Interpersonal Skills in Organizations - Essay Example

Learning Log What I Read My reading in this particular management was basedon the book Interpersonal Skills in Organizations by the authors: Suzanne C. de Janasz, who works with the Institute for Management Development, Karen O. Dowd of Daniels College of Business, University of Denver, and Beth Z. Schneider of Winston - Salem State University. The book is an impressive read with nineteen chapters each coming with a set of questions to test ones understanding based on the text. In addition to these exercises, the book contains three sets of “course-wide contents” integrated into the reading to enhance a manager and an aspiring one properly builds their leadership abilities. In addition, the book is not only crucial for a manager and an aspiring manager but also to any individual willing to effectively learn important lessons crucial to their lives. The main theme of the book revolves around interpersonal skills on a broader perspective. However, I would divide the book into three, no actually four narrow categories, based on the achievement of the essential interpersonal skills to a manager. Of these four categories, the first one is the importance of self-awareness before seeking to understand others. Consequently, self-awareness is not something that you wake up one day and claim to have accomplished, something I have learned from the book. Apparently, self-awareness is an important and crucial skill that individuals need to conceptualize and acquire through a four-pronged approach. This covered the first unit and essentially the first four chapters in the book. I answered all the questions in these four chapters and I must say, although I read the chapters before answering the questions, there were instances that I found myself marking the wrong answer based on my personal biases. The second important thing I read pertains the need for individuals seeking to acquire interpersonal skills to learn how to work well with others in diversity. This unit covers the next four chapters of the book, that is, chapters five all the way to chapter eight. The questions are crucial to answering an individual’s perceptions about diversity. Thirdly, I read the other six chapters in the book based on the unit I would classify as understanding the team and its dynamics. This is essential for a manager who works with a team in their day-to-day operations, which effectively requires them to be knowledgeable of the dynamics controlling the team. Finally, the last unit I would call it the leadership unit. This is the actual unit that I would say is meant to show the application of the knowledge I learnt all along in this book. Each chapter is dedicated towards different leadership attributes that a manager should try as much as possible to show after they attained the essential and best interpersonal skills. The main points I have leant from this course and book To begin with, I would say that I have learnt that the journey to understand and handle others starts with a good understanding of oneself. In fact, it is only through self-awareness that I am able to know how I am feeling and the reasons for such feelings. Consequently, I have come to learn that these feelings have a big impact towards the behaviors that we portrayed. In effect, it was crucial for me as a manager and a student to try as much as possible and understand my feelings. Therefore, this becomes the first step towards understanding others and working well with them regardless of their shortcomings and schools of thoughts different from mine. Secondly, I have come to learn that diversity does not only mean different races, ethnic heritages, and color of skin. Actually, diversity encompasses other important elements such as gender and age (De Janasz, Dowd and Schneider). However, you can forgive my pedestrian kind of thinking since this is something I have acquired from the media and the society. On the other hand, after learning about these new elements of diversity, I have come to realize that it was crucial and pertinent to confront these biases perpetuated by the society and the media as a step towards understanding and working in diversity. Another important point I have picked is about the role of conflicts in a team. However, managers, I included, paid little attention to the sources of the conflicts that played out in their organizations and effectively approached matters in a different way each time. Nevertheless, I have come to learn that there are sources of conflicts that once properly investigated played a crucial role in defining the path of the company and solving problems related to such conflicts since there might be one particular source of the conflicts in most cases. In addition, conflicts arose from the diverse nature of people from different backgrounds working together without any relation at all (De Janasz, Dowd and Schneider). As such, these people shared different interests, perceptions, goals, values, and approaches to problems. Therefore, the best way to solve such conflicts that arose was to use these differences to my advantage as the manager while paying attention to all the different ideas from these individuals. Based on the self-assessment test on the corporate culture preference scale, most of the responses I gave provided me with a feedback of an individual who preferred a controlled culture in an organization. Case in point, my response about my preference of an organization to work in was one in which the senior managers were respected instead of one where employees who performed well were paid more. This is a character I never knew was inherent in me and I learnt it from the book. Furthermore, my preference for organizations where employees followed the organizational rules, decisions were made by the top management, and finally an organization where management kept everything under control are characteristic of an individual whose preference is for a controlled culture in an organization (De Janasz, Dowd and Schneider). In effect, these were responses that I learnt made me prefer a controlled culture while all along I thought they were important for the proper running of an organization. Finally, the other key point I have picked from this book pertains the role of leadership in management. In this case, other than manage the team they were in charge of, a manager should play a great role other than this traditional and conventional role. Thus, one of the most important roles to be played is that of mentorship. In effect, a mentorship program was crucial since management is not only limited to playing their day-to-day management roles, but also mentoring other leaders