Leadership in Organisations - Coursework Example

Weekly Journals Week 2 The leadership questionnaire on page 34 was very illuminating in terms of what it revealed about my leadership traits. While the results may not have the benefit of scientific rigor, it gave me a general outline of other peoples’ perceptions of my leadership traits; this is information that I can surely implement in improving my weaknesses. For instance, my score of 3 on the persistence category (the lowest such score I received) made me realize that there may be activities, and even relationships that I give up on with too much ease. I believe over time with this knowledge it’s possible to improve this weakness, as well as other weaknesses that impinge my effectiveness as a leader. Similarly, while it’s important to recognize one’s weaknesses as a leader, I also believe that it’s important to recognize one’s strengths and play into them and work towards further strengthening these aspects of one’s personality. In these regards, I scored fives in the trustworthy, outgoing, and friendly categories. In these regards, I will attempt to cultivate these traits in becoming a more effective leader. In examining my personal assessment scores on the page 64 questionnaire I found it illuminating in terms of the comparisons that can be made among the divergent skills. In these regards, my Technical Skill score was 21, while my Human Skill score was 28, and my Conceptual score 19. Similar to the questionnaire on page 34 these varying scores function to demonstrate areas to me wherein I can work to improve my weaknesses; clearly my Conceptual score is significantly lower than my Human Skills score. While I recognize that it’s important to work towards improving one’s weaknesses, I also believe these scores can be used in leadership when it comes to delegation. A strong leader will have a working knowledge of themselves and areas where it would be more beneficial to the objective to delegate these responsibilities to others. Finally, the questionnaire on page 85 gave me increased self-knowledge into my leadership traits, as well as others perception of me. In these questionnaires I scored in the moderately high range for Tasks with a 39 score, and then scored in the high range for Relationships with a score of 42. While both of these scores relatively high, I recognize that they both leave room for improvement. They also speak towards my type of leadership style in indicating that I tends more towards relationship oriented leading, than simple task based. In these regards, I could change the style by becoming more focused on tasks and a little less focused on relationship building. I also found the specific type questions on this score to be effective as they functioned almost along the lines of direct feedback, as their specificity left minimal room for ambiguity. Ultimately, I will go through the responses and examine ways that I can improve on individuals personal responses about me to the questionnaire. Week 3 After completing the LPC Questionnaire on page 122, I recognized my score was 65, indicating that I am a relationship motivated individual. It’s no surprise to me then that contingency theory indicates that the situations in which my leadership style will have the most chance of being successful are those that involve strong personal relationships and customer oriented environments. I also find it notable that my score indicating that I am a relationship motivated individual is similar to the results I received in the previous questionnaires, indicating that I have a high score on the Relationship spectrum. However, I am somewhat apprehensive of the LPC Questionnaire as it indicates one’s feelings towards one specific individual and although the score is said to remain fairly consistent over long periods of time, I have a difficult time completing accepting its effectiveness in providing an accurate reflection of my personality. For instance, if I were to consider an individual at a different job environment my responses would definitely vary considerably, as I have different areas of conflict with that individual. On the path-goal leadership questionnaire I scored a 24 for directive leadership; a 33 for supportive style; a 27 for participative style; and a 14 for achievement oriented style. I recognize that my achievement oriented style in this regard is considerably lower than the other scores, and according to the paragraph on the questionnaire, is next to the cut-off point for a low score. While I would like to improve my weaknesses in this category, I also recognize that the achievement portion of the questionnaire also indicates a style that is somewhat selfish and concerned with personal gain rather than that of the collective. In these regards, there are aspects of my low achievement score that are purposeful. It follows that my 33 score for supportive style is in the high range. In these regards, I believe it is important for the type of human relations environment that I am to become involved in to strongly emphasize selfless cooperation over achievement oriented types of organization. Still, I recognize that there are aspects of achievement oriented leadership styles, such as taking initiative before other individuals, which I could benefit from. Week 4 Considering my results on the MLQ Questionnaire for Transformational Leadership Style I gave myself a high rating (4) for the Idealized Influence section; however I recognize that my ability along the Intellectual Stimulation and Individualized Consideration categories are not exactly my high strength areas, in these categories I gave myself a score of two and three, respectively. In these regards, I believe that it is highly possible for me to become more of a transformational leader. While there are certain leadership traits that are contingent on wisdom and experience, it seems that the categories in which I have weaknesses are areas that require a reallocation of attention more than an abstract or innate ability. In the future I believe I can become a better transformational leader through improving my optimism, as well as looking outward to attempting individuals improve; furthermore, I recognize that I must also think more selflessly in terms of group objectives. With these changes I will become a better transformational leader. I recognize that for other individuals the same changes could be made, as perhaps more for transformational leadership, over other styles, as in great part it seems that the variety in this leadership style is an aspect of the emphasis one wants to place on achievement of an objective or unchangeable leadership traits. Considering my transactional leadership traits, I recognize that I exhibit low traits in both categories – Contingent Reward, and Management by Exception: Active – and perhaps need to work towards improving my ability in these categories; however, I also think it’s notable that these are not leadership qualities, but leadership