7 Diplomacy 6 Team Builder example essay topic

CONTENTS Tutor's Comments 3 Terms of Reference 3 Introduction 3 Who am I? 3 The Organisation I work for. 4 The Cwmbran Production Unit 4 Background 4 The Problem; 4 Description of situation; 4 Performance Criteria 5 Objectives 5 Perception Models 5 Perception Map 6 Personal Perception 7 Misperception 7 Implications of perception 8 Perceptual Self Defence 9 Target of Perception 9 Changing the Perceivers View 11 Evaluation of Performance (The 360 O Revolution) 11 What is 360 O Feedback? 11 Who provides the 360 O Feedback? 11 Why is feedback necessary? 12 Personal assessment 13 Assessments 15 SWOT Analysis 17 Conclusions 17 Results of Further Experiences (If appropriate) 18 Future Objectives 18 Future Development Plans 18 Figure 1 - Perception 6 Figure 2; Freud's view of Perception 6 Figure 3 Basic Model of Perception 6 Figure 4 Factors affecting interpersonal conflict 9 Figure 5-360 Deg Feedbacks 12 Figure 6 How People see us 13 Figure 7 the observation Map 14 Table 1; Self-Assessment 2001 15 Table 2; Average of Colleagues' Assessment 2001 15 Table 3; Mode of Colleagues' Assessment 2001 16 Table 4; SWOT Analysis 17 Figure 8 Action Map 17 Tutor's Comments Well structured.

A very honest reflective piece of work, which I believe was of some use to you Need to look at your referencing and bibliography - look up the 'Harvard Style of Referencing for use in future assignments C.E. Cook Terms of Reference This assignment will research perception; providing information in how we perceive and methods of how perception can be changing. I will perform a self-evaluation and 360-degree evaluations, which will allow my peers to give feedback, which will give an indication of how I am perceived. The assignment will be providing critical analysis of the self-evaluation and the 360-degree evaluations drawing upon the theoretical models researched Introduction Who am I? I hold the position of Control Technician in the Operations Department of the Owens Corning Alcopor UK Building Products Ltd, Fibreglass manufacturing plant at the Cwmbran. The developed of my knowledge of control of systems has been through manufactures Training Courses and study at Gwent Tertiary College in Programming Allen Bradley P.L. C's. My responsibility is for the Plants Process Control Systems; which includes Process Computers and Programmable Logic Controllers.

After applying for a Supervisory position I realised that I did not have sufficient knowledge or skills for Leadership. The Organisation I work for. Owens Corning Alcopor (OCA) UK Building Products Ltd is part of a European Venture, between Owens Corning, USA and Alcopor, Switzerland. The European Venture manufactures Fibreglass and Foam products. The core product manufactured in the UK is fibreglass.

The product has a variety of applications these include, roof, cavity wall insulation, pipe lagging and general oven and refrigeration insulation The Cwmbran Production Unit The Plant was originally built for Pilkington Brothers of St Helens in 1976 following the closure of the Pontypool sheet glass manufacturing plant in 1975 The Cwmbran Plant manufactures Loft Insulation in a range of thicknesses; from 40 mm to 200 mm., Europe and the USA receive exports of Fibreglass products from the Plant. The Plant's warehouses are used as a staging post for products produced in our sister plants in the north of England, and plants in the U.S.A. Background The Problem; During resent months, there has been reorganization of the Engineering Department. The reorganization has caused a change in the combination of shift craft personnel from Electrical Mechanical to pure Mechanical bias multi-skilled personnel. This has resulted in the enlarging of the electrical team. The new members of the team had limited training in the methods of interrogating P.L. C's. control programs; to solve faults that were stopping sections of Plant operate. Allen Bradley P.L. C's have been incorporated into the control of the majority of the production areas.

Without Basic training, it was difficult for individuals to understand how to manoeuvre around the software and how to move through the P.L.C. program. They understand the Ladder Logic but it was necessary to know the intricacies of the programming software Description of situation; There had been a new method for controlling the filling of a water tank installed. Following the installation, it was necessary to train the personnel who operated the area of the factory when on afternoons and nights and weekends During the training period, there was a conversation between the group, the topic of conversation was the Electrical team's knowledge, and that I was not prepared to pass information on and in several areas of Plant I was the only person that knew how it operated. I thought about the remark that had been over heard and came to the conclusion that the situation required to be reacted too. I discussed the remark with the Manufacturing Support Leader, who has the responsibility to support the shift leaders.

