Reflection-People Culture And Contemporary Leadership-Free-Samples Assessment Answer

works consistently in every situation (Bolman & Deal, 2017). The different leadership styles that were introduced to us in this course were democratic leadership, transformational leadership, Autocratic leadership, Charismatic leadership, Laissez-fair leadership and many more. I learnt from this course that different organizations, businesses, departments and teams require different forms of leadership for growth. No specific leadership style can work for everyone (Day, 2014). Therefore, it is important that leaders must be able to comprehend the required leadership style for a given situation and act in accordance with the same.

We also learnt about various renowned leaders like Jeff Bezos, Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Barack Obama and many others including their leadership styles. During the class activities, we were given various situations and we were asked to adopt the best leadership style for that situation. This is where I learnt, that with a team of self-motivated, competent, cooperative and experienced members, democratic leadership style can be adopted in order to allow everyone to freely communicate and make combined decisions (Bhatti et. al., 2012). On the other hand, if the team members are young people who are full of energy and vigor but lack the required experience, then charismatic leadership strategy can be adopted to motivate them in the right direction. This is the first time that I learnt about charismatic leadership. This is ideally, the ability or the style of a leader to lead a team where authority derives from the leader’s charisma and flamboyance (Spisak et. al., 2013). There are many youngsters who are fresh out of college and require a leader to motivate them. In such cases, it is imperative that the leader is someone that the team members can look up to. However, I also understood that charismatic leadership involves the charisma of a leader but it is also backed by the leader’s competency and skill. For example, Elon Musk is a charismatic leader who has a flamboyant personality and his employees can look up to him. He is a pioneer of innovation and technology in a business and his impeccable decision making skills make him a charismatic leader.

Through different case studies, we studied about different leaders that have led the world and how each of them differed in their strategies and tactics. Leadership is not only important in organizations but it also important to run countries and economies with efficiency. This is why most countries elect or select leaders who can guide the country to development and growth. The reason why state elections are so important are because it is critical for the people of a country to select their leaders because it is these leaders who will represent the country for the next few years.

One interesting thing that I learnt in this class was transformational leadership. These are the leaders who become a part of a team and change the face of it in the most effective manner (Kark & Shamir, 2013). As the name suggests, transformational leaders create a transformation at the very core of a team and assist as well as motivate the team into the entire change management process. While studying this course, I identified that this is the kind of a leader that I wish to become. Transformational leaders are visionaries and foresee the future in the most effective manner. They see a vision, set goals towards it and work towards achieving them. Through this course, while conducting research on leaders, I also started learning about different leaders. Since then, I have always admired Jeff Bezos who is the CEO of Amazon Inc. The company merely started as an online book store and today there is nothing that cannot be found in Amazon. The leadership abilities of Jeff have changed the shape of Amazon entirely (Rubin, 2013). Today, it is the largest Ecommerce organization which operates in over 94 countries. This is solely the result of Jeff’s leadership style and futuristic vision for his company. Amazon has launched numerous products, online and offline stores as well as has garnered a massive number of customers from different parts of the world. This is why I find Jeff Bezos as a leader very inspiring and he is someone I look up to.

My leadership style

I have always been a positive personality and I have a lot of friends. My people management skills as well as the ability to develop relationships with them have been competent. I never got a chance to lead a large number of team, but from my little experience and this course, I have reflected that my leadership style is democratic. I treat my team members like friends and I continue to allow them to make the team decisions after open communication and coordination. I never force either of my team members to obey me or set any unreasonably high expectations from them. I also tend to set goals for team members after thoroughly communicating with them.

As a leader, I have always been appreciated for creating an environment of open communication within the team. I allow all my team members to speak their minds freely and never think twice before addressing an issue that they believe exists even if it includes me. Therefore the work culture of my team is always vibrant and positive. This also allows the influx of creativity and allows team members to work to the best of their abilities. My leadership style has been largely influenced by the fact that I personally work best under leaders who allow my creativity side to grow and encourage me to take decisions by allowing me independence in the team. As a leader, I try to establish a connection with each of my team members so that I can understand and identify the sources of motivation for each of them.

I have learnt through this course that different situations require different leadership styles and this is why I try my best to be flexible with my leadership style. I also try to watch interviews and presentations of well-known leaders in order to seek inspiration and learning. I truly believe that under my leadership, I prefer team members are who are largely self-motivated and can take a high level of ownership for the team’s goals. As a leader, I also prefer clarity of goals. I am fairly calculated and I try to sit with my team and establish clear and SMART goals for the team’s performance. I believe in regular follow ups and effective feedback sessions. As a leader, I believe I would work hard towards establishing an effective feedback mechanism in order to really focus on the growth of each and every team member of mine. This course has truly helped me in understanding the importance of transparent and effective feedback in a team. The course is extensive and covers even very small aspects of effective leadership. Therefore, a lot of my understanding of my leadership abilities has been because of the course. The next section of the reflection highlights upon my action plan that I required for myself to improve upon my leadership’s skills.

