Business Personal Development - Self-Awareness, Values, Leadership, Decision Making

This report analyses the self-awareness framework, values, leadership, and decision-making process for personal and professional development. It includes a Big Five personality test, emotional intelligence, power and politics, and rational and behavioural decision-making approaches.

Running head: BUSINESS PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
BUSINESS PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive Summary
This report aims to analyse the self-awareness framework working on the practical exercise
along with the personal benefits of the individual. Real-life self-management strategy helps to
obtain suitable employment and it also helps to develop the career of the individual as well.
In the first part of the study, the Big Five personality test has been conducted to understand
the five types of personalities along with my strengths and weaknesses. After that, my values
and motivators in the workplace have been explained where I realised that I follow mainly
the honesty and ambition a part of my motivators. In addition, I am sympathetic towards my
fellow mates and in future, I will share the emotional intelligence towards the fellow
colleagues. My leadership qualities share the feature of the Democratic leadership and I will
demostrate the aspect of democratic leadership in future. I have potential characteristics of
being transformational leadership. I can handle the power and politics of the workplace.
Finally, in the last section, decision-making and planning have been explored with two
approaches; rational approach and behavioural approach.

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Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction..........................................................................................................................3
2.0 Self-awareness......................................................................................................................3
2.1 Personality........................................................................................................................3
2.2 Values and Motivators.....................................................................................................7
2.3 Emotional intelligence.....................................................................................................8
2.4 Leadership........................................................................................................................8
2.5 Power and Politics............................................................................................................9
3.0 Decision making and planning...........................................................................................10
4.0 Conclusion..........................................................................................................................12
References................................................................................................................................13

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1.0 Introduction
Personal development is one of the most important aspects of self-evaluation of what
situation the person is in and what development aspect needed for the development of the
person. The improved self-awareness, knowledge, skill and development process, self-
esteem, career development and possible strength and opportunities are the prevalent aspects
of personal development. The improvement of this development process aligned with the
training and guidance of that person are crucial. I have certain career planning for achieving
leadership position in the organisation. The positional development and improvement of areas
need to be done so that effective upgradation of position will be attained by me. The
emotional development and mental development are important aspects that encourage the
physical and mental development of the person. I need that evaluation so that I understand
my strengths and weaknesses and then work over it.
2.0 Self-awareness
2.1 Personality
In case of evaluating my personality, Big Five Personality Test has been chosen and
the test signifies the qualities I have and the improvements I need for the development of my
personal and professional career. There are five main aspects of that test like Openness,
Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism. In case of openness, I get
75% on openness as the process describes the creative aspect and intellectual mindset. High
score in openness showcases the creativity of mine and development of artistic expression in
me (Truity.com 2018). In leisure time, I used to involve with the cultural activities and that is
the reason high IQ development and the process of intercultural development persist within
me.

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Figure 1: Openness Score
(Source: Truity.com 2018)
In case of conscientiousness, the ability of self-discipline and control over my goal is
important. Organised process and determination of immediate gratification is the major
concept of this process. I have scored 65% on that process and this is a moderate range
(Truity.com 2018). I need to focus on my long-term goals and the successful persuasion of
the process is missing, which I have to initiate and directed on the successful completion of
the goal.
Figure 2: Conscientiousness
(Source: Truity.com 2018)
Friendship, power, status, admiration, excitement, and romance all these aspects are
catered for by extraversion. This is a process that showcases a person in an introvert or the
extrovert manner. In this perspective, I got 48%, which is quite low in manner and I have
introvert nature which can be a barrier in communication (Truity.com 2018). In case of
organisation leadership, communication is one of the most important parts of their

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advancement. The extrovert mentality helps the entire process of dealing but the introvert
does not acclaim high social achievements. I need to change my mind in that area.
Figure 3: Extraversion
(Source: Truity.com 2018)
The aspect of agreeableness is based being co-operative and helping others and bother
about other people. The issue of trust and taking care of other people are associated with this
process. I have got 60%, which is a moderate score, however, I have a soft heart and my
mentality is also empathic (Truity.com 2018). I concern about peoples' activity and care them
from my end, but the issue of donating providing something to someone is not my genre and I
am not believing all this process. Maybe I need to believe people more so that trust over them
will come and I can therefore improve the score.
Figure 4: Agreeableness
(Source: Truity.com 2018)
Neuroticism contains negative emotion of people. Fear, sadness, guilt, shame,
sadness, and anxiety all these are experienced in this process. I have a moderate score in this
process and 48% of score I got through the result (Truity.com 2018). The result signifies I
have negative emotions and anger in me. This is a kind of reactive process that experienced

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native emotion. I have to trust more in people and do not make so much reaction in any case
so that my behavioural aspects are under control.
Figure 5: Neuroticism
(Source: Truity.com 2018)
The core pattern of Empathic idealist thinks about the better and beautiful place,
Practical caretaker maintain the stability and security, Analytical thinker thinks about the
innovative ways to improve the system and Logical mechanic ensures to accomplish the real
world goals. The thinking process of innovative cultures and ways of maintaining a
relationship with employees is the concern matter of this process (Truity.com 2018). The
evaluation helps me to understand the entire scenario and diagnose the problems in me so that
effective recommendations can be derived. The changes need to be made and those changes
directed to the right path of reality and emotional achievements.

