University of Maryland, College Park

Pearl Diving Assignment 2

Riddhi Singh

Communications for Project Managers: ENCE424

Dr. Shana Webster-Trotman

October 29, 2020

Introduction

Engineering students are not often given the opportunity to practice presentation and
verbal skills. Often even when presenting engineering ideas and projects in technical courses the
expectations are low, with the focus being solely on the material than the speaker themselves.
Then the same engineering student is later expected to be confident in front of a big group, and
keep an audience engaged while giving presentations at their places of work, showcasing a
product, idea, or information. Many engineering students are unfamiliar with providing a proper
presentation and are uncomfortable in front of a crowd. Communication for Project Managers
emphasizes the importance of learning the valuable skill of conversation and presentation. The
students taking the course get the opportunity to read through insightful material that sheds light
on skills they need to hone. The readings give advice and explanations on the importance of
better communication. The students also get opportunities in class to engage in an active
discussion with their peers, as well as practice different communication techniques. They get lots
of opportunities to overcome stage fright and different presentation methods when addressing the
class. This essay highlights what I have learned through the readings and activities conducted in
class and how I could utilize them when dealing with others. It also talks about how I can use my
knowledge to be more perspective in figuring out how others want to be treated and how I should
carry a conversation. The essay will also explore my analysis and understanding of the Big Five
Personality Test and what I take from it.

Email to Team

Good Afternoon Team,

I hope everyone has been having a good week so far and has some exciting weekend
plans to look forward to. Don’t forget next Friday we will be having our company picnic
celebrating 15 years of growth, excellent work, and satisfied customers. I received some
questions in the meeting this morning regarding guests, so I wanted to repeat that yes, please feel
free to bring your family along with you since we pride ourselves on being a big family as well.

That brings me to the next topic on the agenda that is being brought up as we near our
quarterly evaluations. Current numbers indicate that the team's overall performance has been
falling as we progress through the weeks approaching the end of the quarter. Current team
productivity is averaging around 60% as compared to last quarter's 85%. Productivity is
calculated through the average time spent on a task, errors on final reports, time spent fixing
problems, and time spent idle at work.

Our team is currently not producing work with the same quality and care as we usually do
and I know we are capable of doing. I recognize that most of the team has moved on to working
remotely every other day, but that does not mean that performance should fall. If performance
numbers keep falling the company may end up removing the option to work from home, which
we would all hate to lose. We also know that year-end bonuses and promotions are based on
overall and individual performance reviews, so we need to produce work like I know our team is
capable of so that we are able to reap the rewards of our dedication. In my 5 years of managing
this team, I have never seen the numbers drop this low so I was very disappointed in the team's
current lackluster performance.

There are areas for improvement that we can all work towards. Let’s start but having a
daily group meeting to update each other on what work has been completed, what needs to be
done, and what we are working on today. That will help foster accountability and a
communicative environment so we can help each other keep track of our progress through
projects.

We can make these improvements and accomplish our goal. Please feel free to direct any
questions to me.

Sincerely,
Team Leader

Concepts/Techniques Learned in Class

A concept we further explored in class apart from just in the First Pearl Diving
Assignment was when we dove deeper into the DISC assessment and how we could further
utilize it when dealing with others as well as using the knowledge when communicating in the
workplace. The DISC assessment is a behavioral assessment that helps people understand their
leadership styles which further helps improve workplace productivity and fosters teamwork and
increases effectiveness in the workplace.

In class we went over the general traits, values, and expectations of each personality type.
The Dominant leadership type is more direct, and is result oriented but fears being taken
advantage of and losing control. The Influence Leadership style is someone who prefers a
friendly environment and social relationships but fears being left out and losing social approval.
The Steadiness leadership style are systemic, and people oriented but fear sudden change and
loss of stability. The Compliance leadership style puts an emphasis on analytics and likes to get
to the point but fears being critisized and losing accuracy and quality. Each leadership has its
strengths and weaknesses that need to be remembered when working with other individuals.
During our read throughs of the leadership styles, there was not much emphasis put on real
interaction in the workplace so having the in class activity where we tried to express the same
general message to different leadership styles helped showcase how the subtle differences
present themselves.

