Essay-Concept Of Leadership Development-Free-Samples For Assessment Answer

Path-Goal theory of leadership is mainly based on Vroom's Expectancy Theory where the individuals will act in a specific way based on expectation and the act will be followed by certain outcomes. Path-Goal theory is a process as the leaders select the specific behaviour based on the needs and workplace environment (Hirt 2016). The leaders show the path to the employees from which the leaders can obtain the daily work activities. Path-Goal theory mainly follows three basic steps of leadership; this theory determines the environmental and employees characteristics and the leaders need to select the basic leadership style. There are mainly four path-goal types for the leadership behaviour. The leaders can be supportive where the leaders make the workplace pleasant showing the concern for the employees. The leaders can be directive to inform the followers how to perform the work on scheduled time. In addition, participative leaders consult with followers before taking any decision. As stated by Komives (2016), the path-goal theory is about leaders' behaviour and this theory assumes that leaders can be flexible in terms of organisation's needs.

On the other side, trait theory of leadership is based on the feature and characteristics of the leaders. Successful leaders must have interests, personality traits and abilities different than the less effective leaders. The successful leaders have some of the core traits like achievement drive, leadership motivation, honesty and integrity, self-confidence, knowledge of business, emotional maturity and flexibility, creativity and charisma (Yahaya and Ebrahim 2016). Therefore, trait theory of leadership can serve the yardstick against different types of leadership and this theory provides detailed knowledge about the leadership elements and leadership process.

Raymond Cattell believed that personality can be organised and studied. Trait theory stated that human personality is comprised of various traits. Raymond Cattell analysed the personality traits and he listed down 171 characteristics of the human beings (Yang 2014). After that, Raymond Cattell listed the personality trait to 16 descriptive terms.  I have undertaken Raymond Cattell questionnaire test and this test contains 164 statements about me. I had to answer all the statement accurately based on the measurement like disagree (1), slightly agree (2), neither agree nor disagree (3), slightly agree (4), agree (5). It has taken 10 minutes to complete the overall online test. After the test was done, I got the percentile marks for each of the 16 personality traits. The scores were between 0 and 4. I scored 2.4 on warmth and it showed that showed that I am outgoing and attentive to others. In case of reasoning quality, I scored only 1.5 and it showed that I am low in common sense or I miss the abstract thinking. I scored 2.9 in the ruling consciousness as it means that I am dutiful, conforming, moralistic, rule-bound and staid. In addition, I scored less in social boldness as I got only 1 in this trait. It means I am shy, threat sensitive and hesitant in decision-making. I scored low in sensitivity also as I scored 1.4. A low score suggests that I am not sentimental, tough-minded and self-reliant. In addition, I scored only 1.3 in tension trait and it means that I am the relaxed, tranquil, torpid, placid and low drive. I scored low on openness to change as I scored only 1.9. It also means that I am traditional in nature, attached to familiar, respect traditional areas and I am conservative in nature. Therefore, this Cattell questionnaire test helped me to identify my weaknesses in the personality traits.

I have taken Personality Type Indicator Test and this test has allowed me to learn more about my strengths and weaknesses and it would also allow me to achieve fulfilment in the professional and personal life. This is mainly ten-minute test and there are certain statements in which the individuals need to highlight based on the preferences. After giving a reply on each of the statements, the web portal showed my personality type. My personality type showed as ISTP, the Problem Solver. I scored 47% introvert (thought-oriented and reserved), 11% sensing (Traditional and realistic), 8% thinking (Logical and reasonable) and 34% perceiving (Spontaneous and flexible).  ISTP has the strengths of problem-solving and these characteristics bearers are resourceful. Being an ISTP characteristic holder, I am critical and logical when making any decision. When I face any issue, I try to take the best decision and I trust my own judgement. Being an ISTP, I have weaknesses of not watch on the big ideas rather I focus on realistic areas. Risk-taking ability makes ISTP prone to make the wrong decision in life. I am impulsive and I am over enthusiast in making any decision.

