I See Myself as a Brand in a Global Marketplace - Essay Example

Reflection Paper & Summary Name Class Unit Reflection Initial thoughts In my career development, I have always strived to attain the best standards in the field. I have been working towards specializing in commerce and working to become the best in the field. I’m a good listener and always aim at self improvement. Though I believe in self development, I have never thought of reinventing myself. I did not look at new products that are not there or thought myself as an entrepreneur in my career. I always thought about career development through improving my skills. I always think of being a global worker and aspire to work in different places globally. This had led me to make attempts in learning how to adapt to multicultural working environment. I have always been keen on learning new culture and how to adapt to it when in a global environment. In productivity, I have been aware of different methods of motivations to enhance productivity. My initial thought were based on the use of traditional motivators such as cash incentives. I have always valued team and believes that without good teamwork, it is hard to have good output. One of the factors that I had not been good at is how to motivate a team with diverse needs. I have always considered myself as an extravert since I find myself being attracted to the outer world. I have always been more aware of what is happening around me and enjoys allot meeting and talking with new people. I always took this personality as an advantage as it has helped me to network easily and contribute to debates. I have never thought of myself as a brand. Despite the fact that in have online profiles in LinkedIn and other professional sites, I have never looked at them as a way of marketing myself as a brand. I have always used LinkedIn to network with professionals but have never been keen on enhancing my visibility or using it to brand myself. I am an active social site user, though I have never thought that the sites could be helpful in my career. New experience Evaluating my past thoughts with the new knowledge gained, I have learned a lot. One of the new aspects I have learnt about career development and goals is the need to ensure that I know what I want in my career. For example, the fact that I want a career in commerce implies that I have to understand the courses that will lead to it. This will involve taking time and building on my past strengths, enhance my current strengths and achievements. This is a process of reinventing oneself through thinking of new things that were not there before. I have learnt that in contrast to my previous views, I have to be an entrepreneur in my career. I have learnt that my passion to work in a global setting can only be achieved by being prepared to be a global worker. Being a global worker implies that am required to have global business capabilities. It’s important to note that today and tomorrow graduates in business are required to be global thinkers irrespective of their business size. This has given me knowledge on the fact that one does not have to work in multinational companies to be a global worker. I have come to appreciate that I have to enhance my efforts in being a global worker. There is a need for one to be able to solve problems in a global business environment in a gradual manner. I have been able to increase my knowledge on the required capabilities for one to be a global leader. Looking at global job capabilities, I have observed that my personality type fits well with global job requirements in my career. The course has helped me to understand more on what motivates the employees. I have discovered that my past knowledge on employees motivation have been based on traditional methods which may not work well with the new work environment. I have revisited Maslow’s hierarchy theory of motivation (Herzberg, Mausner & Snyderman, 2011). Organisation structure has an impact on motivation, hence output. Team productivity is enhanced in a flat structure than a hierarchical organisation. I benefited a lot from knowledge on how what determines productivity in an organisation. While an individual productivity is determined by skills and motivations, team productivity is based on its composition, motivation, flow of information and its structure. In an organisation, I was able to appreciate the role played by team interaction and scale in its performance. I learnt the importance of team and how to create effective teams through appropriate forming. I was able to learn how successful multinationals such as Google and Netflix have managed to motivate their workforce to achieve a high level of productivity. This gave me an insight on why traditional methods of motivations may not be effective as I previously thought. The unit also helped me a lot in understanding forces that are shaping the modern workplace. In the unit, I was able to re-evaluate my personality type using Myer Brigs indicator. I got a chance to learn more on the MBTI indicator, its origin and get insight on the ideas underlying it and 16 types (Coe, 1992). My MBTI results were ENTP. This implied that I am an extravert, intuitive, thinking, and perceiving. I’m always energised by others and use instincts in most situations. I am also a problem solver and prefer using logics. In most cases, I take in information. Based on self assessment, I think I fit more in careers that requires one to pay attention to details in order to have job done. The most suitable job for my personality type are; management, administration, enforcement or accounting. My ultimate goal in my career has been to join management. MBTI indicator has helped me in proving that my professional goal is feasible. This is one of the most interesting areas during the course. I found it very informative and challenging. The main challenge is determining whether your personality type meets your future career goal. The most interesting part is the fact that one gets more insight into themselves. Seeing oneself as a brand was very inspiring. I have never thought of