How to Succeed in the Multi-Cultural Job Environment - Personal Statement Example

Developing a Personal Leadership Plan 2007 Part 1: Analysis of personal leadership Career objectives and decisions ultimately depend on personal values, orientation and lifestyle decisions. Some people may not like to report to juniors while others may get tired of a traveling salesman’s job. These are essentially personal decisions that employees have to decide by themselves. However, in personal development plans, some career anchors are considered on which choices we hinge. In this paper, I will discuss how I can develop my personal leadership plan on the basis of my life preferences, experiences and activities. The human brain has sufficient plastic to evolve from the individual to the collective. Each individual has potentials that when unlocked has tremendous opportunities. Certain skills like the arts can be developed better in the contexts of certain cultures while others require uniformity of activities. Theoretically, there are different ways that we can change our minds to bring about personal development – either there is incremental change when there is evolution bit by bit and the person is not aware of the change or there is pendulum change when one set of skills is abandoned and a new set is adapted. Typically, we are not aware how are minds are being transformed. However, when we pay attention to the way our awake minds function, we can achieve much more than otherwise (Ferguson). Part 2: Life Preferences My life preferences are to integrate into the global business environment in which technology is constantly evolving. Globalization and outsourcing have altered the job scenario in the modern days. As a result, I have found from my experience that the job requirements have changed from what it was in the earlier generations. In the business scenario of today, I need to undertake a greater interaction with clients and colleagues across regions, work across different time zones and with people of different cultures and the changing organization structures. For this, I need to adapt myself with different cultures and languages. To succeed in the multi-cultural job environment, I would need to continuously develop my skills while also developing my personality so that I have the choice of alternate careers and job-life balance, be financially stable and get access to equal opportunity to advance my career. The well-defined “career path” of my father’s generation no longer exists. I know that whichever organization I work with will frequently switch its demand for different types of technical abilities and generalists. Since I plan to work as a manager, I will have to develop functional expertise but also have a diversified knowledge base. As a technical manager, I would be expected to have knowledge about finance as well. With technological change and transformation of business environment, new skill requirements are continuously emerging. Some of these new skills may be a continuation from my previous activity but I may also require dramatic changes in requirements. In times of a changing business environment, where downsizing, cost reductions, performance related incentives and employment sustainability are crucial, I will need to be constantly aware of the changes. However, companies also take up measures that enable the employees to realign their goals and capabilities with the business need of the hour. Left to myself, I may be misfit in the changing atmosphere, resulting in low self-esteem, frustration and stress, which in turn affect my work output harming the companies’ business performance. Nicholson (cited in Career Management Guide) lists the career management options available to companies. These are teamwork, competency development, performance-linked payments, contract regarding flexibility in work profiles and employability in new roles and self-management of job roles. I will need continuous education for greater job opportunities, career sustenance and advancement. Organized employment in all countries is biased towards professionals rather than those who have secondary education (Career Management Guide). In an earlier generation, education preceded employment and people who were in employment were not in need for further education. Nowadays, in contrast, education and employment are simultaneous activities throughout the career. That is why universities provide practical work experience avenues to students while they are on their professional courses. Also, there are a huge number of mid-career courses available that allow employed people to acquire new skills. I need to continuously educate myself in technologies and different managerial functions. Part 3: Fit/ misfit Hirsh and Jackson (n.d) shows how the job environment is changing and how the employees need to realign their goals and objectives accordingly. Drawing on the representations from 150 participants from 65 companies at a seminar, the report states that the company-employee relationship has become a “psychological contract” by which employees need to identify with the business goals of the company, become flexible in the job portfolio and willing to retrain oneself and even leave if the company does not require one’s services any longer. I should be aware that employers do not necessarily depend on full-time employees. There is a huge source of external works and companies are increasingly contracting out work to freelancers or limited-period employees. Companies are increasingly realizing that workers with diverse experience can add value to a process by a greater extent than those who work in single enterprises. Hence, after gaining experience in a particular organization, I may suddenly find myself considered redundant. Besides, technical expertise that I acquire may also get obsolete with the giant strides that global technology is making. Also, technology may even replace some job profiles like data handling, payroll processing, etc. If I work in such roles for some time, I should retrain myself in other expertise areas to retain my job. I should be aware that companies are changing gear from offering permanent jobs to projects, tasks and