Intrapersonal Effectiveness and Organizational Effectiveness - Assignment Example

Working in Business of the of the Contents Contents 2 Intrapersonal Effectiveness 3 Introduction 3 Questionnaire Used 3 Reflection 4 Future Goals 4 Introduction 6 Intrapersonal Effectiveness 6 Intrapersonal Effectiveness and Organizational Effectiveness 7 Self-awareness and Reflection 8 Interpersonal Effectiveness 9 Intrapersonal Effectiveness and Organizational Effectiveness 10 Self-Awareness and Reflection 11 Conclusion 11 References 13 Intrapersonal Effectiveness Introduction Intrapersonal effectiveness refers to the development of an individual’s self-knowledge that allows him to adapt better to his immediate external environment. Intrapersonal effectiveness relates to the assessment of an individual’s strengths and weaknesses. It has been argued that individuals who can master intrapersonal skills have the ability to be self-discipline themselves, obtain higher self-esteem and motivation (Armstrong, 2010). Researchers have reached a common consensus that intrapersonal effectiveness is related to three main concepts namely self-awareness, managing emotions and motivating own-self. Questionnaire Used This portfolio development had considered the Big five forces of personality development to understand the factors that are required for my own development. The reason for using Big five forces is that it has been identified as an integrated framework that allows in understanding about a person’s normal personality. Meta-analytical studies on the Big five forces have revealed that there are certain deviations in the conclusions reached by researchers. For instance, the work of Leung and Bozionelos (2004) have shown that extroversion, conscientiousness and emotional stability have a strong positive correlation with effective leadership qualities but same cannot be said about the other two dimensions that namely agreeableness and openness. From the results that have been obtained it can be argued that I have to develop on three main aspects of my personality namely neuroticism, extraversion and conscientiousness. Researchers have found out that development of neuroticism is directly related to development of emotional stability to handle stress. It has been observed that Extraversion is related to managing relationships with others in a smoother manner (Bartone, et al., 2009). Similarly, conscientiousness is related to being dependable and reliable for others. These findings are consistent with the findings of Judge & Ilies (2002) who had found that among the five factors of personality development it is extremely important to develop extroversion and conscientiousness. The test scores of my personality traits based on Big Five are summarized below in the following table. Attributes Scores Neuroticism 31 Extraversion 32 Openness to Experience 37 Agreeableness 35 Conscientiousness 26 Reflection I am an efficient worker yet I tend to lose focus at times of high stress. This can malign my reliability and dependability to some extent. My personal experiences have shown that I need to improve my understanding of cultural differences in a better manner. There have been instances in my life where I have been unable to perform under levels of high stress showing that I need to develop on my neuroticism. I have found that when I am conducting a work that involves people from different cultural background I tend to show social awkwardness and inability to mix with them freely. Though I have respect for people of different culture and value their opinion yet I behave in a reserved manner. My scores have confirmed that I have a low score for Extraversion which explains this behaviour. Future Goals In order to improve my intrapersonal effectiveness and self-awareness there are few goals which I have set for myself. I have realized that in order to improve my self-management I will have to work on reducing the level of my stress. Researchers like Yukl and Van Fleet (1992 cited in Church & Waclawski, 1998) had shown that emotional maturity and integrity are positively related to development of a self-confidence and integrity of an individual. This view is also supported in the work of Kirkpatrick and Locke (1996) who had shown in their research that leaders who show less neuroticism have greater ambition, tenacity and initiative. I have also set a future goal to become more enthusiastic in social gatherings to improve my networking power as a leader in future. Previous research conducted on extroversion has shown that it is one of the most fundamental traits of personality. Developing my trait of extraversion will not only allow me to improve my cognitive performance and social endeavours but also help me in improving my social status. If I become socially active then it will enhance my communication power indirectly (Wilt & Revelle, 2008). Finally, improving my conscientiousness will provide me a strong sense of direction in work and this will be beneficial for me to achieve goals. Being highly conscientiousness will allow me to be more organized in planning my work and accomplishing it in an effective manner (Bono & Judge, 2004). I intend to follow a SMART framework to develop my personality traits. The future goals I want to develop have been based on my scores of Big Five test. I believe my progress is measurable through obtaining feedback from my peers and maintaining a personal journal of progress. The goals are time-bound as I plan to improve my personality traits within six months from day zero. Introduction The existing research works that have focused on organizational development have found that there exist a strong link between interpersonal effectiveness and intrapersonal effectiveness with organizational effectiveness. Intrapersonal effectiveness and inter personal effectiveness are key aspects of organizational success. In this portfolio I take the liberty to evaluate the understanding of my intrapersonal effectiveness and intrapersonal effectiveness and explore the link they share with organizational effectiveness. I have used the concepts of Big Five dimensions of personality trait to analyze self-awareness that guides individual’s intrapersonal and interpersonal effectiveness. The Big 5 forces can also be used to develop the learning from reflection approach which can help me to improve my intrapersonal skills. The use of Belbin test is made