Self Assessment Paper for a Management Course Assignment | Get Paper Help

Write and submit a 3 – 5 page paper, which should be in APA format (Times New Roman, size 12, double-spaced and all necessary citations with reference page) of what you learned about yourself from the result of the tests and the course. No need to submit the original tests and results. Please note, any self-reflection papers that do not meet the assignment instructions will receive an automatic 10% deduction. Your outline should focus on the following questions:  What are my strengths? How will these strengths help me manage and work with others more successfully? What are my weaknesses? How will these weaknesses, if not improved upon, get in my way of success? What was I most surprised about in taking these assessments and why? What did I learn about myself that I did not know before taking the assessments? How can I use this information going forward?

What are my strengths?  How will these strengths help me manage and work with others more successfully?

What are my weaknesses?  How will these weaknesses, if not improved upon, get in my way of success?

What was I most surprised about in taking these assessments and why?  What did I learn about myself that I did not know before taking the assessments?

How can I use this information going forward?

 

Assessing Your Motivation to Lead

Feedback score:        32 pts.

Range-based feedback:         23 – 37 pts.

Feedback: You may have moderate motivation to lead.

Interpreting the results

Research shows that there are three elements to the motivation to lead. The first element is the extent to which you see yourself as a leader and the extent to which you find yourself accepting or pursuing leadership positions. One of the truisms in life is that past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior. If you find that others see you as a leader (for instance, you have been asked to lead a student organization or you have been voted as a team captain), then there is a strong possibility that you will desire to be in leadership positions in the future. Items 1 through 4 are related to this element.

The second element is the extent to which you are willing to act in a leadership role even when there is no clear reward for doing so. For example, if you have found yourself willing to spend extra time to help organize group activities or to be prepared to run a meeting even if there is no compensation (money, class credit) for doing these things, then this suggests that you have a strong internal motivation to lead. Items 5 through 7 are related to this element.

The third element is the extent to which you respond positively when you are asked to lead and the extent to which you think that you have a duty to provide leadership when the opportunity presents itself. Research shows that people who have these thoughts and beliefs are more likely to be successful leaders. Items 8 through 10 are related to this element.

Action Steps

If you have a history of leadership, and you have found those experiences to be fun and rewarding, then you likely have higher scores on this self-assessment. You can be confident that you are building a good foundation for future leadership responsibilities.

If your score on this assessment is lower than you hoped or expected, it may be that you have not had the opportunity to test whether you would be a good leader or not. If you have the desire to assume managerial and leadership responsibilities in the future, you should seek out opportunities for leadership right now. Your university or college probably has a number of possibilities for this. There are student organizations, varsity and intramural athletic teams, student life positions, and many more. Outside of higher education, you might have a job in which you can pursue leadership positions, even in small ways. Or you might belong to a social organization in which you can seek out leadership positions. In short, the best way to see if you have the motivation to lead is to actually lead and see how it goes.

As this course proceeds, you will learn many things that are associated with quality management and leadership. Research shows that people can learn to be good leaders if they have the motivation and opportunity. Take the things that you read about in the text, and that you learn about and discuss in class, and put them into practice wherever and whenever you can.

Survey Caveat

Remember that your score on this self-assessment, while it is helpful for self-understanding, should not be over-interpreted. First, every person is complex, and it is impossible to fully capture the unique person that you are in a short self-assessment. Second, many people find that their preferences for leadership change over time, or that they come to understand what their actual leadership capabilities are only later in life. Third, leadership takes on a wide variety of forms. For example, being a leader in a social service agency has different elements than being a leader in a law enforcement department. In short, if you scored lower on this assessment than you hoped, and you are disappointed by that result, that disappointment in and of itself might be evidence that you are motivated to lead. How you perform in leadership situations, and how much you like leading, will be a better indicator of leadership than this, or any other, survey.

 

Assessing Your Ethical Ideology (Self-Assessment 3.1: Assessing My Perspective on Ethics)

Idealism

Score : 13 pts.

6 – 13 pts.Feedback: You have low idealism.

Relativism

Score : 19 pts.

14 – 22 pts.Feedback: You have moderate relativism.

 

Interpreting the Result

 

There are many systems that attempt to capture ethical values. This self-assessment measures one possible approach to ethics. You are classified along two dimensions, and then these are used to create four categories of people.

 

First, let’s define the two dimensions.

 

Idealism – This is the extent to which you think there is always a clear “right” or “good” action.

 

Relativism – This is the extent to which you think there are, or are not, absolute moral rules when making ethical judgments.

 

This then leads to the following four categories.

 

Situationists – Persons who are high on both idealism and relativism scales. The typical attitude is to “reject moral rules” and advocate that each situation should be analyzed individualistically.

Subjectivitists – Persons who are low on idealism, but high on relativism. The typical attitude is to approach moral situations “based on personal values rather than universal moral principles.”

