field course assignment

8/10/2019 Field Course Assignment

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13CVP323 Principles of Project Management Field Course, Loughborough University 27/08/2014

the Information seeking category (no. 3), if you tend not to seek additional information on aproblem or task then your would score 1, whereas if you like to systematically use a variety ofinformation gathering techniques and involve others in this process in order to gain a fullerunderstanding of the problem in hand, then you would score 5.

You must also provide between 50 and 100 words for each competency explaining why you haverated your performance at this level. You could draw from examples relating to your industrial /educational experiences to illustrate your performance under each competency area.

Think carefully about your responses and complete this evaluation honestly. You may wish todiscuss your abilities under each category with your fellow students in order that you gain anobjective view of your ability under each one.

Component B: Commitment to the Course (20%)

This will be evaluated by your lecturers and trainers during the course. It is important to remember

however that success by completing the exercises is not synonymous with commitment. This isabout your willingness to engage in the learning afforded by the programme.

Component C: Self-Development Evaluation (40%)

Following completion of the Lindley course, you should re-review your personal competencyagainst each criterion within the profile. You should write a brief report of no more than 500 wordsexplaining how you have developed in terms of the competency areas stated.

In addition, for each competency you must prepare a written case example of how yourperformance has improved which demonstrates your improved abilities under each of thecompetency areas. This should comprise between 100 and 200 words for each competency, butshould convey how you have developed during the course, or learned about your own abilities andperformance.

You are advised to reflect on your performance and development with your peers in order that youget an objective view of your performance over the duration of the course. You are also advised totake notes during the various exercises with which you will be involved in order that you canidentify where particular improvements have been made.

You may attach these as an appendix as supporting evidence of your personal development.

Component D: Identification of SMART Goals (20%)

Reflect on what you have learned during the course and identify a minimum of five SMART(Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timed) goals for to develop in the future. Theseshould provide you with a set of developmental targets for exploiting your strengths andaddressing any weaknesses in the future.


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Appendix:

Competency Descriptions

Below is a brief description of each key competency area with relevance to high performing

construction project managers. Use this when deciding upon your personal level of performance inthe self-evaluation exercise.

Achievement and act ion-oriented comp etencies

The competencies within this cluster are focused on action towards task accomplishment:

1. Achievement orientation is a concern for working well towards a standard of excellence. Thisbehavior has three sub-dimensions of: completeness of action, achievement impact anddegree of innovation. Although it is possible to score highly for this competency within arelatively narrow job role, in the case of the high performing project managers achievementorientation is inevitably oriented towards successful project/task outcomes.

2. Initiative is a competency related to a preference for taking action and seizing opportunities.This competency is sub-divided into a time dimension and an element linked to self-motivation.Superior performers tend to operate within a longer time span than average performers.Furthermore, they exhibit a higher degree of self-motivation, often manifested in an ability toinvolve others in the accomplishment of key tasks.

3. Information seeking is an underlying curiosity to know more things about people, issues or asituation. This has important links to initiative, with exemplary performers displaying apropensity for seeking first-hand information on a particular problem or issue and an innateability to scan for wider information that could be of future use in resolving situations or issues.

Human service-oriented com petencies

These competencies relate to meeting others needs, usually those linked to customer service in awork-related context:

4. Customer service orientation is a desire to meet customer needs (which can be an end-userwithin the project managers own organization or an external party). High performing managersshow a marked propensity for seeking information about the real underlying needs of clients,beyond those overtly expressed within contractual documents and terms of appointment. Theyalso exhibit a responsible attitude towards dealing with customer service problems rapidly andefficiently.

Impact and inf luence based comp etencies

These behavi ors relate to an individuals concern with their effect on others. This relates to goodcitizenship behavior as much as it does to their impact on their colleagues and others with whomthey interface in a professional capacity:

5. Impact and influence ref ers to the individuals abilities to gain support for a course of actionfrom other stakeholders. This links to group process skills in leading or directing a group, butsuperior performance also demands a breadth of understanding and influence within anorganization and/or project setting.


