Management Competencies and Strengths - Personal Statement Example

Personal Management Competencies Name Course Name and Code Instructor’s Name Institution Name Date Competencies can be defined as the underlying features and characteristics that make an individual superior while performing activities and tasks. The characteristics include traits, attributes, skills, qualities that assist an individual to be successful. Competencies are usually developed rather than being fixed. The development process involves employing professional and personal skills. Therefore, development is important in actualizing individual managerial competencies (Daniel and Amrik 2013). Numerous theorists and researchers have presented their different views when it comes to management competencies (Millikin, Hom and Manz, 2010). An example of such theorist is Mintzberg, who developed a model with specific competencies. The competencies are personal, interpersonal, informational and actional competencies. The paper utilizes two components from Mintzberg Management Competency Model in understanding individual capacity within managerial level. A manager should understand self before leading other persons towards fulfilling organizational requirements. It is important for an individual to manage self-internal through strategic thinking and reflecting (Tavitiyaman, Weerakit and Ryan, 2014). An individual should internalize tasks and determine how to approach the issue. It allows internal thinking and reflecting on the most appropriate approach to fulfilling the obligations of leading people. In addition, it is important to lead through example (Daniel and Amrik 2013). A manager should be an example so that other personnel within an organization can borrow the behavior from the manager; therefore, managing self externally through activities such as time management, managing and disseminating information promptly, managing stress and fulfilling the requirements of the organization. For example, if an individual delays coming to work is a bad example to other employees (Millikin, Hom and Manz, 2010). After an individual manages self both internally and externally, a competent manager should understand the benefits that come with scheduling. Planning and systematically scheduling of tasks and activities are crucial in ensuring the objectives and aims of the organization are achieved (Daniel and Amrik 2013). The individual should be able to schedule for activities based on different factors that may include agenda setting, prioritizing, chunking and juggling to ensure the team or organization accomplishes activities and tasks as planed (King, Fowler and Zeithaml 2001). In addition to personal competencies, interpersonal competencies are important because a manager guides and leads through example employees. An individual should develop competencies on leading individuals and groups and understand the threats and challenges associated with such tasks. The manager should be able to inspire, mentor and coach employees (Daniel and Amrik 2013). Moreover, the manager should understand in a team, and challenges such as conflicts and team building are important and should be addressed according. A manager should possess competencies to address conflicts and employ different strategies to mitigate misunderstanding (Crawford and Nahmias 2010). A competent manager should create a culture that understands chances within the environment and streamline activities to balance with global chances. For example, a competent manager should understand the importance of workplace diversity and gender equality. Moreover, a competent manager should appreciate administering functions and be able to accomplish effective activities that are associated with administration (Dubois and Rothwell 2004). Furthermore, a competent manager should link and bring together different activities within an organization into ensuring the organization becomes effective with a specific and measurable aims (Daniel and Amrik 2013). In addition, it is important to integrate the numerous processes that involve competency in determining the most appropriate strategy to address issues associated with organizational management (Dubois and Rothwell 2004). Managerial competency is also based on the requirement that personal development and understanding of organizational systems complements each other and it is therefore crucial to develop competency to actualize these factors (Crawford and Nahmias 2010). Apart from the general view of management competencies, it is important to view these competencies from a personal angle. Personally, communication nonverbally is a major issue because I lack visceral and visual literacy. I believe on spoken words and in most instances, I am unable to read the minds of other people. This lack of understanding nonverbal communication impacts negatively to the way I am make some decisions and on how I approach other important matters within the organization. Nevertheless, I appreciate the importance of nonverbal communication and I read numerous books and literature that addresses the issue. I have attended and planning to attend numerous seminars that assist people to develop nonverbal communication enables an individual to understand and appreciate another person’s contribution (Daniel and Amrik 2013). In addition to communication challenges, I lack patience. Even though patience is important in