HR9737 Leadership and Management Assignment Sample 2023
Part A: Academic Essay
Introduction
The essay will shed light on the self-awareness that is essential for a person in attaining self-knowledge through his strength and weaknesses. Further, the essay will highlight the benefits of self-awareness in developing leadership and management. It will discuss the importance of self-awareness in developing one’s future career. The essay is based on a self-reflection that outline the indispensable role self-awareness is played in developing and enhancing one’s abilities.
Self-awareness
Self-awareness can be described as the process that helps an individual in gaining knowledge of one’s strengths, weaknesses, qualities, ideas, opinions, beliefs, career goals, and motivations. Public self-awareness means being aware of the way an individual appears to others. In this people focus on behaving in a socially acceptable way (De Vignemont, 2018). The primary drawback of this awareness is that it increases self-consciousness among individuals. On the other hand, private self-awareness is all about noticing one’s self-interest and attitude. It is beneficial for an individual in identifying their goals and objectives and the way they can achieve them.
Benefits of self-awareness
- It enhances self-confidence and helps an individual in becoming a better decision-maker by analysing one’s strengths and weaknesses (Blakemore and Agllias, 2019).
- It offers the power to influence outcomes.
- It is beneficial to understand things from diverse perspectives.
- It helps in building a better relationship and free an individual from biases and assumptions.
- It decreases stress and makes an individual clearer about their career goals and objectives.
Importance of self-awareness in the development of leadership and management
Self-awareness helps an individual in identifying their strengths, weaknesses, goals, and objectives. It can be described as the most essential quality that a leader must possess (Lawrence, Dunn & Weisfeld-Spolter, 2018). Developing leadership qualities and abilities requires in-depth knowledge of one’s skills and capabilities. After getting this knowledge, I would be able to compare my capabilities, weaknesses, and strengths with the qualities that require to be an effective leader. Further, leaders that are aware of themselves could make better choices. It can be justified as effective leaders use self-awareness for managing their relationships and behaviours. In this, self-awareness helps a leader in identifying their natural tendencies and capabilities to make better decisions. In this context, self-awareness is essential for becoming a leader and it also plays a crucial role after becoming a leader.
Furthermore, getting an in-depth understanding of skills and knowledge will help me in performing my responsibilities more effectively (Rubens et. al. 2018). By identifying the loopholes and weaknesses through self-awareness, I would be able to analyse the roles I couldn’t perform and responsibilities I couldn’t handle adequately. It would also offer me a better chance to improve my skills and knowledge regarding leadership and management capabilities.
Areas I need to develop for my successful career development
Giving and Receiving feedback: Giving and receiving feedback plays a crucial role in changing behaviours, evaluating performance, and improving productivity. In context with education, offering feedback will be beneficial for my professors to understand my queries and they will resolve them effectively.Being the project manager, it is crucial to undertake evaluation of team member so that strength and weakness of member can be identified. This quality of mine help me allocate duties to person who is expert in it. Feedback also plays a crucial role in organisations as it helps in improving the strategies and productivity of employees (Zong, Schunn & Wang, 2021). Many organisations make improvements in their products and services by receiving feedback from team members or project client’s, giving feedback to employees so they can bring improvements in their working capability. Offering feedback is essential in my career development as it would help me in getting more understanding about the assigned task, will resolve the issues I am facing related to the task, and inspire my growth.
Furthermore, getting feedback from senior employees and leaders would inspire my growth as they will suggest to me about various improvements I can make in my idea and it would benefit me in bringing new ideas as per the market requirements (Jug, Jiang & Bean, 2019). Other than that, in developing my capabilities and abilities it is necessary that I have appropriate knowledge about others’ opinions and the areas I could improve.
Other than that, it also plays a crucial role in self-development when I will get a job. In this, I have to offer feedback to my team or group about the ideas and opinions that could work on and the task I am not clear about (Kourgiantakis, Sewell & Bogo, 2019). Without giving feedback, I will face several difficulties in completing my task and it could be harmful to my growth and success. Other than that, I would have to take feedback from my leader about my work and mistakes so I can make further improvements. In this way, giving and receiving feedback plays a crucial role in improving one’s skills and knowledge.
