Introduction
Management is an essential sphere of knowledge that is critical nowadays. It allows specialists to organize teams’ work, establish clear goals, and ensure their achievement. However, effective management requires an enhanced understanding of the current trends and environment and the ability to work with employees to prepare them for possible challenges and problems. A leader should have outstanding experience in motivating specialists, creating the background for personal and professional development, and managing diversity and conflicts. Under these conditions, a manager plays a central role in the work of any organization and aligns the effective interaction between all individuals. I believe that my all skills and experiences might also be helpful in managing various groups and ensuring they can achieve the outlined goals.
Professional Background Overview
First of all, it is vital to describe my professional background to realize how it might impact my future profession. I am an experienced hotel and spa management professional with a rich history of working in the hospitality industry. I performed numerous tasks and the front office, spa, and housekeeping operations. Some of my endeavors have led me to work as a consultant at the Marilyn Monroe Spa, where I advised on operations during a soft renovation, and as field operations manager for Epic Realty Property management, where I was responsible for the maintenance and housekeeping staff. In continuing my education, I have recently obtained my CO in Business Management Supervisory at the University of XXX. In such a way, I have specific experience in performing various managerial functions and understand the peculiarities of the sphere. At the same time, I want to continue my professional development and become a better specialist.
For this reason, I have a set of professional goals that impact my further development and career. First, I am eager to lead a team to excellence, focusing on exceeding guest expectations and increasing productivity through quality service. As an entry-level manager, I am eager to join a management team at a fine resort and spa, ultimately advancing to the role of director of spa operations. However, I realize that performing these functions and succeeding in the selected sphere requires additional skills and knowledge. Nowadays, teams are becoming more diverse and consist of specialists with various backgrounds and skills. For this reason, my professional goals include continuing my training in managing diversity and cross-cultural teams to establish a culture of achievement and excellence.
Approach to Employee Motivation
Modern managers should perform numerous functions to remain effective and lead teams. Motivating employees is one of the central tasks of an executive responsible for achieving positive results and existing goals. I believe that every experienced manager has his/her own approach to motivating others and guaranteeing high-performance levels. As for me, I accept the critical importance of both external and internal motivation. The first one means external stimulus impacting a person’s desire to act and accomplish some tasks (Griffin et al., 2019). For this reason, I believe that any challenging or responsible task should be supported by monetary rewards or bonuses helping to motivate an employee and guarantee he/she works harder. It will also help to fulfill individuals’ basic needs and ensure they feel protected and do not have to think about current problems.
However, I believe that intrinsic motivation is more important compared to extrinsic one. It means that a person does something because of his/her personal interest and willingness to overcome some challenges that might emerge (Griffin et al., 2019). This desire comes from realizing the work’s importance, high involvement in the organization’s work, and desire to fulfill needs for self-realization and self-actualization (Griffin et al., 2019). My approach to cultivating this motivation implies verbal reinforcement, the creation of better opportunities for workers who are ready to work, and stimulating incentives among workers. On the other hand, active workers should realize that their commitment can help them to be promoted and acquire a better position, implying higher responsibility and involvement levels. In such a way, I believe it is vital to combine material rewards and bonuses with communication, verbal rewards, encouragement, and opportunities for personal and professional growth.
Preparing Employees for Success
A successful and effective manager should help his/her employees to become successful and engage in personal and professional development. It is closely linked to performance levels, meaning that success is a multidimensional construct depending on numerous factors (Sendawula et al., 2018). To maintain companies’ profitability and the ability to survive, top management should consider these factors and create conditions to prepare employees for success (Osborne & Hammoud, 2017). My approach to accomplishing this goal implies several important aspects. First, it is critical to evaluate workers’ current needs, skills, and experiences to understand the methods that should be used to ensure they can evolve and perform more complex tasks (Osborne & Hammoud, 2017). At the same time, evaluation and assessment activities will help to establish personal contact and build relations of trust and cooperation with all team members. A better understanding of employees is a key to preparing them for success and achievement.
Considering the information acquired from the assessment, I believe it is vital to help employees set their professional and personal development goals. It is a central component of preparing employees for success, as effective goal-setting is a key to further development and achievement (Osborne & Hammoud, 2017). At the same time, too ambitious goals might be demotivating and stressful for employees. For this reason, I believe that the aims should be introduced as a result of discussion and interaction with individuals. The following training will rest on the results of the investigation and be linked to the development goals. At the same time, the progress should be monitored to help workers who lag behind others and guarantee they also have a chance to succeed. I think this approach is practical and can be used in various settings.