most activities and it is an important virtue, I become angry in those instances that other people do not keep time or not fulfilling their obligations stated. My personal competencies is keeping time and fulfilling obligations as stated and finding someone who does not fulfilling their obligations as stated forces me either to raise my voice while speaking to the person or even feeling tired (Crawford and Nahmias 2010). I understand there are instances when patient is integral, I frequently seek advices on how to address my impatience. For example, when I feel angry because of time, I usually break in and relax and in other instances, I assist the individual to accomplish the duties showing and informing the individual to avoid such future shortcomings (Daniel and Amrik 2013). Even though nonverbal communication and impatience are my major weakness, my strength is on team building and other interpersonal relations. I understand the importance of teams, creating working teams that are successful to the future of an organization. I appreciate the contribution of different members within a team and I usually encourage them to work together. In addition, I understand areas whereby conflicts may occur and frequently inform my team members of the importance of addressing conflicts before getting out of hand. For example, effective communication is important and is an integral component in reducing misunderstanding among team members and other stakeholders (Daniel and Amrik 2013). I utilize my interpersonal skills and strengths in mitigating my weaknesses. In addition, scheduling and planning are my strengths. I am able to assign different employees activities based on their capacities and competencies leading to a successful organization. I usually understand the weaknesses and shortcomings of different employees, and usually I assign these employees tasks that would assist in addressing these challenges. I do not like weaknesses, and I try my best to develop skills and strategies to mitigate the challenges. In addition, my other strengths are on designing and mobilizing. I am good at designing, planning and visioning with the aim of fulfilling the requirements of the organization and other team players (Crawford and Nahmias 2010). Planning and visioning are crucial components for the success of an organization and ensures important resources are gathered and utilized to accomplish the requirements of an organization. In planning, I understand challenges may occur, and mobilizing resources is crucial towards the success of an organization. For example, I am able to negotiate and firefighting in those situations whereby there are misunderstandings and conflicts. Moreover, I understand the importance of change, and I cultivate a working environment that allows for change. Change is inherent in any society and an organization should embrace change to survive in a competitive environment. At the working and marketing environments, lack of embracement of change affects the way decisions are made and it is easy for an organization to fail due to competition. Therefore, I have more strengths than weakness in employing my competences to fulfill managerial obligations. Managerial competences are crucial for any individual who aims to ensure the organization operates efficiently. Different theorists have presented their views on competences, with each theorist aiming to champion a crucial component towards successful of self when managing. Mintzberg presents a model that has personal, interpersonal, informational and actional competencies. In my personal managerial competency, my weaknesses are lack of patience and poor nonverbal communication while my strengths include team work, interpersonal relationships and designing and formulating structures that are important towards success of an organization. The solution in addressing the challenges includes learning and improving my skills on the areas where problems are reported. I attend numerous seminars and read extensively to gather the important knowledge to advance my capability in fulfilling different operational and managerial obligations. References Crawford, L and Nahmias, A 2010, Competencies for Managing Change, International Journal of Project Management, vol. 28, no. 4, pp. 405-412 Daniel , P and Amrik , S 2013, Supply Chain Professionals: A Study of Competencies, Use of Technologies, and Future Challenges, International Journal of Operations & Production Management, vol. 33, no. 11/12, pp. 1532 – 1554 Dubois, D and Rothwell, W 2004, Competency-Based Human Resource Management: Discover a New System for Unleashing the Productive Power of Exemplary Performers, London, Nicholas Brealey Publishing King, A, Fowler, S and Zeithaml, C 2001, Managing Organizational Competencies for Competitive Advantage: The Middle-management Edge, Academy of Management, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 95-106 Millikin, J, Hom, P and Manz, C 2010, Self-management Competencies in Self-managing Teams: Their impact on Multi-team System Productivity, The Leadership Quarterly, vol. 21, no. 5, pp. 687 – 702 Tavitiyaman, P, Weerakit, N and Ryan, B 2014, Leadership Competencies for Hotel General Managers: The Differences in Age, Education, and Hotel Characteristics, International Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Administration, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 191-216 Read More