PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM 7 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM Asianna Johnson Dr. Wanda Tillman Leadership and Organizational Behavior 02/17/2020 Introduction Professional development is primarily used to document career goals and set effective strategies on how to meet them. Writing and implementing a professional development plan would help M.C. Donald’s identify and develop the professional skills required to realize its vision and goals. The program will, therefore, keep the company on track to success. Developing the plan is an essential process that helps organizations in taking charge of professional development and achieves full potential (Thomas, 2018). However, before forming the program, an organization must determine where they want to be in the future. The employees must take their careers in their hands. While an employer might be required to supports employees in developing the plan, professional development is the responsibility of the employees. Emotional Intelligence (EI) is a crucial requirement for active professional development. Individuals can identify their emotions and those of others. EI and Motivation Emotional intelligence is comprised of various building blocks. Some of these include self-awareness, self-regard, self-perception, and self-actualization; accept one's strengths and weaknesses and the ability to improve as an individual and among others. The building block that will have the most significant impact on management goals is the ability to accept weaknesses and strengths. In a perfect world, employees would be good at everything they need for a successful life and business (Neçare & Şehitoğlu, 2018). However, we live in an imperfect world, and we all have to face the fact that we are downright lousy to some things and good at others. This is similar to M.C. Donald’s management. For the management to turn a weakness into strengths and enhance employees' satisfaction and performance, it has to identify and accept the weakness. This will ensure the administration creates a suitable environment for effective teamwork. It will also enhance communication skills, which is a crucial element for increasing efficiency and eliminate public complaint about slowness observed in M.C. Donald’s customers’ service. Motivational Theory I would utilize the McClelland’s Need Theory to influence the members in M.C. Donald’s and help in solving the issue of the ineffective corporate culture. This is a well-known theory of motivation. McClelland developed this theory based on Henry Murray’s long list of manifests and motives needs from his early personality study. The McClelland’s is closely associated with the learning theory since it argues that needs are learned and acquired from the events experienced by individuals in their environment (Shane & Heckhausen, 2019). He found that people who acquired specific need behaves differently from the others who do not have the tat need. The need for ach ...

1. PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
7
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
Asianna Johnson
Dr. Wanda Tillman
Leadership and Organizational Behavior
02/17/2020
Introduction
Professional development is primarily used to document career
goals and set effective strategies on how to meet them. Writing
and implementing a professional development plan would help
M.C. Donald’s identify and develop the professional skills
required to realize its vision and goals. The program will,
therefore, keep the company on track to success. Developing the
plan is an essential process that helps organizations in taking
charge of professional development and achieves full potential

2. (Thomas, 2018). However, before forming the program, an
organization must determine where they want to be in the
future. The employees must take their careers in their hands.
While an employer might be required to supports employees in
developing the plan, professional development is the
responsibility of the employees. Emotional Intelligence (EI) is a
crucial requirement for active professional development.
Individuals can identify their emotions and those of others.
EI and Motivation
Emotional intelligence is comprised of various building blocks.
Some of these include self-awareness, self-regard, self-
perception, and self-actualization; accept one's strengths and
weaknesses and the ability to improve as an individual and
among others. The building block that will have the most
significant impact on management goals is the ability to accept
weaknesses and strengths. In a perfect world, employees would
be good at everything they need for a successful life and
business (Neçare & Şehitoğlu, 2018). However, we live in an
imperfect world, and we all have to face the fact that we are
downright lousy to some things and good at others. This is
similar to M.C. Donald’s management. For the management to
turn a weakness into strengths and enhance employees'
satisfaction and performance, it has to identify and accept the
weakness. This will ensure the administration creates a suitable
environment for effective teamwork. It will also enhance
communication skills, which is a crucial element for increasing
efficiency and eliminate public complaint about slowness
observed in M.C. Donald’s customers’ service.
Motivational Theory
I would utilize the McClelland’s Need Theory to influence the
members in M.C. Donald’s and help in solving the issue of the
ineffective corporate culture. This is a well-known theory of
motivation. McClelland developed this theory based on Henry
Murray’s long list of manifests and motives needs from his
early personality study. The McClelland’s is closely associated

