Bma328 | Leadership | The Assessment Answer

As opined by Dinh et al. (2014), the situational style of leadership requires the leaders to adapt or amend their leadership style as per the need or the merit of the situations and thereby to deal with these situations in an isolated manner rather than in the context of the general leadership followed by them. I personally believe that this is one of the best styles of leadership and has distinct merits over the other ones. Following this style of leadership, I would like to become a leader who also deals with the individual situations as per their merits and importance. This is not only important from the perspective of my own leadership style but at the same time this style of leadership is the need of the contemporary business world. Another important style of leadership which has influenced me in a substantial manner is the ethical leadership. Ghasabeh, Soosay and Reaiche (2015) are of the viewpoint that the leaders taking the help of this leadership style are required to take into effective consideration the various concepts of ethics but also to create ethical and meaningful relations with their subordinates. This is important since I personally believe that the effectiveness of a leader depends to a large extent on the kind of relationship he or she shares with the followers. Thus, taking the help of this framework I would like to create the kind of relations with my followers which will not only help me to inspire them to achieve their targets but also to deal with them in an ethical manner.

Ideas that influenced me as a leader

Anderson et al. (2017) are of the viewpoint that the effectiveness as well as the efficiency of a leader depends to a large extent on the ideas or the notions that has motivated or influenced the individual to become a leader. In some of the cases, it is seen that there are various extrinsic influences which motivate the individual to become a leader whereas on the other hand there are cases wherein there are intrinsic influences as well. As for me, I would like to say that the factors which motivated or influenced me to become a leader can be ascribed to both the intrinsic and also extrinsic factors. For example, intrinsically there is the inherent desire inside me to lead a team and also to emulate the success or the achievement of the past as well as the present great leaders. On the other hand, there are the extrinsic influences to become a leader like the perks or the benefits associated with the process of being a leader, the reputation and the power that an individual gets by becoming a leader and others. Thus, it can be said that it is the conglomeration of both these influences which has influenced me to become a leader. Furthermore, at the same time, I would like to say that the leadership theories and their influence of the practice of these theories as well as styles which were taught to me in this unit had also influenced me to become an effective leader.

Theories and approaches that most resonated with me

I personally believe that one of the most important reasons for the effective development of my leadership skills over the last few months has been because of the concepts which were taught to me in this unit. Some of the theories taught in the unit like the situational leadership theory, leader-member exchange theory, transformational leadership theory and others have enabled me to reinvigorate my leadership style. In addition to these, the unit at the same time taught me that most of the effective leaders of the world whether the past or present ones, had some character traits in common. It is with this objective that I set about to acquire various skills like effective communication skills, time management, critical decision making, motivational skills and others so as to gain the right kind of qualities necessary to become a leader. I personally believe that the acquisition of these skills is vital for a leader since it not only enables a leader to lead the followers in an effective manner but also helps them to manage the different members of their team as well. As opined by Hannah et al. (2014), the leaders in the contemporary business world can be seen as the stewards of an organization and thus they need to perform the job roles of the managers and also the leaders. This is an approach which has influenced me in a substantial manner and thus currently I am not only trying to inculcate inside me the qualities of an effective leader but also the qualities of a manager as well.

Learning, Development Opportunities, Experiences and Leadership Plan

As opined by Landis, Hill and Harvey (2014), the effectiveness of a leader depends to a large extent on the manner in which the concerned leader is being able to use the past learning experiences of theirs for the development as well as the improvement of their leadership style. It is with this objective that during the course of this unit I undertook a thorough analysis of my past experiences and learn the positive aspects of those experiences. These past experiences not only gave me an overview of my weaknesses on which I need to work on to become an effective leader but also gave me an idea about my strengths which I need to fortify. Furthermore, the contents of the unit and also my own past experiences also offered me insightful details about the opportunities that I can utilize to become not only a better individual but also a leader as well.

I would like to say that for the improvement of my leadership style I have chalked out a detailed plan regarding the skills that I need to develop. In this regard, I would say that I have sufficient amount of skills to deal with different kinds of people, to make ethical as well as critical decisions and others. I believe that these skills have not only contributed in a positive manner towards the development of my leadership abilities but have also helped me to motivate them as well. However, some of the most common qualities that I feel I need to inculcate or develop for the development of my leadership abilities are communication skills, motivational skills, people management skills, time management skills and others. An acquisition of these skills is likely to help me become a better leader. However, I also believe that I would have to focus on the attainment of one skill at a time since most of the above mentioned skills are interlinked. In addition to these, for the effective development of my leadership skills I also believe that watching the speeches and also reading the biographies of the past and present leaders would also help me in a significant manner. Lastly, I believe that an effective utilization as well understanding of the concepts of the unit would also enable me to improve my leadership abilities. 

Action Plan for the improvement of Communication skills

Conclusion

To conclude, the notion of leadership has gained a substantial amount of prominence in the contemporary times and the use of this is not only restricted to the business world or politics but in almost all walks of life. In addition to this, it is seen that the leaders are required to posses various skill sets like communication skills, motivational skills, time management skills and others. However, at the same time, it needs to be said that an individual for the development of his or her leadership style needs to take into effective consideration the different theories as well as styles of leadership. These theories and styles of leadership not only provides an overview of the manner in which a leader needs to formulate his or her leadership style but also the manner in which they can effectively lead their team as well.

References

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Anderson, H.J., Baur, J.E., Griffith, J.A. and Buckley, M.R., 2017. What works for you may not work for (Gen) Me: Limitations of present leadership theories for the new generation. The Leadership Quarterly, 28(1), pp.245-260.

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Dinh, J.E., Lord, R.G., Gardner, W.L., Meuser, J.D., Liden, R.C. and Hu, J., 2014. Leadership theory and research in the new millennium: Current theoretical trends and changing perspectives. The Leadership Quarterly, 25(1), pp.36-62.

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Freeman, R.E., 2016. Ethical leadership and creating value for stakeholders. In Business ethics: New challenges for business schools and corporate leaders (pp. 94-109). Routledge.

Ghasabeh, M.S., Soosay, C. and Reaiche, C., 2015. The emerging role of transformational leadership. The Journal of Developing Areas, 49(6), pp.459-467.

Hannah, S.T., Sumanth, J.J., Lester, P. and Cavarretta, F., 2014. Debunking the false dichotomy of leadership idealism and pragmatism: Critical evaluation and support of newer genre leadership theories. Journal of organizational behavior, 35(5), pp.598-621.

Landis, E.A., Hill, D. and Harvey, M.R., 2014. A synthesis of leadership theories and styles. Journal of Management Policy and Practice, 15(2), p.97.

Shamir, B., 2018. Social distance and charisma: Theoretical notes and an exploratory study. In Leadership Now: Reflections on the Legacy of Boas Shamir (pp. 225-254). Emerald Publishing Limited.

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Wilson, A.L., 2017. Measuring the Impact of Implicit Leadership Theories on Leadership Efficacy and Developmental Readiness. Cardinal Stritch University.