A520.2.3.RB_PALUGODCAROLYN

I used to work for an IT Firm whose prime business was to recruit IT contractors and subcontract them out to companies that had short-term IT projects.  My job was as the mediator between our contractors and our clients.  Part of my job was to talk to our clients and find out their needs.  Then I would communicate this to our recruitment team who would find the appropriate talent for the client’s project.  Once the match was made, my job consisted of being a mediator between the contractor and the client.  I had to make sure that both the contractor and the client were happy.

I once encountered an issue-focused conflict with a particular client who was not happy with the IT contractor we had placed for their project (Whetten & Cameron, 2011).  My role in the conflict was as the mediator between the client and the contractor.  I needed to listen to both the client’s and contractor’s perspectives of the issue at hand.  I also was required to speak to other staff members who interacted with the consultant we hired.

The conflict involved a claim by the client that the contractor seemed to be inefficient and seemed to take unusually long to complete certain tasks.  They also were told by other team members on the project that errors had been made, but they couldn’t specifically say if they were made by my consultant.  When talking with my consultant, he claimed that he was completing his tasks in a timely matter to the specifications of the client but that the reason things were taking longer than usual to cycle out was due to poor planning on the managerial side.  He also stated that other mundane tasks that were not specified as his job duties were being delegated to him.  In an effort to appease the project manager in charge of the project, he completed these tasks at the expense of his assigned project. 

This problem was resolved once the client realized that the project managers had been using poor management of their IT resources by delegating mundane tasks to the specialized IT contractors instead of delegating the tasks to the IT Help Desk whose prime job was to resolve these issues. Whetten and Cameron define this type of conflict as “informational deficiencies”  which are conflicts based on a misunderstanding or misinformation (Whetten & Cameron, 2011, p. 381). The PM’s defended their position by explaining that they were behind schedule and since IT Help Desk had been saturated with work, they sometimes needed to pull in the resources of other IT staff.  This lack of organization and time management reflected on the work of our contractor.  The client’s initial reaction was to support the PM’s being that they were permanent staff and therefore they assumed that the problem lied with the hired contractor.  Once I was able to explain the perspective of our contractor to our client, they were able to further investigate the problem and corrective action was taken. 

In this situation, negotiation of the facts was needed since much of the issue was based on miscommunication.  Both parties were communicative and understanding and therefore there was a quick resolution of the conflict.

References
Whetten, D. A., & Cameron, K. S. (2011). Developing management skills (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

A520.2.6.RB_PALUGODCAROLYN

After assessing my time management skills I feel that my most effective skill is my consistent habit of keeping to-do-lists.  My habit of keeping to-do-lists began because I recognized that I am an extremely forgetful person.  To avoid forgetting important tasks I began keeping to-do-lists for everything.  Sometimes I will have multiple lists, for example: one for the groceries, one for school assignments, one for personal issues (doctor’s appointments, house repairs, etc.).  I have also adopted a habit of keeping a calendar for everything.  Sometimes I even add tasks to my calendar to remind me of due dates or priorities.  My calendar also has alerts for every appointment, alerting me beforehand that something important is coming.

Another time-management skill that I have begun to use more is prioritization.  It’s not enough prioritize things in my head but I also color-code or number my to-do-lists and try to be loyal to the priorities I have set.  

I think my most debilitating issue is my inability to concentrate.  I am easily distracted and can become fixated with mundane tasks.  In my office I am mostly responsible for answering phones and handling walk-ins.  These daily interruptions affect my administrative abilities.  Many times, especially if I am working on something that requires concentration, I can get very confused after an interruption and find it difficult to find my place again or I will begin a new task without completing the one I was doing beforehand.  Because I have a one-track mind, I find myself making mistakes when I try to do more than one thing at a time, even when they are trivial things.

I believe that my skills have increased my locus of control because by incorporating these time-management skills in my day to day life and seeing the results, I realize that I can control my environment and exert changes in my own behavior through effective time-management strategies.  I realize that everyone has different personality traits, values and perspectives and the key to successfully managing your time is to adopt strategies that help you harness your strengths and turn your weaknesses into assets.  

