Personal SWOT Analysis And Analysis Of Diversity Management Skills

Research methodology

My name is Ramya Prabha Gaddipati and have a rich work experience of working with Cerner Corporation for seven years. I started working with Cerner at a junior level and got promoted to middle level manager. I have gained a rich knowledge of working with a multinational company in the health care industry. I can point out that the organisation has a very strong impact on my professional growth and has been one of the driving factors which made me pursue an MBA degree. The company has got me to get enrolled at the Torrens University, Australia to acquire further knowledge about management by go through an MBA course.  The purpose of this assignment is to conduct a personal SWOT analysis followed by an analysis of my diversity management skills. This would be followed by making a decision on the organisational fit of mine with Cerner based on my experiences of working with the company and the knowledge I have gained till now while pursuing the course. The discussion would close with me summing up what I have learnt and my future professional improvement planning.

I can reflect out that my approach with the analysis of my strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in the light of my professional experiences as my learning from the masters of administration course from now. I can point out that the challenges which I have faced at Cerner prior to my joining the MBA course have driven me to carry out a personal analysis. This analysis would actually allow me not only realise my strong aspects but also locate my weaknesses. This would obviously direct my further learning and self-development activities.

I sourced the information which would provide a substratum to the self-analysis of mine from several sources. First, I undertook two personal tests using two different tools namely Gallup score and personality tests. Then I reflected on my career and experience I have gained while working with Cerner Corporation. I can also opine out that I read several books on management like which provided me with the insight into managerial aspects like adapting management style according to the needs of the subordinates and the situation. It would be worth mentioning that the article titled ‘What great managers do.’ by Buckingham (2005) has helped me gain a lot of knowledge in management. The article mentions that efficient managers have profound knowledge about the abilities and competencies of their subordinates. They consider these factors while allocating jobs and set targets to be achieved accordingly. According to me, working with Cerner has developed this capability to realise the strengths and weaknesses of subordinates. This knowledge of my subordinates help me to distribute job responsibilities equably among my subordinates. I can reflect that this managerial approach of mine prevented even the junior most employees from feeling intimidated. This reduced the chances of conflict or resentment and enforcement of team collaboration. I can further mention that this application of the teachings from the article helps me to ensure great team performance at Cerner (Domnica, 2012).

Sourcing information about myself

I can mention here that while conducting the self-analysis of mine I went through tests on two different tools namely, the Gallup Score and personality tests. This section would provide a deeper into the two self-assessment tools.

The Gallup Score is a self-assessment tool which is engages employees in assessment of their strengths and weaknesses. The weakness in turn enable them to recognise opportunities which they can gain by working on the short comings (News.gallup.com, 2018). As far as my own Gallup test is concerned, I can point out that I have considered five aspects in the Gallup test. They are achiever, responsibility, restorative, arranger and ideation. Faraon  et al. (2014) point out that responsibility and restorative behaviour enable managers to maintain steady communication with the employees which enable to deal with tough situations more efficiently. I can point out that this responsibility aspect of mine has helped me to create healthy relationship with employees. Domnica (2012) mentions that managers should be awareness about the impact their decisions have on the employees in both ways of the organisational hierarchy. Longenecker, Neubert and Fink (2007) point out that managers should not only be aware about their impacts on others but also the impact of others on them. Thus, in this light it can be mentioned that the author actually supports the previous authors. I can reflect over here that my sense of responsibility has helped me to act in responsible way by considering the impacts of my decisions on the client and consequently on the revenue generation of the Cerner. I on the other hand remain aware how decisions and actions by my colleagues and customers can affect me, Here again my restorative and responsible attitude enable me to take right decisions to use the impacts to my advantage and take appropriate actions to mitigate negative effects of their decisions, if any.

The personality test tool is a tool to test the personality traits of a person. The tool divides the personality traits into three types namely analyst, diplomats and sentinels (16personalities.com, .2018). As far as I am concerned, the test showed that I have strong practical skills, have strong sense of duty and very loyal.

