My Action Plan Concerning Career - Case Study Example

My Action Plan My Action Plan I. Introduction: Self-awareness leading to development of self and others In charting an action plan, it would be necessary to conduct a self-assessment of my own development and how this development relates to others. This self-assessment will not only determine and evaluate my interests and strengths, but also my weakness, areas of improvements and what motivates me most. It also includes my value systems and perspective in life which could help determine what kind of career I would like to take and if such career suits my capabilities, interest, strengths and values in life. This self-assessment is likened to self-awareness of which Goleman argues to be an important contributor to a person’s success in life (McCarthy and Garavan 1999). This self-awareness forms part of what Goleman calls ``emotional intelligence which is an important emotional competency and cornerstone in one’s personal success. (McCarthy and Garavan 1999). Concretely, emotional intelligence is defined as a “form of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one’s own and other’s feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them, and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and action” (Salovey & Mayer, 1990 cited in Cherniss, 2000 pg. 4). Emotional intelligence is not only beneficial to me in terms of enhancing my professional success through social competency but could also improve my relationship to others. This improved relationship with others has several beneficial implication. On a personal level, it will improve my personal relationship with others making my personal life richer and fuller. On a professional level, it will make me an effective member of any organization be it a business organization or a simple sports team. Self-awareness with a conscious effort to improve, to understand oneself as one relates to other people is an indispensable skill and trait that one must have if one is to succeed in one’s personal career particularly if it involves people. It is because getting things done particularly on large scale involves working with other people from varying background (social, education, culture, etch), other teams and the ability to work with others requires emotional and social competency to effectively relate to others of which self-awareness is a requisite. II. Theories, concepts and frameworks used to explore career strategy Psychometric and personality test are useful tools that help determine ones personality, character and motivation that would serve as a guide or signpost in charting one’s action plan. As the legendary strategist Sun Tzu said that knowing oneself is half in winning a battle. This self-assessment can come in the form of Big Five Personality Dimension or MBTI where a psychometric test is undertaken to determine and approximate my personality type. Next is emotional intelligence which is a “form of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one’s own and other’s feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them, and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and action” (Salovey & Mayer, 1990 cited in Cherniss, 2000 pg. 4). Finally, an honest self-assessment and reflection of oneself will make the plan of action realistic. Big Five Personality Dimension To correctly chart one’s action plan, one should determine his or her personality type to be able filter career that is suitable for him or her. One of the most useful tools in determining one’s personality is the Big Five personality dimensions or Big Five Factor Model. Big Five Factor Model is very useful in determining an individual’s character that relates to the job making this concept a requirement in determining ones action plan especially when it involves a career or job. The Big Five Factor Model are composed of an individual’s extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability and openness to experience. Extraversion relates to an individual’s ability to socialize and work with others. Agreeableness on the other hand measures an individual’s positive behavior that includes altruism and kindness. Conscientiousness relates to how an individual pursue his or her goals. Emotional stability or neurotism determines how an individual handle stressful situations which includes work related stress. Finally, openness relates to an individual’s creativity, imagination, and openness to learn new things. Emotional Intelligence Salovey and Mayer defined emotional intelligence as a “form of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one’s own and others feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them, and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and actions (Salovey & Mayer, 1990 cited in Cherniss 2000:4). It is important to assess myself based on the parameters of emotional intelligence because studies suggests that a high emotional competency is essential in “human potential, teamwork, effective leadership, stress reduction, creativity and innovation” (Chopra & Kanji, 2010 cited in Njoroge and Yazdanifard, 2014 pg. 167) which are important elements of success. Emotional intelligence imbues me the ability to assess my own efficacy. This heightened sense of self-efficacy and self-awareness is associated with positive outcome and increased effectiveness which are critical elements of success (Bernardin, 1986; Burke et al., 1985 cited in Cherian and Jacob , 2013 pg. 81). MBTI MBTI is an instrument developed by Jung designed to determine the psychological type of an individual. It has three dimensions that explores individual cognitive style which are a)how individuals approach life b) the way in which individuals become aware of the world and c) the way in which individuals reach conclusions about the world (Higgs, 2001 pg. 510). The same study shows that there is a strong relationship between MBTI and EI albeit not a strong comprehensive one (Higgs, 2001). III. Reflection In taking these psychometric tests, I came to know myself better. While I do not entirely agree on the results of these psycho social evaluation tools, it gave me a hint about my strengths, weaknesses, interests, predisposition, attitude and world view. These hint put me in a better position to chart my future through an action plan and help me decide on what to do with my life in the future. As I go through these concepts, I realize that these tools have their own limitation. Sometimes, their validity can be a suspect because there are certain areas that is so not me yet the test showed a different result. For example MBTI psychometric test showed that I am not that perceptive scoring only 11% but people knows me as highly perceptive which I also know that I am. This experience however is not an isolated case because experts too have questioned the validity of these tools. For example, Leary et al argued that while “EI exhibited a significant bivariate association with job performance, they found that it did not exhibit incremental predictive ability beyond that provided by the other constructs and concluded that the validity of EI as a predictor of performance was questionable” (Leary et al 2009:422). In the same vein, there are also instances where results strongly correlate with other