Restructuring Is Rather Like Planting Asparagus - Essay Example

Organizational Behavior Order No. 356474 No. of pages: 8 Writer: 653 “Restructuring is rather like planting asparagus. You know you should have started three years ago.” Charles M Doszher, Einchem Int. Introduction An organization is a group of individuals who are given specific responsibilities and work together for a common goal. These goals vary in character and purpose depending on the kind of organization. Working within an organization needs a lot of patients and tolerance because every individual is unique and has their own perspectives in executing their own thoughts and ideas. A good and healthy organizational culture could be maintained if all its individuals respect and understand each other keeping in mind, the goals to be achieved in the organization. In describing the corporate culture within an organization Welford and Prescott, state that “a set of shared values, beliefs and attitudes, held in common by the people of that Company.” (Welford and Prescott, 1996) This research paper, is going to make and investigation into my own personality and analyze how well I could fit into an organization. A. Personality Insights – An Overall Picture about me. I am ------------------, studying ------------------ at -------------------. I have been endowed with a multifaceted personality, very unique to the kind of person I am. Strong values filled with integrity and honesty, coupled with an analytical mind is the foundation that I rely upon for all my dreams and aspirations of becoming a successful entrepreneur in the near future. Besides this, I have a very keen desire to engage myself in other social activities, such as helping the needy in my community and encouraging youth in the field of sports. In attempting to achieve my goals, I feel that it is crucial to understand my personality and character and therefore I have made this attempt to analyze my behavior exhibited by me in real life scenarios. A Brief Character- sketch Basically I am a very good natured, cooperative and emotionally stable individual, with high aspirations and an enthusiasm and zeal to achieve the same. I am a moderate extrovert, dedicated to the things I believe in which includes being achievement oriented. Besides being a very responsible and dependable individual, I possess and imaginative and artistic bent of mind that I put to good use whenever an opportunity presents itself. Though highly good- natured, I am very sensitive to the thoughts and feelings of those around me and hence cautious in my dealings towards them. I am intelligent and passionate about what I do and therefore try to develop higher levels of job knowledge and exert greater levels of effort on the job. I prefer quality to quantity and put in a lot of hard work to achieve this goal in the lesser amount of time. I do not prefer to be ‘a Jack of all trades’ but I aspire to be ‘a master of one.’ I prefer job satisfaction and I do my best to achieve high within the shortest possible time that is available and with the minimum amount of stress. Higher cognitive abilities and greater levels of social support that is experienced result in lower stress levels preceding the activity (Gil Luria et. al., 2008) Self – Assessment – Big Five and Jungian Tests The ‘Big Five’ Personality Tests have been found by researchers to be particularly useful in gauging an individual’s personality traits to a great extent. Personality traits are complex and widely varied and it is possible that an individual could display patterns of behavior across many of these dimensions. (McCrae, R.R., & Costa, P.T. 1997) However, Freud, Skinner and Jung each had their own approach to personality. In Freud’s opinion the ‘unconscious mind is considered to be the source of all our motivations.’ (Sigmund Freud, 1856 – 1939) According to the Big Five Personality Test based on the five factor model that I had used for my investigation, I came to understand that I had traits of extroversion but within limitations. I was also very conscientious not only about my work but also my choice of friends and associates. I also exhibited a fair amount of agreeableness and was open to new thoughts and ideas and new experiences. I have a good sense of emotional stability and would love to achieve my goals in a harmonious atmosphere. According to the personality test in the Jungian 16 model, I had scored INFJ, which meant that I am an introspective and reflective type of person who is creative and likes to contemplate on the next plan of action. The career choices that would suit me are as follows – psychologist, novelist, librarian, a teacher of drama and a possible Human Resources Manager. (HRM) The scoring key after calculating my score in the self- assessment questions showed 87 points which means that I fall in the ‘B’ category which is quite in opposition to the individuals belonging to the ‘A’ category. Being a recipient of the ‘B’ category, I feel happy and satisfied at the personality traits that it contains. By scoring showed that I am a very conscientious worker who works hard to achieve my goals in a very spaced out and harmonious atmosphere. For example, when I took part in a meeting with the group, I gave a few creative suggestions regarding the preparation of a program, but that the same time I gave a chance to each member of the group one to voice their own opinions about it. According to my personality traits, I am patient and tolerant toward everyone who comes in contact with me. I never like Rushing into things because I like to plan everything in advance before executing it. I believe in pursuing a project keeping quality in the foreground and quantity in the background. Type ‘A Personality In a Type ‘A’ personality, one could see hastiness and intolerance both in their work as well as in the dealings with others. This is not so in individuals with Type ‘B’ personality, because they avoid stress and stress filled situations. I understand this trait very well because though I am intelligent and a high achiever yet, I plan my schedules meticulously and execute them with great precision. For example, when preparing for my exams, I do not waste my time, but spend it practically and efficiently to achieve good results which is my goal. According to my personality, I cannot achieve a lot if I am under great stress or pressure. I prefer a very peaceful and harmonious environment which is devoid of stress. My relationship with my colleagues is very good since I nurture healthy relationships by helping and giving respect to all around me. Type ‘B’ personality types are also moderate in their outlook in life. Since I belong to the Type ‘B’ category, it is no surprise