Absolutists – Persons who are high on idealism but low on relativism. The typical attitude is to approach moral questions with the assumption that “the best possible outcome can be achieved by following universal moral rules.”

Exceptionalists – Persons who are low on both idealism and relativism. The typical attitude is to think there are moral absolutes but to be “pragmatically open to exceptions.”

 

If your score is in the moderate range on one or both scales, you do not fit neatly into these categories. This is not a problem. It just means that your views are a bit more nuanced than those of other people. You can still place yourself in one of the four categories by moving your moderate score to the low or high range based on which is closest.

 

Action Steps

 

You will be faced with many ethical problems over the course of your lifetime. Some of these will be relatively easy to address. Others will be very difficult. Sometimes, you will see clearly what you should do, but you find it very difficult to follow through on what you know you should do. Other times, you will have two (or more) ethically ambiguous choices in front of you and you will not know how to choose.

 

Because you are a college or university student, you have the benefit of having an extended period of time to develop your ethical sensibility. You can do this in several ways. First, you should be in touch with your religious or philosophical perspective. One of the purposes of religion and philosophy is to allow for the development of a deeply thoughtful system of ethics. If you are required to take courses such as humanities, history, religion, and literature, you should not view these courses merely as something to be “gotten out of the way,” but rather you should use them to develop your ethical compass. Ethical problems are as old as humanity. Courses in these disciplines will expose you to some of the great questions in life, and allow you to think deeply about what the answers can and should be.

 

Second, you can do current reading. The business press is filled with stories of people who are dealing with ethical situations. Sometimes, there are dramatic illustrations of ethical failures, such as the fallacious accounting practices that led to the collapse of Enron or the decision by some Volkswagen employees to write software that would allow their cars to avoid detection of illegal levels of pollutants. However, there are also many less well known or dramatic stories. Read these and think about what you would have done if you were placed in a similar circumstance.

 

Third, talk with your fellow students, your faculty, and others about ethical situations they have faced and how they were handled. Some of the best learning comes from hearing stories from people who describe their ethical failures and the consequences that resulted from their decisions.

 

Finally, you should use your time as a student to practice your ethical standards. If, for example, you think people should not cheat on their taxes and they should not lie on their resumés, then you should practice not cheating and lying as a student. The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. If you cut corners now, you will likely cut corners in the future. Now is the time to develop good habits.

 

Survey Caveat

 

Remember your score on this self-assessment, while useful for self-understanding, should not be over-interpreted. First, every person is complex and it is impossible to fully capture your uniqueness in a short self-assessment. Second, you may well find your approach to ethics may change over time, or you may come to understand what your ethical perspective actually is only later in life. Third, there are many ways to capture ethical sensibilities. If this one is not helpful, you should investigate other resources that will help you navigate the ethical problems you will inevitably face.

 

Assessing Your Global Manager Potential (Assessing Your Career Vision & Plan)

37 – 59 pts.Feedback: You have a moderate future career identity.

 

Interpreting the Result

 

Future Work Self-Salience – In the first five items, you are asked about how easy it is for you to imagine your future life, particularly as it relates to work.

Current Behaviors and Future Orientation – Items 6 to 11 measure the extent to which your current thought and behavior is oriented around your desire to achieve certain future outcomes.

Career Aspirations – Items 12 to 16 measure the extent to which you are motivated to become a manager and leader in an organization, and to consistently move up from lower level management to upper level management.

 

In addition to calculating these three subscores, an overall total is also given. This total score combines the responses from the three dimensions to give an overall score of your future career identity. If your score is in the low or moderate range, this may indicate you have a tendency to neglect future possibilities as you think and behave in the present. If your score is in the high range, this may indicate you have a tendency to want to aim at specific future goals and outcomes.

 

Action Steps

 

Planning is a critically important function of management. In order to plan, you need the ability to imagine the future and the motivation to plan. Research indicates people vary in terms of this orientation. This self-assessment helps you to discern the extent to which you may have this orientation by asking about your plans for yourself.

 

If you scored in the low or moderate range, you might want to give some thought to developing plans for yourself. This begins by creating personal mission and vision statements. These are defined, discussed and illustrated in section 2 of Chapter 5. Most of the discussion relates to developing these statements for organizations, but the basic ideas hold for doing these for yourself. A personal vision statement identifies what you want to become over your life span. This will force you to think about priorities across various aspects of your life such as work, home, leisure, and friendships. It also helps clarify various milestone events you want to occur. For example, at what age would you like to purchase a home, have children, be debt free, and retire. Once these statements are in place, you can use them as the starting point to do some strategic planning (should you go to graduate school?, should we try to have children?, how should we decide where we should live?, and so on). Making plans to accomplish these milestones will help turn them into reality.

