Self Awareness and Career Development - Essay Example

Self awareness is an important aspect in one's life. It is the process of realizing oneself and leading a life according to that. Self awareness helps in knowing about the behavior and how one reacts in a situation. Holland proposed a theory which helps in self learning and self realization. He says that, learning and realizing is a lifelong process. One has to keep learning to improve in his career. His theory on career development states that a person should do a self directed search (McCracken 1987). to develop in his career and to improve his performance. This theory explains the need of self awareness and how it will be useful in leading a better life. According to this theory, one can develop interpersonal skills. A person should co-operate with his team members and must be a good team player. If a person following Holland's theory will have a strong career and will find it easy to develop his skills. This will help in minimizing the problems with in colleagues. This theory will guide in enhancing one's personality in terms of his behavior, skills and growth in career. Without self awareness, a person cannot progress in career, as they find it difficult to move well with others and unable to carve a niche for himself. Holland's theory of career development comprises of two categories that helps in achieving careers that are stable. Aim of his theory is to enhance people's interests and help them pursue in their career which leads to success. According to Daniel Goleman(1995), emotional intelligence plays a vital role in self awareness and career development. Emotional intelligence sharpens one's attitude of analyzing others. (Goleman 1995). This theory emphasizes more on people's improvement and development of an organization. Understanding and analyzing one's skill, behavior and way of management are all included in emotional intelligence. (Goleman 1995). Emotional intelligence helps a complete organizational process, right from the selecting a candidate, conducting test and interviews and appointing him in a correct job. It takes care of client's service and the client's relationship with the manufacturer. Almost all the organizational activities can be done in a perfect manner by following this theory. Theory on emotional intelligence can be used to know the abilities and capacity of an employee. This paves the way to a successful career. Major disadvantage is, this theory fails to concentrate on the behavior and elements like a person's character. Possessing a good emotional intelligence and not having interpersonal skills will not help in getting a good career. Instead a person must have both these skills to be sure of his career development. As mentioned by Goleman (1995), there are two categories of emotional intelligence. One deals with self understanding in terms of behavior, realization of one's goals. The second category emphasizes on knowing other's feelings and behavior. The important concept of this theory is self motivation, managing and understanding own emotions. Relationship management and managing other's emotions are also a part of emotional intelligence theory. All this in turn leads to self awareness and enhances social skills too. By increasing the emotional intelligence one can be more successful in his career. I personally feel that, Goleman's theory concentrates only on emotional aspects, but in lacks in describing the situational aspects. Though behavior is an important part, knowing only that is not sufficient in developing self awareness. This theory is useful only to understand our own behavior. As mentioned by Albert Bandura (1995), self efficacy is one of the major qualities one should definitely possess. Efficacy is, having a trust in oneself and faith in his abilities to control and manage. One should believe in his talent so that he can excel in his life. (Bandura 1995). In a problematic situation, how a person reacts and behaves also comes under efficacy. One can have a control on his behavior and is responsible for his normal activities. Everyone should be able to design and decide his goals and should work hard to achieve it. To accomplish his goal, he should decide what has to be improved and changed. Self efficacy helps in getting what a person wants and each and every task is important. One should develop self efficacy that helps to manage difficult tasks and problems. People with efficacy have more interest in whatever activity they involve as commitment comes as a part of self efficacy. People who lack efficacy face difficulty in pursuing challenging tasks. Failure seems to be a big barrier for them to overcome. Self confidence is lost once they get through all these problems. Psychological problems may also arise if one lacks self efficacy. Reacting to a situation emotionally and their reaction can have an impact on it. Self efficacy is not just managing and controlling emotions, it shows how one should minimize their emotions and can self efficacy can be easily improved. One should rely on his capabilities and work towards enhancing it. Managing my capabilities alone cannot help in career development. The reason is, to develop my career I need to possess all the qualities that can help in developing me as a person. As this theory deals only with emotions and having a control over them, this is not a reliable one to follow in order to get a total improvement. As done by Jung (1920), a method which includes an indicator called MBIT. This theory states that one everything depends on one's perception. It is based on how he views a problem and how well he resolves. (Jung 1920). Decision has to be taken only after considering the ideas and the people involved. All this depends on a person's skills and interests. According to me, Jung's MBIT is a very useful tool and it clearly defines the important concept of how perception playa a major role in one's character. If I am confronted with a situation where decision has to be