Self Management

By Prof. Srikanta Patnaik

This book on “Self-Management” is an essential read for a successful life for the students as well as elders. The objective of this book is to make the readers aware of different dimensions of self-management. The chapters have been contributed by people from diverse background such as academicians, leaders from corporate, Airforce and Spiritual practice. The book covers many dimensions of self-management such as:


• Things you should know before you start your Career
• Communication Skills
• Time & Money Management
• Self-Discipline and Leadership skills
• Decision Making & Resilience
• Lifelong learning & Meditation

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing India
• Release date: Jul 14, 2020
• ISBN: 9781543707014

Prof. Srikanta Patnaik

Dr. Srikanta Patnaik is an author and editor in the area of Management and Technology, who has authored and edited more than 50 books from leading publishing houses like Springer Nature, Elsevier, Kluwer Academic, IEEE, ACM & others. Dr. Patnaik is the Editors-in-Chief of International Journal of Information and Communication Technology and International Journal of Computational Vision and Robotics published from Inderscience Publishing House, England and also Editors-in-chief of Book Series on “Modeling and Optimization in Science and Technology” published from Springer, Germany, Book Series on Advances in Computer and Electrical Engineering (ACEE) and Book Series on Advances in Medical Technologies and Clinical Practices (AMTCP), published from IGI-Global, USA. He is Editor of Journal of Information and Communication Convegence Engineering, published by Korean Institute of Information and Communication Convergence Engineering. He is a also Associate Editor of International Journal of Granular Computing, Rough Sets and Intelligent Systems (IJGCRSIS) and International Journal of Telemedicine and Clinical Practices, published from Inderscience Publishing House, England.

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Copyright © 2020 by Prof. Srikanta Patnaik.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

www.partridgepublishing.com/india

CONTENTS

Preface

Editorial

Acknowledgements

1 Things to Know before Starting Your Career

2 Communication Skills

3 Self-Discipline

4 Time Management

5 Personal Saving and Asset Creation

6 Decision-Making: A Self-Acquired Skill

7 Leadership Skill

8 Resilience

9 Art of Forgive and Forget through Heartfulness Meditation

10 Lifelong Learning

PREFACE

I nterscience I nstitute of M anagement & T echnology ( IIMT ) is a premier B-School imparting quality management education. Since its inception, the institute is continuously providing knowledge and skills to serve the changing needs of the business and commerce. The institute has been organising many conferences, seminars, and symposium covering different aspects of management and technology on a regular basis. Also, we have a presence at Elsevier-Berkeley Electronic Press popularly known as Elsevier-BEPress where all our journals, proceedings are archived. We have around a hundred mentors, spread across the globe. The students are motivated to give their views on all the activities of the institute. Further to handle all these, there emerges a strong need for the development of self-management skills. We not only educate to create managers, but also to make every possible effort to nourish self-management. To overcome the obstacles encountered while nurturing self-management skills, our team organises lecture notes and seminar on self-management. As an academician, I am associated with teaching and research in the domain of management and technology for the last thirty years. I have authored a few textbooks and edited more than fifty books, book chapters, and special issues from leading publishing houses like Springer Nature, Elsevier, Kluwer Academic, IEEE, ACM, and others. In my entire professional career, I have found a common deficiency among the students that is ‘Self-Management’. And therefore, I had taken a step to start a lecture series on self-management at IIMT during the academic year 2019–2020. We are thankful to all the speakers who have delivered a talk on various components of ‘Self-Management’, which have been included as chapters of this book. The notion of bringing out a book entitled Self-Management came after the successful completion of the lecture series on ‘self-management’. While contacting the publishing house, we have received a very good response for publication of this book as there is no such title till today.

—Prof. Srikanta Patnaik

EDITORIAL

S elf-management is an essential skill that one needs to develop in today’s rapidly changing world. The present-day scenario has got lots of impact on our lifestyle may it be due to noise or distraction. But the ultimate solution to this possesses a skill set for self-management. It is required to achieve success in personal, professional, and social life. It is also essential to change the attitude and behaviour towards others may it be your fellow workers, people in the street, or pets in the society. Basically, self-management can be attained by grooming self, fulfilling your commitments towards others, inculcating the spirit of ‘forget and forgive’ and zeal to learn new things on your own, with support of your day-to-day work, and building and nurturing your personal network. It is essential in all facets of life of an individual, may it be for a student, or on the work front, or for maintaining a healthy relationship by increasing your self-efficacy.

Today, you will not find many of the students can assimilate lessons taught in the classroom. It may be due to a lack of self-confidence and control to handle the workload. Another dimension of self-management is the development of character building, learning ethics, and the ability to work with others. No one can work alone effectively, and there arises the need for teamwork. Through teamwork, one learns about emotion, socialization, and time management, and helping each other. Further, one can adapt to surrounding a new situation with self-management.

