Attributes to Growing into an Efficient Manager - Personal Statement Example

Self-Assessment Report Contents A.Background 2 B.Importance of Communication Skills 4 C.Developing the Communication Skills 6 a.Simulation Games: Learning through Simulation 6 b. 7Cs of Communication 7 c. Exercise to improve communication skills 7 d.Cross-cultural Communication Training 8 D.Conclusion 8 Works Cited 9 Appendices 11 Appendix 1: Simulation Game for Assessing Communication Skills 11 Appendix 2: 7Cs of Communication 12 7Cs of Communication 12 Appendix 3: Improving Communication Skills – An Exercise 14 Appendix 4: Cross-cultural Communication Training 14 Self-Assessment Report Executive Summary This is a self-assessment report about my future careers intentions and professional characteristics. I aspire to become the Head of Marketing Leadership Team(MLT) in a multinational software organisation. I commenced an inquiry into the skill development activities I need to undertake, in order to make myself eligible for the position. First, I have identified communication skills as the primary requirement to improve my management performance, keeping in view my educational background, my career intentions, role expectations and my strengths and weaknesses. I studied the essentialities of the skill in detail, considering the context of the role of the Head of MLT. I plan to develop my communication skills through a number of interventions, over a period of time. Nurturing my communication skills shall take place through simulation games, skill improvement exercises, understanding the 7Cs of communication and taking part in cross-cultural communication training. These evaluation and diagnostic tools would facilitate in furthering my skills and contribute towards the success of my career. A. Background Management has been my favourite subject since my childhood. After completing my undergraduate course, I wish to study Masters In Business Administration, under the discipline of Marketing Management. During this undergraduate course, I also happened to learn about the prospects offered by Information Technology and could cognise that it is a flourishing industry. Under this context, I set the role of Manager of a Marketing Leadership Team in a multinational software organisation as my career goal. This job involves understanding the markets, facilitating transformations that improve the efficiency of marketing function in the entire organisation, by increasing its impact on the prospective customers, giving due consideration to the job satisfaction of the marketing team and managing the lower level marketing leaders. The job description depicts that my aim is not easy to embrace and is a step-by-step process, where I need to attain the eligibility and highlight myself as the most qualified and appropriate candidate at every instance. Advancement in this direction should be a planned self-development exercise that instils new skills and boosts the existing ones to the desired intensity. Along with the educational background and experience, I need to recognise my internal capabilities and shoulder the responsibility of developing my management and leadership skills too, in order to attain that position and efficiently manage at higher levels in organisation. Staying in a close family environment made me emotional and sensitive. This may turn against me at work, as sensibilities demanded at work are different. My outspoken nature is my strongest point. It makes me expressive, stay unreserved, break the ice with strangers and allows me to be open. Thus, it is easy for me to strike a bond with any person I start conversation with. Outspokenness might cross the line to become aggressive or talkative and might be misunderstood by others. Thus, I should learn to know the boundaries, limitations, withhold and practice restraint at some instances in case of outspokenness and understand the minds of others, through my communication skills and body language. This calls for clear understanding of the process of communication, perceptions and its barriers. B. Importance of Communication Skills Griffin and Moorhead (24) define “organizational communication as the social process in which two or more parties exchange and share information, in order to achieve a coordinated action.” Communication process starts with the sender encoding the message, choosing a medium to convey it to the receiver who decodes the message. Through the process, feedback ensures the success of communication and noise is involved in every phase of this route (Roger, and Roethlisberger 104-111). Time lag, language, transmission problems, lack of good feedback, selective perception, etc., hamper the communication process. Active listening and keeping the communication channels open are the keys to success of organisational communication (DuBrinn 75). One must choose the most efficient way to convey a message, supplement it with body language and gestures, to promote good communication. The communication skills include oral, non-verbal, written, listening and reading abilities. Listening with total concentration, rather than passive hearing is essential (Guffrey 8). Non-verbal communication should be effectively utilised to send positive messages to the receiver. Communication skills add value to the individual and increase the probability of being selected for a job or promoted to new heights during the career