to analyze interpersonal effectiveness. The basic idea behind development of this portfolio is to reflect on learning style and style of conflict resolution to manage power and politics of organization. This portfolio will help me to indentify and rectify my weaknesses and become a better leader. Intrapersonal Effectiveness Evaluation of one’s own strength and weakness, motivation, capacity of self-discipline and self-esteem are some of the factors that comprise intrapersonal effectiveness of individuals. According to the definition provided by Noruzi and Rahimi (2010) ,intrapersonal effectiveness can be defined as comprehending self-knowledge and the capability to act adaptively to the knowledge. The research conducted by Tucker, et al. (2000) had described that intrapersonal effectiveness includes the improvement of self-awareness, motivation and managing emotions. Big Five dimensions of personality trait is not embedded in any single theory but draws from a wide variety of theories in dimensions of psychology. Researchers have pointed out that there are five personal personality dimensions which have major potential to explain dispersion in the behaviour of individuals namely neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness. The development of the Big five forces is rather a prolonged one that had borrowed from the works of number of researchers. One of the earliest attempts was made by Fiske (1949 cited in John & Srivastava, 1999) which was later followed by the works of Tupes and Christal (1961 cited in Norman, 1963) and both of these researchers had found that five factors were relatively important in determining personality traits of individuals. The term “Big Five” was referred by Big Five” Goldberg (1990) to emphasize the broadness of these forces. The scores obtained by me are put in the following table. Neuroticism: I have scored 31 in this aspect. It implies I have a moderate score which means I am a relatively calm person who can handle stress in a proper manner but have mood swings that can last long. Extraversion: I have scored 32 in the scale of extraversion. It implies I love to balance by privacy with a certain extent of social presence. My energy level and enthusiasm level are also moderate. Openness to Experience: I have a score of 37 in this regard. This implies that I am imaginative, reflective and a liberal person with acceptance towards innovation. Agreeableness: My score of agreeableness is 35 which imply that I am eager and cooperative and one who avoids conflict. My scores imply I am also sympathetic and selfless. Conscientiousness: My score is 26 which are also moderate. It implies that though I am organized and dependable yet at times I tend to put work aside. Intrapersonal Effectiveness and Organizational Effectiveness Researchers have pointed out that organizational power and politics in organization is related to influencing other persons in an organization by persuading them. It has been observed that one of the strongest factors that influence exercise of power over others is a complete understanding of cultural and social difference in an organization. There is a direct influence of cultural diversity on the nature and existence of organizational politics (Leslie & Gelfand, 2012). Accepting power distance in an organization is cross-cultural perspective. In my University I had once participated in an advertising competition for a fashion brand. I had become the second runner up for the competition. I had no prior idea for the competition yet I maintained my calm (neuroticism), my readiness to accept new experiences and conscientiousness of planning the event. I have worked in group projects with people of multiple cultural dimensions where I was a team leader. I am a person who respected their cultural differences by taking into consideration their values before imposing my decisions on them. There were limited conflicts during the management of the project showing my effectiveness as a leader. In order to improve my power of management of cultural diversity in a professional organization I would like to set the following two goals. Improve my emotional stability by remaining calm under conditions of stress. It will be integral to deal responsibly with people of different culture. Make myself highly comfortable in the presence of people of different social backgrounds. In other words I have to improve my extraversion. Self-awareness and Reflection Based on my weakness in intrapersonal effectiveness, I can improve the following areas by following Doran’s SMART framework. Specific: I will have to improve my emotional calmness because I tend to become anxious in times of stress. I will also have to improve my planning methods before undertaking a work. I will also have to work on my extraversion which can improve my social acceptance. Measurement: I can measure my progress by taking feedback from my friends and colleagues. Their opinion can help me reflect the change that had occurred in me. Achievable: The goals are achievable because I am a flexible person who is always open to learning by adapting. My openness to experience scores supports the fact that I am a liberal person seeking constructive changes. Realistic: I think that the goals are realistic based on the fact that they are recognized from my personal weaknesses and I am the sole person who can alter them. Time-bound: I intend to achieve these goals within six months of the starting day. I intend to keep a journal to measure my progress. Interpersonal Effectiveness Interpersonal effectiveness has been associated with the concept of self-knowledge of an individual and the ability of an individual to adapt to environments based on that knowledge. It is implied that interpersonal skills are associated with the skills that are required by an individual to work with others. Researchers like Lin, Wang, Shi and Chang (2005) have pointed out that interpersonal conflicts are a common phenomenon in culturally diverse organizations. People from different cultural and ethical backgrounds have different solutions to the same problems and clash of interest can often hamper efficient decision-making. Belbin test is one of the most popular methods to measure the effectiveness of team roles. The eight-role model developed by Belbin defines team role in terms of an individual’s behavioural characteristic and the way in which the member