Management and Leadership Skills: A Self-Assessment and Reflection

This essay is a self-assessment and reflection on management and leadership skills, written by a senior operations manager. The author details their experience, responsibilities, and challenges within the organization, including training new recruits and designing capability frameworks. The essay includes a self-assessment exercise, highlighting strengths such as diligence, crisis management, and strategic planning. The author identifies areas for improvement, focusing on attracting attention, improving communication, building trust, and practicing self-awareness. The essay then theorizes these skills using the Trait Theory of Leadership, discussing the importance of traits like energy, creativity, and emotional intelligence. The author concludes that effective leaders influence others to achieve organizational goals, emphasizing the importance of self-awareness and continuous development. The essay references several academic sources, including works by Goetsch and Davis, DuBrin, Nahavandi, and Northouse.

Running head: MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP
Management and leadership
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author Note:

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1. Autobiography
I am the senior operations manager of ABC exports limited. I have a vast experience in
my role as a manager as because I am in this very population for a period of close to 15 years.
My main task is to look after the different operational needs of the organization and to deliver
a proper training to the different employees of the organization. Training the new recruits is
one of the main challenges as because they have to be trained in such a way so that they can
easily adapt to the organizational culture. I completed my MBA from Monash University of
Australia in the year 2001 and was selected by a MNC for the post of Operational Executive.
Since then I had worked for three companies including my present job. I got the job of ABC
exports limited in the year 2012 as a junior manager of the operations department. MY
dedication, hard work and efficiency reaped healthy rewards as last year I was promoted to the
role of Senior Operations manager. My leadership skills and friendly nature immediately
caught the attention of the management and the employees and helped me to build a trust. My
main jobs in the organization are;
a. Planning and implementing proper training programs for the new recruited (Goetsch and
Davis 2014)
b. Designing capability frameworks for the roles of the executives
c. Communicating with the employees to make sure that the work is done properly (DuBrin
2015)
d. Leading the teams to carry on the organizational duties of the organization

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2. Self Management and Leadership Skills
Self Management refers to the different methods, skills and strategies that are possessed by an
individual who have the ability to direct the actions of their own towards the achievement of
some special objectives (Nahavandi 2016). The following includes setting up different goals,
planning something or scheduling some work. I have used the self assessment guidelines and the
feedbacks from my colleagues in the form of the managers, peers and reports. Essential
leadership skills of a person in the organization help the organization to follow the right path and
achieve success (Ellis 2015).
3. Results of Leadership Self-Assessment Exercise
I have discovered valuable insights by conducting a self assessment on my own. The first
major element of self assessment exercise is based on what people thinks about me and what are
the roles that I will bear as a leader. The results that I obtained were as follows;
A. I work diligently and selflessly to achieve different organizational goals for the
performance, quality, service, profits and different other official responsibilities
B. I try to take the tough jobs that are generally not accepted by others and take up full
responsibility for the outcomes
C. I have the ability to handle crisis situations and take up different challenges easily
D. The ability to predict the upcoming changes is another added advantage that puts me in a
superior position to be a leader
E. My planning and formulating the different strategies are one of the best and is praised by
the senior management of the company

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F. I have the ability to enhance the productivity and the loyalty of all the members of the
group
4. Reflection on assessed Management and Leadership Skills
After being appointed as the manager of the organization my primary task was to ensure
how I can improve my skills by assessing them thoroughly. I found out that to be more
effective and influencing in the organization I had to acquire new skills to motivate the
different people. I decided to concentrate on some of the basic factors which could improve
my productivity;
a. Attention- I have to attract the attention of the other employees by means of a strong
vision and must possess a special commitment towards the organization.
b. Meaning- An essential quality of the leader is the presence of excellent
communication skills that helps to interact properly with the people. I have to develop
my communication skill to involve in a free chat with the people of the organization.
c. Trust- I must be focused on my duties and should exhibit a transparent and friendly
behavior towards my fellow employees to generate trust.
d. Self-Awareness- I believe in positive thinking and thus know my limitations. I should
not try things that are out of my expertise but should approach every task in an
optimistic way so that I can manage them easily.
5. Theorization of the assessed management and leadership skills
It is better to assess the leadership skills of the organization by using the Trait Theory of
Leadership. According to Nahavandi (2016) the following leadership theory describes that
leaders are born and thus people with the stoic and efficient qualities within them are suited to be

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the perfect leaders (Certo 2015). It describes the reasons behind a leader being good or bad. The
common elements of the leadership traits are;
a. Knowledge of the organization
b. Energy
c. Tenacity
d. Flexibility
e. Creativity
f. Emotional Intelligence
g. Self Confidence
Leadership development helps the organization to identify the leaders and measure the
qualities of the leader (Northouse 2015), identifying the potential leaders from the large number
of employees within the organization and organize training programs for them to improve their
qualities (Ellis 2015).
6. Synthesis
After a thorough analysis of the total essay it can be concluded that leader is a person who
have a clear influence on others and thus it helps to accomplish the goals of the organization.
The leader also accepts different challenges and takes risks to remove the unnecessary hurdles
or blocks that might block the way to the success of the organization. Thus leader can be said
as the brand ambassador of the organization who leads the organization to the peak of success.
I have been able to identify my skills, weakness and strengths that have helped me to be one
of the ideal leaders of the organization.

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References
Certo, S., 2015. Supervision: Concepts and skill-building. McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
DuBrin, A.J., 2015. Leadership: Research findings, practice, and skills. Nelson Education.
Ellis, G., 2015. Project Management in Product Development: Leadership Skills and
Management Techniques to Deliver Great Products. Butterworth-Heinemann.
Goetsch, D.L. and Davis, S.B., 2014. Quality management for organizational excellence. Upper
Saddle River, NJ: pearson.
Mujtaba, B.G., 2013. Managerial skills and practices for global leadership. ILEAD Academy.
Nahavandi, A., 2016. The Art and Science of Leadership -Global Edition. Pearson.
Northouse, P.G., 2015. Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage publications.
Whetten, D. and Cameron, K., 2014. Developing Management Skills: Global Edition. Pearson
Higher Ed.