Evaluation of My Skills and Competencies for Managing - Example

Effective Management Name Institution Lecturer Course Date Effective Management Table of Contents Introduction 3 Literature Review 4 The Managerial Grid Theory: Combining People and Task Perspectives 5 Evaluation of My Skills and Competencies for Managing 7 Agreeableness/teamwork 8 Conscientiousness 9 Assertiveness 10 Plan 11 Goal 1: Improve on Assertiveness skills 12 Goal 2: Improve on my ability to strike a balance between being result oriented and task oriented 12 Goal 3: Enhance my employee engagement through improving on my employee relationship skills 13 Conclusion 14 Reference List 15 Appendices 17 Appendix A: TKI Self Assessment 17 Appendix B: MBTI Self Assessment Results 18 Appendix C: My MBTI self assessment results 18 Appendix D: Interview with my manager 19 Appendix E: Interview with my subordinates 20 Introduction The contemporary world of business is demanding more effective management than before. Competition is on the rise and the business environment is changing rapidly in terms of technology, politically, legally, socially and environmentally. Firms are fighting very hard to at least remain operational while others are working towards enhancing their market performance in terms of competitive positioning. This is where effective management comes in; as resources get scarcer than before, successful firms are those that are able to apply effective management principles to get the most from the few available resources. Indeed, Burrow and Kleindl note that only firms that have demonstrated excellent business management and leadership have managed to occupy the upper levels of the competition (2013, p. 18). Therefore, effective managers are highly needed in modern firms. I believe that effective managers are made but not born. On this note, I intend to improve my management style and approach by enhancing on my personal skills. I this essay, I discuss the three skills that I intend to enhance in order to become a more effective manager. The three skills are conscientiousness, agreeableness and assertiveness. The essay begins with a literature review on the three skills. This is followed by the evaluation of my skills and competencies for managing. In doing the evaluation, I use the following three self-assessment tools: Belbin Team Roles; Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument (TKI); and Myers-Briggs Theory Indicator (MBTI) questionnaires I also use 3600 assessment to evaluate my management competencies and skills. I use the following four people to complete the 3600 assessments: My senior: The marketing manager Three subordinates: marketers The evaluation of my management skills and competencies is followed by the identification of areas of weakness that I plan to address. In the essay, I present a plan outlining three key areas that I plan to improve as follows: Improve my assertiveness Enhance my employee engagement through improving on my employee relationship skills Improve on my ability to strike a balance between being result oriented and task oriented Literature Review The modern world of business is becoming more complicated and competitive than before. The food consumer goods industry has not been an exception. The increasing trend towards globalization has seen local firms competing with prominent multinational firms. The resultant has been stiff competition with every firm trying its best to secure a competitive market position. As Raoprasert and Islam (2010, p. 52) note, the effectiveness of a firm remains to be the key determiner of its competitiveness. Effective management has often been quoted as a critical success factor in business. Indeed, Raoprasert and Islam (2010, p. 57) indicate that only firms that demonstrate effective management and strong leadership have managed to climb up the ladder to secure the top positions in their respective markets. Effective managers are those who are able to carry out management roles effectively and consequently handle management functions effectively (Williams, 2015, p. 1). Effective managers help their respective firms to meet the competition and respond effectively to highly dynamic market environments. The Managerial Grid Theory: Combining People and Task Perspectives The managerial grid is a commonly used managerial theory that tries to define effective managers. The managerial grid theory is based on the assumption that effective management is based on two predilections: concern for people and concern for production (Plunkett, Allen & Attner, 2013, pp. 457-458). The managerial grid theory argues that effective managers try to strike a balance between employee orientation and task orientation (Plunkett, Allen & Attner, 2013, pp. 457-458). Therefore, effective management is a result of a combination of skills, competencies and traits. In a study conducted by Lounsbury and colleagues (2014, pp. 239-253), personality traits were found to greatly determine the effectiveness of sales managers. Notable personality traits in the study were openness, emotional stability, agreeableness, extraversion, assertiveness, optimism and tough mindedness (Lounsbury, 2014, p. 246). The employee orientation aspect of the management grid requires the possession and exhibition of a number of interpersonal skills. In a competency framework developed by Pandya, notable interpersonal skills include “effective communication, being a mentor, interaction with others, dedication, pleasing personality, coordination, being a team player, motivation, conflict management and having a positive attitude” (2014, p. 46). The possession of technical/professional expertise is also a factor of success for managers (Pandya, 