Characteristics and Qualities of a Leader - Assignment Example

Name: Class: Unit: Q1) characteristic and Qualities of a Leader Characteristic of a leader Qualities of a good leader 1) visionary 1) charismatic 2) confident 2) persistent 3) motivating 3) Goal oriented 4) committed 4) Competent 5) courageous 5) commitment Q1) Leadership characteristic and quality of each leader In his speech, Obama demonstrates the characteristic of a visionary leader. According to npr.org (2012), Obama was noted saying that during a time when he was a senate candidate from Illinois, he spoke about hope and even hope to face difficulties. He spoke not of blind optimism, but of hope to face uncertainty that dogged the faith in the future that pushed the nation forward. Additionally, Obama has the quality of committed leader. According to npr.org (2012), Obama is committed to offer solutions to problems that faced America. Obama had the courage to critique the republican who were talking about everything they thought was wrong with America. He noted that they did not say about making things right for America. In his speech at 2012 convection, Romney demonstrates the characteristic of a motivating leader. According to npr.org, he elaborates of how his dad migrated to America during the Mexican revolution. He elaborates further about his father of how he never made it to college and of how he had big dreams, of how he convinced Romney mother who was a beautiful actress to give up Hollywood so that he could marry him. Moreover, Romney demonstrates the quality of committed leader. According to Washington Post (2012), Romney demonstrates how that time was for America families to get a little more on their side. Something more for college, for elderly people and even for charity. Q2) workplace accountability My supervisor does not always make decisions and is not responsible for managing workplace changes. Moreover, there are times when supervisor or a senior member makes decisions. For example when supervisor decides on the usage of resources within the workplace and how they will be shared amongst all individuals. This led to harmony and organization within the learning environment. According to Janos (2005), decision making refers to the study of identifying and choosing alternatives. The alternatives may be based on the values and preferences of the decision maker. Further, he notes that in decision making, there are various choices to be considered of which the one that best fits the gals set is chosen. Workplace accountability is an essential factor desired by managers in their workplace. According Bivins (2006), workplace accountability refers to individual’s readiness to have their action judged by others. Further, he notes that where appropriate, one should accept responsibility of errors, misjudgment or even negligence, excellence and wisdom. It can also be described as the preparedness to change in the light of improved understanding gained from others. On a lighter note, it’s the responsibility of employees to perform their duties, complete tasks assigned to them and are available in their workplace in order to fulfill the organization set goals. According to Warren (2016), it enables employees to foster accountability and develop trust between all levels of the organization. Q3) Differences in decision making processes Mechanistic 1) involves individual specialization 2) formalized procedures and practices 3) highly centralized authority Organic 1) communication and interactions are horizontal i.e. flatness 2) low specialization 3) it’s decentralized Hybrid 1) combines various decision making process 2) change with time 3) innovative Project Based 1) comprises of independent project team 2) its decentralized 3) organization is a network of teams Q3) relevant decision making structure The relevant decision making structure that encourages employee’s empowerment, innovation and creativity and resource flexibility and teamwork is Organic decision making. Communication is essential for organizations using organic structure of decision making. Through implementation of decentralized decision making processes, employees in lower ranks are able to make importing decisions that help in empowering them. This leads to greater creativity and better problem solving (sunny, 2011). Q4) Discussion Based on the above question, matrix organizational structure is the valid organizational structure. According to Fahad (2012), matrix organizational structure is a combination of various organizational structures. He notes that combination of various organizational structures helps organizations achieve high efficiency, quick market adoption and readiness internal communication process and organizational conflict do match with the organizational structure. According to Fahad (2012), employee may report to many bosses. Moreover, he notes that employees share knowledge, skills and talent between the various functional departments and project management team. Additionally, it allows resources within the organization to be shared efficiently since expertise and equipment are shared across projects. Further, employees within matrix organizational system are in contact with many people thus enabling them to share information hence speeding decision processes (carol, 2008). Q5) styles of leadership Leadership style Theoretical explanation Autocratic Leadership style characterized by an individual who has overall control over all decisions and little input from other members. It’s characterized by leaders making their own decisions based on their ideas judgments (Kendra, 2016). Paternalistic It’s a leadership style where leader assumes that their functions are parental or fatherly. It’s characterized by a relationship between the leader and the group is similar as that of head of family and family members. The leader guides and protects her team as members of her family (Smriti, n.d). Participative It’s characterized by decentralized authority. Through consultation with the subordinates, formulation of plans and policies is encouraged (Smriti, n.d). Delegative It’s a leadership style that relies on the team whereby the leader allows the subordinates to make decisions. The leader is however responsible for the results (Rita, 2016). Free Reign Style characterized by leaders avoiding power and responsibility. Leaders forward decision making responsibility to their subordinates and take minimum interest in administration (Smriti, n.d). Q5) analysis of Obama and Romney speech From his speech, Obama portrays characteristic of a participative leader. According to npr.org (2012), Obama is noted saying that he met with workers in Detroit and Toledo who feared that they would never build another American car. However, the industry was reinvented and it’s back on the top of world car producing companies. Obama noted that he was working with business leaders who would bring jobs back to America not because of less pay, but because America make better products. From his speech, Romney portrays the characteristic of a delegative leader. He introduces Paul Ryan to be his vice president. He describes