Management Reflection Report

My name is Samuel Theo Tjahjadi and at present I am a student at the RMIT Melbourne University where I am pursuing a Bachelor of Business (Entrepreneurship) undergraduate course, which I started in July 2018. The primary motivation underlying my enrolling in this course was to enable the acquisition of knowledge that would be vital in the accomplishment of my dream of becoming a successful entrepreneur and manager. As an aspiring entrepreneur and manager, my guiding Statement of purpose is to equip myself with effective communication ability that is cognizant of cultural differences when managing and working with other people. I seek to achieve this by exploring management in detail, how it has changed in context, and how I can become an effective manager and then applying the management reflection report, the TED Talk, my personality type test and the Emotional Intelligence Microcredential as artefacts to help me achieve my purpose.

What is Management

Management refers to the administration of an entity whether a non-profit, a business, or a government institution. Management entails the identification of the entity’s objectives, rules, mission, procedures, and the manipulation of the organization’s human resources to facilitate organizational success (Prabbal, 2009). The artefact chosen for the discussion of this model is the management reflective report, in which I sought to explore the requirements necessary to become an effective manager. Effective communication as one of the key factors that the artefact identified as being integral to successful management. One fundamental element of effective communication is being able to understand the needs and shortcomings of one’s subordinates, which may include elements such as underperformance. Underperformance may emanate from an employee’s dissatisfaction with their work due to an ignorance of the intangible values that can arise from the workplace. With proper communication, however, a manager can reinforce to the employees that they are integral to the system and thus make them feel valued, which would boost motivation and performance.

Besides this, effective communication also entails being able to address and be understood by individuals of different cultures. Due in part to globalization, modern workplaces are melting points of cultural diversity, which means that staff may belong to different races, religions, and ethnicities (Sornalatha, et al., 2018). Consequently, gestures, body language and tones may convey different messages to these individuals depending on their backgrounds. As a manager, it is imperative to develop cross-cultural communication skills since these help in building a strong rapport with team members from different cultural backgrounds (Sornalatha, et al., 2018). By ensuring that I can communicate effectively with all team members and workmates, I can create harmony within a multicultural team thus improving work outcomes and organizational performance. Furthermore, as an aspiring entrepreneur, developing multicultural communication skills would enable me to transact and partner with associates from different parts of the world, which is critical in a modern globalized market.

What management in organizations involves

Organizational management is a complex process that entails a tough balancing act between the management of work teams to achieve the best outcomes while upholding ethical practices. Furthermore, because the modern workplace is so diverse and many organizations operate in a multinational sphere, management may also entail learning how to manage within a global context. For this module, the artefact of choice is ’My Personality Type’ which, in this case, was the ISTP or the Virtuoso. According to the Myers-Briggs typology, this personality type is among the most versatile and it fits in a variety of professions. Individuals with this type of personality are natural problem-solvers who seek to provide practical solutions to any issues they may encounter. ISTP’s favor practical work that is rich in variety and has lots of adrenaline and action. Furthermore, individuals with this personality type crave freedom and want to create their own responsibilities and schedules.

In management, personality type is a critical determinant of an individual’s leadership style. ISTP’s are usually tactical leaders who are effective, observant, and quiet. These leaders also possess a high degree of open-mindedness, which allows them to be open to a variety of perspectives (Storm, 2017). The modern world is highly dynamic and contingent and today, organizations exist in an era that is primarily driven by global competition, information, and new technologies that significantly alter how we work, live, and think. Today, creativity and intellect are the primary driving forces in the marketplace and consequently, any entity that seeks to succeed and obtain a competitive edge must adapt its practices to these emerging trends. The consistent generation of new knowledge is a prerequisite for organizational success (HR Magazine, 2009). Consequently, modern entities seeking to succeed must have a management that allows the employees to innovate and create new knowledge.

As a future manager, knowing that my personality type is ISTP can help to equip me with the tools necessary to stimulate innovation among my subordinates. For example, as an ISTP, I like crafting solutions to problems, which means that in a managerial position I can encourage those under me to explore creative ways of solving workplace problems. Besides this, my personality encourages open-mindedness, which means that as a manager I would be ready to examine alternative solutions to issues. Open-mindedness in the management helps to stimulate knowledge creation by giving employees the confidence to innovate because they know that they will be celebrated and not vilified for suggesting alternative approaches.