in the workplace who will eventually take over from the manager one day. In addition, I have also learnt a manager is not the only individual who should play the leadership role. Actually, any individual in a team can take the leadership position as far as they are motivated and the manager has provided the best and proper avenues for such roles to be played. What I previously thought was true, but now know to be incorrect/ wrong? One thing that I previously had misconception about was the definition of diversity and the elements of defining diversity. As I had earlier mentioned, the media and the society’s perpetuation of the vice informed my definition of diversity. Thus, I used to think that diversity was only a matter of race and ethnic background. However, my perception has however changed regarding the elements of race and gender in the whole issue about diversity. In addition, I have also realized that people even considered minute details in others, such as the color of another’s eyes and hair, in perceiving them and passing their judgment about them. Secondly, I used to think that a manager should only play the traditional managerial role of directing and giving people instructions each day. However, this thinking has changed since I have come to learn that before seeking to manage, it was crucial for the manager to seek to understand others. Furthermore, a manager should play other important and crucial roles such as mentorship (De Janasz, Dowd and Schneider). I have come to realize the need of ensuring continuity for management in order to guarantee that the ground is set for transition when the current manager’s roles end. In addition, a manager that mentored their workforce provided motivation amongst the workforce and effectively made work easier and enjoyable. Moreover, there was enhanced productivity in instances where managers mentored their workforce. The third and most important thing I have come to learn pertains to the two types of preferred organizational structures. In this regard, I am talking about the distinct features between a mechanistic structure and an organic structure. Regardless of the distinct differences between the two about the nature of decision-making and communication, I have come to learn that each one of these method cannot effectively succeed on its own. In this case, each method required the input and the integration of the other in order to achieve maximum productivity according to the set objectives and organizational goals. Things that I have learned and will be able to use in future The most important thing I have leaned and will be able to use in the future in my managerial roles is the different structures of the organizational. In this case, since the two methods worked well when combined, I will be more than glad to implement the two while playing my managerial roles and ensure that I met the specific goals and objectives that I set in my professional and personal life. On the other hand, I will ensure that I effectively strike a balance between these two structures to ensure that the organization does not rely on just one of the two. Secondly, through the exercise about my preferred decision making style, I have come to learn that my decision-making style is typically the conceptual decision-making style. In this case, I tend to focus on people more and the broader aspects of a particular problem or situation. In addition, I tried as much as possible and considered as many options as I could. Furthermore, I tried to acquire information by using intuition and through communicating with others. In addition, I tend to evaluate information by integrating data and apply judgment. This is something new I have leant about myself and I wish to practice this in my future managerial roles. The exercise concerning creativity gave me insightful measures that I will practice in future to ensure that creativity was the guiding principle in my personal and professional lives. In this regard, mental blocks such as being overly critical or having negative attitudes, relying heavily on a set routine, conforming towards a particular path, giving up easily, lack of confidence in ones ideas, and lack of efforts inhibited creativity in an individual (De Janasz, Dowd and Schneider). These are blocks that I will ensure do not exist in my professional and personal lives to achieve success on both fronts. What I am still unsure about One thing that I have leant about my prediction of rating error is that I am sort of a lenient rater and effectively biased when giving opinions. In this regard, I tend to have and experience a significant psychological discomfort in evaluating people and giving negative feedback according to the answers that I gave. However, I am not very sure about these results since I personally know through experience that I am one of the most honest people when giving opinions about people and their behaviors. I will admit that I am still unsure about whether Emotional Quotient (EQ), also known as Emotional Intelligence (EI), is superior to mental intelligence what we normally refer as simple IQ. In this case, I m still unsure on which of these two measures that an individual should score high. My point of irresoluteness arises from the fact that EI measurement is diverse and is based on several competencies in comparison to the measurement of an individual’s IQ. In this case, the measurement of EI encompasses measures such as self-awareness, self-motivation, self-management, empathy, and social skills (De Janasz, Dowd and Schneider). In effect, this is something I plan to learn more in the near future to ensure that I get a better understanding of the two measures. Ideas for action, based on this course and course book Based on this course, I have been given the powers to have a personal change on some of the things that I need to work on and improve. First concerns my definition of diversity. In this regard, what I had considered as defining diversity essentially was not the right and correct definition. In effect, I failed to see that our perceptions are different and we tended to make wrong judgments based on what we thought was right and wrong. Hence, I have learned that it was crucial to find an in-depth meaning of issues, especially those that played a major role in shaping the roles that we played as managers. Secondly, I am going to take action and learn about the best ways to give honest opinions based on the feedback I received from the section concerning the rating on feedback. In this regard, I am going to ensure that I do not let psychological discomfort take the best of me and fail to provide the most noteworthy and honest feed back to individuals. Therefore, I