Leadership and Motivation - Research Paper Example

? Leadership and Motivation Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 My Idea about Leadership 4 Leadership & Motivational Skills 4 Leadership & Motivational Skills- I Like to Improve 9 Career Goals 11 Works Cited 13 Name of the Student: Name of Professor: Course: Date: Introduction In this paper, the researcher will discuss about leadership and motivational skills and also try to address the subject from personal perspective. In the first section of the paper, I will chose two motivational and leadership skills in order to show how these aspects can help me two grow in future and combat with future challenges in order to grow both personally and professionally. Then I will choose two skills that I need to improve in order to survive in economic turmoil. Through the study, I will try to reciprocate my viewpoints with the theoretical argument presented by various research scholars and academic sources. I will take conjectural view rather being subjective about the research topic hence the argument will be backed by academic sources. In the last section of the paper, I will discuss my career goals and necessary leadership skills that I need to develop in order to go beyond my current skill set. Key essence of this report will be to prepare a road map which will not only guide me throughout the life and increase level of knowledge through learning. My Idea about Leadership According to me, for any student doing graduation, the subject called leadership offers a lot than what he/she realizes. As I am having double in Business and Computer Science during graduation hence I got the chance to go through some invaluable research work regarding leadership. To be honest, I hardly have any idea about role of leadership in our life prior to joining the graduate degree program but it was the sincere teaching and pedagogy of teachers of university which has helped me to understand certain aspect of leadership. During my study in the graduate program, I was greatly influenced by the research work of Vardiman, Houghston and Jinkerson which was published in the year 2006. For example, as Vardiman, Houghston and Jinkerson (2006) argued that capable leaders do not have superhuman capability but they have the capability to motivate people and encourage subordinates to move in his/her direction. I believe that leadership is not a mere skill and neither can it be developed among people overnight. Day (2002) rightly defined leadership as inherent characteristics of person which encourages others to follow that person. I also agree with the argument presented by researcher scholars that person must have some characteristics in order to become a leaders. To be precise, I will not go to the discussion about types of leadership styles rather I will try to stick to four leadership and motivational style that I am currently best at. Leadership & Motivational Skills Ability to Take Responsibilities & Showing Respect I am fortunate due to the fact that none of my friends and relatives have blamed me for lack of courage to take responsibilities. I am not person who falters when it comes to taking responsibility in contingent period. Argument may arise that how taking responsibility in complex situation is related to leadership skill but my answer is that responsibility taking ability is the special characteristics of leaders which differentiate him/her from followers. To justify my viewpoint, I will share the empirical findings of research work of Maxwell (2012), that states that leaders need to take responsibilities of their decision in emergent situation which in order to earn respect and trust from followers. Maxwell (2012) pointed out that ability to take responsibilities comes from self belief of leaders and such beliefs help them to encourage and motivate others to work under his/her direction. In modern business world, we have seen plenty of examples where business leaders take the responsibility to bring change in the organization. During my graduation, in many occasions, I took the responsibility to be the team leader in group projects and successfully guided my team members to achieve predetermined objectives. As part of taking responsibility, I coordinated with every team members regarding the project and managed the resources in order to complete the project within fixed timeline. Responsibility taking ability will help me even after the end of graduation when I will work in professional organization. For example, suppose in my future professional field, my supervisors give me and my team members an urgent work related project, in such circumstances I will not try to find excuses to delay the project completion time rather I will take the responsibility to coordinate my team members and create a plan and finally accomplish the project. Such attribute will not only help me deliver task at right time to my organization but also crease sense of respect for me among peer group. Maxwell (1999 and 2012) argued that a leader cannot motivate followers if he or she fails to show respect to subordinates. To make this point clear, I want to give example of Adolf Hitler and Mahatma Gandhi. Research scholars have argued that using dictatorship or autocratic leadership style might create fear in the mind of subordinates which might force them to follow the ideology of leader but that is not example of creating motivation among subordinates or effective leadership. For example, can we call the behavior of German people to follow the Nazi ideology propagated by Adolf Hitler as an example of motivation, the answer is no because majority of German people were driven by fear to follow the ideology of Nazi leader. On contrary, let’s look at Mahatma Gandhi who led India to independence without using any violent means and the great leader showed respect to subordinates, listened to their problems and ultimately motivated them to fight fearlessly. These are the reasons why Mahatma Gandhi referred as one of the greatest leader in human history while Adolf Hitler as a mere autocrat. I have used these examples in order to highlight some of my skills which I think will help me in future course of time. I believe that showing respect