Self-Assessment Assignment: Analysis On Manager’s Competency

Question

Task:
This self-assessment assignment builds on the summary of the competency. There are three aspects to this paper. The first is an analysis of your own practice in terms of this competency by examining a recent work-related incident. The task is to describe the behaviours exhibited in the incident and compare these to the conceptual and behavioural characteristics of managers with the competency discussed in assignment one. In this way you can determine the extent of your knowledge regarding the competency and what you did well or what could be improved.

The second aspect is to reflect on why you did what you did! This is achieved by completing a minimum of 3 diagnostic tools, one of which can be a general management or personality test such as the MBTI, the Big Five, DISC tool etc, and a minimum of 2 diagnostic tools specifically related to the chosen competency. Students are then required to identify the results of the tools and reflect on whether they provide insight into preferences or assumptions that explain the student’s behaviours in the incident.

The third aspect is to use the results of the self-analysis to identify one learning or developmental need that will enhance their competence and devise an action-learning contract that will address the issue. This means identifying a range of tasks, activities or learnings that must be actionable and related to conceptual, behavioural or attitudinal component of the chosen competency.

Answer

Analysis of the situation and the manager’s competency as a change catalyst within the self-assessment assignment
I was recently assigned to start working with a new team at our company. While I’m not new to the company, it was my first time working under my new manager. The rest of the members of the team have been working with our manager for quite some time now. They are used to her ways. Initially, I only spoke when spoken to and hardly made any useful inputs. It was in these days that I made a suggestion that was completely different from what the other members were proposing. I knew my idea was a good one but I felt I had misspoken and therefore stopped midway. Later that day, manager called me for a chat. Initially, I was nervous that it was about something I had done wrong at work. But that was not the case my manager asked me how I was doing and asked me to elaborate on my idea. Interestingly, my manager assured me that she was genuinely interested in my idea and asked me why I thought it would work. I gave her a detailed analysis and she seemed impressed. At the next team meeting, she asked me to elaborate upon my idea. With her encouragement, I put my idea across and I could see that although reluctant, my team-mates were coming to understand my point of view. Although the solution we finally decided upon was a combination of a few other suggestions that were discussed, I was glad that my manager considered all of our opinions before deciding upon anything.

My observations from my conversation with her were that she was genuinely concerned about the well-being of each one of us. She has a very clear understanding of our potentials and knows how we will shine. This incident made me realize that my manager was very competent as a change catalyst. My induction into the team would have been tougher had she not taken proactive measures to ensure that I felt welcome and valued. I was very surprised and impressed that she considered the well-being of all her subordinates. She made it clear to me that she expected me to do my work and contribute towards the goals of our team. I felt reassured that she was not the type of manager who keeps breathing down the necks of her subordinates or has any unnatural expectations from us. As I started to grow more comfortable, I realized that she is always encouraging the team to contribute our own opinions before arriving at decisions (Hayes, 2018).

Reflection
We now try to implement several tools to reflect on my actions as well as those of my manager, trying to understand our reactions to this situation we have discussed. We will be making use of generalized management/personality tools as well as diagnostic tools specific to the situation discussed.

General Management/Personality Test
MBTI
If we make use of the Myers Briggs Test Indicator to analyse my manager’s behaviour in the situation discussed, she can be defined as an INTJ personality. She thinks and observes the situation before drawing any conclusions, letting us take the spotlight for the work we have done. She is intuitive and does not shy away from speaking what is on her mind. She has a very clear concept of what she expects and how she wants us to do the work. But this does not mean she is crass and insensitive. She is more of a mentor than a boss for us (Henkel, Haley, Bourdeau, & Marion, 2019). I, on the other hand am an ISTJ personality. I am reserved and take my time to adjust to my surroundings. I did the work I was assigned to be but relied on my teammates to accidentally stumble upon my ideas. I was always questioning whether my ideas were worthy or not, thereby impeding my personal growth (Ferreira & Potgieter, 2018).

DISC
According to the situation discussed, my manager is clearly a Seeker (the DI personality type). She is innovative and welcomes new ideas. Under her expert guidance, the team has been able to successfully complete the projects assigned to us (Xia, Lo, Bao, Sharma, & Li, 2017). I on the other hand, am a Technician (the SC personality type). I am detail-oriented and like perfection. But I am not very social. I prefer doing my work silently and without much fuss. This at times makes my colleagues feel that I am stand-offish (Kamtar, Jitkongchuen, & Pacharawongsakda, 2019). But with help from my manager, I am trying to be more sociable and put forth my ideas for the rest of my team.

