1.
Managers play an important role in organizations. Generally, managers who are able to enhance an organization’s profits are successful and effective managers. In addition, managers play various roles for the success of the organization. Successful managers are those who have the ability to carry out their duties and responsibilities with an effectiveness that is above average irrespective of their management level, previous working experience and age. However, managers should take into consideration the importance of self-awareness which is a success factor in becoming a better manager.
According to Eriksen 2009, a person who is capable of understanding their own weaknesses, strengths and emotions is said to be self-aware. In addition, the self-awareness of a person is their ability to understand their own skills and behaviors in the workplace. Several self-awareness aspects exist which may be of great impact to an individual as they include attitude towards change, learning style, personal values and emotional intelligence. Further research by Reichard & Johnson (2011) shows that many managers become unsuccessful in their roles as managers are poor leadership qualities, whereby most managers are unaware of their inability to motivate others since a manager’s work is often done through other people. The responsibility of dealing with occurrences requiring critical solutions usually get managers frustrated and stressed whereby the emotions affect how the colleagues and managers respond to such problems. When managers are self-aware of the emotions they are able to improve their emotional intelligence by controlling and recognizing their own thoughts and emotions so as to avoid being rude and alienating the people they work with. Therefore, emotional intelligence which is the abilities of a person in managing their relationships with other people is a critical factor of being a leader who is successful (Goleman, Boyatzis & McKee, 2013).
Dorinela, Gabriela & Alexandra (2011) show that managers and leaders are can compromise their own personal values and standards in meeting the goals of the organization. Managers who have a set of principles which are well developed and are aware of their personal values based on experiences of the past are able to be successful through better performance. The reason behind the set of principles will help managers in decision making to avoid compromising on reality. the aspect may result in managers not being involved in activities that are illegal like graft as such actions may result in legal consequences which may even lead to a loss in their managerial carrier.
To achieve success, people have to focus on being self-aware and ensure constant learning through the use of the appropriate style of learning. Research by Pedler, Burgoyne & Boydell (2013) suggests that continuous learning leads to self-development of more effective learning behavioral skills. A manager’s style of learning should complement the manager’s awareness and attitude towards change. If managers are in a position of managing their attitudes towards changes which are unexpected, then they can be in a position of choosing of situations which they have a feeling of comfort to enhance effective performance since self-understanding is a great contributor to self-change and improvement.
Organizational changes have therefore led to the importance of self-development. When managers are able to sustain self-development, they are in a position of identifying their blind spots which may result in disasters in the workplace. Therefore, the achievement of self-development could be through seeking feedback from individuals who are relevant like fellow workmates so as to get accurate and effective feedback. When managers refer to their feedback they have an increased understanding about the employees thus they could improve themselves through the setting of goals which are clear and formulating effective strategies towards the achievement of the goals. Therefore, self-development may include attending various seminars which may boost the manager’s confidence and assist in developing better networks. Self-development results to managers exploring self-knowledge, developing their full potential and self-identity with the aim of becoming a successful manager. When managers are aware of what other people expect from them then they are able to assist them in developing their career. Self-development results in the improvement of self-identity, knowledge, potential and talents. With enough self-awareness, managers can be able to take part in various activities when they are willing as they are aware of their self-development. Therefore, self-development will be brought about by self-awareness. When managers clearly understand their abilities through skills and personality professional assessments they are able to understand their core competencies portfolio so as to enhance themselves. The aspect brings about the close relationship between self-development and self-awareness (Rothstein & Burke, 2010).
In addition, self-awareness also allows managers and leaders in recognizing and controlling their own emotions so that they do not lose control leading to depression when the requirements of the job expect one to do a task which is impossible thus leading to unnecessary pressure. Furthermore, development and awareness of personal values which is appropriate enhance the future ethical decisions of managers. Moreover, self-awareness and self-development can assist leaders in understanding other people better since they initially understand themselves which is key to understanding others. Therefore, managers need to interact with employees effectively if they need to understand them well. Self-development and awareness can also assist managers in various perspectives, values and style of other people, their reaction, personality and emotions. The aspect leads to managers understanding the impact of their behaviors on other people (Hannah, Woolfolk & Lord, 2009).
