GSBS6514 - LEADERSHIP IN CONTEMPORARY ORGANISATIONS

SELF ANALYSIS PORTFOLIO – GUIDELINES AND SUGGESTED STRUCTURE

Weighting: 50%

Length: 3000 – 4000 words (excluding cover page, table of contents, reference list, appendices)

Due Date: End Week 12 – refer course outline and BB for actual date.

Method of Submission: Either in hard copy in class in week 12, or via Turnitin

Assessment Criteria: See page 5 of your course outline

This major assignment provides you with an opportunity to reflect on your capabilities as a professional manager and most importantly as a leader in an organisational setting, and in the context of your career. This assignment enables you to develop your own recorded reflection of your capabilities and your career progression and/or your personal development as a leader.

More specifically, the kinds of things you may wish to include in your Self-Analysis Portfolio are:

1. A Tabulation of your Career History, noting each formative position you have held, and the skills and competencies you have acquired, utilised and developed in each position.

2. An analysis and reflection of your Personality Attributes - areas of strength, and (potential) areas for further development. You will be provided with several personality questionnaires throughout this course which you may use to help you reflect on your traits, personal inclinations, and overall temperament or disposition.

3. An analysis of your current Managerial Competency Profile, and a reflection of this profile. This course provides you with a 91-item management competency questionnaire which will enable you to self-evaluate your individual areas of managerial capabilities and levels of aptitude and by extension, provide some insights into your leadership capabilities. Are you going to continue to build and develop existing areas of strength, or are you going to acquire new competencies in areas not yet developed, or will your strategy be a combination of both? All three approaches are valid strategies. The management competency questionnaires (two versions) are available on your blackboard site for this course, along with the six-domain cluster-based classification system. You can use these documents to assess, reflect on and organize your analysis, which may then be captured and presented in your portfolio.

4. A considered analysis of your predominant Leadership Style, behaviour and approaches, and a reflection on the strengths and (potential) limitations of these. Numerous leadership style questionnaires are widely available for you to source. We will be referring to these instruments in class.

The important overarching aspect of this portfolio is that it is a "self-analysis" and in that respect, there is plenty of scope for each individual to include elements and aspects that are relevant to himself or herself.

There are other aspects that could be included in this sort of portfolio, such as a reflection of your current organisation’s culture and the extent to which you ‘fit’ that culture, a reflection on your core values and how they help to define you as a leader, an overview of your networking efforts, and an overall learning or development plan – which could include your current graduate studies and a reflection of the skills and competencies you expect to attain from this study, or it might include an assessment of your relationship with your immediate superior, or mentor - if you happen to have a mentor.

The above is a suggested framework only. It is expected that you will formulate your portfolio according to your own circumstances, stage of professional development, and preferred emphasis. You may most certainly utilise appendices to include completed questionnaires and other relevant materials that don’t fit seamlessly into the body of your portfolio. Your portfolio should be formatted in a highly professional report style, with relevant sections clearly delineated. You will need to include substantial paragraphs with analytical discussion to demonstrate meaningful reflection on your part.

If you need further guidance, please don’t hesitate to speak with me in class about your portfolio.

Good luck and best wishes

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