Reference no: EM132351399

Organizational Behaviour Assignment - Self-Reflective Paper

OVERVIEW - Students are required for this assignment to utilize a variety of tools for the purpose of learning more about themselves. Interviewing work or school peers, supervisors, family members, mentors, clients or others are prospective tools. Free digital tools are available online. Some will provide you with a report once you've completed a self-assessment. Choose your sources carefully; look for credible providers. Numerous self-assessment questionnaires and accompanying grading scales appear in the text. Students should complete the questionnaires, grade them and interpret the results. Their analyses of these assessments should provide additional content for the paper. Ultimately each student will use the findings from multiple sources (text questionnaires and the text all together count only as one source) to prepare a written summary of their personal behavior preferences and style at work.

Emphasis should be on the ability to demonstrate current, meaningful self-reflection, application and interpretation of the course concepts. Proper written submission guidelines must be followed.

OBJECTIVE - The course text describes scientifically-researched theories of individual, team and group behaviour, and then discusses the contexts that shape and influence this behaviour. Our human tendency is to be able to identify, usually without too much difficulty, how these concepts explain other people or groups. What is more difficult, and is a learned process that requires practice for proficiency, is our ability to identify how the concepts provide a roadmap for us to recognize, understand and potentially correct our own behaviours. This assignment asks you to develop greater awareness of your personal styles for the purpose of: enhancing your practical understanding of the course learning concepts, assisting you to hone the self-development skill of self-reflection, and most importantly, providing the opportunity for you to gain new, meaningful personal insight.

WHAT TO INCLUDE -

1. Your text book provides numerous self assessment exercises in written and electronic (web-based) format for each chapter. At your discretion, complete those you are curious about, and evaluate your results. Most students complete all of them.

2. Please note that you should not complete this assignment without soliciting the objective (relatively speaking) feedback tools such as self assessments can provide. You should be actively seeking out new information and revelations about your personal style.

3. You should include concepts from the text that are not covered in the self-assessments, but are ones you feel have significance for you personally.

4. Please note there is a difference between concepts and terms. Example of concepts include: active listening, emotional intelligence, job satisfaction, Herzberg's Motivator-Hygiene theory, social loafing, negotiating style, leadership archetype, organizational culture fit, change resistance, and ethnocentrism. If you discuss concepts using the correct terminology I will know you have understood the course material.

5. You must support what you state. Additional material in the form of personal anecdotes should provide supporting evidence for your observations. For example, if you identify that you frequently struggle with intrapersonal value conflict, it would support your observation if you described how your desire to have a supervisory role (an instrumental value of ambition and moving up the organizational ladder) at work often requires you to work long hours to deal with people issues and keeps you from being the supportive hockey parent (a terminal value of being a good parent) you want to be. It is not satisfactory to simply state you experience intrapersonal value conflict. Conversely it would not be satisfactory to describe the conflict example without identifying it as intrapersonal value conflict between terminal and instrumental values. This is how I will know you have understood the course concepts.

6. Always link your observations stated in your paper, to the OB concept which interprets or explains it. This is similar to the point above. Assertions without a related concept become merely opinion and do not demonstrate learning.

7. You must use the following headings for your paper:

A. As an Individual I am...

B. As a Group Member, I am...

c. The Most Surprising Thing I Learned About Myself

d. The One Thing I Learned that Will Make the Biggest Difference in How I Manage Myself in the Future

e. How I Will Use What I Have Learned About Myself

f. References (cite all materials you used)

Textbook - Organizational Behavior: Key Concepts, Skills & Best Practices 5th Edition by Angelo Kinicki.