want to try as much as possible and be the best person to give the best and most honest opinion and feedback to different individuals especially in my workplace. Another important action I would want to take is based on the mentorship programs I would like to implement. In this case, I would start a mentorship program that involved mentoring high school going teenagers to be better people before I proceeded to carrying out a similar role in a managerial capacity. In effect, I would be able to have a head start when it came to implementing the real mentorship program in a more complex and broader scope like in an organization. I must admit that the feedback on the exercise based on my communication style when under stress gave me lessons that I will use for the rest of my life. I fell under the six-less-than-perfect ways of dealing with stress based on the feedback I got. In this regard, the feedback gave and identified seven dialogue skills that I will effectively use in the future. The first dialogue skill is to ensure that I tried as much as possible to focus on the matters at hand, control my heart, and effectively reason with my head. Secondly, I will in the future learn to identify other people’s feeling in order to get the discussion back on track and avoid confrontations. The other point I will make certain is that I engaged the other parties well during such conversations to ensure that I made it safe by guaranteeing we both worked for one common outcome. The next step in the dialogue skills involved I master my stories by properly mastering circumstances when a story triggered inappropriate feelings and behaviors in order to redirect the story to focus on one common viewpoint. Immediately after mastering the stories, next I should be in a position to state my path in order to remain assertive while ensuring that I was respectful to the other party. After stating my path, it is always important to listen to other people to improve dialogue and effectively listen to them while exploring their paths. Essentially, this formed the sixth step. Finally, the dialogue skills culminate with a move to action based on the agreed decisions. Nevertheless, it is always important to set a time for evaluating the outcomes of the implemented decisions (De Janasz, Dowd and Schneider). Based on the feedback regarding my corporate culture preferences, I have come to realize that my preference for a controlled environment is not the most effective approach to manage an organization. However, management should ensure that an organization’s culture was a blend of a controlled culture where the staff of the company was aligned and kept under control. Furthermore, the blend included a performance culture that placed a high value on personal and organizational performance while striving for efficiency and effectiveness. In addition, the blend should contain a relationship culture that valued nurturing and wellbeing of every staff member in the organization. Consequently, such a culture was characterized by teamwork, open system of communication, sharing crucial part of an organizational life, and most importantly enhanced teamwork. Finally, the blend should contain a responsive culture that valued its ability of identifying with the external environment inclusive of competitiveness and identifying new threats and opportunities (De Janasz, Dowd and Schneider). What I liked most about this learning and reading I liked those sessions that involved self-assessment exercises and effectively provided feedback to the individual. In this case, I was able to realize some of my deepest and innate perspectives that I never thought I had before. In effect, I was in a position to analyze the path and direction that I would like my professional and personal life to take. Furthermore, the session has equipped me with the most effective skills any manager and aspiring manager would wish to have when implementing key decisions. Comprehensive Action Plan for Change: Personal Development Plan My Definition of Success The definition of success as a management student in my personal and professional lives entails ensuring that I achieved the benchmarks set within a specific period in my professional and personal life. In this case, collaborating with all the stakeholders in order to understand the business drivers becomes crucial to achieving these important benchmarks. On the other hand, my general definition of success in life is an achievement of the set objectives. My Current Status of Affairs I believe that my personal strengths include that I am able to communicate well with others on a personal level as the first strength. Secondly, I am a positive thinker and finally I am very open to other people. On the other hand, I believe my first weakness is that I am not assertive enough. Secondly, I lack enough courage to stand before people and address them giving them my opinions and ideas. Finally, I lose my temper so easily. Following a discussion with a friend whom I have been involved on a project with, his feedback on my weaknesses and strengths was essential since I thought I knew myself very well. In this regard, we started by discussing my strengths and the first one that he pointed out was that I was a very good planner. Secondly, he pointed out that I had a good analytical mind when it came to planning and he finally pointed out that I was keen to detail. On the other hand, he pointed out that although I was a very good planner, I failed in taking initiative after the planning process. Secondly, he pointed out that I was not assertive enough and he finally told me that in instances where the workload was heavy, stress usually overwhelmed me. Based on the discussion I had with my friend and based on my personal assessment, I finally arrived to a conclusion about my topmost strengths and weaknesses. My topmost strengths started with my good planning abilities that are crucial to achieving the planning of my objectives at a professional and personal capacity. Secondly, a good analytical mind is crucial in management since it helps me analyze all the aspects involved in a particular undertaking picking even the minute details that others cannot identify. Finally, my other topmost was that I was a positive thinker. In this case, this strength played a critical role in shaping my professional path especially in circumstances that I experienced failure. On the other hand, my topmost weakness was the failure to be more assertive. In effect, the failure to be assertive led to projects failure in the implementation stages since I was not able to be pushy and aggressive. Conversely, my second weakness was the lack of confidence and lack