The shift from a contributor to a manager also involves a great deal of mastering leadership. Therefore, modern managers are expected to harness their role execution abilities in the course of their practice. In the course of studying human resource management (HRM), the MBA program has provided me with various useful insights. It has also been beneficial to acquire diverse points of view from my fellow learners.
In my experience, HRM calls for managers to focus on employee satisfaction and recognition through various means such as adequate compensation and motivation. Furthermore, leader managers mostly focus on having and executing visions, taking risks, and overseeing innovation. The Competing Values Framework (CVF) was proposed in 1984 with the view of incorporating management and leadership roles. Consequently, the CVF is a viable method of assessing the core competencies of any potential leader. This essay is a reflection of my strengths, weaknesses, and styles as a manager using the different roles that are contained within the CVF.
The first core competency that applies to the CVF model is the mentor role. According to the CVF model, “the mentor role entails an understanding of self and others, communicating effectively, and developing employees” (Arsenault & Faerman, 2014, p. 148). This is a great place to begin a self-assessment as a manager-leader. My first strength in this regard is that I have the ability to guide employees, especially the ones who work under me.
Furthermore, a mentor’s role entails a higher level of awareness in terms of emotions, self-confidence, and self-awareness. In my assessment, I have completely mastered two out of these three aspects, and I am in the process of mastering my emotional awareness in any conceivable scenario. It is important for any manager to have the ability to master his/her emotions even in the most emotionally charged situations. Having a higher-level awareness also makes it easier for me to mentor others because I have an idea of how to improve my mentees’ skills and level of awareness. In the course of my mentoring, I tend to lean towards training, as I believe it is the strongest tool in the course of mentorship (Cummings & Worley, 2014).
The monitoring role is another hallmark of managerial competency. Monitoring roles relate to my ability to manage information using a set of skills that includes critical thinking, organizing core processes, and handling information overload (Cameron, Quinn, & Thakor, 2014).
Out of these core skills, I am more adept at critical thinking, and it is a key skill in my future as a manager. However, my good critical thinking skills also make it harder for me to collaborate with others because some of my ideas/solutions are considered to be ‘over the top.’ One of my main weaknesses when I am undertaking my monitoring role is that in the past, I have had trouble handling information overload.
As a critical thinker, I am of the view that all pieces of information should count, and this makes it difficult for me to accommodate a heavy information workload. Nevertheless, this weakness is only manifested on rare occasions when my analytical process is compromised. Furthermore, this shortcoming can be addressed through delegating and identifying the core processes. The critical issue in this regard is in ensuring that as a manager, I do not lose track of what the most important aspects of managerial activities are.
Another key competency that applies to my management skills has to do with how well I can handle the facilitator role. The facilitator role involves “building teams, utilizing participative decision-making, and managing conflict” (DiPadova & Faerman, 2013, p. 145). Managing teams is one of my strongest areas, as in the course of my experience, I have found out that I am able to build teams that can deliver my vision as the manager-leader.
On the other hand, as a manager, I am also able to utilize and accommodate participative decision-making. This is the core element of teamwork. In modern HRM, teamwork management has become a key element of managing teams involves organizing and distributing resources for use by teams in an effective manner (Denison & Spreitzer, 2011). One of my weaknesses in regards to carrying out the facilitator role is in conflict management. Although most of the individuals who work under me consider me to be a natural peacemaker, I often find it difficult to accommodate the pettiness that is the source of most conflicts. Therefore, even though I can resolve conflicts with ease, I often try my best to avoid this task.
The reflection of my core competencies as a manager offers me useful insight into the direction my post MBA life is set to take. The reflection has shown me that I am ready to assume a managerial position with the view of facilitating, monitoring, and mentoring. Furthermore, this reflection has intimated me to my core strengths as a manager. For example, my ability to think critically is an important factor in relation to CVF. Going forward, I will concentrate on maximizing my strengths and improving on my weak areas in accordance with the various CVF roles.
References
Arsenault, P., & Faerman, S. R. (2014). Embracing paradox in management: The value of the competing values framework. Organization Management Journal, 11(3), 147-158.
Cameron, K. S., Quinn, R. E., & Thakor, A. V. (2014). Competing values leadership (6th ed.). Chelteham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Cummings, T. G., & Worley, C. G. (2014). Organization development and change. New York, NY: Cengage Learning.
Denison, D. R., & Spreitzer, G. M. (2011). Organizational culture and organizational development: A competing values approach. Research in Organizational Change and Development, 5(1), 1-21.
DiPadova, L. N., & Faerman, S. R. (2013). Using the competing values framework to facilitate managerial understanding across levels of organizational hierarchy. Human Resource Management, 32(1), 143-174.