A higher degree of self-realisation and determination can always be gained by self-management. From the organisational context also, the ability of self-management is highly essential to manage oneself as well as others. Further, a combination of liberty, competence, and relatedness delivers a high degree of self-determination, thus enabling higher forms of self-realisation. However, self-management in an organisation involves skills contributing to both individual and organisational objectives. And it requires conformity and clarity of objective and plan to attain the same as expected.

Self-management is not a new concept that has come out now. It has marked its existence way back from Mahabharata and Ramayana. Simply understanding the approach of our deities can enable us to relate it to self-management in ancient times. Bhagvad Gita depicts the lessons on spirituality and ethics through a dialogue between Lord Sri Krishna and Arjun, the warrior who is at the crossroads of life. The important implications in the context of leadership, decision-making, and crisis management were also narrated in Bhagvad Gita. Secondly, from Ramayana, one can understand the duties and relationships of a ruler and a common man.

With the passage of time, we are somewhat forgetting the lesson of self-management in our lives which is resulting in a lack of commitment, unwillingness to adapt to change, reduced personal networks, so on, and so forth. This book on self-management is a self-help leisure reading book which can be followed by all age groups, may it be a student or a 60-year-old retired person. It contains experiences of people from different walks of life, which teaches us lessons in our life. This book has received a good response during its conceptualisation and initial progress phase. Out of the many chapters received, only a few selected chapters have been included in this volume on the basis of their quality and coverage.

The first chapter is entitled ‘Things to Know before Starting Your Career’ which showcases the tested path for students to follow achieving success in their professional as well as personal life. This chapter gives the reader an overview of image building and the facets that are often ignored by students during their formative undergraduate years, i.e., appearance, speaking, behaviour, values, and beliefs.

One of the most important skills that one needs to possess is communication skills, i.e., the ability to speak, listen, question, and write with clarity. These communication skills sound simple but practically are very complex. The second chapter on ‘communication skills’ describes various forms of communication skills associated with it, the process involved in effective communication, and successfully performing the task of communicating by eliminating the barriers therein.

Positive attitude towards life with self-discipline is a vital attribute to attain success. Self-discipline is considered as one of the important requisites for achieving goals as it gives the power to stick to the decisions made without changing the mindset. The next chapter entitled ‘Self-Discipline’ covers the characteristics and development and disciplinary measures for students and its essence in life.

The succeeding chapter on ‘time management’ enables one to accomplish more in less time, resulting in more free time for other activities. This chapter covers various approaches to practice time management with proper implementation and ultimate optimisation of time, which can provide productive outcomes.

The chapter on ‘personal savings and asset creation’ emphasises on the financial discipline that allows one to focus on savings. This chapter focuses on personal savings and how the personal savings can be converted into alternative income-generating source for better life.

The chapter entitled ‘Decision-Making: A Self-Acquired Skill’ covers the skill to take important decisions in all phases of life. This chapter explores various judgments by adopting decision-making skills and strategies. It also provides skill to keep away from general faults in decision-making and in recognition of objectives which accomplish through various decision processes.

In the chapter entitled ‘Resilience’, the author being an air force colonel emphasised on the ability of the human mind to comprehend stressful situations. This chapter explains about resilience as an important character trait of self-management.

The chapter entitled ‘Leadership Skills’ covers the simple yet powerful leadership concept. The author being an ex-CEO and an efficient leader has thrown light on his experiences in different organisations with varied leadership styles.

Meditation prepares one to learn new skills effectively and enhance their existing skill set efficiently. The next chapter which is useful for everyone is meditation. To lead a peaceful life from stress-related issues, mediation is the ultimate solution. The author titled his chapter as ‘Practice the Skill of Forgive and Forget through Heartfulness Mediation’ has laid importance on the unique Heartfulness meditation with simple and basic steps that can be followed easily by everyone.

Last but not the least, the chapter entitled ‘Lifelong Learning’ reflects on how one can continue learning throughout one’s entire life to attain success. This chapter illustrates the skill set required in the professional and personal front. The author further discussed the essence of learning after 50s and 60s, and the technology available for lifelong learning.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

T his book is the outcome of the lecture series on self-management’ organised during the academic year 2019–20. We are thankful to all the invited and in-house speakers who had delivered the talk on various areas of self-management.

I would further like to extend my gratitude to the Partridge Publishing House for their support. Particularly, I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to publishing consultant Mr. Jules Hernandez for his encouragement and support.

I thank all the contributors for devoting their time and effort in constantly developing the chapters. My special thanks are due to my friends Retd.Col. Rajendra Bhanj, Mr. Anjan Kumar Sahoo, Engr. Mihir Kumar Mohapatra, and Mr. Lyndon D. Thomas for their valuable contributions.

I am thankful to the faculty members of I.I.M.T. who have contributed their chapters and also equally thankful to the faculties who have supported in reviewing, language editing, and improving the manuscripts during the pre-publication of the book.

I would also like to thank the reviewers for dedicating their time to deliver the quality of the chapters by giving their valuable comments and suggestions.

I am thankful to Mr.