Individual Critical Essay Assignment Answer

Introduction - A Critical Analysis of Managerial Skills and the Impact of Self-Awareness

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In today's day and age, managers have a very crucial role in the business. They are required to carry out many operations that keep the firm going and growing. From initial planning to controlling, they carry out several jobs. In short, a manager can be called a pivotal figure that helps in accomplishing the goals of an organization. In this essay, the skills that are necessary for carrying out managerial operations are critically analysed. The impact of self-awareness on manager's behaviour is analysed here. In addition to this, the key dimensions of intra- and interpersonal competency have been explained. Furthermore, structural and interpersonal aspects of conflict management and organisational change. At last, a discussion on how self-awareness can improve the efficiency of a manager has been done.

Manager's role and responsibilities

Before jumping on the skills required in the manager, it is important to understand the roles and responsibilities of a manager. Starting from the very basics, the role and responsibilities of a manager are to ensure that daily tasks and operations are carrying out effectively without any ado. The manager is required for preparing the plans and schedules. In addition to this, staffing and setting goals are also considered as the key duties of a manager. He/she is required to formulate short and long-term goals in order to accomplish the duties and organisational success (Stevenson, et.al, 2013). It has been seen that the manager is required to keep the team leads updated of the various tasks that are required to be done in the near future. They also keep a track of the performance of the subordinates and administer different departments in the organisation. In addition to this, they are required to carry out delegated tasks as per the requirement of each department. Out of these tasks, there is an important responsibility of a manager which is the motivating tasks. Employees might feel low while carrying out their task which affects the productivity of the organisation. Therefore, the manager is required to motivate employees. This might be either through rewards and benefits or by promotion. Training and development programmes are also some ways to motivate employees and can also be considered as an obligation for a manager. At last, comes the evaluation duty, wherein the manager is required to review the task progress, evaluate the data, and make decisions.

Necessary Skills Required in a Manager

Clegg, et.al, (2011) mentioned that to become an effective manager, one needs to develop certain skills and qualities. This would help in achieving great success in a career and would also help the organisation. These skills comprise coaching which is required to coach employees and helping them in carrying out their operations effectively. Organising is quintessential as resources are limited and a good manager knows how to manage operations with limited resources. Managers are required to know how to develop a budget and carry out the operation within limited funds. This would keep the company sustainable. In addition to this, he/she should know how to deal with pressure and urgencies in the organisation. This would help them to manage the operation during the peak working season when deadlines are short and works are piling up (Stevenson, et.al, 2013). In addition to this, adaptation is another quality that is required in a manager for adapting the changing scenarios. In addition to this, the manager should adapt to the changing technology, organisational structure, and forms of communication. The most crucial is the project management skills that would ensure project success. Managers are required to oversee the project tasks and intervene whenever required. One of the vital skills that every manager must have is collaboration. The members should collaborate while making decisions and planning as this brings more innovative ideas on the table. The manager should make employees with complementary skills to work together. This would increase the productivity and innovation of the team (Sunindijo, 2015).

Impact of Self-awareness on Managerial Behaviour

Self-awareness is one of the most significant capabilities for managers to develop as this would help them to improve their weaknesses and shortcomings. It helps them to become an effective leader. Self-awareness is very important for the managers becauseit assists the manager to interact and understand effectively with workers. In addition to this, it provides managers the power to communicate, maintain, and build an efficient team. In addition to this, it facilitates better professional relations withclients and customers, thereby adding more values to the company's profitability. Moreover, self-awareness assists in identifying gaps in the management skills of managers and help them in improving it. Stress management and inspiration of employees and oneself can also be taken care of just by having self-awareness skills (Creasy& Anantatmula, 2013). An organisation whose the manager is self-aware of his limitations can have better innovation and development opportunities as manager supports efforts and programme conducted for improving these qualities. In addition to this, such managers have better decision-making ability and have better credibility among employees. Workers in such organisation feel more empowered and confident and carry out their work more effectively. Managers have a better bonding with employees and client and maintain an efficient team. Being self-aware helps the manager to be more realistic about his judgements and improves trust among others for himself. With the right knowledge of strengths and weaknesses, one can be able to work out the improvement strategy and help the organisation to achieve its goals.

Dimensions of inter and intrapersonal competency

There are five dimensions that might be contributing to intra and interpersonal competencySelf-efficacy, self-determination, trust, personal control, and meaning (a sense of value in activity).Each dimension has its pros and cons. All these are required to be used by managers to realise their importance within teams or organisations. Majority of organisation emphasises on self-efficacy as it is linked to self-esteem. It is important for carrying out tasks effectively. It is important for professionals who prioritise productivity and workplace performance. According to Clegg, et.al, (2011), self-determination can be considered as a right of people for determining political status and carry out economic, social, and cultural development. When employees that their actions can impact the organisation and their career, this motivates them to take constructive efforts to contribute to the organisation. Some researchers have linked personal control with job satisfaction and better performance. It is all about controlling personal inspection and supervision that people behave with the objectives and goals of the company.

