Personnel Handling and Leadership Assessment - Essay Example

PERSONNEL HANDLING AND LEADERSHIP ASSESSMENT (2006) INTRODUCTION It is of great significance that in every group and organization, there is a well-capacitated leader to guide it. Leaders are sometimes called as the main brain of an organization. Leaders are the ones facilitating and directing a group or organization. It is only on the proficiency of the head that a group or an organization depends majority of its achievement. Without a director and a facilitator, a group or an organization cannot address its own complexity. Hence, a leader is a vital part of a group or an organization for its operations and for the attainment of its ultimate goal and that ultimate goal is success. According to Northhouse (2003), most traits studied in leadership are of men and most people perceive leadership as for men. But it is of reality today that many great leaders are women. As much as people know the importance of a leader, in a leader's mind and heart, it is also important to assess his own leadership style for further development. In this paper, we will examine the author's personal leadership and management style. In the end, the author is hopeful to inculcate lessons regarding leadership from his own leadership style and personnel management approach and hopefully be able to find out key elements in improving his own leadership. THE AUTHOR'S LEADERSHIP AND PERSONNEL HANDLING The author as a leader is democratic. He is democratic in a sense that he gives freedom to his members. Freedom is manifested in the fact the he encourages creative thinking from his members. His members are allowed to conceptualize ideas regarding the steps needed by the organization in taking the path towards success. His members are free to suggest action plans on how the organization will move. As a matter of fact, he requires each member to submit an action plan. He also emphasized the promotion of an atmosphere of free thinking. He also banners a participative leadership. "Participative leadership consults with subordinates about decisions" (Daft 2004). He does not give much pressure to his members. He believes that free thinking can promote a healthier environment for his members and will let them achieve better ends in their endeavor of achieving success. He gives tasks in a manner that his members enjoy doing it. But he also emphasized that freedom is limited to the extent that there is always discipline in his members. The freedom that he gives is not absolute because he always wants discipline to be bannered by his members. The author's leadership also creates a spirit of trust to his employees. This presupposes an atmosphere of freedom and innovation that banners free thinking. Given that a leader must have trust to his members, this will then pave way for his members to have confidence in themselves. The confidence that they gain will now give them the opportunity to innovate and create new schemes for the organization on what they deem important and vital for the attainment of its success. Employees can now be active players of the whole brain of an organization that runs the whole system. This will not only lead to growth of every employee but also to the organization as a whole. The author is also a leader that understands that man is basically a subject. This idea is from the philosophy of Martin Heidegger. A subject can transcend predications and qualities that can be embedded unto him. Subjectivity entails possibilities and potentialities that people have. One cannot be boxed or limited to a certain "this" or "that". One is more than "this" that confronts a leader or anyone, one can be anything. Thus, he is a leader that relates beyond his function. Recognizing the subjectivity of people transcends mere objective interaction. Both of the parties involved are always in the perspective of openness. Openness is the acceptance of the "other" as a being just like oneself. The "other" is also unique and full of potentialities and thus, cannot be limited to a mere function or object. There is a sense of being new in each day, in every encounter with the other or the interaction of a leader and his employees. He always opens himself to be surprised by his members. He recognizes that his members are always in the process of becoming and developing and thus his members that confront him each day are so rich and full of possibilities. He always believes that his members have the capacity to create new ideas and ideas that are great that can be helpful in the success of the whole organization. He recognizes that every human being has been endowed with potentialities thus, every member of the group is capable of helping the organization towards its success. The author as a leader also has a great concern to his members. For Daft (2004), supportive leadership shows concern subordinates well-being and personal needs. He always sees to it that members are in a good feeling about their particular task. He consults members and asks them what they feel about their task and the organization as a whole. For him, members of the organization that he leads are significant just like his role as a leader and he bears in mind that the organization will only meet success by the help of his members and by making teamwork between them. He is sensitive enough to know the needs of every person in his department and sensitive to the needs of the department itself. This also paves way to his skill of being resourceful. If an employee needs support and counseling, he must be able to give him that and if the organization as a whole needs something, he must be resourceful enough to deal with that. Being resourceful most of the time can be seen in cost-cutting scheme. There are instances that a desired capital or budget to a certain program is not met. It is the duty and the skill of the leader to be able to come up with the same output but coming from a less capital. He does not demand and expect always a perfect output from his members. No man is perfect in this whole world and no employee can give a perfect accomplishment for always as he understands it. He understands this evident reality in order that he can truly relate in a right way to his members. This is also a way in which there is a more helping and cooperative way of doing work because each one recognizes that they are not perfect and they need each other for the achievement of the goal of the organization as a whole. The author is also a leader that loves learning and hates stagnation. This idea is well-exemplified by the Greek philosopher Socrates. He is always open to growth and development in learning and a leader must also be like him. Everyone in an organization must be like Socrates as he views it and he must lead the way in order for the members to best understand the significance of such. He also provides a good learning condition not only for all the people inside an organization. He encourages education for those who are lacking or deficiencies in educational attainment. He also provides seminars and trainings to his members for the advancement of learning. Some of the steps that can be taken are personality development seminars, leadership seminars and even values education seminars which will surely give life's lessons to the people inside the organization. Growth and development is again vital to organization's success. For him, openness to learning is a manifestation of adapting to the changing and challenging world. There is always an evolution of knowledge and thus people must also adapt to its constant change. People's minds are also dynamic and thus needs to be catered by new trainings, short courses and seminars. He is also a leader that has a vast knowledge regarding the organization he is working. He sets as an example of learning and must teach his members regarding the very mechanisms that govern the organization. His