kennn929

[kennn929]

Knowing and understanding one’s self is an important part in our growth and development. This enables us to see how our abilities, interests, personalities, and characteristics affect what career path we can take that will best match our unique attributes as people. There are different tests that show us the different jobs we may take that are aligned to our traits as people. These tests may not be that accurate however it will give us an insight on the different options we may take if we are not yet sure of what we want to become in the future. The first test I took was the personality test. This test showed me what are my dominant personalities and which jobs best compliment the type of personality that I have. After taking the test, I ended up with the result of INFP-A or, which means that I am introverted, intuitive, feeling, prospecting, and assertive. All of these traits can be found in a mediator who always looks for a way to make things better. This test was actually spot on with who I knew I was as a person. I knew that I am the introverted type who works better alone than when I need to interact with others. I am also intuitive when it comes to how I gather knowledge around me yet I also try to prospect different scenarios that may happen before I make the final call. I am also the feeling type wherein I try to consider what others may feel or think in everything I do while at the same time, I am assertive in fighting for what I believe in is right. However, what made me disagree with the test was the career path it matched for the personality I had. It says that the top careers for those with similar characteristics to mine are graphic design, psychologist/therapist, writer/editor, physical therapist, and HR development trainer. Among these I am only interested in becoming either a psychologist or a HR development trainer yet these are not my interests and I also do not have the needed skills to become a graphic designer or a writer/editor. My skills and interests mostly lie in the technical field of systems development and data analysis as I have been trained in mathematics and programming throughout my teen years. I believe that basing recommended career just on our personalities is not enough as it is also important that our chosen careers should match our skills and interests. In order to persevere in specific field, talent and passion for the job is needed as without them we would not find fulfillment in the career that we took. Nevertheless, I do think that knowing what type of personality is an important factor we become leaders in our future careers. It is because many people will always have the talent or the passion to perform their jobs and allow them become successful in their careers. However, only those with the right personality which fits seamlessly with their chosen careers are those who stand out and look like they were born to do this job. This is why we must also take into consideration and know if the job that we want to take actually fits our personality in order to persevere and become a more successful leader. The second test that I took was a R-I-A-S-E-C test in order to find out my interests and what jobs would best suit the interests that I have. The result that I got from my test is that my highest score is tied between social, enterprising, and conventional wherein I got a score of 33. Just like the personality test I took, the results in this test were spot on with the way I view myself. The most important characteristic in my interests are those that are social in a way that I may have a positive influence in the lives of others, enterprising in a way that I may start up my own business and become self-employed rather than gaining a salary from a firm, and conventional in a way that I am practical and spend my time efficiently and effectively. However, unlike the personality test this test were spot on with the prospective careers that I have in mind that would fit in with my skills and interests. Among the jobs that were suggested, I took notice of credit analysis, credit counselors, and financial manager. I believe that any of these jobs would allow me to show my skills and talents as well as fit into my personality as a mediator to help others in times of need to get through their financial woes. Though the preparation to attain this type of career is high, I have already made a career plan in order to see this through. I took up the course of Management in Financial Institutions as my foundation into the world of finance and business. After graduating, I will work in our family business while studying as I try to attain a CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) accreditation which will take a minimum of three years to achieve. After which, I will take my masters in Business Administration hopefully with a scholarship abroad in order to widen my scope of business in the international setting. Once I have completed these, I will return back home and serve other people in order to bring awareness on how they should handle their finances and how they can secure their future financially not only for themselves but also for their family. I believe that I will have a fulfilling career in the finance sector as based on my personality test I am a mediator wherein I want to create a better way of life for those who will be needing my assistance as I advise them with their financial decisions. In terms of my level of introversion/extroversion, the personality test suggested that I am more of an introvert however my R-I-A-S-E-C profile shows that most of my interests namely, social, enterprising, and conventional are mostly leaning towards extroversion. Though these results may be different, I believe that they are both telling the truth about who I am as a person. I may be introverted in the way I deal with other people but I am also someone who considers their feelings in every little thing I do thus my interests in social careers would lead me to assert myself into becoming someone who could help them get through their current situation . The third test I took was the SelfStir assessment. In this test, I learned whether I am able to view myself in the same as how my peers view me. There are times that I tend to under evaluate myself and think that I do not open myself enough to others or I do not have good decision making skills yet my peers prove me wrong and actually see me better than I see myself. I believe this is true as I will never know how my actions will be interpreted by other people. I may think that I am doing a good job though they might view things differently. This assessment allowed me to verify my actions if they are actually a reflection of what I want to show others of who I really am. Among all the responses I see that my greatest strength is that I seek feedback to identify potential areas of improvement while my greatest weakness is that I do not openly share my thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and knowledge. These traits did not surprise me as these are really a reflection of who I am as a person. I am someone who is able to easily connect with others and talk about their problems and help find ways to solve them. However, as an introvert, I find it hard for me to share and talk about my feelings, thoughts, and beliefs as I am very selective of the people I trust. I am also someone who believes in the Japanese concept of “Kaizen” which means continuous improvement. I believe that there is always room for improvement in whatever I do and that I should never be complacent with who I am. This is why I actively seek feedback to know what I could do better the next time around so I will not commit the same mistakes as before. I was not surprised to find out that these were my lowest and highest ratings as these were the traits that I really show other people of what type of person I want to be. Overall, these assessments are important not only for our personal lives but also in the workplace as this can also be applied in performance management. Through feedback from our friends, co-workers, and managers, we will be able to know whether the performance level that we think we have achieved is the same in the eyes of our peers. Managers can also take advantage of this type of assessment to know what are the areas for improvement that those under them must develop and exert more effort. They will also be able to manufacture training programs and mentorship systems in order to improve the qualities of other workers. In the end, this assessment will allow managers and business leaders become effective as they will enable and empower their workers to work better and improve themselves not just as employees but also as people.