made, my perception is the factor that shows whether the decision will lead to success or failure. Here Jung's method will serve the purpose. I feel that Jung's theory is a good concept which explains how to overcome difficult situations. Now as I have evaluated all the theories, I have to have a look at how these concepts will help me to improving my character and enhancing self awareness. By following or implementing these theories, I have been able to progress in my life as self awareness has helped me to face any sort of situation. A person should be able to identify which task should be completed first. He should know to give preference and priority to each task. This indicator contains various perception of a person like, intuition, his feelings. A person's personality can be judged by knowing his way of thinking and perceiving things. Many authors and research people have introduced various theories on cultivating self awareness and self motivation. These theories help a person to enhance his abilities and to succeed in life. As an individual, following these theories will help in improving one's skills and develop his career. Self awareness helps in improving the career as well as personal life. It is considered to be important as it influences a person's career. Using these awareness theories and tools I was easily able to develop my capabilities and abilities and put it to the maximum use. These helped to become a better decision maker and will increase my confidence. Self awareness will lead to increase in self confidence. To improve oneself, people must inculcate the process of self realization which is the base for all the other things. Self realization will automatically polish a person's skills.(Ginzburg 1983). Behavior is an important part and it decides the character of a person. Career development cannot be achieved overnight. To develop his career all his skills need to be enhanced and interpersonal skills must also be improved. Self awareness increases the self confidence and it reduces the need to depend on someone to get things done. They will start realizing their responsibilities and will work hard towards its accomplishment. (Hormuth 1980). Decisions cannot be taken by an individual. It needs the opinion and idea of others too. In this situation, one I have to discuss with the team members and commitment is important. If there are certain are disagreements, should be able to resolve it. In a team, each person has to realize their role and should perform it properly. They should possess the talent to convince others on his decision. Other members will expect the person to answer the questions and to explain as to why the decision has been made. For this, a person needs I need qualities of a leader. One must have the potential to manage and enable the team members to be united. In this decision making process I should be careful and my decision should be unbiased. Career development methods and theory will help me in developing these qualities. As I followed these concepts, handling these problems has become easier. Even though he gets a problem, he can easily resolve and bring about positive changes. The goal seems to be easy to achieve and as relationship with others are maintained well, getting their help will not be a problem. This will enable in completing the assigned work in the stipulated time without any setbacks. Assistance from others can be got whenever needed and this in turn will improve the team's unity. The working style will get a makeover will bring positive changes. The after effects of realizing one's responsibilities and self realization and awareness will definitely change their personal and professional life. One should be bold enough to face the challenges laid to him and must accept the failures. Motivation is an important of self awareness. All this will enable a person to be more successful. (Zabarowski 2003) Conflicts between others can be reduced and relationship will get a facelift. Understanding is the key factor behind everything. A person has to learn how to overcome failures and should have the determination to fight back after a failure. Self efficacy will assist in improving this determination. One should know how to behave in a team and to co-operate with his colleagues. Improving all these will definitely have a positive impact. If a person has improved his self awareness, it's easy to develop his career. Self awareness is not only changing the behavior, it changes the character of a person to be a better individual. I have learnt how to handle others and to behave well in a team. In certain situation, I need to change my attitude so that it will not create any problem within the team. In a situation where all the people from the team have to decide, I should change my behavior in such a way that it understands other's emotions and ideas. Then it will be easy for me to come to a conclusion. Here emotional intelligence will help me in making a better decision. How I react to a particular situation is important than what I am going to do. This helps in placing a person in a good position. One should be multitalented, be able to handle any sort of situation with ease and should take decisions based on the problem. The decisions should not affect the organization or the others by any means. To get an employment, a person must possess all the necessary things like inter personal skills, good team playing skill, ability to cope up with failures. To accomplish all this, an action plan is required. Based on this action plan, I must follow it to achieve the desired results. If that action plan is proper, it enables to reach the goal easily and soon. Before deciding on a plan, the goals should be determined. It may be long term or short term goal. Short term goals are generally to be done immediately and must pursue soon. Where as a long term requires proper planning. Planning strategies play a vital role.