Importance of giving and receiving feedback in the development of self-awareness
Further, receiving feedback will help me in improving my listening skills. It is also beneficial in identifying the way I am offering opinions and is there any need to bring improvements (Chow &Luzzeri, 2019). In improving self-awareness through feedback is that I can identify the way my behaviour and opinions are affecting others. Feedback will also offer me an opportunity to identify the areas that I could work on and bring improvements. Giving feedback will help me in identifying the way I can innovate and present my opinions in front of others creatively. In this way, giving and receiving feedback would help me in developing my capabilities and skills.
Learning to work in a team: Teamwork plays a critical role in any organisation as every individual has to work in groups for implementing the project or strategies successfully. It is mandatory to develop my skills to work in a team as it will help me in learning new things and gaining more techniques about the way of innovating. Based on research, it has been found that every team consists of diverse people, and involvement in the dispersed team is beneficial for one’s success and growth (Driskell, Salas & Driskell, 2018). The members involved in the team have different opinions and ideas about the same task and it could help me in gaining in-depth insights about the alternatives for resolving a problem or task completion. Other than that, learning to work in a team requires a lot of skills like patience, communication skills, listening abilities, conflict management, and much more. With the help of teamwork, I can analyse my weaknesses and strengths for achieving career goals and success.
Furthermore, learning to work in a team will also benefit me growing as an individual as it will boost my confidence and help me in learning about innovations (Lacerenza et. al. 2018). While working in a team, I can also acknowledge the people’s abilities and ideas that would be beneficial for growing my capabilities.
Importance of learning to work in a team in the development of self-awareness
Working in a team would be beneficial for me in identifying my loopholes by looking at the way others complete their work. It is also helpful in inhibiting various skills that could be beneficial for my future growth. Learning to work in a team will improve my thinking ability and that is a great opportunity to enhance my self-awareness (Hu et al. 2018). In this way, I could get an in-depth analysis of my skills and abilities along with the areas I need to improve for achieving career goals.
Leadership and management: Leadership and management play a crucial role in any organisation and the way leaders guide their followers is the primary factor for organisational success (Sobratee&Bodhanya, 2018). Developing leadership and management capabilities is a must for me if I want to achieve success in my career. Further, developing leadership qualities comes with various opportunities and several skills that will be developed in me. In context with this, leadership is required in every field to guide the juniors or peers working under you.
Importance of leadership and management in the development of self-awareness
Leadership and management will help me in analysing the loopholes in my leadership capabilities and through this, I can analyse the fields that I need to work on (Friedland & Jain, 2020). Concerning this, it would also help me in building my leadership capabilities and that could benefit me in identifying my interests so I can pursue my career.
Overview of the context of your target job/profession/industry/sector
I would like to lead a team as the project manager in an IT company. The above three skills would benefit me in achieving the job role I am looking at. Being a project manager requires effective leadership and management skills as it would help me in leading the team efficiently, and learning to work in a team is necessary for working with the group members I am the project. Finally, giving and receiving feedback will be beneficial for collecting the feedbacks and opinions from the team and this skill would also help me in offering them feedbacks as per their work and skills. Offering feedback is beneficial for improving the working ability of the team I am leading as a project manager.
Conclusion
From the entire analysis, I have concluded that self-awareness will help me in identifying various pitfalls and loopholes in my skills and abilities that can act as an obstacle in my career success. Looking at the weaknesses, I have analysed I could work on them so that I can achieve my desired goals and objectives. Other than that, self-awareness will also help me in identifying my strengths and interests that could further help me in examining the field I need to grow and achieve success in my career.
