Developing Management Skills
Chapter 1:
Developing Self-Awareness
© 2007 by Prentice Hall
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Learning Objectives
• Understand your sensitivity line
• Clarify personal values and moral
maturity level
• Apply your personal learning style
• Discover your orientation toward
change
• Identify your interpersonal style
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Keys dimensions of Self- Awareness
• knowledge of the self: core of human behavior
• The ancient dictum “Know Thyself” was carved
on the Oracle at Delphi
• Oracle at Delphi : mystical sanctuary where kings
and generals sought advice on matters of
greatest importance to them
• “He that would govern others must first master
himself” Messinger
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Self-awareness
• Self-awareness: the ability to master oneself
• Self-management :
1. self-awareness
2. other self-management skills closely linked to and
build upon self-awareness:
Developing self-control
clarifying priorities and goals
=> help individuals create direction in their own lives.
managing time
 managing stress.
=>make it possible for individuals to adapt to and organize their
surroundings.
Hierarchy of Personal Life-Management
Skills
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Self-awareness
• problems in personal management:
recognized symptoms : pressures or experienced
stress.
fundamental problems with self-awareness and
out-of-balance priorities
=> focus on enhancing knowledge of oneself.
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Self-awareness
• knowledge of oneself (self-awareness, selfinsight, self-understanding) is essential to:
 productive personal
 interpersonal functioning,
understanding and empathizing with other
people.
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The Enigma of Self-Awareness
• the knowledge we possess
about ourselves is central to
improving our management
skills.
• We cannot improve
ourselves or develop new
capabilities unless and until
we know what level of
capability we currently
possess.
• individuals who are more
self-aware are more
healthy, perform better in
managerial and leadership
roles, and are more
productive at work
• self-knowledge may inhibit
personal improvement rather
than facilitate it:
• Individuals evade personal
growth and new self-knowledge.
• They resist acquiring additional
information in order to protect
their selfesteem or self-respect.
• New knowledge about
themselves will be :
–
–
–
–
–
negative
feelings of inferiority,
weakness,
evilness,
shame.
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The Enigma of Self-Awareness
• Seeking knowledge of the self is an enigma:
1. It is a prerequisite for and motivator of
growth and improvement,
2. but it may also inhibit growth and
improvement.
– It may lead to stagnation because of fear of
knowing more.
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The Sensitivity Line
• The point at which individuals
become defensive when encountering
information about themselves that is
inconsistent with their self-concept or
when encountering pressure to alter
their behavior..
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The Sensitivity Line
• The more discrepant the information or the
more serious its implications for your self
concept, the closer it would approach your
sensitive line, and you would feel a need to
defend yourself against it.
• Threat-rigidity response: response to defend
yourself against the information to protect the
image you hold of yourself.
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The Sensitivity Line
• When individuals are threatened, when they
encounter uncomfortable information, or
when uncertainty is created, they tend to
become rigid. They hunker down, protect
themselves, and become risk averse.
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The Sensitivity Line
• Individuals become rigid psychologically and emotionally
when they encounter information that is a threat to their
self-concept.
• They tend to redouble their efforts to protect what is
comfortable and familiar
• They rely on first-learned or most reinforced behavior
patterns and emotions.
• When discrepancies in the self-image are encountered, the
validity of the information or its source is denied, or other
kinds of defense mechanisms are used to ensure that the
self-concept remains stable.
• Crossing the sensitive line creates rigidity and selfpreservation.
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The Sensitivity Line
Crossing the
Sensitivity Line
•When information is verifiable,
predictable and controllable.
•When we self-disclose so
others can provide insights into
your behavior.
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The Sensitivity Line
• The enigma of self-awareness can be managed by :
1. exercising some control over when and what kind of information
you receive about yourself
2. involving others in your pursuit of self-understanding.
• The support and feedback individuals receive from others during
the process of self-disclosure, besides helping to increase
feedback and self-awareness, helps information contribute to
greater self-awareness without crossing the sensitive line.
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Appreciating Individual Differences
Differences
• We observe
differences
• Eliminates social
barriers
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Distinctions
• We create distinctions
• Create social barriers
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Five Areas of
Self Awareness
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Emotional Intelligence
•Difficult to measure and define.
•Considered to be an important
measure of managerial success.
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Components of
Emotional Intelligence
• The ability to diagnose and recognize
your own emotions.
• The ability to control your own
emotions.
• The ability to recognize and diagnose
the emotions of others.
• The ability to respond appropriately
to emotional cues.