myself as a brand before hence this was very informative topic. I learnt how to think of myself as a brand and the ways in which I can market myself. I learnt that I have to look at ways which makes me stand out in the field. The way we represent ourselves as a brand is affected by the culture we live in. The topic gave me more insight on how to stand out by being the best brand. It’s important to know what we have accomplished that will make us stand out. This is something that we can take credit of and are proud of. I learned on different ways in which I can brand myself. One can coach a team, become an expert or contribute to an opinion piece. A lot of things matters when promoting oneself as a brand. These are things such as visibility, communication style and personality. I learned the importance of growing, rewarding and promoting myself. This helps the organisation as well as the person. I now see myself as a brand in a global marketplace. I have learned the role of social networking sites on job environment. Some organisations become suspicious if they fail to find information about jobseekers online. Through this unit, I have leant that I will be required to update my bio data at LinkedIn. My social network profiles will also require updating. There is a need for the online profile to more visible and reflect myself in the best way possible. The unit has been very informative in how one can use LinkedIn effectively. This is through ensuring there is a complete profile, there is appropriate connections, specialities and websites where appropriate. The importance of asking for introductions, joining groups and creating own groups are some of the most important aspects on LinkedIn that I have learnt. The four weeks of the topic have been of great importance in my career development. I have learned a lot of skills and new knowledge that will play a major part in my future career and help me attain my goals. References Coe, C. K. 1992. “The MBTI: Potential uses and misuses in personnel administration.” Public Personnel Management, Vol.21, no.4, p.511-522. Herzberg, F., Mausner, B., & Snyderman, B. B. 2011. The motivation to work (Vol. 1). Transaction Publishers. Appendix Summaries Week 1 The first week lecture involves getting to know oneself, networking, our careers and courses required, reinventing ourselves hence careers, global careers and global workers. There is need to know if we want a certain career, there are courses that one must study. Specialisation is very vital while at the same time building on our past strengths. One is supposed to work in building on their undergraduate or masters degree. Reinventing oneself is required regularly in the field. During reinvention, one should think of new products and services. Global workers is supposed to work anywhere in the globe. A student must be open to global marketplace. To succeed globally, one needs to have global business capabilities. In modem business, one is supposed to be a global thinker and doer. There is need to be multicultural and have capabilities to solve problems gradually. There are other capabilities that one must have to work globally. Week 2 Workforce of the Future People work to satisfy their needs. Using Maslow’s motivational theory needs acts as motivators. Productivity is determined by several factors. For individual, skills and motivation enhance production. Team productivity is determined by its composition, motivation, information sharing and structure. Organisation output is determined by level of interactions in teams, knowledge management and the scale. Coming up with the right team through appropriate formation is very vital. Motivation plays a major part in perfoamcne. It have been proved traditional rewards may not be as effective in enhancing motivation. Different organisations use different methods to motivate their employees. For example, Google have one of the best methods to motivate their employees. Workforce is shaped by different forces which are; shifting workforce demographics, knowledge economy, globalisation, digital workplace, mobile technology, social learning and corporate social responsibility. Week 3 MBTI Myers Briggs Indicator is based on 93 forced questions which have no right or wrong answers. One is given 20 to 40 minutes to complete. MBTI is an indicator and not a test and gives practical results which can be used. MBTI was developed in 1940s by mother and daughter team and went through different changes until it was published in 1975. Difference in people behaviour can be predicted based on how they use their mind. Extraverts are more attracted to the outer world and are more aware on those around them. Introverts are more attracted to inner world and may not be aware of the outer world around them. They require extraversion for balance. Looking at way people take in information leads to two groups, sensing and intuition. In making decisions, there are two groups thinking and feeling while in taking in deciding, there is perceiving and judging. Week 4 You as a brand and LinkedIn This involves looking at oneself as a brand. It involves determining the sort of brand one is. According to Hofstede statistics, Americans and Australians are most individualistic. In modern one, one had to ne their own brand. The important thing is to market oneself. Everyone can stand out. There is chance for everyone to learn, improve and enhance their skills. Each one can play a unique role. Auditing oneself helps in determining qualities that makes out stand out. There is need to brand oneself in the organisation and start promoting the brand. To succeed in being a brand, one has to be selfish to a certain point and also have a mentor. Online presence matters in most organisations. One has to ask themselves whether their brand is consistent. There is need to have a well written bio and profile in online professional sites such as LinkedIn. LinkedIn is very vital when used appropriately. There is also need for recommendations in LinkedIn. One can increase visibility through answer section and there is need to have a profile picture. Read More