Recommendations to improve my leadership style

I have had very little leadership experience but from my understanding after studying this course, I have realized that there are various areas of my leadership style that I need to improve upon. As a leader, I am highly democratic and that can come in the way of effective leadership. Team members can start taking the leader for granted if the leader is not strict at times (Braun et. al., 2013). Therefore, for a democratic leader too, it is important to draw the thin line so that team members can speak freely but also have a due respect for the leader and obey orders as and when required.

As a leader, I really encourage open and free communication and I prefer that the team members can speak their mind in front of everyone. I was always very confident that my communication skills in a team and especially as a leader a very effective. However, I received a feedback that team members do not feel very comfortable in addressing issues because there is no privacy. Hence, I would try to involve in one on one conversations with the team member when I get an opportunity to lead a team in the future. Making team members comfortable is also an important responsibility of a leader (Hackman & Johnson, 2013).

I would indulge in reading more books and working towards adopting a very flexible leadership style and a thorough analysis of the given situation. I would also try to observe and understand more about the life stories of other leaders who encourage me. By doing so, I will be able to learn and adopt a better leadership style. I would also try to consistently seek feedback from the organization and team and try to take it constructively in order to improve my leadership.

I am a people’s person and I tend to find it difficult to becoming strict with people but I need to understand that certain situations demand the leader to take stern actions and be strict with the team members. Therefore, I will work towards working on the same. I will consistently seek to improve upon my leadership skills in order to ensure that team and organizational goals are achieved.

Conclusion

Leadership is highly important for the success of an organization. Different leaders have different qualities and leading styles. No single leadership style can work for every team of for the same team under every situation. This course has introduced me to a large number of leadership styles that can be adopted by leaders. I also tried to conduct a thorough analysis about my own leadership style and how I can improve the same.

This course has been very effective in enhancing my learning on the subject. We conducted a number of activities and questionnaires which helped us in gaining a practical insight about various leadership styles and how different leadership styles prove appropriate for different situations. Overall the course has been extremely effective. I have understood that I need to consistently improve and work upon my leadership skills. There are many great leaders who have changed and led to the growth of teams, organizations and countries. I will seek to learn more by gaining awareness about their experience and adopt the same when I get to lead a team in the future. Leadership is not just a promotion or a position in the organization, but it is a responsibility that must be fulfilled to the best of one’s ability in order to make sure that the team culture, team motivation and eventually team performance improve and goals are achieved (Men, 2014)

References

Bhatti, N., Maitlo, G.M., Shaikh, N., Hashmi, M.A. and Shaikh, F.M., 2012. The impact of autocratic and democratic leadership style on job satisfaction. International Business Research, 5(2), p.192.

Bolman, L.G. and Deal, T.E., 2017. Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership. John Wiley & Sons.

Braun, S., Peus, C., Weisweiler, S. and Frey, D., 2013. Transformational leadership, job satisfaction, and team performance: A multilevel mediation model of trust. The Leadership Quarterly, 24(1), pp.270-283.

Bryman, A. ed., 2013. Leadership and organizations. Routledge. United Kingdom.

Day, D.V. ed., 2014. The Oxford handbook of leadership and organizations. Oxford Library of Psychology.

Hackman, M.Z. and Johnson, C.E., 2013. Leadership: A communication perspective. Waveland Press.

Kark, R. and Shamir, B., 2013. The dual effect of transformational leadership: Priming relational and collective selves and further effects on followers. In Transformational and Charismatic Leadership: The Road Ahead 10th Anniversary Edition (pp. 77-101). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Men, L.R., 2014. Why leadership matters to internal communication: Linking transformational leadership, symmetrical communication, and employee outcomes. Journal of Public Relations Research, 26(3), pp.256-279.

Rubin, E.N., 2013. Assessing your leadership style to achieve organizational objectives. Global Business and Organizational Excellence, 32(6), pp.55-66.

Spisak, B.R., Nicholson, N. and van Vugt, M., 2011. Leadership in organizations: An evolutionary perspective. In Evolutionary psychology in the business sciences (pp. 165-190). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.

Yukl, G.A., 2013. Leadership in organizations. Pearson Education India