Human resources slide 1

SELF MANAGEMENT

SEMESTER 6 – A&F
WEEK 3
“Do not go by my humble beginnings. Be wary of my enormous vision.”
― Manoj Arora, Dream On
 Self Awareness Assessment
1. I seek information about my strengths and weaknesses from others as a basis for self improvement.
2. When I receive negative feedback about myself from others, I do not get angry or defensive.
3. In order to improve, I am willing to be self-disclosing to others (that is, to share my beliefs and feelings).
4. I am aware of my personal cognitive style and how I process information.
5. I have a good grasp of what it means to be emotionally mature, and I demonstrate that capability.
6. I have a good sense of how I cope with situations that are ambiguous and uncertain.
7. I have a well-developed set of personal standards and principles that guide my behavior.
8. I feel in charge of what happens to me, good and bad.
9. 9. I seldom, if ever, feel angry, depressed, or anxious without knowing why.
10. I am conscious of the areas in which conflict and friction most frequently arise in my interactions with
others.
11. I have a close personal relationship with at least one other person with whom I can share personal
information and personal feelings.
SELF AWARENESS
 The ancient dictum “Know thyself” has been variously attributed to
Plato, Pythagoras, Thales, and Socrates.
Self awareness essentially entails the knowledge of oneself, self insights,
self understanding that is important to one’s productive personal and
interpersonal functioning.
 Self-awareness lies at the heart of the ability to master oneself, but it is
not sufficient. While self-management depends first and foremost on
self-awareness, other self-management skills are closely linked to and
build upon self-awareness.
 As early as 42 B.C., Publilius Syrus proposed: “It matters not what you
are thought to be, but what you are.”

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SELF AWARENESS
Ability to assess one’s personality, behaviors & skills
accurately by
 Observing one’s own thoughts, behaviors, skills, using
validated, structured questionnaires.
 Comparing observations to an external source (e.g., a
standard or known other or first impression of other).
 Incorporating comparison into self observation &
subsequent behavior.

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THE ENIGMA OF SELF
AWARENESS
The knowledge we possess about ourselves, Self-knowledge may inhibit personal
which makes up our self-concept, is central improvement rather than facilitate it. The
to improving our management skills. We reason is that individuals frequently evade
cannot improve ourselves or develop new personal growth and new self-knowledge.
capabilities unless and until we know what They resist acquiring additional information
level of capability we currently possess. in order to protect their self-esteem or self-
Considerable empirical evidence exists that respect. If they acquire new knowledge
individuals who are more self-aware are about themselves, there is always the
more healthy, perform better in managerial possibility that it will be negative or that it
and leadership roles, and are more will lead to feelings of inferiority, weakness,
productive at work. evilness, or shame. So they avoid new self-
knowledge.

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WHY BECOME SELF AWARE?
 To improve performance
 To develop intrapersonal skills
 To manage yourself by setting appropriate goals, choose appropriate careers,
manage stress
 To accept your tendencies of behaving, thinking & feeling because 30% of
personality is genetic
 To develop interpersonal skills
 Understand differences between you and others
 Understand why others react to you the way they do
 Adapt your communication behaviors to others’ reactions
Human et al 1999, Janasz et al
SELF DISCLOSURE
 Self-disclosure is a key to improvement in self-awareness. It is
almost impossible to increase skill in self-awareness unless we
interact with and disclose ourselves to others. Unless one is
willing to open up to others, to discuss aspects of the self that
seem ambiguous or unknown, little growth can ever occur.
In order to know oneself, no amount of introspection or self-examination will suffice.
You can analyze yourself for weeks, or meditate for months, and you will not get an
inch further— any more than you can smell your own breath or laugh when you tickle
yourself.
You must first be open to the other person before you catch a glimmering of yourself.
Our self-reflection in a mirror does not tell us what we are like; only our reflection in
other people. We are essentially social creatures, and our personality resides in
association, not in isolation.
Harris, 1981
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Appreciating Individual Differences
Focus on self awareness helps you develop the ability
to diagnose differences among others with whom
you interact.
• an individual’s effectiveness as a manager is closely
related to his or her ability to recognize, appreciate, and
ultimately utilize key, fundamental differences among
others (Managing Diversity).
• Differences help us understand potential sources of
misunderstanding between people and give us clues for
how we can work together more effectively.
IMPORTANCE OF SELF AWARENESS
Self-knowledge will help you understand
• your own taken-for-granted assumptions, trigger points, sensitive line, comfort
zone, strengths and weaknesses, and so forth.
• This knowledge is useful for all of us, not because we can or should change
fundamental dimensions of ourselves, but because it helps make our
interactions with others more effective and insightful.
• It also helps us gain a more complete understanding of our potential for
contributing value in our future career roles and our special strengths relative
to others.
• allows us to recognize our own special gifts and strengths and to capitalize on
our talents.
AREAS OF SELF AWARENESS
Orientation
Emotional Personal Cognitive Core Self
towards
Intelligence Values Style Evaluation
change

1. Emotional Intelligence
• The ability to manage oneself and to manage relationships with others.
• Self-awareness has been identified as a crucial aspect of emotional intelligence, and it is more
powerful than IQ in predicting success in life.
2. Personal values
• Values identify an individual’s basic standards about what is good and bad, worthwhile and worthless,
desirable and undesirable, true and false, moral and immoral.
• They are “the core of the dynamics of behavior, and play so large a part in unifying personality”.
• All other attitudes, orientations, and behaviors arise out of an individuals’ values.
AREAS OF SELF AWARENESS
Orientation
Emotional Personal Cognitive Core Self
towards
Intelligence Values Style Evaluation
change

3. Cognitive Style
• Refers to the manner in which individuals gather and process information.
• Researchers have found that individual differences in cognitive style influence perception, learning,
problem solving, decision making, communication, and creativity.
4. Orientation towards Change
• Focuses on the methods people use to cope with change in their environment.
• All of us will be faced with increasingly fragmented, rapidly changing, tumultuous conditions (Peters,
1987). It is important that you become aware of your orientation toward adapting to these
conditions.
AREAS OF SELF AWARENESS
Orientation
Emotional Personal Cognitive Core Self
towards
Intelligence Values Style Evaluation
change

5. Core Self Evaluation

These are among the most important building blocks upon which other aspects of the self emerge.
Core Self Evaluating Scale (CSES)
1. I am confident I get the success I deserve in life.
2. Sometimes I feel depressed.
3. When I try, I generally succeed.
4. Sometimes when I fail I feel worthless.
5. I complete tasks successfully.
6. Sometimes, I do not feel in control of my work.
7. Overall, I am satisfied with myself.
8. I am filled with doubts about my competence.
9. I determine what will happen in my life.
10. I do not feel in control of my success in my career.
11. I am capable of coping with most of my problems.
12. There are times when things look pretty bleak and hopeless to me.
The Escaped Prisoner
A man had been sentenced to prison for 10 years. After one year, however, he escaped
from prison, moved to a new area of the country, and took on the name of Thompson.
For eight years he worked hard, and gradually he saved enough money to buy his own
business. He was fair to his customers, gave his employees top wages, and gave most of
his own profits to charity. Then one day, Ms. Jones, an old neighbor, recognized him as
the man who had escaped from prison eight years before and for whom the police had
been looking.
Should Ms. Jones report Mr. Thompson to the police and have him sent back to prison?

Should report him