Leadership and personal developement on self efficasy

A Career Development Report on Increasing Self-Efficacy

Presented to Deborah Pinder-Young

KU ID-1359395

Module - Leadership and Professional Development-BH7569

Word Count- 2740

Date: 11th march 2015

Kingston Business School

Improving Self-Efficacy

ContentsExecutive Summary..............................3

Introduction...........................................4

Critical Analysis and application of theories:................................................5

Theory -1: Bandura’s 4Sources of self -efficacy................................................6

Theory-2:Albert Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory:................................8

Theory -3: The Mediating process by Bandura...............................................9

Theory-4: Observational Learning Theory (Bandura,1986):.....................12

Changes in thinking and behaviour.....14

References:.........................................15


Executive SummaryCareer growth and professional development has many implications on our personal life .Professional development is a part of every day’s life .Its only when we start recording our progress, we tend to adapt a systematic way of development. It is very important to take the ownership of our career and focus on our professional development. It makes the person more competitive, employable and helps to recognise more opportunities. A person with strong professional career can help, influence and contribute to society.

Being career oriented is very significant but developing the right kind of attitude and skills is way more important to achieve the gaols. To excel in career, there are various parameters which plays vital role like self-confidence, self-motivation, having high self-esteem, great reasoning skills and decision making capabilities, open to take up challenges, flexibility and adaptability to new environment. Few of these can be inculcated by undergoing training programme and few are inbuilt nature. However, there are always rooms for improvement. A person should be motivated towards his goal. A person should identify his career objective and should work to improvise in the key areas.

This report discusses increasing self-efficacy as my development objective for my career development. This objective was identified during my self-assessment programme as a part of MBA module. The report critically evaluates and reflects this objective as my career development. I have adapted various theories suggested and developed by Albert Bandura and implemented them in my personal life as part of


experimentation and was successful delivering the expected results. It also discusses various types of processes which was helpful in deriving my strengths and enhancing my skills. At last, the report demonstrates the various changes in my behaviour and personality as a result of application of various theories, processes and models during my development phase.

IntroductionBeing a timid person, I always carried out a low profile at school and college. I often underdressed myself and remained in crowds to go unnoticed. Though I scored well in studies, my assumption of being incapable of performing individual tasks always pulled me back. I was afraid of failure; I was scared of taking up individual tasks and challenges. I would usually shy away from people. The words like, ‘I can’t, I cannot do this, Why me?!!’ kept resounding in my ears.

The result was, I remained a silent spectator. This fear gripped my life in school, college and at workplace. I always found ways to play safe in groups and usually clubbed with my

colleagues for a task and avoided individual activities. Even in groups, I couldn’t contribute, due to lack of confidence and the inability to perform. My lack of ability to perform and low self-confidence grew very prominent when I started working as a software engineer. My job demanded lot of client interaction, quick decision making, and efficient communication skills, leading a team in adverse situations, proactive and socializing. Low self-efficacy affected my


motivation, learning attitude, meeting deadlines and voicing my views. As an experienced employee, the company had major expectations from me in terms of developing the soft skills and also taking up complex tasks but I wasn’t able to meet their expectations. I was not promoted for few years and this lead to depression. I had limited friends and zero social life. As a child, I assumed being shy is natural but I was suffering from low self-efficacy which had severe implications on my professional as well as personal life. The growth in the industry demanded high self-efficacy. I enrolled into an MBA programme which could benefit my professional career. During this programme, I was self-assessed and the result was as expected: low self-efficacy. My career as a software engineer demanded a very positive, prominent, proactive and challenging attitude. I, now had to adapt and undergo different development phase in order to match expectation from the industry.

Critical Analysis and application of theories:"If I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning" - Mahatma Gandhi

The low efficacy was a serious problem and needed immediate attention. I was not ready to live such a life. The solution to my problem lied in the following theories from Albert Bandura and frameworks which helped me to improvise my professional development.


Self-efficacy is measured along the three basic scales: magnitude, strength and generality (Van der Bijl & Shortridge-Baggett, 2002).