Part B: A self-analysis
Summary of your strengths and weaknesses supported with evidence
Self-analysis is termed out as systematic evaluation on strength and weakness of an individual. It is procedure that allows to examine traits such as dislikes, behaviours and attitude. This aids to discovers the strength and weakness of an individual. Thus, self-analysis is outlined in below context as are-:
| Toolkit/Psychometric Test | Strengths | Weaknesses |
| Belbin’s team roles: Using the Belbin’s team role psychometric test I have found about which team I best suits into. I have also identified some of my strengths and weaknesses based on this test. | ● Innovative
● Effective at working in a team ● Energetic ● Communication skills |
● Problem-solving abilities |
| Honey and Mumford’s learning style: The test will help me in identifying the type of learner I am and it is beneficial for me in improving my skills and knowledge. It would help me in analysing four kinds of learning styles including pragmatist, theorist, activist, and reflectors. Based on the tool, I use a theorist learning style. | Implement actions after gaining in-depth theoretical knowledge. | Poor at making quick decisions. |
| Big Five Factor model: The five-factor model helps in identifying the personality traits based on five traits including extraversion, neuroticism, openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness. Based on the test, my strengths and weaknesses I have identified. | ● Openness to experience
● Conscientiousness |
Afraid because of negative thoughts and emotions. |
| 16 Personality tests: Based on an individual’s personality, socionics have defined 16 different types. Based on the test, I have found that my personality type is protagonist. | ● Motivated and encouraged
● Leadership abilities |
Poor thinking ability |
| Cognitive ability test: This is test that is mainly designed to determine individuals’ cognitive ability in a specific skill. I have good verbal skill but sometimes I take time to create solution to specific issues. | ● Effective communication | Inability in taking fast decision. |
Reflective Statement
From the above analysis, I have identified my strengths and weaknesses that could further help me in developing my career. Various skills are required that I need to work on to get the job I am wishing for. Further, the topics discussed in the above part have offered me an in-depth analysis of the employee requirements in the market. Self-awareness as discussed above is very beneficial for an individual to grow and identify their strengths and weaknesses. Some of my strengths and weaknesses as per the above discussions are described in this part.
Strengths:
Communication skills: The above part describes giving and receiving feedback and the importance it plays in personal development. From the analysis, I have researched that communication is the most basic skill that any individual requires and it is most crucial for one’s development and success. I have examined that in giving and receiving feedback, communication is must and it needs to be clear so every other individual can understand the ideas you are presenting. Communication is a two-way path and it’s not only about conveying your message but it is also about listening to other people’s views and opinions (Radovic, Markovic & Salamzadeh, 2018). In receiving feedback, I must have a good listening ability so I can respond to them and bring improvements accordingly. From the above part and psychometric tests, I have analysed that I possess good communication skills.
Leadership capabilities: From the toolkit utilised, I have examined that I possess the capability of leading the team that could benefit me in achieving my future goals and desires. I think that leadership capabilities require continuous development as it is necessary that leaders have in-depth knowledge of market requirements so they can guide their followers (Rios et. al. 2020). Further, as I want to work as the project manager, I have to identify the market changing trends and as a leader, I have to guide followers so they can bring improvements adequately. Further, the leadership skills and abilities I possess are good enough to get me the job role of project manager in the IT sector. I feel that developing skills require practical knowledge rather than just getting theoretical knowledge. In this context, I possess great leadership capabilities but I look forward to improving it continuously as per demands.
Teamwork abilities: As I have discussed above, working in a team requires good teamwork abilities so the probability of arising conflicts can be reduced. I have worked on various group projects at my university and I have found that I have improved the teamwork abilities that would be beneficial for me in achieving future growth and success. I have also identified that working in a diverse team helps an individual in learning about various innovative and creative ideas for completing the task (Tripathy, 2018). Further, working in various groups has helped me in identifying that teamwork is about listening to other people’s opinions and presenting your ideas so the best one could be chosen. Further, it has also helped me in improving my time management skills as missing the deadline in teamwork is very harmful to the team’s success. It is because even if one of the members of the team was responsible for the delay, every member of the team has to face consequences.
Innovative: From the psychometric toolkit, I have found that I possess good innovation skills that could help me in presenting new ideas beneficial for organisations and personal success as well (Dooley, 2017). I have observed the excellence in this skills while completing a task assigned by my professor. At the time of submission time, I have faced several issues but the skills of innovating have helped me in resolving the issue and I was capable of submitting the project on deadline.
Weaknesses:
Problem-solving abilities: I have identified that I am good at innovations but several times I got stuck into problems and took lots of time to resolve that. Once I worked in group work and I faced several issues related to the task and that was responsible for leaving a bad impression as I was not able to resolve the problem quickly. Problem-solving skills play a crucial role while leading the team as many of the times followers get stuck in the task and wait for the leader’s decision to address that adequately (Getzels& Csikszentmihalyi, 2017). I am poor at resolving problems and I have decided to work on it.