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Managerial com petencies

These competencies relate to individuals abilities to manage a situation or team effectively:

6. Teamwork and cooperation implies a genuine desire to work cooperatively as part of a team.It has several sub-dimensions including that of thoroughness of action in fostering teamworkand amount of effort employed to engage others in team working activities.

7. Team leadership is the intention to take on the role of leader of a team or group and a desireto lead others. The primary dimension of the team leadership competency is the intensity andstrength of the leadership role.

8. Directiveness , also defined as assertiveness, refers to the appropriate use of positional powerin order to ensure that others comply with the managers wishes. This is not to say thatdirective behavior defines the everyday management style for superior manager, but that itshould selectively employed in particular situations that demanded it.

Cognit ive Competencies

These competencies function as an intellectual version of initiative, helping the project manager tounderstand a situation, task, problem or body of knowledge. Although a threshold intelligencequota may be a prerequisite for performance under these co mpetency areas, an individuals abilityto apply their intelligence to a work problem demands both appropriate ability and motivation.

9. Analytical thinking is the ability to understand a situation by deconstructing it or by tracing theimplications of a particular situation in a causal way. High levels of performance under thisbehavior include the ability to analyze complex problems in a long-term manner.

10. Conceptual thinking is the ability to see the bigger picture through the identification of

patterns or interconnections between situations that are not obviously related. Such inductivereasoning techniques demand the application of heuristic techniques that link closely to othercompetency areas.

Personal Effect iveness Com petencies

The competencies contained within this cluster all share a common theme in that they reflectintellectual and behavioral maturity in relation to others and to work.

11. Self-control or composure is an ability to remain composed, restrain negative actions andcope well even when confronted with stressful situations. The ability to remain calm and to notbe easily provoked is arguably a crosscutting theme that should underpin all effectivemanagement behaviors and high levels of this competency were particularly predictive ofsuperior performance across the wider range of competencies.

12. Flexibility is the ability to adapt and work flexibly within a variety of situations, individuals orgroups. This competency had two sub-dimensions, breadth of change in terms of the ability ofa manager to adopt different organizational strategies and speed of change relating their abilityto refocus and adapt their behavior to new situations that demand it.


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Pre-course Competency Evaluation Questionnaire

Competency areas

Self evaluation score(1 = poor, 3 average,

5 = excellent)

1 2 3 4 5

Achievement and action-oriented competencies

1. Achievement orientation

2. Initiative

3. Information seeking

Human service-oriented competencies

4. Customer service orientation

Impact and influence based competencies

5. Impact and influence

Managerial competencies

6. Teamwork and cooperation

7. Team leadership

8. Directiveness

Cognitive Competencies

9. Analytical thinking

10. Conceptual thinking

Personal Effectiveness Competencies

11. Self-control

12. Flexibility

Note that your self-evaluation should reflect an honest appraisal of your strengths andweaknesses under the competency areas. Marks will not be awarded for higher scores, but forhonest reflection.

You should provide between 50 and 100 words for each competency (12 in all) explaining why youhave rated your performance at this level.


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Post-course Competency Evaluation Questionnaire

Competency areas

Self evaluation score(1 = poor, 3 average,

5 = excellent)

1 2 3 4 5

Achievement and action-oriented competencies

1. Achievement orientation

2. Initiative

3. Information seeking

Human service-oriented competencies

4. Customer service orientation

Impact and influence based competencies

5. Impact and influence

Managerial competencies

6. Teamwork and cooperation

7. Team leadership

8. Directiveness

Cognitive Competencies

9. Analytical thinking

10. Conceptual thinking

Personal Effectiveness Competencies

11. Self-control

12. Flexibility

Note that for each competency you must provide 100 200 words evidencing how you performedat this level during the Lindley course. This should refer to a particular instance where your

performance under each competency category led to improved performance for you, your teamand/or the task with which you were involved. It is also possible that the course will have revealedareas in which you need to develop in the future which is an equally important outcome.

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