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Values
• Foundation for attitudes and personal
preferences
• Basis for important life decisions
• Help to define morality and ethics
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Trompenaars Cultural Value
Dimensions
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Universalism vs. Particularism
Individualism vs. Collectivism
Affective vs. Neutral
Specific vs. Diffuse
Achievement vs. Ascription
Past and Present vs. Future
Internal vs. External
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Personal Values
• Instrumental Values: desirable
standards of conduct for attaining an
end
• Terminal Values: desirable ends or
goals for the individual
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Values that
Managers Desire
• Sense of
Accomplishment
• Self-Respect
• A Comfortable Life
• Independence
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Kohlberg’s Stages of
Moral Development
A. Preconventional
(Self Centered)
A. Conventional
(Conformity)
B. Postconventional
(Principled)
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Ethical Decision Making And
Values
selfunderstanding
Benefits
awareness of your
own level of values
maturity
ethical
decision
making
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Ethical Decision Making And
Values
• American public rates the honesty, integrity, and
concern for moral values of American business
executives as abysmal
• Executives are dishonest, overly profit-oriented,
and willing to step on other people to get what
they want
• Although 9 out of 10 companies have a written
code of ethics, evidence exists to support public
perceptions that these documents are not
influential in assuring high moral conduct.
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Recent Examples of Unethical
Decision Making
• Enron
• Martha Stewart
• Ford Motor
Company
• Firestone
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Ethical Decision Making And
Values
• Most managers feel they are under
pressure to compromise standards to
meet company goals*
• Conflict between maximizing
economic (revenues, costs, profits …)
social performance (obligations to
customers, employees, suppliers)
* Study by American Management Association.
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Ethical Decision Making And Values
• Most ethical trade-offs are conflicts between
two desirable ends: economic versus social
performance
• Individuals who effectively manage ethical
trade-offs are those who have a clear sense of
their own values and who have developed a
principled level of moral maturity.
• They have articulated and clarified their own
internal set of universal, comprehensive, and
consistent principles upon which to base their
decisions.
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Standards for Making Ethical
Decision
• Front Page Test
 Would I be embarrassed if my decision became a headline in
the local newspaper?
 Would I feel comfortable describing my actions or decision to
a customer or stockholder?
• Golden Rule Test:
 Would I be willing to be treated in the same manner?
• Dignity and Liberty Test
 Are the dignity and liberty of others preserved by this
decision?
 Is the basic humanity of the affected parties enhanced?
 Are their opportunities expanded or Curtailed?
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Standards for Making Ethical
Decision
• Equal Treatment Test
 Are the rights, welfare, and betterment of minorities and lower status
people given full consideration?
 Does this decision benefit those with privilege but without merit?
• Personal Gain Test:
 Is an opportunity for personal gain clouding my judgment?
 Would I make the same decision if the outcome did not benefit me in
any way?
• Congruence Test:
• Is this decision or action consistent with my espoused personal
principles?
• Does it violate the spirit of any organizational policies or laws? 31
Standards for Making Ethical
Decision
• Procedural Justice Test
 Can the procedures used to make this decision stand up to
scrutiny by those affected?
• Cost-Benefit Test
 Does a benefit for some cause unacceptable harm to others?
 How critical is the benefit? Can the harmful effects be
mitigated?
• Good Night’s Sleep Test
 Whether or not anyone else knows about my action, will it
produce a good night’s sleep?
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Cognitive style
An individual’s inclination to perceive,
interpret and respond to information in
a certain way
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Cognitive style
(1) the manner in which you
gather information
(2) the way in which you
evaluate and act on information
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Cognitive style
• Cognitive styles are not the same as
personality types.
• They are not inherent attributes.
• They are inclinations toward information and
learning that we have developed over time.
=> cognitive styles can be altered and changed
through practice and conscious development
• No one is predestined to think in a particular
way.
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Cognitive style
knowing style
planning style
creating style
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• “learning is the process whereby
knowledge is created through the
transformation of experience” (Kolb 1984)
• A four-stage cyclical theory of learning
• Kolb’s experiential learning theory is a holistic
perspective that combines experience,
perception, cognition and behavior
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Kolb’s Model of Learning Styles
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The Learning Cycle
• Developed from Kolb’s four
dimensions
• When the four-step process is
followed, learning is improved
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The Learning Cycle Model
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Scoring Plot for the LSI
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The Learning Cycle Model
1. CONCRETE EXPERIENCE(CE) (OR “DO”)
• Where the learner actively experiences an
activity such as a lab session or field work.
2. REFLECTIVE OBSERVATION (OR “OBSERVE”)
• When the learner consciously reflects back on
that experience.
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The Learning Cycle Model
3. ABSTRACT CONCEPTUALIZATION (OR “THINK”)
• The third stage, abstract conceptualization (AC),
is where the learner attempts to conceptualize a
theory or model of what is observed.
4. ACTIVE EXPERIMENTATION (AE), (OR “PLAN”)
• Where the learner is trying to plan how to test a
model or theory or plan for a forthcoming
experience.
