Personal Management Skills Analysis and Plan - Research Paper Example

Personal Management Skills Analysis and Plan Institution Student’s Name Word Count = 2,772 words Personal Management Skills Analysis and Plan Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction 3 2.0 Literature Review 4 2.1 Global Management Capabilities (Hard and Soft Skills) 4 2.2 Big Five Personality Factors 5 2.3 Summary 7 3.0 Evaluation of Personality Impacts 7 4.0 The Improvement Plan 9 5.0 Conclusion 11 References 12 Appendices 13 Appendix 1: The Big Five Personality Test 13 Appendix 2: Management Skills Test (MindTools.com) 16 Appendix 3: Leadership Skills 21 1.0 Introduction Personal management is usually a process that entails outlining and planning of personal goals to help succeed in life. Upon developing the goals, the individual need to work on fulfilling them. The goals in this case can be short term or long term. They should cover a several topics including time, careers, education, and finance management. The aim of the study is to assess my competences and skills for planning and managing so as to enable their improvement in the future. This entails understanding the concept of management based on its understanding and definition in the academic field. It captures what I think about my abilities and skills and how I can make them better in the near future. In this essay I will evaluate my own managerial skills and develop a plan in which they can be improved in the future. The essay has a comprehensive literature review section. The section is divided into three main areas; these are: global management capabilities; the big five personality factors; and the summary of the whole section. The next section entails my evaluation of how my personality affects my global management capabilities thus my personal management and those of others. The essay also entails a plan that entails my goals, skills, and competences. The segment also captures on how I plan to improve my skills and competences; when and how I will learn them and the examination criteria in which I will use to evaluate the impact. The essay also has a conclusion segment that acts as a summary for the whole essay. In addition, it has the reference list and the appendices that support the essay. 2.0 Literature Review The literature review of the study is made of three main areas. These are global management capabilities; big five personal factors; and the summary of the whole segment. The subtopics are arranged in the same sequence. 2.1 Global Management Capabilities (Hard and Soft Skills) The global managers should have a particular set of skills to ensure that they enhance effective and efficient functioning since they work in a dynamic and complex environment. The challenges that are linked to globalisation calls for the managers to develop a certain set of skills (Ananthram, Pearson, & Chatterjee, 2010). It is, therefore, important for the global managers to develop sustainable culture, values, competences and skills. Global mindset is a crucial factor in determining effectiveness of global managers. Even though global mindsets are usually considered to be crucial cognitive structures, their precise antecedents and dimensions are still contested (Rogers and Blonski, 2010). The global management skills are linked to associations between behavioural, existential, and cognitive factors. These factors help in the in the realisation of several strategic and cultural realities in both the local and global levels. The appropriate personal qualities for global management include reliance on the organizational processes, risk taking, and macro-perspectives as opposed to valuing diversity, inclusivity, openness, and structures (Rhinesmith, 1992). The sets of global skills are linked to social intelligence, emotional intelligence, and cultural intelligence all applied in a cultural context. The ability of a manager to adapt at the global level depends on his or her tolerance to ambiguity; capability to examine the diverse cultural cues and broad set of skills. Some of the personal qualities that global managers should posses should include reflective and analytical capacities, sensitivity, complexity acceptance, diversity consciousness, curiosity and flexibility. They should be attentive to present reality and current experiences, and have faith in the organizational processes (Ananthram et al., 2010). It is important to ensure that managers develop cultures, values, competences, and skills that are conducive to a successful operation in a global economy (Bouquet, 2005). The main dimensions of the global set of skills are both managerial and organization. The employees and their organizations need to ensure that they understand their surroundings trough suing their cognitive filters to process information. Such skills can be developed through a number of ways. The organizations can include foreigners in their leadership structures and the