I think one of the main areas of my professional life that I can improve on by time-management skills is by managing my time effectively.  In my mind I have many ideas of how to make my job more efficient.  For example creating certain guidelines, templates, and shortcuts, that in the long run, would make certain administrative functions less tedious.  Most of these ideas sit on the back burner because I am constantly engaged in urgent matters.  A lot of my job is very time-sensitive and therefore I find I am always prioritizing for urgent matters and never leave time for effectiveness.

Another area I could improve on is time-wastage.  Much of this is due to my short attention span (adult ADHD) and inability to deal with extremely stressful situations.  During crisis situations, I sometimes revert to doing mundane tasks in order to avoid complex and complicated situations, procrastinating the inevitable to the end.  One way I could improve this is by first keeping track of my time.  This will reduce the risk of spending too much time on mundane tasks and keep me centered.  Another helpful technique would be to save my best time for the most essential tasks.  I notice that my tendencies towards distraction happen when I’m tired since I find it more difficult to concentrate.  Doing the more complicated work when I’m fresh would make me more efficient.   In this scenario, I feel the various stress reduction techniques outlined by Whetten and Cameron would be helpful.  I am a firm believer of the effectiveness of deep breathing during crisis and know first-hand the effects it has on the physiology of the body and mental relaxation (Whetten & Cameron, 2011).  Yet during crisis mode, I seem to forget this important resource.  Another strategy that I never thought of using in the workplace is imagery.  Although I have used this technique for personal use during meditation, I find the idea of using imagery at work as a method of stress-reduction to be very appealing.  At those times when anxiety gets the best of me, I can use imagery as a way of escaping and decreasing the stress.  Once in a calm state, I will be better able to tackle any issues that seemed too difficult at the time.

My action plan will first involve a conscious effort to track my time.  The first hour of the morning will be dedicated to answering emails.   I will block off my morning from 1000 to 1300 to focus on the more demanding projects.  I can schedule appointments with students outside of this block of time and address non-urgent phone and email inquiries after these hours. From 1300 to 1400 I will work on non-urgent important tasks.  During this time I can work on creating spreadsheets, templates and checklists that will assist me in reducing the time I spend on certain administrative tasks.  After lunch, from 1430 – 1530 I will attend any remaining urgent tasks since this is when our headquarters opens in the U.S. and when I have full availability of all the universities resources.  From 1530-1630 I will accomplish all of the daily mundane tasks that do not require a lot of concentration and can be completed easily.  From 1630 – 1700 I will reorganize and reprioritize my to-do-list for the next day and make any last minute phone calls.

After reviewing my plan, I realize that my main focus really needs to be on reorganize how I plan my day and being conscious of how I spend my time.  I believe that by simply being aware of my habits and behaviors I make significant changes.

References

Whetten, D. A., & Cameron, K. S. (2011). Developing management skills (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

A520.1.6.RB_PALUGODCAROLYN

After reading the materials for module one in our course in regards to the Five Core Aspects of Self-Awareness (Whetten & Cameron, 2011) I feel like I’m in the dressing room trying on bathing suits with the grand illusion that I look great, when a tactless friend blurts out that the bikini brings out the cellulite in my thighs.  I honestly held myself in higher esteem and felt like I was seeing myself for the first time.  Some things were not surprising and it fact it has been a constant battle of self-rectification but other things did catch me off guard.