Figure-1 basic scales of self-efficacy

Self-efficacy magnitude: This scale measured the difficulty level (easy, moderate and high) an individual feels to perform a task. A person with low self –efficacy (me) found every task to be very hard.

Self-efficacy Strength: This is measured as an individual’s conviction in performing a task successfully at diverse situations. I often gave up at adverse conditions and avoided taking up challenges.

Generality of self-efficacy: it’s the degree to which expectation is generalised across situation.

Theory -1: Bandura’s 4Sources of self -efficacyInitially, I used to wonder how people have so high self- efficacy. They roam with their heads high and display a great confidence.


I learnt, there are four sources of self-efficacy Bandura (1997) shown in Figure 1. I used these sources to derive the methods of improving my self-efficacy.

Figure 2: Bandura’s 4Sources of self -efficacy

Past Performances:

Bandura explained, the most important source of self-efficacy is from past experiences. Employees who have successfully performed in the past usually have high self-efficacy to perform related tasks in the future whereas employees who haven’t succeeded in the past have a low self-efficacy. Managers and supervisors can help in improving self-efficacy in an individual.

Because I was not ready to live a life with low efficacy, I gathered all my guts and strengths and approached my manager. He wondered why I delayed in addressing my problem was. I had no answer but he was ready to help me. He critically analysed my past performance and provided me the list of skills that I had to develop. He discussed my career gaps and assigned me few tasks to deliver.


For example: I was given a task to design a product in a more efficient way by lowering its manufacturing cost. I had to find an alternative approach of delivering the task in an effective way. This task helped me to understand my analytical skills.

Vicarious Experiences:

The second source is from vicarious experience. The success of our colleague in a particular task could influence us and boost up our self-efficacy. My friend shared his past experiences of failure and success. He explained how failure can make you a better person and can be a learning experience. He quoted examples from Thomas edition who failed a thousand times before inventing the electric bulb. I was influenced by him and he motivated me to develop self-belief to perform a task.

Verbal Persuasion:

This is third source of deriving self –efficacy. This is about convincing people about their ability to succeed in any task. The positive verbal statements i.e. ‘You can do this'. I spent my time with my friends and colleagues who gave me the positive energy and encourage me to believe in my abilities.

They explained the importance of self-believing and being self-motivated. Few of my friends helped me to improve my dressing sense which gave me immense confidence to socialise.


However, I was willing to improve my self-efficacy .This willingness encouraged me to read books to enhance my self-belief and improve my confidence. Books like the seven habits of highly effective people by Stephen R. Covey helped me to motivate myself and inculcate the practices in my life.

Emotional Cues:

The fourth source of self-efficacy is derived from emotional cues. When a person is allocated with high complex work, he/she is tending to experience few physiological symptoms like sweaty palm, pounding heart, and headache and so on. Though these symptoms vary from individual to individual, but if they persist, it may lead to low performance. Studies from Edwin Locke and Gary Latham indicate that goal-setting theory and self-efficacy theory are directly proportional to each other.

If a person is assigned with high gaols compared to his colleagues, it boosts up the confidence because of high expectation from the company.

I implemented this theory to derive and strengthen my self-confidence. It was my first stepping stone and building block for improving my self-efficacy. . Utilizing the sources of self-efficacy (performance outcomes, vicarious experiences, verbal persuasion, and emotional arousal) I could improve my efforts, persistence, goal setting, and performance on specific tasks


Theory-2: Albert Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory:The major learning happens from the people and environment. Albert bandura’s social learning theory called as cognitive theory incorporated the following points:

Basic principles of reinforcement from behaviourism.

Learning from people around you. Cognitive processes of social learning

Figure-3 Bandura’s Triadic Reciprocal Determinism

Cognition plays a vital role in individual’s capability to construct reality, self-regulate, encode information, and perform behaviours. The theory describes how the cognitive, behavioural and environmental factors interact to determine to motivate and influence the behaviour of an individual. It indicates that the human functioning is measured as an interaction of all the


above factors and is called Bandura’s Triadic Reciprocal Determinism.

