How personality factors affect global management capability (Essay Sample)

How personality factors affect global management capability Student’s name University Course Date How personality factors affect global management capability Introduction Management has been evolving for quite some time since the beginning of this century. Competition and the need to expand to global markets have led business to develop management competencies that can be on a global level. Research has shown that personality traits are important in leadership since they form the leadership traits that an individual has and can be used as a measure that can help improve management. Further, research has shown a close link between personality and job performance by the individual. Personality entails a blend of unique characteristics that distinguish an individual from another; these unique characteristics form traits that are applied in making leadership decisions and defining a leader CITATION Bal05 \l 1033 (Balkis, 2005). According to Hamilton (2001) leaders are identified through a combination of leadership and personality traits that differ according to situations that the leader is in. This gave rise to demographic homogeneity and diversity of personnel which increased globalization and cultural diversity in the workplace that needed deep and strong personality oriented individuals to manage this changing workforce. These traits can be appraised to determine leadership patterns that the individual posses and how they can be improved. This essay focuses on leadership and management skills based on personality traits using the 123 personality test and how they can be improved (123 Test, 2016). Global management capabilities Capability management is the balancing of the business economy to meet the operational requirements based on the available capabilities and developing future capabilities to meet strategic and operational objectives of a business. However, management capabilities have taken a global dimension with the increasing international presence of companies. Organizations’ are preparing their managers for management skills on a global perspective that allows managers to take responsibilities anywhere that the organization sends them (Barrick, Mount & Judge 2000). The need to have a manager who understands the strategic direction of the company is a pillar in the success of any business idea. Organizations have therefore changed the way managers are nurtured and created. Every organization is focussed on ensuring that its managers can take up global responsibilities. Therefore global capabilities are developed based on global-scale efficiency, local responsiveness, and the ability to leverage learning worldwide CITATION Vro00 \l 1033 (Vroom, 2000). Global managers build worldwide efficiency and competitiveness to meet the strategic needs of the business. Managers are developed along different personality types and soft and hard skills. Hard and soft skills in management Soft skills are subjective and undefined based on the relationships that they have with people. The subjective nature of these skills makes them difficult to measure but their results can be seen in output activities like effective communication and relationships that are build among employees in an organization. This means that soft skills exist more in relationships and the communication that people have. As global managers, several soft skills are important in building an effective manager. These skills include Problem-solving, Conflict resolution, Negotiation, Motivation and Leadership (Laker & Powel 2011). McFarlane(2008) states that problem-solving is the ability of a manager to identify problems through understanding the cause of the problem and generate the best feasible solution that satisfies all the parties that are affected. On the other hand conflict resolution is the management and coordination of resources through equal and fair distribution. Marxists argue that conflict arises since resources are minimal and thus competition for the resources attracts imbalances that degenerate into conflict. Human needs proponents argue that a global manager needs to have skills that can identify essential needs of an individual that when threatened lead to conflict CITATION Rai02 \l 1033 (Rainsbury, 2002). Negotiation skills are used in relationships and making of business deals within the work environment. Vroom (2000)suggests that the manager needs to have skills of easily communicating with clients to sale the objectives of the organization and at the same time satisfy the client. Negotiation has been largely defined as a specialized form version of conflict resolution that is employed to arrive at strategic decisions. Negotiations can take different methods of analysis like integrative, process, structural, strategic and structural analysis (Muzio, Fisher, Thomas & Peters 2008). Motivation skills are used to develop the work place and make employees to be engaged more in their work. McFarlane (2008) argues that managers need to identify a set of factors that motivate employees. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs shows that the individual focuses on meeting the next need that is up the ladder. Therefore the employee works hard to achieve the next level stage or target that has been set. Hard skills involve the technical skills that the manager needs to posses to create deliverable tangible outputs. These skills are applied in planning and scheduling of tasks, budgeting and assessing and responding to risks at the work place. The skills require the managers to have academic competencies that are based on academic skills that the manager acquires in class.(Ployhart, Lim & Chan, 2001). As a global manager it is relevant to understand the leadership and management patterns that are appropriate to the trends that exist within the system. Muzio, Fisher, Thomas & Peters (2008) argues that, a global manager has to establish the right mix of both soft and hard skills in management. Different situations in management call for different management skills that are relevant to an organization. The Big Five personality traits Rothmann & Coetzer (2003) state that the big five personalities are grouped together using factor analysis using the suggested descriptors of personality. Trait theorists have argued that these five traits are the structure behind all the personality traits that exist. The five traits are extraversion, agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness and neuroticism. Each of these traits has some primary factors that relate to it. The aim of this model was to correlate academic and personality behaviours that guide the personalities of individuals. From an analysis of personality traits I will analyse the extraversion personality which is my strongest personality type with a score of 76 (123 test, 2016). Extraversion personality indicates easily outgoing individuals who are social and easily relate with others. These personality individuals enjoy being with other people and working social or group situations. With this regard the individual can easily manage group dynamics by fitting in groups and stimulate others through engaging them. Individuals with these sub-traits are friendly, gregarious, assertive, and cheerful and excitement seeking (Rothbart, Ahadi & Evans, 2000). Researchers have argued that extroversion is strongly linked to leadership, from the assertive nature of this personality type; it is easy to take up leadership roles when working in groups, individuals with such like personality types are energetic and highly adaptable with positive outlook (DeYoung, Quilty & Peterson 2007; Feiler & Kleinbaum 2015). Further research has linked extroverts to intelligence which is a key measure in problem-solving and influencing followership. Jobs that require high interaction with people are best suited for extroverts. How extrovert personality impacts global management capabilities Extroverts are born with the essential to speak and socialize with other people at the work place. This personality types present both negative and positive impacts at the work place and on larger global management perspective. Extroverts have been described to make good networks through building right connections that make them easily noticed by people. Since the personality type exhibits influencing characteristics, I can easily associate with others and make the best relationships. Leaders are supposed to be vocal and have the ability to face issues easily rather than keeping quite. Leading an extrovert group can make management accountable for the decisions they make and increase the ability to solve problems at work level. The personality type makes me overwhelmed with lots of praises due to the ability to rally the troops to do just about anything at just about any time. Psychologists have described extrovert leadership as working better in situations where members require spoon-fed motivation. Sometimes global management becomes a challenge to extroverts since different group characteristics have different attitudes and defined traits that may not work well with extroverts CITATION Pau01 \l 1033 (Paunonen & Ashton, 2001). On the other hand being too vocal can make my teams look inferior and thus easily comply with decisions that are made. I am a poor listeners who easily tramples on others by acting without thinking and thus on the extreme, these capabilities have been described as subpar. Sometimes somebody needs to speak up so that people can realize the mistakes that they have made and correct. Introverts will fear extroverts and fail to ask them questions since they cannot afford to be too talkative. However,, I can make a better leader if I create groups that offer a contrast to my abilities. This makes me proactive and deeply engaged in team leadership. ...