to peer group and listening to the problems is one of the inherent skills that I got as family heritage. I always communicate with my team members; show them proper respect by asking them for their suggestion while I am making some important decision. Apart from my college level projects I have also organized some events such as blood donation program, program for senior citizen etc and each project I have communicated with my team members in proper manner which helped me to ensure that every team member perceives that they are valuable part of the team and motivated them to contribute in proper manner. This attitude will also help me in future professional career. For example, as I am doing double major in Business and Computer Science hence it is expected that will get job in the field of business analytics or system analytics. In both cases, job responsibilities require lot of team based project work hence I will have to work with number of co-workers. Showing respect to the opinion of my team members will decrease the chance of collision within the project team and that will guide our team to accomplish the project without major interventions. By using my above mentioned leadership skill I will not only motivate team members to work on a common objective but also open the door for knowledge sharing and skill interchange. As argued by Kogut and Zander (1992), a leader must allow the scope of knowledge sharing among subordinates in order to ensure organizational learning. Hence, I can assume that showing respect to my team members will also an environment where I will encourage every team members to share their knowledge on a given project in order to innovate or visualize the outcome of the project from completely new angle. Referent Power Yukl (2010) rightly pointed out that leaders must have the capabilities and skill level in order to influence subordinates. The scholar identified five power matrices which can be used by leaders to motivate and lead subordinates. Yukl (2010) defined these five types of power as, 1- legitimate power- when leaders use their position and social status to influence followers, 2- expert power- respect earn by leaders by showcasing expertise in particular field, 3- reward power- influencing subordinates by giving them financial and non financial rewards, 4- coercive power- achieving hegemony on subordinates by threatening them and 5- referent power- using interpersonal skills to influence subordinates. I believe that, only referent power is relevant in context to my current skill set. Kreitner and Kinicki (2002) highlighted that a leader is incomplete without the support of people. The term “referent power” might create confusion among the readers of this essay but it can be said that referent power is a term with multiple aspects such as communication skill, knowledge level, expertise in skill set and many others. To be precise, I believe that communication skill and command over subject matter are major strength for me. I believe that my command over Business subjects and Computer Science will help me to showcase my skills among my team members and help my team members during critical projects. As General Colin Powell (2012) has pointed out that ego is one of the most evil things for leaders because showing ego decreases the chance of leader to adapt to changing macro environment. It is evident from the above discussion that a leader has to be dynamic in order to remain relevant among followers. Hence I will use my curiosity and quest for knowledge in order to gather knowledge from external environment and use the knowledge level to improve own skill set. For example, using interpersonal skills will help me to communicate with my team members in proper manner and express my idea about a particular matter in clear and concise manner. Maintaining proper communication with team members will encourage team members to share their idea with me and as a result, performance of my project team will improve. A mutual relationship between me and my team members’ in the future professional field will be created while they take help of my knowledge and skill set during a particular project. Hence, it can be expected that I will achieve referent power on them by disposing interpersonal skills. I know that apart from these two skills, there are other skills which are needed for a leader to be successful in competitive business environment but these are two skills which I am best at the current scenario. To broaden the concept of referent power, it can be said that a leader only achieve referent power when he/she follows different leadership principles such as coordination, knowledge sharing, communication of the vision statement, showing the character to accept change etc. Hence, I can only expect that, disposing interpersonal skill will not only help me to achieve goals in future professional field but also help me to earn respect as leader from subordinates. Leadership & Motivational Skills- I Like to Improve Extroversion I believe that in future, I will need to develop extroversion as a way to exhibit my leadership skills rather than use it as mere leadership style. Judge, Heller and Mount (2002) argued that extroversion is directly linked with personality of leaders. Meta analysis of these scholars has segregated extroversion as association showing openness to new experiences and having positive emotions about matters. During my graduation in the university, although I have participated in various group level activities but still I cannot classify myself as an extrovert leader who can lead by charismatic personality, gregarious and sociable attitude. As Fleeson (2001) identified that extroversion is needed when organizations are going through financial turmoil and economic crisis. An extrovert leader shows the courage to take risk to overturn the financial turmoil which might influence subordinates. For example, using extroversion in the workplace will help me attract attention in the workplace also create an environment where subordinates will be ready to follow my direction. Hence, I will need to involve in more social activities and public meetings in order to develop extroversion aspect of my leadership style. I will