Key functions a manager needs to address in order to be effective

In recent times, the roles and functions of managers in organizations have undergone significant alterations. Traditionally, managing entailed the fulfilment of four functions, which are planning, controlling, organizing, and leading (Conkright, 2015). The planning function entails the creation of detailed action plans purposed at the achievement of a stipulated objective. For example, the objective may be to boost innovation and creativity and the manager can map out the steps that may be taken to do this for example the introduction of bonuses to employees who introduce new innovations. The controlling function centers around the monitoring and evaluation of progress being made towards achieving the objective (Conkright, 2015). For example, the manager may measure performance and compare it with prevailing standards then identify and correct any deviations. Managers may also inspect the progress of work to ensure that it remains on track.

The organizing function entails the coordination of resources and activities to achieve the stated goal (Conkright, 2015). If, for example, the goal is boosting workplace innovation, then the manager may decide that it would be best accomplished by having work teams that can collaborate in new idea development. The leading function, which is arguably the most critical, encompasses the direction, management, and motivation of human resources to influence people towards a certain goal (Conkright, 2015). An organization is usually only as good as its leadership and consequently, managers must be very keen on how they execute this function. The leading function demands that the manager possesses emotional intelligence because he is dealing with people who have feelings, which affect motivation and performance.

Hence, for this module, the selected artefacts are the emotional intelligence micro-credential which demonstrates that I understand the different classes of emotional intelligence, and that I am aware of my shortcomings in this area and how to improve them and the TED Talk by Barry Schwartz. As a manager, the Emotional Intelligence micro-credential may be essential when motivating employees. By establishing which category an employee lies, I can understand how to motivate them using the right tool for example criticism or posing a challenge to them (Saddiqui, et al., 2018). Similarly, the TED Talk may help in the identification of alternative motivating mechanisms. As Schwartz (2015) opines, money is not the primary reason why people work and hence, it may not motivate everyone in the way that intangible benefits such as recognition of their efforts would. Possessing emotional intelligence and applying the TED Talk helps one to differentiate between the motivators for each person and apply them appropriately. Understanding emotional intelligence can also help in the planning and organizing functions because it can help the manager to know which two individuals are unlikely to well together as a team based on their temperament. Hence, the manager would plan on how to keep the two apart thus reducing the chance of conflict that can disrupt operations. For the controlling function, awareness of emotional intelligence can help me to understand and manage my own emotions (Saddiqui, et al., 2018). This understanding is key because it would temper my reactions and interactions with the subordinates thus ensuring I do not make rash decisions.

Conclusion

Management is a complex and yet critical endeavor that encompasses tasks such as identifying the goals, mission, procedures, and objectives of the entity then manipulating the entity’s human resources to enable the achievement of those goals. The management reflective report, which is the first artefact, identifies the requirements that are integral to managing effectively with effective communication being the most critical. To operate effectively, managers understand the needs and shortcomings of those they supervise and must also be bale to bond with individuals from diverse cultures. Management work today differs from the past because modern workplaces are highly diverse and the workforce must be highly creative. Relating well to diverse workforces demands the possession of the right temperament and as an ISTP, I am uniquely suited to this role. This temperament encourages open-mindedness and the provision of solutions to problems, which is integral to the promotion of creativity. Finally, effective managers must be capable of executing the planning, controlling, leading, and organizing functions of management, which is made possible by the possession of emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence allows one to learn how different employees function and thus how to motivate them. Knowing how employees express themselves also helps managers to sort individuals who can work together into the same groups thus boosting harmony and reducing conflict.

References

Conkright, T. A., 2015. Using the Four Functions of Management for Sustainable Employee Engagement. Performance Improvement, 54(8), pp. 15-21.

HR Magazine, 2009. Leveraging HR and knowledge management in a challenging economy. SHRM Research Quarterly, HR Magazine, 54(6), p. 1–10.

Prabbal, F., 2009. People Manipulation: A Positive Approach. 2nd ed. New Delhi: Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd.

Saddiqui, S. A., Jawad, M. & Naz, M., 2018. Emotional Intelligence and Managerial Effectiveness. Review of Innovation and Competitiveness, 4(1), pp. 99-130.

Schwartz, B., 2015. The way we think about work is broken, video recording, YouTube, viewed 17 October 2018, .

Sornalatha, P. V., Daisy, B. A. & Pushpam, V. C. J., 2018. A Study on Cross Culture Skills in Management. IOSR Journal of Business and Management (IOSR-JBM), Volume 1, pp. 63-65.

Storm, S., 2017. The Leadership Styles of Every Myers-Briggs® Personality Type. [Online]

Available at: https://www.psychologyjunkie.com/2017/06/28/leadership-skills-every-myers-briggs-personality-type/

[Accessed 16 October 2018].