SWOT Analysis, Research Methodology, And Diversity In Career Management

Research Methodology

I am a student of MBA, who aspires to become a successful c

of my MBA course by accomplishing my goals and objectives.

The factors which have helped me to reach the point where I am studying MBA are good academic background, aspiration to become a successful corporate personality, desire for better lifestyle, desire to facilitate change or being a part of the change in the corporate sector desire to increase my earning potential and to become my own boss.

The main purpose of this assignment is to identify my own strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats based on various personal insights, feedback from others, performance appraisals and results of self-assessment tools. The assignment also aims to highlight the importance of diversity in career management. Another aim of the assignment is to analyse my organizational fit with the organization which was discussed in the previous assignment.

I undertook this particular assignment by considering various self-assessments test in order to determine my traits and personality based on which I could conduct my SWOT analysis. After completing the SWOT analysis, I recollected my experiences on diversity and based on that I evaluated, whether my experience can be considered as strength or weakness of mine. After analysing the nature of my diversity experience, I highlighted the importance of diversity for my career management. Based on the results of SWOT analysis, I also determined my organizational fit to assess my suitability for working in a company.

Also to learn more about myself I undertook various self-assessments tests which helped to determine my personality and trait.

The self-assessment tools which had been used to identify my own personal traits and qualities are as follows:

Gallup strength finder test- The Gallup strength finder test is a personality assessment with a positive focus. This behavioural test helps an individual to analyse what he/she does best. The Gallup’s strength finder test is aimed at identifying an individuals’ unique sequence of the 34 themes of talent.

VIA character strength survey- The VIA survey of character strength is a simple self-assessment tool which can be undertaken in less amount of time and it provides wealth of information to help an individual identify their core characteristics.

The sources that reflects my own personal work outcomes are project performance appraisals report, feedback from other classmates and course instructors and various references.

The results of the Gallup’s strength finder test indicates that I am deliberative, strategic, activator, commander and achiever by nature.

The results of VIA character strength survey indicate leadership, creativity, self-management, love of learning and honesty as my greatest character strength and also indicate zest, hope, perseverance, judgement and bravery as my greatest character weaknesses.

Strength · One of my main strength is my ability to carefully analyse and plan a situation based on its requirement so that I do not deviate from the actual intended outcomes of the situation. · According to Armstrong. (2015) another strength of mine is that I possess several traits and qualities which a successful leader must possess such as patience, mental toughness, self-motivated, engaging in nature and discipline. · As stated by Vanniasinkam (2015) another strength of mine that can support me from being successful in my personal and professional life are my high level of education,  active professional networks and the in-born skills and qualities which I possess. · As opined by Burgan (2013) another strength of mine that supports me to achieve my goals and objectives in personal and professional life are sufficient financial backup from my family, mentoring from some of my teachers, access to superior quality study materials and access to online study materials. · One of my greatest achievements in my life till date was to crack a well-paid job interview in the first attempt without having any prior experience where I had to compete against multiple experienced candidates while studying my degree course. · According to Burns (2016) another strength of mine are the various value such as respect, integrity, humility, wisdom, courage which I feel has helped me in achieving my goals and objectives · Another strength is my determination level as in any challenging situation I remain determined to complete my task or objective and I do not let the failures affect my level of determination.

Weakness · The  tasks which I avoid doing due to lack of confidence are the tasks which carries a significant amount of risk factor with it as I do not feel confident to take risks. · As stated by Sousa (2018) the personality traits which I feel is holding back my career are lack of risk taking ability, lack of negotiation skills and lack of work delegation skills. · Another weakness of mine is I get too worried about the outcomes of the task which pulls down my confidence from doing the task in a fearless manner without worrying about the outcomes and expected results of the task. According to me another weakness of mine is that I tend to value the point of view of other individuals while performing some task even when those individuals are not associated and this creates confusion within me as the suggestions and feedbacks from those individuals keeps recounting at the back of my mind. · As opined by Mincks (2016) there are few fears which I have which keeps holding me back such as fear of unintended outcomes, fear of negative criticism and fear of losses. · There are few negative habits which I possess which contributes to my weakness like getting easily irritated during times of stress, getting persuaded by others point of view and adopting every possible means to avoid failure. · As opined by Flores-Toro (2016) there are some resources which I lack such as lack of an ideal guide or mentor who would help me to remain calm and focussed while performing any tasks, lack of practical experiences which would give me idea regarding how to react during time of stress and failure.

Opportunity · I can turn by strengths into opportunities by tapping in to the opportunities by virtue of my strengths. · I can turn my weaknesses into opportunities by overwhelming my weaknesses in to strengths, by turning towards my weaknesses, treating my weaknesses like blind spots, by partnering with the strengths of other people and by treating my weaknesses as a to do list. · There is an opportunity in my department where I can undertake the task of analysing and evaluating the risks and accordingly develop risk management strategies for one of our projects, which no one else is capable to do in my team. · The areas in which I require more training or education are negotiation skills, work delegation skills and risk management process. · My field is changing rapidly due to the application of latest technology which helps in simplifying and increasing the effectiveness of my field. My field is also changing due to the change in requirements of the corporate sector. · As opined by Conlin (2016) the new trends which are being observed in the external environment are rapidly progressing due to technology advancements which is compelling the corporate sector to implement those advancements in their workplace in order to gain competitive advantage and therefore the companies are seeking smarter employees in order to cope up with the requirement. Additional change in the external environment which is being observed is increased demand for customer satisfaction which requires the workers of an organization to gain more skills in order to enhance the satisfaction level of the customers. · As opined by Kwan (2013) the new technologies which can help me in meeting my goals are smart mobile applications which will help me to keep a track of my goals, objectives and my current progress and also smart gadgets such as iPad or e-book reader through which I can get access to online materials. · I have few contacts who could help me or support me in achieving my goals such as my course supervisor who could act as a guide to me and also my instructor who could act as my mentor. · As opined by Tucker & Lam (2014) I can get noticed by building my rapport everywhere, by taking part in the extra-curricular activities of the institute, by taking initiatives of the task which no one agrees to complete and by speaking in college social events, functions or workshops.

