Individual Human Resource Policy Presentation - Assignment Example

? INDIVIDUAL HUMAN RESOURCE POLICY PRESENTATION Affiliation An Entrepreneurial Viewpoint I have learnt that not everyone is naturally an entrepreneur. Many people would rather elect to go into the supposed security of being an employee where they are guaranteed of a pay at the end of every month rather than getting into the risk of starting their own business. This is fortunate; after all, entrepreneurs need employees. In retrospect however, the employee who elects to go for the imaginary security of a job is indeed clinging and gambling on the success of the business of the entrepreneur in the same way that this entrepreneur is clinging and gambling on his or her own success (Teece, 2012). Discerning the module has taught me that there are certain traits that any successful entrepreneur needs to be endowed with. A careful scrutiny of my own personality against these entrepreneurial traits has confirmed to me what I have and areas that I need to improve on to call myself a happy and successful entrepreneur. My entrepreneurial spirit is hemmed in by several personality traits that the module has helped me identify about myself and most immediately is confidence. Like Michael Bloomberg puts it: “Don’t be afraid to assert yourself, have the confidence in your capabilities, never letting the bastards drag you down.” I believe that confidence comes in handy for startup success. I have the confidence to take the risks, and to lead teams in creating a vision and to confidently sell the product to investors and customers (Straut, 2008). The other trait is optimism, Bill Gates has made fortunes as an entrepreneur because he looked at what was ahead of him with optimism; and that is how I always look at things that are ahead of me. I have learnt from the module that an entrepreneur should be optimistic about a product, their teams and their future. A study done by Baron (2004) found out that entrepreneurs perceive risks as being smaller than they are in actual sense, and also smaller than many people would ordinarily perceive them to be. It is with such optimism that I look at the future that though things may look obscured at the beginning, soon they will clear up, all it takes is to hang on and be positive. Passion has taught me that anyone can succeed in anything they set out to do, as long as their endeavor is anchored on unlimited and incredible enthusiasm. I am very passionate about everything I believe in and speaking about the importance of passion in entrepreneurship, Baron (2004, pp. 230) wrote, “Passion is a key cog in the wheel of determination, it is both contagious and palpable, many consumers, businesses and investors will be swayed by an entrepreneur who exhibits great passion.” Going with passion is self-efficacy. Nolan Bushnell was quoted saying that “many people have great ideas, but it’s only a few of them who decide to do something about those ideas now; a true entrepreneur is the one who is a doer, rather than a dreamer” (Choo, 2004). The last characteristic that wraps up my entrepreneurial spirit is persistence. I made a promise to myself that I was going to be successful in anything that I put my all into. There is no amount of money, or any amount of labor neither any number of hours would deter me from giving the very best that is in me. The module is clear that a successful entrepreneur is one who is will overcome and persevere despite the many hurdles, setbacks or failures (Osborne, 1995). Entrepreneurs are able to learn from their failures to make improvements on themselves, their team and their products. I have an entrepreneurial mentality as opposed to an employee mentality and so it would more fulfilling for me to work in an entrepreneurial organization as an entrepreneurial manager as opposed to working in a conveniently structured organization with convenient management approaches. This is inspired by the fact that I have a vision to chart and create my own path, as opposed to that employee mentality of listening to the crowd and following along (Calvin, 2006). I prefer taking immediate action, as opposed to procrastinating due to fear like employees do. I learn a lot from my mistakes and this is another thing that speaks to the fact that I would be better suited in an entrepreneurial environment since entrepreneurs are not afraid of failing like employees who are scared of what their bosses, and others will think of them. Further, I am self-motivated which is substantially important for an entrepreneur, my motivation comes from within me and that sets me apart from a person with an employee mentality because such people rely on other people to motivate them, or keep them going. An extremely creative person like me would also be well suited as an entrepreneur rather than as an employee since in many cases being employed suppresses thinking and seeing outside the box (Page, 2003). From discerning the module, I have been able to deduce the enterprising characteristics among my group members, in terms of the ingrained aspects that of their characters that distinguishes them from other people. Members of our group who were enterprising had such personal traits like self-confidence and resourceful, were independent, they believed in what they were doing, and were able to exhibit this and pass this confidence to others. Moreover, such group members tended to relish challenges compared to the less enterprising ones, they struggle to make sure that they overcome obstacles, but above everything, they were committed and determined in the group tasks that we were undertaking. On the contrary members in the group that did not show enterprising skills were those who were not very good in planning and goal setting, were not assertive and not careful in managing risk. They lacked inner control and not good at applying ideas whether they were new ideas or borrowed to situations that such ideas had not been applied before (Druker, 1985). Additionally, they showed substantial difficulty when it came to prioritizing, and timing – knowing the appropriate time to take action and the