Communication Apprehension

 At the end of chapter 13, Managing Communication, in the book Understanding Management, there is an interesting self-study activity to help you understand your Personal Assessment of Communication Apprehension. The questions are about your feelings about communicating with other people, indicating how apprehensive you feel in a variety of communication situations.

According to Daft & Marcic "Communication is the process by which information is exchanged and understood by two or more people, usually with the intent to influence or motivate behavior." (2019, p. 559) The importance of good communication is enormous, and therefore we must be attentive to the way we are communicating, and if our communication is being affected by anxiety or fear, we can look for ways to improve.

The questionnaire includes the calculation of four sub-scores and a total score. Subscores relate to communication apprehension in four common situations—public speaking, meetings, group discussions, and interpersonal conversations.

A sum greater than 85 indicates a high level of communication apprehension and below 59 indicates a low level of apprehension. My total score was 69, which indicates an average score. On the subscales, my score was above 18 on Public Speaking and 18 on Meetings, which indicates some degree of apprehension on both.

Once I understand my limitations and what aspects of communication are most difficult for me, I can work on overcoming them. Some of the things I can do to improve: practice more, the more experience I have the easier it will be to speak in public; always ask for feedback from the audience; learn about body language; record my discussions, and even practice in front of the mirror until I feel more comfortable.

This being the last blog, I also think it is important to conclude by summarizing the main points I learned during this period and how I intend to use this knowledge. Crucial was the use of self-assessments and self-analyses and how they are genuinely helpful; the power of good communication, being clear when speaking, but also attentive and a good listener; the value of knowing what moves us and how we can help others and; there is always room for improvement. That said, I will consistently look for feedback; in learning more about myself; seek to understand the needs of the people around me and ways to motivate them and always be willing to guide and help people develop their potential.

Reference: 

Daft, R. L., & Marcic, D. (2019). MindTap for Daft's Understanding Management, 1 term Instant Access. CENGAGE

Motivation

Staying motivated can be an arduous task, and many things can influence it. Are you doing something you really want to do? Are you still interested in what you are doing? How long can you keep interested in the same thing? When something goes wrong on a project, do you lose interest? So many points can make you change your mind and become demotivated. If you enter another phase of your life, for example, it can make you no longer see the importance that a project used to have, and there goes the motivation to continue.

In a company, we need to find our own motivation to proceed with our projects, but part of that motivation is the responsibility of the managers and the organization. How can they encourage employees? Are they creating an inspiring environment? These responses are important to keep the team engaged and creative. Bringing innovative ideas and empowering people will support their commitment to projects.

Each person will respond differently to the same stimulus. Thus, a company must take into account the individual needs of its workers. There can be several obstacles, as it is not simple to please everyone in the same way, but in general, people have a hierarchy of needs, and this can help a corporation with a plan of action.

Some people will be motivated by the simple act of avoiding the negative consequences that would happen if they did not do what was supposed to be done, while others will be motivated by a reward, which could be a pay raise, a promotion, or even a compliment. In my case, for instance, after a self-assessment, I was able to conclude that I can be motivated by rewards or by the work itself, it will only depend on the meaning and purpose I see in the project. That is why it is important to understand what motivates us, and how we can help others to motivate themselves.

Managing ourselves

Managing involves practice, experience, studies and even instinct. Managing others can be a delicate task, but managing ourselves can be even more difficult. Our emotions, actions and prejudices are things we need to understand and be able to deal with.

We all have different personalities and backgrounds, and both can influence how we act in each situation. But most of the time, we can not have the things we want or the way we want, and that is why we need to learn to manage ourselves. However, that does not mean it is an easy thing to do.

There are some attitudes we can do to help us on this journey. For example, self-assessments, as discussed many times in my blogs here, self-assessments are powerful tools. They can guide us in self-analysis, giving us the possibility to understand some behaviours and actions that we have and evaluate our learning processes. Another crucial action is to investigate our bias and see if we are supporting any kind of negative stereotypes and how they are potentially interfering with our interactions. From there, we can educate ourselves about different cultures and groups.

