NAME: ARYAN PARAKH

COURSE: SY BSc. FINANCE

ROLL NUMBER: B008
SUBJECT: HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

ASSIGNMENT 1

A) Beyond Academic Learning

1. How do I live a happy life?
2. How do I become a respected human being?
3. How do I feel good about myself?

ANSWERS:
A1. By focusing on the positives; celebrating the tiny victories; to accept that I am not
perfect and accepting how I am; doing what I love and spending my time and money wisely.
Meeting and keeping in touch with the ones I love the most and being on my toes 24/7.

A2. Being polite with everyone irrespective of the person he or she is; to act respectfully
with one and all; being helpful with everyone and being selfless; letting go off anger and
keeping my ego aside and I should have the power to listen and change for the good
according to people’s feedback.

A3. By taking time out and relaxing; sometimes telling yourself that losing is fine and not get
upset about failure, trying new things and exploring yourself; accepting myself the way I am;
to take baby steps in what I like to do and learn something new at every fold of life; learn
how to fight difficult circumstances and not give up ever.

B) Write down five key insights from the topics discussed in these sessions.

ANSWER: The five key insights from the topics discussed in these two sessions are as
follows:
1. I learnt about human behaviour and how a person is influenced by different factors
and every human is having two observations, one being direct and the other being
indirect.
2. The next insight I got was of interpersonal skills and the different tactics and
behaviours a person uses to interact with another human being.
3. We even learnt about self-awareness and the 5 levels developed by Philippe Rochat
which further help understand this concept well.
4. In these two sessions we realised how important self-awareness has become and is
one of the key tricks to go ahead in life and a self-aware person is always considered
to be an approachable person.
5. We even learnt about the strategies of self-awareness and the different factors that can
affect perception of a person. We even studied the Johari window that helped analysis
ourselves even better and the activity conducted helped me understand myself better,
hence making me more self-aware.

C) How do I:
· Figure out my strengths and understand how they might guide me in personal and
professional choices?

· Figure out what motivates me in order to reach my potential?

· Assess my limitations and develop a plan for improving in these areas?

· Gain understanding and insight into my personality, attitudes, and behaviours?

· Identify the biases that I have that affect my understanding and appreciation of
others?

ANSWERS:
A1. In order to identify my strengths, the thing that works the best for me is exploring and
trying my hands-on new things. Subjects, skills that interest me even a little I go for it, try it
to see whether I’m actually good at it. Besides this, to some extent I also believe in aptitude
and other personality and skills tests. They do provide me with direction when I’m confused,
highlight my hidden strengths and provide me with confidence to pursue my personal and
professional goals.

A2. In order to identify what motivates me I would make a list, or just self-examine things
like how I’ve gotten to the position I am today and how will I get to my dream position. I will
definitely consider all the times or things that make me happy and contented and make those
my rewards as motivators to accomplish my tasks. I would also align my values and morals
to my job, thus making my life purposeful and motivation will naturally follow.

A3. In order to assess my limitations, I would definitely engage in self-examination, that is

try recollect all the times or traits that contribute to my shortcomings or traits or skills I still
need to develop. Besides this, I would talk to people I’m close to and trust, they would be
easily able to point and explain to me my limitations as sometimes my perception of self
could be clouded and not real. Besides trying new things will easily show me what I’m good
at and where all I need to improve.

A4. Identifying strengths, weaknesses, interests, goals, etc contribute majorly in

understanding my personality and behaviour. Although I strongly believe that there is no
particular formula is gaging a person’s personality, our backgrounds, events in our life and
just simply passage of time shape our personality greatly. These things thus help me get
insights into my attitude and behaviour.

A5. I identify my biases by monitoring repetitions in my behaviour. For example, if I feel

uncomfortable every time another man of another caste or religion is around me, I slowly
start to understand it is a bias I’m holding towards member of the other castes and thus will
try to break that pattern of behaviour. Self-analysis on reasons that make me change my
behaviour among different people also helps me identify biases. I can evaluate those reasons
as legitimate and simply stereotypical, assumptions and ignorant.
Thus, the latter reasons would be my biases.
D) Case analysis of Self-awareness.

ANSWERS:

A1. Marjorie was upset because she became aware of some significant personality
differences within the project team. Two members who had always arrived late to meetings
were procrastinating on their assignments for the project. Two others who attended the
meetings began to spend more time socializing than working. One person who had been
reluctant to state his opinion about the data that had been collected now said he thought the
group needed more time before it would be ready to make a decision. Marjorie had been very
task-oriented all along and was eager to finish the project and move on to other projects
within the bank. She was very frustrated with the lack of progress being made by the group
and was concerned about being part of a team that wasn’t going to meet its assigned deadline.

