People Organisation and Leadership

Question: Discuss about the People Organisation and Leadership. Answer: Introduction During the process of transition from being an individual contributor to manager, professionals gain several management skills which enable them perform in an effective manner. These management skills can be grouped into three broad categories namely, Intra-personal skills which involve self-monitoring, self-awareness and stress-management skills, Inter-personal skills which comprises of team building, motivation, communication, feedback and conflict management skills and Inter-organisational skills which include mangers ability to establish network alliances(Daft Marcic, 2013). Development of a Management Skills Learning and Development plan helped me in evaluating my current management skills, describing the skills gap and identifying resources and other requirements that will be needed to achieve my future career aspirations and development. Career Goals and Career Opportunities Currently I am a student and I am perusing a subject I always wanted to study. I am really enjoying my subject as I wanted to gain technical expertise it in. I learn something new every day and this is expanding my current knowledge about the subject. Apart from gaining technical expertise I am focusing on acquiring people management and leadership skills as they will help me increasing my effectiveness as a manager. Three to five years from now I want to see myself working as a project manager in a well recognised software organisation. As a project manager I will get ample opportunities to use my technical and people management skills. I will be responsible for planning, budgeting, implementing and scheduling important short and long-term projects (Luis, 2010). I will have to work in close coordination and collaboration with the top management as well as with low level employees. I will have to ensure available resources are allocated in an effective manner and right talent is avai lable to perform the right task at right time. As I will have to ensure all project related tasks are completed on time and targets are achieved as desired I will have to make sure my employees are motivated and engaged enough to deliver best performance and commitment towards project goals. To perform my roles and responsibilities effectively I will have to improve my existing management skills and acquire new ones. Demand for project managers is very high in Software industry and is recognised as one of the high paying jobs(Tomczyk, 2006). Project managers are considered an important role and are allocated challenging, important and meaningful tasks. Project managers often work with a diverse group of people and thus are expected to possess strong communication and interpersonal skills. Project managers in Software industry are paid an average of $70K-$140K depending upon their skills and competencies and they company for which they work. About Myself Self-awareness is the outcome of reflection and it helped me in knowing myself better (Palmer, et al., 2001). It also helped me in determining my chance of achieving future goals of working as a project manager in a software organisation. I am a very creative and curious person who is always ready to take challenging tasks. I am open to new experiences and ensure I work hard to achieve my goals. I like interacting with new people and observe their behaviour. However, owing to my average communication and interpersonal skills I often find it difficult to express my true feelings and communicate the intended message to them. Often I find myself communicating in an aggressive manner which often offends people. I enjoy working in teams and I greatly value diversity and individual differences. I treat everyone with respect and integrity and I am very honest in whatever I do. I adhere to ethical rules and regulations and motivate others to do same. I ensure to solve each conflicting situat ion calmly without losing my patience. I always look forward to acquire new skills and competences which in future can help me increase my effectiveness as a project manager. I possess diverging learning and look at things and problems from a different perspective(Sutton, 2006). I am sensitive and use my imagination and the information I have gathered to rectify issues. Current skills Inventory (300) Project managers who possess the key management skills are found to be more effective than those who do not possess these skills(Young, 2007). Some of the management skills are inherent and others are learnable. Managers acquire desired management skills through maturity with age, extended practice, motivation and feedback. Indentifying my current management skills will help me identify the skills gap that I need to minimise to achieve my desired career goals(O'Neill, 2011). Undertaking self-assessment skills tests helped me in identifying my current skills strengths and weaknesses My Strengths Problem Solving and Decision Making Skills: Analysis of self-assessment skills tests helped me in indentifying that I possess strong problem solving and decision making skills. I can make both programmed and non-programmed decisions as I am well aware of the five steps in decision making process namely, identifying and defining the problem, evaluating existing solutions and generating alternate ones if needed, evaluating all solutions against specified standards, selecting the most suitable solution and implementing the selected solution (Kallet Kallet, 2014). Innovation and Creative Thinking: Owing to my good technical knowledge and an eagerness to perform challenging tasks I have developed strong innovation and creative thinking skills over a period of time which is one of the key skills required by project managers(Burnard, 2013). Team Building and Delegation Skills: I have strong team building and delegation skills wherein I ensure to emphasize on five key areas of clarity, responsibility, standards, teamwork and recognition(Dwyer Hopwood, 2013). I score a high on integrity, credibility, vision, charisma, toughness and resilience characteristics need to develop high performing teams. My Weaknesses Effective Communication Skills: As a project manager I will have to ensure that my employees are effectively motivated and engaged for which I need develop effective communication skills(Barker, 2013). Currently I rate my communication skills as average. Time Management Skills: Time management skills are important to prioritise tasks and develop a positive behaviour and attitude towards those tasks(Forsyth, 2010). To ensure projects are delivered as per defined deadlines project managers must possess good time management skills(Riggio Tan, 2013). Currently I rate my time management skills as average as I sometimes fail to prioritise tasks leaving important tasks unattended. Change Management Skills: Organisations