An additional method that is used in many companies is feedback. It can be done by your peers, managers and subordinates, and it will indicate how they feel about you. Your manners, your attitudes and your participation, if they feel that you let your emotions or personal beliefs get in the way of work or not, these assessments will give you a chance to recognize where you can improve. But the most important thing is that we maintain the desire to identify what we can ameliorate and act on it.

Diversity in the Workplace

Inclusion has the power to make people feel like valued members of a group, creating a strong sense of belonging. The first time I evaluated its power and its ability to teach new things was at my first job. I was working at a multinational, and there was great diversity and pluralism, but we still had room for improvement.

In Brazil, there is a law that reinforces the need to hire people with disabilities. The company I worked for was struggling to hire the necessary amount of people they need to comply with the law, this happens because it is difficult to find workforce to attend to the necessary activities in a factory where the security risk is 4 (companies classified as risk level 4 are high risk, that is: their field of activity exposes employees to frequent risks). The best solution for the company and society was to create a partnership with an institution specialized in industries, for training courses in the area for people with disabilities.

After that, my team received two hearing-impaired people to work with us. We had the chance to take a sign language course to better communicate with them, and all of that just fortified the importance of inclusion and how much we can learn new things, understand different points of view, grow and evolve when we have the possibility to be with people of different races, ages, personalities, languages, experiences, and so on.

Now, improving my knowledge of human talent and diversity management, I can better understand the concepts of inclusion, diversity and pluralism, as well as key concepts around it, and know human resources management strategies and some of the legislation around the subject.

Are you ready to be a manager?

In the book, Understanding Management, the introduction to chapter 7, which talks about Designing Organization Structure, has a self-assessment with some interesting questions, the self-assessment asks: "Are You Ready to Be a Manager?".

The first statement of the self-assessment is: "I'm comfortable taking on any authority that is given to me.", I would not be, especially at this point. I believe I am not ready for all kinds of authority, I need to study and gain more experience.

The second statement is: "I'm able to delegate tasks to other people; in other words, I don't hold on with tight control or distrust of others.", today, I am happy to say that I have improved a lot, but I have always had a hard time delegating tasks. It is hard for me to trust people to do what I think should be done. With time and experience, I learned that my way is not always the best; people also need to be given the chance to try for themselves and; delegating is an important trait in a good manager.

The third statement is: "I’m more capable of working in an organization that is decentralized with power and authority coming more from smaller units than from top management.", at this point I would prefer this company model. But I have worked with others, and I have had no problem. I believe that if the company's ideals match yours, not necessarily the type of organization will affect it.

The fourth statement is: "I think teams are a waste of time in organizations.", I do not agree with that. I think some people feel more comfortable working alone, and there are some jobs where you can accomplish good results even when alone, but in general, teams are there to help you, having different points of view and aggregating ideas.

And the last statement is: "I believe all people would prefer to work out of their own home and be part of a virtual team.", in my opinion, after COVID-19 it became clear that we can work from home, and some companies can function perfectly with their employees at home. At the same time, some people felt less stimulated and creative by the lack of contact with other people. So I believe the best option would be to offer both possibilities to employees whenever possible, being flexible at this point can favour both sides.

Reference: 

Daft, R. L., & Marcic, D. (2019). MindTap for Daft's Understanding Management, 1 term Instant Access. CENGAGE

Planning and goal setting

 Plans and goals are part of people's daily lives. We are always making plans and setting goals, not just at work, but in our personal lives. Sometimes we do not organize and design our plans and goals as we should; or even set realistic metrics, but still, we look for ways to pursue our purposes.

I believe that in the business world this is even more important. How can a company survive without a goal? How to achieve this goal without plans? Some of the concepts and benefits of all this I already had studied, but something new that I learned and I found very interesting is the concepts of Management by Objective (MBO) and Management by Means (MBM).