 

Survey Caveat

 

Remember your score on this self-assessment, while useful for self-understanding, should not be over-interpreted. First, every person is complex and it is impossible to fully capture your uniqueness in a short self-assessment. Second, you may well find your future work orientation may change over time, or you may come to understand what your perspective actually is only later in life.

 

A third caveat relates to the Upward Career Aspirations dimension. Sometimes, people assume a successful life can only be judged by career and salary progression. This scale might contribute to that assumption. However, there are many criteria by which life success can be measured, most of which have nothing to do with career or salary progression. Persons who want to help others often work in low paying contexts and have very satisfying lives. Many people find themselves in jobs they enjoy and which they are well-suited for, and have no interest in advancing further in the organization. Do not let this scale contribute to the fallacious view that success can only be equated with career and salary progression.

 

 

 

 

Assessing Strategic Thinking (Self-Assessment 6.1: Assessing Strategic Thinking)

 

Feedback score: 40 pts.

 

Range-based feedback:

38 – 50 pts.Feedback: Your organization is high in strategic thinking.

 

Interpreting the Result

 

In order for strategic thinking to be successful, it needs to be embedded within an organization’s culture. There are several things an organization can do to embed an activity such as strategic thinking in its culture.

 

Make the activity measureable (for example, what percentage of executive time is spent on strategic issues).

Make it the basis for resource allocation decisions.

Make it the basis for personnel decisions such as promotion and termination.

Model the activity and coach less senior managers in how to do it.

Make it the basis for compensation decisions.

Use crises as an opportunity to communicate its importance.

 

This assessment is intended to measure the extent to which these things are present in the organization you rated. If your score is low or moderate, this might indicate the organization has a long way to go to embed strategic thinking in the organization. If your score is high, this might indicate the rated organization is doing a good job in this area.

 

Action Steps

 

Young professionals are limited in actions they can take to influence the way in which their organizations are run. However, it is important to recognize that strategic thinking is done at all organizational levels. You can begin to train yourself to think strategically in almost any organizational setting or level. For example, you can do a SWOT analysis for a student organization, for a non-profit where you volunteer, or for a workgroup in which you have an internship. When you have the opportunity, ask leaders if they would be willing to talk with you about the strategic issues they are facing, and the processes they have in place to do this kind of analysis.

 

In addition, the business press is filled with examples of strategic analysis, including both examples of strategic decisions that have gone very well and those that have not. One of the best things you can do as a business student and young professional is to develop a habit of regularly reading a business newspaper or periodical on a regular basis.

 

Survey Caveat

 

Remember your score on this assessment, while helpful for understanding, should not be over-interpreted. You are not necessarily in the best position to respond to these items. Certainly, your perspective is legitimate and valuable, but you should also recognize that other people, some of whom have more experience and knowledge of the organization, may have different views. Surveys such as this are almost always best when they represent the compilation of the assessment of many people, all of whom have their own views of the organization. You might want to check your perceptions of the organization with other people. The discussions that result may be very helpful to you in understanding how your organization works.

 

 

Self-Assessment 8.2: Assessing Your Preferred Type of Organizational Culture

Clan

Score : 15 pts.

9 – 15 pts.Feedback: Your preference for that particular type of culture is moderate.

 

Each person who completes this self-assessment receives four scores, one for each of the four types of organizational culture – clan (items 1-4), adhocracy (items 5-8), market (items 9-12), and hierarchy (items 13-16). These scores are interpreted relative to each other. That is, the highest number tells you your strongest culture preference and the lowest score tells you your weakest culture preference. You should not try to compare any individual scale score with anyone else gets on that same scale. However, you can compare the rank-order of the styles for yourself compared to the rank-order someone else achieved.

Adhocracy

Score : 16 pts.

16 – 20 pts.Feedback: Your preference for that particular type of culture is high.

 

Each person who completes this self-assessment receives four scores, one for each of the four types of organizational culture – clan (items 1-4), adhocracy (items 5-8), market (items 9-12), and hierarchy (items 13-16). These scores are interpreted relative to each other. That is, the highest number tells you your strongest culture preference and the lowest score tells you your weakest culture preference. You should not try to compare any individual scale score with anyone else gets on that same scale. However, you can compare the rank-order of the styles for yourself compared to the rank-order someone else achieved.

Market

Score : 14 pts.

9 – 15 pts.Feedback: Your preference for that particular type of culture is moderate.

 

Each person who completes this self-assessment receives four scores, one for each of the four types of organizational culture – clan (items 1-4), adhocracy (items 5-8), market (items 9-12), and hierarchy (items 13-16). These scores are interpreted relative to each other. That is, the highest number tells you your strongest culture preference and the lowest score tells you your weakest culture preference. You should not try to compare any individual scale score with anyone else gets on that same scale. However, you can compare the rank-order of the styles for yourself compared to the rank-order someone else achieved.