that I am not extravagant either in my behavior or speech. I prefer moderation to any kind of extravagancy. I am soft-spoken and gentle in my attitude towards my friends, family and associates. I am patient and never like cutting across when people are conversing with each other. I do not like hurting the feelings and emotions of others and I do and do not approve of someone is harsh or angry a silly things. Handling Ambiguity In today’s fast paced world, where nothing is certain, ambiguity is a major role in trying to achieve one’s goals. Handling ambiguity and ambiguous situations seems to be a major asset in today’s world. If one is intolerant of ambiguity, they would tend to look at most situations as threatening instead of welcoming or promising. For a person with a very high tolerance, a difficult situation would pose as an opportunity to prove themselves. Most people fall within the category of 7 to 49 and exhibit a good amount of tolerance where stressful situations are concerned. In this assessment, my school was 19, which showed that I have a moderate rate of tolerance. This is very true of my personality, since I had all that the previously mentioned that I prefer to work in a peaceful and harmonious atmosphere and not one that is difficult and stressful. On the Creative Front Most people have a creative streak that tries to find expression in their work place. A creative person was this is the ability to come out with unique and creative ideas and novel solutions to the many problems that they may come across in their families and in the workplace. Creativity could be developed at any stage in life provided one works on it by engaging in different hobbies which could bring out the creative talents. In the self assessment test on creativity, my score was 3 showing that I had to develop my creative talents still further. Since I am a person who is open to change and adapting to new thoughts and ideas, I don’t think that it should pose any problem in my attempt to developing my creative skills. MOTIVATION INSIGHTS Every individual from every walk of life, have needs that require to be satisfied at some point in their lives. To cater to these needs everyone tried to achieve their goals by working hard. Different individuals give importance to the different needs based on their incomes and the situations to which they belong. Motivation is the driving force behind satisfying all our needs. If we are not motivated, we will not have the incentive to satisfy our needs at all. In the assessment on motivation, points were given based on the depth of necessity of that need. My score on growth needs was 17 proving that growth was a higher priority in my life. In relatedness needs, my score was 16, showing that this need was satisfied or fulfilled to a great extent. In the same way, in the assessment of existence needs, my score was 16 again proving that my basic needs of existence were satisfied to a great extent. So the priority on my list was the need for growth and development. My Dominant Needs Every individual has a few needs that need to be predominantly satisfied at all costs. For dominant needs that were assessed were 1) Achievement, 2) Affiliation, 3) Autonomy and 4) Power. In trying to achieve our goals these are some of the most important needs that have to be satisfied by working hard towards it. Especially for the youth of today, this group of needs is crucial to their existence. Among the four, I would say, ‘Achievement’ would be the top priority because most of the youth are career – oriented and have dreams of achieving great heights. In this respect, I am no different, as my score of 20 for achievement ranks the top most among the 4 needs. The self assessment test on my dominant needs showed that Autonomy and Power were the next priorities because I had scored 17 in each of them. This is not surprising because every individual aspires to be the leader rather than a follower and have an innate desire to direct or lead others who are under them. Everyone likes to enjoy a certain amount of freedom not only at home but at the workplace and nurture a desire to be self-directed and given the freedom to act as they wish. I would say, that I too enjoy my moments of freedom and would love to be a leader who directs and guides others towards achieving their goals. My last priority, among my dominant needs is ‘Affiliation’ where I scored 13 points proving that this was the least of my needs since I am well accepted and loved not only by my family but also in the circle of all my friends and associates. Failure is the stepping stone to success and not everyone is successful all the time. Nevertheless, failure should be accepted as part of life and unless one is mature enough to understand this concept, can one aspire to tide over their problems and failures and move in the direction of success. Moreover, what I strongly feel is that success, however small it is should be rewarded and not go unnoticed. This reward would act as an incentive and great encouragement to achieve even greater heights of success. According to me, everyone should be respected because all are human beings. Being critical of others in a better position than ourselves is not going to get us anywhere. In fact it could create worse problems for us. My Sensitivity Issues I am a very sensitive person who never likes hurting the feelings of others and I expect the same treatment not only from friends and family but also from the organization where I work. I am conscientious about my job and do my best to contribute towards the goal of the organization, but at the same time I am sensitive about what the organization could do for me in return. Conclusions In trying to make an assessment of myself through the various personality tests, I have had the opportunity of gaining a deeper insight into myself and thereby understanding my own assets and drawbacks in addition to my strengths and weaknesses. By going through this assessment process, I can understand how to adapt myself in a much better way and at the same time understand that working within an organization needs great maturity to handle the problems that come my way. References: 1. Gil Luria, (2009) “Resources and coping with stressful events” Journal of Organizational Behavior Vol. 30 issue 6. 2. McCrae, R.R., & Costa, P.T. (1997) Personality Trait Structure as a Human Universal. American Psychologist, 52, pgs. 509-516. 3. Self Assessment Library, Version 3.3 by Pearson Publications 4. Welford and Prescott, (1996) European Business, Harlow, England. 5. Sigmund Freud (1856 – 1939) Personality Theories, by Dr. C. George Boeree www.webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/freud.html . Read More