Paul as a person who will walk by his side and also as a person of a big heart who represents the best of America and one who would always make them proud. He notes that in the days ahead he would let the Americans know of Paul and Janna better. He chooses other leaders so that he would delegate some of his duties to them. Q6) Steve Jobs as an example of self-performance and of continuous professional competence in the corporate world. Though deceased, Jobs is an example of people of self-performance and continuous professional competence in the corporate world. According to Forbes.com (2012), Jobs set a legacy that changed computer, music, wireless and film industries. Though he formed Macintosh in 1976, he was fired after struggling with Chief Exec John Scully after serving for 9 years. Following fall in Apple stock and purchase of NeXT in 1996, Steve Jobs was reinstated as Macintosh chief executive. With new team of management self-imposed salary and altered stock options, Job put apple back on track. Job was able to introduce ingenious products (such as iMac and iphone), involved effective branding campaigns and stylish designs that enabled apple to catch consumer’s attention once again. Q7) Ethical Leadership framework According to Jane et al., (2002) ethical leadership refers to the process of influencing other individuals. It’s achieved through influence of principles, values and beliefs which embrace what has been defined as the right behavior. Mihelic (2010) notes that ethical leadership as a process of healing and energizing power of love as well as recognizing that leadership is reciprocated to the followers. According to Robert (2009), leaders can involve and engage others through different mechanisms. Robert notes that ethical leadership is about what leaders do; their actions and questions. It requires the capacity to identify and solve ethical problems and act as a role. Additionally, he notes that it’s about communication. Communication acts as a manner of engaging and influencing people thus persuading them to undertake certain ethical actions for their self-interests. Moreover, it’s about system and processes that leaders create and maintain as well as being enablers (Robert, 2009). Q7) Mahatma Gandhi Mahatma Gandhi demonstrates ethical leadership conduct. Through his leadership, he influenced his followers to non-violence fighting against the British colonialists. He is noted saying that he is prepared to die though he was not prepared to kill. Further, he is noted saying that if Indians wanted to obtain their freedom by murder and killings he would not be part of it. Moreover, mahatma wanted to liberate Indians from the colonialists. He identified the problems that faced Indians and acted as a role to solve their problems. He is noted saying that he wanted to change the minds of the Indians and not to kill them. Finally, mahatma was a communicative leader. In one occasion, he is noted addressing his follower telling them that for them to gain independence, they ought to proof worth of it. Q8) workplace role My previous workplace role was in the accounting division. Accounting division befalls under the Association of Accounting, Finance and tax. The association offers training and education program that are intended to give information which is dedicated to the industry. This intended to improve participant’s key skills. Participating in industry professional developments not only benefit individual but also on the organization they work in. According to tipropjob.com (2014), it enables one to retain and sharpen their old skills. It leads to development of new skills. Through professional development, new skills and knowledge are learnt. This enables one to advance their abilities and grow Professional networking acts as a means of forming relationship with other in similar or related fields. It enables one to expand their effectiveness in an organization. Professional networking acts as a means of peer learning (Patricia, 2014). It enables one to learn tremendous amount of knowledge from others. Through networking, one learns new business leads. It acts as a door opener for business opportunities. Networking acts as a means of career opportunity for landing a new job. It exposes one with jobs that are not listed online or in the newspapers. Additionally, it acts as a means of identifying best practices in the industry. It gives one chance to learn from others (Patricia, 2014). I have attended several workshops of Accounting, Finance and tax industry Association. The response was of meeting with diverse people within the industry who had shared their knowledge within the industry. References Bivins, T.H., 2006. Responsibility and accountability. Ethics in public relations: Responsible advocacy, pp.19-38 Viewed on 15th May 2016. http://homepages.se.edu/cvonbergen/files/2012/12/Resonsibility-and-Accountability1.pdf Carol w, 2008. Matrix Organizational Structure: Advantages, Disadvantages & Examples. Viewed on 15th May 2016. http://study.com/academy/lesson/matrix-organizational- structure-advantages-disadvantages-examples.html Fadah U, 2012. What is a Matrix Organizational Structure? Viewed on 15th May 2016. http://pmstudycircle.com/2012/08/what-is-a-matrix-organization-structure/ Fülöp, J., 2005, November. Introduction to decision making methods. In BDEI-3 Workshop, Washington Viewed on 15th May 2016. http://academic.evergreen.edu/projects/bdei/documents/decisionmakingmethods.pdf Jane A. Van B and Noonmark, 2002. Ethical Leadership, Viewed on 15th May 2016. https://www.uvm.edu/extension/community/buildingcapacity/pdfs/ethical_leadership_fac tsheet.pdf Kendra C. 2016 April. What Is Autocratic Leadership? Viewed on 13thMay 2016. https://www.verywell.com/what-is-autocratic-leadership-2795314 Mihelic, K.K., Lipicnik, B. and Tekavcic, M., 2010. Ethical leadership. International Journal of Management & Information Systems (IJMIS), Vol, 14. No 5 Patricia .L, 2014. 5 Advantages of Professional Networking Viewed on 15th May 2016. http://thethrivingsmallbusiness.com/what-are-5-advantages-of-professional-networking/ Professor Robert Wood, 2009. Ethical Leadership Framework, Viewed on 15th may 2016. https://cel.edu.au/our-research/ethical-leadership-framework Rita R. 2016. Delegative Leadership Style, Viewed on 15th May 2016. http://ritaroninki.com/delegative-leadership-style/ RNC 2012: Mitt Romney speech to GOP convention Viewed on 15th may 2016. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/rnc-2012-mitt-romney-speech-to-gop- convention-excerpts/2012/08/30/7d575ee6-f2ec-11e1-a612-3cfc842a6d89_story.html Smriti C. n.d. 4 Different Types of Leadership Styles, Viewed on 15th May 2016. http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/business-management/4-different-types-of-leadership- styles/2550/ Transcript: President Obama's Convention Speech, Viewed on 15th may 2016. http://www.npr.org/2012/09/06/160713941/transcript-president-obamas-convention- speech Warren T, 2016. Make Accountability a Core Part of Your Culture Viewed on 14th May 2016. https://soapboxhq.com/blog/create-culture-accountability-workplace Read More