My Own Management Competencies

During my undergraduate studies and my time at work, I have been able to acquire a certain amount of very useful and important management skills. These skills include, team work, time management, interpersonal skills, problem solving abilities, decision making etc. I was able to develop and improve a certain amount of other skills also during my period of work in the construction field. Skills such as problem solving, listening skills by attending different meetings, decision making etc. Emphasising on my problem solving ability, I would like to narrate my experience in solving a difficult situation when I was working as a site engineer.

One of our customers wanted his flat with a difficult type of electrical connection which was against the company standards and which was not feasible in the company’s point of view. In the end I was able to convince the customer by telling him the technical difficulties in doing so. As a civil engineer, I had to understand carefully what he needed and had to convey those needs to the electrical engineer, the project manager and to the electrical consultant.

This experience helped me to understand the co-operation among my team and also helped in improving my interpersonal skills.

Working in a responsible position, decision making is a very important aspect for a successful professional. My project manager had helped me a lot in improving my abilities in making correct decisions at right time. Although I am confident in few of the skills mentioned above, I have yet to improve on a few of them, like stress management and leadership skills.

Stress Management to me is what I feel that I really need to work on. There have been times at work when I would get nervous and make hasty decisions.

Some of these decisions would have made a huge impact on the project that I was doing if it weren’t for my colleagues who would calm me down. If I was to come across something unexpected at work it would somehow manage to frustrate my goals. Job analysis and performance planning are some of the methods which I tend to implement into my profession. I believe that listing out priorities in my job, I might be able to understand my working environment more effectively and focus on more complicated issues. My expectation is that this will help me get the most from my work I do and keep my workload under control.

Leadership to me is the most important skill in the construction industry. I feel that leadership requires constant training, which involves good decision making, self confidence and good communication skills. It also means expanding your ability to deliver many times over, which is something I intend to improve on. The leadership skills that I posses requires a certain amount of power and encouragement. I feel that I lack a certain amount of power when it comes to making good decisions for my group. I would like to improve on this skill by improving my self confidence, manage group decisions and move on with a dynamic attitude.

The construction industry is presently moving at a rapid pace. This means that more decision making and prioritising skills is as important as proper time management. Time management plays a very important role in this industry. For example, if on the site a project was to go above the scheduled completion date due to any kind of planning problems or lack of proper work co-ordination, it would make a huge impact on the allocated budget and reputation of the company. By understanding the principles of people and organisational management I think that it can help me to be more professional in the construction industry.