The class activity was to send an email to your manager describing that a task that was
due tomorrow counldnt be completed and you actually need an extension. Different teams of
students had to formulate a response to a boss that is either high dominant, influence,
compliance, or steadiness. When writing the email despite having a clear outline of what the
email needs to contain and avoid I recognized the difficulty my group and possible the others
were facing when trying to deviate from their own styles and instead try to match the readers
preferred style. It took us two rewrites to recognize that the niceties we were adding to the email
and extra wording would not suit our high compliance boss. Once we came up with our email
and watched the other groups present, it was eye opening to see that emails that I would have
found to be perhaps curt actually were preferred by some classmates. The activity helped me see
the platinum rule being applied in person and how you should treat other people how they prefer
to be treated than simply treating them in the ways that suit you. Sometimes using a more direct
and analytical approach is the way to get work done, which I would not have previously used if I
did not have this knowledge.

Going forward I plan to utilize my experience and knowledge when addressing future
colleagues and bosses. Previously when dealing with different type of bosses I had been always
been a little suprised when I would recived an overly friendly email or one that was too direct
and emotionless as that style of correspondence was not what I expected in a workplace. Next
time when interacting with others in the workplace I will now be able to recognize that others
have different management styles and I should be appealing to that when I communicate with
them instead of pushing what appeals to me. I can use my knowledge of the DISC assessment
when trying to appeal to others as it will be useful in communicating to foster a better
relationship or when trying to achieve a goal.

Techniques Learned in Crucial Conversations

I will handle the scenario where the boss called me an idiot in front of the entire team by
employing aome techniques that I learned in Crucial Conversations such as creating a dialogue
about mutual respect, clearing an previously unknown misunderstandings, and by making room
for a collaborative constructive environment.

I would like to address my boss in a one on one environment so that nobody feel attached
in the presence of a group and both parties are able to get their truth spoken. I will start by first
making small talk to open the floor for a conversation, then bring up the event that took place
during the meeting today. I would say how the comment made me feel negatively which was
heightened by the presence of of the team resulting in public humiliation and harm to personal
feelings. I would also mention how I did not expect that and was not sure if the boss was making
the statement in jest to highlight that I am not attacking them as an employee but by mentioning
something similar to our previously good relationship I felt that the comment was out of place.
By stating my emotions while trying to maintain friendly relation I will be able to fix any
misunderstanding that could come up with me confronting them, “Addresses others’ concerns
that you don’t respect them or that you have a malicious purpose (the don’t part). Confirms your
respect or clarifies your real purpose (the do part)” (Grenny, Joseph, et al.). I would thenlet them
speak their piece which could either be them apologizing for such conduct or them continuing to
berate we over any problems them have with me. If the boss recognizes their mistake and
apologizes I would forgive them with the hope that the event will not take place again and that
the boss would clarify with any coworkers who no think lesser of me. If the boss takes the other
hostile approach I would like to remind them that I was chosen to be on the team due to my skills
and consistent work, they do not have to like me to respect me and I do not think such
disrespectful behavior has any place in the workplace. I would essentially bring them back to the
overarching idea that this is a workplace and that behavious is creating a hostile work
environment, “If after clarifying everyone’s purposes you are still at odds, see if you can invent a
higher or longer-term purpose that is more motivating than the ones that keep you in conflict.”
(Grenny, Joseph, et al.). If for some reason the boss escalates the negatve behavious and I feel
disrespected and feel that I am working in a hostile work environment I would take the matter to
human resources to figure out other ways to deal with the issue.

Storytelling

Back in May of 2021 I was very close to being offered an engineering internship position
from the Federal Aviation Administration(FAA) and from National Aeronautics and Space
Adminsitration(NASA). I was very confident that I would secure either of those positions since I
made it into the top three candidates for FAA and was accepted into NASA but was still waiting
on an internopening within an engineering group.
I had interviewed with NASA through Science Systems and Applications
Incorporated(SSAI) by my manager Joesph Ruzzi who had spent the last 10 years at NASA
designing and working on the James Webb Telescope, and had been connected to me through a
networking contact. I was offered a role at NASA as the engineers were impressed by my
knowledge and resume, but they were having difficulty finding a team or client that was in need
of an part time worker or a summer intern so they were unable to concretely give me an answer
if I would find a placement. I had also been interviewed by recruiters at the Federal Aviaation
Adminsitation who found me to be a strong candidate and placed me as one of the top three
candidates for the position, but due to the competitiveness of the internship they also needed time
narrowing down to who would finally get the position.