2014, p. 45). It is clear that effective managers combine personality traits with interpersonal, technical and strategic skills to respond to current situations and then manage effectively. This essay focuses on the following management traits since the possession and enhancement of these traits will help one to become an effective manager. Of the Big Five Personality traits, conscientiousness and agreeableness have been found to greatly determine the effectiveness of managers and leaders (p. 244). Tough mindedness was also found to be an important trait that managers must try to develop in order to become effective managers Conscientiousness Agreeableness/teamwork Assertiveness Conscientiousness is one of the dimensions of the Big Five model of personality traits. This personality trait reflects a person’s level of organization, achievement orientation, self control and diligence (Salgado, Moscoso & Berges, 2013, p. 74). Conscientiousness is defined as “dependability, reliability, trustworthiness, and inclination to adhere to company norms, rules and values (Lounsbury, 2014, p. 244). Conscientiousness has been established as a key predictor of job performance because it provides for active problem solving, organizational skills and reduced vulnerability to stress in the workplace (Salgado, Moscoso & Berges, 2013, p. 76). This means that managers with high levels of conscientiousness are able to handle high levels of stress, demonstrate high levels of organizational management, follow seemingly difficult rules, handle conflicting issues and report high levels of job performance compared to managers with low levels of conscientiousness. Indeed, a study conducted by Guy and colleagues found that employee with high levels of conscientiousness report higher job performance than employees with lower levels of conscientiousness (Guay et al., 2013, p. 237). In a study conducted by Zaman, Anis-ul-Haque and Nawaz (2014, pp. 528-538), conscientiousness was found to moderate between inter-role integration and job performance. Inter-role integration is important for managers because it helps them to integrate the various elements of their work into the achievement of the organizational objectives. Agreeableness or teamwork is related to how well a person merges with others in the workplace. Agreeableness is defined as the “propensity for working cooperatively with others and as part of a team” (Lounsbury, 2014, p. 244). Agreeableness affects a managers’ work performance by acting as a moderator between inter-role integration and job performance (Zaman, Anis-ul-Haque & Nawaz, 2014, pp. 528-538). Modern organizations are increasingly tending towards teamwork as opposed to individual work setup owing to the numerous benefits of working in teamwork (Jia & Liden, 2015, p. 1103). Therefore, agreeableness is an important personality train for modern managers who are supposed to help organizations achieve goals through teamwork. One of the primary roles of managers is decision-making. Assertive skills are very important for managers because these skills help managers to make decisions and handle problems facing them better such as conflicts in the workplace. Assertiveness is defined as a set of personal characteristics that helps a person to advocate for himself (Peneva & Mavrodiev, 2013, p. 3). Assertiveness is a prerequisite for self actualization (Peneva & Mavrodiev, 2013, p. 3). Unal sought to establish a relationship between assertiveness and self esteem and the study found a strong relationship between the two (2012, p. 90-98). Being assertive helps managers to express themselves, make decisions and handle various management issues without trampling on the rights of others in the workplace. Evaluation of My Skills and Competencies for Managing In this section, I will conduct a self-assessment to evaluate my management skills and competencies. I will also present results of 3600 feedback from three of my team members and my manager. I will use Belbin Team Roles, Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument (TKI) and Myers-Briggs Theory Indicator (MBTI) questionnaires for personal evaluation of my management skill and competencies. The evaluation of my management skills and competencies will help me to understand my personality traits and how they affect my management style and effectiveness. The evaluation will also help me to identify my weak and strong points in management skills and competencies. By addressing my weak areas, I strongly believe I will be a more effective manager who will be better placed to produce better results through effective management of people and other resources. Agreeableness/teamwork The Belbin Self-Perception Inventory is a useful tool in evaluating a person’s teambuilding skills (Belbin, 2012). Therefore, I found this tool very applicable in evaluating my agreeableness. Form the Belbin personality test, my primary team role is co-ordinator while my secondary team role is resource investigator (see appendix B). Coordinators are characterised by coordinating team works by causing others to work towards achieving shared goals. Coordinators are good delegators; they identify talents and strengths among team members and then exploit such resources through delegation. Indeed, as I was conducting the Belbin test, I discovered that I am good at delegating tasks. 