Foreword by Our Hon. President

I welcome the International Institute of Management's initiative on Continuous Professional Development. CPD is the key to improving managers' exposure in this rapidly changing environment. The services offered are valuable to all managers.

I strongly recommend this International Institute of Management Continuous Professional Development scheme to you.

From

Dr. Dominic Wong, GBS, OBE, JP
Hon. President
The International Institute of Management

Foreword by Our Chairman

With the advancement in telecommunications and tremendous growth of the Internet, our world is getting smaller, posing demands on managers to provide instant solutions. This necessitates managers to broaden their scope and exposure, improve networking, and command better understanding of the divergence of cultures of neighbors and trading partners. Therefore, it calls for a more effective and creative approach, under these changing paradigms.

The IIM, in meeting this challenge, is launching its Continuous Professional Development (CPD) scheme. Our CPD policy is to focus on individuates, and make the programme as practical, flexible and responsive to the changing needs of both members and society. This service to members is to be appreciated. I commend this service to you.

From

Prof. Dr. Maurice G. T. Teo, PhD, Dsc, FIMgt, FHM
Chairman of Council
The International institute of Management

What is CPD? Top

With the escalating rate of change in modern societies, continuous learning and adaptation is becoming a lifelong process for everyone. For professionals in particular, education and training should never finish after initial qualification.

Continuous Professional Development (CPD) is a deliberate process of planned continuing development of a professional throughout his/her career. It requires decisive effort and perseverance on the individual's part and the commitment of resources on the part of the individual's employer as well as the professional institution(s) which the individual is associated with.

CPD may just cover the acquisition of new and/or improved skills related to an individual's professional practice. Or it may take the form of preparing an individual for further advancement in his/her professional career. Thus CPD embraces the active acquisition and application of knowledge and skills and the adoption of appropriate behavior aiming at enhancing an individual's professional competence.

It is imperative to note that CPD is something brand new but a common process that has always been undertaken by responsible professionals and encouraged by enlightened employers who are aware of such needs. The awareness of the continuous need for getting updated of development in the operating environment and adapting to it for optimum results is also the key contributing factor promoting the concept of the learning organization in recent years.

With the advancement of information technology and the mounting level of cross-country activities CPD plays a particularly significant role in maintaining and enhancing management competence in the international context, a focus which IIM is striving at for its members.

Why is CPD important to you? Top

The ever-changing and increasingly competitive business environment today necessitates constant topping up of knowledge and skills by everyone. Technological advancement, information explosion, extending legislation, new political and social orders and priorities, etc. all make continuing development essential to the profession's

At the micro or firm level, the increasing adoption of task force-project team and matrix organization structure requires managers to possess knowledgeable and skills beyond traditional line, staff and functional areas. Today's managers have to be flexible and adaptable, able to switch from one project or assignment to another, each lasting for certain period of time and demanding multi-disciplinary competencies, as leaders in one then as team members in another. These projects and assignments may span operating territories each having diverse economic, social and political setting. Not only must individuals within today's organizations continuous by learn to adapt to succeed, organizations themselves now also increasingly realize the need to learn as an organic entity to compete and win.

Organizations are steadily looking for innovative solutions through corporate-wide development processes such as total quality management (TQM), rightsizing, business process reengineering (BPR). With flattening organization structure, and a contracting middle management level, career moves today are not necessarily upward but more likely to be lateral. Career advancement may no longer take the form of a higher position in the organization~~ hierarchy but more likely to be in the expansion of one scope of management control, embracing more operational units while remaining at the same hierarchical position in the organization. All these demand the continual widening of scope of knowledge, skills and experience.

Accreditation of prior learning (APL) is becoming an integral part of most competence based qualification systems as a means for recognizing knowledge and skills acquired on and off the job. CPD records are generally acceptable as evidence under the APL category in the National Vocational Qualifications (NVQ) scheme in the United Kingdom and the Management Development Qualifications (MDQ) scheme in Hong Kong for example.

The IIM Stance Top

In view of the importance stated earlier in this guide and in line with common practice already adopted by other formally-structured professions (such as engineering, accounting/auditing, and medicine) the Institute holds that it is mandatory for corporate members to be personally committed and take proactive action in CPD in order to be continually eligible to maintain or upgrade their membership status.

The Institute will assume responsibility to provide facilities, by itself and in collaboration with other local, national and international bodies, for all managers to continually develop theft competence to meet theft employing organizations' needs and to fulfill their career and life development aspirations. The Institute will also through appropriate means encourage and support members in their personal CPD pursuit. The Institute will further take active steps in influencing employing organizations, professional and educational institutions, and government and public authorities to enhance the quality and quantity of provision of CPD facilities for all managers.