progression (Guffrey 12). They bring about a change in the personality, body language and presentation. Internet, intranets, emails and web notifications have taken the centre stage in communication around the world and it is mandatory that one puts all that he has to convey into an electronic form and this again requires the communication skills (Guffrey 22). The professional touch that has to be added to the various forms of formal communication is also a facet of the person’s communication skills. Further, the message communicated orally or in written form, must hold the exact tone in terms of technical jargon, official terminology and spell the authority with which it is packed (Rizvi 11). Cross-cultural and heterogeneous teams are part of present day workplace (Guffrey 18). The MNC status of an organisation also demands cross-cultural communication skills from its leaders, to facilitate the efficient functioning of virtual and multi-cultural teams (Guffrey 20). Culture is a necessary aspect of communication, as encoding, interpretation and decoding of messages change with culture (Bennett 5-11). This aspect has to be understood and tackled with caution. As a head of a leadership team, I would be expected to start off with good communication skills, because the leader involves in the task of empowering a team, creating a shared vision and driving the transformation. Unless I am prepared to actively communicate with the top management, I will not be clear about the direction of progress (Barrett 386). The team cannot sketch path along this direction, unless they learn what is to be achieved, from the communication provided by the leader (Barrett 388). Finally, the change has to go down to the grass root levels, which is not possible unless the head encourages the leaders of marketing teams to appreciate the plan of change. Thus, communication is the life blood of any organisation and the leader is the person responsible to ease its circulation by removing the blockages and barriers. It is imperative that managers concentrate on adding effective communication skills to my portfolio (Ridder 20-30). C. Developing the Communication Skills Having identified that strengthening my communication skills is an important step towards having an upward career curve, I have identified some evaluation tools that would help me realise where I stand and also aid me in learning and developing these skills. They are explained in the ensuing sections. a. Simulation Games: Learning through Simulation Simulation is a method of learning, which whilst allowing for experimentation, also offers a safe bet, as the real world models are simulated and the mistakes do not turn expensive. It is effective than coaching methods because the person is getting a feel of the concept, rather than studying it superficially, where the subject matter of the topic is learnt. The person is learning whilst undergoing a similar experience, before even getting into actual job. It can also be useful in identifying the need for training and pointing out the areas that require improvement in terms of communication as well as decision making (Huggins). Business games are the training techniques under simulation, where the participants are presented with a sequence of situations or problems and asked to effectively communicate the various facets of it (Kubr and Prokopenko). Games are interactive and thus keep the interests of the learners alive. They specifically create an understanding of organisational communication. They also facilitate the trainees or the members involved to make mistakes and correct them at the same time (Huggins). From the game illustrated in appendix 1 particularly, I shall learn to communicate well, not only in expression, but also get a chance to model the encoding, message preparation and conveying abilities as the game progresses. This also helps in learning about the situations faced by experienced decision makers. We get an exposure to real world possibilities. We, as a team, get a chance to take a note of our difficulties, deficiencies or problematic areas, which need further improvement through necessary interventions. b. 7Cs of Communication Appendix 2 shows the 7Cs of communication that are the means to convey a message effectively and ensure that the communication process is successful (Debashish and Das 86). It has given me a checklist to see that my communication skills, while drafting letters, memos, emails; conducting meetings, creating reports and presentations, do not fail. This also confirms that my attempt to communicate with employees at various levels and top management confer to all the standards of good communication by various means. This skill would add up to the credibility to my leadership efforts. c. Exercise to improve communication skills The exercise is explained in appendix 3. This type of workout can even be practised at home and is more of a self-development practice. As I practise this, I eventually learn to communicate well, by upgrading my skills every time I repeat. My perception and knowledge of communication process would be enriched (Maguire and Pitceathly). Taking this personal cue, I can use the same exercise within my team. This shall improve the team skills of the players, increase their interactions and further aid them in tackling their interpersonal concerns. d. Cross-cultural Communication Training The cross cultural