Generally, self-awareness can assist managers in acquiring the trust of other people and increases their credibility which results in enhanced leadership effectiveness. The benefits are even greater on an organizational level. When managers acknowledge that they need continuous self-development and learning when leading, guiding and modeling the employees, they are able to admit to not having all the answers, asking for help and making mistakes. The characteristics represent an organization that is continuously growing, developing and learning and results to organizational agility and innovation which are great hallmarks to organizations which are performing highly (Maital & Seshadri, 2012). As the role of managers in the organization changes, they must be careful in ensuring that they minimize their weaknesses and capitalize on their strengths to enhance self-awareness and continuous self-development.
2.
My results for this toolkit are: MCI Personal competencies model-level 4 management
The main purpose of the section is to reflect and analyze a critical incident from cultural setting while using reflections. My chosen toolkit for the study is cultural intelligence. The summary of this critical incidence demonstrates how I have achieved two goals including a demonstration of the ability to work in dynamic groups and creating ethical and cultural awareness in the society. Furthermore, the summary will assist me to make sense of incidence and analysis in order to draw conclusions relating to my personal learning outcome.
During a group discussion in the boardroom, a group of six students from Spain decided to communicate with each other in Spanish. The language was difficult for other team members from other dialects to understand. I was shocked even to see other members with common dialects also forming small dynamics groups and beginning murmuring. I was somehow irritated with the behaviors and I decided to stop every member from communicating in their dialects. Being filled with anger, I shouted, “stop now this is too much” and at once every member obeyed my command. I quickly encouraged members to stick to English as an official language so that we can carry out-group discussion effectively and with the togetherness. At first, all members obeyed and were satisfied with my advice and command. However, as the discussion got into the critical part, I realize that the foreign students from Spain were not contributing. Although physically they look engaged in the discussion, they had been silence ever since I requested them to communicate in English. I was a bit curious about their silence and after a controversial, with one member I was informed that majority of members cannot communicate in English. Despite being not fluent with the language, I also realized that they had creative ideas and opinions about the discussion but they were unable to express themselves fluently in English. The only solution I had for this dilemma was to give them a note and a pencil to write down their ideas so that I can deliver what they have written to other group members. After a few minutes, I was happy to realize that every member was actively engaged in the discussion.
My MCI Personal competencies model-level 4 management indicates that I have high rates of behaving ethically and respecting other people irrespective of their background. Despite team members sharing different dialects, I tried to encourage them to communicate in English. I also acted strategically by coming up with a creative idea of facilitating participants who were unable to contribute in the group discussion because of fear or not fluent in the English language. I also encouraged the spirit of teamwork by negotiating with members to cooperate and stick to the discussion.
As a leader in the future, I will use my MCI personal competencies model- 4 level management to make sure that employee in the organization is respected regardless of their gender, race, culture, and religion. Just like I supported the discussion despite the barriers I encountered, in the future, I will also encourage the spirit of teamwork and set realistic goals that employees must achieve by end of the day. Furthermore, as conflicts exist where more than two people meet (Milner IV 2010 p.118), I will facilitate effective communication and guidance to my team. My ability to solve problems and make a decision will ensure be of benefit when managing diverse employee conflicts. Leading with integrity being an essential element for better leadership (Caldwell and Dixon 2010 p.91), I will also encourage creativity and innovation in the workplace. Just the way I was creative in the incidence, I will also support innovation and creativity from my team. Furthermore, awarding the team with some enough resources and benefits like bonuses and vouchers will motivate them to be more creative.
3.
From the incident, I realized that I have some strengths that enabled me to overcome the situation strongly. Braveness is one of my strengths. The situation changed my patterns of fear and I had to be brave enough to bring a solution to the problem. I believed that “fear cannot keep a man out of danger but courage can”. Therefore, I was brave enough to raise the issue that the foreign students from Spain were doing wrong, and they were not supposed to communicate in Spanish while the discussion was still on.
Creativity is also a strength I realized from the incidence. After learning the concerns of Spanish student, I was creative enough to come up with a solution of awarding each member with a pen and notebook to write opinions. Creativity being mother of innovation, the student contributed beneficial ideas through the writing as compared to those who were contributing verbally.
