What is Self-Management?
Self-management is defined as efforts by an individual to control his or her own behavior (Mills, 1983). Specifically, self-management involves assessing problems, establishing goals, monitoring time and environmental issues that may hinder the accomplishment of those goals, and the use of reinforcement and punishment to regulate goal progress and attainment (Frayne, 1991). By training individuals to evaluate, monitor, and regulate themselves, they become responsible and accountable for their own progress and performance, and essentially, become “self-managers”.
Self-management involves specific steps (Frayne, 1991; see Table 1). The first step in self-management training is to conduct a self-assessment. Through this stage, an individual discovers what the problems are which stand between the individual and the goals that he or she wants to accomplish. This discovery leads to the second step of establishing and committing to specific goals (Kanfer, 1987). If the individual does not set and commit to these goals, the next step, self-monitoring, will have little impact on an individual’s behavior (Simon, 1979). Self-monitoring involves an active monitoring by the individual of his or her own time and environmental management, and the identification of issues or situations that may prevent an individual from reaching his or her goals. The fourth and final step in self-management training is the self-evaluation stage, wherein the individual evaluates the success of his or her plan, and refines his or her tactics if necessary.
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Individual Self-Management Training in Management Education
