Understanding and dealing with cultures in organizations
Discuss about the Personal And Professional Development Plan.
It is desirable that every individual possesses a specific professional plan of development for understanding the areas of improvement in order to emerge a winner in their everyday lives. Organisations and the situations in the companies change day to day and therefore it is needed to have a plan of action in mind to remain undeterred by any sort of issues which might arise at the time of crisis situations.
Understanding and dealing with cultures in organisations are helpful in the overall organisational scenario. It is natural for people of different cultures to work together in different organisations. Therefore there needs to be a certain receptive attitude towards the people of different cultures so that every employee can co-exist and work together.
It is clear from a retrospection of my personal journey that there are specific areas which require a degree of improvement. In case I can implement the goals of the plan which I have set for myself, I am confident of becoming an even better person and employee of Amazon. The plan of leadership and development in connection to the needs and requirements are given as follows:
Area of focus |
Present level of proficiency |
Target level of proficiency |
Opportunities for development |
Criteria for judging the success |
The particular time frame |
|
Priority 1 |
Development of soft skills |
Soft skill development is not given much of importance and on a personal level I feel it needs improvement |
The development of soft skills helps in the improvement of the competencies of an individual as also the behaviour. The target level of proficiency should be such that all the areas of communication, negotiation, problem solving, strategic thinking and skills of team building are properly developed. |
Soft skills and the metrics for development helps a company determine which of the employees are highly competent and which areas need improvement based on specific skill sets. |
In case the soft skills are capable of making the employees of organisations capable for regular improvement, core competencies can be recognized the development initiatives can be properly recognised. |
Soft skills development requires a certain amount of time. However I feel a time period of 8 months to 1 year is enough. |
Priority 2 |
Development of functional skills |
I am moderately confident of the present level of development of my functional skills at present. |
The development of functional skills should be such that employees are well versed at hard skills and development opportunities. |
It is the requirement of the companies to ensure that all the employees perform their job requirements efficiently. Continuous opportunities for development have the potential to improve the overall bench strength and help organisations to immediately adapt to the challenges of the business which are improving continuously. Functional skills and their quantifiability cab be utilized well. |
The performance review procedure can help the companies clearly test the competencies of the areas which include that of hiring, recruiting and analysis at regular intervals. |
It more or less needs a time frame of 6-8 months of time to ensure that the performance are taking place successfully. |
Priority 3 |
Compliance development |
I feel that I am more or less moderately competent in terms of maintaining the standards of regulation development and safety in my place of work. |
I feel that the workplace needs to be completely free of any sort of problems related to safety, sexual harassment, breaches of acceptable standards and so on. |
There are opportunities for development in the regulation sections. The workplace needs to be perfect from all possible aspects in terms of development. |
Only when all the employees of the organisation review the company to be completely free from any sort of prejudice and bias, it can be safely concluded that the company is free from any sort of problems related to compliance development. |
The compliance development is a gradual process and needs a relatively longer time frame of more than a year. |
Priority 4 |
Fairness and impartiality in the leadership development scenarios |
I am more or less impartial towards the people belonging to the different cultures in the organisation. However I feel that the level of impartiality needs to be 100%. |
The target level of proficiency can be reached only when equal importance is given to people of all cultures. There need to be proper skills for the building of relationships. |
There are opportunities for development as it is natural for people of different cultures to work together in an organisation. therefore people need to be maintained at all levels. |
The criteria for success can be determined only when there is a level of balance between all the cultures. |
The time frame for this development is that of a few months, around 4-5 months |
Knowing the strengths and weaknesses of a particular individual helps in the overall improvement of self-awareness. Every person has the strengths and weaknesses which are comprised of the person whom we are and this helps in shaping the way in which the goals are reached. There needs to be a proper degree of ownership in the assessment of a person’s own self. This helps in the overall personal development.
It is desirable that people are open to feedback and listen properly to the ideas which are provided to them or the constructive criticisms which they receive. There can be instances where asking for feedback becomes immensely hurtful but on the other hand it is empowering as well. It helps in understanding about the traits which are needed to develop as a personality (Carter Ulrich & Goldsmith, 2012).
There needs to be the development of the intuitive decision making skills. In this connection it can be said that there can be significant errors in the duration of decision making. The intuition of a person helps in the proper navigation amidst different problems and in case the facts and figures are wrong it also helps in the overall development (Mabey, 2013).
The leadership and development plan
Being an employee of the Amazon Company, I feel that I need to develop all my skills and in this connection the development of self awareness is extremely crucial. In case my intuition is correct this will help me in the proper levels of organisational performance and development. I feel that the boundaries are bound to help me in the overall maintenance of the goals of the organisation. Keeping an open mind is a very difficult thing to practice but it is extremely crucial in the development of a particular person (Nesbit 2012).
There needs to be an understanding between the present situations in the organisation of my control and there needs to be extreme dynamic situations based on the requirements of the company. The future aspirations which I have mentioned in my development plan needs to be analysed. There are day to day challenges in the organisations which need to be maintained as per the requirements of the job. This helps in the overall understanding of the tasks which needs to be done in a specific scenario.
