Self-Reflection: Leadership Questionnaire
Society and organizations require strong and effective leadership. This requirement exists at all levels in the organization. I find everywhere; people are expressing their need for effective leadership. Though people ask for leadership, it is not often clear what exactly they want. There is a tool to bring out what do an individual mean by leadership. i.e. Conceptualizing Leadership Questionnaire.
The scores received on this questionnaire give information about how people view leadership and what do they believe about leadership. Also, this questionnaire pinpoints how people approach leadership. The tool has 24 items in the inventory that can be completed in less than fifteen minutes. The scores obtained for me on this tool are, Trait emphasis 10, Skill emphasis 14, Behavior emphasis 17, Relationship emphasis 16, and Process emphasis 16.
I believe my scores on the tool are precise representation of the way I consider leadership. Defining leadership in terms of behavior and process rather than on traits is how I approach leadership. When I take leadership positions, I focus on developing appropriate behavior and building up relationships with people around me. I do not focus too much on trait and innate ability, because they are both cannot be controlled.
I have a strong belief that anyone can learn to be a leader. How the individual performs based on what he / she learn will determine good leadership. Leaders are born is a statement that I do not approve. I believe learning and situations play a greater role in shaping a person’s leadership style and behaviors. Certainly we are born with traits that contribute to our leadership behaviors.
The scores obtained in this tool have significance in how an individual approaches leadership in the organization. Individual’s approach to leadership will determine how he or she would attribute (social cognition) an event in the organization. For example, if an initiative taken by a manager fails, the person with a trait emphasis is likely to attribute that the manager doesn’t have the capabilities. At the same time an employee who is high on process emphasis, is likely to attribute the failure on the team and the situations.
Gary Yukl (1999) comments that most of the leadership theories have weaknesses in conceptualization and assessment of the leadership processes. The limitations include overuse of simplistic models, exclusion of relevant behaviors, focus only on dyadic practices, admiration of heroic leadership, and dependence on fragile research approaches. The leadership conceptualization questionnaire and the associated theory can help researchers and practitioners in understanding their dominant view points and evaluate the strength of their propositions in comparison to other theories.
Self-Reflection: Big Five Personality Test
Personality is considered as relatively enduring pattern of thoughts, emotions, and behaviors that depict a person, the psychological processes behind those characteristics are also considered as part of personality. In essence, a specific cluster of characteristics make us similar to or different from others. We assess an individual by what he or she says and does, and we infer the person’s internal states— the thought processes and emotions—from the observable behaviors. There are many personality tests available; Big Five Personality is a popular assessment tool that is frequently used in many organizational situations.
This test was initially developed by Goldberg (1992). The big five personality classifications are the most acknowledged and widely used model of personality in organizational context. The big five traits came through the statistical study of responses to many personality items. By using factor analysis, researchers have tried to answer the “what is the best was to summarize an individual?". At the end of various statistical processes, five personality variables stood out that answers many things about human personality. The five variables are , extraversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, conscientiousness and openness to experience which are expressed in continuum such as introversion – extroversion, disorganized - conscientious, closed minded – open to new experiences, disagreeable – agreeable, and calm, relaxed – nervous. The Big Five model explains the fundamental traits of an individual without overlapping influence of each other. Empirical research has shown that the Big Five personality scores have consistency in interviews, self-descriptions and observations. This test has application in the organization in selection and task allocation, and in team development and formation.
My scores in the Big Five test indicates that I am relatively open to new experiences, neither organized or disorganized, relatively a social person and enjoy the company of others, not extremely forgiving nor irritable, and relaxed and calm. This is a true reflection of my personality; and I am happy with it. This test can help me in choosing an appropriate career and can help me in analyzing my position in relationships and expectations from the other person. The score descriptions have given me an insight that an individual has different combination of traits, and they will not respond uniformly to the events around them. It prompts me to be patient before making snap judgments about others and helps to ascertain a persons’ personality through observing behaviors in various situations.
One incident that comes to my mind in relation to Big Five model is that, the graphic design division of National Infrastructure (NI) needs to overhaul their promotional merchandise such as maps, fliers, brochures and website. The management wanted Sharon to develop a team and complete the merchandise project as early as possible with least resources. Sharon was able to get on board the required people to implement the project except a person with excellent creative skills. Sharon identified a person, Gary Franklin, who is well-trained, has experience in producing creative brochures and he listens to all before creating designs. The manager who has worked with Gary also recommends him for the project. The Big Five personality traits' openness to experience is the factor unknowingly applied to locate a creative person. people with technical, functional and social skills are required for developing or building teams in the organization,. Sharon has applied her mind to identify the right person who conforms to the description provided in the Big Five Model (openness to new experiences).
Self-Reflection: Emotional Quotient Test
I am very fascinated with emotional intelligence and consider it as a key factor in determining the success in life. It is not only the ability to express and control emotions, but also the ability to understand, interpret, and respond to the emotions of others matters (Cooper, R & Sawaf, A. 1997). Imagine a situation in which you couldn't realize when a friend is feeling unhappy or when a colleague is angry. If such a thing happens, we can call it as emotional blindness. We all have EQ, but it varies from person to person and valid test can give us a score of emotional intelligence. Psychologists suggest that EQ (the quantitative unit of Emotional intelligence) is more important than IQ.
As suggested I have taken a test of Emotional intelligence available in the Web i.e. at www.ihhp.com, the test items were very comprehensible, and I responded to each item very genuinely. But the result of the EQ test was very disappointing. It says, “People in this range (my scores range) often find themselves blowing up at their co-workers.” I feel that this is not reflection of me. The test results also do not give description specific to my context; rather it describes general things that do not discriminate me on the basis of the responses I gave for the test. The test results are not acceptable to me. In the four areas that determine the EQ of a person, I guess I would have strongest score in the 'social awareness' section, which means that I am good on the empathy level and able to understand the individual, group and the organization. I am good at 'self-awareness' and 'relationship management' sets. I may not score much n self-management. I know I’m good at knowing how I feel, and regulating or harnessing my emotions. I feel, I have fairly good emotional intelligence and I expect to receive more than average scores in any EQ test. EQ has role in leadership, career success, in communication and in maintaining interpersonal relationships.
The results of the study conducted by Kerr, R., Garvin, J., Heaton, N., & Boyle, E. (2006) using MSCEIT (Mayer Salovey Caruso Emotional intelligence test) scores have demonstrated that EQ is a strong predictor of leadership effectiveness. Their findings support the inclusion of Emotional intelligence modules alongside the recruitment, selection, training and development of the managerial cadre for change management.
REFERENCES
Goldman, D., (1995) Emotional Intelligence, New York, NY, England: Bantam Books, Inc.
Goldberg, Lewis R. "The development of markers for the Big-Five factor structure." Psychological assessment 4.1 (1992): 26.
Antoniadis, J., Cianciolo, A. T., & Sternberg, R. J. (Eds.). (2004). The nature of leadership. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Cooper, R & Sawaf, A (1997). Executive EQ: Emotional Intelligence in Business, Orion Books Ltd, London.
Gary Yukl (1999), “An Evaluative Essay on Current Conceptions of Effective Leadership”, European Journal of Work and Organizational, 8 (1), 33–48
Kerr, R., Garvin, J., Heaton, N., & Boyle, E. (2006). Emotional intelligence and leadership effectiveness. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 27(4), 265-279.