The leaders focus on motivational factors essentially so that it may help the employees to be successful (Vann et al. 2014). Environmental characteristics are associated with the design the task, formal authority system and workgroup. I have attended all the leadership classes and the supervisors used to take our classes on a regular basis. In our classes, we have done the role-play sessions where the students had to pretend themselves as famous leaders and they acted according to this. In the classroom, the supervisor always put emphasis on the listening skills when the students shared their leadership skills. I remember that day when the supervisor asked me to describe my favourite leadership style and I discussed democratic leadership style in front of the whole class. I used to go to the teacher in order to clarify my doubts about the leadership and during the role-play sessions, the students did not have the opportunity to rehearse the session beforehand. In addition, during the class activities, we have been shown many leadership videos and TED talk sessions. We had to watch the videos and the supervisors gave use some of the critical questions to answer from those videos. We needed to clear the concept of the leadership and we got acquainted many of the business leaders. The leadership videos were shown through the projector and one of the students had to recapitalise the whole scenario. In addition, the supervisor asked to use to tell the class about the things we would find personally satisfying about leadership. ‘A', the student who sat beside me told about characteristics and traits of leadership that satisfy him. The student told that the leaders must be honest; the leader needs to show the commitment, the leaders need to show the passion and inspiration to the others. One of my friends told me about my leadership style and he shared the view that I possess the participative leadership style that reflects the decision-making capabilities and delegation with accountability. Being a leader, I want to share the creativity and innovation to my team members.

I did a short apprenticeship from small business enterprise where I have been chosen as campaign organiser. There, I had to maintain a small team and I was chosen as leader of the team. I had to handle a team which was organising the campaign for the organisation. During that period, I learnt about leadership in a practical point of view. From the questionnaire tests and from the class activities; I have identified my weaknesses. I have to develop my social boldness, emotional intelligence and extrovert nature. 

I face the issue when I have to speak in front of a large number of people. I need to develop social boldness through stop being nice to all people. What stops a person to be nice is that the person wants to be liked by all. In addition, social boldness can be developed by saying what the person thinks enhances the career. I need to develop my skill to say straightforwardly what I think at that particular moment. I will not be quiet when I want to share any ideas with the people. Social boldness can be developed through be more confident about sharing the point of view. In my mind, I have to think about the worst scenario and being prepared in mind is needed.

I have to develop my skill in emotional intelligence as I always start reacting emotionally to the people and sometimes, I am affected by the feelings and words. I need to be strong and do not get hurt in other words. Being a leader means to share the responsibility of others. I get rough sometimes to the people; therefore, I need to be more emotionally intelligent where I can be more sympathetic towards my fellow members and peers. I should not interrupt or change the subject of the topic when one of my team members would be telling something. I will not judge or edit my feelings quickly. In addition, I should connect my feelings with the thought process in order to understand the overall condition. Moreover, I need to understand the emotional condition of the employees to make connections between the feelings and thoughts. The best process is to keep the learning journal and slow down to experience the anger or any other strong emotion.

It is needed to be more extroverts in nature from my perspective. I should recognise the introvert trait and I am thinking to join the communication class. In short communication courses, I can improve my skills regarding the extrovert nature. I need to talk more to show my eagerness and I need to socialise more to feel more inspired and energised. I need to solve the problems by discussing with other people.

It has been noted that I bear the characteristics of the leadership and my leadership is more of democratic leadership as I always like to take a decision after discussing with my team members and followers. Class activities and the questionnaires provided me with the ideas of strengths and weaknesses of my personality. During the apprenticeship, I took the initiative of the campaign and I always took a decision after taking the opinion of my members. Therefore, I have identified my weaknesses and I have made a plan to improve the leadership qualities through utilising the vigour. I use my observant qualities as well as thinking capabilities to handle my followers and team members. I have decided to improve my weaknesses in leadership through the action plan and it would help in near future.  

Reference List

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Arnold, K.A., Connelly, C.E., Walsh, M.M. and Martin Ginis, K.A., 2015. Leadership styles, emotion regulation, and burnout. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 20(4), p.481.

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Komives, S.R., 2016. Leadership for a better world: Understanding the social change model of leadership development. John Wiley & Sons.

Vann, B.A., Coleman, A.N. and Simpson, J.A., 2014. Development of the Vannsimpco leadership survey: a delineation of hybrid leadership styles. Swiss Business School Journal of Applied Business Research, 3, pp.28-38.

Yahaya, R. and Ebrahim, F., 2016. Leadership styles and organizational commitment: literature review. Journal of Management Development, 35(2), pp.190-216.

Yang, Y., 2014. Principals’ transformational leadership in school improvement. International Journal of Educational Management, 28(3), pp.279-288