Unit 3: Professional development
Activity Sheet 1
Effective communication and different media
u Task 1
You are going to meet Hamish Johansson in the foyer of The Jackson Building at 1.00 pm for lunch.
Write the message you would give to Hamish if:
l You were sending a text message to Hamish who is an old friend you were meeting for lunch and then going out for the rest of the day.
l You were sending an email to confirm that you will be there for a job interview with Hamish.
Are the two messages the same?
What differences are there and why?
What language and conventions are used?
u Task 2
Write out some common ‘text speak’ abbreviations, e.g. ‘txt spk’. Compose a message using as many of these as possible.
What difficulties could you face showing this to some people and why?
Is this formal/informal?
u Task 3
Find an example of the following examples of communication:
l fax;
l email;
l blog entry;
l memo;
l letter;
l a business-related telephone call (observe one) such as ordering an item, requesting a job interview, etc.;
l a personal telephone call.
Which of these are formal and which are informal?
Are there any conventions that are followed? What are they?
What was the purpose of that communication?
Was it appropriate to the audience it was intended and why?
u Task 4
Complete the following table:
Communication Method / Speed of recipient receiving it / Equipment required / Security/privacy / Formal/
informal / Example
Website
Blog
Text message
Information points
Newspapers
Magazines
Reports
Brochures
Posters
Telephone
Face to face
Radio
Podcast
Video-conferencing
Fax
Notice board
Looking at the table on the previous page and also considering audience, decide upon the best delivery communication media for the following situations:
l sharing your experiences as a ‘Gap-year student’ with your friends while working abroad;
l sharing your reviews of new generation telephones with gadget enthusiasts;
l discussing tactics for a hockey team at half time;
l organising a shopping trip with a friend;
l giving local tourist information at a train station;
l giving information about cruise holidays for older people;
l arranging a meeting to discuss a new packaging solution within an international business;
l informing a wide range of people about the business news;
l live reporting on a football match.
Which do you think is the best media and why?
What media would you use to promote your school/college to potential learners and why?
How would this differ if you were promoting a computer repair service?
u Task 5
Prepare a marketing campaign for your school or a local computer repair service (or another organisation of your choice). Give a presentation to the rest of the group explaining it.
Skills profile
Activity 1 provides opportunities to develop the following skills:
SkillPersonal, Learning and Thinking Skills (PLTS) / Independent enquirer:
n Explore issues or problems from different perspectives.
Unit 3: Professional development
Activity Sheet 2
Personal styles and behaviours and their impact on others
u Task 1
What is the difference between aggressive behaviour, passive behaviour and assertive behaviour?
Which of these statements below is aggressive and which are assertive?
l ‘What! Are you arguing with me!! How dare you!!!’
l ‘I'm too emotional to deal with this. After all, I'm new here.''
l ‘Sure, I'll go to the meeting − even though I don't like to go out at night − if it's important for the business.’
l ‘I've waited long enough. I'm setting a deadline.’
l ‘Was that you? You know you shouldn't have done that.’
l ''It's OK if she decides what should be in my training plan. Professionals know best.’
u Task 2
Think of a time when you have seen:
l aggressive behaviour;
l assertive behaviour;
l passive behaviour;
l professional behaviour;
l unprofessional behaviour;
l helpful behaviour;
l obstructive behaviour.
Make a note of the situation and explain it to a partner. Answer the following questions:
l What caused this behaviour?
l How do you know this behaviour was of the type you have identified?
l How was the situation dealt with by any other people present?
l Did the behaviour result in a satisfactory resolution or could it have been dealt with better?
u Task 3
Write and perform a short ‘play’ to the rest of your group, demonstrating one of the situations you have identified above. Ask the rest of the group to answer the questions above after they have seen it. Do they agree with your answers?
What is meant by the terms ‘body language’ and ‘verbal clues’?
How might they change in the following situations for both yourself and the other people involved?
l You are returning a faulty computer to a shop. You are very unhappy with the answers you are given by the shop floor assistant, who is defensive and unhelpful. A manager is called who listens to your situation and substitutes your computer for another giving you an additional £50 voucher to compensate you for your inconvenience.
l You are giving a presentation to a group of co-workers on a new IT system you have been developing. One of your colleagues has a very negative attitude to nearly all of your ideas and disagrees with you at every opportunity.
l You are opening a new shop in the local town centre. Someone who works for you is generally disorganised and has lost the details for the stock that is expected at the store.
Some of the situations you have covered in the tasks throughout this activity sheet affect one person; some potentially affect the whole team or organisation. Review your work. Which affect one person and which affect the team/organisation?
Skills profile
Activity 2 provides opportunities to develop the following skills:
SkillPersonal, Learning and Thinking Skills (PLTS) / Team worker:
n Explore differing personal styles and behaviour.
n Adapt behaviour to suit different roles and situations, including leadership roles.
Independent enquirer:
n Consider the influence of circumstances, beliefs and feelings on decisions and events.
Unit 3: Professional development
Activity Sheet 3
Be able to demonstrate correct, contextually appropriate and effective English
u Task 1
Look at the following steps in the process of constructing an argument/report:
1. Look at the situation/question placed in front of you.
2. Make a mind map of all the possible ideas you could include.
3. Put your points into a logically ordered plan.
4. Say what you are arguing about in your opening sentence/paragraph.
5. Explain your first point. Make sure that you give reasons and examples to back up your point.
6. Move on to the next point, but try to use a ‘linking’ word where appropriate to make your argument ‘flow’.
7. Repeat 5 and 6 until you have exhausted all of your points.
8. Write a conclusion/summary of all of the main points you have covered.
9. Proofread your work. Is it grammatically and logically correct?
10. Amend your work if appropriate and then repeat 9 until you are satisfied. (It is worthwhile getting someone else to proofread it as well.)