use the example of Procter & Gamble which was going through financial turmoil during 1990’s in order to justify the importance of extroversion to avoid financial turmoil. During the financial turmoil of P&G, extrovert nature of A. G Lafley who was the CEO of the company at that time helped the company to implement front back hybrid matrix model in order to achieve top line growth and come out of the financial distress. Hence, it can be said that developing extroversion quality will not only help me to stay positive during tough conditions but also help me to survive in this economic turmoil. Decision Making Capability Although I know that decision making capability separates a leader from followers but at current scenario, I am lacking in decision making aspect of leadership. I have already mentioned that taking responsibility in contingent period is the major strength for me and this strength will be doubled if I will sharpen the decision making capability in future. Yukl (2010) has given the example of Lehman Brothers, Enron, and Nortel where unethical decision making of top management negatively affected the interest of shareholders. In modern world, it has become increasingly significant for leaders to take ethical decisions in the workplace in order to avoid financial scam, misrepresentation or any kind of fraud. In such context, a leader should use the moral awareness and knowledge about macro environment in order to take decisions which are ethically right. I must admit that, although professors of my college taught us sumptuous amount of lessons regarding ethical decision making but a budding professional like me only get the taste of ethical dilemma while working as professionals. In future, I might encounter situation where I have to take a stance regarding unethical business practices hence I must be ready to take some well defined and rigid measures to alter the situation. I need to read more of corporate governance codes and industry best practices regarding corporate ethics as a part of improving my ethical decision making capabilities. In conclusion it can be said that, developing decision making capabilities is not only restricted to business ethics but also covers issues like strategic management, tactical planning etc. Hence it can be surmised that, I will also need to improve my logical and rational skills in order to make strategic decision in contingent period and lead other team members. Career Goals During my graduation, I have noticed that there is common confusion among my friends regarding the future career choice. In such context, I am no different than my friends when it comes to setting a concrete career goal. Amusing fact is that, much we talk about leadership but that doesn’t alter the harsh fact that first we need a career in order to show our leadership skill. My confusion about future career goal reduced up to certain extent when I decided to pursue double major Business and Computer Science. Finally, I have decided to become a business analyst who can solve business problems, forecast future demand condition with the help of knowledge of both computer science and business management. For example, during the career as business analyst, I might need to work with different software programs such as OLAP (Online analytical processing), Big Data, SAS, Matlab etc in order to solve business problems, in such context, prior knowledge of computer science will definitely help to handle these software programs. To be successful as business analyst, I must develop two leadership skill sets, 1- having a long term vision in order to see the outcome of a business project during the planning phase and align the interest of team members with my vision and 2- ability to decision in contingent period and stick to this decision. The above mentioned skill set cannot be developed in overnight manner but I need to have patience in order to learn these skills by gathering work experience, knowledge from environment and most importantly following the industry leaders. Educational degree and in depth knowledge of business are probably the most important eligibility criteria for a successful business analyst. Taking these eligibility criteria in mind, I have planned to pursue master’s degree and special diploma in data analytics after the completion of graduation. I have already started working on developing my interpersonal skill which will help me to guide my team members in project and act as able leader who can easily communicate the vision statement to team members and motivate team members to follow the vision statement. At the end of this discussion, I want to thank my university and professors to give the knowledge base from where I can start dreaming of becoming a successful professional if not a leader. Works Cited Day, David V. “Leadership Development: A Review in Context.” Leadership Quarterly 11 (2002): 581-613. Print. Fleeson, William. “Toward a structure- and process-integrated view of personality: Traits as density distributions of states.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 80 (2002): 1011–1027. Judge, Timothy A, Daniel Heller, and Michael K Mount. “Five-factor model of personality and job satisfaction: A metaanalysis.” Journal of Applied Psychology 87 (2002): 530–41. Print. Kogut, Bruce, and Udo Zander. “Knowledge of the firm, combinative capabilities and the replication of technology.” Organization Science 3 (1992): 383-97. Print. Kreitner, Robert, and Angelo Kinicki. Organizational Behaviour. 2nd ed. Maidenhead, Berkshire: McGraw-Hill Education, 2002. Print. Maxwell, John. The 20 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1999. Print. Maxwell, John. The Law of Explosive Growth: Lesson 20 from The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2012. Print. Powell, Colin. It Worked for Me: In Life and Leadership. New York City, NY: Harper Collins, 2012. Print. Vardiman, Phillip D, Jeffery D Houghston, and Darryl L Jinkerson. “Environmental leadership development. toward a contextual model of leader selection and effectiveness.” Leadership & Organization Development Journal 27.2 (2012): 93-105. Print. Yukl, Gary. Leadership in Organizations. 7th ed. London: Prentice Hall, 2010. Print. Read More