University Assignment: Developing Self-Confidence in Management

This report focuses on developing self-confidence within the context of engineering management. It begins with a self-reflection, detailing the student's personal experiences with low self-confidence, particularly in public speaking and team management scenarios. The report then explores various personality tests, including McClelland’s Need analysis, the Big Five Personality Test, and an Authentic Leadership Self-Assessment Questionnaire, to assess leadership skills and identify areas for improvement. The literature review synthesizes perspectives from various authors on the importance of motivation, communication, and social interaction in enhancing self-confidence. The report concludes with an action plan, outlining strategies for overcoming weaknesses and building confidence, supported by references to relevant academic sources. The student aims to improve their leadership abilities and manage professional challenges more effectively.

Running head: ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT
Developing capabilities in self-confidence
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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Executive Summary
Management is a vast subject, which includes various concepts, theories and ideas. This is
applicable for all the professions in terms of achieving best results. The perspective of the
manager is crucial for the fulfillment of the identified and specified goals. If the manager is
competent enough for managing the employee performance, it generates good vibes within the
employees. Referring to various sources enriches the preconceived knowledge of the employees
regarding the execution of the business activities. Herein lays the effectiveness of action plans,
which makes the managers aware of the prospective plans towards altering their personality.
Evaluation of the developed plans enhances the awareness of the managers regarding the
appropriateness, effectiveness and feasibility of the planned changes.

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Table of contents
Self-reflection..................................................................................................................................2
Literature review..............................................................................................................................5
Action plan and conclusion.............................................................................................................8
References and Bibliography.........................................................................................................11

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Self-reflection
Confidence reflects the personality of an individual. Low self-confidence indicates that
the person is very introvert, just like mine characteristic traits. I lack the confidence to make new
friends. This does not mean that I am unhappy. For my happiness, I engage in things like reading
inspirational books and listening soft music. Even in these sources, I get to know about the ways
and means adopted by the people to become successful in their life. Lack of confidence in
speaking before a large audience exposes me to a lot of mocking and taunts, making me feel
depressed. Therefore, I feel that I need to be confident in the decisions, which I take and the
actions, which I perform. This is the reason for selecting the capability of self-confidence. For
the completion of the assignment, Personality Tests are required to be analyzed. Therefore, I
have selected Mcclelland’s Need analysis, The Big Five Personality Test and Authentic
Leadership Self-Assessment Questionnaire. I feel that these tests would help me to measure my
leadership skills and abilities.
My first attempt with the Big Five Personality Traits Test seemed very interesting.
According to the results, the score of my openness was very high (62.5%). The score is apt as I
tend to think and imagine things, which do not have proper end. The score indicates that my
thinking is far sighted, as I try to find relationship between things, which might not be
interrelated between each other. From these aspects, it can be concluded that I am creative,
imaginative and intellectual.
Consideration of McClelland need analysis has made me acquainted with my needs,
especially the need for achievement, affiliation or power. This test possesses direct relationship
with the enhancement of my leadership skills. The main component of this analysis is

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motivation, which I need for gaining self confidence. Motivation from my relatives, well wishers
and managers would prove beneficial for me. Effective and judicious utilization of the
motivation would inspire me to refer to external sources and expand my perspectives. On the
contrary, if I assert my power over the suggestions, it would lead to negative results. I think if I
take into consideration, feedback system, I would be able to assess what others think about me as
a person. Setting realistic and achievable goals would be helpful for me in modifying the
negative points about me. Delving deep into the aspect, my initiative towards taking feedback
reflects my confidence regarding getting familiar with my negative points. This aspect reflects
my attempts towards the attachment of proper value and weightage to my leadership skills and
abilities. As a matter of specification, the feedback consisted of questions, which defines me as a
person in response to the motivation and encouragement provided to me.
Apart from this, I also conducted Authentic Leadership Assessment Questionnaire.
Through this test, I became aware of my weakness, which hampers my path towards leadership.
As a matter of specification, the test consists of characters ranging from 1-5, signifying the
dimensions, which I have towards penetrating into the path towards leadership (Uncw.edu,
2018). The questions range from my weakness to my approaches towards the action of the
others. This questionnaire specifically made me acquainted with the fact that I have weaker
leadership skills, as I have received the score below 15.
Assisting the senior managers needs adequate knowledge, skills and experience about the
business issues. Low-level leadership skills are shameful for me in terms of the post of assistant
manager, which I hold. Along with this, possession of lower grade leadership skills creates
negative impact on the employees. This is inappropriate in terms of boosting the morale of the
employees regarding their capability to expose better performance. In this, self-confidence plays