Answer the following questions:
l What is meant by the term ‘proofread’?
l What is the difference between balanced and unbalanced arguments?
l Use all ten stages above to construct an argument on the following topics (some need you to argue one side, some both):
a. Explain why your favourite musician/band is the best.
b. Explain why a TV programme/film you dislike is so bad.
c. Discuss whether local businesses should invest money in local charity projects.
d. Evaluate the impact of computer-based training and virtual learning leading to the closure of all schools and colleges.
When you proofread your work, look for evidence of the following:
l simple sentences;
l complex sentences;
l good use of English/poor English;
l appropriateness of English used.
How would your use of English change if you were presenting this work to:
a. An employer?
b. A friend?
Unit 3: Professional development
Activity Sheet 4
Business situations
u Task 1
Write a training manual for new workers who need to deal with customers in a shop. Include the following:
l language you should (and shouldn’t) use;
l how to deal with difficult/aggressive customers;
l what is meant by the term ‘customer service’, its importance and how you can enhance this aspect;
l good body language;
l good telephone technique/dealing with enquiries.
u Task 2
In a group of about four people, imagine you have a small budget of £10,000 to set up a business. Decide what you would like it to be.
l What is the idea?
l How did you come up with the idea?
l How did you operate as a group (part 1)?
l Did one person dominate the discussion?
l Did everybody agree?
l How was any conflict resolved?
l Did everybody participate?
u Task 3
Research the idea and prepare a presentation on your business proposal to be given to potential investors.
l What should you include in the proposal?
l How would a presentation differ from a written proposal?
l Give the presentation to members of other groups.
l How did you operate as a group (part 2):
l How did you divide the workload?
l How did you monitor progress?
l How was the final presentation/proposal co-ordinated?
l Who are the stakeholders in your proposed business?
l Would any oppose your business? How do you think they would react and how would you negotiate with them?
u Case study
Faisal Ali owns a construction firm called Build the Future. Build the Future has been extremely successful in the past five years, returning large profits to Faisal. He employs 20 people, who are paid a reasonable wage. The cost of living has increased rapidly recently, which means that the workers’ wages are not worth as much as in previous years. They would like an increase in wages. They also feel that they did not receive as many benefits from the ‘boom years’ as Faisal and are a little disgruntled. Faisal has noticed that the economy is not flourishing as in previous years and is now worried about the business. He is looking to cut costs where possible.
Form groups of four. One person is going to be Faisal, one is a workers representative, another is going to act as conciliator (a neutral person trying to achieve a mutually beneficial solution), and another is going to observe.
Carry out a discussion between Faisal and the workers’ representative.
The neutral conciliator regulates the discussion.
The observer should take notes.
After ten minutes, stop and look at the notes. Discuss the following:
l Was a solution achieved? (If so, how? If not, why not?)
l What language (verbal and body language) was used?
Skills profile
Activity 4 provides opportunities to develop the following skills:
SkillPersonal, Learning and Thinking Skills (PLTS) / Team worker:
n Explore differing personal styles and behaviour.
n Adapt behaviour to suit different roles and situations, including leadership roles.
Independent enquirer:
n Consider the influence of circumstances, beliefs and feelings on decisions and events.
Unit 3: Professional development
Activity Sheet 5
Mathematical concepts
u Task 1
Conduct some market research to determine the eating patterns of learners at your school/college. You need to find out the following information:
l how often learners eat school/college provided food;
l how often learners bring in a packed lunch;
l how often learners eat out of school/college;
l what the learners opinion is of school food;
l what food could be popular at your school/college;
l how healthy the food learners eat during the day.
You also need to be able to break down the results according to different groups, for example age, sex, proximity to school/college, etc.
To complete this task you need to carry out a survey, collate the data and interpret it.
Produce a report including the following information:
l the questionnaire that you have designed, including an explanation of the questions you have selected, and how big the sample size is;
l the results of your questionnaire in a table, graphically represented in an appropriate format;
l an analysis of the data (explaining what you have discovered);
a. Have you used mean/median/mode?
b. Have you used correlation?
c. How valid is your data?
l suggested improvements to school/college food provision to encourage healthy eating and greater consumption of school/college provided food.
u Task 2
You have an imaginary £500 to invest in shares. Most people want to invest in shares that increase in value, so the value of their investments goes up. Choose up to six companies you may wish to buy shares in- the following site may help; http://shares.telegraph.co.uk/ and look at its past performance.
1. What is meant by the term ‘trend’?
2. What has the trend been in prices of shares you have chosen?
3. If you were going to project the share price in six months time using the trends you have discovered, what would they be?
u Case study
Chloe Byrne works in the Finance Department of a company that manufactures sports equipment. She is particularly responsible for monitoring and administering wages. The table below shows the salary that employees get at the various different pay scales and the quantity of workers at that pay scale. There are 25 employees on Pay Scale A earning £15,000, for example. Level E is senior managers, C and D are middle managers, and levels A and B are other employees.
Pay scale / Salary (£000’S) / No. of employeesA / 15 / 25
B / 20 / 20
C / 25 / 15
D / 30 / 10
E / 35 / 5
l Show this information diagrammatically.
l What are the ratios of senior managers to middle managers and middle managers to other employees?
l If Chloe’s phone rings, what is the probability that it is a middle manager?
l During a staff bonding day, Chloe is put in a team with three other people.
a. What is the probability that they are all middle managers?