Personal Development And Ethics - Assignment Example

Running Head: Personal Development and Personal Development and Ethics Personal Development and Ethics Introduction In today’s economic environment, the service oriented industries are becoming increasingly important. Abilities to handle team affairs and work as a productive member of a team are thus crucial. A very important aspect of personal development is thus the individual’s growth as a team player. In all the industries, group activities and community life as a whole, the capacity to be the part of a team is very important. The present report is divided into two parts. The first part is about setting up a business. This part will address certain key questions in regards of business development. The second part will consist of a reflective evaluation that will entail a detailed self assessment and analysis as a team member in the context of personal development. a) Starting your own business a. The main elements of a business are the various activities related to that business and the products offered. The products of my business will include baked cakes, cookies, biscuits and sandwiches. Business activities/services will include customisation, packaging, delivery and shipping of the products. Marketing will be done through news media and social networking. b. Proper Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes (KSA) specific to the business are essential for rapid business development. Knowledge: Managerial and financial knowledge is critical. The management must be headed by a competent team of professionals proficient in knowledge management. Identification of business liabilities and assets is essential for developing a sound financial knowledge of the business itself. Since large amounts of investment are to be made, money should be burrowed from a reputed bank. Key financial information like the annual report, balance sheet, etc. regarding the bank should be analysed by the management to evaluate the institution as a financier. Knowledge of assets and liabilities should be clear. For example, the loans secured will be liabilities while the food processing plant and the office building will be assets. Moreover, technological knowledge is also important. The management must have a sound understanding of the food processing machinery like the biscuit making and dough mixing machines, sugar grinding machines, sandwiching machines, etc. Food products machinery, equipped with computerised control systems, coupled with highly flexible, automated equipment lines, will increase the overall efficiency of the business (U.S. Department of Commerce, 1994). Knowledge of the market is also very important. Through surveys and research, the company must identify its potential customers and also sort out the resourceful suppliers. Skills: Management skills like emotional intelligence, communicativeness, social orientation, personnel handling, etc. are important in running any business. Team management is crucial. The owner has to be himself/herself a capable team player. In modern business, the subordinates must also be treated as colleagues and the relationships should be based on equal terms. Therefore, I will give team management skills due importance in my company. Further, financial skills entail proper accounting practices, where the budget must be fixed and planned and initial investments are kept under control. Market research, case studies and employment of qualified accounting staff will improve the financial management. Moreover, quality control will be a key technical skill in this business. Food processing must involve complete removal of foreign bodies incorporated during the manufacturing phase. Food packaging is also a potential source of foreign bodies (Lelieveld, 2003). Continuous disinfection of the processing plant premises supported by nutritional analysis will further enhance the quality control. Attitudes: Proper attitude is developed with maturity, and this can tune the management properly vis-à-vis the market volatilities. The hierarchy in the company should be based on meritocracy. Transformational leadership methods should be adopted to inspire the employees and set achievable goals before them. Most importantly, the business owner should be mentally prepared to face the market risks and handle adverse conditions confidently. It is not possible that the financial and market circumstances are favourable to the business all the time. The management must develop a proper outlook to work as a coherent team and set realistic goals. c. Self employment has both its advantages and disadvantages. Advantages of self employment are numerous. It has become a good alternative to job oriented career in the context of modern economics. A self employed person has the full opportunity to explore his/her skills and use his/her abilities and personal characteristics fully for the benefit of the business. Successful self employment entails growth, innovation and personal development. Flexible working hours benefit the self employed person further. (Parker, 2004) There are also certain disadvantages. The economic behaviour of the new firms is not always in accordance with the expectations. Market failures profoundly affect the macroeconomic side of entrepreneurship. Raising finance for the self employed person is rather difficult particularly in the absence of reputed sponsors. Bank loans are not available easily … especially for the beginners. Moreover, governments are not always interested enough to promote self employment. (Parker, 2004) b) Individual written reflective evaluation My team and I have been working on various assignments during the course. We were subjected to different kinds of testing situations. However, the main focus remained on the team performance in the context of teamwork and management. I have been a dedicated member of the team and I worked with my team-mates in a friendly and cooperative way. During the process of completion of the assignments, the team managed to work in a coherent manner on most of the occasions. The decision making system in the team was based on mutual discussion, and if necessary, debate. These discussion sessions were very pleasurable for me. I gained the valuable experience of being an attentive listener and often I used to draw the attention of my colleagues to the important issues. Moreover, whenever I was given the responsibility to redistribute specific duties to others, I did well and my colleagues never complained against me. However, some of my enthusiastic colleagues often complain that I lacked flexibility and remained unresponsive to the unproven ideas. On certain occasions, I behaved ordinarily and I could not contribute to the team efforts in an innovative way. These were some