Decision-making skills: From the cognitive skills test I have observed that I am not good at making decisions quickly as I get confused when multiple alternatives are present in front of me. It increases my confusion about what to choose, which would be more beneficial, and many more. It could be harmful to my success as it will act as a threat while making career decisions as well (Yacoubian, 2018). Other than that, many of the times occur where an individual has to choose between multiple options and it can be an obstacle for me to choose. In this context, I have analysed that there is an essential requirement to build my decision-making abilities.
Prioritising actions: Thinking of getting a job as a project manager it is must for me to gain in-depth knowledge about task prioritisation as per the demands. I have identified that I am not good at prioritising tasks and performing them inappropriately (Roskams& Haynes, 2019). Many of the times, I have faced difficulty in task completion due to this weakness. For example, planning and scheduling and managing resources are important before starting to work on the project. Many times, I start the work before analysing what will be the requirements and it is responsible for acting as an obstacle in task completion. This is the reason I feel that I need to gain knowledge about prioritising tasks as per their importance.
Implications of current skill as per the target job role
From the analysis of strengths and weaknesses, I have identified that I possess several skills that will be beneficial for me to get the job I am wishing for.
- The leadership capabilities, communication skills, and teamwork abilities will help me in performing my role effectively as project manager in IT company.
- Good communication skills will help me in handling the team I am leading, their issues, and feedback.
- Further, leadership capabilities and teamwork will help me in leading the team and managing them adequately.
- From the weaknesses, I have analysed that there is an essential requirement for me to bring improvements in my problem-solving and decision-making skills as both skills are a very essential part of leadership skills and qualities.
- If these skills are not developed then I would face difficulty in achieving success and growth effectively.
The self-awareness and utilisation of the psychometric toolkit were beneficial for me in identifying the areas I need improvement and strengths that could help me in meeting my goals and desires.
Part C: Establishing Areas for Development
From the above parts, I have analysed my skills and abilities, and the capabilities I will require to get the job role. In this section, I will discuss my weaknesses and areas that require development. It would help me in adopting various activities and strategies that would be beneficial for me to bring improvements in my skills and abilities. The areas that I wish to develop include leadership capabilities, even though; I possess good leadership qualities and skills but I think leadership is a platform for gaining continuous knowledge and learning new ways of leading a team and achieving organisational success. Further, I would like to work on my weak areas that include problem-solving abilities, decision-making skills, and task prioritisation.
Leadership capabilities: I have identified that market demands and consumer requirements are changing rapidly and it puts huge pressure on leaders to guide their followers so they can meet those demands adequately. As per my opinion, learning about new leadership skills and qualities is necessary for achieving success. In this context, I will focus on improving my leadership abilities. Concerning this, I have analysed that digital leadership is going to rule the world and I would like to work on gaining more knowledge about digital leadership (Zeikeet. al. 2019). I will focus on gaining technical skills and the ways these technologies can be used in my field to improve my abilities to manager the project as project manager. It would help me in improving my leadership capabilities and also help me in guiding my team about new ways of resolving old problems.
Problem-solving abilities: For improving my problem-solving skills, I would like to work on analysing the problem along with its consequences. It will help me in identifying the various alternatives to resolve the particular problem along with minimising the risk (Klein & Crandall, 2018). To choose the most beneficial alternative I will develop a list of alternatives along with their benefits and then choose one of the options to address the problem.
Decision-making skills: For improving my decisiveness, I will work on creating a list of alternatives with their benefits and consequences so better options can be chosen (Henriksen, Richardson & Mehta, 2017). I got confused while choosing one alternative out of many but listing them appropriately will help me in choosing one that is highly beneficial to a particular situation.
Prioritisation: To improve this skill, I have to list out the task and analyse the dependency of each task on one another to identify the task that needs to be completed initially. If I have to choose from multiple tasks, I would develop the list and analyse the benefits, tasks which can be delayed, and their impact on other factors if it is not completed. Utilising this information, I would choose the task that needs to be completed first.