individuals further exposed to the international experience. There barriers between the international subsidiaries and the headquarters should also be eliminated and multi-team workshops developed. The global management capabilities can be linked to with a given set of personal qualities. It takes into consideration of a given set of managerial activities, behaviours, skills, and knowledge (Thomas, 2006). Even though the global skills and mindset can develop depending with nature, they can also be nurtured using management development programs that are well-designed (Ananthram, Pearson, & Chatterjee, 2010). Such programs can be used to nurture broad economic and socio-political perspectives; the capacity of one to think locally and globally at the same time; environmental persuasion, negotiation, and scanning; or cultural receptiveness, motivation, and agreeableness. 2.2 Big Five Personality Factors The five main personality traits are neuroticism, conscientiousness, openness, agreeableness, and extraversion. Even though many researchers differ on the labelling of each of the dimensions, there are basically five factors (Roccas et al., 2002). First, extraversion entails high levels of emotional expressiveness, assertiveness, talkativeness, sociability, and excitability. People that have high levels of extroversion often do well in social situations and are outgoing. People who are low in extroversion are often referred to as introverted. They tend to be reserved and in social setting they expend a lot of energy (Rothmann & Coetzer, 2003). Second, agreeableness is a personality dimension that includes features such as pro-social behaviours, affection, kindness, altruism, and trust. People that have high agreeableness dimension are usually more cooperative. On the other hand, those with low agreeableness dimension are usually more manipulative and competitive. Third is conscientiousness. The standard characteristics of the dimension include goal-directed behaviours, good control of impulse, and high thoughtfulness levels (Bartone et al., 2009). People that have high conscientiousness are more details minded and often organized. The fourth trait is neuroticism which is a dimension characterised with emotional instability, moodiness, and sadness. Individuals that have high levels of this trait usually have mood swings. They also experience sadness, irritability, moodiness and anxiety. Those that have low features of this trait are usually emotionally resilient and more stable. Lastly is openness; which is a trait whose features include insight and imagination. The people that have high rate of this trait tend also to have diverse interests. People that are high in openness are usually more creative and adventurous (Hee, 2014). On the other hand, people that are usually low in this trait are usually more traditional and often struggle with the abstract thinking. Each of the five personality factors has a range between two extremes. For instance, extraversion has a continuum that ranges between extreme introversion and extraversion. However, in real world, most people tend to lie between the bi-polar ends that feature in each of the dimensions. Extraversion focuses on the sociability of an individual. It also captures on the points to which individuals derive their energy from. Low scores in the dimension mean that the person the source of energy of the individual is more internal. On the other hand, high scores translate to reliance to a source of energy that is external. Extraversion has got six facets. First is warmth that entails ease in forming close attachments to people. In other words, it is about being friendly and affectionate (Perkins, 2014). Second is gregariousness which entails the preference of the company of people as an attempt of avoiding to be alone. Third is assertiveness which is the tendency to dominate and lead social situations. Fourth is the activity which entails energetic disposition; a life-style that has high pace; and often being busy. Fifth is the excitement-seeking facet that entails the craving for stimulation and exhilaration with a high preference on noisiness. Lastly is the tendency of an individual when it comes to experiencing positive emotions and often being optimistic. 2.3 Summary The global managers need hard skills and soft skills to ensure they enhance effective and efficient functioning in their places of work. Hard skills are the abilities that are specific and teachable and can be defined and measured. Example is the ability to use management programs to impact knowledge. On the other hand, soft skills are harder to quantify and are less tangible. Example is the behavior or personality of an individual. The five main personality traits are neuroticism, conscientiousness, openness, agreeableness, and extraversion. 