As the end of May came closer and I had not yet been given a concrete answer by either
of the two companies I began to get nervous but picked my head up and applied to any positions
that were still seeking interns for the summer. At this point in time the school year had concluded
with final exams and I was still to hear back from the companies. I decided to put my misfortune
behind me and go on a vacation with my friends, as I looked forward to applying for positions
next year as I did recognize that I did not apply to as many places as I could have applied to.
While on my holiday with my friends I received an unexpected email from Johnson Controls
hoping to interview me for a possible position this summer. I was ecstatic and readied myself for
any possible technical questions they could ask. I decided to stay back in the Airbnb while my
friends left to enjoy the beach to give this interview. I was very nervous as I did not feel I would
fully be able to answer the question relating to this position as mentioned in the job description,
but I readied myself by refreshing my basics and coming up with a good pitch of my previous
projects.

When the interview began I was surprised by the enthusiasm of my future managers and
was excited about being able to have an hands on position while I am able to write code and
utilize skills I learned in school. The managers seemed to like my personality, willingness to
learn, and work ethic as well and actually offered me the position during the interview itself. I
was very excited at the prospect of securing a position, but I was still waiting to hear back from
both FAA and NASA. The FAA finally sent me the letter that they had gone with another
candidate for the position, so I decided to follow back up with NASA on how their search had
been going. I also emailed them that I had received another offer but I really wanted to work for
NASA this summer and hoped that they could give me a response soon so that I could make my
decision. My contact at NASA, Joseph Ruzzi, emailed me back saying that he was sorry that the
process was taking this long, and while he was trying his best he advised it was better for me to
accept the position at Johnson Controls. Although I was initially dismayed I was happy that I did
have an offer at one of the top HVAC and Security companies so that helped lessen the blow.

Once I arrived back in Maryland from my vacation I readied myself for my first office
job and went to purchase some work clothes readied myself for the 9-5. It was also my first time
ever driving by myself in the car anywhere but I was excited and ready to start even though the
head office was about an hours drive away. Once I arrived at my job I was greeted by friendly
faces and spent the next two days at the office training, only to learn that they job I signed up for
was not the one that was advertised in the job description or talked about in the interview. Yet I
bit my tongue and hoped I would get to learn something at the job. Unlike the job description
where I would have been designing the electrical components and framework while coding the
controls for different machines, I was instead supposed to go to different half built construction
sites while I shadowed a person and do routine tests and maintenance. I felt duped and tricked as
this was not the promised job and not something that I as an Electrical Engineer would ever be
doing. Worse yet, the person I was shadowing could not be bothered to even try to teach me
anything so for a month and a half I would go to work at 6 am and sit in a chair either watching
him work or on my phone doing nothing for the eight hours I spent there. These male centered
construction sites did not also have usable female restrooms so I found myself wasting half of
my lunch break driving to a fast food restaurant just to use the bathroom. I was also yelled at by
the person I shadowed when I mentioned any safety or sanitation issues to them including people
jumping on instrument sthat said no nout touch, using ladders unsafey, and people leaving bottles
of urine everywhere. I was also constanly questioned and berated about my choice to wear a
mask during a time of peak covid, and people talking poorly and inaccurately about the country I
was born in asking if I was so glad to be in the United States. This all was taking place while I
worked another job at night between the hours of 6pm to 12am. I wanted to try and just get
through my internship so that I was able talk about a position I held in my resume but working
there everyday made my desire to quit even stronger.

Then one day I received an email from my correspondence at NASA asking if I was still
available and would like to work for them, so he had finally found a project that I would be great
for. I jumped at the opportunity and quickly scheduled my interview with the team. They were
very happy to have me onboard and even increased my salary and gave me the option to work
whenever I wanted to. I was then able to give my two weeks notice to the internship at Johnson
Controls citing limited working capability due to school project needs so that I was able to
maintain good faith between myself and the company. Within a week I had stopped working at
Johnson Controls and started working for NASA where I worked part time for 1.5 years. I
believe having a previous work experience at NASA helped me secure my second internship at
Northrop Grumman. Working at both places results in be getting return offers with sign on
bonuses and opened up future opportunities.
 This experience both the negative and positive sides helped to strengthen my resolve,
patience, adn work ethic. I learned to value my skills and knowledge more highly that I did
before and learned of my value as a worker and now I know what I deserve and what I should
strive for. It also strengthened my spirit as even though my original leads fell through I
persevered and attained another job, and when even that job did not turn out to be what I
expected it to my perseverance helped me secure the position I really wanted. When I apply to
jobs now I have been told that I have a good resume with skills that they look for when hiring for
potential employees. The skills I learned due to my experience that summer in 2021 will serve
me well in the future when looking for employment.

Big Five Personality Assessment

 My results indicated that, “Your ideal world is a kind, equitable one, where people treat
each other fairly and with compassion. You value justice and mercy in equal measure, believing
that people should be forgiven when it is reasonable to do so. You do your best to make the
world a better place, although you also work toward your own personal achievements. You want
to distinguish yourself, but you do not want to step on any toes to do so.