3600 feedback from my manager confirmed that I am a good delegator. As an assistant marketing manager, my primary task involves ensuring that all the marketing tasks are completed within the required time and resources. I am tasked with tracking marketing activities to ensure that they achieve our marketing objectives. I therefore feel that my primary teamwork role is perfectly in line with my tasks. In particular, the fact that I am always guided by our marketing objectives is totally in line with the major strength of coordinators. My secondary teamwork role from the Belbin test is resource investigator. Resource investigators are characterised by being highly enthusiastic, curious and communicative. Although they may not rank high in idea generation, resource investigators are quick to pick up ideas of others and then strategize on exploiting new opportunities out of those ideas. From 3600 feedbacks from two of my team members, I realized that I give close attention to other people’s suggestions seeking for all the necessary information. I also realized that I am usually very critical (see appendix E). However, resource investigators are usually quick to lose interest especially if results are not significant. From the 3600 feedback from my manager, I realized that I am weak in being persistent (see appendix D). My manager noted that I am too much result driven such that I am quick to ignore or drop ideas that do not seem to produce tangible results. One of my team members indeed confirmed this claiming that my result driven perspective has often left them unmotivated especially when I appear to force things to be the way I want (see appendix E). This is a notable weakness that I need to address to become a more effective manager. I realize that I need to improve on being people oriented as opposed to my management style whereby I am very result oriented. Conscientiousness I used MBTI test to evaluate my conscientiousness. MBTI test is a valid and reliable test used to help people discover their personality test (The Myers & Briggs Foundation, 2015). MBTI test shows that my personality is ISTJ (Introversion, Sensing, Thinking, Judging) (see appendix C for my MBTI self assessment results). ISTJ people are characterised by being realistic and practical in their thinking and doing of things. They are quick to make decisions and implement them because they are mainly focused on results. ISTJ personalities are good organizers and they follow set out standards that they also want others to follow in order to achieve the desired results (The Myers & Briggs Foundation, 2015). I feel that these characteristics perfectly describe my personality. Indeed, I realized that I am very good at organizing people. Of great important is that from the MBTI assessment, I realized that I am a good enforcer of rules. Indeed, 3600 feedback from my manager confirmed that I am good at forcing employees follow set out rules, which he indicated to be one of my major strengths because I help in maintaining orderliness in the workplace. I also realized that I am practical as evidenced by my search for facts to ensure that ideas are practical before being implemented. In their 3600 feedback, two of my employees indicated that they fear presenting their ideas to me because I am known for being too inquisitive for more information. Indeed, one employee noted that I fear presenting ideas unless I have all the necessary facts about it.... I often do not know how hard you will press me to show that the idea will work (see appendix E). As weakness of the ESTJ personality, Myers and Myers note that they are more result oriented (especially focusing on immediate, tangible results) than being people oriented. In addition, ESTJs are very concerned on people following set rules and procedures and will often not have room for compromise (1995, p. 87). I feel this is a major weakness that I need to address. I feel that I put too much force on my employees to without taking concern of their wellbeing and feelings. For instance, in his 3600 feedback, my manager pointed out that although being systematic helps you to achieve results, quite often you have had friction with others in the workplace because of your rigidity personality (see appendix D). One of my employees indicated that my tendency of shunning away ideas that do not seem to yield quick results has killed motivation in the workplace. I feel I need to be a better listener in order to improve my relationship with others. Assertiveness The TKI self assessment tool helps one to evaluate his/her conflict handling method. Conflicts are inevitable in the workplace. As an assistant manager, I have realized that conflict management is a crucial part of management. Therefore, conflict handling skills come in handy for a manager. My TKI self assessment shows that I use the compromising conflict-handling method (see appendix A for my TKI self assessment scores. The compromising mode combines moderate levels of assertiveness and moderate levels of cooperativeness (Phillips & Gully, 2014, p. 366). This means that in my conflict handling mode, I try to ensure that the issue under consideration is properly addressed while still trying to maintain the relationship between the concerned parties. My TKI self assessment also shows that I score moderate on the avoiding conflict-handling mode (see appendix A). Managers who use the avoiding strategy are neither assertive nor cooperative; they tend to step aside from the conflict or move it up the organizational structure for other people to solve them (Phillips & Gully, 2014, p. 366). This behaviour sometimes depict my conflict handling strategy whereby I have sometimes found myself forwarding conflicting issues to my manager to solve. Through my 3600 assessment, my manager noted that I need to be more assertive when handling conflicting issues with my juniors. One of my juniors noted that I often postpone issues thereby leaving them unaddressed. I take this as an opportunity to improve on my management style. From the TKI assessment, I have realized