of courage. Consequently, this led to my failure of bringing out my leadership qualities since I held back my opinions and ideas before a group of people. Finally, my other topmost weakness was my quick loss of temper that did not help solve matters when things were not heading in the right direction in both my personal and professional life. Consequently, this led to the loss of objectivity when analyzing situations. My Desired Status I need to have the ability of talking with others and act confidently in any situation that I encountered. In this case, I need to eliminate the fear of voicing out my opinions and ideas and make new ventures while taking risks and identifying new opportunities. Consequently, I will be able to change and influence many decisions and people both professionally and personally. With confidence, I realize that I will be able to venture into new opportunities while having the ability to command more respect by having other people observe my self-worth. Furthermore, I will be in a position to go against the herd-mentality while venturing into grounds new to my professional and personal lives. Effectively, these new grounds will give me more success in new opportunities while making my life more interesting than before. Overall, confidence effectively will make my true self to shine through at last. Secondly, I need to be more assertive and try as much as possible to take control of all situations in my professional and personal life. Accordingly, I will be able to push hard for recommendations, decisions, and novel ideas to be accepted by other people I worked with and interacted with in my personal life. Therefore, I will need to take a proactive role in as many situations as I can possibly come across. In addition, I need to actively make the first recommendations in a group at work while ensuring that I do not agree with everything that everyone said and assertively or firmly say no to situations warranting such outcomes. In effect, others will not influence me easily and I will be in a position to command more respect from others. Furthermore, assertiveness will give me opportunities to participate in discussions that are crucial to establish my position and ideas. Moreover, assertiveness will make my confidence rise while ensuring that my self-esteem levels are installed. Finally, I will need to be calmer and assess situations objectively before reacting to a particular situation. Thus, I will be in a position to draw some positives in any situation (however unfavorable) that I encountered and consequently focus my best energies in finding solutions and answers rather than lose my temper. Therefore, my energies will be channeled into more positive and productive activities essential to achieve my definition of success both in a professional and personal perspective. Effectively, controlling my temper will rebuild the relationships I might have destroyed with my colleagues and other family members. In conclusion, learning how to manage and hold my tempers is crucial to ensure that I showed more compassion to everyone that I met and effectively changed their lives. My Goals and how to achieve them In order to achieve all this, I need to come up with both short-term and long-term goals. Effectively, my short-term goals are: 1. Conclude reading a book regarding ways of improving self-confidence and effectively apply the set of guidelines the book advised. 2. Make at least five recommendations in my work group and ensure that they were accomplished. 3. I need to attend an anger management class. On the other hand, my long-term goals are: 1. Gain the ability of commanding confidence regardless of any situation and avoid being pulled down by any setbacks. 2. Acquire the ability and routine of taking the lead in all, or most, situations in order to be more assertive while in the same case keeping away from going to the extreme. 3. I need to maintain my cool and calm demeanor and avoid losing my temper in any situation that I encountered. To achieve my first short-term goal, I will buy the book, The Confidence Plan: How to Build a Stronger You by Timothy Ursiny, and implement the strategies therein within a period of one month. I will be reading the book on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday night each week for a period of two hours each day between 9pm and 11pm. On the other hand, I will be practicing the strategies the book advices on building confidence on Thursday and Sunday mornings between 7am and 8am. The start date of carrying out these activities will be on 1 January 2012. Consequently, the short-term goals aimed at achieving confidence will be achieved by 1 April 2012. On the other hand, the long-term goal is achievable in a period of six months by the end of the month of June in 2012. To assess the achievement of these goals, I will carry out a self-evaluation test focused on identifying the new opportunities I have ventured into and the success of these new ventures. On the other hand, in order to achieve the second short-term goal, I need to read books related to being assertive and respectful at the same time while communicating within a one-month period. In this case, the reading will commence on 1 January 2012 and I plan to accomplish the book by 31 January the same year. The reading will be taking place on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday night each week for a period of two hours each day in the one-month period between 9pm and 11pm. On the other hand, I will practice my assertiveness skills during the weekly meetings held on Friday afternoon by ensuring that I effectively communicated my opinions and ideas to my colleagues. In order to ensure that this was achieved, I will carry out a self-evaluation on the implemented strategies that were my suggestions and ideas on July 30, 2012. Finally, I will practice meditation on Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday each week between 5am and 6am for a six-month period in order to start the pathway to anger management. In effect, this is set to start on 1 January 2012. In addition, I will attend an anger management class on Saturday between 2pm and 4pm for a period of three months. I will enroll for this class on 3 January 2012 and effectively complete the anger management course on 30 March 2012. Overall, I will ask my friend on the progress I was making with these strategies that I was employing in order to meet my goals and objectives in my professional life and career. Work Cited De Janasz, Suzanne, Karen Dowd, and Beth Schneider.2012. Interpersonal Skills in Organizations. 4th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill. Web. 23 Nov. 2011. . Read More