The new shift leaders believe that they have only one person they can approach when there was a problem with certain area of Plant. I discussed the situation with my Control Leader, who suggested that in future I ensured that I took along another member of the team with me on faultfinding activities. When the incident was discussed with my Section Leader, he said he was not aware of the perceived problem and was of the opinion that information was being passed the around the team successfully and was satisfied with the method used to handle the passing on of information. Performance Criteria Objectives The Objective of this Assignment will be to investigate methods of changing the perception that certain Production Shift Leaders have that I am not prepared to share information or show any of the Team how to solve problem on the P.L. C's. The investigation will take two paths: I will research Perception, and by performing a 3600 Evaluation of myself. The research in perception will provide information in how we perceive.

The 3600 evaluations will allow my peers to give feedback on me, which will give an indication on how I am perceived. Perception Models FIGURE 1 - PERCEPTION (Mullins) FIGURE 2; FREUD'S VIEW OF PERCEPTION (From of the Internet) Perception Map The basic model of the constituents of perception can be drawn; it has to contain the perceiver, the perceived and the situation FIGURE 3 BASIC MODEL OF PERCEPTION (Cole) The Perceiver - requires the ability to sense the situation the attitude to see the situation previous experience to base assumptions on. The Perceived -- requires reflective qualities. The Situation - this will relate to what has happened previously and at the present. An individual's perception of the situation will depend on: The Perceiver - their intelligence level; has an open mindedness; their level of emotion; their experience; The Situation - New experiences; involvement of the perceiver; the messages sent out; the time scale of involvement. The fact is, that the truth is rarely plain to see, in reality, the truth becomes shrouded.

(Adapted from Cole, page 105) Personal Perception When the object of perception is another person it affects on the sides of the perception triangular basic module, where social perception is the issue. When social perception is the issue the stereotypes, attitudes, status and assumptions come into the equation. These interfere with the perceiver's viewpoint. The more effective perceivers are those who display empathy, they require the ability to: (Adapted from Cole) (1) See the other point of view. (2) Make non-judge mental assumptions. (3) Discuss any assumptions.

Misperception When individuals do not give clear data, they can cause confusion for the perceiver. (Adapted from Handy) In an industrial situation misperception can arise for multitude of reasons: (1) Inadequate communication channels (2) The influence of individuals or groups to cause others to read adverse meaning into neutral situations (3) Failure of the perceived to send out clear messages Aspects of the perception process affect both the perceived and the perceiver, each party has to recognise the differences between appropriate and inappropriate clues (adapted from Cole) Implications of perception How we perceive others is a trick area. We never fully known the people we associate with at work; we do not become fully aware of their inner person. When we interact with people, we make assumption as to what kind of personality they have, what factors motivate them, and how they will react in every situation. To get information about colleagues we have to collect data and fit it to the information into categories to make predictions (adapted from Handy) The implications of how a colleague is perceived are important, as they can cause interpersonal reactions that are negative. Negative reaction would be the cause of not knowing all the facts and background, a form of selective perception.

(Adapted from Handy) Perceivers normally take into account known concepts that others do not know and cannot see. We are prone to selective perception, we only perceive what we want to perceive, and we collect data that will support our initial assumptions. Our role will mean we perceive situations differently. The perceptual data collection methods are unscientific. The position held by an individual will affect assumption that individual make about situation, their levels of logical thinking will differ another form of selective perception. (Adapted from Cole) FIGURE 4 FACTORS AFFECTING INTERPERSONAL CONFLICT (Adapted for March) Perceptual Self Defence Deny the perceiver a target, by reducing the perceiver opportunity for a successful allegation.

A large part of this is sending out the correct signals, the observer will detect the wrong ones easily. The correct signals are confidence but not arrogance you want your signal to say 'I am prepared to help and give advice, I will give the information that is required' There is a saying that sums this up, the Six P's - 'Prior preparation prevents piss poor performance. ' You cannot do in real life what you do not practice, -- both mentally and physically, but do not get paranoid. What it boils down to is changing the mind of the perceiver. Target of Perception The previous structure of the engineering team require that I operated on my own because there was insufficient personnel available that could be released to work with me, especially electrical personnel The method I used for distributing information was to discuss problems and how they were resolved over a tea break or by an email. These methods were not visible to the production team.

The production shift teams saw me resolving problems with my I.T. colleague or with my Control Leader they were allowed to perceive that I work in isolation to my colleagues in the electrical team. There have been many opportunities for the assumption that I did not spread information on how sensitive areas operate because I did not call for support from the electrical team and would go ahead and resolve problems on my own. Electrical personnel were usually involved on other problems and were not always available. The signals that I gave out were that I kept myself to myself and preferred to work on my own. I have worked in areas of plant that require specialist knowledge; this limited the personnel that had the training to perform the technical work. Initially my confidence retaining my position as Control Technician was low, as my movement to the position was because of the previous incumbent was appoint as Engineering Leader.