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Figure 6: Core Pattern
(Source: Truity.com 2018)
2.2 Values and Motivators
Most important attitudes, values and motivators
Work values are aligned with the creativity and transparency in business. The impact
of positives and negatives in the workplace also set the values. The realisations of
accomplishments and motivate people for achieving the goal also considers as values
(Schunk and Zimmerman 2012). The affiliation, affluence, advancements, balance,
community, compassion, diverse perspective, knowledge, location, order, loyalty all these
values are important for the development of the organisation (Andersen et al. 2013). I need to

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develop my creativity and engagement with the employees so that a better goal oriented
processed are furnished.
In my case, the motivation factors are aligned with persistence, directive and intense
to complete the work. In workplace, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation are needed. The
intensity of doing work is also motivated by these processes so fulfilment of this is also
important.
2.3 Emotional intelligence
Emotional intelligence is the process of handling the emotion of the people and
manage the interpersonal relationship between people. I have some problem with
communication as I am introvert in nature and I also have trust issues with people. These
things are needed to be regulated in a proper form (Brunetto et al. 2012). The process of
empathy and self-awareness is also aligned with the emotional intelligence and this process
motivated to the skill development and self-regulation (Goleman, Boyatzis and McKee
2013).
In my case, I have some issues with anger and emotions. I have some problems with
aspect of fear and anger and understand those things in a formative manner is important in
that case. The ability to use, comprehend and manage the emotions are the main aspects of
this process and for the betterment of my emotional ability, I have to develop my emotional
intelligence as well.
2.4 Leadership
The process of leading any kind of action in an organisation is the prime aspect of a
leader. The leader needs to have that view to authorise, control and supervise the process of
direct any view in the right way. Honesty, commitment to the particular work, decision-
making capabilities, accountability, creativity and innovation, inspire other people, delegation

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and empowerment all these are the qualities of a leader (Bolman and Deal 2017). In a leader,
clarity, passion and courage are the traits that innovate leader and also process the mentality
of leading business. Self-effacement and decisiveness in mind help the leadership aspect to
make the mentality positive enough to handle any sorts of challenging situation (Fairhurst
and Connaughton 2014). There are some learning aspects of leadership but the decision
making sense and attitudes towards the achievements are not taught, rather perception and
experience are the major alignments that initiate the leadership aspects to encourage the
process.
In my case, the test evaluates my leadership qualities and directed to the negative
aspects in me and provide me with a chance to improve those aspects to become a good
leader. The anger, caring employees, trust over those employees, fear to take challenges and
communication and break the shell of introvert outline need to be rephrased in me so that my
evaluation and development will be in maintained in a proper manner.
2.5 Power and Politics
Power and politics have a huge role in the business and they govern about how
employees interact with each other. The influence of power depends on how the employees
use negative as well as positive power to impact others' decision-making in the workplace
(Esping-Anderson 2017). In my future workplace, I will try to handle the power and
influence in organisations. Power within the organisation mainly covets by the senior
management and the employees do the politics to achieve changes which any benefit the
organisation or the person within the organisation. As stated by Chadwick (2017) workplace
politics is the behaviour and the process in human interaction which is involved by authority
and power. Within an organisation, I will try to make differentiation of the work groups into
three subgroups. At first, work groups and this group is based on the departmental

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differences, differences prescribed by the organisational hierarchy and differences in
departmental work activity. In addition, Spykman (2017) commented that interest groups are
aware of their goals and them also interdependent of their work. Finally, within the
organisation, the coalition is the group which is committed to achieving the goals to conduct
the work. At first, I will analyse the organisation chart and I will also try to understand the
informal network. First of all, I shall try to make connections with the colleagues and the
senior management so that I can understand the power-relation within the organisation. In
addition, I need to develop the people skill as it is completely based on the interpersonal
skills. I have good interpersonal skills and I will take the aspect of acting brave so that I can
understand the politics within the organisation. Be a part of the politics within the
organisation is not my characteristics type; I will neutralise negative politics. I will not
indulge in the rumours and I will keep my professionalism in every scene.
3.0 Decision making and planning
Decision-making approaches
Most of the individuals rely on the discrete and they often rely on an unconscious
process known as the heuristics. As stated by Walker (2017), heuristic involves in
recognising the pattern and it makes able to solve the problem by coming towards the
conclusion.
Rational approach
Rational decision-making approach is a systematic and step-by-step process to make
decisions. Before taking a rational approach, it assumes that the firm is economically based
and the firm is managed by the decision-makers. In rational approach, decision-making
approach follows a few steps as it starts with stating the situational goal. In a rational
approach, the decision-makers need to understand whether the decisions to be taken right

