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The Five Core aspects of Self-Awareness are: emotional intelligence, core self-evaluation, values, cognitive style, and attitudes toward change. According to the definitions of each core aspect, I can personally say it has been a working progress since I started the MSLD program in May 2012. My self-awareness has changed some but there’s still more room for improvement and areas that need improvement. As young as I am and taking a program that usually more professionally experienced individuals would take, I can’t always say, agree or even reflect on certain aspects because I have not encountered such events or struggles yet. But the MSLD program has opened up my eyes and has served as a great educational tool in which I can refer to in order to overcome certain managerial struggles. It has helped me become aware of things that typically in the past I would have no idea how to handle, such as a person’s emotions, ideas, beliefs, decision making, etc. It has also helped me recognize potential areas of danger or areas in which I may struggle or find myself in conflict of.

Emotional intelligence is identifying emotional awareness and control (Whetten, 2011).  Reflecting on this definition and after completing the self-awareness assessments, I realize that I have matured enough in the aspect of recognizing other’s emotions and my personal reaction to those emotions. But that I continue to struggle with recognizing my own emotions, becoming aware of what those emotions are, and what could’ve caused those emotions. For example, in my line of work I rely on the shift before me to have tasks completed in order to move on to the next project or workday per say. There was a time in which tasks weren’t getting completed and therefore, had pushed the day shift’s work behind and not to mention it threw our entire day off. The pattern had continued to repeat itself for about a week. One day I blew up and told my supervisor what the problem was. It came to a big shock to her that I had waited this long to bring up the situation rather than seeking an opportunity to talk to the other shift lead on how I could maybe help them catch up or bring up to my supervisor what was happening. After my outburst, I had realized what I had done and apologized to my supervisor and to the entire staff that was there that day. Since then, I have tried to avoid the escalation of situations and have improved my communication with the other shift lead and have often found ourselves asking for each other’s help.

Core self-evaluation is identifying underlying personality attributes (Whetten, 2011). In this aspect, I have not changed much. I daily continue to struggle to gain self-confidence on my personal life and on my professional decisions. I’m aware of how my decisions may affect my future and make the decisions cautiously, meaning I don’t tend to take much risk. I have found myself getting comfortable where I am rather than take risks in order to succeed or even gain experience. As well as often found myself saying, “I should’ve taken that risk. That could’ve been me in that position”. I have also realized that until I find or get comfortable with myself personally, I’ll continue to struggle on my self-confidence professionally.

Values are identified as personal standards and moral judgment (Whetten, 2011). Again after completing the self-awareness assessment, I realized that my decisions tend to be more based on the social system and conscience maintenance. This is the moral basis of development I tend to use the most: “Right is doing one’s duty to society and upholding the social order” (Whetten, 2011). Reflecting on this definition, I realized that prior to the MSLD program I used to base my decisions based on the punishment and obedience stage of moral development. Depending highly on the situation I would avoid the risk of being punished at all costs. If I had ever thought that the decision would get me punished I would avoid making the decision at all cost and seek higher approval or guidance before taking the final decision and if I couldn’t find guidance or approval then I just wouldn’t take a decision and dealt with the consequences.

Cognitive Style is identifying information acquisition and evaluation (Whetten, 2011). Under the knowing style, prior to the MSLD program I thought I knew and understood everything to a certain extent. I didn’t realize that I did not emphasize on the facts, details or even the data of information. For the planning style, this actually came to a surprise to me to learn that I’m inclined towards structure, preparation, and planning. When before the MSLD program, I used to be the rebel against structure and organizational hierarchy. But after reading Chapter 1, I realize that I like order, organization, structure, preparation, etc. I never connected the dots between how I would avoid risk and seek higher approval on certain things and how I like having a structure/plan in my life. For the creating style, before and even now during the MSLD program, I continue to struggle with this. I tend to stay as an inside the box thinker rather than be creative or create areas in which others can take their creative ideas and shine.

Attitudes toward change are identifying adaptability and responsibility (Whetten, 2011). Prior to the MSLD program, I despised change. I didn’t like how something out of my control could change my life or decisions. I would seriously struggle against change. It would even upset me. Now under the MSLD program, I have come to an understanding that change is and can be good both professionally and personally. I educate myself on why is change happening, how it can positively affect me personally and professionally, and try to help others struggling with change focus on the bigger picture of how it can positively change be better for them.

Overall, there are plenty of things I continue to struggle with such as self-evaluation, values, and my attitude towards change at times. But there are things that I have already begun to see the difference in. There’s still plenty of room for improvement and therefore, look forward to the outcome of the MSLD program.

Source:

Whetten, D. A., & Cameron, K. S. (2011). Developing Self-Awareness. Developing management skills (8th ed., p. 70). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall/Pearson.

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Reflecting on this assignment of Chapter 1 assessments, I can honestly say there’s a lot I’m personally and professionally not aware about, things I didn’t think I unconsciously did and other things that I realize I tend to do in certain situations.

