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MD4042 Leadership & Management Essay

Assessment One – Individual Essay

This is an individual written essay due for submission:

• Distribution Date: Week Commencing Monday 28th September
• Assessment 1: Reflection: 1,600 to 1,700 words with references

Critically analyse your own personality.

You are required to produce an individually reflective written essay. Through dialogic reflection, your work should identify and critically appraise your individual skills and competences.

• Identify and critically appraise their own personal development needs and key competencies in areas of leadership, team working, effective social interaction and communication.
• Identify appropriate people management strategies, procedures, and tools.

Your essay must:

• Be an individual piece of work in an essay format (no headings or bullet points).
• Not use a table of contents (it is not a report).
• Be a Reflective Piece of Writing essay using Dialogic Reflection – Use Jenny Moon’s Reflective Writing paper as a guide.
• Be written in the first person. That is singular first–person pronouns include I, me, my, mine and myself.

Be an appropriate presentation/format/Grammar/fully referencing and cited within the work.

Be written in UK English not US English. For example, behaviour (UK) not behavior (US).

• Not exceed 1,700 words.
• Use your online test data as evidence
• Present your online test data in the appendices
• Use academic theory and credible sources that supports your online test data.

Requirement:

Follow this step-by-step process:

• Complete the mandatory tests – see Part One.
• Complete any additional online tests – see Part Two and Part Three.
• Critically analyse all your online test data – see Part Four and Part Five

(In essence, critical analysis is breaking down and studying the online test data).

Part One

You are required to complete the following five mandatory online tests from Career Edge Mandatory Testing Click the Students & Staff icon, then Self Awareness – Access Self Assessments for the Mandatory 5 Online Tests

1. Temperament- (MBTI)
2. Personality Insight- Big 5
3. Personal Resilience
4. Assertiveness
5. Sound Decision-Making

Part Two

You may also include the following tests to supplement your analysis of your personality. These can be found on Blackboard in the Self Testing – Emotional Intelligence, Values and Personality folder.

1. Barrett’s Value Test
2. Simple Personality Test
3. The Global Emotional Intelligence Test

Part Three

You may also include the following tests to supplement your analysis of your personality. These tests will be discussed via the online tutorials.

1. Conflict Handling
2. Locus of Control
3. Tolerance of Ambiguity
4. Problem Solving

Part Four

So, now scrutinise the online test data and ask yourself:

• Is it what you expected? If not, why not?
• How does the data look to you?
• Can you make a judgement about its value or significance?
• Are there are commonalities?
• Are there any surprises?
• What is the online test data telling you about yourself? Etc.

Part Five – Now, begin to:

1. Plan your essay.

2. Research your subject material.

3. Structure your essay.

• Introduction
• Main body
• Conclusion
• List of references
• Appendices – copies of your online tests that you have used in your essay

4. Think about the size/length of your paragraphs (no more than 100 words per paragraph).

5. First-line in every paragraph sets the scene for what is to follow.

6. In each paragraph, you must:

• Develop your academic argument and introduce academic counterarguments.
• Support your academic arguments with your personal online test data.
• Support your academic arguments with relevant academic evidence.

Practising Your Reflective Writing: 

• Be aware of the purpose of your reflective writing and state if it is appropriate.
• Reflective writing requires practice and constant standing back from oneself.
• Practice reflecting writing on the same event /incident through different people’s viewpoints and disciplines.
• Deepen your reflection / reflective writing with the help of others through discussing issues with individuals and groups, getting the points of others.
• Always reflect on what you have learnt from an incident, and how you would do something differently another time.
• Try to develop your reflective writing to include the ethical, moral, historical and socio-political contexts where these are relevant.