I have limited instrumentation knowledge, the Engineering Leader and Control Leader have supported me and I have received training that has allowed me to gain confidence in myself. Changing the Perceivers View In the future, my intention is to encourage the other members' electrical team to be involved in solving problems in areas that are sensitive. Their involvement in assisting to solve problems will give positive signals to production leaders that there is co-operation in the electrical team and that I am prepared to give information when required and provide support to those who needed it. I interact with other teams in the plant i.e. production shift teams, mechanical team and technical team, the people in these teams have confidence in me.

I have gained respect from many of the individuals I work with but there are those who have change roles, which I have to earn the respect of, the 360 o feedback shows that there are areas that require development. When communicating with groups or individuals it is useful to know their background, it is preferable to talk at a level that can be understood by each person being spoken too. I will have to develop techniques that will give me feedback that information I am providing or receiving is understood and clear. There will have to be practice of these techniques and utilised both at home and in work. The home is usually an area that I forget to put these techniques into practice.

Evaluation of Performance (The 360 O Revolution) What is 360 O Feedback? 360 O Feedback is a questionnaire-based process, which gathers structured feedback from a number of sources about the style and behaviour of an individual or team at work. (Nardoni) Who provides the 360 O Feedback? The people managed and the recipient peers are the best-situated people able to judge the recipient ability to work with others in the organisation. The 360 O Feedback enables stakeholders in a person's performance to comment and give feedback e.g. bosses, peers, and customers - production and technical. The principle of 360 O Feedback is that people other than the manager are better able to evaluate an individual's performance and that can include family and friends.

FIGURE 5-360 DEG FEEDBACKS (The 360 O Revolution) The collection of the information is normally through questionnaires, the anonymity for the respondents is important. Research has found that these techniques when chosen and applied correctly can motivate changes in behaviour. Why is feedback necessary? 360 O Feedback provides a means that will reveal how successful the individual is in their relations with others.

Receiving this information can be a powerful experience, it will reveal the individuals success at managing relationships. Normally the balanced feedback provides information on strengths and areas requiring development. The feedback is provided by the people you work with on a daily bases in your every day working environment. The feedback can be easier for the recipient to except because it is non-judgmental There are those who have the ability to see themselves as others do, but for the majority the feedback can give surprises as in Figure 6 FIGURE 6 HOW PEOPLE SEE US (The 360 o Revolution) Underlying 360 O Feedback is the view that the most accurate objective and well-rounded picture of an individual will be obtained from the combined opinion of arrange of people (Bristol) Personal assessment Over the passed three and half years, I have been on higher educational Management courses and have performed a self-assessment each as part of each course. The assessment criteria for 2001 were expanded to incorporate concepts that would give an indication of how I felt about my own ability to provide support for the team. The following concepts were included after researching what perceived concepts were necessary when dealing with people, and passing on information Approachable, Communicate, Diplomacy, Guidance, Patience, Responsive, Approachable Friendly, and easy to talk to capable of being approached: to take preliminary steps toward accomplishment or full knowledge or experience of; approach the subject with an open mind Communicate Should be able to transmit or receive; to succeed in conveying information to convey knowledge of or information about, make known to reveal by clear signs to cause to pass from one to another Diplomacy Tactfulness - winning goodwill the art and practice of conducting negotiations between individuals; the skill in handling situations without arousing hostility Guidance Providing advice to solve problems; the act or process of; to direct, supervise, or influence usually to a particular end; leadership or direction others.