The CPD Action Cycle Top

For individual managers CPD may take the following steps. In sequence they form a continuing cycle of learning and application.

How Should You Start? Top

The responsibility for development should rest with individual managers. Development needs vary between individuals and at different stages of a person's career. The following list indicates some of the means for identifying and establishing one's development needs or situations demanding development action. It must be noted that they are by no means exhaustive.

• Performance appraisal or review;
• Capability profiling or assessment;
• Training needs analysis tools (questionnaires, checklists);
• Shortly before and after a job change, transfer, promotion, etc.;
• When assigned to take up new projects or to join new work teams;
• When picking up new technology or adopting new operating systems and procedures;
• Moving to an unfamiliar work environment (e.g. located to a foreign country);
• When your organization is undergoing major changes: diversification, acquisitions, mergers, joint venture, etc.;

It is advisable to draw up a written plan once development needs are identified clearly stating

• what goals you plan to achieve and why you have decided so;
• what you are going to do to achieve them;
• what is your time frame -- when to do what;
• how you will measure to what extent you have achieved your goals.

The above plan, sometimes called Personal Development Plan, will help remind you of your commitment, guide your efforts, motivate you, and serve as a standard against which you will assess your efforts and effectiveness.

You should take initiative to discuss your development plan with your immediate superior and other people who may have interest in your career growth, e.g. the human resource management/training & development professionals of your organization. They would be able to offer you valuable advice and facilitate your development process. If possible try secure support from your employer. Support does not necessarily confine to financial sponsorship; more important is your organization's commitment to help you to achieve your development goals, in form of providing you with development opportunities on the job (see the next Section), allowing you time off to take up learning activities outside, down to the showing of care and interest in your progress by your immediate superior.

What Development Options Are Available? Top

You should not equate development with course attending. Taking up short and long courses is just one of the many options for personal development. Besides attending formal classroom training sessions, there are many other development options available to a manager within and outside an organization, many of which are free, e.g.:

• Acting arrangement
• Job rotation
• Attachment and secondment
• Job enlargement and enrichment
• Leading or joining (as member of) task groups/special project teams
• Taking up special projects/action learning
• Counseling (being provided as well as providing to others)
• Observing senior colleagues role models
• Having an experienced superior/colleague as your coach or mentor
• Delegation
• Presentation at important meetings/occasions
• Peer contacts
• Planned reading
• Enrolled on distance learning programmes
• Taking advantage of information technology-based learning options:
  computer-based training (CBT), interactive multimedia learning resources such as CD-i and CD-ROM, etc.

Participating in peer-group functions (e.g. IIM local branch events)

Lecturing and teaching

Involvement in professional and community societies' activities

Thus CPD in fact covers all appropriate activities through which an individual gets updated on the current management practices, contributes to the development of other peer managers (while oneself will always also get benefits), as well as those in which one takes deliberate and formal action to learn.

How Much CPD Is Enough? Top

The level of development needs varies with individuals. Factors determining the level may include one's personal and career aspiration, job demands, organizational climate, work pressure, availability of development opportunities, other personal and family commitments, etc.

What the Institute prescribes here is rather the minimum requirement deemed necessary to meet the current level of professional claim. The Accreditation and Professional Development Committee under the IIM Council is constantly monitoring the state of development in the profession and its operating environment. It will recommend to the Council as and when appropriate to adjust the minimum requirement to maintain the professional standard of its members in line with the society's expectations and norms adopted by other formal professions.

For purpose of recording members' efforts in CPD are counted in credit units. To qualify for annual membership renewal a corporate member must submit evidence proving that he/she has expended efforts in achieving no less than 72 CPD credit units in the last three years. Initially only the following categories are accepted for the purpose of counting as CPD credit units:

• Attendance in listed lectures, seminars, workshops, conferences and courses*;
• Presentations at the above events;
• Involvement in the organization of the above events (counting only the duration of the formal events)

A one-day development programme (9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with lunch and tea breaks) is counted as 6 CPD credit units; while a half-day programme lasting for no less than three full hours is counted as equivalent to 3 CPD credit units. Programme activities lasting over an hour but less than two hours are normally counted as 1 CPD credit unit. As a rule of thumb, net one hour (i.e. net of tea/coffee break time) of programme run time is taken as 1 CPD credit unit.*

* --- The Institute will announce to members from time to time lists of recognized development activities and programmes organized by the Institute and other bodies and their respective equivalent CPD credit units.

In case of query, members may refer to the Professional Development Officer of your local branch for explanation and guidance. Should you have any comments or suggestions to the CPD Scheme you are most welcome to address your opinions in writing to the Accreditation and Professional Development Committee, IIM Council.