Hierarchy

Score : 11 pts.

9 – 15 pts.Feedback: Your preference for that particular type of culture is moderate.

 

Each person who completes this self-assessment receives four scores, one for each of the four types of organizational culture – clan (items 1-4), adhocracy (items 5-8), market (items 9-12), and hierarchy (items 13-16). These scores are interpreted relative to each other. That is, the highest number tells you your strongest culture preference and the lowest score tells you your weakest culture preference. You should not try to compare any individual scale score with anyone else gets on that same scale. However, you can compare the rank-order of the styles for yourself compared to the rank-order someone else achieved.

 

Interpreting the Result

 

If your Clan score is the highest of the four scores, this might indicate you prefer an organization with an internal focus that also values flexibility. Organizations with this type of culture often use the “family” metaphor to describe the employee atmosphere. Collaboration and trust are key elements, and the organization has a reputation for “taking care” of its employees.

 

If your Adhocracy score is the highest of the four scores, this might indicate you prefer an organization with an external focus that also values flexibility. Organizations like this value and encourage entrepreneurial spirit among its employees. There is a lack of stability and certainty since the organization is constantly looking for new challenges and market opportunities. Also, and the possibility always exists that a new product or service, or a new way of performing an organizational function, will lead to a change in organizational priorities and staffing.

 

If your Market score is the highest of the four scores, this might indicate you prefer an organization with an external focus that also values stability and control. Customer satisfaction is often the highest value in this type of organization such that customers’ needs and desires are valued higher than the needs and desires of employees. This type of organization is highly competitive and pays constant attention to market data.

 

If your Hierarchy score is the highest, this might indicate you prefer an organization with an internal focus that also values stability and control. This type of organization is characterized by clear policies and procedures, and extensive control mechanisms to ensure quality and reliability of products and services.

 

Action Steps

 

There is no “right” or “wrong” organizational culture. Research indicates organizational culture is often determined by the type of industry the organization operates within, the age of the organization, and the size of the company. In newer organizations, culture is often heavily influenced by the preferences of the founder or founders. One of the most important points about culture is that it is very difficult to alter once it is established.

 

As a consequence, there are two important action steps you can take. The first is to understand your own preferences so when you have the opportunity to choose one type of organization over another, you will have some sense of where you would fit the best. This type of choice, if you are fortunate enough to have a choice, can have a dramatic influence on your satisfaction with your work. Try to avoid working in an organization where your particular cultural preference is inconsistent with the dominant organizational culture. The second is to know different people have different preferences. This will help you to understand how others think and behave. This kind of knowledge is very useful as you enter into the business world.

 

Survey Caveat

 

Remember your score on this self-assessment, while useful for self-understanding, should not be over-interpreted. First, every person is complex and it is impossible to fully capture your uniqueness in a short self-assessment. Second, you may well find your orientation to cultural preference may change over time, or you may come to understand what your preference actually is only later in life. Third, the four types of culture are generalizations. Just as individual people are complex and unique, so are organizations. For example, you may find that while an organization has a certain overall cultural preference, the department or team with which you are working has a different type of micro-culture.

 

Self-Assessment 9.1: Assessing the Quality of HR Practices

Feedback score: 10 pts.

 

Range-based feedback:

10 – 14 pts.Feedback: Your organization has high quality HR practices.

 

Interpreting the Result

 

Hiring (items 1, 2, and 13) – Applicants are evaluated using standardized and professional processes.

Participation (items 3, 4, 9, and 12) – Employees have the opportunity to participate in the management of the organization, and have a mechanism to complain when necessary.

Rewards (items 5, 6, 10, 11, and 14) – Pay, promotion, and other types of rewards are connected to performance. Further, pay is high relative to area competitors.

Communication (items 7 and 8) – Employees are regularly given feedback about their own performance and are told about organization-wide performance.

 

Research indicates organizations that use these practices and policies tend to have better financial performance, and they also have employees who are more committed, are better organizational citizens, and are more likely to stay with their employer.

 

Action Steps

 

One of the difficult things for you to know is whether an organization is well managed before you decide to accept a position. There are a variety of things you can do to help answer this question. These include looking at the organization’s web site, annual reports and other printed materials, and talking with current or former employees. In addition to these things, the initial application and interview process can provide clues about the quality of the management of the organization. If your application and interview are handled professionally, if the person or persons who you talk with are prepared, and if there appears to be a systematic process every applicant is put through, these are signs the organization is well managed. You should not be intimidated by these types of activities. Rather, you should be encouraged that you are being considered for employment at a high quality organization.

 

If your score is in the moderate or low range, you might want to pay extra close attention to your employment relationship. For example, is your pay stub accurate every pay period? Is your supervisor evaluating you on a regular schedule? Are you aware of job openings that occur elsewhere in the organization? With a lower quality HR department, you need to be proactive about these kinds of issues.