3.0 Evaluation of Personality Impacts According to the Big Five Personality Test; I scored 98% on open to experience. It means I have a high capacity to think in abstract and in complex ways. I can connect concept that seem to be unrelated easily and appreciated unusual ideas and art. I am also creative, imaginative, adventurous, intellectual, unconventional, and artistically inclined. I am politically liberal and appreciate other cultures. I scored 100% on conscientious who mean I am orderly, dependable, hardworking, and cautious. I scored 58% on extraversion to mean I am moderately extraverted. It means I could fairly engage with others to earn romance, excitement, status, power, admiration and friendship. I am fairly average in seeking of social rewards. I have a bit of desire for prestige, admiration, and influence but can also content when I am not winning recognition from particular people. I scored 100% on agreeableness that means that I am kind, sensitive, cooperative, and compassionate. I am more likely to keep my friends and forgive of slights and faults. Lastly, I scored 55% on neuroticism to mean I am prone to shame, guilt, anxiety, sadness, and fear. In other words, my emotional systems are high alert. On the positive end, I am realistic of the limitations and problems of the world. I fear failure thus a motivation in my role as a global manager. I tested how good my management skills are using Mind Tools website. My score for the assessment was 80%. The interpretation of the scores was divided into 20-40; 47-73; and 74-100. Scoring 80% meant that I am a good team manager. However, I should improve in my areas of weaknesses. The assessment took consideration of eight dimensions of good management. These are: encouraging of good relationships and understanding of team dynamics; developing and selecting the right people; delegating effectively; motivating people; dealing with conflict and managing people; communicating; planning, decision making and problem solving; and avoiding the common managerial mistakes. I scored 13/15 in understanding of team dynamics and enhancing of good relationships. I scored 10/10 in developing and selecting the right people. I scored 2/10 in effective delegation and 10/10 in motivating people. When it comes to managing of discipline and dealing with conflicts, I scored 9/15 and 20/20 when it comes to communication. I scored 4/10 in planning, decision making, and problem solving. Lastly, I scored 11/15 in the dimension of avoiding the managerial mistakes that are common. The area that I, therefore, need to work on most when it comes to global management is mainly effective delegation of activities. I also tested my leadership skills through mindtools.com of which I scored 83%. In explanation, I will be a good leader. The assessment tested among others: personal characteristics, emotional intelligence, and transformational leadership. I scored 10/10 in self confidence and another 10/10 in positive outlook and attitude. I also scored 10/10 in emotional intelligence; 10/10 in issuance of a compelling vision for future reference; 10/10 in motivating people to meet the goals; and 10/10 on being a good role model. In addition, I scored 10/10 in effective management of performance; and 13/20 in providing stimulating and support. In other words, I need to improve on the provision of stimulation and support. I do understand that for leadership one cannot be too experienced or too good since it needs constant development. I will, therefore, put efforts in perfecting the areas that I excelled and figure out on how to improve the areas that I scored lowest. 4.0 The Improvement Plan Goal 1: To reduce the level of neuroticism by 10% in 3 months time Skills and Competences to Focus on: The personality trait to focus on the objective is purely neuroticism. How and when to learn: I will have a three months meditation classes. I will attend the classes thrice every week. The classes will be mainly in the evening after school. My meditation teacher will be the one proposing the exercises and adjust them whenever appropriate. How to know I have learnt: After the three period of meditation, I will conduct a similar The Big Five Personality Test to see the improvements. I will use the similar test since it is the same that was used to develop the baseline knowledge in which meditation was recommended. The goal will be to see that neuroticism fall from 55% to 45% in the end of the three months. Goal 2: To improve my level of delegation of duties by 5 points in three months Skills and Competences to Focus on: The skills to focus on will be mainly effective delegation of duties and trust How and when to learn: The learning will happen during daily activities in which I engage in. I will practice on trusting people more and delegating jobs peers. First, I will ensure that I learn to let go of duties and roles. Second, I will develop a priority list in which the tasks that requires lower degree of skills I will delegate as a way of practice. Third, I will be delegating the duties and responsibilities to