Self-Assessment by using the Self-Assessment Theories - Term Paper Example

Individual Analysis: Developing as a Manager and Leader Table of Contents 2.1 Particular Assessments That Were Chosen And Completed 2 2.2 What Do The Self-Assessments That Were Completed Tell About Myself 4 2.3 Based What Is Likely To Be Challenging For Me 6 2.4Surprises In The Assessments Completed 7 1. Introduction This is a project on organizational behaviour that focuses on individual assessment, relates the self analysis with theories and literature of the area in question and thereby suggests improvements that can be brought about in the assessment tools used in the assessment. Organisational effectiveness is a cumulative result of individual behaviour and productivity. A manager needs to be aware of his behaviour and how it impacts the other team members and the organization on the whole. Multiple assessments were taken from those available on the Self Assessment Library. Part 1 gives out the details of the assessments taken in various domains like ‘what about me’, ‘working with others’ and ‘life in organisation’. From the various aspects studied in Part1, leadership is a crucial one. Part 2 tries to establish a bridge between the assessments in leadership done Part 1 with available academic literature. Part 3 discusses the limitations and disadvantages of the assessment tools used. 2. Part 1: Self Assessment using the Self-Assessment Library 2.1 Particular Assessments That Were Chosen And Completed 1 From the section ‘what about me’, I preferred to do a self assessment on ‘personality type’ and ‘decision making insight’. The Personality type assessment was based on the five-factor personality model which takes into account the five basic personality dimensions that underlie human behaviour. It is believed that to be a successful manager it is crucial to have a fine balance of the Big Five – Extroversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability and Openness to Experience. Also I wanted to understand where I stand when it comes to emotional stability and emotional intelligence, because almost everything can be worked upon with sincere efforts but emotions are often beyond the human control. Decision making is a very important task of a manager or a leader. The entire team looks upto the manager and it is his responsibility to come up with the right decision at the right time. From the section ‘working with others’, the ones that appealed to me the most are ‘communication skills’ and ‘leadership and team skills’. The practice of management today is more challenging than anytime in the past. In the today’s world when countries are fast opening up their economies and businesses operate beyond the confines of national boundaries, it is extremely crucial for the business leaders and managers to have excellent communication skills. Effective communication is the key to increased efficiency and rising bottom line. It goes without mentioning that a good manager needs to have leadership and team skills. Contrary to the old thought, leaders are not born leaders. Leadership skills are to be honed. Leadership skills also include trusting other’s decision and making a trustworthy position in other people’s eyes. Team building is not an easy task as it requires a person to be effective, efficient and prompt. On a personal note, through this assessment I was aiming at realizing my leadership style. From the section ‘Life in organisation’ the ones I found most interesting are ‘Organisation Structure’ and ‘Change and Stress’. Self assessment in these areas is essential because managers in order to be effective need to understand the different types of organisational structures and also work towards finding out the type he is best suited for. While some might be suited for mechanistic structures others will be more aligned to organic structures. To make the team work coherently and cooperatively, it is the responsibility of the manager to delegate work efficiently i.e. according to priority and also one’s ability. To get the job done, the manager also needs to motivate and encourage the team from time to time. Changes are impertinent and inability to adapt to changes can lead to situations of stress. Stress management is important for every manager. To be productive at work managers need to make sure that they are not burned out. 2.2 What Do The Self-Assessments That Were Completed Tell About Myself High score in conscientiousness reflects that as a manger, I’ll be extremely performance oriented. With higher job knowledge and performance I’ll lead by example. Also high scores on extroversion and openness to experience will make me an apt candidate for managerial positions I’m seeking. In this dynamic world change is the only constant. To drive efficiency across the organisation managers need to have excellent communication and inter-personal skills and also a ready adaptability. The 16-type personality test revealed that I’m outgoing, visionary, argumentative, and have a low tolerance for incompetence. I’m a natural leader however since I’ve been identified as type A, I need to actively work on stress management techniques. Emotional Intelligence is another one aspect which cannot be added from external sources. My high score on EI assessment strengthens my candidature as a future manager and leader. My scores on decision making assessment reflects that I’m more flexible in the way I approach decisions and also sensitive to changing situations. I’m more of a rational decision maker, who stresses on facts, details, and rational cause-effect logic. It also reveals that I’m not a procrastinator by nature and a responsible manager is never prone to postponing things. High scores in decision making assessment test reveal that I’ve more than one quality to become a manager. A score of 10 on attentiveness is a certainly a positive attribute. Other better aspects of my character that got highlighted through this assessment are that I’m extremely relaxed and I leave impression on people I interact with. Decision