communication training shall be extremely useful in dealing with heterogeneous teams that consist of members from various cultural backgrounds (Bannon and Mattock 93-100). The contents of the course are shown in appendix 4. This learning imparts me with knowledge about the various elements that make up culture, the hurdles that hamper communication and dealing with people from different contexts. Finally, it shall give me exposure to the strategies available to overcome the barriers and communicate effectively with such team members. D. Conclusion From my career goals, role description and internal analysis, I have identified that I need to work on my communication skills. After understanding the process and its importance in detail, I shall take up self-development, third party assessment and training activities that would help me improve in this aspect. All the activities shall not only built my communication skills, but also equip me with the capabilities and attributes that would help me grow into an efficient manager and sketch a golden career path in future. Works Cited Bannon, G, and J Mattock. Cross-Cultural Communication: The Essential Guide to International Business. 2nd edition. London: Kogan Page Limited, 2003. 93-100. Print. Barrett, D. "Strong communication skills a must for today's leaders", Handbook of Business Strategy, 7.1. (2006): 385 - 390. Print. Bennett, J. "The Communication Needs of Business Executives." Journal of Business Communication. 8.3. (1971):5-11. Print. Debashish, S, and B Das. Business Communication. New Delhi: PHI Company Private Limited, 2008. Print. Du Brinn, J. Leadership: Research Findings, Practice, and Skills. 1st edition. Pennsylvania: Houghton Muffin, 2008. 75. Print. Griffin, R, and G Moorhead. Organizational Behavior: Managing People and Organizations. 10th edition. Ohio: South-western Cengage Learning, 2008. 24. Print. Guffrey, M. Essentials of Business Communication. 1st edition. Mason, Ohio: South-western Cengage Learning, 2010. 6-22. Print. Huggins, C. Learning Through Simulation: Powerful, Purposeful and Personal. 1st edition. Melbourne: University of Melbourne, 2011. Print. Kubr, M, and J Prokopenko. Diagnosing Management Training and Development Needs: Concepts and Techniques. 1st edition. New York: International Labour Organisation, 1998. Print. Maguire, P, and C Pitceathly. "Key communication skills and how to acquire them." British Medical Journal, 325.7366. (2002): 697-700. Print. Ridder, J. "Organisational Communication and Supportive Employees." Human Resource Management Journal. 14.3. (2004): 20-30. Print. Rizvi, M. Effective Tech Communication. 1st edition. New Delhi: Tata McGrawHill, 2005. 11-15. Print. Roger, C, and F Roethlisberger. "Barriers and Gateways to Communication." Harvard Business Review. November-December. (1991): 104-111. Print. Appendices Appendix 1: Simulation Game for Assessing Communication Skills (Source: www.skillsconverged.com) The game is named ‘Clear Communication.’ This enables one to assess the progress in communication skills of a manager. This is based on the concept that a person not only needs to have a better understanding of a situation, but should also be clear on how to communicate the same. Firstly, 15-20 categories under the topic communication, which are to be covered under the game, are identified. For example, these categories may be listening abilities, appropriate mode of communication, purposeful filtering of information, selective perception, linguistic barriers, transmission problems, writing business reports, etc. All the participants in the exercise sit in a closed circle and one participant selects a category. Each member is asked to give an example or pen down an experience that relates to the category on a placard. Then, each of them reads out their note and nominates the best one that suits the selected category in terms of exact expression, communication and sets a perfect example of the issue identified. However, they cannot nominate their own note as the best. A scorecard is maintained to write down the score of the person who has illustrated the issue correctly. The person to the left of the first one chooses another category and the same exercise is repeated. The person with the highest score wins the game. (Society for Academic Gaming and Simulation in Education and Training, 1992). Appendix 2: 7Cs of Communication (Source: www.mindtools.com) Appendix 3: Improving Communication Skills – An Exercise One person sees a complex image and tries to explain it to another person who tries to conceive it and create a similar image, based on the instructions and explanations provided by the first person. The success of the former’s communication depends on the degree of similarity between the actual image and that drawn by the latter. Appendix 4: Cross-cultural Communication Training (Source: Website of MDIS Corporate Training) 1. Understanding culture: Discussion on constituents of culture Demonstrated cultural behaviours of a society Unexpressed gestures, assumptions and norms Ethnocentrism and cultural empathy 2. Communication barriers a. Language b. Creating and conveying a message c. Importance of feedback 3. Successful cross-cultural communication a. Active listening through audio aids b. Probing and questioning c. Respect for other cultures d. Assertiveness for managers e. Case studies involving stories related to culture Read More