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now or later. As stated by Gigerenzer (2015), in the rational approach, decision-making
models do not begin with goals always. A problem requiring decision is identified and
diagnosed as it involves understanding the causes, magnitude and nature. Decision-makers
determine whether the problem is programmed or non-programmer. In the following stage,
non-programmed decision helps to generate alternative and decision-makers can also
generate alternatives. Decision-makers can analyse the symptoms of the problem solving or
rely on their judgement to achieve the alternative solutions (Mintz 2016). In the final stage,
decision-makers need to understand various alternatives in terms of cost, benefits,
weaknesses and strengths as well as possible negative outcomes. According to Frederiks et al.
(2015), rational approach forces the decision-makers to understand the decision in sequential
manner and logic and does the in-depth analysis to help to choose the basic information.
Behavioural approach
Decision-makers operate with not just the perfect rationality rather the bounded
rationality approach. In this approach, the decision-makers cannot just follow all the aspects
of the decision and they cannot follow all the alternatives associating with this. Therefore, the
decision-makers just choose to tackle the meaningful subset of the decisions (Stingl and
Geraldi 2017). The behavioural approach starts with using the procedures and rules
associated with reducing uncertainty and decision-making ability. In addition, the decision-
makers need to optimise the best possible outcome from the negative effects of the aspect of
the decision of the organisation. Moreover, the behavioural approach searches for the
alternative which is generally searching for the sequential process.
When I will go for an internship, I will choose the geographic location and the
opportunity for training and development in the internship based on the rational approach.
This type of decision should be formally accepted by the heart as it builds the motivation and

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commitment involved in the decision-making process. Successful implementation needs
appropriate structure and application of the series of good decision-making. I will take the
decision regarding the opportunity for ongoing employment in behavioural approach as here I
can come across with various alternatives on a sequential basis. At first, I have understood
my problem of taking the rational decision; after that, I need to guide myself by previous
experienced where I face the similar issues. In the traditional problem-solving process, it
starts with identifying the problem and I need to gather the data to analyse the cause. The
decision-makers explore the alternative solutions and select the appropriate solutions.
4.0 Conclusion
In this self-awareness report, I am open to the decision-making and the problems of
day-to-day life and I have a tendency to think in an abstract way to find the novel
experiences. In the case of extraversion, I have less the extraversion as I do not find the
stimulation in the outside world. I cannot engage myself in the admiration, friendship, power
and status. In addition, I have a set of values and motivators which suggest that I cannot
mould myself too far extend as I have ambition and I am honest to myself. I am sympathetic
towards other in my life and I will also share the same characteristics in my future life as
well. I will also share the feature of democratic leadership in my future career as I always like
to take a decision after discussing with people. In case of the decision-making, I take the
rational approach and in my future internship; I will make the decision in designing upon
predetermined and desired goals.

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References
Andersen, L.B., Jørgensen, T.B., Kjeldsen, A.M., Pedersen, L.H. and Vrangbæk, K., 2013.
Public values and public service motivation: Conceptual and empirical relationships. The
American Review of Public Administration, 43(3), pp.292-311.
Bolman, L.G. and Deal, T.E., 2017. Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and
leadership. John Wiley & Sons.
Brunetto, Y., Teo, S.T., Shacklock, K. and Farr‐Wharton, R., 2012. Emotional intelligence,
job satisfaction, well‐being and engagement: explaining organisational commitment and
turnover intentions in policing. Human Resource Management Journal, 22(4), pp.428-441.
Chadwick, A., 2017. The hybrid media system: Politics and power. Oxford University Press.
Esping-Andersen, G., 2017. Politics against markets: The social democratic road to
power (Vol. 4877). Princeton University Press.
Fairhurst, G.T. and Connaughton, S.L., 2014. Leadership: A communicative
perspective. Leadership, 10(1), pp.7-35.
Frederiks, E.R., Stenner, K. and Hobman, E.V., 2015. Household energy use: Applying
behavioural economics to understand consumer decision-making and behaviour. Renewable
and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 41, pp.1385-1394.
Gigerenzer, G., 2015. Simply rational: Decision making in the real world. Evolution and
Cognition.
Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R.E. and McKee, A., 2013. Primal leadership: Unleashing the power
of emotional intelligence. Harvard Business Press.

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Mintz, A. ed., 2016. Integrating Cognitive and Rational Theories of Foreign Policy Decision
Making: The Polyheuristic Theory of Decision. Springer.
Schunk, D.H. and Zimmerman, B.J. eds., 2012. Motivation and self-regulated learning:
Theory, research, and applications. Routledge.
Spykman, N.J., 2017. America's strategy in world politics: the United States and the balance
of power. Abingdon: Routledge.
Stingl, V. and Geraldi, J., 2017. Errors, lies and misunderstandings: Systematic review of
behavioural decision making in projects. International Journal of Project
Management, 35(2), pp.121-135.
Truity.com 2018 The Big Five Personality test retrieved from:
https://www.truity.com/test/big-five-personality-test [Accessed on 12th September 2018]
Walker, A., 2017. Rational decision-making. The Bulletin of the Royal College of Surgeons
of England, 99(5), pp.175-175.