Review of eCornell Earned Value Management Class

I learned about employee motivation in my eCornell Earned Value Management class.

The classwork taught me how issues of motivation can be diagnosed and addressed the psychological contract as a conscious and unconscious source of motivation.

In the class project I had to discuss a recent project at work and critique my managerial behavior, how I manage myself as a resource and my efforts in using job design as a source of motivation for my team.

The lessons were clear and well thought out. The only section that was information-poor was the Accurate Self-Assessment competency. I feel frustrated because illusory superiority is a common cognitive bias. The Dunning - Kruger effect states that individuals who are worst at performing the tasks are also worst at recognizing skill in those tasks. Without being presented a reliable technique for self-assessment, how will I really know which areas I need to improve in my leadership style?

I have reserved some books at the library and I am also attempting to add to my knowledge in this area by looking online for a self-assessment model that is not specifically formulated for high school students entering college and trying to decide on a career.

Errol Morris from the The New York Times recently posted an interesting interview with Cornell professor of social psychology David Dunning on the Dunning-Kruger Effect in the article 'The Anosognosic’s Dilemma: Something’s Wrong but You’ll Never Know What It Is (Part 1).' I like Dunning's advice to college students -"find out who the smart professors are, and to get themselves in front of those professors so they can see what smart looks like."

Thank you for your time! If you have any questions about my experience with the eCornell Project Leadership classes, please email me at lisson@gmail.com