NARSEE MONJEE INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIESMUMBAI

INDIA

ASSIGNMENTOn

“Personal Journal”

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OFPROF. VEENA VOHRA

SUBMITTED BY

ABHRAJIT KUNDU (323)

F.T. MBA 6TH TRIMESTER(2009 – 2011)

ASSIGNMENT SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT FOR THE REQUIREMENT

OFEMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE – DEVELOPING ABILITIES FOR SUPERIOR

PERFORMANCESIXTH TRIMESTER EXAMINATION

FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

Personal Journal Abhrajit Kundu (323)

Improvement Area 1 : Assertion

Personal Definition of Assertion : According to me, assertion is communicating a thought in a very straightforward manner without hurting the other person involved in the communication.

My Score of Self-Assessment on Assertion : 21

Reason for Choosing Assertion : I belong to the lower side of “Strengthen” category based on my self-assessment in Assertion. I belief, that, for moving up the corporate ladder, assertive communication is utmost important as it allows to maintain sensitivity while still being true to my own thoughts and feelings. Assertive communications are not painful or hurting to others. I see myself as a manager leading a successful team and at times, I need to communicate bad news to my team members without hearting them. I believe, at that point of time, skills of Assertion will come into play.

Potential Impact had Assertion not being Chosen as an Improvement Area : If I do not start working on improving my Assertion skills, I’ll end up beating around the bush and thus miss on some important points which I intend to make during the conversations. Or I might end up hurting my team members while communicating some bad news and it might destroy their motivation.

My Current State : As indicated in the score of self-assessment, I am not a good assertive speaker. I tend to feel guilty while communicating any bad news to my team members as if I am responsible for the undesired incident. During most of the conversations, I am not able to speak succinctly and as a consequence, the other person ends up either being irritated, or losing interest in the conversation or missing some important points.

Learning Assertion : I have planned to learn Assertion by watching and listening to the speeches of great and successful orators and then making a conscious effort during my conversation. I plan to have some of my friends as a support system that will help me in improving my assertion skills by pointing out mistakes.

Action Plans :

1. Analyzing the other person

Positive Consequence: Better understanding of the other person will help me in making the conversation non-boring.

2. Organizing my thoughts

Positive Consequence: Proper organization of thoughts before starting any conversation will make the conversation crisp and succinct.

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Personal Journal Abhrajit Kundu (323)

3. Choosing the right words and tone for expressing myself

Positive Consequence: It will help me in conveying my thoughts in the conversation without hurting the other person.

4. Maintaining eye contact and erect body posture during conversation

Positive Consequence: It will show my confidence, knowledge on the context and help in convincing the other person.

5. Speaking clearly, calmly, firmly and to the point

Positive Consequence: It will help me in not stretching the conversation beyond the necessary limit.

6. Practicing active listening skills

Positive Consequence: It will help me in understanding the view point of the other person and addressing the concerned area accordingly.

Expected Result : I belief, by practicing the above mentioned action plans, I’ll achieve the state of an assertive communicator. I’ll be the spokesperson of my team and will represent my team in large forums.

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Personal Journal Abhrajit Kundu (323)

Improvement Area 2 : Decision Making

Personal Definition of Decision Making : According to me, decision making is a series of steps that requires the input of information at different stages of the process through which one arrives at a certain conclusion.

My Score of Self-Assessment on Decision Making : 17

Reason for Choosing Decision Making : I belong to the “Strengthen” category based on my self-assessment in Decision Making. It shows that there is a lot of room for improvement in my decision making skills. I want to be perfect in my decision making skills, so that, as a future manager, I want all my decisions to be well-balanced, objective, perfect and timely and negative impact of my decisions, if any, on the stakeholders to be minimum. I want to reach a stage where I do not have to regret for the decisions I made in the past. Instead, I want to get the feeling that the decision made by me is the best one could make given the same circumstances.

Potential Impact had Decision Making not being Chosen as an Improvement Area : If I do not start working on improving my Decision Making skills, then I might not consider all the aspects and I might end up in making a not so perfect decision or taking a long time for making a right decision. A right decision made at the wrong time is also a wrong decision.

My Current State : As indicated in the score of self-assessment, I am not a perfect decision maker. At times, I get emotional, subjective and make the decisions without any logic or get diverted from the decision making process and end up in making a decision which I did not intend to make.

Learning Decision Making : I have planned to learn Decision Making by making a conscious effort during decision making process. At the same time, I want to analyze the wrong decisions which I made in the past and learn from them so that I won’t repeat the same mistake. I also want to observe the decision making process followed by others and learn from them. I plan to have some of my friends as a support system that will review the decisions made by me and point out the improvement area.

Action Plans :

1. Analyzing the concern which I need to address

Positive Consequence: Better understanding of the concern area will help me in making the decision as much objective as possible.

2. Setting a decision making process

Positive Consequence: Once the process is set, I’ll stick to that particular process and will not divert from the process.

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Personal Journal Abhrajit Kundu (323)

3. Choosing the parameters and their weightages in the decision making process

Positive Consequence: It will help me to decide the factors which I’ll consider during the decision making process and the extent to which I’ll consider each of the factors.

4. Fitting the options into the decision making process and eliminating one after another to arrive at a final decision

Positive Consequence: Once the decision making process is set and the factors are decided, it is easy to arrive at the decision by fitting the possible options into the process, evaluating each option against the factors and eliminating options one after another so at the end of the process, only one option is left and that will be the final decision. If at the end of the process, multiple options are left, then I’ll revise the entire decision making process.

5. Constantly telling myself that I won’t divert from the decision making process

Positive Consequence: There might be situations which will make me emotional and provoke me to divert from the decision making process. I’ll be constantly telling myself that I’ll stick to my decision making process irrespective of the situation and make my decision as much rational and objective as possible.

Expected Result : I belief, by practicing the above mentioned action plans, I’ll achieve the state of rational, objective and well-balanced decision maker. Even other people will come to me to help them in making their decisions.

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