Multicultural Management and Professional Development Report

Personal goals for the course

• Knowledge and training increment for the course
• Creation of a comparison between local and international project management standards.
• Come up with a personal effectiveness towards project management.
• Extend my project management skills from the current level to higher levels of quality.
• Expand my knowledge of project management to achieve higher grading levels for different project management standards both local and international.
• Acquaint myself with an effective way of managing projects internationally more effectively.
• To understand management of projects using multicultural management technique in an overseas environment.
• Understanding of competence levels of other project management standards.
• Highly establish my management profile on an international scale.
• To distinguish and compare management of projects in different countries.

Target grade of achievement

The chosen competency standard for the assessment is the IPMA Competency Standard. According to this Competence Standard, four levels exist as shown in the table below¹.

The information above can be reflected through a professional competence scale as shown below. The competence level rating is a reflection of the project management competency scale².

In the table that follows, there is an assessment according to my initial targets using the Self-Assessment Test. This assessment is based on the IPMA Competence Standard. The competence elements have been presented and grouped as provided by ICB Version 3. This version gives three groups of competence elements as Technical, Behavioral, and contextual competencies³. Knowledge and experience requirements at each level of are as shown.3. Current-self assessment of PM Knowledge

In the table, score are graded against a maximum of 10 scores.

The ICB assessment competency provides for assessment against 46 competency elements. Of the 46 elements assessed against experience and knowledge, I have only learned knowledge with an average score of 5.45 according to my personal assessment. However, for complete attainment of level C in the IPMA Competence Standard, both knowledge and experience scores should be 5 and 4 on average respectively.

On the other hand, Behavioral assessment provides fifteen competence elements both for the knowledge and experience. On the ICB scale, knowledge and experience are given the same scores as technical elements. For qualifications in the IPMA Standards both knowledge and experience are required for Level C. on this assessment sheet, I only have knowledge element as opposed to experience element.

Also, contextual competencies provide for assessment against 11 contextual competencies. This assesses both knowledge and experience. According to my personal view, I have only learned the knowledge part of it averaging 5.31, on a grading scale providing for ten possible scores⁴.

Planned investment

The table below shows the planned investment in hours based on a 12-week semester. In the table, the totals hours required are about 72 for self study and 36 hours a piece for group work and, lecture and tutorials.

The figure below also indicates the planned investment throughout the course. The currency is the Australian Dollar.

My total spending during the next twelve weeks will constitute $10350. The estimation is sum of my accommodation, transport, and health care costs during the next three months ($ 6900) and tuition fees per semester, $ 3450. Hopefully, I will be able to confine myself to these planned expenses.

Progress as at present

According to the current status of my project management skills, I can conclude that I have achieved more than 80% of my course goals. The only parts that require checking for level C are the ICB experience competencies in technical, contextual and behavioral elements. At this point, I have managed to acquire new knowledge and skills in such areas as multicultural management, teamwork in international companies, multinational PM standards, and self-competency assessment. These skills will enable to better organize and design projects in a multinational and multicultural environment. Moreover, they are indispensible for my professional and career growth.

I can also single out some of my strengths and weakness. As far as positive qualities are concerned I can mention well-developed listening skills, carefulness, and ability to quickly respond to various situations or people’s needs. Additionally, I am able to promote raise or revive team spirit and encourage other people to work together. Another positive quality that I possess is the ability to assimilate and analyze information. In turn, my main weaknesses include indecisiveness, unwillingness to take risks, and tendency to hold back from direct participation. These are the main areas of my personal and professional development that require improvement.

Bibliography

1. E. Rozemeijer. Frameworks for IT Management. NY: Van Haren Publishing, 2007, p. 139-141.
2. T. Sobh. Advances in computer and information science and engineering. Bridgeport: Springer, 2008.
3. J.V. Bon & T. Verheijen. Frameworks for IT Management. NY: Van Haven Publishing, 2006. P. 222.
4. P.C. Dinsmore & J. Cabanis-Brewin. The AMA Handbook of Project Management. NY: Amacom Books, 2010. P. 19-21.