Mid Term Essay

I affirm that the attached work is entirely my own, except where the words or ideas of other writers are specifically acknowledged according to accepted citation conventions. This assignment has not been submitted for any other course at Robert Kennedy College or any other institution. I have revised, edited and proofread this paper. I certify that I am the author of this paper and that any assistance I received in its preparation is fully acknowledged and fully disclosed in this paper (examination). I have also cited any sources (footnotes or endnotes) from which I used data, ideas, theories, or words, whether quoted directly or paraphrased. I further acknowledge that this paper has been prepared by me specifically for this course. MIDTERM ASSESSMENT Q1. 70 Points Understanding Human Behavior is critical to organizations – discuss the benefits of self evaluation/self assessment as it relates to leaders today. Q2. 30 Points: Prejudice can be hurtful and destructive – discuss how you can personally reduce prejudice in your workplace – please provide an example. Understanding Human Behavior is critical to organizations – discuss the benefits of self evaluation/self assessment as it relates to leaders today. As the world is becoming more dependent on electronic gadgets, its becomes more difficult to have a face to face discussion or contacts with the people we work with. These have made it more important to understand the behavior of the people we work with and more critical to any manager that wants to be successful in his organization. For a leader to fully understand Human behavior, that person need to first do what is called self assessment. † being self aware allows one to recognize and improve their strength and weakness in order to maximize their leadership[ potential† Discovering your Authentic Leadership, Harvard Business Review February 2007 page 3 Human behaviors are must predictable if one have taken time to sturdy another person. In organizational Behavior 15th edition by Stephen and Timothy page 11 â€Å"Behavior is generally predictable and the systematic study of behavior is a means to making reasonable accurate predictions† Self evaluation is a major factor towards becoming a good leader, because this evolves looking at oneself so that all aspect that is important are identified and evaluated. As a leader you need to know your capacity and ability. The oxford dictionary defines self assessment as an evaluation of oneself or actions, altitudes or performance. As the definition implies there are several ways that a leader can evaluate his or her performance. In Harvard Business review of 2007 with the title discovering your Authentic leadership page 5 eight key questions are asked, and this I believe if well understood can benefit a leader today. And help to develop a better self evaluation mechanism. The people and experience in your early life have a great impact on an individual, As a leader knowing where your coming from is very important and this makes you to compare note to with were you want to be in the future. Self evaluation will help you know if progress is being made and were more efforts are required. As a modern leader you need to be systematic in your assessment, without over overrating your skills, this can be done through your pears subordinates by way of asking questions that brings out the honest answers from them. Arrogance should not have a part in these for your survival depends on their honest response. Every leader most have values, HBR in discovering you Authentic leadership page 4 says â€Å"The value that forms the basis for Authentic leadership are derived from your beliefs and convictions, but you will not know what your true values are until they are tested under pressure† must time people say† Nothing will ever make me change my mind â€Å"only to shift ground when much pressure are mounted on us, In other wars pressure is what refines our true vales, and when self evaluation is applied the value that you have or come out with unshaken is your true value. A leader is also motivated to act by one action or the other, self assessment will help you to know your motivation, does it come from the inside or the outside? Knowing the answers will help you to discover yourself. Most people waste there life leaving a programmed life, and not having satisfaction, only when they do things out of motivation will they truly be happy. You’re Family, friends, workmates and neighbors all reflect the kind of a leader one is so in the process of self assessments one needs to evaluate all to be sure whether the right set of people are what he has around him. Success is a team work; we are all interdependent on each other. Another area of leadership self awareness is on consistence, Do I double speck? A leader should be known as one who is constant in all situations that confronts him, and make sure everyone within the organization is carried along on most activities. A leader should assess his personality to see if he owns up to his mistake, leaders are human, they make mistakes and should accept correction. Leaders need to make out time for themselves and family. Having done a proper self assessment as a leader am ever more determined to develop a system and process were talented people are attracted and aligned to be future leaders. â€Å"No individual achievement can equal the pleasure of leading a group of people to achieve a worthy goal. When you cross the finish line together, all pain and suffering you may have experienced quickly vanishes† HBR discovering you authentic leadership page 8. In conclusion every leader must do some kind of self assessment periodically for improvement; this in true reflects in the person the quality of a good leader. Q2. Prejudice can be hurtful and destructive – discuss how you can personally reduce prejudice in your workplace – please provide an example. â€Å"All human being are born free and equal in dignity and right, they are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood†. Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human right. Despite this well articulated statement, Prejudice is still a universal problem, we all are prejudiced in one way or the other, but for us to be good leaders we all need to work hard in other to reduce prejudice in our work place. As a step towards reducing prejudice one has to acknowledge that it really exists. It is only when we accept it existence can we start to discuss way to end or reduce prejudice. â€Å"Prejudgment becomes prejudice only if they are not reversible when exposed to new knowledge† says the book the Nature of prejudice. And only the type of contacts that lead people together is likely to result in changed attitudes. According to the report UNISCO against Racism â€Å"education could be a precious tool in the struggle against new form of racism, discrimination and exclusion† having this fine idea before us should make us more aware of our responsibilities. The book Understanding Prejudice and discrimination says. â€Å"Perhaps they must important conclusions to emerge from prejudice research are 1. No one capable of human thoughts and speech is immune from harboring prejudice. It often takes deliberate effort and awareness to reduce prejudice and 3. With sufficient motivation it can be done† As a business owner I have I have synchronized the research work into my working environments. And this have reduced Prejudice in our organization, My country Nigeria is a multi ethnic and culturally diversified nation with more than three hundred ethnic groups. Must time working with people of different ethnic groups can be challenging if once does not do away with his pre conceived thoughts about another tribe. As an IGBO specking person I have come not to think that any other tribe is inferior to mine. So during recruitment we do not discriminate or apply mono-ethnic sentiments, rather we appreciate the diversity and uniqueness of our individuality. So everybody who performs well is given the opportunity to work with us. I have also made sure that each project team is not mono-ethnic; so that they can all learn from their diversity and this have really reduce the level of prejudice in our work place. I have notice a staff who was once very prejudiced about an individual from another ethnic group being good friends after they worked together on a project for a period of time, when I asked about his the new closeness and friendship with the person he was once prejudiced about he simple replied â€Å"ignorance can kill†. This was because by working with the individual as project team member he came to realize that the person has a very good principle and very hardworking too against what he previously thought.