today operate in a dynamic business environment, thus it is essential for project managers to possess good change handling skills(Cameron Green, 2012). Currently I rate my change management skills as below average as I am not well aware of different theories and concepts of change management Learning Goals and Action Plans An analysis of my current skills inventory helped me identify the skills area which I need to improve. The learning goals and actions plans to improve my communication skills, time management skills and change management skills are discussed below: Skills Weakness 1 Skill area: Communication skills Broad Goal: I need to improve my verbal communication skills and develop assertive communication style as it will help me in developing strong interpersonal skills being a student and increase my effectiveness as a project manager in future. SMART Goal: Focus on improving my verbal communication skills from average to good and develop an assertive communication style that will help me increase my effectiveness over a period of six months by enrolling in part-time communication courses and delivering a presentation based on importance of communication skills to my class and tutor by the end of six months. Strategies and Action Plans: Enrol in part-time communication skills development course wherein I will get professional guidance on ways to improve my verbal communication skills and developing an assertive communication style(Barker, 2013). I will get enough opportunity to interact with people and get involved in public speaking. Get involved in extensive reading of relevant materials available offline and online to gain knowledge about different communication styles and importance of effective communication in personal and professional lives(Barker, 2013). Indulge in walk the talk activities which will give me confidence to talk about my current activities with a diverse group of people(DuBrin, 2012). Watch videos, documentaries and movies to pick up new words and improve my vocabulary(Barker, 2013). Ask regular feedbacks from other students and tutor to identify the gap between desired skill state and existing skill state(Denicolo Reeves, 2013). Ask questions and use I statements frequently to express my true feelings and avoid blaming others for actions. Skill area: Improving my time management skills Broad Goal: I need acquire time management skills to ensure deadlines are met. Time management skills is key to success at workplace especially for project managers who are responsible for ensuring projects allocated to them are delivered within specified time frames. SMART Goal: Focus on improving my time management skills from average level to good by following time management strategies and maintaining diaries and calendars over a period of 5 months. I will note all the actions performed throughout the day and at the end will analyse them to identify tasks that wasted my time to plan further improvements by eliminating those tasks. Strategies and Action Plans: Prioritizing work at the start of the day by noting down the tasks that need immediate attention in one column and putting unimportant tasks in other(Forsyth, 2010). It is often seen that unimportant tasks consumes most of our productive hours also we are more reluctant to do them as they are easy. Delegating tasks that can be performed by others to save time for tasks that need specifically my attention(Forsyth, 2010). It is often seen that we take up more tasks than we can handle resulting in burnout and stress. Scheduling tasks on a notebook will help me note the activities I need to perform throughout the day and then evaluate them at time to identify tasks that consumed much of my time(Forsyth, 2010). Eliminating these tasks or performing them once the prior ones are done will help managing time in an effective manner. Defining deadlines and sticking to them will help me challenge my time management skills and prepare myself for my future career goals. Taking breaks when required to distress myself. Too much workload creates stress and feeling of fatigue leading to reduced productivity(Thompson, 2009). I will listen to music or take a walk during these breaks to gain back energy and start fresh again. It is important to learn to say no to additional tasks if it is clear that important ones are still incomplete. I will learn to say to additional responsibilities and will always look at my schedule before accepting any me tasks. Skill area: Change Management skills Broad Goal: To increase my effectiveness as a student and as a project manager in my future organisation I need to acquire strong change management skills. Change is the driving force behind organisational success and being a project manager it will be important for me to effectively manage change and handle resistance to change. SMART Goal: Focus on improving my change management skills from below average level to good by enrolling to part-time change management courses, making me capable enough to deliver a presentation on significance of effective change management to my tutor over a period of one year. Action Plans Enrolling in a part-time change management course where I can gain in-depth understanding of change management theories and concepts. I will get professional guidance on how to practically apply these theories and concepts at workplace(Beerel, 2009). Involve in extensive reading of relevant books and other materials available. Gaining in-depth understanding of change management models such as Lewins three step change management model and Kotters 8 step change management model (Beerel, 2009). Creating a vision and communicating it to people associated with it. Learning employee engagement techniques as it is the key to effective change management. Improving my networking skills by becoming part of forums and groups that created by change management professionals. Prepare a presentation on real world change management case study and evaluate the which models and concepts of change management were used by the company to successful manage change and minimise resistance to change shown by employees (Beerel, 2009). Analysing a real-world case study will help me gain an understanding of how theoretical concepts are practically applied by change agents to implement desired changes within the organisation. Conclusion Development of the management skills learning and development action plan has helped me in evaluating my current skills inventories, determining the skills gap and formulating a detailed learning goals and action plan implementing which will enable me achieve my future career goals and aspirations. Three to five years from now I want to see myself working as a project manager in a software organisation for which I need to improve my communication, time management and change management skills. 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