 

You should view the human resource department of your organization (now or in the future) as an ally and as a resource. You should not hesitate to ask for the assistance of the human resources department staff if you do not understand something about your compensation, promotion practices, or other aspects of your employment relationship.

 

If these topics are of interest to you, you might consider a career in human resource management. If so, talk to a faculty member about how you can best prepare for such a career. Among the things you might do is to take elective coursework in psychology and communications in order to prepare yourself. Many students obtain jobs in human resource departments with an undergraduate degree. You can also pursue graduate work in human resource management or organizational psychology.

 

Survey Caveat

 

Remember your score on this assessment, while helpful for understanding, should not be over-interpreted. You are not necessarily in the best position to respond to these items. Certainly, your perspective is legitimate and valuable, but you should also recognize other people, some of whom have more experience and knowledge of the organization, may have different views. Surveys such as this are almost always best when they represent the compilation of the assessment of many people, all of whom have their own views of the organization. You might want to check your perceptions of the organization with other people. The resulting discussions may be very helpful to you in understanding how your organization works.

 

Self-Assessment 10.1: Assessing Your Attitudes toward Change at Work

Feedback score: 32 pts.

 

Range-based feedback:

30 – 40 pts.Feedback: You have a positive attitude toward change.

 

Interpreting the Result

 

If you scored in the resistant or neutral categories, you may not be very comfortable with change. You should think about taking some of the actions described below to prepare yourself to address this issue. If you scored in the positive category, you are more likely to accept change and to look forward to an unpredictable future. This makes you attractive to future employers.

 

Action Steps

 

If your score is lower (and thus, indicates more resistance to change) than you hoped, you should takes steps to work on changing your attitude toward change. One thing to do is to look at the two or three lowest scoring items and reflect on what you might do to develop a more positive attitude toward change. A second step is to intentionally put yourself in situations where you need to have a positive attitude toward change. For example, you might ask the student affairs staff at your school if you can be put on a committee focusing on dealing with some change affecting your school. A third step is to seek out intentional conversations with others who have experienced a great deal of change. Ask them about their experiences and try to lean how they coped with change. Ask them to describe a situation in which they did not effectively handle change, and then try to avoid their mistakes. Parents, faculty, student affairs staff, and people that you work with in jobs or internships are all potentially excellent sources of thoughtful advice about change.

 

If your score is in the resistant or neutral categories, and you are comfortable with this result, that is not necessarily bad. You should probably think about seeking employment with organizations that operate in stable environments or offer products or services with a long shelf-life. That is, you might be wise to seek out work settings that are insulated from change. Of course, sometimes industries that seem like they are not susceptible to change are exactly the ones that can be subject to the most dramatic changes. For example, newspaper publishing was a very stable business for over 100 years. However, in the space of 10 years or so, the newspaper business has undergone (and is still undergoing) dramatic changes.

 

If your score indicates that you have a positive attitude toward change, you are in a good position. You should nurture this attitude, and look for ways to sharpen your skills in adapting to changes. One way to prepare for interviews is to think about ways you have successfully handled change in the past, and to be ready to recount these examples when appropriate so the interviewer knows you are prepared to handle change.

 

Survey Caveat

 

Remember that your score on this self-assessment, while useful for self-understanding, should not be over-interpreted. First, every person is complex and it is impossible to fully capture your uniqueness in a short self-assessment. Second, you may well find your orientation toward change may alter over time, or you may come to understand what your perspective actually is only later in life. Third, there are certainly good reasons to be skeptical of change on occasion. A thing is not “good” or “bad” just because it is new. So, do not equate a positive attitude toward change with a lack of critical thinking. Even if you are comfortable with change, you are wise to be thoughtful about the wisdom of real or potential change.

 

Self-Assessment 11.1: Where Do You Stand on the Big Five Dimensions of Personality?

Extroversion

Score : 4 pts.

2 – 4 pts.Feedback: You may be low in extroversion.

Agreeableness

Score : 8 pts.

8 – 10 pts.Feedback: You may be high in agreeableness.

Conscientiousness

Score : 7 pts.

5 – 7 pts.Feedback: You may be medium in conscientiousness.

Emotional Stability

Score : 8 pts.

8 – 10 pts.Feedback: You may be low in emotional stability.

Openness to Experience

Score : 8 pts.

8 – 10 pts.Feedback: You may be high in openness to experience.

 

Interpreting the Results

 

There has been a great deal of research and thought given to how best to categorize persons in personality terms. Much of this research and writing has coalesced around the view that the most helpful categorization scheme involves five dimensions of personality. These have come to be known as “The Big Five.” Much attention has been given to this question—what is the relationship between personality and real-world outcomes such as job performance and career success? This feedback focuses on the answer to that question.