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an important role. I can relate an example here. Once I was assigned with the responsibility to
assist my manager in finalizing the deal of launching an outlet in the neighboring country, UK. I
had to talk with the foreign clients, which was difficult for me, as I lacked confidence. I felt very
nervous to stand before the clients and suffered from inferiority complex. On my managers’
request, I went up to give presentation and stammered a lot. This type of presentation created a
negative impression about me in the minds of the managers as well as the foreign clients. It was
the absence of my convincing style, which took the company to utter loss.
Once, my manager was busy and asked me to handle the queries of the staffs. I received
many mails from the staffs, which was difficult for me to tackle single handedly. The work
pressure during this time was very high. The senior managers could not be consulted, as they
were busy in the meeting regarding the development of policies for systematizing the business
activities. I became nervous, as there were constant messages from the staffs regarding the status
of their problems. Some of the staffs were using slang languages, which made me more tensed.
There are times, when I do not receive any support or motivation from my manager.
There are times, when my manager assigns huge workload to me and stands right next to me,
ordering to complete the tasks quickly. This aggravates my nervousness, which results in
mistakes and errors.
Lack of confidence is the main reason for my failure in terms of executing the allocated
duties and responsibilities efficiently and effectively. This is reflected in my team management. I
mumble while levy orders to the team members. For this, I have experienced taunts and mocking
from the staffs several times. In these situations, I became so tensed that I became blank.

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Reflecting on these situations made me feel depressed, sad and angry on my incapability.
The taunts and mocking haunted me and disturbed my sleeps. Inadequate sleep was one of the
other results for the mistakes, which I committed while executing the assigned duties and
responsibilities.
The satisfactory results of the diagnostic tools are the typical evidence of my true
character and the personal experiences, which I have gained in the learning process.
Literature review
According to Joanne Love, motivation and regulation of behavior helps one to enhance
their self-confidence. These attributes are the primary resources for the leaders in terms of
assessing their needs. In its true essence, an authentic leader is a mere designation, which acts as
an optical illusion for the aspiring leaders (Travers, Morisano & Locke, 2015). As per the
arguments of Francisco Dao, enhancing confidence possesses similarity with laying the
foundation of a house on sand. When the foundation of house is laid on sand, it is coated nicely
with paint. But when instances like earthquake comes, the shakiness of this foundation is
revealed due to the absence of strong and flexible materials during construction. In the same
way, when leaders are created, the outer appearance seems like they have attained
professionalism. However, when they are assigned an intellectual work, the hollowness of inner
layer reflects the absence of basic training and motivation.
Aording to Ratnasari & SalimAndriansyah, (2014), self-confidence is something, which
the individuals require for enhancing their social interactions. The more people they meet, they
would be able to create a positive impact on their bosses. This positivity is crucial in terms of
exposing radical transformation in the performance, which the employees expose in the

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workplace. These aspects prove true especially for young executives, as they are in their learning
process in terms of polishing their adaptability, ability to influence others and leadership skills.
The major drive behind refinement of these skills is to alter the current personality of the
employees in terms of the identified goals and objectives.
In the arguments of Ralph Nader, communication attains an important position in
enhancing the self-confidence of the individuals, especially the employees. Communication
skills prove beneficial in terms of achieving both personal and professional development. Using
ornamental words in the communication reflects the high social status of the individuals within
the society in which they live (Schwarzer, 2014). On the contrary, using common and simple
words in communication would ease the grasping power of others. Countering this, usage of
common words hampers the upgradation of the employee performance, affecting their
professional development. Providing the employees with many opportunities regarding giving
presentation on the business issues enhances their communication skills. The results of the
presentation acts assistance for the managers in terms of planning training courses and materials
for the employees. Even the employees with good communication skills fail to expose their
communication skills properly. This might be out of nervousness, anxiety or tensions. Therefore,
training is also required for all the employees (Fransen et al., 2015).
As per the opinions of Bernice Milburn Moore, the persons who are confident and
competent are creative enough. They have the ability to mix with people especially children. As
a matter of specification, their bondage with children is of high level (Moore, 1952). This is
because children are the source, from where these people gain abstract ideas and concepts. Trust
in self and faith in the ability to perform the tasks makes the people confident regarding
overcoming the difficult and complex situations. However, under the limitation of human

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behavior, competent in doing the assigned roles and responsibilities was enough. In terms of the
present competitive ambience, mere competence is not enough for emerging as a leader. This is
in terms of exposing rational behavior for adding positivity to the personality.
One of the other aspects of this article is the relationship between dictatorship and the
self-confidence. The previous sentence possesses positive as well as negative connotations. From
the positive aspect, dictatorship means trust and confidence in self, regarding the capability to
perform the activities diligently (Ferris et al., 2015). Viewing it from negative perspective,
dictatorship means misutilization of the power and authority. Herein, the concept of authentic
leadership is totally nullified. Even the scores of the assessment questionnaire would be low,
because of the negative markings. An interesting fact here is that dictators and the autocratic
leaders hesitate to interact with the people with high self-confidence.
Motivation is a crucial element for the aspiring leaders in terms of overcoming all their
weaknesses. However, rationality needs to be maintained in the provision of motivation and
encouragement. As a matter of specification, motivation and encouragement needs to be such,
which makes the individuals aware of their needs (Wien & Olsen, 2014). Consistent evaluation
possesses flexibility in assisting the employees to assess the effectiveness, feasibility and
appropriateness of the needs, which they have identified. If the employees attempt to exert their
power upon one evaluation, it indicates that they are very impatient and tend to experiment with
their knowledge, skills and capabilities. As per the propositions of Ralph Nader, the true essence
of motivation is the production of more leaders from the leaders. The first leader here is the
leader himself and the second leader are the followers, who have emerged as the leaders.