3. with the learning theory since it argues that needs are learned
and acquired from the events experienced by individuals in their
environment (Shane & Heckhausen, 2019). He found that people
who acquired specific need behaves differently from the others
who do not have the tat need. The need for achievement is the
primary drive to excel and achieve according to the set
standards. This motivates individuals to prosper. Hence, it is the
behavior detected toward competitions with conventional
superiority. For example, the management can utilize this
theory to motivate employees to acquire the need to prosper
concerning the set standard and strive to succeed. Employees
with a high need for achievement will definitely perform better
than those with a low or moderate need for performance.
EI and Social Skills and Decision Making
According to Daniel Goleman, there are five core concepts in
emotional intelligence. These concepts are self-awareness, self-
regulation, motivation, social skills, and empathy. Self-efficacy
is a crucial element in the decision-making process. It enables
individuals to make judgments regarding their capabilities to
organize and execute actions required to achieve designated
performance according to the set standards. Self-awareness
assists managers in making intuitive decisions (Neçare &
Şehitoğlu, 2018). It is also essential for employees to motivate
each other as well as effective stress management within the
workplace. Self-awareness also helps the managers in
identifying gaps in their managerial skills that could be
adversely impacting the decision making and performance in the
organization. Self-regulation is also an essential core EI
element that helps managers in the decision-making process.
The self-regulation model (SRM) directly impacts the process of
decision-making. SRM has two sub-models, which include the
formation of a mental model (FMM) and the formation of the
level of motivation (FLM). The FMM is executed by the divide
and rule approach while the FMM is executed by the feed-
forward and feedback controls. The two factors of significance
and difficulty are the leading role in the decision-making

4. process. This shows the rule of self-regulation in decision
making.
Motivation is the other core concept of EI that enhances
decision making efficacy in individuals. Motivation establishes
the primary purpose of the whole decision-making process, even
though it is not the actual cause of choice. Motivation is the
primary objective of a decision. It explains what an individual
is seeking to accomplish by the will. In the decision-making
process, managers or employees find the most efficient way of
carrying out the motivation. It also encourages effective
teamwork within an organization. Social skills enhance decision
making efficacy both for managers and employees. They are the
skills required to deal with others' emotions effectively. For
example, managers in M.C. Donald’s need social skills to
handle emotions from their employees. On the other hand,
employees must have social skills to handle their customers'
emotions effectively. Empathy is the last core concept in EI that
enhances the efficacy in the decision-making process. It offers
the argument that in the absence of empathy, individuals are
bound to make inconsiderate decisions since we become
unfeeling or cold toward others, especially when they need our
help. Empathy helps managers put themselves in employees'
shoes when making a decision. This, for example, ensures M.C.
Donald’s managers make thoughtful decisions that foster
teamwork and increase job performance.
Attributes of Effective Teams
A reliable and competent team is the foundation of higher job
performance in business. A smooth running and successful
organization requires and side with good ethics. Problems such
as missed deadlines, poor organization performance, and
conflicts within the workplace may arise when employees don't
work together. A successful team must show the core attributes,
such as communicating well with others. Members of a capable
team communicate freely and openly with each other (Li, 2020).
They share ideas, opinions, and thoughts as well as listening
and taking into consideration the opinions, ideas, and feelings

5. of others. Participating teams also focus on similar goals and
results according to the set standards. The team members agree
and set team goals based on expected outcomes. A clear plan is
then set on how to achieve these goals practically. This plan
includes the individual member's contributions toward the
overall outcome hence giving a clear direction and what to aim
for.
A capable team ensures that everyone in the group contributes
to their fair share. Each team member understands their specific
responsibility and the place they fit in the running of the
company. This gives each team member the sense of belonging
in the group hence becoming committed to the objectives of the
organization (Li, 2020). Offering support to each other is the
other attribute in a capable team. The team members are always
delighted to support collogues whenever they need a helping
hand in their workplace. An organized team is an effective
team. Organizing the team is essential for the efficient running
of the business. Without the proper organization of the group,
the workplace becomes chaotic. All these attributes are
necessary for the team members in M.C. Donald have to foster
teamwork, enhance communication as well as increasing overall
job performance.
Strategies for Developing Team Dynamic
Weak group dynamic undermines its performance, achievement
of its primary objectives as well as the team member’s
engagement and morale. Individuals in a group take distinct
behaviors and roles. The group dynamic adequately explains
these behaviors and the roles of other members. Various
strategies help in improving team dynamics. Knowing the team
is one of such effective strategies (Thomas, 2018). The group
leader needs to guide the development process. Learning the
group will help me in forecasting and preventing problems that
may arise, including the negative issues with the weak group
dynamic. I will tackle problems quickly as they arise and
encourage the M.C. Donald’s team to reflect on how they can
change behaviors that impact the team unhelpfully. Defining

