Locus of Control and the Desire to Be Autonomous - Essay Example

Campus Semester CREATIVE JOURNAL JC number Lecturer’s First Journal Entry Set (Session 2) Tasks How doyou stack up against the five dimensions, which are achievement drive, creativity, desire for autonomy, risk taking ability, and inward locus control? Use the achieved results from GET 2 survey questionnaire See Appendix A for the tabulated results Given below are my scores for the five dimensions in the Get 2 Survey: Need for achievement: 10/12 Creativity level: 8/12 Desire for autonomy: 2/6 Calculated risk indulgence: 7/12 Locus of control: 6/12 My total score for this exercise was thirty-three out of fifty-four, which makes me, have an average ability on entrepreneurship. This reflects what I can be able to achieve through the maximum that I can give. At twenty-four, a perfect score would have been unattainable as no body is perfect. However, this will not be the end factor, as I plan to make significant improvement on the skills and abilities that I have within me so I can be the best that I can. My area of strength is the intense desire to achieve more. Ideally, it is everyone’s desire to leave a mark in the paths and the lives of those around them. Creativity is considerably one of my strongest attributes as being a leader in my own right makes me a fast thinker. When challenges arise, I need not avert them but instead I work towards solving them as effectively and creatively as I can. In contrast, this exercise also pinpointed the areas of my life that need working on which are my risk taking and control over the events in my life. Generally, am not a risk taker but nothing comes without trying. 2. What do you need to need to develop or improve? As per the exercise, there are two main areas that are lagging; locus of control and the desire to be autonomous. Ideally, my ability to adequately articulate issues then expressing them makes me very vulnerable. I am shy in nature therefore I tend to speak less in a crowd. By being, shy I tend to lock in much information that would have otherwise been of help to my team members. In this regard, a boost in my self-confidence will go along way in ensuring that some of these things do not happen. Once improved, on asking questions will be easy since I mostly rely on the first time information that I get. In essence, it is very costly to me and to my colleagues as the quality of the output is undesirable. This contributes to low over all results since I do not get all the information required. Sequentially, it affects my locus of control as my peers trample over me, as I am not able to defend my self adequately. Mostly, I find blame falling on me, as I am not able to give substantial reasons validating my output. However, all these are manageable as long as I get to improve on the self within and to prove to myself that I actually am able. Overly, it will improve on my entrepreneurial abilities in the end. 3. What is the organization that you have worked for doing to attract and maintain entrepreneurial talent? Currently, I work for Mobitel Air, which is a mobile telephone handset manufacturer as the operations manager. They have managed to improve on my interpersonal skills through the team building seminars that they hold once after two months. Surprisingly, these trainings have been fruitful as am now given the opportunity to improve on my communicative skills. In addition, the company facilitated my advanced training in management that has helped me in being an effective team leader. 4. How would you describe and evaluate the influence your working environment has had upon your entrepreneurial orientation? My work environment, I would say has had its positivity and negativity on my ability to be an effective manager. As a positive, the challenges that I have encountered have made me stronger in that am now able to counter them. Initially, my shy nature used to come on my way but I have now managed to use it positively. Essentially, I am a reserved kind of person and therefore I tend to play it cool, which I have taken it to be a virtue. Hence, once presented by a challenge I take a more cautious approach before acting out. This has made me be effective in the decisions I make for the benefit of my department. In this regard, my general supervisor has understood that for me it is not about being the loudest but it should all be visible in the kind of result that you produce. In addition, my company has allowed its employees to have mandatory daily meditations before commencement of any work so that their minds can focus on the tasks before them. Second Journal Entry Set (Session 5 & 6 materials) Tasks: 1. Describe an innovation that has had a profound influence on your life or work or the way you live. What type of innovation was it and how has it changed your life? Mobile banking or Mbanking is the ideal innovative service that has revolutionized my way of living. The idea that you one can now access all the banking services within ones comfort makes it more reliable. There are no longer long queues at banking halls as it used to be in the past as now people are busy building their economies rather than stand idle. As an individual, I am able to do all the transactions that I need at any time. It has saved me countless trips to the bank to access my money, as it is also very safe. 2. How did you become aware of the innovation? My first encounter with this innovation was when I had joined college and I had to receive my allowances from my parents on a weekly basis. This used to cost me many of my classes as I used to dedicate half of my learning day in a week to the task of getting the money from the bank. The queues at the banks’ ATM machines used to be long or sometimes they did not have enough money. Remarkably, with the introduction of this service I saw it as an answered prayer as I managed to spend my time in school doing something more constructive rather than waste it. 3. What type of adopter were/are you (innovator, lead user, early adopter etc)? I immediately adapted to the innovation as I did extensive research on how I would manage my time more effectively. With the number of assignments being high in college, it was important for me to beat all the deadlines for their submissions, as not handing them in time would lower my grades. Therefore, I had to maximize on all the time I had at my disposal hence did research on simpler banking services that were less time consuming like mobile banking. 4. Describe the steps you took in making it part of your life? When I adopted this innovation, I took up the initiative of getting myself a mobile phone then went to the bank and filled out the necessary paperwork to allow my phone to access these services. For me, it was a fast move towards betterment as my money access was going to be convenient. Amazingly, even when one looses their cell phone it is much easier to access their money. What attracted me to this service was the fact that it only needed replacement of the service line and the handset then one is set to continue enjoying the services. Unlike when using an ATM card where you need to apply for another card that is a long process. The only way of accessing this service was registration of the service line and mobile phone use knowledge. 