The first aspect that was discussed is Emotional Intelligence.  There are areas of my behavior that exhibit high-levels of emotional intelligence while other traits exhibit lower forms of emotional intelligence.  It is no secret that I am a very sensitive person.  One example of my high level of emotional intelligence is the empathy I feel for all living creatures be it an ant or  person. I am also a very compassionate person, feeling deep compassion for all living things, which has been my Achilles heel.  I won’t willingly even kill an ant in my house because the consequences of the ensuing guilt are more than I can handle. Apart from the guilt-ridden reality that I live in, I also suffer from a debilitating case of low confidence and self-esteem issues.    Mayer, Caruso and Saloney define emotional intelligences as “the ability to adequately diagnose and react to emotions” (as cited by Whetten & Cameron, 2011).  My weakness lies in the difficulty I have in processing my own emotions and inability to control them.  My responses are heavily influenced by what I’m feeling at the moment and I have a difficult time rationalizing through what I’m feeling before I react. 

 My values remain unchanged and I generally stand firm in what I believe.  One of the advantages I have is being from a military background.  My family is accustomed to moving often and I have lived all over the world.  This has instilled rich cultural values in me as I have been exposed to many types of cultures.  I can easily accept cultural differences and empathize with the distinct values of people from other cultures. Before beginning this course I was not aware as to how my upbringing and experiences have shaped how I interact with others.  A good example is the Indian-owned IT firm I used to work for.  I was able to experience the clash between eastern and western thinking.  During our meetings our American counterparts tended to be more outspoken and opinionated while our Indian friends were more reserved in expressing opinions and ideas, sometimes waiting until after the meetings to express their concerns.  In time, both groups learned to respect and understand our differences.  Our Indian friends taught us to be more reflective and controlled when speaking out and we in turn taught them to be more open and communicative.   

Through this course I learned that I value collectivism, a strong belief in teamwork and collaboration.  I am of a more affective and achievement orientation with an external locus of control.  I also believe that I am in control of my achievements (Whetten & Cameron, 2011).

Another issue I’ve come to realize about my self-awareness is in relation to my cognitive-style.  I tend to jump to conclusions quickly. I am spontaneous and illogical sometimes in my decision-making, preferring to make quick decisions based on limited information.  Part of it is to escape my natural tendency of indecision, preferring to make quick decisions instead of getting caught in a game of eternal wishy-washy-ness.  I learned that I am weak in the knowing style and need to learn to focus, evaluate and analyze information better before drawing conclusions.  I feel that this is an area that I can improve in since I am already strong in the planning and creating styles.  

I also was never self-aware of my reaction to change until I learned the terminology “tolerance of ambiguity” as it is defined in the book (Whetten & Cameron, 2011) or at least didn’t realized how my reaction affects the way I deal with my experiences.  And although I realize that I am open to new experiences and changing dynamics, I do have a difficult time confronting unsuspecting problems.  In the face of ambiguous issues, I sometimes freeze up, sometimes trying to rely on others to help me solve the problems.  This again circles back to my lack of confidence in making correct decision. 

Lastly, upon studying the core self-evaluation, I feel this is the weakest of my characteristics as the root of its strength lies on strong self-esteem and self-worth and a belief of one’s capabilities.  Although at heart, I do believe in myself, in practice I tend to exercise emotional sabotage on myself.  I feel this could be one of the most prominent areas of self-improvement.

References

Whetten, D. A., & Cameron, K. S. (2011). Developing management skills (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

A520.1.2.RB_PALUGODCAROLYN

Initially after completing the diagnostic surveys for scale self-awareness I was really disappointed in how low I scored in many areas.  In the overall self-awareness assessment I noticed that I scored in the bottom quartile.  But upon reading the chapter on Developing Self-Awareness (Whetten & Cameron, 2011) and reflecting on my characteristics as a person, it's not so surprising.  I’ve always considered myself to be a humble person that was open to critical feedback.  But I also must admit that I am a very defensive person when it comes to being corrected or criticized, sometimes even retaliating by pointing out others’ defects as a defense mechanism and a way of taking the heat off myself.  Although I am aware of this behavior and try to self-correct it, I think that my low self-esteem and lack of confidence gets the best of me. 

