Introduction


My first incident as a manager involves miscommunication with the personnel.  This happened after I implemented new polices on employee attendance. This resulted to some personnel from the marketing and finance department refusing to follow the policies because of different reasons. This was resolved through a meeting I had with the personnel and explaining the need for changes in some of the policies. My second incident as a manager involves the poor management of individual cultures. This happened when I authorized a new policy on office attire; the new policy offended some people with a very strict culture and very strict upbringing. To solve the problem, I allowed some expectations to the rule provided that the employee can give a good explanation on why they should not follow the attire.


 


Reflection


For many organizations today directing the work and planning for its successful accomplishment requires greater input and involvement by the frontline supervisor. There are three primary skills that make up the administrative skills component. First, business management skills require each supervisor to create a vision for his or her work area. A second administrative skill that has been even more foreign to many supervisors is the ability to perform writing and documentation tasks (Ellis 2005). Finally, the third administrative skill engages the twenty-first-century supervisor as a professional resource manager (Ellis 2005). The incident wants me to do more in-depth analysis of multiple aspects of self-awareness. Different instruments were available that helped me to know what group do I belong to in terms of self awareness.  The instruments included the Myers-Briggs Indicator and Active listening skills inventory.  During the assessments, I discovered myself belong to INTJ Group.  Those belonging to the INTJ group are known as decisive, independent, sense-makers. That means I have the tendency to be independent and make decisive actions. In some sense I belong to the ISTJ group. Those belonging to ISTJ group are just-the-facts, thorough and organized people. That means I’m not only independent but I’m organized and can be considered as perfectionist.  Using the ALSI, I was able to know my listening skills. My total score in ALSI is 31 which show that I have a strong tendency to actively sense the sender’s signals, evaluate them accurately and respond appropriately. It means that I have good listening skills and use it to make good decisions that tend to help others in need. It also means that my listening skills can be used to give good responses. Upon discovering my AI (avoiding interruption) score, I discovered that I only have scored 5, I don’t have strong tendency to let the speaker finish their statement before responding. I’m not a patient person and always stop to speaker and give my opinion especially when I am stressed. The result shows that although I’m a good listener, there are times that I choose not to listen because of I am impatient. I may be a good listener but I tend to refuse others to finish their statement because I believe that what I heard is enough. My tendency to be independent and perfectionist creates the need for me to believe that I can solve a problem on my own and other ideas can only be supplemental factors.


 


Abstract conceptualization


Contemporary management literature recognizes four basic functions of the manager: planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. They represent a consolidation of the seven classical functions originally identified by Mintzberg.  The functions involve deciding what to do or planning and how to do it or organizing, directing performance of the planned task or activity or leading, and evaluating organizational implementation of the plan or controlling (Ramundo 1994). The traditional office of the nineteenth century and early twentieth century involved little face-to-face interaction or autonomy. It was an environment in which individuals were co-located and clearly directed to undertake specific prescribed tasks. Contemporary management thinking departs substantially from the rigors of prescribed tasks and hierarchically driven work processes (Harrison, Wheeler & Whitehead 2003). The office of the future relies heavily on highly-motivated individuals who are enabled by technology to have a high degree of autonomy and who use face-to-face interaction to increase the richness of their business transactions (Salaman 2001).  Once upon a time there were no managerial sciences. Managers managed according to commonsense based on their day-to-day experience. A few of these managers chose to set down the lessons of their experience on paper in the form of codes, principles and laws of management. They intended these to serve as guidelines or even mandatory instructions for future managers to follow. Then one day social scientists started to investigate managerial behavior and organizations. As a result of their researches they concluded that the codes and principles were inadequate because they did not seem to hold up when subjected to rigorous logical and empirical scrutiny (Thomas 2003). The processes of effective management and organization looked to be much more complex and much more difficult to capture in the form of scientific laws and generalizations than the early management writers had thought (Thomas 2003). One of the best ways that managers can increase the level of motivation among subordinates is to be effective leaders. When overall organizational success is related to leadership qualities, it is clear that effective leadership can and does make a difference. Leadership qualities assume great importance in the professional work environment because professionals are highly sensitive to how they are managed. Managers must lead in an environment that is constantly changing. Employee commitment is needed to make change work; consequently the people orientation is always an important part of successful change (Shell 2003). Leaders of professionals need particularly strong skills in communication so that needed change is integrated into a future vision of success and growth for both the organization and professional. Additionally, these leaders need to understand the change process and how professionals are likely to react to it. They merely attempt, in piecemeal fashion, to copy some general techniques that are reported in the literature, such as work teams, empowerment, visioning, or total quality management. Most often such attempts are disappointing. Frequently the unexpected and unwanted side effects produce results that are the opposite of those intended. Unfortunately, this is often the case when a quick fix is attempted on a complex organizational system (Kanji 2002). For me to be effective it is important for me to have leadership skills and a leadership style that meets the needs of the organization. The leadership skills and style can affect the relationship between the employee and the manager thus it is important for me to choose well the styles I will use and the skill I will show in the firm. I need to lessen my tendency to refuse to listen to other people’s thoughts.  I should consider the thoughts of others as a vital part of decision making. I need to reduce my levels of independence by allowing other members of the firm to participate in decision making.