that I may have problems dealing with my employees when there is no other person to whom I can transfer conflicting issues for resolution. It is worrying to realize that I score low on collaborating style (see appendix A), which is characterised by being assertive and cooperative. All in all, I have realized that I urgently need to improve on my conflict handling style towards being collaborative. Plan The evaluation of my management style has helped me to identify areas of weaknesses, which I plan to address in order to become a more effective management by doing the following: Improve my assertiveness Enhance my employee engagement through improving on my employee relationship skills Improve on my ability to strike a balance between being result oriented and task oriented Goal 1: Improve on Assertiveness skills My TKI self assessment shows that my personality tends towards being unassertive. Peneva and Mavrodiev (2013) note that assertiveness is “prerequisite for self-actualization” (p. 3). By being assertive, I will be able to express and support my opinions and positions without violating the rights of others. Being assertive will also help me solve conflicts in the workplace by making necessary decisions and supporting them while at the same time observing not to harm the rights of others. To improve on my assertiveness, I plan to enrol for short courses on assertiveness training especially on making logic arguments, problem solving and decision-making. I also plan to read materials on assertiveness especially on how I can enhance my assertiveness skills. I will know that I have achieved my goal when I will be able to stand by my position and decisions. I will also know I have achieved my goal when I will be able to solve conflicts in the workplace instead of forwarding them to my manager to solve. I will also conduct TKI self assessments and interviews with workmates every six months to assess my assertiveness skills. Goal 2: Improve on my ability to strike a balance between being result oriented and task oriented My MBTI self assessment and the 360 degree feedback from my interviewees show that I am more of result oriented than being employee oriented. From my interviewees, this management style has resulted to reduction in motivation in the workplace because I seem to focus more on my juniors working towards achieving the set objectives without considering their wellbeing. I appear to force things to be the way I want especially so because I am a systematic person. I need to strike balance between achieving goals and taking care of the wellbeing of employees. I plan to attend management seminars and read management materials to achieve this goal. I will know that I have achieved my goal when I realize that I am less obsessed with immediate and tangible results to being more focused on long-term goals. This way, I will not be forcing employees to work towards achieving short-term goals but working with them towards establishing a strong team that will achieve long-term goals. In addition, I will conduct MBTI assessment and interviews with my subordinates every six months to track my MBTI personality. I will know I am improving when I move towards ENFJ personality. Goal 3: Enhance my employee engagement through improving on my employee relationship skills My employee relationship skills are wanting as evidenced by my Belbin self assessment test and 3600 feedback from my interviewees. Of importance it that I tend to lose focus on ideas that do not seem to generate quick gains. To improve on my employee relationship skills, I plan to work on my listening and reasoning skills. Listening skills will help me listen to others as they present their ideas or as we discuss. This way, I believe I will drop the tendency to quickly shun away ideas that seem not to generate quick gains. Reasoning skills will help me to engage employees in reasoning out through strategic thinking. I plan to read widely on these two skills. I will know I am improving when I will be able to sit down and listen fully to other people as they present their ideas even if it seems to me the idea might not work. I will also know I am achieving my goal when I will be able to engage with employees towards building an idea instead of shunning their ideas away. I plan to conduct Belbin self assessment and interviews every six months to assess my progress. Conclusion Modern businesses are relying on effective management to achieve their strategic goals more than before. Therefore, the development of human, interpersonal, and technical skills that make one to be a more effective manager is extremely important. Conscientiousness, assertiveness and agreeableness are vital personality characteristics that make one a better manager. Conscientiousness and agreeableness help a manager to work better with teams, which has become a common way of working in the workplace. Assertiveness is important in decision making and handling various management issues in the workplace. In this essay, I have evaluated my management skills and competencies. The essay has helped me to unearth some of my weaknesses, which I would not have identified were it not for this essay. In the effort to grow my career, I aspire to be a better manager. I understand that growing one’s career has no end; one identifies growth opportunities with time. Growth occurs when one exploits these opportunities. My self evaluation has enabled me to identify growth opportunities that I will exploit in order to be a better manager. In the process of completing the essay, I also learned ways through which I can evaluate my management skills and competencies. I will use these strategies and others that I will learn to grow