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Behavioral theory can be brought into the discussion through the reference of the article,
Leadership and Motivation.. Every person possesses individual traits, due to the type of socio-
cultural background to which they belong. The circumstances control the behavior of the people.
The events taking place in our surroundings alter the approach of the people in terms of their
thinking and response (Ferris et al., 2015). This article perceives motivation as the direction of
the efforts towards the achievement of goals. If the efforts are whole-hearted, the persons are
bound to achieve their targets. On the contrary, disorganized approach towards the performance
of the tasks would deviate the persons from their goals. Dedication, commitment and persistent
efforts enable the persons to abide by their specified targets.
The self-esteem of the individuals varies according to the experiences, which they gain
from the surroundings. The high and low level of self esteem adversely affects the emotional and
social parameter of human mind (Fransen et al., 2015). People who have high self esteem are
very flexible with the maintenance of stabilities in the relationship with others. In order to
understand these dimensions, curvilinear model of self-esteem can be considered. The axis of
the model depicts that the achievements earned by the individual is directly related with their self
esteem (Orth et al., 2016).
Action plan and conclusion
Motivation exposes an individual to understand their needs and reach the targeted goals.
If motivation is provided adequately by the seniors and experienced persons, the individuals find
an urge to expose better performance in their professional career. In this process, the lack of
confidence improves, making the individual capable of undertaking challenging and enduring
tasks. Theoretical consideration in the provision of motivation proves beneficial in terms of

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achieving positive results. Delving deep into this aspect, taking practical tests of the employees
excavates their behavior in different situations. Positive response to these tests increases the
confidence of the individuals, enhancing their self-esteem. Herein lays the conjoined significance
of behavioral and curvilinear model of self-esteem.
If the individuals make plans and schedules, their life would be systematic and organized.
This systematic life would help the individuals to maintain the balance between personal and
professional life. Here, setting of realistic and achievable goals is crucial in terms of emerging as
a successful personality. Sticking to the goals is very important, as deviation would compel the
individual to encounter taunts and mocking. Therefore, individuals need to silently move towards
the chosen path to leadership. That does not mean social interaction would not take place.
Instead social interaction would enrich the perspectives of the individuals regarding the alteration
of personality through the enhancement of self-confidence. However, the appropriate suggestion
needs to be chosen by the individuals. Evaluation of the appropriateness, effectiveness and
appropriateness would make the individuals aware of the direction in which they are progressing.
Maintenance of consistency in this evaluation possesses flexibility for bestowing best results in
terms of upgrading the standards and quality of the performance exposed by the individuals.
Taking the personality tests would expose the individuals to the levels and scores of their
traits. Honesty in giving the answers would place the individuals in front of their true self, which
would act as an empowerment from the identified issue of lack of confidence. Another important
aspect here is the time taken for completing the test. Taking too much time to answer the
questions indicates that the individuals are not fully aware of true self, which makes the decision-
making process prolonged and complicated. On the contrary, random answering would reflect
that the individual might be able to take spontaneous decisions in future with practice.

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Training would enhance the preconceived skills, knowledge and skills of the individuals.
However, the selection of the trainer needs to be appropriate in terms of getting proper guidance
and coaching. On the other hand, it is the duty of the trainer to prepare the trainee, so that he is
able to reach the identified and targeted goals. Attending personality development courses would
also be beneficial in terms of enhancing the social status of the individuals.

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References and Bibliography
Alok, K. (2014). Authentic leadership and psychological ownership: Investigation of
interrelations. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 35(4), 266-285.
Ferris, D. L., Lian, H., Brown, D. J., & Morrison, R. (2015). Ostracism, self-esteem, and job
performance: When do we self-verify and when do we self-enhance?. Academy of
Management Journal, 58(1), 279-297.
Fransen, K., Haslam, S. A., Steffens, N. K., Vanbeselaere, N., De Cuyper, B., & Boen, F. (2015).
Believing in “us”: Exploring leaders’ capacity to enhance team confidence and
performance by building a sense of shared social identity. Journal of experimental
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Görgens-Ekermans, G., Delport, M., & Du Preez, R. (2015). Developing Emotional Intelligence
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