A2. Things ran smoothly for several weeks until the time came for decisions to be made. As
soon as a deadline was imposed on the group, Marjorie became aware of some significant
personality differences within the project team. Two members who had always arrived late to
meetings were procrastinating on their assignments for the project. Two others who attended
the meetings began to spend more time socializing than working. One person who had been
reluctant to state his opinion about the data that had been collected now said he thought the
group needed more time before it would be ready to make a decision. Marjorie had been very
task-oriented all along and was eager to finish the project and move on to other projects
within the bank. She was very frustrated with the lack of progress being made by the group
and was concerned about being part of a team that wasn’t going to meet its assigned deadline.
The differences in terms of their upbringing as well as in-born as well as developed
characteristics causes them to behave like that. As far as the organization is concerned such
behaviour could be because of lack of proper leadership due to absence of team leaders and
no punishment for inefficient workers.

A3. Yes, she could have resolved these differences. She couldn’t because she lacked
interpersonal effectiveness, but it can be resolved if she worked on it and a few ways would
be expressing appreciation, resolving disputes and listening to her team leaders and
understanding their problems and why are they not willing to work. She could also have gone
to the boss and like talk to a senior about it rather than getting upset about the work not going
smooth.

A4. If I was Marjorie, I would first talk to all my team members and understand it from their
perspective. I would be confident about my work and not feel inferior because of lack of
experience and being new to the company. I would try figuring out what motivates my team
members and try giving them incentives to make them work and complete the project on
time.

E) Case analysis of Self-disclosure and Trust.

ANSWERS:

A1. Mary Townsend is a woman who has been working for the investment firm for five years
now. Mary has excelled in her academics as she was part of and graduated from an elite
university in the northeast. Being a part of the firm, she has exceeded all performance
expectations and rose to the rank of vice president in just three years. However, her
performance had slacked off when she was in line for another promotion. When Mary was
approached by her immediate supervisor Jane Montgomery to talk about her inconsistency in
her work, it was futile. After greetings with John White, a close family friend, she spilled out
her personal problems. She told him that the problems which had caused the inconsistencies
in her work were the breakup of the long-standing romance she had, financial problems
which were brought onto her by overextending her credit, and lastly the falling out that she
had with her family because of their concerns in her inattention to marriage, children and
settling down. Mary had to believe in herself more because she was a woman of great
intelligence who had excelled not only in academics but also her work. She would surely
figure things out and be able to let things get back to normal instead of letting her problems
spill over into work. She could have stayed more focussed in her work and could have gained
that promotion which would have been one of the things in her life which would have made
her believe herself more and she would not feel so low about her life and in turn wouldn’t
affect her performance. She was the Vice president of a company and she could’ve resolved
whatever financial problems she faced if she thought about it calmly and didn’t let it affect
her so much. The last personal problem which she faced could've been resolved by having a
calm conversation with her parents and explaining why she thought she didn't wish to get
married, have children and settle down rather than having a fall out with her family over that
issue.

A2. John White was the former employee of the firm where Mary had joined as an intern and
gradually risen through the ranks to become the vice president. He was also a close friend of
her family. Since John still served as a sounding board to the senior management, he was
asked to counsel Mary on her recent inconsistency in her performance. As John is a family
friend it isn’t surprising that Mary opened up about her personal problems while talking to
him. Though Mary trusted John it can be said that her decision to tell him about all the
problems she was facing led to a negative recommendation. If I were in John’s place then I
would have respected the privacy Mary’s personal conversation with me and since I am a
close friend of her family I would never spill out the conversation I had with her to the board
which could have cost her job and make her life harder than it already was and would have
told the board that it was a temporary slump.

A3. John White was the co-head of the firm when Mary joined as an intern, and also a close
friend of her family. Hence, it was only natural for Mary to have utmost faith in him. This is
proved when she confides in him even about the most personal things of her life. Jane
Montgomery, who was aware of this, consulted John about this matter, hoping that John
would talk some sense into Mary, and get her back on track, since under John’s guidance,
Mary has proved herself worthy of great heights. On meeting with Mary, John proved himself
to be a great communicator, which is evident in the fact that instead of bringing up Mary’s
blunders immediately, John started with praising her for her work in the past. John definitely
did not overstep in his conversation with Mary, as he didn’t say much to her, other than
expressing sympathy, but he did not fulfil his role as someone who Mary looked up to. He
was well aware of the fact that Mary had been a bright student, and a brilliant employee.
Hence, she was evidently full of potential. Mary herself told John that she knew she was in
over her head. This clearly shows that Mary was aware about her mistakes. Hence, if John
had tried, it would have been possible for him to talk her back into her senses, but instead,
John went behind her back and recommended her supervisor to let her go when the next
“legitimate” opportunity opens up, despite knowing the bad place she was in. John had
promised Mary about not telling anyone anything. He went on to tell Mary’s Supervisor to let
Mary go as soon as possible. Although John did not reveal any secrets, hence keeping the
promise, he did something much worse, that would end the career of a bright student and a
hardworking employee, just because of a bad phase.