professionally. In particular, I will use self assessment tests and 360 degree feedbacks from other people who know me well (in my workplace or social circles) to evaluate my management competencies. Through these assessments, I will identify areas of improvement in order to become a better manager. Reference List Belbin. (2012). Belbin Self-Perception Inventory. Retrieved from https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CC4QFjACahUKEwiMo73p9dXIAhWK2RoKHUnzB6A&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.belbin.com%2Fcontent%2Fpage%2F8967%2FBELBIN%28UK%29-Self-PerceptionInventory%2BCompletionGrid.pdf&usg=AFQjCNG1wyabFuUi8WuRuPM8Ih0kPG67HQ&sig2=nBl8t1jf1pbECNGwMG-U9Q&bvm=bv.105814755,d.d2s Burrow, J. L. & Kleindl, B. (2013). Business Management (13th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning. Guay, R. P., Oh, I., Choi, D., Mitchell, M. S., Mount, M. K. & Shin, K. (2013). The Interactive Effect of Conscientiousness and Agreeableness on Job Performance Dimensions in South Korea. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 21(2), 233-238. Jia, H. & Liden, R. (2015). Making a Difference in the Teamwork: Linking Team Prosocial Motivation to Team Processes and Effectiveness. Academy of Management Journal, 58(4), 1102-1127. Myers, I. B. & Myers, P. B. (1995). Gifts Differing: Understanding Personality Type. Mountain View, California: Davies-Black Publishing. Pandya, K. D. (2014). The Key Competencies of Project Leader Beyond the Essential Technical Capabilities. The IUP Journal of Knowledge Management, XII(4), 39-48. Peneva, I. & Mavrodiev, S. (2013). A Historical Approach to Assertiveness. Psychological Thought, 6(1), 3-26. Phillips, J. M. & Gully, S. M. (2014). Organizational Behavior: Tools for Success (2nd ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning. Plunkett, W. R., Allen, G. S. & Attner, R. F. (2013). Management: Meeting and Exceeding Customer Expectations (10th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning. Raoprasert, T. & Islam, S. M. (2010). Designing an Efficient Management System: Modeling of Convergence Factors Exemplified by the Case of Japanese Businesses in Thailand. Springer. Salgado, J. F., Moscoso, S. & Berges, A. (2013). Conscientiousness, its Facets, and the Prediction of Job Performance Ratings: Evidence against the Narrow Measures. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 21(1), 74-84. The Myers & Briggs Foundation. (2015). MBTI Basics. Retrieved from http://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/mbti-basics/ Unal, S. (2012). Evaluating the Effect of Self-Awareness and Communication Techniques on Nurses’ Assertiveness and Self-Esteem. Contemporary Nurse, 43(1), 90-98. Williams, C. (2015). Effective Management (7th ed.). Mason, OH: Cengage Learning. Zaman, S., Anis-ul-Haque, M. & Nawaz, S. (2014). Work-Family Interface and its Relationship with Job Performance: The Moderating Role of Conscientiousness and Agreeableness. South African Journal of Psychology, 44(4), 528-538. Appendices Appendix A: TKI Self Assessment Compromising: 94% Avoiding: 35% Competing: 23% Collaborating: 9% Accommodating: 5% Appendix B: MBTI Self Assessment Results SH CO PL RI ME IMP TW CF A 3 1 7 2 4 1 6 2 5 1 1 1 8 1 2 1 B 1 1 6 1 5 1 8 3 4 1 7 1 3 1 2 1 C 7 1 4 2 6 1 2 1 3 1 5 1 8 1 1 1 D 2 1 3 2 6 1 4 1 5 1 1 1 8 1 7 1 E 6 1 5 2 1 1 7 2 3 1 4 1 2 1 8 1 F 6 1 4 2 5 1 1 1 3 1 8 1 7 1 2 1 G 5 1 7 3 6 1 3 1 2 1 1 1 8 1 4 1 Total 7 14 7 11 7 7 7 7 Primary team role: Co-ordinator (CO) Secondary team role: Resource Investigator (RI) Appendix C: My MBTI self assessment results Note: test done from http://www.16personalities.com/istj-personality Appendix D: Interview with my manager How do you evaluate my ability to work with a team? Although being systematic helps you to achieve results, quite often you have had friction with others in the workplace because of your rigidity personality. In overall, I can say you are good at getting things done. How do you evaluate my ability to handle conflicts in the workplace? In general, I can rate it below average. It is not once or twice you have taken things up the ladder to you manager to solve what can be said to be quite manageable issues. Seems you do not like getting into friction with your colleagues. Where do you think I need to improve on my management? Yeah...if you are able to solve employee issues----take a position and defend it, then you will be good to go. Then, relationship with employees is needed. Even if not that deep social relationship, you can do better if you better understand other people. Appendix E: Interview with my subordinates How can you describe my management style and approach? Interviewee 1: I can call it critical. Always wanting things done the right way Interviewee 2: getting it right best describes you. Seems you are obsessed with results Interviewee 3: a mix of autocratic and democratic. Sometimes you want our contribution but quite often you want things just done. What can you say is my personality or behaviour that de-motivates you? Interviewee 1: I fear presenting ideas unless I have all the necessary facts about it.... I often do not know how hard you will press me to show that the idea will work. It’s kind a humiliating to find yourself cornered, so I just avoid expressing myself sometimes if I am not sure of it. Interviewee 2: sometimes when we present our problems to you, we just want it you, not the senior people. However, we find its the senior guys up there doing the problem solving. How, why, I do not know. Interviewee 3: its just how you just want us to achieve results. Yes, achieving goals is good, but we are sometimes left wondering whether we are machines to just work. Read More