Structural and Interpersonal Aspects of Managing team, conflict, and Change

Conflicts can be considered as phenomena that might take place during structural change. Sunindijo (2015) argues that the problem structure of organisational conflicts in the current era can be determined by making use of the principle of efficiency dominating the economic system of the organisation. Conflicts arise due to the combination of different factors of the structural setting along with behavioural and attitude patterns of an individual working in an organisation. Talking about the interpersonal conflict, these may be caused by communication difference, structural differences, personal, and environmental stress. Usually, organisations are differentiated horizontally and vertically. This structural difference might result in harmonisation and integration issues. This would result in conflict. It is required that managers should resolve each and every conflict as soon as possible. Otherwise, this would cause a great hindrance in carrying out organisational tasks. Managers make use of techniques, frameworks, or tools for managing conflicts. Stevenson, et.al, (2013) highlighted that there are conflict-resolution techniques, such as accommodating, avoiding, competing, collaborating, and compromising. Each method has its pros and cons. All these are required to be used by managers to resolve the conflict within team-members, teams, or organisations.

Conflicts might also arise due to diversity in the teams or within an organisation. Organisations are often comprising people from different ethnicities, age group or gender. With organisation focusing on expanding in the international market, it is required to embrace and manage diverse teams. Heterogeneous teams are more creative, effective, and innovative. The managers are required to take the necessary steps and initiatives to encourage diversity in the team. Overall policies and practices should be made inclusive and discard discriminating terms or favouring particular strata. Conflict management training should be given to the teams for resolving issues among themselves (Creasy& Anantatmula, 2013).

In addition to this, organisational changes might also require a manager's concern. Managing organisational change might take efforts to move the firm from its existing state to a future stage at a very meagre cost. The manager is required to implement change in a very orderly manner. This is characterised by drawing up the plans, allocating resources, and appointing a key person to take carry out transformational process. In addition to this, the manager should motivate the employees for achieving their personal as well as organisational goals.

Relationship between the Manager's Self-awareness and Proficiency

Marcelino-Sádaba, et al (2014) argued that organisations get more benefitted from managers who take the responsibilities for what they have no knowledge than those who pretend that they know it all. Researchers seldom discuss self-awareness as a key managerial competency even though it is one of the most valuable. It is conscious of a person of his/her strengths and weaknesses. In other words, it is about admitting about one's mistakes and acknowledging the lack of knowledge in oneself (Clegg, et.al, 2011)Self-awareness is counterintuitive in a highly competitive culture. In fact, the majority of people pretend that they know everything about themselves and their abilities but this might not be true in reality. Manager's identity is mindful of his constraints can have better advancement and improvement open doors as administrator underpins endeavours and program led for improving these characteristics. Furthermore, such supervisors have superior basic leadership capacities and have better validity among workers.

Clegg, et.al, (2011) believe that self-awareness is directly linked to the employees and managers' productivity and proficiency. Talking at the interpersonal level, if a person is aware of his strengths and weaknesses, he can increase the credibility and trust of other people. These would increase the effectiveness of the managers. On the organisational level, the perks are even more (Haider, 2012). When a manager is aware of the skills that he should learn that will not only benefit him but the organisation also, this makes him motivated. He would model an environment where it is okay to admit that one does not know the answer to all the question. Such a managertakes mistakes positively as it would help the employees to learn from it and take measure to retaliate or reduce its impact. The overall environment of the organisation is very learning and would motivate the employees to make innovative decisions. Furthermore, mindful managers are focused on developing emotional self-awareness

Before ending this essay on a high note, let's recapitulate the overall learning. In the essay, the roles and responsibilities of a manager were discussed and signified. In addition, this, the primary skills that are required in the manager are enlisted. Once this is done, the self-awareness and its impacts on the manager were elaborated. Majority of the impacts have an indirect impact on organisation. Furthermore, five dimensions of inter and intrapersonal competencies were outlined and discussed. These are self-efficacy, self-determination, trust, personal control, and meaning. It was highlighted in the essay that from initial planning to controlling, managers carry out several jobs. In short, a manager can be called a pivotal figure that helps in accomplishing the goals of an organization.This has been illustrated here. At last, structural and interpersonal aspects of conflict management and organisational change were elucidated here. Once this was ended, a discussion on how self-awareness can improve the efficiency of a manager was done.

References

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