The Social cognitive theory indicated by Bandura is composed 3 processes namely Self-Observation, Self-Evaluation and Self-reaction and my implementation of the theory is summarized in the following ways:

Self-observation: I exercised the observational learning technique to understand how people behaved in different environments. This gave me an insight of the way the task was performed. I learnt the steps involved in performing tasks with confidence and could repeat the same.

Self-evaluation: This technique of self-evaluation helps an individual to evaluate his own performance level. I used this parameter to self-evaluate my progress on performance and productivity. I could quantify my improvements and set realistic goals. It’s a step by step process. ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’.

Self –Reaction: This is a self-motivating parameter. Rejoicing at one’s development. This process of self-reaction helps me to measure my improvements.

So far I have addressed the sources of deriving the self-efficacy and applied the social cognitive theory to involve myself in learning from my environment. These theories, processes and activities helped me in self-realization, evaluation and reaction thereby improving my self-efficacy and gaining a positive and proactive attitude towards personal and professional life.


Theory -3: The Mediating process by BanduraSo far I could develop self –efficacy by implementing the above theories. My goal for finding myself in a new improvised version was still at a distant. The motivation was the main factor that could drive anyone to have a better lifestyle. Being self-motivated was the winning factor.

The Mediating process by Bandura discussed the various by which efficacy beliefs produce their effects. Such processes govern the way people think, feel and motivate themselves to act and behave. These processes regulate human functioning through three major processes. They include Motivational, Affective and selection processes:

Motivational Processes:

The capability of self-motivation and purposive action is rooted in been foreseer of the future. The future can be projected in present by using forethoughts. By being active in the cognitive state, the future states could be converted into present motivator.

Being self-motivated was a key factor in developing the strength in believing in oneself. I developed the concept of exerting the forethought process. People might call it day dreaming, but still it is a parameter to keep the motivation level high.

For Instance: I anticipation of being a part of world’s big brands like Apple google, IBM, coco cola Etc. helps me to focus on work and make myself efficient enough to apply to such big

companies.


The benefits from mechanism of Anticipating the future:

Improved focus and concentration at work Being proactive Developed self-motivation Develop self-belief

There are 3 different forms of motivators of this process namely casual attribution, outcome expectancies and cognized goals.

The following figure summarizes the schematic conceptions of motivation:

The outcome and the goal motivator clearly operate through self-anticipation mechanism. The future actions are affected by the altering the judgment of personal capabilities and task demands.

Figure-4 Schematic representation of conceptions of motivation based on cognitive goals, outcome

expectancies and casual attributions.


Affective Control Efficacy: This process enables a person to exercise control over their emotional or physiological state without altering the environmental or cognitive sources of emotional arousal. I implemented this process by implementing the following activities:

Self-relaxation: Relaxation is defined as ‘release of tension’. A relaxed mind enables better and positive thought process. I adopted various ways of relaxing myself. For example: A warm shower

or a parlour visit helped me to relax myself.

Engrossment in various recreational activities: Recreation restarts the entire functioning of body. It is important for the physical and mental wellbeing of people. Like I visited the game zones

to activate my emotion state of victory, joined sports club and participated in extracurricular activities. Carrying out different hobbies is also a way of recreation activities. Hobbies like music, dance, drama, theatre also are very effective in recreational activities.

Seeking solace in social support: Being a social being, it’s important to find your won space of comfort in any environment. I found my comfort zone in spirituality. Practising yoga helped me to calm my inner self, increase

concentration and inner peace.


Selection Process: This is the process of developing self-efficacy by changing environment People can select their environment depending upon their capabilities and the choice of what they want to be. This process was highly beneficial. I choose my friend circles. I spent time with colleagues who are the source of knowledge and information. Changing environment on one’s selection has major implications in developing self-efficacy. I attended seminars and conferences which helped me to focus on my future career plans and stay updated with the latest market trends.