I can reflect that while conducting self-analysis, I obtained views from several naturally data sources. I asked my references about my strengths and weaknesses. Ashford and Deter (2015) opine that while conduct a personal SWOT analysis, the concerned people should locate the natural sources of feedback. I can mention that the performance appraisal interview which the senior manager enabled me to analyse my strengths and weaknesses, both personal as well as professional. Kassing (2009) adds to the opinion of the previous authors and mention tat while conducting personal analysis employees should identify colleagues especially seniors whose views are likely to have strong influences on their professional careers.  The senior manager whose feedback I sought pointed out several strong points of mine like decision making power and great sense of responsibility, which have also been pointed out by Gallup. However, he also pointed out several shortcomings which I suffer from like extreme ideation does at time make my assumptions and decisions unrealistic. I also followed Merindol and Versailles (2007) mentions that employees should development critical awareness about the views their peers and subordinates have about them. I can point out that I have obtained feedback from others like relatives, peers, senior colleagues as well as subordinates. They too pointed out several aspects of mine both positive and negative. These aspects would provide avenues on which I can work to improve to strengthen or increase my strong points. For example, a colleague of mine pointed out that I am very impulsive at times. This showed me that I require to undergo meditation and anger management classes. I can further mention that as a senior manager I would be required to exercise great control over my emotions to deal with challenging situations while making decisions.

Discussion about self-assessment tools

The following table would outline the strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats with respect to the self-analysis of mine based on the Gallup test which I took.

It would be pertinent mentioning that I went through two self-assessment tests using two different tools namely, Gallup test and personality test.

The Gallup test results furnished above show that my test was based on five parameters on Gallup tool. They were achiever, responsibility, restorative, arranger and ideation pointing out to five strengths of mine. The first positive aspect of mine pointed out in the SWOT analysis is that of an achiever. This means that I am capable of taking responsibilities and facing challenges. This also means that I derive immense job satisfaction in taking up and executing job responsibilities.

The next positive attribute of mine as pointed out by the Gallup scale is that I have a great sense of responsibility. This attribute of mine actually complements my first quality of that of an achiever. This is because achieving of objectives requires managers to take responsibility to ensure that the subordinates reporting to him achieve their individual performance parameters. The managers are also required to manage adverse situations like conflicts and consistently poorly performing employees.

The third and fourth positive attributes of mine as mentioned in the Gallup score are restorative and arranger. I can point out that these two strengths of mine are actually two sides of the same coin. I can state that as far as Cerner Corporation is concerned, the organisation operates in more than ten countries across Asia, North America, Europe and South America. The company is subjected to immense market pressure to operate sustainably as well as profitability by reducing losses and expenditure to the possible extent. Moreover, the economic stagnation in the European market and growing economic importance of the Asian markets, the business organisation comes under immense pressure to cater to both the markets using its resources. This puts immense pressure on managers at all levels to restore and arrange business units which are not performing well to make them sustainable. I can also reflect that I have participated in several restoration projects of Cerner which allow me to showcase these two strengths of mine.

The second test which I undertook was Personality tests which pointed out three strengths of mine outlined in the SWOT analysis above. The summary of the test is mentioned below.

The first positive aspect of mine pointed out is the strong set of practical skills of mine. I can point out that working with Cerner has enabled me to take part in several projects and serve clients satisfactorily. These opportunities have enabled me to develop and sharpen my practical knowledge. I can state that the strong sense of duty which is my second strength as per the personality test has enables me to take up responsibility and deliver performance on time. The third strong aspect of mine is loyalty to superiors and subordinates. I can point out this loyalty has helped to sustain in Cerner which is a very dynamic organisation (Alimo-Metcalfe, 2010). The immense business requirement of Cerner presents new challenges before managers which require develop new competences and skills. Some of the managers fail to adapt to these situations and resign. However, I have sustained in Cerner in spite of these challenges and in fact developing new skills. Thus, I can finally close the discussion by mentioning that remaining loyal to Cerner has helped me to grow professionally (Olsson & Walker, 2003).