There are huge aspirations for the effective leadership for the success of a business organisation, where a great leader can make great situations for the leadership and this is responsible for leading the company to the desired success. The leadership needs to focus on the all round development of the organisation without focussing on a particular sector or an individual development of a particular part of the organisation (Zepeda, 2013).
There is a sufficient amount of influence of the organisational cultures on the perspectives of leadership. Organisational culture includes a proper system of assumptions, values, attitudes and norms for the development of the overall company benefit. It is the duty of the professionals to understand the implications of organisational development and ensure that the leadership objectives are met in such a way so as to meet the company standards. The company is a huge one with employees working in different fields (Mabey, 2013).
Both national and organisational culture has a huge role to play in the proper administering of leadership duties and responsibilities. Therefore it is ideal for an employee to understand the situation at the workplace and the different cultures from which the people come. It needs to be ensured that all the cultures have been given equal amount of strength and importance.
Organisational culture affects the decisions and actions of managers and employees alike thereby affecting all the elements of management and organisations. Organisational culture combines the orientation of tasks with the unequal distribution of power. People culture is responsible for combining the orientation to the people and the egalitarian distribution of the power. People culture is an individualistic culture. It is also seen that the different leadership styles in the organisations also correspond to the different types of organisational cultures (Busse, Aboneh & Tefera, 2014).
Focus on soft skills development
There are several theories of effective leadership there have been theories in order to discuss the factors which influence the effectiveness of the leaders. There needs to be a proper understanding of all the theories for the effective development of a development plan. In case there is a proper focus on the theories of effective leadership, these can be employed to fulfil the goals of personal leadership.
Trait theory is concerned with the effectiveness of leadership. The theory is something which focuses on the successful understanding of the qualities of the leaders. This is necessary for the effectiveness of suitable plans for personal development as well as the development of leadership skills. The trait theory considers leadership to be an innate and instinctive quality which cannot be imbibed completely. Trait theory is helpful in the identification of qualities and features of empathy, assertiveness, proper skills of decision making and also that of likeability.
Behavioural theories are also important in order to become an effective leader. The leaders who are autocratic are responsible for making choices who do not consult their teams, but democratic leaders take valuable inputs from their teams to change any situation in their organisations. The way an employee, particularly in the managerial or authoritative position acts is crucial for the way in which he or she is perceived by his or her subordinates.
The theory of charismatic leadership is responsible for commanding a certain degree of authority in the specific organisational situations which need help. The factors which represent that of charismatic leadership help in understanding the priorities of the organisation. the ideal leaders imply those who are capable of choosing the best styles for each of the situations (Sadri, 2012).
Another important theory of leadership is that which involves the concepts of power and influence. These are ideally impacted by the ways in which power is utilized. There are three types of positional power which include that of legitimacy, reward and that of coercion.
The best style of leadership which can be considered in this particular aspect is that of transformational leadership. The leaders who are transformational are responsible for showing integrity and they have a capability of achieving a strong vision for the future. Such leaders are responsible for making the best teams and leading to the grandest success stories.
Conclusion:
Therefore I would like to mention that the leadership development plan is such that it is responsible for making the person an overall groomed individual and the plan incorporates those characteristics which are responsible for making me a better leader and a better employee of my organisation. Based on the features on features which I possess as an individual I aspire to attain success and develop features which help me succeed in the overall path of life. I have ensured that my leadership development plan is inclusive of all the positive traits and skills which is characteristic of an ideal leader. Development plans are therefore an effective way in which an individual can understand the way he or she needs to move forward in life.
References and Bibliography:
Busse, H., Aboneh, E. A., & Tefera, G. (2014). Learning from developing countries in strengthening health systems: an evaluation of personal and professional impact among global health volunteers at Addis Ababa University’s Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital (Ethiopia). Globalization and health, 10(1), 64.
Capps, D. K., Crawford, B. A., & Constas, M. A. (2012). A review of empirical literature on inquiry professional development: Alignment with best practices and a critique of the findings. Journal of science teacher education, 23(3), 291-318.
Carter, L., Ulrich, D., & Goldsmith, M. (Eds.). (2012). Best practices in leadership development and organization change: How the best companies ensure meaningful change and sustainable leadership (Vol. 18). John Wiley & Sons.
Mabey, C. (2013). Leadership development in organizations: Multiple discourses and diverse practice. International Journal of Management Reviews, 15(4), 359-380.
Nesbit, P. L. (2012). The role of self-reflection, emotional management of feedback, and self-regulation processes in self-directed leadership development. Human Resource Development Review, 11(2), 203-226.
Sadri, G. (2012). Emotional intelligence and leadership development. Public Personnel Management, 41(3), 535-548.
Ward, J. (2016). Keeping the family business healthy: How to plan for continuing growth, profitability, and family leadership. Springer.
Zepeda, S. J. (2013). Professional development: What works. Routledge.