Balancing Participation And Professionalism Assessment Answers

Discuss about the Balancing Participation and Professionalism.

Answer:

Introduction

Apart from individual work for ICT experts, the field also involves a great deal of teamwork involving members with different skills, ethnicities, religion, age, and gender. This means that the successful completion of teamwork projects requires the possession of certain skills and attributes for experts working in a team. Integrity is one of the desirable behaviors for ICT experts working in a team, individuals are required to have high personal and professional standards as part of their day to day group interactions in order to win the trust of other team members (Crowley,2012). Good communication is also an important aspect of the success of Teams in the ICT field. Because of the diversities likely to be present in a team, good communication means that the needs of all team members will be catered for. It will also give an opportunity for all team members to have their input appreciated by other team members. Being respectful is also a desirable behavior for ICT experts working in a group. By being respectful means that an individual is able to respect the preferences, opinions, customs, divergent ideas and approaches from other team members (De George, 2013). Offering constructive criticism is a behavior that allows maintenance of a bond among team members, ICT professional working in groups need to give their opinions without offending their team members. This can be done by focusing on the work at hand instead of individuals doing the work. Individuals should be in a position of taking and giving constructive criticism. Due to the nature work done by ICT groups, collaboration is also a desirable behavior. A collaborative approach needs to be used in creating a solution and accomplishing group tasks. It means that individuals avoid hiding information in order to outshine their fellow team members. Collaborating gives the entire group an opportunity to shine. Energy and enthusiasm is also an important behavior for the success of ICT teams, this attribute allows individuals to bring fire into their team, irrespective of the roles that they play (Duquenoy, Jones & Blundell, 2008). This does not only lead to the achievement of results but also motivates other group members to bring on board other positive teamwork behaviors.

I played a major role in the success of the team by sharing the information that I had with other team members. Through this act, I ensured that the entire group moved at the same pace. I also offered constructive criticisms in order to improve the performance of my fellow team members. Measuring the performance of the group at different stages and levels would have given us an opportunity for tracking our progress and making the necessary adjustments for a better outcome. I would have helped others by helping them to improve on their areas of weakness (Dwivedi, 2009). I would have also helped them by setting the performance standards through my personal input into the group process.

Modern day IT professionals also have a responsibility of ensuring that their work for stakeholders is based on high level of competence and diligence.

IT professionals also have a responsibility of enhancing the professional development of themselves and that of their colleagues.

Enhancing the quality of Life

It experts are also required to put in place security measures such as securing data storage and using encryption to safeguard customer’s data from external interference.

They also play a role in ensuring that ICT infrastructure is up to date through regular assessment. This is meant to ensure that all emerging demands are met 

This unit also changed my thinking by enhancing my understanding of the fact that the work of an ICT professional is not only to provide technological solutions but also ensuring that their conduct in providing this solution subscribe to certain codes and ethical principles. It improved my understanding of the fact that to be a competent ICT professional encompasses much more than the ability to provide practical solutions to different ICT issues and the ability to work with different systems (Mazzeo, Bellini & Motta, 2008). I can therefore confidently say that my enrolment for ethics and code of conduct topic has significantly changed my perception of the role of the ICT profession.

Week 5 Group Dynamics

Groups refer to a unit formed by two or more people sharing common interests in order to achieve certain goals. For ICT professionals group processes are common occurrences. In such groups, ICT professionals come together driven by certain objectives and work towards strengthening the group process in order to achieve the stated objectives. Group members have a common identity, accept certain obligations and rights and agree to mutually interact with one another. Group Dynamics, on the other hand, is concerned with the behavior patterns and attitudes displayed by members of a group (Lloyd, 2017). It is also concerned with the formation, structuring, and functioning of groups.

Week 6 Communication and why it matters 

Communication is a two-way process of sharing information between the sender and the receiver in order to arrive at a mutual understanding. Communication does not only lead to an exchange of information but also an exchange of feelings, ideas, and news as well as creation and sharing of meaning. The effectiveness of communication is therefore determined by its ability to create meaning (Zetler & Bonello, 2011).

Communication is an important aspect of the ICT practice. The IT sector has been described as one of the fastest growing sectors. This growth has been marked by technological changes that have led to the emergence of both simpler and complex technologies. Such changes make effective communication quite important for the ICT profession (Schultz, 2010).ICT professionals need to be in a position of explaining technological aspects for both simple technologies for their clients. They also need to be in a position of explaining the application of technology in various spheres of life. This cannot be done effectively if they lack crucial communication skills. The IT profession, therefore, requires possession of precise writing skills, strong listening skills, and excellent oral presentation skills in order to understand the requirements of their clients and provide an explanation on the working of various systems, create user manuals and document project scope (Dilevko, 2014). Before embarking on this unit, I did not perceive communication skills to be an important component of the ICT practice. This perception has however changed upon completion of this topic. In my plan of becoming a competent ICT professional, I did not envision communication skills as one of the requirements that I would be required to have but the lessons drawn from this topic I have learnt of the significance of communication in the advancement of my ICT career.

References

De George, R. T. (2013). The ethics of information technology and business. Malden, MA, Blackwell Pub. https://site.ebrary.com/id/10236583. . [Accessed 23 May 2018].

Dilevko, J. (2014). Politics of Professionalism A Retro-Progressive Proposal for Librarianship.

Lloyd, I. J. (2017). Information technology law. Oxford, Oxford University Press.

Mazzeo, A., Bellini, R., & Motta, G. (2008). E-Government Ict Professionalism and Competences Service Science. https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-09712-1.

Reynolds, G. W. (2019). Ethics in information technology. Boston, MA: Cengage

Rothman, D. J., et al. (2010). Medical professionalism in the new information age. New Brunswick, NJ, Rutgers University Press. https://public.eblib.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=832045. [Accessed 23 May 2018].