Patience Showing calm able to endure annoyance inconvenience or delay; manifesting forbearance under provocation or strain; not hasty or impetuous; steadfast despite opposition, or difficulty Responsive Can show sensitiveness to a stimulus; read to assist in solving problems: quick to respond or react appropriately or sympathetically; to be answerable FIGURE 7 THE OBSERVATION MAP (From of the Internet) Assessments TABLE 1; SELF-ASSESSMENT 2001 Adaptability: 8 Innovation: 7 Approachable 7 Leadership: 8 Assertiveness: 7 Maturity: 7 Communicate 8 Motivator: 7 Confidence 8 Organisation: 7 Consistency: 7 Patience 6 Decisiveness: 8 Responsive 8 Delegation: 7 Stress Handling: 7 Diplomacy 6 Team Builder: 6 Guidance 8 Time Management: 6 Initiative: 7 TABLE 2; AVERAGE OF COLLEAGUES' ASSESSMENT 2001 Adaptability 7.8 Innovation 8.4 Approachable 7.2 Leadership 7.7 Assertiveness 8.5 Maturity 7.1 Communicate 7.7 Motivator 7.6 Confidence 8.3 Organisation 7.8 Consistency 8.0 Patience 6.1 Decisiveness 8.4 Responsive 8.7 Delegation 7.4 Stress Handling 6.9 Diplomacy 6.0 Team Builder 7.0 Guidance 8.6 Time Management 8.4 Initiative 8.2 TABLE 3; MODE OF COLLEAGUES' ASSESSMENT 2001 Adaptability 7 Innovation 8 Approachable 7 Leadership 8 Assertiveness 8 Maturity 7 Communicate 8 Motivator 8 Confidence 10 Organisation 9 Consistency 8 Patience 7 Decisiveness 10 Responsive 9 Delegation 8 Stress Handling 7 Diplomacy 8 Team Builder 8 Guidance 10 Time Management 10 Initiative 8 By comparing the above tables, I have been able to construct a SWOT table that indicates weakness that will require positive action that will assist in change the perceived idea that I am not prepared to share information with the electrical team The criteria for concepts that require development was to look at the total scoring for each and to chose a cut off values of 110 and a cut off average figure of 7.5 The concepts Approachable, Diplomacy, Maturity, Patience, Stress Handling, and Team Builder have come out below the cut off line. Maturity, Stress Handling, and Team Builder were in previous 360 O feedback assessments Maturity has been perceived as problem as I make joke and treat lightly situation that have been problem areas, it is my method of reducing stressful situations. The ability to operate in Stressful situation has improved by attending a Development course the provided method that can be use to reduced stress and allow easier handling of stress. My aim is to become a supervisor, the way I approachable, my diplomacy, and Patience will have to altered, I am going to have to reduce the gap between how I react to people and the expected SWOT Analysis TABLE 4; SWOT ANALYSIS Strengths Requires development Delegation 111 Initiative 123 Diplomacy 90 Motivator 114 Confidence 125 Patience 92 Communicate 115 Decisiveness 126 Stress Handling 103 Leadership 115 Innovation 126 Team Builder 105 Adaptability 117 Time Management 126 Maturity 106 Organisation 117 Assertiveness 127 Approachable 108 Consistency 120 Guidance 129 Responsive 131 Opportunities Threats Assisting to managing a project Personal attributes Six Sigma Training to Green Belt Unable to except fools gladly M.B.A. course Limited Managerial experience Perceived as retaining information The SWOT analyse has gave a list of concepts that are Strengths and those that require development.

From these, I have able to draw up a list of Threats and identify Opportunities for my self. This will enable me to channel effort to develop the undeveloped areas before the strong bring both areas closer. This will give an improvement that ensures that in the future the weaknesses are minimised, that will cause a reduction in threat to my advancement into management. There are those who warn that 360 O feedback does not provide a correct picture because those providing the feedback fell threatened by the system. Opinions in these types of feedback methods can be exaggerated; deceit and retribution has to be protected against. (Brunel) Conclusions FIGURE 8 ACTION MAP (From of the Internet) 1.

Being seen to work with colleagues to solve problems is important. Collaboration has to be visible and open 2. I have to give a Positive signal that indicates that I will co-operate, I will assist; I am approachable and I have confidence in others and myself. The signals have to be clear and visible, plain to see. 3. At my next performance interview I will approach the engineering Leader with the suggestion that I am accompanied by an electrical team member when I am modifying control systems 4.

Encourage colleague to suggest ideas to modify methods of control and assist colleagues to perform the modifications 5. It is necessary to practice communicating with people. I have to ask question that check that passed on information; given or received; was understood. 6. Supervisors are required to control of themselves before they can control their subordinates.

7. When situation cause stress levels to be high it is necessary to move away from the situation to have time to think and relax. It is possible to find reasons for a walk, for example going to the toilet. High stress level can be infectious, it is necessary to stay calm and calm colleague by approaching them with a level head 8. I have to put technique from Development Course into use; resent comments have been made by my peers and others that the courses I have attended have been affective because I do not argue or get aroused easily. 9. it is necessary to except colleague methods of working and except that other do not have the experience that I have.

Be prepare to except fools 10. I will not become paranoid by the overheard comments or the assessment. This assessment has given me tools to work with for the future. Results of Further Experiences (If appropriate) Future Objectives Review with the Manufacturing Support Leader how I am perceived.

Encourage the electrical team to become involved in interrogating faults on the P.L. C's Future Development Plans Attend a Six Sigmas Training course and become a Green Belt. Assist on a development projects - possible control a small project.

Bibliography

Information was obtained from the following publications and internet pages: Bristol - http: // bristol. ac. uk / depts /s dev / ph -app 2. htm (Nov 2001) Brunel - web (Nov 2001) Canberra -- web (Nov 2001) Cole - Organisational Behaviour 2nd Impression - Cole G.
A. (1995) Empathy -- web (Dec.
2001) Handy Personality -- web (Nov 2001) March - Organisation 2nd edition, (page 148) -- (1993) March J.
G. and Sum on H.A. Mullins - Management and Organisational Development 5th edition - Mullins L.J. (1999) Nardoni -- web (Dec 2001) White -- web (Nov 2001) The 360 o Revolution -- web (Nov 2001).