Self-Awareness Assessment

For the self-awareness assessment, I realize that I barely have any self-disclosure and only some openness to feedback. For self-disclosure aspect of the assessment I can say that I’m aware that I don’t reveal much of myself to anyone but to very close friends and family members. In the aspect of openness to feedback, I thought that I can be pretty open to feedback without retaliating or arguing why I think I’m correct and the other person is wrong. But I questioned it and realized that there are plenty of instances where I have begun to argue my points and/or decisions especially when I’m being criticized for my decisions. In the second part of the self-awareness assessment there’s the awareness of own values, emotional intelligence, change orientation, and core self-evaluation. This part is a bit difficult to evaluate because I’m not used to evaluating myself. I know that I can be aware of my emotions to some extent, but very resistant towards change at times and unaware of my own personal values. I realize that I tend to go along with values that have been set forth for me while growing up and continue to follow the rules or values of society. As a result, it shocks me to see that I thought I acted a certain way but it turns out that I act according to my surroundings and society.

Emotional Intelligence Assessment

In the emotional awareness assessment, it has come to my attention that I’m unaware of what is going on inside me emotionally but I’m aware of the emotions of other people and aware of how I react. This has been something that I’m aware of and I find myself constantly working on. I realize there are moments where I can’t understand why I feel sad or mad and wait until I burst out to realize how I acted and what might’ve been the cause of my emotions. Under the emotional control category (balance), I barely have any emotional control of my own emotions. I tend to stay confused on why I can’t hold back my emotions at times, what caused me to feel the way I feel at the moment, or why I feel the need to burst out rather than work on the problem before it escalates. But there are times where I can confront the issue but just in a more personal matter and not in front of others. For the emotional diagnosis (empathy) category, the results show that I’m aware and acknowledge another person’s feelings and demonstrate sensitivity to a possible emotional issue. Unfortunately, I don’t recognize or acknowledge the different emotional commitments to situations. Lastly, for the emotional response I have excellent response to emotions when it comes to dealing with someone else’s emotions.

Defining Issues Test

For the defining issues test, the overall results show that I tend to use Stage 4 of the moral development stages most often. According to the classification of moral judgment table, the Conventional level has been explained as “moral value resides in duty, maintaining social contracts, keeping commitments” under which resides Stage 4. Stage 4 refers to the Social System and Conscience Maintenance stage. This stage has been explained as “right is doing one’s duty to society and upholding the social order” (Whetten, 2011). As I reflect on these definitions I realize that it goes along the lines of the entire assessment. For example, when there are instances where I can’t truly define the issue, I go with what society would approve of and therefore, I avoid being completely wrong because it is, in part, what has been taught to me. Personally, I’m unsure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.

Cognitive Style Indicator

According to the results under this category, I do not have a process of acquiring or understanding thoroughly thoughts, experiences, and senses. Under the knowing subcategory, I found myself just below the mean of young managers with a result of 3.25 and a mean of 3.89. Surprisingly, for the planning subcategory, the results show I’m above the mean for both young managers and young managers & MBA students. The results are 4 and the mean being 3.78 for young managers and 3.81for young managers and MBA students. This comes as a surprise to me because I didn’t think I plan much of my life or decisions. Under the creating subcategory, it does not come as a shock to me to know that I’m not much of a creative person or have a creative style. My results show a 2.42 and the current mean for young managers is a 4.01. I have never found myself to be creative with my personal decisions, not tend to “think outside the box”, or even be creative in art class.

Locus of Control Scale

For this part of the assessment, the results, 7, show that I’m above the mean, which is 5.19, and I’m also located in the top quartile, which is 7 or above. Reflecting on this result, I agree that I believe that I can control the events of my life. I do not leave this up to luck, chance or the universe to guide me on what to do next. I take charge of my life both personally and professionally.

Tolerance of Ambiguity Scale

Reflecting on the results of this part of the assessment, I realize I have tolerance of ambiguity. With the results of a low score, 35, I fall on the bottom quartile. But I begin to wonder if that is a good thing. I mean, does it mean that I don’t defend my point or what I believe in? At the same time, I realize that there have been plenty of times where in order to avoid arguments or loss of friendship/trust I allow others to voice their opinions while I keep mine private. Therefore, I allow the existence of opinions/ideas even though I may not necessarily agree with them, which can be good or bad thing when working as a team.

Core Self-Evaluation Scale

It does not come to a surprise to me to know that I received a very low score (bottom quartile) on the self-evaluation part of the assessment. The result is a 2.83 average while the mean score is 3.88. Personally, I know I barely have any self-confidence so; this result is truly not a surprise. It is something that I have personally struggled for years and continue to struggle with today, even professionally. I tend to doubt myself, think that others can do a much better job than me, and so on. It’s something that I continue to work on in a daily basis.

Overall, this assessment has helped me put light on many things. Things that initially I was not aware of about myself but I was aware of in others, things that I’m completely aware of but continue to struggle with, and things that I have been able to identify, describe, and are aware of. I will make this information very useful to me when beginning to read the chapter. I will look for definitions, explanations of my behavior, and reflect on why I was not aware of it at first and how I can tailor my behavior for the better. This has been a truly educational and eye-opening assessment about myself.

Source:

Whetten, D. A., & Cameron, K. S. (2011). Developing Self-Awareness. Developing management skills (8th ed., p. 70). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall/Pearson.