanas, H. C. (2003). The Strategic Development of Talent. Human Resource
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