Kenneth Gabriel Rojas

[kennn929]

Based on different articles which discusses about the habits of the Generation Z, it is said that there are different issues and challenges faced by companies as they try to incorporate these new generation of people into their workforce. These are the generations’ diversity, independence, dependence on technology, need to be connected, and career aspirations. This generation is diverse in terms of its people as they do not only care about fighting for equality concerning race and gender but also people’s orientation as we believe we all deserve equal rights. In terms of independence, we would like to be able to show others that we good enough to do things on our own, however we would still accept the assistance of others as we know we will learn from their experience. Most people also think that we are dependent on technology that without it we cannot do anything. However, this is not true for we are people who are obtain knowledge and information through the internet and other sources in order to adapt and learn how to get through any situation. There is also this stereotype of the Generation Z’s need to be connected that their main mean of communication is through online means however the truth is they would rather communicate face to face as they want to see the emotions of others to know whether they can trust and believe in the words they are saying. Lastly, we have career aspirations. Those coming from this generation have huge aspirations for the careers as they want to advance and attain job and financial security. Companies must realize that these people would want to improve their skills in every facet of the business as they want to become proficient in all aspects of the business so that they will be able to continuously climb up the ladder in the organization. These reasons are why I accept that I am part of the generation that will never know what life without the internet is like. For us members of the Generation Z, we could not imagine how to live through a day without the use of our smartphones, laptops, and other appliances. We have gotten so used to having almost an unlimited source of information right at our fingertips that we most often neglect it. This surge of information causes us to lose our focus on what should be important to us, which is why most studies suggest that people from our generation are starting to have shorter and shorter attention spans. We get distracted by the smallest of things like new posts from friends on Facebook, Instagram stories, livestreams on YouTube, and many more thus we miss out on the important things like interacting with the people and things in front of us. We have become a generation glued to our devices as we develop a fear of missing out due to lack of information in this information centered age. All the qualities I mentioned above are true and they may seem negative however it does not mean that my generation has no redeeming qualities. This is because we are actually people who give importance to our future. We are a diverse group of people coming from different races, genders, and orientation. We give importance to the schools we choose in relation to the future development of our careers. We are also able to plan ahead and create a path leading to our financial security to the point that our college course choices are affected by their ability to help us maintain or even better the lifestyle we are currently experiencing. Our familiarity with the most recent technological advancements also allows us to have an edge over other generations who are not able to maximize the technology existing today. These traits enable our generation to become competitive in the workplace as we know life is full of challenges and that we will do everything in our abilities so that we may conquer them and live a fruitful life. Overall, it is important for us to accept both the good and bad sides of the generation we are a part of. This allows us to have a better understanding about the environment we were raised in and how we could improve our weaknesses, like our short attention span and fear of missing out, and at the same time refine our strengths, like in the use of technology and our positive outlook as we climb our way up in the workforce. Once we are able to accept these facts about ourselves, we will then be able to become better people with greater skills and talents than those previous generations of people.

