Similarities in Professional Development Activities

Discuss About The Questioning Corporate Codes Of Ethics Business.

The AUSIT is Australia’s association that interprets and translates profession. Members of AUSIT operate in strict conformity to the national set code of ethics for continuous professional development. The Association is committed to providing an exchange forum in order to enhance professional relationship development with fellow interpreters and translators, language services users, agencies, tertiary institutions, government agencies, and other sector stakeholders (Phillips, 2010). AUSIT holds training workshops and events to offer members with quality industry standards and ethics.

Professionals Australia was formed in 2013 which was formerly Association of Professional Engineers, Australia (APEA). The association represents translators and interpreters from IT, Engineering, Management, Science, and Pharmacy disciplines. The associations seek to ensure that professionals are valued, recognized, and rewarded appropriately across Australia. The main areas of interest are salary increment, average income, and equity. Many professionals are represented by Professionals Australia.

The ASLIA is a non-profit association that represents the interests of Deaf interpreters and English/ Auslan interpreters in Australia. The body seeks to create awareness among interpreters of Australia as well educating them about their rights. Also, ASLIA ensures that the best working conditions and practices for interpreters of Australia are protected and maintained. In collaboration with clientele, employers, and practitioners; these activities take place.

1. All the associations relate to the translation and interpretation of profession to different practitioners.
2. The associations are based in Australia and operate in the set code of ethics by the Australian government.

• The associations seek to educate and create awareness among different translators and interpreters in Australia.

The main professional development activities related to current ethical practices in the industry include;

Coaching and feedback counseling: This professional development activity gives the right skills and knowledge to the practitioner by discussing his or her progress with the supervisor and reviewing of achievements in order to offer general guidance and direction (Viney & Harris, 2013).

Understudy training: Understudy training seeks to prepare an employee of the responsible assumption of his/her senior’s role either as a replacement or a substitute. Also, this skills development method offers the staff member with the opportunity to make an observation of his/her supervisor’s job.

These professional development activities are conducted in relation and strict adherence to the current ethical codes of practice. These professional codes of practice include confidentiality, stewardship, respect, trust, equity, and safety, autonomy, communication and dialogue, client service, and in accordance to the tools, methods, and processes of professional development (Lee et al., 2014).

As an upcoming professional, I have always been eager to attend workshops, conferences, and other occasions where I can get professional development of my skills and knowledge. Recently, I attended a professional conference sponsored by my employer at Sydney. The conference brought together all experienced and upcoming professionals across the country and from all industries. The conference lasted for 10 working days and its objective was to educate us on the importance of coaching and understudy training in the workplace. In the 10-day period, these professional development activities were put into practice, and I learned a lot.

Attendance of Coaching and Understudy Training Activities

Report about a 10-Day Conference Attended at Sydney for Coaching and Understudy Training Activities

Report Summary

This report presents two professional development activities; coaching and understudy training that I attended a 10 day conference in Sydney under sponsorship of my employer. The conference was attended by different professionals across all industries in Australia. Other professional interpreting associations were also represented in the conference. The report provides a proper analysis and description of the two activities in detail and all the new skills and knowledges gained during the 10-day conference.

Most companies organize for workshops and conferences with the aim of educating and equipping their experienced and inexperienced employees with new skills and knowledges of practicing in their profession. In this report, I will explain coaching and understudy professional development activities that happened in the conference. My company is Woolworths, a retail company in Australia where I work in the department of accounting and finance (Makela, 2009). There are very many software, accounting packages, and new finance technologies that exist and needed to be introduced in Woolworths. The management of the company chose a group of professionals in the department, formed of both experienced and learners to attend the conference.

I joined Woolworths as an intern around 15 months ago where I was trained for 6 months and then confirmed as a finance assistant in the field of management accounting. On entry to the company, the management run the programs of staff coaching and understudy training activities as strategies to equip both new and existing staff with new knowledge and skills that would enhance accuracy, efficiency, and reliability in the department of finance. So, the first place to come across these two professional development activities was at Woolworths’ department of finance (Makela, 2009). The experienced staff coached me on different operations on a given and tight schedule where all the skills coached were reviewed after 6 months before being confirmed as an employee to the company. During these coaching processes, I underwent understudy training programs especially when some senior staffs were on leave days. I assumed their roles and duties; this helped me a lot (Painter?Morland, 2010). However, due to advanced nature of accounting and finance technologies, the senior management of Woolworths found it important that we attend a 10-day conference at Sydney in order to get coached and trained of how to adopt, embrace, and use these advanced accounting technologies profitably and competitively.