Threats · As opined by Jian et al. (2018) the main obstacle which I face is communicating with people belonging from diverse cultural backgrounds during determining the plan of action for completing a task. Other obstacle which I face is lack of confidence during presenting my view in front of others. · Some of my weaknesses that could prevent me from succeeding are lack of risk taking ability and lack of negotiation skills. · None of my strengths hold me back rather my strengths inspire me to overcome my weaknesses. · My job is changing slowly as the requirements of my job are increasing at a faster rate and therefore in order to comply with those requirements, I need to stand up and improve my skill sets and capabilities. · I have no such obligation which limits my development in personal or professional life. · I am competing with myself and my fellow classmates regarding what I want.

I personally experience diversity regularly in my institution as there are students who have come from diverse cultural backgrounds for studying various courses in the institute. I personally consider my experiences with diversity as strength as it allows me to gain knowledge regarding different cultures and society which could prove useful in the future in the context of my professional career.

SWOT Analysis

According to Obiajunwa (2013) a greater focus on diversity will provide an opportunity as it would enable in developing my communication and inter-personal skills and also would help in enhancing by knowledge regarding cultural management.

While working on one of my course project as a group, I experienced diversity as our team was comprised of members belonging to diverse cultural backgrounds and we collaborated with each other perfectly based on effective communication so as to complete the group task in an effective manner.

According to Pollack & Adler (2016) a better understanding of diversity will help in enhancing my management career as greater knowledge regarding diverse cultures and backgrounds would help in gaining idea regarding the traits, qualities and behaviours which would help in the effective management of tasks while dealing with those cultures by keeping in mind the qualities, behaviours and perceptions of other individuals belonging to groups.

Caltex Australia is an Australian company which has been providing fuelling services across Australia since the start of the 19^th century. The company is the national leader in transportation within fuel industry. The company boasts of an efficient supply chain through which it has gained a status of giving reliable supply of high quality fuels to various industries such as customer segment, mining, mining, aviation, entailing, SME’s, retail, automotive and governmental. Caltex is also popular for being one of the largest convenience retailers in the country.

The main positives of working in Caltex is positive work culture, huge learning opportunities, workplace flexibility programs, support of the top management, high work-life balance, high company values and high growth opportunities in the company.

As opined by Yossef (2016) based on my swot analysis I see myself working in Caltex in the future as my strengths would help me greatly to succeed in their working environment and also the guidance, support and learning opportunities provided by Caltex would help in overcoming my weaknesses with proper training and exposure possibilities.  

Conclusion:

After the completion of the report, I have learnt that SWOT analysis is a very powerful tool for recognizing own strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats so that it can  be modelled accordingly based on the requirement for future personal and professional career. Also during completion of report I felt that I needed to gain insights regarding the trends of the industries so that I could identify new learning opportunities for increasing my skills and capabilities.

References:

Armstrong, A. L. (2015). The value of project management certification in achieving project success – A qualitative study. Business Premium Collection. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/1708991227?accountid=30552 

Burgan, D. S. (2013). A study of emotional intelligence levels of abilities of project management practitioners. Business Premium Collection. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/1420356019?accountid=30552

Burns, J. (2016). Critical skills for supervisors of information technology project managers in government: An interpretative phenomenological analysis case study. Business Premium Collection. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/1793940500?accountid=30552 

Conlin, R. P. (2016). A comparative study of leadership skill requirements across sales, human resource and finance functions. Business Premium Collection. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/1786672490?accountid=30552 

Flores-Toro, E. (2016). Exploring needed management skills for small technology companies producing sustainable electronic design. Business Premium Collection. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/1882290853?accountid=30552 

Jian, Z., Xianbo, Z., Nguyen Quan, B. M., Ma, T., & Shang, G. (2018). Soft skills of construction project management professionals and project success factors. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 25(3), 425-442. doi:https://dx.doi.org/10.1108/ECAM-01-2016-0016Accessed as on 9/12/2018

Kwan, D. (2013). Senior librarians’ perceptions on successful leadership skills: A case study. Business Premium Collection. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/1433293905?accountid=30552

Mincks, W. R. (2016). Career success for construction project managers: A qualitative study of construction project managers coping with stress to complete successful projects. Business Premium Collection. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/1802291486?accountid=30552

Obiajunwa, C. C. (2013). Skills for the management of turnaround maintenance projects. Journal of Quality in Maintenance Engineering, 19(1), 61-73. doi:https://dx.doi.org/10.1108/13552511311304483

Pollack, J., & Adler, D. (2016). Skills that improve profitability: The relationship between project management, IT skills, and small to medium enterprise profitability. International Journal of Project Management, 34(5), 831. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/1788267751?accountid=30552

Sousa, M. J. (2018). Entrepreneurship skills development in higher education courses for teams leaders. Administrative Sciences, 8(2), 18. doi:https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/admsci8020018

Tucker, E., & Lam, S. (2014). Dynamic leadership – a leadership shortage solution. Strategic HR Review, 13(4), 199-204. doi:https://dx.doi.org/10.1108/SHR-06-2014-

Vanniasinkam, T. (2015).Developing leadership skills in undergraduate students. Paper presented at the 256-261. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/1781636838?accountid=30552 

Yossef, L. L. (2016). Exploring the perceptions of leadership and the effect on employee engagement. Business Premium Collection. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/1892863651?accountid=30552