interacts with others to facilitate the team work. The dimensions of the model are plant, resource investigator, coordinator, shaper, monitor evaluator, team worker, implementer and completer finisher. Researchers like Balderson & Broderick (1996) had pointed out that Belbin’s test is a simple test where participants can perform this without any special arrangements. Researchers like Fisher, Hunter & Macrosson (2002) had pointed out that that the use of Belbin test is quite common in management studies and its validity is unquestionable. Belbin test have been used to understand the power of my conflict resolution in times of distress. The scores of the test are summarized below: Attribute Score Plant 15 Co-ordinator 10 Monitor evaluator 12 Implementer 16 Team Worker 16 Shaper 20 Resource Investigator 10 Completer Finisher 10 It can be seen from the above table that I have scored highest in shaping aspect. There is a tie in the roles as an implementer and shaper. This implies that I am a challenging and dynamic person who has a potential to solve problems in a team even under stressful situations. However, a potential weakness of mine is that I have the probability of getting provoked which affects my rationale decision-making power. My team-working scores also reveal that I am a co-operative person who listens to others. My scores as an implementer are also impressive implying that I am practical reliable and efficient. Intrapersonal Effectiveness and Organizational Effectiveness Interpersonal conflicts largely occur because of differences in cultural and social differences between people. According to researchers it has been found that in a collectivist society there is a preference to manage interpersonal conflicts with low assertiveness and high cooperativeness. However, members of the individualistic society have a tendency to follow high assertiveness and low cooperativeness in conflict management (Holt & DeVore, 2005). I have experienced a situation where organizational effectiveness was hampered by my lack of interpersonal effectiveness. I was working per-time as a supervisor in a small restaurant company for some time that required me to interact with people of Chinese and British origin. I often found it difficult to manage conflicts in the workplace and tend to lose patience during stressful times. According to the ‘dual-concern’ model developed by Thomas (1992) there are two different type of managing interpersonal conflicts namely assertiveness and cooperativeness. The former relates to concerns of one’s own needs and the later relates to concerning other’s needs. My conflict resolution was closer to assertiveness. According to the research made by Hu, et. al (1998), different cultures have different styles of conflict management which is often ignored by leaders. In order to ensure my professional growth in the future I have considered two of the most important attributes: I will have to develop my team performance as a coordinator by improving my effectiveness of delegation of duties and clarifying roles for each in the group. I will also have to work on adopting a cooperative style of conflict management in teams and learn about the styles of conflict management of different cultures. Self-Awareness and Reflection The team scores obtained by me in the Belbin test have shown that I have to improve in five of the areas where my scores were not high enough. My goals for improvement are presented through a SMART framework. Specific: I will have to obtain a clear idea about the cross-cultural paradigms of conflict management to handle conflicts in an effective manner. I have to improve my skills of communication and be highly enthusiastic to become a better resource investigator and develop my skills as a coordinator by working on my maturity and confidence. Measurable: I intend to interact with people of different cultures and engage in group activities with them. Obtaining feedback from them can help me to reflect on my weaknesses. Achievable: I believe that working with diverse teams will help me to improve my role in working with other people which makes my goals achievable. Realistic: My aims are realistic because I am the person responsible for implementing the change and proper determination and will power will help me to achieve my goals. Time-bound: I intend to achieve my goals within a time frame of six months time by vividly measuring my goals with expected outcomes. Conclusion Self-awareness is the key to guide job performance of individual by interacting effectively with colleagues and establishing positive leadership and good team building capabilities. Managing cultural diversity is of utmost importance for employees as valuing diversity helps in enhancing organizational effectiveness. Managing cultural diversity provides competitive advantage to firms (Heffler, 2001). Therefore, this portfolio development will help me in fathoming my strengths and weaknesses so that I can become a more efficient leader in the future. I have found that though few of my intrapersonal skills like neuroticism, extraversion and conscientiousness needs improvement I need to focus harder on development of my interpersonal effectiveness. This is because my past experiences have shown that I have a weak performance in managing conflicts when there is pronounced cultural conflicts. Developing my social networks by interacting with people of different culture will help me to develop care, support and concern for my fellow workers and indirectly improve my organizational management skills. In each section of the portfolio I have specifically focused on the development of intercultural aspects so that I can manage bigger challenges in a professional arena. Following my future goals is likely to enhance my overall development in managing organizational effectiveness. References Armstrong, T. (2010). Multiple intelligences in the classroom. ASCD: Virginia. Balderson, S. J. & Broderick, A. J. (1996). Behaviour in teams: exploring occupational and gender differences. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 11(5), 33-42. Bartone, P. T., Eid, J., Johnsen, B. H., Laberg, J. C. & Snook, S. A. (2009). Big five personality factors, hardiness, and social judgment as predictors of leader performance. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 30(6), 498-521. Bono, J. 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