Determination and dedication is another strength I realized. Despite, the communication barriers being experienced in the group, I remained focused on the discussion and further looked on ways for members to corporate and meet our discussion goals.
I possess a weakness in delivering knowledge to other members. After I learned that people were communicating, in their dialects, I did not take time to educate them about the importance of effective communication but I condemned them and briefly advised them to stop the behavior.
Judging others is also my weakness. I realized the weakness when I jumped into conclusion that Spanish students were being ignorant to the discussion. At first, I did not even bother to finding out why they were discussing in Spanish while the group rules and regulation were displayed on board.
Domineering is also my weakness. Uiterwijk (2013 p. 97) defined domineering as an act of being too focused on doing something alone. This weakness is evident from the incident that I never asked other members for their opinions and views. Furthermore, despite a discussion group having several members, I believed my proposal was right and commanded them to obey.
The incidence has given me an insight of how I will consider people’s problems in the future. Furhermore, I have learned and agreed with Twenge, Campbell and Freeman (2012 p.1045) that sometimes people need to learn others concerns but not jumping into conclusion. In the future, I will be more curious with other people’s actions so that I could easily identify their changes in behavioral patterns. As a leader, from the incidence It is clear that people changes their usual behavior when there is an issue disturbing them.
My future career requires me to deal with people from diverse cultures and personalities. Therefore, the incident has enlightened me that I should be more tactful and appreciative so that in the organization I can work with others with respect and harmony. According to Bambacas and Patrickson (2008 p.51) employees with effective communication skills, abilities to solve problems and good decision-making are likely to be retained and well compensated. Therefore, I appreciate my abilities to solve problems, being quick and a firm decision maker and good communication skills as they will increase my performance in future in the aspects of personality and career development.
References
Bambacas, M. and Patrickson, M., 2008. Interpersonal communication skills that enhance organisational commitment. Journal of Communication Management. 1st ed.UK: Emerald insight publishers pp.51-72.
Twenge, J.M., Campbell, W.K. and Freeman, E.C., 2012. Generational differences in young adults’ life goals, concern for others, and civic orientation, 1966–2009. Journal of personality and social psychology. 5th ed. Germany: springer p.1045.
Uiterwijk, J.W., 2013, August. Perfectly solving domineering boards. In Workshop on Computer Games (pp. 97-121). Springer, Cham.
Isik, M. (2016). The relationship between teamwork and organizational trust. International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (2147-4478), 4(1), 133-149.
Caldwell, C. and Dixon, R.D., 2010. Love, forgiveness, and trust: Critical values of the modern leader. Journal of Business Ethics, 93(1), pp.91-101.
Campbell-Allen, N., Houston, D. and Mann, R., 2008. Best practices in New Zealand organizations for rewarding and recognizing employee innovations and achievements. Total Quality Management, 19(1-2), pp.125-139.
Milner IV, H.R., 2010. What does teacher education have to do with teaching? Implications for diversity studies. Journal of Teacher Education, 61(1-2), pp.118-131.
Dorinela, C., Gabriela, H. M., & Alexandra, I. (2011). Emotional Intelligence in Leadership. Ovidius University Annals, Economic Sciences Series, 11(1), 515-519.
Eriksen, M. (2009). Authentic leadership: Practical reflexivity, self-awareness, and self-authorship. Journal of Management Education, 33(6), 747-771.
Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R. E., & McKee, A. (2013). Primal leadership: Unleashing the power of emotional intelligence. Harvard Business Press.
Hannah, S. T., Woolfolk, R. L., & Lord, R. G. (2009). Leader self?structure: a framework for positive leadership. Journal of Organizational Behavior: The International Journal of Industrial, Occupational and Organizational Psychology and Behavior, 30(2), 269-290.
Maital, S., & Seshadri, D. V. R. (2012). Innovation management: strategies, concepts and tools for growth and profit. SAGE Publications India.
Pedler, M., Burgoyne, J., & Boydell, T. (2013). A Manager’s Guide to Self-development. McGraw-Hill Education (UK).
Reichard, R. J., & Johnson, S. K. (2011). Leader self-development as an organizational strategy. The Leadership Quarterly, 22(1), 33-42.
Rothstein, M. G., & Burke, R. J. (Eds.). (2010). Self-management and leadership development. Edward Elgar Publishing.
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