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learning styles
2. assimilators
• who learn better when presented with sound logical
theories to consider
2. convergers
• who learn better when provided with practical
applications of concepts and theories
2. accommodators
• who learn better when provided with “hands-on”
experiences
4. Divergers
• who learn better when allowed to observe and
collect a wide range of information
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Attitudes Toward Change
Graduates of management schools
today will face an environment unlike
any person has ever experienced before
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Change Orientation
Tolerance of Ambiguity: The extent to
which individuals have difficulty coping
with unclear situations.
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Change Orientation (cont’d)
Locus of Control: The attitude people
develop regarding the extent to which
they control their own destines.
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Locus of Control
• When individuals receive information about
the success or failure of their own actions,
they differ in how they interpret that
information.
• People receive reinforcements, both positive
or negative, as they attempt to make changes
around them.
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Locus of Control
1. Internal Locus of Control:
• individuals interpret the reinforcement they
receive to be contingent upon their own actions,
“I was the cause of the success or failure for the
change”
2. External Locus of Control:
• individuals interpret the reinforcement as being
a product of outside forces
‘Something else caused the success or failure.’ 1-
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Internal Locus of Control
• Associated with successful management in North
America:
 People with an internal locus of control:
(1) be attentive to aspects of the environment that
provide useful information for the future,
(2) engage in actions to improve their environment
(3) place greater emphasis on striving for achievement,
(4) be more inclined to develop their own skills,
(5) ask more questions,
(6) remember more information than people with an
external locus of control.
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•
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Internal Locus of Control
Are less alienated from the work environment,
More satisfied with their work
Experience less job strain
More position mobility (promotions and job changes)
More likely to be leaders
Groups led by internals were more effective than those led by
externals
Outperform externals in stressful situations,
Engage in more entrepreneurial activity,
More active in managing their own careers,
Have higher levels of job involvement than externals
Internal Locus of Control
• Rely more on persuasion and expertise as a
source of power
• more satisfied with a participative
management style than externals
• internals -led firms VS external-led firms
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engaged in more innovation,
more risky projects,
more leadership in the marketplace,
longer planning horizons,
more scanning of the environment,
more highly developed technology
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External Locus of Control
• Most commonly found in managers
from Eastern cultures
• Tend to use coercive power more than
internal leaders
• Perform poorly in stressful situations
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Internal VS External Locus of Control
• internal locus of control is not a panacea for all
management problems.
• Internal locus of control is not always a positive attribute.
• Individuals with an external locus of control are more
inclined to initiate structure as leaders (to help clarify
roles).
• Internals are less likely to comply with leader directions
• Internals are less accurate in processing feedback about
successes and failures than are externals.
• Internals have more difficulty arriving at decisions with
serious consequences for someone else
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Internal VS External Locus of Control
• It is important to note that locus of control
can shift over time, particularly as a function
of the position held at work,
• external locus of control does not inhibit
individuals from attaining positions of power
and influence at the top of organizations.
• Therefore, no matter what your internal–
external score, you can be a successful
manager in the right setting, or you can alter
your locus of control.
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Internal VS External Locus of Control
• People who interpret information about
change as if they are in control of it,
• who perceive themselves to be in charge of
their own performance (and hence able to
control outcomes related to that
performance),
• are more likely to be effective managers in
most circumstances in our culture.
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summary
• The two key attitudes toward change— tolerance of
ambiguity and locus are associated with success in
management roles.
• Knowing your scores on these two factors can:
help you capitalize on your strengths
enhance your potential for management success.
• Positive managerial behaviors are associated with
internal locus of control and tolerance of ambiguity,
• possessing these orientations is neither an
assurance of success as a manager nor a solution to
the problems that managers face.
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summary
• By knowing your scores, however, you will be able to:
• Choose situations in which you are more likely to feel
comfortable,
• Perform effectively,
• Understand the point of view of those whose
perspectives differ from yours.
• Self-understanding is a prerequisite to selfimprovement and change.
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Core Self-Evaluation
Personality: The relatively enduring
traits that makes an individual unique.
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Determinants of Personality
• Some of our personality may be
attributed to biology and genetics
• However, people can make changes to
their personality if they are
determined
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Personality Traits
The Big Five Dimensions of
Personality
1. Extraversion
2. Agreeableness
3. Conscientiousness
4. Neuroticism
5. Openness
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Core Self-Evaluations
Core evaluations subconsciously
influence people’s appraisal of
themselves, the world, and others.
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Core Self-Evaluation
Four Components
1. Self-Esteem
2. Generalized Self-Efficacy
3. Neuroticism
4. Locus of Control
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The Effects of
Core Self-Evaluations
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