members that I believe to have fitting range of skills so as to avoid disappointments. I will also ensure that the work delegated is accompanied with instructions both verbal and written. In addition, even though I will ensure that I trust whoever the work is delegated to, I will also verify the work before submitting to the recipient. Lastly, since delegation is a two-way traffic; I will appreciate and correct the one that is doing the job through feedbacks. How to know I have learned them: I will conduct similar text after a period of three months. The goal will be to determine the ease to which I delegate my duties with the goal being rising from 2/10 to 7/10. Goal 3: To improve by 2/15 in managing discipline and dealing with conflict in three months Skills and Competences of Focus: Managing discipline and dealing with conflict How and when to learn them: I intend to improve in managing discipline and dealing with conflict during my daily interaction with my subordinates and colleagues. The enhancement will be through improving my skills as a communicator through encouraging my subordinates to talk about work-related issues. Listening to the concerns of the employees will automatically lead to an open environment. I will also improve my listening skills through paying much attention to their issues. I will focus on resolving the conflict as opposed to looking at who is right or wrong. Furthermore, I will encourage the spirit of forgiving and letting things go whenever appropriate. How to know I have learned them: I will learn on my improvement though conducting the same test after three months. The goal will be improving from 9/15 to 11/15 in a period of three months. Goal 4: Improving my capacity to provide support and stimulation in 3 months Skills and Competences to Focus on: Ability to provide support and stimulation How and when to learn them: I will improve the skills during constant interaction with my employees or subordinates. During the period I will ensure that I am readily available to offer support and stimulation. How to know I have learned them: At the end of three months, I will conduct the same evaluation test to determine if I have improved. 5.0 Conclusion Personal management is usually a process that entails outlining and planning of personal goals to help succeed in life. It is important to assess personal competences and skills for planning and managing so as to enable one’s improvement in the future. I have high score in most of the management evaluation tests. In explanation, I scored 98% in The Big Five Personality Test; 80% in management skills evaluation test; and 83% in leadership skills evaluation test. As a result, there are some skills and competences that I need to improve. Some of the skills and competences that I intend to improve in the next three months include: reducing the level of neuroticism; improving my ability to delegate duties; improving my ability to manage disciplines and dealing with conflict; and enhancing my capacity to provide support and stimulation. No one can say that their management skills are perfect or too good; consequently, we need constant improvement of the skills. References Ananthram, S., Pearson, C., & Chatterjee, S. (2010). Do organisational reform measures impact on global mindset intensity of managers? Empirical evidence from Indian and Chinese service industry managers. Journal of Chinese Economic and Foreign Trade Studies, 3(2), 146-168. Bartone, P. T., Eid, J., Helge Johnsen, B., Christian Laberg, J., & Snook, S. A. (2009). Big five personality factors, hardiness, and social judgment as predictors of leader performance. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 30(6), 498-521. Bouquet, C. (2005). Building global mindsets: An attention-based perspective. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Hee, O. C. (2014). Validity and reliability of the Big Five Personality Traits Scale in Malaysia. International Journal of Innovation and Applied Studies, 5(4), 309. Perkins, J. N. (2014). Targeting Extraversion and Introversion in the Workplace. Western Undergraduate Psychology Journal, 2(1), 11. Rhinesmith, S.H. (1992). Global mindsets for global managers. Training and development, 46 (10), 63-69. Roccas, S., Sagiv, L., Schwartz, S. H., & Knafo, A. (2002). The big five personality factors and personal values. Personality and social psychology bulletin, 28(6), 789-801. Rogers, E. M., & Blonski, D. (2010). The global leadership mindset. Chief Learning Officer, June, 18-21. Rothmann, S., & Coetzer, E. P. (2003). The big five personality dimensions and job performance. SA Journal of Industrial Psychology, 29(1), 68-74. Thomas, D. C. (2006). Domain and development of cultural intelligence: The importance of mindfulness. Group & Organization Management, 31(1), 78-99. Appendices Appendix 1: The Big Five Personality Test Appendix 2: Management Skills Test (MindTools.com) Appendix 3: Leadership Skills Read More