PROBLEM-SOLVING AND SELF-MANAGEMENT

PROBLEM-SOLVING AND SELF-MANAGEMENT

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PROBLEM SOLVING AND SELF-MANAGEMENT

Problem Solving

Problem-solving is a mental and intellectual process of finding solutions through analyzing current challenges that occur to a person or organization considering its cause (Nasriah, 2017). After Identification of the purpose of a problem, brainstorming of possible solutions follows while analyzing the risks of each. The best solution is chosen and implemented in the organization. Problem-solving is a process that starts with defining the challenge, followed by creating alternative solutions for the problem. From the range of solutions, selection of the best possible ones takes place, and one implemented to solve a problem encountered in the business or by a person. A problem arises when there is a need to do something or achieve a goal but not aware of the actions to take to reach the goal (Dostál, 2015). Having the ability to seek relevant facts and liaise with various stakeholders involved is one of the best criteria used in solving issues. It directs one to find necessary information from the root and develop it to get the solution.

Organizations are involved in regular operations involving employees, management, and, most importantly, the clients. Through the management of these operations, they can either maintain competitiveness in the industry to survive and grow in a challenging environment (Karakaya and Yılmaz, 2013). The interaction and relationship between the clients and the business are most vital as the clients bring in income to the company and determine the profits. The emergence of problems that affect or delays; client’s operations or does not get to their expectations may ruin the reputation of the business hence losing more clients, which leads to a reduction in profits. Involvement with clients occurs in every organization. Through this process, particular challenges may happen, which requires knowing relevant information and speaking to participants or other involved parties to deal with a situation or problem affecting them.

For example, after my graduation, I was doing an internship in a Customs house agent’s (CHA) office, where a challenge occurred with a client’s service by the organization. The office had many senior colleagues working with me, and from them, I got instrumental and essential knowledge. My main task was to segregate client’s files according to Import and Export and arrange them according to the dates of dispatching and arrivals of the containers. Through this task, I provided information on the location of the files and also produced them whenever needed. During one time, there occurred a scenario where a client complained about his container arriving at the port, but the customs officers could not release his vessel due to some wrong paperwork. He claimed that he had submitted all the paperwork to the customs house agent’s office but had some reasons to believe that we had misplaced a vital paper from his file. Since I was in charge of arranging the data, I was made answerable to the issue and had to find ways to get the paper lost.

After the client’s communication with the management of the office, my boss gave me the responsibility to find a solution to the issue by providing the required paper to allow the client to get his goods. He was the most extended client of the company and most loyal, and failure to provide a solution would upset him, and we could not lose such a famous person. I had to take action immediately. Solutions to problems usually start in the nearby environment (Robbins, 2011). First, I spoke to my colleagues at work, trying to find some suggestions on how to solve the issue. Through these consultations, I realized a few possibilities. First, the paper could have been misplaced somewhere in the office or secondly, fallen while moving the file to our office or the customs office, and lastly, the client may have unknowingly failed to provide us the paper. The third possibility was a sensitive one as it may be an accusation to the client and may worsen the situation. Therefore, I had to countercheck the office and brainstorm the first possibilities before getting feedback to the client.

After checking the office and following up with the office boy responsible for collecting the papers to no avail, I had to speak to the client. I gave them feedback on the process taken and convinced him that they may not have submitted the paper. After following up, it was evident that the paper had been left out by an intern and was still in the client’s office. I got it and cleared the goods for the client. The client was happy and thankful for the process and receipt of his products. The management of the customs house agent was grateful to keep their most extended client, and I received a reward for the outstanding performance.

The STAR technique is essential in solving problems affecting a company. Understanding the situation at hand and being familiar with the task leads one to the actions to take to achieve the best result. The result enhances the business’s success through maintaining the reputation and clients of the company hence smooth operations of the business activities. To get solutions, one first needs to use the resources around them. This may include other employees, and any other sources of information around work to find ideas. Getting to know the complexity of the problem helps to understand it and gives a direction on the best solutions to take that would not negatively affect any parties (Fischer, Greiff, and Funke, 2012). Both parties need to benefit from the process of problem-solving.

Problem-solving involves using critical selection criteria of analyzing issues from different perspectives and drawing sound inferences from available data. Organizations mostly need the skill as businesses are affected by a lot of problems in the fight to be competitive and stay in business. Clients are the most critical parties in an organization’s success, and any factors affecting them need to handle sensitively. The star technique gives a guide on the actions to take during the emergence of a situation. Knowing the case and one’s tasks directs on the steps to take to get the results required.

Self-management

Self-management is the process of maintaining, changing, and creating new meaningful behaviors for the development of oneself (Lorig and Holman, 2003). It is about taking responsibility for oneself concerning behavior and well-being. It is a skill applicable to the work environment to get successful in prospects. Self-management consists of three dimensions; contexts, process, and outcome. Within the settings, one is aware of the current situations and follows a means to change or adapt to behavior that helps one be much responsible (Grady and Gough, 2014). After the process is complete, an impact occurs where the behavior changes and makes a person more responsible for managing and planning one’s activities. Self-management leads to personal development, which leads to organizational development. This is a goal for every organization that exists to develop and be successful in its activities. Self-management involves skills such as personal drive, resilience, initiative, organization, and accountability.

The work environment consists of people with various beliefs, morals, and profiles; hence their personalities direct them on the actions to take, and this may fail to involve managing oneself. Poor self-management leads to reduced productivity as employees who only work under supervision and fail to be accountable for their actions fail to achieve the performance level required. However, the self-management skill is beneficial when acquired as personal drive ensures one work without supervision, takes the initiative for his activities, and is accountable for any challenges (Steyn and Van Staden, 2018). Being accountable makes one wish for the best through finding ways to be successful as an individual, which translates to the success of the company. Individuals may use documentation to monitor, evaluate, and reinforce their behaviors to motivate and self-influence, consequently leading to the achievement of goals and success of an organization’s objectives (Lawrence Mogga Rombe, 2016).