 

Extroversion – Persons who score high on this dimension tend to be outgoing, talkative, sociable, and assertive. Research has shown that people in sales (think of a coach who recruits college athletes or a car sales person) tend to be more successful if they are on the high end of the extroversion scale. Likewise, managers tend to be more successful if they behave in extroverted ways. In contrast, persons who score low on extroversion (introverts) tend to like more solitary activities such as doing office support, research and development work, working with data, and so on. Both extroverts and introverts can be, and are, very successful in different work contexts. You might give thought to looking for a career that aligns well with the kind of person that you are, particularly if you are at the very high or very low end.

Agreeableness – Persons who score high on this dimension tend to be trusting, good-natured, cooperative, and soft-hearted. Surprisingly, while all of us would like to have work colleagues who are agreeable, research shows that agreeableness is less connected to general work success than are extroversion and conscientiousness. Of course, this does not mean that you should not work at being as agreeable as you can be!

Conscientiousness – Persons who score high on this dimension tend to be dependable, responsible, achievement-oriented, and persistent. Research shows that people who score high in conscientiousness tend to be more successful in all types of employment settings than their less conscientious co-workers. It is easy to see why. What employer wants to hire someone who sees themselves as lazy (item 3) or someone who does less than a thorough job (item 8)? If your score on this dimension is not as high as you would like, you can expect a high payoff from working on becoming stronger in this area.

Emotional stability – Persons who score high on emotional stability tend to be relaxed, secure, and unworried. In contrast, persons who score low tend to experience more highs and lows in terms of their emotional life. Research shows that this dimension has less to do with success at work than extroversion and emotional stability.

Openness to experience – Persons who score high on this dimension tend to be intellectual, imaginative, curious, and broadminded. Research shows that there is not a strong relationship between scores on this dimension and success at work. However, certain types of jobs are certainly better fits for people who are strong in this area. For example, people who have to work across cultures are likely to be more successful if they are more open to experience because it is easier for them to imagine that people are different from them without having to draw conclusions about whether these differences are good or bad.

 

Action Steps

 

There are many, many resources that you can use to follow up on these results. Informally, you can talk with your friends and family members to see if your self-assessment is consistent with their assessment of you. There are many on-line resources including longer versions of the Big Five assessment as well as a great deal of information on other types of personality assessment (such as the popular Myers-Briggs Type Indicator). More formally, your campus probably has a career development office. Typically, professionals in those offices are familiar with the connections between personality and the kinds of jobs that you might find to be most suitable. And, if you find that you are struggling to cope with either short-term or long-term emotional issues, we strongly encourage you to seek support from a campus counseling office, a religious professional, or a close confidant who can help you work through the issues that you face.

 

The personality dimension that has the strongest relationship with job performance is conscientiousness. Employers like employees who are dependable, responsible, achievement-oriented, and persistent. This is something that you can work on improving in yourself. For example, if you notice that you have a tendency to procrastinate in completion of certain kinds of tasks, you can decide to work on fighting that tendency by working on those kinds of tasks first so that they are no longer hanging over you. Then, you are in a position to derive greater enjoyment from doing tasks that you more naturally want to do. College is a great setting in which to begin to develop strong and positive lifetime habits. Don’t miss the opportunity! Research shows that setting goals is a great way to improve your performance (this is covered in some detail in chapter 12). You can practice setting goals right now and this will pay large dividends in the future.

 

Survey Caveat

 

Your scores on this self-assessment, while they can be very helpful for self-understanding, should not be over-interpreted.

 

First, every person is complex and it is impossible to fully capture the unique person that you with any single assessment instrument, especially a short one like this. This is especially true with personality assessment.

Second, many people find that their behavioral tendencies change over time, or that they come to understand what their behavioral tendencies are with greater clarity.

Third, organizations need all types of employees and while the relationships described above are accurate and research-based, there are many, many exceptions to the rules. One well known example is President Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln is routinely described as a brooding, perhaps even depressive, person. That is, he would not be described as particularly emotionally stable. Yet, Lincoln is also routinely described as one of the great leaders in all of human history. You should not see your scores on this self-assessment as limiting you from pursuing your interests and dreams.

 

Assessing Your Problem- Solving Potential

 

 

 

Assessing Your Acquired Needs

Achievement

Score : 18 pts.

12 – 18 pts.Feedback: You may have moderate need for achievement.

Affiliation

Score : 15 pts.

12 – 18 pts.Feedback: You may have moderate need for affiliation.

Power

Score : 18 pts.

12 – 18 pts.Feedback: You may have moderate need for power.

 

Interpreting the Result

 

The Acquired Needs Theory holds that people are motivated by the following three needs, which we develop over the course of our lives:

 

Achievement – If your score is low, this indicates you may not feel the need to strive for high performance in your work or schooling. In contrast, if your score is high, you might have that need. Persons who have high need for achievement tend to like jobs where pay and performance are linked and where advancement is possible. In addition to the results of this self-assessment, you can judge your level of need for achievement by the need you feel to earn consistently high grades in your coursework.