vast knowledge of the organization is also a significant tool in his skill of solving problems being face by the organization. Knowledge is indeed a powerful tool. Lastly, the author as a leader is tough in facing organizational difficulties and life as a whole. It is of an inevitable reality that organizations are prone to struggles especially in attaining their goal. The author is brave enough to face the ups and downs of the organization he works. Courage and patience under pressure is very important to a leader because it is in him that majority of organization's success lies and these traits are bannered by the author. He has composure and does not panic. He always remains calm and collected because he knows that if he panics, he will not be able to think well and it may worsen any problem that the company faces. "Directive leadership tells subordinates exactly what they are supposed to do" (Daft 2004). The author becomes directive only in times when he deems it vital and helpful for the organization for him to be in this manner. Usually, he becomes directive only in matters of delicate issues such as being mandated by the top office to be directive in special operations and also in imposing disciplinary actions. ASSESSMENT OF LEADERSHIP STYLE Basically, the author's leadership style and management is of a satisfactory one for many people. But being satisfactory in terms of assessment does not mean a perfect mark. There is always still must be a great effort for improvement. Life must be a constant search for perfection and achieving greatness. Looking at the personal leadership style of the author, most people see that he is a well-rounded and a humane leader. Most people might think that he is an ideal leader that any company or organization would want. The author is a model leader for many people. But as far as the author is concerned, he is still far from what he views as a model or perfect leader. The author, even of his good qualities as a leader, he still knows the fact that he is a human being. Being a human being means being imperfect. No human being is perfect. The only perfect being is the being that most people call God. The author is humble enough to say that learning is a never ending process. He accepts that he is far from knowing everything. The author still looks at himself as a leader that still lacks the experience and his style and skills were only tested in not a significant time. According to Pless (2006), although instinct is an important guide to moral judgment- I would advise anyone to ignore it. The author as a leader still needs to further develop the ability to do away from instincts and that to develop how to further use rationality and reason as the tool in decision making. Adding to the reason why the author views himself as still lacking in experience and skill is the fact that the world and education is very dynamic. Every moment, there is always a new innovation and technology related to business or any organizations' undertakings. New ideas and practices arise each day. Change is constant that is why he deems it vital for him to study further and never cease doing so. The author urges himself to take each and every opportunity to grow and develop himself to be a better leader. Therefore, the author as a leader, even of his great qualities as a leader, he deems himself to still lack the perfection he views as ideal. The author still sees the need for further training. ACTION PLAN FOR COMPETENCY DEVELOPMENT Personal and corporate leadership can be improved by training and of course better screening standards. Trainings make a leader develop more his potentials and it will make him ready to difficult circumstances that he will face. Trainings must not only come in the realm of sciences but also from the realm of values. Education is not enough to be a good leader. Values matter a lot especially in the most difficult situations. On the development of the skill on the knowledge on how to lead, the plan is to attend seminars regarding leadership and how to lead and enhance competency. A seminar can be a two-day seminar for leaders. The author can benefit from this kind of a seminar for him to improve his capacity. The content of the seminar is focused more on developing the knowledge of leaders regarding leadership. This may start with a questionnaire regarding the knowledge on leadership as prescribed by Big Dog's Leadership Training and Development Program. The result of the short exam will be the spring board of the facilitator of the seminar on where to focus and give emphasis. The examination is only an avenue for the facilitator to be able to know the knowledge level of the participants. It is more of an assessment test. It is not a graded test but it is significant. "As regards leadership exercises for experiential development of leadership abilities, focus on the leadership challenge of leading and managing a team - the task itself is secondary - so virtually any team game is suitable provided you give each leader a team of four or more people to lead. The more people, the bigger the test of leadership" (http://www.businessballs.com/leadership.htm). Problem-solving skills can be enhanced by a workshop seminar. The lecture would be base on mechanism regarding how to solve problems in an organization and how to solve it efficiently. The activity can be at first: a statement of the problem and then let the participants know why is it a problem. The second phase will be finding all alternatives and letting them weigh which alternative is a winning situation. Phase three will be the implementation of alternatives chosen and phase four will be the time to give feedbacks and comments regarding the result of the taken step. For the development of skill in managing learning in an organization, it is advised to get education degree units for a semester or a summer class. Choose the particular course which is Learning Techniques and Strategies. This would give the leader an idea on how people learn and how they can learn efficiently. Being resourceful is a skill but certainly can be developed with trainings. A seminar must be coupled with activities regarding resourcefulness. It can also be a problem-solving activity that will bring out resourcefulness from the participants. Activities can be on budgetary problem where there are a lot of plans that needs to be executed but the budget lacks. Again, capacities and skills that the author has do not mean an automatic exemption for seminars and trainings. There is always a need to improve and grow. CONCLUSION The author as a leader is a leader who is democratic, a leader who has great care to his members, a leader who loves learning and a leader who is brave and calm in facing difficulties. He is viewed by many as a model leader. But the author is a very much humble in stating that he still needs trainings and new education regarding leadership as stated above. "Competence goes beyond words. It's the leader's ability to say it, plan it, and do it in such a way that others know that you know how- and know that they want to follow you" (Maxwell 1999). To achieve competence, it is always of great vitality to be always open to learn. BIBLIOGRAPHY Daft, R. 2004, The Leadership Experience, Thomson South-western. Maxwell, J. 1999, The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader: Becoming the Person Others Will Want to Follow, Maxwell Motivation. Northhouse, P. G. 2003, Leadership: Theory and Practice, Sage Publications Inc. Pless, N. 2006, Responsible Leadership. Routledge, United Kingdom. Socrates: Philosophical Life. Available from: [26 March 2007] Change Management Basics: the Role of Managers and Supervisors. Available from: [26 March 2007] Role of Managers. [26 March 2007] Leadership [26 March 2007] Management Skills [26 March 2007] The Eleven Leadership Skills [26 March 2007] http://www.ou.edu/russell/4363/OB.doc Read More