This self-assessment will help you understand your current understanding of the practice of management and your own approach to management. This assessment outlines four important functions of management: planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. You should respond to this in one of three ways: 

(a) Respond based on your own managerial experience if you have any; 

(b) Respond about effective (or ineffective) managers you have observed in your work experience; or 

(c) Respond in terms of how you think an ideal manager should behave. 

Instructions: Recall a situation in which you were a member of a group or team that had a specific task or project to complete. This may have been at work, in a class, or in a church, club, or civic organization. Now assess your behavior in each of the functions. For each question, rate yourself according to the following scale. 

Rating scale: Insert your score from one of the following five options for each of the statements that follow: 

• 5 Definitely true of me 

• 4 Probably true of me 

• 3 Neither true nor not true, or undecided 

• 2 Probably not true of me 

• 1 Definitely not true of me

I. Planning 

______  1. I prepare an agenda for meetings.

 ______  2. I try to anticipate what will happen in the future as a result of my current actions and decisions.

 ______  3. I establish clear goals for myself and others. 

______  4. I carefully analyze the pros and cons involved in situations before reaching decisions. 

______  5. I am quite willing to try new things, to experiment. 

______  6. I have a clear vision for accomplishing the task at hand. 

______  7. I put plans in writing so that others can know exactly what they are. 

______  8. I try to remain flexible so that I can adapt to changing conditions.

______  9. I try to anticipate barriers to goal accomplishment and how to overcome them.

 ______10. I discuss plans and involve others in arriving at those plans. 

______ Section I Total 

II. Organizing 

______  1. I try to follow the plan while working on the task. 

______  2. I try to develop any understanding of the different steps or parts needed to accomplish the task at hand. 

______  3. I evaluate different ways of working on the task before deciding on which course of action to follow. 

______  4. I have a clear sense of the priorities necessary to accomplish the task. 

______  5. I arrange for others to be informed about the degree of progress in accomplishing the task. 

______  6. I am open to alternative, even novel ways of working on the task. 

______  7. I adapt the sequence of activities involved if circumstances change. 

______  8. I have a clear sense of how the steps involved in accomplishing the task should be structured.

______  9. I lead or follow where appropriate to see to it that progress is made toward accomplishing the task. 

______10. I coordinate with others to assure steady progress on the task. 

______ Section II Total 

III. Leading 

______  1. I set an example for others to follow.

 ______  2. I am effective at motivating others. 

______  3. I try to keep a balance between getting   the work done and keeping a spirit of teamwork. 

______  4. I try to handle conflict in nonthreatening, constructive ways. 

______  5. I help others in the group and provide them with guidance and training to better perform their roles. 

______  6. I am open to suggestions from others. 

______  7. I keep everyone informed about the group’s activities and progress. 

______  8. I show a genuine interest in the work of others.

______  9. I am considerate when providing constructive suggestions to others. 

______10. I understand the needs of others and   encourage their initiative in meeting those needs. 

______ Section III Total 

IV. Controlling 

______  1. I regularly assess the quantity and quality of progress on the task at hand. 

______  2. I try to ensure that the information I have is timely, accurate, complete, and relevant. 

______  3. I routinely share information with others to help them accomplish their tasks. 

______  4. I compare progress with plans and take corrective action as warranted. 

______  5. I manage my time and help others to manage theirs. 

______  6. I have good sources of information or  methods for obtaining information. 

______  7. I use technology (computers, tablets, smart phones, etc.) to aid in monitoring progress and communicating with others. 

______  8. I anticipate possible negative reactions and take action to minimize them. 

______  9. I recognize that fixing problems before they occur is better than fixing problems after they occur.

______10. I try to balance my attention on the many different steps needed to accomplish the task at hand. 

______ Section IV Total 

Overall Scoring: Total the values you assigned to each statement in each Section. Your score for each Section should be between 50 (if you gave yourself a 5 for each statement) and 10 (if you gave yourself a 1 for each statement). A score between 41 and 50 is considered to be very high, so this suggests that you have strong skills related to that function. A score between 31 and 40 is somewhat high, a score between 21 and 30 is somewhat low, and a score between 10 and 20 is low. Where you fall on each management function can be used as one indicator of where you might want to concentrate your future skill development efforts.