styles. In these regards, a transactional style might be rejected by some individuals as it acknowledges the underlining self-interest behind achieving a goal, rather than a more wholesome feel of shared values and cooperation. Finally, considering my Passive/Avoidant Leadership Styles I recognize that there are aspects of this category that I could improve upon. Part of the challenge in this regard is determining the extent that one is truly exhibiting passive or avoidant behavior, as it seems in large part these aspects are not simply matters of procrastination, but defense mechanisms one subconsciously is subject to; therefore, it’s important to be vigilant in avoiding these complications. Week 5 I feel the guest lecturer, Warren Bennis, was highly insightful in his summation of leadership qualities, as well as the general principle of what it takes to be a successful individual or member of an organization in today’s contemporary business climate. In these regards, a number of overarching concepts remained with me after the lecture. These concepts include Bennis’ emphasis on passion, purpose, optimism, and ultimately results were core issues that I believe a strong leader must embody. While these concepts are broad in scope, it’s clear that in attempting to adhere to these traits and striving towards them in the pursuit of the company’s objective one can greatly keep on track with what is needed to be a successful leader. I also greatly appreciated guest lecturer Warren Bennis’ discussion of the five important characteristics. I appreciated these concepts as they were more specific in nature than the other core concepts I identified and in this regard I was able to more specifically apply them to my own progress as a leader. For instance, the concept of moral courage over the long term particularly stuck with me as I recognized how oftentimes it is easy to abandon one’s moral center in the short-term for whatever reasons, such as quick profits. The lecture made me recognize the importance of retaining one’s moral convictions over the long term as this can ultimately contribute to business success. Finally, I appreciated his discussion on keeping a sense of humor. So often individuals get into modes of thought in which they overly concentrate on the situation’s objective and neglect the human element. In these regards, Bennis’ lecture made me realize the importance of humor in being an effective leader, as it is through this that many individuals will respond most favorably. Week 6 After completing the Authentic Leadership Self Assessment Questionnaire I recognized that there were many areas in which I exhibited not extremely strong scores. In the Self-Awareness category I scored a 15. In the Internalized Moral Perspective category I scored 13. In the Balanced Processing category I scored a 13. Finally, in the Authentic Leadership category I scored a 56. My score of 56 on the Authentic Leadership category indicates that I am in the high category. While it indicates that I am in the high category, I realize that the majority of my scores were in the middle of the rating spectrum. I think that for many intents and purposes a successful leader does not need to exhibit authentic leadership in all situations. For instance, in many social situations it requires an individual to attend more to social niceties rather than truthfully act in accord with one’s authentic thoughts and feelings. In human management it’s also necessary in certain instances to project a belief of fairness and equality among all employees. In actuality, the individual may feel that they prefer certain individuals over others; however, in openly playing favorites in such a business environment could result in decreased levels of productivity and curtail the development of a fully functional work environment. My personal feelings on this are that leaders should strive towards authentic leadership, but also keep in my mind their own personal biases and account for them in their management style. Ultimately, it’s much easier to respect an individual or manager that is high on the authentic portion of the leadership scale, while remaining fair and just in their decision making process. Week 7 There are many aspects of team leadership skills that I have learned about that I can apply to my experience in groups as a university student, as well as during my eventual goals of becoming a leader within a business environment. For instance, I’m drawn to writers that indicate that it’s important eliminate individual competition among group members, as this will derail cooperation that reduces overall efficiency. In my own group experiences I can see how this has oftentimes occurred and how it’s important to encourage an environment that is more based on cooperation, and to refuse to get drawn into competing among group members. It follows that most group leadership tendencies that I believe I can incorporate into my own university and later business experience revolve around concepts that improve group cohesiveness through mechanisms that reduce conflict and enhance efficiency. I recognize that despite these traits that conflicts will emerge and in these regards I am drawn to writers that state that conflicts must be dealt with immediately before they grow into larger conflicts. Finally, I recognize that it’s important to establish an agreed upon goal or objective that all members of the team can work towards; without such a common goal it’s highly likely that team members will splinter off, or engage in competitive behavior. Week 8 The results of the SPARK assessment and the SPARK film analysis group work experience both were learning experiences for me. In every category the group members gave me an outstanding assessment. While I recognize the importance of the experience and can understand how such group-assessment measures are important determinants of one’s self-understanding, as well as their group empathy, I believe in this particular situation group members may have tended towards giving the group high marks either out of an honest belief that they did so, or out of a social obligation for fellow group members. I can see how such an assessment would be utilized more effectively in situation that allowed more thorough and in-depth group work to be conducted, with perhaps most distinct assessment categories. Next time I recognize that through group work at the university I will most likely act in the exact same way as I did in this group, as the results indicated that I performed outstanding in every category. In these regards I will attempt to consider the actions and ways I performed in these assessment categories and attempt to mirror my actions. For instance, the group assessment shows that my quality of work is outstanding, as well as my team building ability, indeed, in every category I was outstanding; it follows that I must simply consider the way I achieved these results and follow these actions in the future. Read More