5. Identify the actors who influenced your innovation choice and how their influence affected your behavior. The key actors who propelled me into using this service were my peers and classmates as I saw how easy it was for them to access their money within their comfort. They only had to go to an agent contracted by the mobile phone service provider then make withdrawals. It saved them time and energy as they could access their money even when banking hours were over. Third Journal Entry Set (7 & 9 materials) Tasks: 1. How do you feel about the entrepreneurial process? In the future, would you be more entrepreneurial or intraprerneurial in the future? The entrepreneurial process as I have to realize is an important aspect off personal growth and stability. For one to ascertain their weaknesses it is vital that they gauge themselves using the GET 2 survey to verify their credibility. Essentially, it helps none to know the areas in that need improvement on for them to be better individuals. Moreover, a process challenges an individual to achieve greater as they are able to realize their shortfalls and work on them. It has proved to be effective to me. 2. Would you now think about starting a new venture (or have you started your own venture)? Describe the venture you would like to start or have started. If intraprerneurial, what venture inside the business you work for would you suggest. In the future, I would most probably venture into a business of my own in the communication sector as it has proved to be highly profitable. Over the recent years, the search for effective and pocket-friendly communicative tools has been on the increase to which companies have tried to meet up. However, by going solo would mean that I could implement my own innovative ideas without having to get a green light from anyone, as it is the case in working in a company. The financial constraints are immense therefore experimenting of new ideas might be tough for those with costly ideas. 3. What kinds of issues might you encounter in starting the venture? What fundraising process will you use? What resources will you need? For a venture to jump-start it has to undergo various course obstacles before it fully stands on its feet. For instance, for the venture that I intend to start capital would be the first hurdle that I would nee3d to overcome. Part of the capital will come from my savings and probably from a loan facility from my banker. In addition, I would also seek funding from investors by writing out proposals for them to fund my ideas. Human capital will also be a challenge therefore, for a start; I would use family members and friends to provide the human capital. 4. How important is implementation verses planning? Planning in business would be the intended process that one would take in the execution of a project while implementation is the actual working out of the project with the plan as the guide. In essence, prior planning is important but executing the plan becomes the tricky part. One might actually have a plan then probably fail due to poor execution. Therefore, the two go hand in hand during the project phase as lacking one contributes to failing of the other. 5. Are there any specific issues – benefits or problems –that may arise from your location? Primarily, there are no major problems surrounding where my company is located but the main threat is the competition we face from other mobile telephone handset manufacturers. Our location is central in urban setting therefore our company competes with other players in the market available. Subsequently, our company is always working to ensure that it is the market leader above the rest by going the extra mile. The quality of our output is high with a high assurance Fourth Journal Entry Set (Session 10, 11 & 12 Materials) Tasks: 1. Find and cite your own (i.e. unique to your knowledge) example of a recent (i.e. last 3 months) article that has not been featured in this subject or the text either by lecturer, tutor, student or by the author of the text, in a respected business newspaper or journal, such as; the Australian, financial review, Business review weekly, The Economist, Business Week, Times, Harvard Business Review, or similar journal that features either: a. A disruptive technology or service; or b. The value of intellectual property (IP) and its protection; or c. Team building and leadership The article that is the subject of discussion is originally from The Economist: Hong Kong from the print Edition 2012 (See: Appendix B) 2. Discuss the article’s contents and the reason why you chose it. Reference should be from both what we have previously covered in this unit and your personal work experiences. The main reason as to why I chose this article was for the purpose that China had taken to protect the intellectual property of its innovations. It felt that it had to safeguard the ideas accumulated from poachers would otherwise take credit for the inventions made by its people. Overly, it moved to maintain a balance between the local innovation and foreign innovations. The foreigners felt that they were more entitled to protection than the native counterparts and vice3 versa. In essence, China’s judiciary had to be fair in protecting the intellectual abilities displayed by both entities. In relation to this paper, this article gives to room for the protection of people’s innovations to safe guard the entrepreneurial nature of individuals. It recognizes individual effort by copyrighting peoples’ ideas therefore creating room for creativity. Sixth Journal Entry Set (Reflective Overview) Tasks: 1. What have you learnt during the reading of the text and the delivery of the subject, both about yourself and about the future of entrepreneurship and innovation? What did you personally gain from the subject, discuss? Personally, I have come to learn that being an entrepreneur or a manager requires many interpersonal skills in order for one to be effective in task delivery. It is not about being quick to respond to issues as a leader but it is a bout critical thinking before approach. Essentially, I have learnt that the discovery of one’s shortfall is a step towards betterment as long as one accepts change. Subse3quently, change is an inevitable factor when seeks to a better manager as it gives room for new ideas on how to do things. In turn, the application of all these factors translates to personal growth and overall development of an organization. 2. Have any changes occurred since Session 1 day 1, in terms of your own perceptions of whether you might seek to be more entrepreneurial or innovative? (Both 1 & 2 Must include cites and references from text and subject material to provide evidence of link with subject). Arguably, there has been a tremendous improvement from my initial approach to entrepreneurship and leadership as I have acquired new concepts of betterment. For one, the ability to do self-assessment was something that I had never embraced but now I realize that it is an inevitable part of the whole process. With this discovery, I feel I have enough confidence to progress individually , as I seek help and advice from others were necessary. In future, being industrious and entrepreneurial is most definitely part of my plan as I have realized that it is a possibility. All I have to do is view life in a new dimension. References 1. APPENDIX A High Medium Low Need for achievement 1-5 6 7-12 Creativity 1-5 6 7-12 Desire for autonomy 1-2 3 4-6 Risk indulgence 1-5 6 7-12 Locus of control 1-5 6 7-12 2. APPENDIX B Is the middle kingdom getting serious about protecting intellectual property? April 21, 2012 China believes that protecting intellectual property its intellectual wealth safeguarded. It believes in being fair and equal to all either foreign or local innovators. It is also able to compete with other nations on a more advanced level as it is now more equipped. The legal system is the most applicable tool to spearhead the equalization process by providing misguided judgment. Read More