 


Active Experimentation


 Improvement plan


For me to improve myself and counter all the incidents mentioned above; three things should be put into consideration. One is a good relationship with personnel and all people I relate with. The relationship with our personnel can be both personnel and professional but it must stay within allowable limits.  I need to reduce the barrier between me and all people I relate with. I need to do this by letting them speak when they want to and letting them finish their statement. A barrier to a good relationship with personnel and all people I relate with is my desire for perfection and too much independence, I can remove such barrier by trusting others more and giving others their needed due. Another thing that should be put into consideration is my ability to accept ideas from the personnel and all people I relate with. The result shows that I have the tendency to refuse ideas from the personnel and other individuals. My unwillingness to let people finish their statement clearly shows that I don’t want to hear or know their ideas. The barrier to my personal improvement of openness to ideas is too much pride; to solve such barrier trust will be the concept I will concentrate on together with the concept of respect.  Another barrier to my personal improvement of openness to new ideas is the thinking that I don’t need to listen to the personnel and all people I relate with, l to solve this barrier I need to understand that I need the other people’s ideas in making professional and personal decision decisions.   A consideration I need to look into to improve myself is to engage in team activities. The team activities will help me improve my people skills, sharpen my listening skills and reduce my pride. The barrier to such change is time, to solve such barrier I need to reduce time spent on other unimportant activities and focus on determining team activities that I need to participate in.


 


Time plan for Improvement plan


Five weeks will be needed for me to change my outlook and attitude towards others. The five weeks will be divided into the planning stage, implementation stage and maintenance stage. The first week would be the planning stage. In this week the plan for changes would be constructed. Initial activities have been completed and the initial problems have been solved. The second to third week would be actual implementation of the changes. In the second to third week changes have already happened and some changes are happening within me and my relationship with others. The last few weeks would consist of evaluation and maintenance of the changes.  In the last few weeks the effects of the changes have been fully felt and used in daily living.


 


References


Ellis, CW 2005, Management skills for new managers, AMACOM,


New York.


 


Harrison, A, Wheeler, P (eds.) & Whitehead, C 2003, The


distributed workplace: Sustainable work environments,


Routledge, New York


 


Humphrey, B & Stokes, J (eds.) 2000, The 21st century


Supervisor: Nine essential skills for frontline leaders, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.


 


Kanji, GK 2002, Measuring business excellence, Routledge,


London.


 


Ramundo, BA 1994, The bargaining manager: Enhancing


organizational results through effective negotiation,


Quorum Books, Westport, CT.


 


Salaman, G (ed.) 2001, Understanding business


organizations, Routledge, London.


 


Shell, RL 2003, Management of Professionals, Marcel Dekker,


New York.


 


Thomas, A 2003, Controversies in management: Issues,


debates, answers, Routledge, London.



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