Affiliation – If your score is low, this indicates you are not very concerned by what others think about you, and you do not spend a lot of time developing close relationships with other people. If your score is high, you may have a strong desire for warm and deep relationships with other people. Persons high in need for affiliation tend to prefer work requiring social relationships such as sales. Persons high in need for affiliation may struggle with making hard decisions about subordinates that managers are expected to make. In addition to the results of this self-assessment, you can judge your level of need for affiliation by the extent to which you are likely to prefer getting to know other people as opposed to being sure the task assigned to you is completed on time.

Power – If your score is low, you may not have a need to be in a position to influence other people. If your score is high, you may find that you strongly desire to be in managerial and leadership positions in which you can exert influence over how things are done and decisions that are made. Persons high in need for power tend to gravitate towards supervisory and managerial positions. In addition to the results of this self-assessment, you can judge your level of need for power by reflecting on your desire to take control in group situations.

 

In addition to looking at the scores for each of the three needs, you can also profit from looking at the pattern of results. If the three scores are similar to each other, you might be described as a balanced person. If one score is significantly higher than the others, this might indicate you are particularly motivated by that particular need.

 

Action Steps

 

The primary value of reflecting on your needs is to help you have a fuller understanding of yourself and the kind of jobs for which you are best suited. For example, persons high in need for achievement tend to fit in jobs which require creativity and reliance on individual skills. Persons high in affiliation tend to fit in jobs which require collaboration with other people and the building of personal relationships. People high in need for power fit in jobs which are visible and have considerable responsibility. In addition, these needs will also influence the goals that you have in life. Understanding yourself will help you to understand why you have certain goals and motivations, and it will help you to understand why other people have different goals and motivations.

 

In addition to this self-reflection, your school may well have a career office where you can find people skilled in helping you to assess your needs and aspirations, along with other factors such as skill and abilities. This information can be very helpful in suggesting types of work in which you would excel and from which you would draw deep satisfaction. In addition to the career office, faculty members, coaches, parents and other acquaintances are good sources of advice and guidance on these matters.

 

Survey Caveat

 

Remember your score on this self-assessment, while useful for self-understanding, should not be over-interpreted. First, every person is complex and it is impossible to fully capture your uniqueness in a short self-assessment. Second, you may well find your motivations and needs may change over time, or you may come to understand what your perspective actually is only later in life. Third, while the advice given above is research based and helpful, these results only describe tendencies. There are many people who might score low on need for achievement who will, in time, prove themselves to be high achievers. So, this self-assessment is useful to the extent it helps you to understand both yourself and others, but you should not let it limit your dreams and aspirations.

 

 

Assessing Your Attitudes Towards Teamwork

Feedback score: 30 pts.

 

Range-based feedback: 23 – 37 pts.Feedback: You have a neutral attitude toward teamwork.

 

Interpreting the Result

 

Teamwork is important for many reasons. Here is a brief summary of some of the reasons given in the textbook.

 

Productivity increases – Businesses find when teams are functioning well, the effectiveness of the organization improves.

Increased speed – When employees work together effectively, business processes can be accomplished more quickly.

Reduced costs – Expenses can be reduced because effective teamwork reduces redundancies.

Improved quality – The pooled ideas of employees leads to better quality products and services.

Reduced destructive internal competition – When employees are not working toward a shared, common goal, organizational effectiveness is reduced.

Improved workplace cohesiveness – Persons involved in effective teams develop a collaborative spirit.

 

Action Steps

 

If your score is in the negative range, you might be a good example of the common student attitude described above. You might not like teamwork for a wide variety of reasons. The entire educational system is not helpful here because it rewards individual effort and achievement, rather than effective teamwork. Nonetheless, you need to work on fighting this negative attitude. Here are some things you can do.

 

Learn to cooperate. Although it may be initially distasteful, your team experiences will help you to learn the value of collaboration.

The fundamental attitude needed for effective teamwork is that teammates trust each other. Ample research shows trust is reciprocal. That is, the more you trust other people, the more likely it is they will trust you. So, the action you can take is to decide to trust your teammates more.

Effective teams are cohesive. That is, they stick together even when times are difficult. Athletes know this very well. But it is also true in student teams and workplace teams.

Having a common goal is very helpful for fostering positive attitudes. In everyday language, this means ensuring everyone is on the same page. You can help your team by being clear about what the goal is and what needs to be done to accomplish it.

 

If your score is in the neutral range, you can take action to improve your attitude by working on the same things that are listed above. Your score indicates you are closer to a positive attitude than some others might be.