Gallup Score

I can reflect that I have several weaknesses though the two personality assessment tools do not discern clearly. The weakness in my attribute which I detected was my low ability to adapt to changes which took place when Cerner shifting from waterfall model to agile model. This required the employees to change their modes of operation to adapt to the changes. The managers could not manage the organisational change towards agile method efficiently actually pointed out to the dearth of change management capability among the lower and middle level managers (Ashford & Detert, 2015). The second weakness which I can allude to in me is my extreme ideation which was pointed by my colleague. The third weakness which came to the forefront during the shift of Cerner to embrace Agile method was my lack of adaptability to changes. The poor adaptability which the managers including me showed during adoption of Agile proved our lack of change management skills.

The opportunities which came to my notice from the personal assessment of mine were that I can develop my change management skills and undergo counselling or meditation sessions to reduce my impulsive nature. This would enable me to focus more on my profession which would enhance my managerial position. Newly involving technology, continuously changing market environments and new technological developments rendering previous technological set ups have proved to be three big threats Cerner is facing (Olsson & Walker, 2003). Considering the above SWOT analysis I can mention in a nut shell that I am in a stable managerial position at Cerner awaiting the next appraisal.

As far as diversity management experience is concerned, I can point out that I am average at it. I can mention that diversity management capability of mine is a strength and has helped me to tackle several challenging situations. I can point out that I am good at communicating with employees across different cultural backgrounds. However, I can also point out that I face some problems while dealing with newly hired employees (McLean & Unter, 2010). Thus, I can infer from this experience of mine that diversity management is a strength but my diversity management skills are average and hence requires further strengthening.

I emphasise to focusing on diversity management is a great strength for multinational business organisations like Cerner. Cerner has a very diverse employee culture which engages employees from different countries. This acquisition of talents from culturally diverse markets allow the company to pool in business ideas which in turn promotes innovation and productivity (Brannen, Piekkari & Tietze, 2017). Thus, I can infer that diversity management is a strong point of multinational organisations like Cerner.

I can refer to an experience on diversity management which I experienced while functioning as an assistant manager at Cerner. A senior manager once behaved rudely with a female employee because she was not performing well. I came to know on conversing with the female employee that she felt intimidated by the body language of certain senior employees of the team. The employee was then placed in my team and I first understood her strengths as well as their weakness. I found about her competencies, competencies and experience. I inducted her to the other team members and encouraged them to help if required, since she was new to the team. I allocated her target upon having detailed discussion with her. I can recall she overachieved the assigned target and got appraised (Ford, 2005). I learnt from this situation that better knowledge about diversity would enable me to deal more efficiently with clients from diverse markets, thus promoting development in management career.

Personality test

Cerner Corporation is a medical information technology firm which is domiciled in the United States and listed on the NASDAQ (Cerner.com, 2018). The company operates in more than a ten of countries across North America, Europe, South America and Asia. I can touch on that the company has a strong positive organisational culture and I have succeeded in established a strong organisational fit with Cerner. I can point out based on the SWOT analysis of mine that I would continue to work with the company in future

Conclusion:

I have learnt a lot of things while working with Cerner like diversity management and would attend trainings as well as workshops to grow as an employee of the multinational company. I can point out that managers have to undergo continue self-analysis to recognise their weaknesses and limitations which prevent them from leading their subordinates efficiently. They should encourage continuous communication both from superiors as well as subordinates. This would allow them to gain feedback and point out weaknesses which would in turn form the basis of their training needs. They can form a self-development strategy or plan to strengthen their leadership skills. Finally I can end the discussion that since organisations are dynamic, managers have to be dynamic in developing their skills and competencies to maintain a consistent organisational fit with their employers.

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