You have a genuine love of ideas, and value originality, creativity, and imagination. It is
important to you to have consistent opportunities to learn new things and improve your mind.
You value intellectual challenge, depth of thought, and insight. Because of your interest in
enlightenment and novel ideas, you place great value on artistic and cultural endeavors. You
believe that the improvement of the mind is an important and worthy goal” (The Big Five
Personality Test).

I scored highly in openness, agreeableness, extraversion, and conscientiousness. Scoring

high in openess indicates that I tend to be creative, adventurous, intellectual, and that I enjoy
discovering new ideals and experiences. A high score in agreeableness shows a great deal of
empathy and that I tend to feel good when serving and taking care of others. It also indicates that
I am trusting and forgiving. A high score in extraversion indicates that i engage actively with
others to earn friendship, admiration, power, status, excitement, and romance. I also scored high
in conscientiousness which means that I tend to be organized and determined, and am able to
forego immediate gratification for the sake of long-term achievement. I scored low in
neurotiscim which means that I am likely to brush off my misfortune and move on easily
compared so someone who scored highly.

I would say that I agree completely with the results of the Big Five Personality
Assessment. I am someone who brushes off when bad things happen since it is what it is and the
only way to do better is learn from your mistakes, make a plan of advancement and move on to
doing better. I have been previously always been described by others as an extrovert while I
viewed myself as an introvert since I do experience low battery after spending lots of time in
social situations. I would say that I love spending time with my friends and doing activities in
social settings but I need time to recharge away from others afterwards. I am pretty concientious
as I have been knows to wait long hours in line for a reward in hopes of achieving my goals. I
also employ a concientiouss strategy when maintaining friendships and when networking as I
know if I keep good relations and be sure to check in once in a while despite everyones busy
schedules the relationship will last a lot longer than if I was not keeping contact as frequently. I
also agree with the conscientious assessment as I am pretty artistically inclined and generally
known to be creative and a problem solver. I love thinking of hypothetcials and talking about
new ideas or diving deeper into psychological queries. I would say that I do agree with the scores
I received and what they mean all together as they seem to be an accurate assessment of me and
my tendencies. Nothing of the results were too surprising besides scoring very highly in
extraversion. While I do agree about my extroverted tendencies I would label myself as someone
who seeks energy from spending time alone or with a few choice people.

When comparing the results between the JUNG Personality Assessment Test, the DISC
Assessment Test, and the Big Five Personality Trait Assessment I can recognize a lot of
similarities but I still find the Big Five Personality Trait Assessment to be the most accurate. All
the tests indicated that I was an extrovert but the JUNG Personality assessment was the most
unlike the DISC Assessment and the Big Five Assessment. On the DISC Assessment I was a
high Influence and Dominance scorer which seemed to mimic a lot of what the Big Five
Personality Assessment was saying. The Big Five Personlity Assessment provided more insight
and details when compared to the other two tests. Scoring as a high influence personality type in
DISC mimics my results in the Big Five as they both say how I value social and interpersonal
relationships, am empathetic and prioritize other people over simple facts and figures.

There are a lot of benefits from taking personality tests both as a team and individually.
Taking different types of assessments can help you figure out team/individual strengths and
weaknesses and improve communication and decrease miscommunication between management
and employees. Everyone has their strengths so having taken the test it wuld enable them to
better delegate tasks and take on responsibilities that they are stronger at. Finding out the
weakness or blind spots in yourself or in a team can help point out what parts need to be given
attention and can be trained. Overall it would help with delegation of tasks and when assigning
potential teams and taking on responsibilities. It would also help improve communication as just
having the awareness of your tendencies and keeping it in active thought help to overcome any
shortcomings.

Conclusion
 To conclude I have learned how to better deal with people using personality assessments
and trying to follow the platinum rule as I should be treating others how they want to be treated
in a way to get through to them. I will deal with conflicts in the workplace on my own by trying
to maintain an environment of respectful behavior. I will also not undervalue myself again and
try to work towards improving myself based on the personality assessment to work on areas I
still feel I lack confidence in. I also learned that while reading different strategies helps you be
more aware of potential courses of action, attempting/testing them in person helps you learn it as
a skill that you can take with you and use when need be.
 Reference Page

“The Big Five Personality Test.” Truity,

https://www.truity.com/test-results/bigfive/18303/37743723.

Grenny, Joseph, et al. Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High.
McGraw Hill, 2022.