short-term contracts. It is not necessarily a win-lose situation where the companies gain by reducing costs of employment by hiring short-term employees instead of permanent ones. On the other hand, workers who lose their jobs in one organization may as well find their skills valued in another. In contrast to the earlier system of rewarding good performance long tenure and higher salaries, the present system warrants that exemplary performance is rewarded by cash bonus. For project contracts, a good performance increases the chance of higher value being attached to the next contract (Career Management Guide). It is no longer the situation that employees can retain their jobs by playing safe in their assigned roles. Instead, risk-taking is rewarded as it has the potential of earning more revenue for the company than risk-averse business decisions. Of course, risk taking does not warrant rash decisions but a prudent one based on the observed trends and patterns in business environment. Above everything else, effective personal leadership development requires understanding the organization and its business parameters. In a global business environment where outsourcing of activities has become the norm, I need to acquire management skills to further the interests of the organization. I would need to understand the strengths and weaknesses of this business strategy and develop new personal strengths and systems to realign themselves. The organizational structure may be 1) functional within the framework of a single organization where only technical competencies are required, 2) divisional in a single firm where the employees work across divisions hence require technical and commercial competencies, 3) matrix, where individuals work in the same firm but across projects, hence require technical, commercial and interpersonal competencies, 4) network, where individuals work within the firm as well as with other firms, where technical, commercial and collaborative competencies are required, 5) Cellular, where independent professionals perform various roles, requiring technical, commercial, collaborative and self-governance competencies (Allred, Snow and Mills, cited in Career Management Guide). Ed Schien interviewed managers to arrive at a set of career anchors (cited in Career Management Guide). Schein listed these career anchors as 1) autonomy/ independence – which means that individuals want to work in roles that give independence, 2) security/ stability – individuals are concerned with long term job security and financial stability, 4) technical/ functional competency – individuals are passionate about the job itself, 5) general managerial competency – individuals are good at interpersonal relationships, 6) entrepreneurial creativity- individuals are able to create new products and services, 7) service to a cause – always ready to help others, 8) challenge – individuals are prone to risk-taking behavior and 9) lifestyle – want to maintain a work-life balance. Along with the career anchors, I should also be concerned with the career success cycle, which should be incorporated in my career management activity. I should be are motivated to take risks and challenges if superiors give a helping hand and support to get through failure if they come about. Success in careers will come about if my goals are realistic, maximum effort is exerted, superiors support the effort and suitably reward when successful. Personal skill development depends on both the organization and the individuals. The organization, particularly the Human Resource department, assesses the skills and competencies of the employees on a regular basis. In particular, more companies are taking succession planning seriously. It is no longer the case that the next in line will necessarily take over the mantle of succession. At the same time, as an employee, I should be proactive in my personal development. I should continuously assess my skill set in relation to the requirement of the organization and the market, understand current and future roles in the organizations and their access to the job market. I should not only develop my skills in a variety of areas but also chalk out an action plan if forced to leave the organization. Not only should I be open to acquisition of new knowledge, I should undertake training courses to improve my skills (Hirsh & Jackson). A secure, stable job in the same profile is increasingly growing extinct. Instead, I need to constantly assess the job market, the organization requirements and my competencies. However, I should not take up a confrontationist approach with the employer. Instead, I should realize that globalization and outsourcing have thrown up more opportunities. An attitude of teamwork with the management will result in a win-win situation for all. In The Leadership Moment (1999), Mike Useem narrates nine situations in which leadership is developed. The situations delineated are varied, including Arlene Blum's ground-breaking all-woman climbing of the 26,545 feet Himalayan peak Annapurna in 1978, the story of Roy Vagelos defending a loss-making drug that eventually eradicated a devastating syndrome in Africa, the flight director Eugene Kranz competently getting the imperiled Apollo 13 astronauts to Earth and El Salvador's President Alfredo Cristiani’s ending the civil war in his country and Nancy Barry leading Women's World Banking in the battle against Third World poverty. The stories depict individuals who faced management challenges or put into situations where their judgments as leaders would very much concern the result or survival of companies, countries and time and again, many other lives. These stories provide important lesson for me as a manager. Works Cited Hirsh, W and Jackson C, Careers in Organizations: Issues for the Future, IES Report 287, http://www.employment-studies.co.uk/summary/summary.php?id=287 Career Management Guide, http://www.pao.gov.ab.ca/learning/careermgmt/why-careermanagement.pdf Useem, Michel (1998) The Leadership Moment: Nine True Stories of Triumph and Disaster and Their Lessons for Us All, Crown Publishing Group Ferguson, Marilyn, Transformations: Brains Changing, Minds Changing Read More