making assessment also tests for good listening skills. A person who has no patience to listen to others possibly cannot come up with the right decision. A moderate score on listening skills puts forth that I need to fall back on good sources to improve my listening skills. Only a good listener can make a good decision maker. It is said that best leaders are those who can balance their task/people orientation to various situations. A score of 15 on task orientation and a score of 7 on people orientation puts in the best position when it comes to leadership style. It reflects that I would be extremely task driven and get the job done at the right time but also value the emotions and sentiments of my team members. A composite score of 19 puts me in very good light when it comes to how charismatic I am. Charisma though not an essential attribute of a leader, but it definitely adds to ones value positioning. My scores on ‘organisation structure’ reflect that I prefer organic structure at work. An organic structure is flat and use cross hierarchical and cross functional teams. These organisations are low on formalization, possess a comprehensive information network and rely on participative decision making. Delegation is another very important aspect of a manager’s job. My delegation skills surely have some room for improvement. Unlike the recent trends, my level of commitment to my organisation is high. Though it might as well suggest rigidity on my part, I differ on that. As mentioned earlier, today’s business scenario is starkly different from that of yester years. Change and stress are two permanent component of any manager’s life. From this perspective it is critical for an aspiring manager to understand how he responds to changes and how stressful is ones life. Low scores in adaptability indicate that the candidate is not suited for a managerial job in the 21st century. My scores reflect that I can fairly manage changes. The change and stress self assessment was most close to my expectations and predictions. 2.3 Based What Is Likely To Be Challenging For Me The self assessment helped in understanding the different aspects of life in a better way. This assessment was modeled on the individual, the team, and the structural level. It certainly made me more aware of how my behaviour and that of the others will determine and shape the organisation in the long run. Sincere efforts in working towards these organisational tools will help be become a better manager and leader. The self behaviour analysis has brought to the fore front few areas of development I was not aware of. Listening skill for example is crucial for a manager to have. I scored considerably low in this area. Honing listening skills is going to be challenging because I always believed I was a good listener. I’m a perfectionist to the core and this is will pose much difficulty to my job. If delegation is a necessary part of a manager’s job, I might not be very comfortably doing that. However challenges make the journey even more interesting. While there are areas which might be tougher for me, there are certainly areas where I’ve comparative advantage. 2.4 Surprises In The Assessments Completed Low score on ‘how well do I handle ambiguity’ came as a surprise. I was not aware that I’m not good at handling ambiguity. The ability to tolerate ambiguity is certainly a valuable asset in the recent times. Apart from ambiguity, as mentioned earlier, scores on listening skills were expected to be higher. Whatever might be the shortfall, it can always be made with a clear will and sincere efforts. 3. Part 2: Overview Of Relevant Literature The most relevant concept in today’s competitive world is that leadership. A leader is someone who sets direction for its team and influences them to follow those directions. They play a very important role in weaving the success story of an organisation or a nation. It takes a lot of hard and sincere efforts to become an effective leader. Managing people or leading a team is more of an art than science. No amount of B-school training can possibly make someone a good manager. It is only through experience and time that one emerges to be an effective leader and manager. One of the most important traits looked for in a good manager is leadership skill. It is through conscious efforts that one picks up and develops these skills. No one is a born leader or a manager. These skills are learnt while working and interacting with different types of people. The most important thing that any leader needs to keep in mind is ‘leading by example’. He should be setting examples for the rest of his team to follow. It has been observed that good leaders don’t expect their teams to do as they say rather do as they do. If a team member is expected to display traits of hard work, integrity and team spirit, the leader should also ideally demonstrate that he works hard, is a man of integrity and is a strong team player. Leadership skills include strength and confidence in one self. Only when one is confident about his own and his team’s abilities can he manage well. A clear vision helps managers to work and make work the entire team. Great leaders through ages have shown that it helps to give credit where it is due. This helps boost the self esteem of the worthy employees and motivate them to work even harder. (Anonymili, n.d.) The earliest of all leadership theories was the Great Man theory. According to this theory certain people are born with the leadership skills and qualities and hence leadership requires no outer resource. (Great Man Theory, n.d.) The next theory that was devised is Trait theory. According to this, people are born with inherited characteristic traits that are particularly suited to leadership. These people naturally go on to become influential leaders of the nation or business. (Stogdill, R.M., 1974) The modern theories of leadership include behavioral theory, participative leadership, situational leadership, contingency theories, transactional leadership and transformational leadership. The newer