Self-management is essential in the successful operations of a business. For example, through my experience, a company was able to make more sales through my new ideas. I started my part-time job, working in a pizza and bar-restaurant. My role was to prepare necessary stock for the day, check the inventory, take the orders from the online customers, and solve the general inquiries and bookings of the customers according to their schedule. Usually, the restaurant gets busy on weekends, and during one of the Friday nights, many customers flowed into the restaurant for bookings at various periods. I was still new at the time and was undergoing training to work in a fast-paced environment. At that time, I had to attend to the customers physically at the restaurant and, at the same time, handle phone calls. At a point, the work was too much, and I had to ask for help from a colleague. I complained a lot about the situation. The colleague handled customers booking calls and initiated online bookings to many customers at once with a lot of ease. Through this experience, I trained myself to be positively minded by being optimistic and handling every situation with resilience.

With time, situations started changing and were able to think broadly. Customers were happy with the services received from the restaurant, and the feedback given was positive. This was possible because of self-control, having confidence, and being accountable and responsible for my actions. The challenges I faced in work became easier to find solutions and keep work successful instead of quitting. Nevertheless, this helped me to gain useful skills and problem-solving techniques that can apply in future situations. At a point, since I was dealing with most of the customers of the restaurant, I suggested that the management team should create more online order platforms, to direct and increase more customer bookings to the restaurant. It would also improve the organization of the restaurant, especially with customer bookings. A collaboration with UberEATS, Menu Log, and door dash, which have a good customer base, would help the business explore too many parts of Melbourne through their marketing strategies.

After starting with resilience and being accountable for the activities of my job, I was able to be open-minded and could find solutions to issues of the company. The suggestion was taken positively and implemented, which led to satisfying results; increased profits. Also, the restaurant became well known, and there was an increase in customers in and around Melbourne. Self-management leads to organizational success through self-influence that translates to excellent individual performance hence improved organization’s performance. Self-management plays a vital role in the success of each individual, and teamwork leads to practical ideas.

Self-management is a practical approach for long term condition management (Boger et al., 2015). Skills such as resilience and self-influence direct one to be committed to one’s job and find ways to make it better. There is a positive influence between self-management and attitude, which affects organizational behavior and managerial skills (Asghari, Poor and Zadeh, 2012). Employees quickly improve self-selected work-related problems through self-influence, which encourages self-management. The process enhances the performance of individuals through self-development, and also organizations benefit from an individual’s hard work by improved performance (Godat and Brigham, 1999). Self-managed behaviors consist of self-set goals, self-control, and self-planning, which contribute to an individual’s development.

Organizational goals are dependent on individuals’ efforts put in an organization. Individual people have to be productive for the organization to have excellent performance. The productivity of employees starts with self-management, which involves having personal drive, resilience, and self-influence to perform more and be more productive in the organization. With a commitment to work, having a positive attitude, and aiming at a goal directs one to get new ideas to improve performance. Self-management consists of context, process, and lastly, the outcome received from the process. Context depends on the kind of environment one resides. Understanding the context leads one to know the procedure to follow, and after completion of the process, an outcome develops through positive individual effects. The result is excellent performance for an individual and the best results for an organization due to the teamwork of many individuals to achieve one specific goal.

References

Asghari, P., Poor, A. and Zadeh, P. (2012). Relationship between self-management skills and organizational citizenship behavior of principals in girls’ high school of urmia. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 31, pp.852-855.

Boger, E., Ellis, J., Latter, S., Foster, C., Kennedy, A., Jones, F., Fenerty, V., Kellar, I. and Demain, S. (2015). Self-Management and Self-Management Support Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Mixed Research Synthesis of Stakeholder Views. PLOS ONE, 10(7), p.e0130990.

Dostál, J. (2015). Theory of Problem Solving. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 174, pp.2798-2805.

Fischer, A., Greiff, S. and Funke, J. (2012). The Process of Solving Complex Problems. The Journal of Problem Solving, 4(1).

Godat, L. and Brigham, T. (1999). The Effect of a Self-Management Training Program on Employees of a Mid-Sized Organization. Journal of Organizational Behavior Management, 19(1), pp.65-83.

Grady, P. and Gough, L. (2014). Self-Management: A Comprehensive Approach to Management of Chronic Conditions. American Journal of Public Health, 104(8), pp.e25-e31.

Karakaya, A. and Yılmaz, K. (2013). Problem Solving Approach at Organizational Development Activities: A Research at Karabuk University. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 99, pp.322-331.

Lawrence Mogga Rombe, M. (2016). Effective Time and Self Management, Environment and Productivity in an Organization. Science Journal of Business and Management, 4(6), p.204.

Lorig, K. and Holman, H. (2003). Self-management education: History, definition, outcomes, and mechanisms. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 26(1), pp.1-7.

Nasriah, L. (2017). ROBLEM SOLVING METHODS TO IMPROVE UNDERSTANDING OF LEARNING SOCIAL SUBJECT MATTER F. European Journal of Education Studies, 3(4), p.217.

Robbins, J. (2011). Problem solving, reasoning, and analytical thinking in a classroom environment. The Behavior Analyst Today, 12(1), pp.41-48.

Steyn, Z. and Van Staden, L. (2018). Investigating selected self-management competencies of managers. Acta Commercii, 18(1).