Reflection of the Master’s Degree in Management

An individual can have various programs to pursue, but passion and interest drive them into a particular program. Management program, particularly human resource management, is one of the most desired programs in the current era due to an increase in entrepreneurship. The program offers vast knowledge over diverse courses related to business. Some of the courses entail employee’s management, overseeing employees’ benefits, recruitment, training, and several others. However, the journey to pursuing the program is marked by strengths and weaknesses. This paper focuses on my experience during my master’s degree in human resource management. It will examine some of the strengths and weaknesses and address them. It will also describe the artifacts presented in my profile, the associated skills, and how they could benefit my employer. Finally, it will reflect on the course and recommend what should be stopped and continued.

Self-Assessment

When I started my master’s degree in human resource management, I discovered I had several skills that helped me succeed in the program. The skills were a strength to me as they enabled me to leverage to succeed. One of them is knowledge-based skills. Since I had pursued other certificates, I acquired knowledge from my high school and degree levels, such as computer skills, languages, training, and technical ability. The skills enabled me to leverage my success in the course. Another set of skills I possessed were transferrable skills. They include communication skills, analytical and problem-solving skills, and planning skills.

The communication skills enabled me to socialize with people, including my professors and fellow students. Interaction with them helped me understand some of the things, such as handling assignments that seemed difficult alone. Also, it was easy to express myself amongst other people during social meetings. Analytical and problem-solving skills were a good strength for me as I made logical decisions in most cases that led to success in the program. Lastly, I possessed some personal traits, which I still do till now. Some of them are being flexible, friendly, hardworking, team player, and punctual. All these acted as strengths to me and enabled me to succeed in my master’s program.

Despite possessing the explained strengths, I also possessed some weaknesses that posed a challenge to me. One of them is I was too critical of myself. That is one weakness that I still fight up to date. I would always try to show myself how I am wrong whenever I messed up. Being critical to oneself can lead one to develop a negative attitude and finally lead to failure (NEFF, 2003). Another weakness I had is trying to please almost everyone. While socializing with people, I would act according to their wishes to fit in their circle. Little did I know that I was messing up with my true personality; I discovered that weakness while still pursuing my master’s and decided to look for solutions. Today, it is no longer a weakness as I can comfortably socialize with people without compromising. The last weakness is being unfamiliar with the new environment. It posed a challenge of adapting to the new environment and took quite long. However, it is no longer a weakness as I already adapted to the environment.

Personal Development Plan

To continue growing in the human resource management area, I will need some personal development plans. One of them is goal setting. Setting clear and smart goals will help me work hard and be committed to them. It will also help me identify what I want to do in my career. For instance, I may set the goal of becoming a general manager of a certain company. It will therefore make me committed to meeting the requirements demanded of that position, such as experience. Another plan to growing in this career is concentrating on high-value activities. Activities that have a significantly greater outcomes other than those with little outcomes. As companies are looking for individuals with high-value activities, it will create a market for me. The final development plan is the science of self-confidence. Human resource management is a career that requires high levels of self-confidence (Ireland, Hitt, & Williams, 1992). Activities such as managing employees’ performance, training them, and recruiting require one to be confident to make the best choices. Hence, I will consider those three things to continue growing in my profession.

Artifacts Presented in my Profile

The main subjects relate to holacracy and leadership, the human resource plan, and team development. Holacracy is a modern type of leadership that aims to effectively work done and increase employees’ potential talents (Robertson, 2016). It explains the leadership skills required for effective management. Some of the skills are communication skills, decision making, problem-solving, among others. These skills would be beneficial to my employer as I would maximize production in the organization. The second artifact, the human resource plan, involves the supply and demand of a company’s human resources. It involves knowing how many employees are needed, what kind of job, where, and what time. The skills would be beneficial to my employer because recruiting employees will be made easier. The last artifact, team development, is the creation of a group of people who work together while growing each other to meet a common goal. Some skills needed are teamwork, communication skills, and decision making. Being able to work in teams would enable my employer’s goals to succeed.

Reflection of the Course

The course offered quite vital courses that can enable anyone to succeed in a career without much struggle. Some of the things that it should continue to cover is HR assessment, strategic management, and leadership. I would not recommend cessation of anything as I found everything about the course beneficial.  However, the program should introduce a whole unit concerning self-confidence rather than including it in the leadership unit. The main reason being self-confidence has come out to be a critical factor in HR managers, and in most cases, the managers show a relatively low degree of self-confidence (Goldberg & Wooldridge, 1993).

In summary, what drives an individual into pursuing a course is interest and passion. The two factors are vital as they determine whether the person will succeed or not. Also, strengths and weaknesses must be dealt with to succeed in a program. Besides, setting clear goals, being confident, and concentrating on high-value activities are some of the personal development plans to succeed in the HR program. The program requires one to have a mastery of various areas such as recruitment, planning, leadership, and many other skills described in the essay.

References

Goldberg, S. D., & Wooldridge, B. (1993). Self-confidence and managerial autonomy: Successor characteristics critical to succession in family firms. Family Business Review, 6(1), 55-73. doi:10.1111/j.1741-6248.1993.00055.x

Ireland, R., Hitt, M. A., & Williams, J. (1992). Self-confidence and decisiveness: Prerequisites for effective management in the 1990s. Business Horizons, 35(1), 36-43. doi:10.1016/0007-6813(92)90113-n

NEFF, K. (2003). Self-compassion: An alternative conceptualization of a healthy attitude toward oneself. Self and Identity, 2(2), 85-101. doi:10.1080/15298860309032

Robertson, B. J. (2016). Holacracy. doi:10.15358/9783800650880