and more advanced theories of leadership reject the primary assumption made by the traditional theories of leadership like Great Man or Trait. According to these theories leaders are made and not born. (Wagner K.V., n.d.) The ways and means of businesses are changing fast and so are the theories of leadership. Over the past few years new themes and concerns have emerged in leadership research and practice, those that are aligned with the kind of leadership behavior required in today’s corporate scenario. Theories like Great Man theory and Trait theory that are discussed in the previous paragraph no longer holds true in today’s context. Today’s leaders operate in an ever changing business environment. Key changes that made its mark in various organizations over the past years are like shorter product life-cycles, deregulation, rising uncertainty, globalization of competition and turbulence in technologies. One aspect of leadership that has gained much recognition in the recent past is that of integrity. With increases in the number of willful corporate frauds and corruptions, integrity and honesty is valued more in a manager than competitiveness and competence. (Storey J., 2004) It is argued that in today’s context it is the subtle strategic element in leadership that is most important. In an attempt to demystify the concept of strategic leadership, veterans in management studies and psycho analysis considered the view of distributed leadership. The nine factors that have been identified as associated with strategic leadership are: i. Ability to be strategically oriented ii. Ability to transalate strategy into action iii. Ability to align people and organizations, iv. Ability to develop strategic capabilities v. Ability to determine effective strategic intervention points vi. Display absorptive capacity vii. Display leadership wisdom viii. Display adaptive capacity ix. Display dissatisfaction or displeasure with the present With time the concept of leadership is evolving to encompass almost all aspects of business management and successful intelligence. Today’s manager is expected to have a fine balance between practical intelligence, analytical intelligence, emotional intelligence and social intelligence. From organisational and corporate ethics to personal values, the recent researches on leadership are mostly based on these. To quote Bennet (2000:3), “If moral leadership is to be exercised and pedagogy re-engineered with any degree of success, then future leaders will need a firm set of personal values. No doubt many will have their own lists, but integrity, social justice, humanity, respect, loyalty and a sharp distinction between right and wrong, will all need to be included. Strategic relationships will soon flounder unless such a value system is held with conviction and exercised on a regular consistent basis.” (Davies B., Ellison L. and Bowring-Carr C., 2005) 4. Part 3: Applications and Limitations The self assessment tools used in ‘what about me’, ‘working with others’ and ‘life in organisation’ are mostly based on psychometric testing. Self assessment tools help in providing a broad idea about the various aspects of one’s personality. It helps in identifying those areas that have room for improvement but often one is not aware of. Self assessments also help in reestablishing one’s beliefs. However such assessments are not full prove and are only indicative in nature. One should not rely on them for concrete results and insights into oneself. The result of a self assessment depends a lot on the test taker. It requires one to spend adequate time, energy and patience in answering the question without any manipulations. Many a times people have an idea of what should the answer be in the ideal state. Such responses are extremely harmful and can ruin the entire assessment. When assessing oneself, one needs to completely honest and express his true thoughts and feelings when answering the questions. Such assessment does not mean that if a person scores high on one particular personality dimension, like leadership, he has the necessary skills of leadership. It rather means that the person possesses the general personality characteristics that are found among leaders. It is only through sufficient exposure and development of certain skills that he can become an effective leader. High scores on such assessments are often interpreted as the capability of performing at a high level in the domain in question. Also the tools used in part 1 do not take into account the recent developments in the academic literature of leadership. The tool vaguely assessed aspects of leadership in management. The various questions that were framed to assess a person’s leadership quotient are, i. What’s my leadership style? ii. How charismatic am I? iii. Do I thrust others? iv. Do others see me as a trustworthy? v. How good am I at disciplining other? vi. How good am I at building and leading a team? These questions certainly encompass most of the aspects of leadership but do not focus on the recent issues like strategic leadership and integrity. Also the analysis provided at the end of the assessment is not detailed and it is more on the user to interpret. These assessment tools certainly need a lot more fine tuning. 5. References: Anonymili, (No Date), Can You Manage Being A Manager? (How do you Become an Effective Manager?), retrieved March 14, 2009, from Davies B., Ellison L. and Bowring-Carr C., (2005), School Leadership in the 21st Century: Developing a Strategic Approach, Publisher: Routledge Falmer, 2nd Edition, London and New York, retrieved March 14, 2009. Great Man Theory, (No Date), retrieved March 14, 2009, from Stogdill, R.M., (1974), Handbook of leadership: A survey of the literature, New York: Free Press, retrieved November 27, 2008. Storey J., (2004), Leadership in Organisations: Current Issues and Key Trends, Publisher: Routledge Taylor and Francis Group, London and New York, retrieved March 14, 2009. Wagner K.V., (No Date), Leadership Theories, retrieved March 14, 2009, from Read More