methodology. For example, Higgs also found that there is a strong relationship between MBTI and EI albeit not a strong comprehensive one (Higgs, 2001). For this possible discrepancy, it would be necessary to complement one psychometric test with another to increase its validity and reduce its inaccuracy. Consistent result with a different methodology makes the assessment valid while a discrepancy makes the result suspect. This counter checking of result with another assessment tool is necessary to minimize if not avoid error because an erroneous result would lead to an inaccurate self-assessment. Inaccurate self-assessment will have a disastrous consequence because it will provide a false basis to chart a course of action. The constructs in the psychometric tests are also limited in determining other important personality dimensions such as risk-taking, perseverance, discipline and will which are also important factors to succeed. This can only be assigned in the ambit of self-assessment of emotional intelligence since these are personal competency outside of academic competency. IV. Action Plan I divide my action plan into three categories which are short term, medium term and long term to make it more concrete, realistic and measurable. Short term For the short term, my immediate plan is to finish college and get my degree. This is necessary because the knowledge and skill that I will learn from the university will serve as the cornerstone and my tools in building my future. Without these skills and knowledge, I will not have a chance to survive in an information based economy. The degree that I will earn from the university will also serve as my passport to go places of opportunities and realize my dreams and aspirations in life. Finishing college is not only doable but also imperative for reasons cited above. I have the necessary academic aptitude to finish the course and also the proper attitude to overcome any academic rigor in the university. I may not be the brightest student but I have one of the best attitude as a student which according to Salovey could matter more than academic aptitude in achieving success. Mid-term Action Plan Considering the results of the psychometric tests I took, I intend to become an entrepreneur someday. I wanted to become an entrepreneur someday for the reason that not only that the result of my self-assessment compatible with the qualities of becoming an entrepreneur, but I also enjoy creating something that would address a specific need or want of people. I also enjoy making customers happy and I enjoy interacting with people. This is consistent with the MBTI result where I have a high score on extraversion. I however, would like to have a feel of the real world business first before putting up my own business. By this, I mean working first in a corporate environment for two to three years before going on my own business. Opting to work in a corporate environment first before putting up my own business will provide me several advantages. First, it would provide me invaluable experience of how the real business world works supplementing my knowledge learned from the university. Second, it will allow me to save some money that would serve as a seed money for me to start my own business. Again, this is compatible with my personality assessed by Myers and Briggs. Result showed that I am ENFP or that I am “Warmly enthusiastic and imaginative. See life as full of possibilities. Make connections between events and information very quickly, and confidently proceed based on the patterns they see. Want a lot of affirmation from others, and readily give appreciation and support. Spontaneous and flexible, often rely on their ability to improvise and their verbal fluency” (www.humanmetrics.com 2014). In short, this means that I can work well with an organization and with people and is flexible enough to adapt to any situation and has the emotional competency to succeed in a corporate environment. Long-term plan For the long-term, I see myself doing my own thing having my own business no matter how small or big it is. I may not any specific idea yet of what product or service I will provide to my future customers but I see myself making customers happy and managing my own company making a difference in my customers and employees lives as well as in the community that I live in. This is consistent with the result of MBTI psychometric test and my own self-assessment that I see life as full of possibilities and that I can “proceed based on the patterns [I] see” or I can identify opportunities in the market to make business. This action plan is also aligned with my personality determined by MBTI, self-assessment and emotional intelligence that I can work with people and this includes managing people and interacting with customers and its various shareholders. Alongside with putting up my own company, I may pursue graduate school to supplement the knowledge and skills I learned from college. I believe that I have to constantly re-equip myself to remain relevant and competitive in the business world. This is consistent with my own self-assessment that I am always interested to learn new things and to keep myself abreast with the development of the world. Bibliography Cherian, Jacob and Jacob, Jolly (2013). Impact of Self Efficacy on Motivation and Performance of Employees. International Journal of Business and Management; Vol. 8, No. 14; 2013. Chermiss, Cary (2000). Emotional Intelligence: What it is and Why it Matters. Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations. Higgs, Malcolm (2001). Is there a relationship between the Myers-Briggs type indicator and emotional intelligence? Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol. 16 No. 7. Pp. 509-533 Leary, Myleen M, Reilly, Michael D., Brown William F. (2009). A study of personality preferences and emotional intelligence. Leadership & Organization Development Journal Vol. 30 No. 5, 2009 pp. 421-434. Leverage Your Personality Type. (2014.). Retrieved January 2, 2015, from http://www.humanmetrics.com/hr/JTypesResult McCarthy, Alma M; Garavan, Thomas (1999). Developing self-awareness in the managerial career development process: the value of 360-degree feedback and the MBTI. Journal of European Industrial Training, 23/9 437 to 435 Njoroge, Caroline Ngonyo (2014). THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE ON EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION IN A MULTIGENERATIONAL WORKPLACE. International Journal of Information, Business and Management, Vol. 6, No.4, 2014 Appendices Result of MBTI Psychometric Test: ENFC Warmly enthusiastic and imaginative. See life as full of possibilities. Make connections between events and information very quickly, and confidently proceed based on the patterns they see. Want a lot of affirmation from others, and readily give appreciation and support. Spontaneous and flexible, often rely on their ability to improvise and their verbal fluency. Extravert (89%) Intuitive (38%) Feeling(25%)  Perceiving(11%) You have strong preference of Extraversion over Introversion (89%) You have moderate preference of Intuition over Sensing (38%) You have moderate preference of Feeling over Thinking (25%) You have slight preference of Perceiving over Judging (11%) Read More