bitter experiences of course. But these events helped me to sort out my weaknesses and properly address them in the course of the process of my personal development. To continue with my efforts in developing key managerial skills as a team player, I have to know about my performance. Hence, the evaluation of my individual performance and the team’s performance becomes an imperative. The analysis of the Belbin’s result in this regard is a viable way to obtain a standard self and team evaluation. Self perception is the key instrument in this regard. Although on certain occasions I could not innovate, I think I can usually sense what is realistic and likely to work. When I am involved in a project with other people, my general vigilance prevents careless mistakes. I am always ready to back a good suggestion in the team’s interest. Planning, outside communication and integrity to the decisions taken are my key characteristics in regards of group work. However, if I suddenly come across a difficult task to do in an unfamiliar environment, I would try to redistribute that piece of work and invite my colleagues to help me. But sometimes I can take a positive lead too. In answering to the question that what does my team think about me and my work, I would like to state that my colleagues see me as worrying unnecessarily over detail and the probability that things may not go alright. I may not join in enthusiastically and readily with my colleagues to embark on new ideas and activities. Also, my team mates say that I tend to have a strong influence on the decisions of the team. However, I find my team mates very cooperative and honest. Some of my colleagues are good shapers, while others have the qualities of being a chairman or a company worker. I think that many of my colleagues are very enthusiastic and they are often looking for new ideas. The results obtained through Belbin’s Team Roles Self-Perception Inventory are very important to analyse my work and evaluate my progress. The Self-Perception Inventory Analysis Sheet is designed to give the participants a reliable and trouble free method of self assessment in the context of team role. According to Belbin’s results, I can best fit in the team role of completer finisher. That means, I have a capacity to follow through and also I seek perfection (which is not always appreciated by my colleagues). Completer finisher has a tendency to worry about things and a reluctance to let go (Belbin Associates, 2010). Another best suited role for me is that of a company worker, who is supposed to be conservative, dutiful and predictable. The positive qualities of this sort of team players are organising ability, common sense and attitude to work hard. In the same context, such a team member would lack flexibility and innovation (Belbin Associates, 2010). Also, the self perception inventory analysis helps me to spot out the features of a chairman in me. According to the analysis, I am generally calm, self controlled and self confident. I have a sense of objectives. My tendency to find some way of reducing the size of a given difficult task by establishing what my colleagues might best contribute is useful in this regard. However, the intellectual and creative abilities are limited in regards of such a team member. Looking through the Self-Perception Inventory Analysis Sheet, the Belbin’s results reveal that I have good prospects as a company worker, chairman and completer finisher in the team. I am inspired by these results, because I think these roles are very important for the working of the team. However, I have come to know about some of my important weaknesses too. Both the feedbacks from my colleagues and Belbin’s results state that I lack flexibility, innovation in regards of unproven ideas, and extraordinary intellectual and creative abilities. Also, I am excessively perfectionist. I think I can overcome these issues by increasing interactions with my colleagues, learning from them and developing enthusiasm, curiosity and communicative approach. The team’s performance is also very good in terms of introspection, self-analysis and overall functionary as my personal experience suggests. I think my team has been a very good combination of all kinds of team players who make the team productive and responsible. Also, my self analysis through Belbin’s method and my team mates’ feedback about me were very similar. This proves that how caring my team members have been in analysing me. They criticised me for being overly perfectionist and lack of flexibility. The criticisms are very constructive indeed. Also, my colleagues appreciated and inspired me whenever I did something good for the team. In managing a team, not only the team leader has the sole responsibility of the success of the team but also every team member should be accountable. This accountability is not towards the superiors only. This sense of accountability should be shown towards each other in the team. In other words, team members should be mutually accountable. My team members do not think that I am good to fit in the roles of a shaper and a plant in the team. This means I lack genius, imagination, drive and challenge of inertia too. But in criticising me, my colleagues have enhanced my understanding about my abilities and this is a good thing for both me and my team. In sum, I think I have several good qualities as a team player. I have certain limitations of course, but I hope I can overcome them with the lapse of time. Confidence, self control and conscientious attitude are my key qualities. By developing communication skills and interacting with people around me, I can further better my individual performance. Conclusion Personal development is incomplete without ample stress on team handling and participation. This is true in the case of business development as well since personal control and tyranny are not tolerated in the modern management practices of the 21st century. I find self employment a good career option and hence understanding the working of a team is very important for me since team management is crucial in a business. Belbin’s evaluation and feedback from my colleagues have immensely helped me in this regard. I can now evaluate myself more realistically, work hard to improve my qualities and overcome the potential challenges confidently. Reference List Belbin Associates (2010). BELBIN: The home of Belbin Team Roles. Available: http://www.belbin.com. Last accessed 15 May, 2011. Lelieveld, H.L.M. (2003). Hygiene in Food Processing. Cambridge: Woodhead Publishing. Parker, S.C. (2004). The Economics of Self-Employment and Entrepreneurship. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. U.S. Department of Commerce. (1995). U.S. Industrial Outlook, 1994. Darby: DIANE Publishing. Read More