 

If your score is in the high range, this might indicate you possess the type of attitude towards teamwork employers are looking for. When you are interviewing for jobs, you should think of two or three specific examples of when you have been a good teammate and have helped a team to achieve its goals, and then communicate those examples when appropriate.

 

Survey Caveat

 

Remember your score on this self-assessment, while useful for self-understanding, should not be over-interpreted. First, every person is complex and it is impossible to fully capture your uniqueness in a short self-assessment. Second, you may well find your attitudes towards teamwork may change over time, or you may come to understand what your attitude actually is only later in life. Third, attitudes towards teamwork can be changed. Use the advice given above as well as in the textbook to help you.

 

Assessing Your Readiness to Assume the Leadership Role

Feedback score:  61 pts.

 

Range-based feedback:

47 – 73 pts.Feedback: You may have moderate readiness to assume a leadership role.

 

Interpreting the Result

 

This assessment is based on the view that leaders have nine different roles in an organization. Here is a brief description of each of those roles.

 

Figurehead – Leaders are expected to represent the entire organization. Your diploma will be signed by the president or chancellor of your college or university even though you may not have ever met that person. This is because that individual represents the entire institution.

Spokesperson – Leaders are expected to speak for the organization. This is often most visible in times of crisis. For example, in the event of an airline crash, the president of the airline is expected to make appropriate public statements regarding what is and is not known.

Negotiator – Leaders are expected to make deals to acquire resources that are necessary for the organization to operate effectively. For example, middle level managers have to negotiate with upper level managers for budgetary support for their activities.

Coach and Motivator – Leaders are expected to help employees know how to do their job better, and to motivate them to high levels of performance. This is easily seen in athletic coaches, but it is just as important in business contexts. Steve Jobs was well known for his ability to motivate Apple employees to achieve things they did not think were possible.

Team builder – Leaders are expected to select and retain employees that work together effectively as a team. Team work is often most visible in meetings. Good leaders run effective meetings, allowing for different viewpoints to be expressed and attempting to build consensus for a course of action.

Team player – Leaders are expected to be good members of a team. Middle level managers lead their team, but are also on a team (or teams) led by persons at higher organizational levels.

Technical problem solver – Leaders are expected to be able to first identify problems that are hampering performance, and then to solve problems based on their experience and expertise. For example, a manager in an accounting firm is expected to be able to help lower level employees solve problems that arise in their work and to offer advice on how to navigate difficult situations.

Entrepreneur – Even when working in an organization, leaders are expected to be aware of the business environment and to be able to suggest novel solutions that lead to an increase in efficiency and profitability.

Strategic planner – Leaders are expected to plan for the future. This means leaders are often working on plans for next year or beyond, while at the same time managing day to day activities in their area of responsibility.

 

Action Steps

 

If your score is in the high range, this may mean you are developing the abilities, skills, and attitudes associated with effective leadership. This indicates you are in a good position to assume leadership positions as your career progresses. Of course, receiving a high score on this – or any similar – assessment is no guarantee that you will gain access to a leadership position or that you will be an effective leader when the opportunity presents itself. You need to look for opportunities in which you can practice your leadership skills. If you are an athlete, look for opportunities to lead your teammates whether or not you have an official leadership role. If you are living in a campus residence, you might seek the opportunity to be a resident assistant or some similar position. If you are in a campus club, you can seek opportunities to be a leader. In addition, you can also consciously observe how leaders you are associated with carry out their responsibilities. Learn both from their successes and their failures.

 

If your score is in the moderate or low range, this may indicate you have not yet developed the abilities, skills, and attitudes that are associated with effective leadership. If you do not have the desire to be a leader, then there is no problem in scoring in the moderate or low range. And there is certainly no shame as well. Not everyone is suited to leadership roles. Organizations need good followers just as much as they need good leaders. On the other hand, if you do aspire to leadership, do not let a moderate or low score on this assessment discourage you from pursuing your dreams. Instead, examine the items you scored lower on along with the various leadership roles listed and described above for hints about ways in which you can improve your abilities, skills, and attitudes in ways that will enable you to become an effective leader. Seek out leadership positions wherever you can to test and improve the characteristics of effective leaders. (See the previous paragraph for some ideas about how to accomplish this.) In addition, read books on leadership, including biographies of effective leaders, for ideas about how to prepare yourself for leadership positions.

 

Survey Caveat

 

Remember your score on this self-assessment, while useful for self-understanding, should not be over-interpreted. First, every person is complex and it is impossible to fully capture your uniqueness in a short self-assessment. Second, you may well find your readiness for leadership may change over time, or you may come to understand what your abilities, skills, and attitudes actually are only later in life. Third, it is often helpful to seek out the advice of someone who knows you well to see if their perception of you is consistent with your perception of yourself. Use this self-assessment as a starting point for your understanding of yourself, not the finish line.