Report of the Conference

The coaching and understudy training professional development activities were organized by the top management of Woolworths Company. Professionals Australia had notified all its members about the conference that would take place in Sydney for 10 days. Being a member, Woolworths took the initiative to sponsor 70 percent of the department’s members who went, learned, and came back to coach and train the remaining 30 percent members on the new technological knowledge and skills of the accounting and finance sector that they have learned (Makela, 2009). So, Woolworths in partnership with Professional Australia and the other members of the association organized the activities.

The main organizer was Professionals Australia and the secondary organizers were the members of this association. Professionals Australia is the national association that represents all interpreters and translators in nearly all professional disciplines across the country. The association operates to ensure that all professions are respected and that all member practitioners get the right skills and knowledge that would keep them competitive in the industry in which they operate (Lane, 2012). Our company Woolworths operates in the retail industry which is high competitive and driven by technology. The financial statements of Woolworths are automated and prepared using accounting software. The need to comprehend the software made the top management to organize for the coaching and understudy training professional development activities.

The two main professional development activities discussed in the conference were coaching and understudy training of employees. These activities are described as follows;

Most companies review their workers once in a year. There were different speakers at the conference and all of them seemed to agree that coaching and feedback counseling is a continuous process if the company wants to improve the skills, knowledge, and performance of its employees. Coaching develops personnel potential, and the staffs have the chance to advance and exploit their maximum potential with consistent counseling, feedback, and mentorship (Joo et al., 2012). Coaching and feedback counseling helps employees understand their weak areas and the right approaches to take in order to strengthen their performances, accuracy, and reliability.

All the guest speakers in the conference emphasized the importance of understudy training towards building employees’ future professional goals. This training method prepares a worker on how to become more responsible as a leader even before being one (Aguinis & Kraiger, 2009). Assumption of roles, duties, and responsibilities enables people plan work schedules, instruct, guide, control, and lead the other team in a more practicable manner. In future, when such a vacancy arises, the individuals who have been assuming that position either through replacement or substitution have a higher chance to get the post.

I learned numerous skills and knowledges applicable in my professional life from these professional development activities. The main skills learned include;

1. The ability to advance performance based on previous reviews by the supervisor.
2. Innovation and creativity skills in the field of accounting and finance that would enhance accuracy and efficiency in the discipline

• High code of integrity, respect to senior, and the desire to achieve

1. New leadership skills of planning, controlling, guiding, and leading the other team members

In review of these activities, I liked how the speakers emphasized on the importance of integrity and respect to the seniors when they try to coach and counsel new employees in the company. Having trust and respect to leaders helps an individual advance his/her performance based on the given review and feedback (Haff & Triplett, 2015). Also, I gained excellent leadership skills from the understudy training programs that I will apply in my profession as a future leader. Finally, I gained new innovation and creativity skills from the ideas shared by the speakers in the conference.

I met various professionals from different companies and fields together with their managers. I networked with over 100 company managers and exchanged contacts with for future professional referrals and recommendations. I also networked with over 1000 colleagues from various Australian companies who I exchanged contacts with just for linkages and job referrals.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the conference was a success and I learned a lot about coaching, counseling, and understudy training. Also, I networked and established new contacts with many managers and colleagues from other companies in the country.

References

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teams, organizations, and society. Annual review of psychology, 60, 451-474.

Crane, A., & Matten, D. (2016). Business ethics: Managing corporate citizenship and

sustainability in the age of globalization. Oxford University Press.

Haff, G. G., & Triplett, N. T. (Eds.). (2015). Essentials of strength training and conditioning 4th

edition. Human kinetics.

Joo, B. K. B., Sushko, J. S., & McLean, G. N. (2012). Multiple faces of coaching: Manager-as-

coach, executive coaching, and formal mentoring. Organization Development Journal, 30(1), 19.

Lane, H. C. (2012). Coaching and Mentoring. In Encyclopedia of the Sciences of Learning (pp.

557-559). Springer US.

Lee, Y. K., Choi, J., Moon, B. Y., & Babin, B. J. (2014). Codes of ethics, corporate philanthropy,

and employee responses. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 39, 97-106.

Makela, J. P. (2009). A Case Study Approach to Ethics in Career Development: Exploring

Shades of Gray. Broken Arrow, OK: NCDA

Painter?Morland, M. (2010). Questioning corporate codes of ethics. Business Ethics: A European

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Phillips, C. (2010). Using interpreters: A guide for GPs. Australian family physician, 39(4), 188.

Viney, R., & Harris, D. (2013). Coaching and Mentoring. Leadership in Psychiatry, 126-136.