F) Johari window for spiderman:

OPEN SELF UNKNOWN SELF (BLIND SPOT)

Able, adaptable, helpful, empathetic, Calm, mature, patient, proud, wise, self-
friendly, kind, loving, modest, responsive, assertive, way more powerful than he
trustworthy. thinks, optimistic, observant, relaxed, kiddy
behaviour.
HIDDEN SELF UNCOUNSCIOUS SELF
Loveable, silly, sentimental, idealistic. Accepting, ingenious, introverted, nervous,
spontaneous, tensed.
G) SETTING LIFE GOALS

LIFE GOAL: TO BECOME A HEAD CHEF AND OPEN MY OWN RESTAURANT.

WHAT DO YOU NEED TO KNOW TO ACHIEVE THIS LIFE GOAL: Cooking skills,
presentation, innovative ideas for it to work and learning from a hotel institute.

What challenges do you expect to face in achieving your life goal? Opening a restaurant is
no easy a task. There is ample competition. Innovation and right execution are utmost
necessary to accelerate growth of the restaurant and create an image to attract the customers.

What qualities do you possess that will help you achieve your life goal? I am passionate
about cooking. I love trying new recipes and experimenting with different ingredients to
make something new. I believe it's important for a person to experiment and try new stuff
which I think is a good quality in me.

Who is in your support system? My parents and me, myself. Parents are here to support me
financially and stand by me in whatever decisions I make and help me achieve my goal.

Why do you want to achieve this life goal? How will it bring you happiness and a sense
of purpose? It was during lockdown that I realised my love for cooking. Watching videos of
dishes and cooking them gave me a sense of satisfaction and happiness. It is now that i am
clear as to what I want to achieve in future. Food business never dies, hence is purposeful and
my passion for cooking provides me happiness!

H) Self-awareness questions on values and life goals

1. What does your ideal “you” look like?
Rich, successful and happy in life and doing what I love.

2. What kinds of dreams and goals do you have? To become the head chef of my own
restaurant.
3. Why are these dreams or goals important? these goals are important as they give me
inner peace and would keep me sane and happy.
4. What is keeping you from these dreams or goals? Nothing as such.
5. Rank 5-10 of the most important things in your life.
1. Career
2. Family
3. Girlfriend
4. Friends
5. Education
6. Health

6. Now think about the proportion of time you dedicate to each of these things.
7. What would you recommend to your children to do or not to do? To do what their
heart says and not what society says and I would stop them from bad habits and bad
influence.

Self-awareness questions on personality

1. Describe yourself in three words. Funny, Intelligent, Charming, Friendly.
2. Ask yourself if your personality has changed since childhood. Yes, it has
3. Is your personality like either of your parents? Somewhat like my mom’s.
4. What qualities do you most admire in yourself? Always happy whatever the situation is,
I never take stress.
5. What is your biggest weakness? Temper issues.
6. What is your biggest strength? I can gel with anyone.
7. What things scare you? The future.
8. Do you make decisions logically or intuitively? Sometimes logically and sometimes
intuitively.
9. How would you complete the question: “What if?”. What if I am unable to do what I
intend to do in life.

Journal for Students a way to self-awareness

1. What was easiest for me to learn this week? Why? Interpersonal skills and the Johari
window, because I already had a keen interest in learning about it.
2. What was most challenging for me to learn? Why? Self-awareness importance as it is a
wide topic to understand.
3. What study strategies worked well as I prepared for my exam? Studying early in the
morning and making hand written notes.
4. What strategies for exam preparation didn't work well? What will I do differently
next time? Studying late at night and studying from my phone. Avoid these two things and
keep my phone away or switched off.
5. What study habits worked best for me? How? Studying as early as 4 in the morning as I
was fresh and my attention span was longer and I was able to retain well as there was
absolutely no disturbance.
6. What study habit will I try or improve upon next week? Trying to sleep early and have
my sleep schedule in place.