6. the roles and responsibilities of each team member and their fair
share contribution is essential in improving group dynamics.
Focusing on communication is also necessary for positive team
dynamics. Ensuring that every team member communicate
openly and clearly through all forms such as emails, and shared
documents eliminates ambiguity.
Effective Reward Systems
Rewards are positive outcomes that an employee may earn and a
result of higher performance. Effective reward systems should
be aligned with organizational goals. When employees help the
organization in achieving one or all of their goals, recompense
often follows. With this in mind, I will develop a combination
of the monetary and non-monetary compensation plan for
performance improvement. Paying cash bonuses and incentives
for the customer with positive customer reviews is one of the
strategies I can use to solve the challenge of poor customer
services in M.C. Donald’s. Cash bonuses and incentives in a
lump sum will significantly motivate employees to change their
behaviors and improve their social skills (Matthew, 2010). This
will ensure employees efficiently serve the customers. The
impact will be directly felt by all the stakeholders in the
business, including the customers, employees, managers, and
the entire M.C. Donald’s. Non-monitory compensation will
include promotions and recognition of the employees with the
highest number of positive customer reviews.
Strategies to Motivate Employees and Influence Behavior
There are various motivational techniques used by
entrepreneurs, and I will recommend them to be implemented by
the M.C. Donald's managers. Gamifying and incentivizing is a
useful technique for influencing behaviors and motivating
employees. The rewarding performance, which is based on
meeting particular goals is a proven employee's motivator
(Matthew, 2010). Letting the employees know that the company
trusts and depends on them is effective in influencing the
behaviors and motivation. Setting smaller and practical weekly
goals is the other strategy I will use in motivating and changing

7. employees' behaviors. Instead, the yearly objective of making a
billion dollars, I will focus on making the employees develop
smaller goals, such as targeting a hundred customers in a week.
Rewarding employees on the achievement of this goal will
influence their behavior and increase motivation. The overall
result will be achieving the weekly targets as well as the annual
goals.
References
Li, F. (2020). Team to Market (T2M): Creating High-
Performance Teams in the Digital Age.
Matthew, R. E. I. S. (2010). A Manager's Guide to Human
Behavior: EBook Edition. AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn.
Neçare, E., & Şehitoğlu, Y. (2018). The Relationship between
Emotional Intelligence and Ethical Decision Making: A Study
on Human Resources Specialists. Turkish Journal of Business
Ethics, 11(1), 38–41.
https://doi.org/10.12711/tjbe.2018.11.1.0012
Shane, J., & Heckhausen, J. (2019). A motivational theory of
lifespan development. In Work across the lifespan (pp. 111-
134). Academic Press.
Thomas, J. C. (2018). organizational dynamics within a team -
roles, engagement, and expectations. Supervision, 79(8), 9–12.
COMM 11040
REFERENCES & CITATIONS ASSIGNMENT
The purpose of this assignment is to find at least four (4)
credible sources for your research essay. Complete the
following information and submit to the dropbox by July 19 at

8. 11:59 pm.
1. Provide the name of the city.
2. Identify the target audience.
3. For your city, please find sources for the following:
a) Housing prices (can either be for buying houses or for
apartment rentals)
b) Cost of living
c) Crime rate
d) And one of the following:
· Employment rate
· Healthcare data (what is the quality of healthcare in your city,
how many hospitals are located in your city, etc.)
· Quality of education
· Transportation
· Climate
· Quality of life
FOR EACH SOURCE, YOU MUST PROVIDE THE
FOLLOWING:
1. The reference in proper APA format
Example:
Health Canada. (2006). The national strategy: Moving forward-
the 2006 progress report on tobacco control. Retrieved from
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hc-ps/pubs/tobac-tabac/prtc-relct-
2006/index-eng.php
2. The in-text citation that you would use for that same
reference

9. Example:
(Health Canada, 2006).
COMM 11040
REFERENCES & CITATIONS ASSIGNMENT TEMPLATE
NAME OF CITY:
TARGET AUDIENCE:
RESEARCH SOURCES:
1. Housing prices
Reference:
In-text citation:
2. Cost of living
Reference:

10. In-text citation:
3. Crime rate
Reference:
In-text citation:
4. Your choice
Reference:
In-text citation: