Continuing Professional Development Case Study

1.0 INTRODUCTION:

In the world today, individuals continuously learn new things and acquire skills and knowledge all through their lives (Billett 2010; Alheit and Dausien, 2002). Most of these skills and knowledge acquired by individuals are mostly useful for their career growth and also for the entire society, while some are trivial.

In the business world today, the need for continuous learning and development by professionals and individuals is increasingly being stressed by most organizations and the industry as a whole; as lifetime employment to one particular organization is no longer certain this days. This change is due to the changing business environment and competition among organizations and staff; thus making most organizations

Consequently, continuing professional development (CPD) has become very important for professionals and staff of many organization in order achieve their career objectives and also being relevant in their various discipline (Alheit and Dausien, 2002; Billett, 2010).

CPD can be defined as continuous maintenance and improvement of knowledge, skills and competence of experts in their area of specialization all through their careers in line with a designed plan with regards to their professional, organizational and societal needs (Jones and Robinson, 1997; Madden and Mitchell 1993). Similarly, RICS (2014) believes that CPD is a commitment by members of a professional body to improve and maintain their knowledge, skills and competence continually in order to remain relevant and competent in their various areas of

These professional bodies achieve the continuous improvement and development of members through Professional Examinations, Specific interest groups (SIG), seminars and short courses. Hence, this CPD portfolio would be in line with the APM guidelines and requirements for my future professional development in the field of Project Management.

Based on Friedman et al (2005) submission that CPD is a personal professional commitment which helps individuals realize their career objective, this CPD portfolio is therefore designed to critically evaluate my current knowledge and experience level in project management. It will also present my future career development plan in my specific area of interest and career path in the field of project management.

1.1 CPD IN CONTEXT

According to (Collin et al 2012), CPD is a diverse and multifaceted subject because all formal and informal learning and development within and outside their work place can be termed as CPD. Similarly, APM 2008 classified CPD activities in project management into (i) Formal CPD activities and (ii) Informal CPD activities; some of which are summarized in table 1 below:

Formal CPD Activities Informal CPD activities

Attending project management courses and SIG events Discussion and sharing knowledge of project related topics with