The first one is described by Daft & Marcic as: "a system whereby managers and employees define goals for every department, project, and person and use them to monitor subsequent performance." (2009), and they define the latest one as: "A new systematic approach that has recently emerged, which focuses attention on the methods and processes used to achieve goals."

In my opinion and experience, I personally like the MBM more. In general, it fits better with the way I like to work, believing that the means are as important as the goals. But I acknowledge that the occasion, the company, the project and the team will influence which is the best method to pursue each particular goal. And it is up to the manager to analyze the situation and determine the best approach.

Reference: 

Daft, R. L., & Marcic, D. (2019). MindTap for Daft's Understanding Management, 1 term Instant Access. CENGAGE

What’s my personal decision style?

 The book Understanding Management brings a good amount of opportunities for self-assessment and self-learning after having explained concepts and fundamentals. Making a self-learning regarding Managerial Decision Making, I had the chance to analyze how I usually act in a work or school situation and rate my personal decision style. The personal decisions style refers to the distinction between people in terms of how they assess problems, generate alternatives and make choices.

The quiz brought some questions such as: What do I look for while I am performing my job or class work?; The type of people that I most enjoy working with; How do I act in social situations?; How do other people consider me?; among other things.

According to most of my answers, my directive score is behavioural. Daft & Marcic say: "The behavioral style is often the style adopted by managers who have a deep concern for others as individuals. Managers using this style like to talk to people one on one, understand their feelings about the problem, and consider the effect of a given decision on them. People with a behavioral style usually are concerned with the personal development of others and may make decisions that help others achieve their goals." (2019)

I have never worked as a manager, so I did not have the opportunity to exercise leadership and receive feedback on that, however, during some of the experiences I had working in a group, I received positive reviews for being a person who thought about others and how they feel, cares about people's development and is willing to help.

I hope to be able to improve this style and have the chance to apply it being a manager. But I also know that in everyday life it is important to be able to combine styles because different circumstances will require different reactions and hence the need to be able to adapt.

Reference: 

Daft, R. L., & Marcic, D. (2019). MindTap for Daft's Understanding Management, 1 term Instant Access. CENGAGE

Be prepared to Manage in a Global Environment

 As much as I know that self-assessment is a great tool to help us better understand our skills and knowledge in a specific subject, and can show us where and what we can improve, I am not used to doing it as much as I could be. Making self-assessments about Management in a Global Environment, I came across some unexpected results, questions I had never thought of before and answers that made sense with what I experienced after working with people from different cultures.

One of the self-assessments was, "Are you culturally intelligent?" well, to be honest, I have never wondered about that. Have I always paid attention to and understood the customs of the people around me? Was I always prepared to behave differently depending on the situation? Have I always been able to deal with my expectations around other cultures? I needed to consider the situations I had experienced to answer these questions.

The first self-assessment statement was, "I plan how I am going to relate to people from a different culture before I meet them," and thinking about my experiences, unfortunately, this is mostly false for me. I usually do not take this time before as I should. It is an important way to show how much we care about people and their cultures. Another statement that my answer needs improvement and related to the previous one was, "I understand the rules for nonverbal behaviour in other cultures." Since I do not take adequate time to familiarize myself with plans for how I am going to relate to people from a different culture, how am I going to understand their rules of nonverbal behaviour?

On the other hand, I am happy to say that it is mostly true for me that "I can handle the stresses of living in a different culture with relative ease." and "I am confident that I can befriend locals in a culture that is unfamiliar to me." And even knowing that I can improve my behaviour, I considered that the final interpretation of this self-assessment was positive. The self-assessment would measure aspects of the CQ (Cultural Intelligence or Cultural Quotient). My Cognitive CQ (also known as using one's 'head' to think through how to properly interact with different cultures) has indicated that I need to work in this area. But the indications from my Emotional CQ (also known as using one's 'heart' to appreciate cross-cultural relationships while communicating well within and being respectful of cultural differences) and Physical QC (also known as using one's 'behaviour' in order to properly interact with different cultures) were strong.