Action Plan
| Abilities | Activities for improvement | Results | Time |
| Leadership capabilities | ● Digital leadership
● Gain knowledge about developed technologies and ways to utilise them in managing the project. |
The results can be identified by the success of technological implementation. | 6-9 months |
| Problem solving skills | ● List the root cause of problems
● Analyse the multiple alternatives to resolve problem ● Identify the benefits of alternatives ● Choose the alternative that is highly beneficial |
By examining the success of problems resolved in comparison with previous results. | 2-3 months |
| Decision making skills | ● List out the alternatives that can be chosen
● Analyse the benefits and impact of every alternative ● Choose that is highly beneficial and less impactful |
By taking career decisions as per my interests and strengths | 1-2 months |
| Prioritisation | ● Create a list of all the task that I have to perform
● Analyse the impact of risk that could have if task is not performed ● Choose the task as per its impact |
The prioritisation and success of tasks | 3-4 months |
Conclusion
Hereby, it can be concluded that self-awareness is crucial aspect as this inclusive of varied aspect such as trait, feelings and behaviour. It is mindful consciousness of strength, weakness, action and presence. The present report is based on highlighting the benefits of self-awareness to develop leadership and management. Also, the study has covered the importance of self-awareness in developing career opportunities. In addition, report has undertaken the self-reflection that outline the essential role self-awareness in developing and enhancing one’s abilities.
References
Books and Journals
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De Vignemont, F. (2018). Mind the body: An exploration of bodily self-awareness. Oxford University Press.
Dooley, K. (2017). Routines, rigidity and real estate: Organisational innovations in the workplace. Sustainability, 9(6), 998.
Driskell, J. E., Salas, E., & Driskell, T. (2018). Foundations of teamwork and collaboration. American Psychologist, 73(4), 334.
El-Khoury Antonios, E. (2019). The placement experience of Western Sydney University social work students with physical disabilities.
Friedland, J., & Jain, T. (2020). Reframing the purpose of business education: Crowding-in a culture of moral self-awareness. Journal of Management Inquiry, 1056492620940793.
Getzels, J. W., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2017). From problem solving to problem finding. In Perspectives in creativity (pp. 90-116). Routledge.
Henriksen, D., Richardson, C., & Mehta, R. (2017). Design thinking: A creative approach to educational problems of practice. Thinking skills and Creativity, 26, 140-153.
Hu, J., Erdogan, B., Jiang, K., Bauer, T. N., & Liu, S. (2018). Leader humility and team creativity: the role of team information sharing, psychological safety, and power distance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 103(3), 313.
Jug, R., Jiang, X. S., & Bean, S. M. (2019). Giving and receiving effective feedback: A review article and how-to guide. Archives of pathology & laboratory medicine, 143(2), 244-250.
Klein, G., & Crandall, B. W. (2018). The role of mental simulation in problem solving and decision making. In Local applications of the ecological approach to human-machine systems (pp. 324-358). CRC Press.
Kourgiantakis, T., Sewell, K. M., & Bogo, M. (2019). The importance of feedback in preparing social work students for field education. Clinical Social Work Journal, 47(1), 124-133.
Lacerenza, C. N., Marlow, S. L., Tannenbaum, S. I., & Salas, E. (2018). Team development interventions: Evidence-based approaches for improving teamwork. American Psychologist, 73(4), 517.
Lawrence, E., Dunn, M. W., & Weisfeld-Spolter, S. (2018). Developing leadership potential in graduate students with assessment, self-awareness, reflection and coaching. Journal of Management Development.
Radovic Markovic, M., &Salamzadeh, A. (2018). The importance of communication in business management. In Radovic Markovic, M., &Salamzadeh, A.(2018). The Importance of Communication in Business Management, The 7th International Scientific Conference on Employment, Education and Entrepreneurship.
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Sobratee, N., &Bodhanya, S. (2018). Leading in a global context: The balancing act between leadership and management. Journal of Business and Retail Management Research, 12(4).
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Zeike, S., Bradbury, K., Lindert, L., & Pfaff, H. (2019). Digital leadership skills and associations with psychological well-being. International journal of environmental research and public health, 16(14), 2628.
Zong, Z., Schunn, C. D., & Wang, Y. (2021). What aspects of online peer feedback robustly predict growth in students’ task performance?. Computers in Human Behavior, 106924.
Self Awareness, 2020. [Online]. [Assessed through]:<https://hundred.org/en/innovations/self-awareness#1c2972b6>
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