Approach to Change Management
I think that the successful functioning of any company implies its continuous development and change to adapt to fast-evolving external conditions. For this reason, change management is one of the critical aspects of any manager’s work. It can be defined as the systemic approach to transforming an organization, its goals, and its approaches to attain the best possible results (Cameron & Green, 2019). The process depends on the scope of the organization, its size, and the number of departments, employees, and tasks performed within the company. It also means that the manager faces complex tasks of leading the change and organizing teams to achieve the current goals. My approach to change management rests on the idea that a company’s alteration is a process depending on the engagement of the major stakeholders, their contribution, and their readiness to change.
First of all, it is vital to ensure there is no resistance to change. It can be a severe factor deteriorating outcomes and making the successful transformation impossible (Cameron & Green, 2019). The resistance usually comes from the lack of understanding of the change’s necessity, the expected outcomes, and how they can benefit employees. For this reason, leading change requires effective communication with employees to explain the major goals and how they can be achieved (Cameron & Green, 2019). It would help to eliminate fears coming from the uncertainty and ensure workers that their positions will not become worse (Cameron & Green, 2019). At the same time, I believe that the effectiveness of change management depends on the manager’s ability to create an effective change team and ensure it considers all aspects of the process. Cooperation will help to resolve emerging issues and ensure the company evolves and acquires new features.
Approach to Managing Diversity and Conflict
As I stated previously, diversity is one of the most important features of modern organizations. Global corporations have employees with different backgrounds and cultures, meaning it is vital to align effective cooperation. My approach to managing diversity implies the establishment of an inclusive and tolerant environment within a team. It implies that individuals should be treated regardless of their cultural backgrounds, religions, races, or other views (Plummer, 2018). It would help to focus on work issues and guarantee that the cooperation will be based on the existing goals and the company’s needs. At the same time, the cases of undesired attitudes of discrimination should be eliminated because of their pernicious impact on the atmosphere within a collective. I view diversity as the primary source of ideas and possible solutions to the problem. For this reason, it is vital to cultivate it within an organization.
Furthermore, managing diversity can be associated with conflict resolution. The risk of misunderstandings and opposition increases in teams consisting of individuals with different views and cultures (Plummer, 2018). It means that diverse collectives might require practical conflict management skills from a leader. My approach to managing problematic situations implies being involved in daily interactions and being informed about the potential causes of conflict. It would help to respond timely and avoid the further deterioration of the situation. At the same time, negotiations and cooperation when discussing problematic situations are two effective methods to deal with challenging situations. I think it is essential to listen to all parties to the conflict, understand their arguments, and elaborate on a solution that would satisfy all workers’ interests. It would help to cultivate a better atmosphere within a team and avoid poor outcomes.
Conclusion
Altogether, I think an effective manager has numerous responsibilities vital for the work of the company and its further development. I have certain experience in this field; however, I want to continue my professional development and become a more skilled specialist. My current vision implies focusing on employees’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivations as the key factors impacting workers’ performance. Moreover, I recognize the necessity to create conditions for individuals’ success and further development. At the same time, I think diversity is a central aspect of modern organizations’ work. A manager should be ready to work with specialists with different backgrounds to avoid conflicts. That is why it is necessary to speak with individuals, evaluate their needs, and build trust relations.
References
Cameron, E., & Green, M. (2019). Making sense of change management: A complete guide to the models, tools and techniques of organizational change (5th ed.). Kogan Page.
Griffin, R., Phillips, J., & Gully, S. (2019). Organizational behavior: Managing people and organizations (13th ed.). Cengage Learning.
Osborne, S., & Hammoud, M. (2017). Effective employee engagement in the workplace. International Journal of Applied Management and Technology, 16(1), 50-67.
Plummer, D. (2018). Handbook of diversity management: Inclusive strategies for driving organizational excellence (2nd ed.). Half Dozen Publications.
Sendawula, K., Kimuli, S., Bananuka, J., & Muganga, N. (2018). Training employee engagement and employee performance: Evidence from Uganda’s health sector. Cogent Business & Management, 5(1).