The Benefits:

Gained the positive aspects of life Increased motivation Understanding different behaviours Exposing to diverse environment broaden the

source of information.

Theory-4: Observational Learning Theory (Bandura,1986):There are various components of observational learning. Bandura explains the difference between learning and performance. There is a difference between acquiring behaviour and displaying the same. There are several guiding theories for the same principles. The learning involves the following 4 process. The figure 6 demonstrates the components of observational learning theory.


Figure-5 Components of observational learning

Attention: Paying attention by learning is one of the important ways of learning things faster. This process is influenced by a model’s characteristic like one’s likeness towards the model and the expectations of the observer.

Application: My degree of attention was measured by the amount of data I observed from the model. For example: I paid attention to a person delivering presentation at a seminar. I keenly observe the body language, confidence, speech and other aspects of personality that would help me to improvise.

Retention: Retention is the process of the memorizing observed behaviour and delivering the behaviour in the relevant situation.

Application: My learning process involved taking notes of important behaviour patterns and memorizing few


trends in behaviour. I also enacted and rehearsed the same back home which helped in developing confidence thereby enhancing my presentation skills. I memorized the data by symbolic coding.

Initiation/ motor production: producing what has been observed is an important way of quantifying the learning curve. It so happens that the observer might not have the skills needed to enact the same behaviour as that of the models. Still it is important for the observer to enact the behaviour.

Application: I used this process to enact and enhance my skills which helped me in developing and gaining new skills set. For Instance: When I tried enacting my supervisor, I lacked in the confidence and technical skills. But I worked on areas of improvements and to gain competence.

Motivation: Motivation is not only needed by people with low efficacy but also high spirited people do need motivation to keep going forward in life.

Application: I observed self-motivated people and attended pep talks on motivational behaviour.

The application of this theory helped in the following ways:

Increased my learning ability and helped structuring and mapping data in a better way

Improvised my presentation and technical skills Gained self-motivation and self-belief


Changes in thinking and behaviourMy journey from ‘No I can’t’ to ‘yes I can’ was a complete process of self-evaluation and learning. I

gained confidence in performing tasks, believing in inner self and developed a positive attitude towards work, life and people. The theories and models

suggested by Albert Bandura helped me to improve my self –efficacy. The 4soucres of self-efficacy helped me to find the potential sources of deriving efficacy from my surroundings. The mediating processes enhanced my self-motivation. It taught me the significance of recreation and moved me towards spirituality. I foresee my future in a very positive way and have inculcated the soft skills which were required to have a bright career. I am all together a transformed person with an effective social skills and knowledge. The models described in my report were used in the real-time experimentation and the positive implications were seen in my attitude. The observational learning theory has given me a chance to learn and grow. I feel very positive about my environment and people. It has developed a learning attitude with in me. I learn, memorize, develop and enact. It also taught me how to effectively choose my environment. Environment plays an important role and my ability to change it, has given me a power of self-control. Not to be influenced by the negative implication of the society is another key learning from the theories. Apart from application of theories by bandura, my module leader, Deborah also plays a significant role in inculcating the habits of self-learning. As suggested by her, I maintained a learning


journal. The journal helped me track my day to day learnings, reminded me of my goals and my eating habits. I could count the calorie consumption on a regular basis. It helped me eating the right kind of food. If you eat healthy, you think healthy. These are few changes within me in last 6 months. I look forward for a complete transformation at the end of the course which will help me in pursuing a bright career.

References:


Albert bandura (1997). Self-Efficacy The Exercise of control. New York: W.H. Freeman and Company. p80-86.

Henry Ford. (2010). If You Think You Can’t… Think Again: The Sway of Self-Efficacy. Available: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/flourish/201002/if-you-think-you-can-t-think-again-the-sway-self-efficacy. Last accessed 22nd Feb 2015.

Albert Bandura. (1994). self-efficacy. Available: http://www.uky.edu/. Last accessed 27th Feb2015


Leadership and personal developement on self efficasy

Leadership & Management

Transcript of Leadership and personal developement on self efficasy