(Hormuth 1980). That action plan must comprise of various steps to be taken, using which each goal can be targeted and fulfilled. To achieve a goal, several resources are needed. The resources required must also be included in the action plan. The goal, resources pertaining to that specific goal and the steps to be taken are the important components of an action plan. There are some limitations for certain goals. Some goals may require extra effort and other resources. Limitations may depend on the particular goal. To achieve a goal, one may require help from others. In some cases extra time may be needed. It depends on the nature of the goal. Deadlines must be decided for each of the action. The date of completion of a particular procedure or completing the whole process should be decided at the beginning of the process. One should follow and try to finish the expected work on the stipulated date. A monitoring process is used to keep track of all the happenings regarding that goal. That monitoring system should check whether the steps are taken on the given time and the process is going on well. It has the responsibility to check if the plan is being followed and the day to day improvement in the plan. (Zabarowski, Salski 2003). Prior to all this, my effort and interest is important. They can be trained on development in a team, improving the relationship within the team. They can learn the dynamics to succeed in a group. It emphasizes of sharpening the soft skills, increases the co-operation and concentrates on development among the groups. In an organization, this can be implemented to understand the employees' problems and help them overcome it. It increases the level of communication and relationship with in a team. Self awareness leads to personal as well as professional development. Self awareness and career development is purely based on understanding oneself, identifying their goals and working towards it. Realizing my responsibilities and changing my behavior and approach will help me to achieve great heights. Appendix JoHari Window According to Joe and Harry, a tool will be of more help than a normal theory. They developed a tool which will guide people in developing interpersonal relationships. It also helps in self awareness and getting feedback. This tool is known as "Johari Window". It assists in knowing one's attitude and motivation. It is the simplest tool to understand about the employees in an organization. This can be used in personal and professional development and can also help in giving training for the employees for self motivation. Communication skill of a person can be enhanced and relationships can be improved. It will be of more use in an organization to find out the employee's drawbacks and will help in improving one's performance. Teams are most benefited by this tool. The window is divided into four quadrants. The first part represents a person's qualities known to him and others. The second window shows the things which only that person knows and which he does not want others to know, like personal feelings. Using this area, one can develop and improve his own skills and talents. As others do not know about these personal things, it is easy to change. It is also known as "Hidden area". Third region contains the information which even that person does not know, but others are aware of it. This part is also known as "Blind spot".(Luft,Ingham 1950 ). The last region contains things the person and others are not aware of. This part is known as "Unknown area".(Luft, Ingham 1950). By using this method, each person's expressions, feelings and ideas can be known. JoHari window's main purpose is to collect feedback. Appendix A: Katarzyna Professionalism -Self confidence and Self-Presentation: Very professional and Self confident because it was illustrated in a relaxed manner. Communication Skills: The tone was clear. Teamwork: It was clear that you had jointly conducted a detailed examination as the power point slides linked to one another. Technical knowledge: Showed a lot of theory and definitions by giving examples. However your opinion was not structured and not proper in relation to a final conclusion. You must provide the dates of the theories you have used. Overall Impression: Presentation well structured and rehearsed shows confident. You need to avoid holding power point slide and have more eye contact with the audience. Appendix B: Kasia: Professionalism and Self Confidence: Good opening. Communication Skills: Good eye contact with audience. Teamwork: Good teamwork. Both seem to put effort in the work. Technical Knowledge: Good understanding of theory on the topic discussed. Overall Impression: 8/10. Reference Bandura, A., 1977, Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change, Psychological Review, Vol 84, pp 191-215. Jung C., 1953. Psychological types: or, The psychology of individuation. London: Routledge &K.Paul publications Goleman D., 1995. Emotional Intelligence Theory (EQ-Emotional Quotient). [Online] Updated 1995. http://www.businessballs.com/eq.htm [Accessed 03 Dec. 2009] Joe L, Harry I., (1950). JoHari Window. [Online] Updated 1995. http://www.chimaeraconsulting.com/johari.htm [Accessed 03 Dec. 2009] Ginzburg, A., (1951). Career Development Theory. . [Online] Updated 2009.http://extension.psu.edu/workforce/briefs/overviewcareerdev(insert).pdf [Accessed 03 Dec. 2009] McCracken D., (1997). Holland System of Career Development. . [Online] Updated 1997. http://www.newwork.com/Pages/Opinion/McCracken/Holland.html [Accessed 03 Dec. 2009] Hormuth S., (1980). Self- awareness and Drive Thoery: Comparing Internal Standards and Dominant responses. [Online] Updated 2009.http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/112464482/abstractCRETRY=1&SRETRY=0 [Accessed 03 Dec. 2009] Zabarowski Z, Slaski S., (2003). Contents and Forma Theory of Self Awareness. . [Online] Updated 2009 http://baywood.metapress.com/app/home/contribution.aspreferrer=parent&backto=issue,2,16;journal,22,109;linkingpublicationresults,1:300311,1 [Accessed 03 Dec. 2009] Read More