Big Five
My manager would have a high score on her Big Five analysis. She is open to new ideas, very accepting and concerned for all her subordinates, is compassionate and can find the positive in every situation. As a result of this, she is very capable in handling her duties as well as encouraging us to explore more avenues and enrich ourselves (?ahin, Karada?, & Tuncer, 2019). I, on the other hand, am very shy and do not like interacting much. I prefer to do my work quietly and become very pessimistic under pressure (Oshio, Taku, Hirano, & Saeed, 2018). Under my manager’s guidance, i am trying to improve this trait of mine as well.

Specific Diagnostic Tools
Lewin’s Change Management Model
This tool could be a very effective one in this situation. The manger’s initiative to open up communication channels with me acted as an icebreaker. She took proactive measures that helped me to contribute towards the success of the team. Eventually she made it clear to us that together we are all responsible for the success of the team. Such a tool would be perfect for getting rid of the reluctance (inhibitions of my teammates and mine) and making the work environment more conducive (Angela-Eliza & Valentina, 2018).

ADKAR Change Management Model
This model could also have been effective in this situation because this model focuses on why the change (inducing me into the team) is a necessity and how it can be implemented in a manner that will cause the least disturbance in the day-to-day operations of the team. My manager’s approach to changes has been very direct. She always deals with us in a manner that considers our sentiments without coddling us. In such a situation the ADKAR tool would also be very efficient as it directly deals with the changes and its effects. This tool would have also been very suitable in the induction of a new member into an already established team (Karambelkar & Bhattacharya, 2017).

Kotter’s Change Management Model
Our manager is very proactive about the decisions and projects concerned with the team. She is concerned about the well-being of the team and therefore this new change of having a new team member in her team had to be handled sensitively. This model could have also been handy in this situation because it focuses more on preparing the team members for the change rather than the implementation of this change (introducing someone new). It would have been a good model and well-suited with my manager’s style of working because it focuses on the employees’ best interests and having a proper channel of communication to express grievances or offer suggestions. On the other hand, it would have also helped the new comer (me) to gel well with the existing members by understanding their sentiments better (Rajan & Ganesan, 2017).

Action Plan
According to the analysis, the most important agenda is to integrate me into the team properly so that we can function better as a team. Based on the discussions the team had with our manager, we came up with an action plan that we could make use of, to improve our working relations. She assured us that if we could follow her advice, everyone in the team would perform better and we could align our interests with the goals of the team. She also said that this would help us to become more efficient and productive (Barrow, Annamaraju, & Toney-Butler, 2017). The model we decided upon was the Kotter’s Change Management Model. Accordingly, we came up with a time frame for this exercise.

Through all of the team had with the manager, we realised that through these exercises my manager was trying her very best that the change (inducing me to the team) would not affect the team’s effectiveness. Her top priority is the well-being of the team members.

References
Angela-Eliza, M., & Valentina, N. R. (2018). Organizational communication and change management. National challenges and European perspectives. Ovidius University Annals: Economic Sciences Series, 18(1), 336-341.

Barrow, J. M., Annamaraju, P., & Toney-Butler, T. J. (2017). Change management.

Ferreira, N., & Potgieter, I. L. (2018). Personality preference facets and self-regulatory employability of human resource professionals. South African Journal of Psychology, 48(1), 142-154.

Hayes, J. (2018). The theory and practice of change management. Palgrave.

Henkel, T. G., Haley, G., Bourdeau, D. T., & Marion, J. (2019). An Insight to Project Manager Personality Traits Improving Team Project Outcomes. Graziadio Business Review, 22(2), 1.

Kamtar, P., Jitkongchuen, D., & Pacharawongsakda, E. (2019). Multi-Label Classification of Employee Job Performance Prediction by DISC Personality. Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Computing and Big Data, pp. 47-52.

Karambelkar, M., & Bhattacharya, S. (2017). Onboarding is a change: applying change management model ADKAR to onboarding. Human resource management international digest.

Oshio, A., Taku, K., Hirano, M., & Saeed, G. (2018). Resilience and Big Five personality traits: A meta-analysis. Personality and Individual Differences, 127, 54-60.

Rajan, R., & Ganesan, R. (2017). A critical analysis of John P. Kotter's change management framework. Asian Journal of Research in Business Economics and Management, 7(7), 181-203.

?ahin, F., Karada?, H., & Tuncer, B. (2019). Big five personality traits, entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intention: A configurational approach. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research.

Xia, X., Lo, D., Bao, L., Sharma, A., & Li, S. (2017). Personality and project success: Insights from a large-scale study with professionals. 2017 IEEE International Conference on Software Maintenance and Evolution (ICSME) (pp. 318-328). IEEE.