My score in regards to the emotional intelligence assessment was not that surprising since I’ve always known myself to be extremely sensitive and prone to feelings of victimization in situations where I cannot deal with my shortcomings.  In fact, I have received therapy over the years to help me overcome this sensation of victimization and guilt that has plagued me since I can remember.  The fact that I am disclosing this personal information through such a visible forum, since it contradicts the idea of self-awareness (ability to self-disclose,) is an irony in itself because, although I know all these flaws about myself, I’m always open to discussing them (once the hurt, shame, and defensiveness has subsided of course).  I am no stranger to admitting my faults and am always eager to improve, yet it seems I always retreat to old behaviors. 

As far as the Cognitive Style Indicator Assessment, the scores pretty much reflected how I perceive myself and how I think others perceive me.  Out of the three dimensions of cognitive style I scored the lowest in the Knowing Style.  I tend to be a more spontaneous individual and tend to jump to conclusions easily.  I’m not very logical and tend to space out quite frequently.  The fact that I work in an administrative environment is quite a feat!  It only means I have to really pay attention to detail, and practice extreme concentration when working on administrative tasks.  I tend to think more abstractedly, am numerically challenged (classic case of Arithmaphobia – yes it is a real condition) and am much more ambiguous in my decision-making, sometimes taking an eternity to make a decision – Chocolate milk? Plain milk? Chocolate milk? Plain milk? A lot of this has to do with my lack of confidence and insecurity which instills the fear that I am constantly making wrong choices.  In contrast, I exceeded in the Planning and Creative styles, scoring much higher than most young managers and MBA students alike.  I find it to be very contradictive that I scored so high on the Planning Style since I have been pegged as a kind of “floating head” and to the public eye seem to be quite unorganized.  Yet, within the chaos that is my creative mind, there is order.  I enjoy planning, organizing, filing, tabbing and basically compartmentalizing everything in my home and office.  I am a believer of to-do-lists, and in fact, tend to make lists for everything.  Lastly, my highest cognitive score was in Creating Style.  I consider myself to be a natural creator and will make art out of anything.  I am a non-conformist, am always thinking out-

of-the-box and enjoy experimental practices in my work.  I am constantly trying to think of new and innovative ways of doing things better and more efficiently.

My results of the locus of control scale were parallel with most of my beliefs in respect to fate and destiny.  I am a true believer that we are masters of our own destiny.  Although I do believe that things can happen that seem out of our control, I feel that the real control and end results come from how we react and behave in the face of these experiences.  For every action there is a reaction.  I believe that perseverance, faith, hard-work, and an overall positive outlook in life will always land you exactly where you need to be.  I also believe that everything happens for a reason and the real success we experience in life comes from acceptance of our present reality.  Ironically, I am a walking contradiction because although I hold these beliefs in my heart, the practice has been more challenging but I am constantly battling my demons to stay on the path of my true values.  As far as the Tolerance of Ambiguity Scale, I scored within the second quartile.  The assessment measures novelty, complexity and insolubility all of which confirmed my inability to cope with sudden change or complicated situations.  Generally, when faced with problems that seem too “big” for me, I tend to shut down or freeze up.  Eventually I can find my way through the problem but not without a good degree of emotional distress.  I’ve never been one to run and hide but there is a good chance of crumpling into a fetal position onto the floor and infantile thumb-sucking as I try to figure my way out of the crisis.

Lastly, I was not in shock to see myself at the second quartile of the Core-Self Evaluation.  If you’ve been reading this blog, you probably have come to the conclusion that I’m a blubbering, self-conscious, emotionally unstable cad who AT LEAST doesn’t blame the universe for her shortcomings and instead is man enough to own up to the fact that this is my own doing (internal locus of control). 

I think the only thing I have going for me is that I have a deep willingness to learn, transform and evolve as a person.  I am honest with myself at the least about what my weaknesses are and determined to do the necessary work to improve my self-awareness.  But I think with the right tools, a little bit of butt-kicking and less complaining, and a box of tissues, I can strive to make it to at least the middle quartile!

References

Whetten, D. A., & Cameron, K. S. (2011). Developing management skills (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.