Kenneth Gabriel Rojas

[kennn929]

As a Christian, I believe that the church is an important place for worship. I grew up believing in God and I would usually relate the church with the thoughts of peacefulness, spirituality, and holiness. However, as I watched “The Two Popes, I realized that as a social system the Catholic Church actually resembles an organization. Like an organization, the Church is directed by a goal which is to share the Word of God to others believing that we can all receive salvation through Jesus. The members and followers of the Church are very important elements as they play a crucial part in the daily operations of the Church. As seen in the movie, the Church also has a fixed structure. The Pope, who is equivalent to the CEO in a company, leads the Church to achieve their goals. He is then followed by the Cardinals, who acts like the board of directors, from which a Pope would be elected shall there be a case of death or resignation of the current Pope. They are then followed by the Archbishops and the Bishops, who oversees an archdiocese or diocese respectively. Which is then followed by the Priests who overseas local parishes and have assistants known as Deacons. All of these positions are essential and part of the organizational structure of the Catholic Church. Without the contributions of each member, the Church will not be able to function and achieve its goals. Organizations and the Catholic Church are also similar in terms of their leaders. Both their leaders are well trained and have various experience in their fields. It takes years of experience, service, and studies for one to become Pope. Likewise, it takes a visionary, a natural leader and, most of the time college and master degrees for one to be able to head an organization. Though organizations and the Catholic Church are similar, They also have difference in terms of their approach and leadership style of their respective heads in conveying their authority and message to those under them. As the head of an organization, one may take several approaches into making those under him follow his instructions and authority. He may take the approach of a mainstream or multistream manager. He could also be either a transactional or transformational leader in his approach to motivate the members of the organization.  He could be a good leader, who has a clear vision of what he wants to achieve and will do anything in order to reach the goals of the organization no matter what the cost. He could also be an effective leader, who makes sure that he is doing right by his moral obligations that he must not negatively affect anyone on his way to achieve the goals of the organization. He could also be an inspirational leader who tries to motivate his people to follow in his example to help promote their growth in the organization and also as people. These approaches are the options, the leader of an organization may take whoever he may see fit, in order to best achieve the company’s goals following its mission and vision. However, this is not the same case for the Catholic Church. This is because there is this expectation that the head of the Catholic Church is an example of how we must live as people, how we can become more like Christ for he was chosen by God. Therefore as the Pope, he has to become the perfect combination of a good, effective, and inspirational leader. He must have a clear vision for the future of the Church. He must also make sure that he will be able to achieve his vision without negatively affecting others as the Church has done in the past. Lastly, he must also be able to inspire his people to become better versions of themselves and support the vision he has for the future of the Catholic Church. These are all needed because as the Pope, it is important that he will be able to give hope for the believers of the Christian faith because if their leader fails to meet their expectations many will question the Church just like in the movie where it shows that there were some who not respect the Pope due to the different allegations reported about his assistant thus affecting his leadership of the Church as a whole. For this reason, I think Pope Benedict XVI made the right decision to step down as the head of the Catholic Church. Because if a leader is unable to continue performing his duties and responsibilities, it is best for him to step down from his position. In the case of Pope Benedict XVI, it was said in the movie, he believed that he was no longer fit to continue his role as Pope as he no longer felt God’s presence thus he no longer has a vision for the Church’s future. He also said that since he was a boy, he was always alone but he never felt lonely until his last days as the Pope. Therefore if Pope Benedict XVI no longer believes that he is fit, then how could he continue becoming an inspiration for others. Hence, he then asked God for a sign whether he should resign or not and he realized that he got his answer the moment he spoke to Cardinal Bergoglio. However, Cardinal Bergoglio did not immediately agree with the Pope’s decision. He knew that if the Pope resigned, it would mean that the church would be lost in its direction although at the same time, he acknowledged that if it is God’s will and plan for the Pope to resign and have a new one instated, then he will accept his decision. At the end of the day, no matter what happens the Church will follow God’s will because for them, His plans are greater than anything they can understand. But of course, a leader must never resign without a contingency plan as this will cause havoc within the organization as well as externally. Stakeholders and shareholders will lose faith in the company as having the leader step down would mean that there is a problem with the current operations of the business. This would lead the organization to have an uncertain future until the a replacement would be made. Old investors may also not have the same trust in the new leader who will be appointed thus the business may lose them. In the same way, managers who used to have a good working relationship with the old leader will have to adjust in the new operations and management style of the next leader. In the end, losing the head of the company will affect the organization drastically though after a period of transition everyone must be able to improve or sustain the operations from where the last leader left off as there must have been a reason for the previous leader for being fired or leaving. In the same way, Pope Benedict XVI resigned his post with the thought that God has a plan for the Church through the leadership of Cardinal Bergoglio. In the end, this movie motivated me to one day become a leader in my own organization. It showed me the importance of being a mix of a good, effective, and inspirational leader as I try to help others better themselves in the organization. Just like the Pope, I must be able to always remember and be in touch with the reason as to why I began leading in the first place, believing that there is a purpose as to why I was chosen to why I was chosen to be an example for others. I must also be able to envision a future for my organization while adhering to the laws as to ensure safety for all stakeholders of the business. At the same time, I should be able to inspire others to path that enables them to better themselves while doing what they are passionate about. Most importantly, I must also be adaptable to the things around me for there is nothing constant in this world.

Kenneth Gabriel Rojas