All this information is really important to help me develop my knowledge and be prepared, as nowadays we manage in a global environment.

Reference: 

Daft, R. L., & Marcic, D. (2019). MindTap for Daft's Understanding Management, 1 term Instant Access. CENGAGE

Ethics and Social Responsibility

 According to Daft & Marcic "ethics is the code of moral principles and values that governs the behaviors of a person or group with respect to what is right or wrong." (2019, p. 146). However, I believe that determining what is ethical can be tricky, as it can vary from person to person because of our life experiences, culture, and moral beliefs. All of this will influence the way we see what is ethical and what is not.

The first company I worked for is the largest steelmaker in Brazil and Latin America, with more than 21,000 direct employees and 17,000 indirect employees, each with their own beliefs and experiences, if the company did not have a complete code of ethics, how could it possibly sustain the fact that nothing unethical would happen. This is not a guarantee, but it is a start to guide workers.

When studying the subject, it is clear the importance of a company establishing its ethics and social responsibility so that employees know if they are dealing with situations according to what is expected of them and can report when realizing that something is not being done as it should. In addition, when a company has its values clear to the community, its chance of attracting more good professionals and retaining customers increases. People like to relate to the place where they work, this helps them not to get frustrated and not to create false expectations.

Thinking about it, I was reminded of an ethical dilemma I faced at another job, at a Japanese restaurant. There used to be a normal menu and after some time a promotion was created for lunch, and a dish was placed almost identical to what already existed on the normal menu, but costing €5 more. The first time I noticed this was while selling the dishes to a customer. It was not right, the difference between the dishes was a piece of sushi, and customers paid 5€ more for that. I could have said nothing to the customer and sold the most expensive one, but it was not fair, it would have been against my ethics. So I helped him with the situation and talked to the owner of the restaurant about it. The situation was resolved so that it would not happen again. But I had to explain my point of view to her because, in her understanding, it was not an ethical issue. After I have lived in three different countries and had the opportunity to work and study with people from different places, I have been able to see how the diversity of our backgrounds can turn something right for one person into something wrong for other. In the end, each case is a case and sometimes is hard to say what is right and what is wrong. 

Reference: 

Daft, R. L., & Marcic, D. (2019). MindTap for Daft's Understanding Management, 1 term Instant Access. CENGAGE

Leadership

Studying and discussing leadership and its meaning, types, and characteristics, I realized how leadership is more in our lives than we recognize. Most of the time we approach the subject is thinking about the corporate world, but we also see leadership in a political and even informal environment in our private lives.

I had never stopped to think about the real differences between a leader and a manager. And probably because of this, I never had cognized that you do not necessarily need to be one to be the other. Now I understand that the first one is more operational; it is a person that will set priorities and make decisions. The second one is more of a coach; they influence and give encouragement and inspiration. A manager can be a leader, but not necessarily a leader will be a manager. You can influence people's lives without being the person in the position to get things done, and you can be the person in charge, but not necessarily have the qualities to inspire others.

Having said that and thinking about leaders who have been in my personal life and inspired or coached me, it made perfect sense that the first person that came to mind was my father. I had never considered him to be a leader before, probably because he had never worked in a managerial position, and I had not differentiated the meanings of the two things. But now, seeing the difference, my association with him and the idea of leadership is understandable. He has always been the biggest motivator in my life. Having the ability to influence myself in the search for improvements and more knowledge and inspire me to always challenge myself.

Some qualities of leaders that I see in him, and I believe that are part of a good leader are, communicative efficiency, he always expresses himself well, being direct in what he says but at the same time considerate in the way he speaks; honesty and integrity, he is always frank, ethical, and fair; he is a point of strength and stability, no matter what problems or changes we are going through; a good mentor, always willing to guide and help me grow to my full potential.

In addition to these qualities that I see in him, and that I would like to improve in myself, there are others that I also believe are very important for a leader. How to solve problems, have the mindset of seeing a problem as an opportunity for growth; and motivation, a good leader inspires other people to achieve things they did not even think they could.