appropriate action that need to be taken. Such members also were not keen at taking the various leadership roles within the group and were poor stress managers (Stevenson and Jarillo, 1990). They also were not able to recognize and overcome communication barriers that arose. On a personal level I contributed to team effort enterprising in that I was able to generate and start up ideas and projects for the group; it is a contribution that was frequent and innovative and growth oriented. This called for me to demonstrate my opportunistic acumen, and ability to utilize resources, which include human, technical, physical and organizational that were available to the group. An enterprising person should be restless with ideas, and should have an imaginative approach towards problems solution, and my being in the group was important because I was able to see things differently than others (Druker, 1985). This innovative and creative tendency helped to pull the team along in developing new ideas and create new processes (Teece, 2012). I was able to effectively use my versatility and ability to draw on personal resources for problem solving within the group. Entrepreneurs are born with management skills and they come from a rare breed of people that are endowed with intelligence, great hearts and creativity. I learnt that creating and managing entrepreneurial organizations requires the entrepreneur to be directly involved in the dynamic and often very complex interrelationship between business strategy and financial management (Baron, 2004). This is the single most factors that set entrepreneurial management apart from other forms of business management practices. In the case of an entrepreneurial organization, the person making the decision has a personal risk at stake. As it is the worst-case scenario for people who are employed is to be fired, however, for an entrepreneur, their worst-case scenario is losing their home, lifestyle, personal credit and a destruction of their family. Entrepreneurial management involves taking entrepreneurial skills and knowledge and utilizing them to increase the effectiveness of new business ventures and small and medium sized businesses (Calvin, 2006). At the heart of entrepreneurial management is the need to keep the business more entrepreneurial by juggling and grappling with several vital management issues among them is what the venture is all about; which is fleshed out in the mission and values statement. The second factor is the direction that the business should be taking as captured in the goals and objectives, the third factor is how the business will get where it ought to be and the best structures to guarantee that. Fourthly is the amount of money that is needed and when, which is the financial strategy, and finally is how the business will recognize its final strategy as espoused in its vision of success (Gartner, Carter and Reynolds, 2010). The main challenge with the group was in understanding the construct of uncertainty and risk in an entrepreneurial environment. Businesses have continually faced risks that have been intensified by recent events around the world, which have evidenced the fact that in today’s business world, risk is inevitable and real (Stevenson and Jarillo, 1990). Risks and entrepreneurship have been strange bedfellows, where they have proved to push businesses to the limit. Uncertainties in today’s business world mean that decision makers lack the sufficient information on factors that increase the risk of failure (Stuart, 2008). In the context of entrepreneurial environment, risk can be defined as the degree of certainty and uncertainty in regards to the realization of the expected financial returns in an entrepreneurial venture. We could draw from successful entrepreneurial ventures that could guarantee us greater success some codes. Most immediately is to instill passion in great teams. The main cause of a majority of the cases of entrepreneurial failures is team dysfunction and breakdown (Page, 2003). Entrepreneurs and their companies mainly cite people as being their leading priority. Further, they manage to set themselves apart by their ability to communicate their vision and mission and instill passion in their team. This is one of the biggest strengths of entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs cannot make it on their own and their success lies with the careful selection of the right people and to inspire them to be aligned to their vision (Teece, 2012). The other strategy with successful entrepreneurs that would have proved helpful to us is the focus on core competencies. The best entrepreneurs are those that are less focused on the things that they are good at and outsource the rest. This is perfectly rational, for no one can be all things to all people. It is therefore important for the entrepreneur to zero in on the things that they and their teams excel at and focus on those. Bibliography Baron, R. 2004. The cognitive perspective: a valuable tool for answering entrepreneurship’s basic “why” questions. Journal of Business Venturing, 19(2), pp.221-223 Calvin, R. J. 2004. Entrepreneurial management. London: McGraw-Hill. Choo, S. 2006. Entrepreneurial Management. Sydney: Tilde University Press Druker, P. F. 1985 Entrepreneurial Strategies. California Management Review, 27(2), pp.9-25. Gartner, M. B., Carter, N. M. and Reynolds, P. D. 2010. Entrepreneurial behaviors: Firm organizing process. Handbook of Entrepreneurship Research, 5, pp.99-127. Osborne, CR. 1995. Essence of entrepreneurial success. Management Decision, 33(7), pp.4-9. Page, S. 2003. Entrepreneurial strategies for managing interagency collaboration. Journal of Public Admin, 13(3), pp.311-339. Stevenson, H. H. and Jarillo, J. C. 1990. A paradigm of entrepreneurship: Entrepreneurial Management. Strategic Management Journal, 11, pp.17-27. Stuart, T. E. And Sorenson, O. 2008 Strategic networks and entrepreneurial ventures Strategic Entrepreneurial Journal, 1(3-4), pp.211-227. Teece, D. J. 2012. Dynamic Capabilities: Routines versus entrepreneurial action. Journal of Management, 49(8), pp.1395-1401. Read More