BSB124: Working in Business - Portfolio Writing Assessment Answers

Working in Business Portfolio Assignment

Task

1. Introduction

Research has shown that technical skills are generally sufficient to allow employees to perform adequately in a position, but true success (as characterised by promotion, leadership and power) tends to stem from a range of social and emotional skills or ‘competencies’ (Goleman, 1995). A

similar message is emerging from industry; according to a number of industry surveys commissioned by the University of Kent, the top 10 skills employers seek in employees involve a range of social and emotional competencies (https://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/sk/top-ten-skills.htm). Consequently, in

this portfolio, I critically examine my own intrapersonal strengths and weaknesses in the context of 1) those competencies likely to help me in my general pursuit for professional success, and 2) those specific competencies likely to benefit me in my chosen career—an HR manager for an international firm. I will specifically reflect on my intrapersonal effectiveness using the NEO IPIP measure of personality and relate these to my actual experience. I also specify how I intend to develop such competencies based on my career goals, articulated in terms of the ‘SMART’ criteria.

2. Intrapersonal Effectiveness

Intrapersonal effectiveness is defined as ‘understanding yourself (and your goals, strengths, weaknesses, style and biases) and improving self-management skills, such as time management and stress management.’ (De Janasz, Wood, Gottschlk, Dowd & Schneider, 2006, p.3). In this portfolio,

intrapersonal effectiveness will be examined through the lens of a modern, well support theory of personality and performance – the Big Five (Hogan, Johnson, Briggs, 1997).

2.1 The Big Five Dimensions of Personality

Personality can be defined as the relatively enduring pattern of thoughts, emotions and behaviors that characterise a person, along with the physiological processes behind those characteristics (McShane, Olekalns, Travaglione, 2013). Personality is generally seen as being comprised of several

traits which can be defined as broad dimensions on which people differ, such as Extraversion. Knowing where we fall on the major personality traits is likely to help us improve our effectiveness in attaining our goals (Hogan et al., 1997).

The Big Five model argues that stable individual differences in human behaviour can be largely attributed to individual differences in five core dimensions of personality including Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism. ( O’Connor & Jackson, 2010).

Research consistently demonstrates that certain personality profiles align more closely with success than others. In particular, conscientiousness has been shown to consistently predict high levels of job performance regardless of occupation (Barrick & Mount, 1991). Furthermore, agreeableness has

been shown to predict teamwork in managerial occupations and importantly, cross cultural research also indicates that extraversion is predictive of leadership (Judge, 2002). Since these 3 personality traits have been shown to align with success in general and also in my specific field (HR), I focus on

these in the remainder of this report.

2.2 Analysis and Reflection of Results

My personality test scores (see Table 1) indicate that I am low in agreeableness, but high in conscientious and extraversion. According to Costa & McCrae (1999) this means that I can be abrupt and occasionally offensive, but well organised and talkative. Recent research has also linked agreeableness to what is known as the ‘Dark Triad’ of personality (O’Connor & Athota, 2013), suggesting that low levels of agreeableness can lead to manipulative, political or even ‘Machiavellian’ behaviour. These results are consistent with my own limited professional experience to date; indeed although I am regarded as highly reliable and socially engaging by my peers at work, I have occasionally offended others through my direct and often ‘confronting’ communication style at work meetings. Additionally, I have heard that several of my colleagues perceive me as ambitious and not always a team player.

Table 1.

NEO-IPIP results

Dimension My Score

Neurotiscm 25/50

Extraversion 45/50

Openness to Experience 29/50

Agreeableness 12/50

Conscientiousness 47/50

My current personality profile reveals several intrapersonal strengths and weaknesses, when considered in terms the context of managerial and ultimately, leadership positions. As previously stated, I am extraverted and conscientious, which are effective traits for leaders (Judge et al., 2002)

and therefore can be considered strengths. However I lack agreeableness, and consistent with what I have experienced in the workplace, research has demonstrated a lack of this trait can impact the quality of interpersonal relationships between individuals, and even lead to Machiavellian and

political behaviour (O’Connor & Athota, 2013) when not addressed. As my career goal is to become an HR manager in an international firm, it is important that I develop the skills to relate to people with different backgrounds. Thus, as a professional goal, I aim to increase my empathy and patience, and also soften my communication style, as these are core facets of agreeableness. I plan to do this the following manner, based on the SMART criteria, and Kolb’s (1984) experiential learning theory.

2.3 Goal Setting

I aim to improve my performance on core elements of the trait ‘agreeableness’, including empathy, compassion and good listening skills (Costa & McCrae, 1999) by using SMART goals and experiential

learning theory (Kolb, 1984). Overall, I would like to set the specific, measurable achievable, relevant and timely goal of increasing my agreeableness, in 12 months’ time, to a score of 30/50 on the NEO

IPIP. I plan on doing this by participating in the REFLECT program, which is a recently published self development tool (see Matterson, 2005), designed to increase empathy, compassion and listening skills in groups. This involves

1. Studying two online modules on ‘empathetic communication’

2. Joining a real work group, in either an occupational or study area with a clear performance goal

3. Incorporating communication strategies from (1) in the first group meeting, including

3..1 Not dismissing points that seem weak.

3..2 Not forcing ideas onto others. Instead, use words like “I suggest” and “I think”.

4. Monitoring behaviour by completing a reflective journal at the end of each meeting, and

seeking feedback from peers following the completion of the group task.

5. Reflecting on the overall process and repeating the process in a second work group if

necessary.

3. Conclusion

In this portfolio, I have reflected my intrapersonal competencies, and have set specific SMART goals to address the main weaknesses identified (low levels of agreeableness). First, I analysed my intrapersonal effectiveness through the lens of the Big Five model of personality. Second, I considered likely implications of these scores for my professional success. Third, I specified one

detailed SMART goal, which focused on increasing my empathy, compassion and listening skills (i.e. agreeableness), and provided a detailed summary of how I intend to meet this goal. Overall, I believe that increasing my increase my agreeableness will make me a better manager/leader in multicultural environments. I also believe that increasing this trait (particularly empathy) will

improve my interpersonal skills in teams.