Transformational and Charismatic Leadership in Action - Essay Example

Leadership in Action Introduction When I decided to major in Organizational Management I did so with the knowledge that I was a leader and not a follower. Indeed, my goal is to one day achieve a leadership role through starting my own business. While I have yet to fully determine the direction I would like to take with my business, I am steadfastly committed to entrepreneurship and making a difference through my leadership and overall ingenuity. Throughout my life I have had a wide array of experiences that have contributed to my understanding and development as a leader. Currently, I work fulltime and this has had a further effect on my leadership development, as I am oftentimes required to supervise individuals to ensure they are maximizing efficiency. Through this assessment I hope gain a further understanding of my leadership ability so that I can better identify my strengths and weaknesses. In accomplishing this, I can then work towards minimizing my weaknesses. This self-assessment includes of number of structured survey I have taken, as well as my personal reflections of characteristics that effect my leadership potential. Self-Assessment The Pearson Prentice Hall Self-Assessment indicates a number of varying interpretations regarding my conflict handling skills. In regards to my relative nature of competitiveness the test revealed a score of 16. This indicates that there is a part of me that seeks to satisfy my own interests when involved in group interactions. In reflecting on this I can see how this is true of my personal nature. The results are important because they indicate that relative to others I experience perhaps more than moderate concern is this area. This leads me to believe that I need to remain more self-conscious about my actions in the group and make sure that I adhere to established standards of leadership tendencies. For instance, research has shown the importance of leaders to think clearly and positively motivate the team in the best direction (Daft, 2008). Even as my conflict score is high, my willingness to collaborate is also statistically relevant, indicating that I demonstrate a desire and ability to work effectively in groups. When understanding this for my career success, I immediately remember reading about the importance of such traits and that many, "organizations adopting sets of practices that included teams as an important element of organizational design tended to excel on several performance dimensions (Guzzo & Dickson, p. 326, 1996)." While I see these traits as more indicative of personality than a particular skill, it’s important for directing my career path and affirming my already established decisions.Taken together my assessment score for the ability to develop and lead a team is 92. While this isn’t in the top quartile, it is very near it. The test has made me more self-conscious about certain aspects of my collaborative approach that could be improved to achieve a top quartile score and make myself a more effective team player. For example, my accommodating and compromising score indicated that in many cases I am not willing to cooperate and remain headstrong. I think the most effective leadership style is the Situational and that’s what I have strived to achieve, however I realize effective Situational Leadership depends on the ability to accommodate and compromise in certain situations, so the test has made me more conscious of my need to develop a more accommodating and compromising nature to achieve higher leadership standards. Research has noted the necessity of leaders to think clearly and keep the groups dynamic moving in the right direction (Daft, 2008). My Pearson results indicated that I demonstrated high concern for people and was task oriented. I believe this view reflects a Situational Leadership model rather than the previously discussed group centered approach, as the need to relate to diverse groups of people in diverse environments cannot be successfully developed and undertaken without significant understanding malleability and situational understanding. I see these traits as my greatest strengths as a leader. Namely, that when I engage in a new task or situation I am able to formulate clear and efficient objectives and motivate myself and others in their completion. I see my strengths in this regard, as the Pearson results substantiate, my recognition of the essential nature of leadership as true empathy for people coupled with the driving force of will and determination. The fourth portion of the Pearson assessment is titled "Whats my Preferred Method of Power Assessment?" and the tests revealed that scores were "high in using legitimate, expert and referent practices." That is, I demonstrate the understanding that the application of rewards in an work environment is a complicated processed, that can be confused by the inability to reward everyone all the time. Avolio and Yammarino (2002) argue that the transactional leadership form rewards aspects of performance, but not as efficiently as the transformational leader. That is, the most successful leadership is achieved through effective methods of rewarding progress and performance. When examining the analysis and interpretation of my leadership style I can see how it coincides with previous elements of the Pearson assessment. The assessment indicates that I demonstrate a 9 for concern with the task and an 8 for concern with people. While I think it’s positive to realize that the score are very much similar to each other, and indicate that I have a balanced approach to collaborative work, I realize that in some situations my concern for the task might override my concern for the co-workers. I think it’s important to consider Franklin Roosevelt who said, “A good leader cant get too far ahead of his followers.” I realize that certain situations will require various degrees of person or task oriented leadership and that it’s important that I remain conscious of my tendency towards task orientation, while tailoring the leadership style to fit the situation. Finally, I examined my preferred type of power. It revealed that I have largely a referent, expert, and legitimate power style; rather, that I prefer to achieve power and control through my skills and expertise. While I believe these are positive traits, I also realize that the most high-functioning leadership incorporates rewards and positive feedback (Avolio and Yammarino 2002). In this regard I scored below the significant quartile, and realize to become a more effective team leader it’s necessary to improve this portion of my collaborative leadership approach. Education and Leadership I believe that I am not only learning to be a better business strategist, but also learning to be a stronger, more ethical, and understanding individual. This evolution began around the first semester, as I become conscious of its existence, I have become gradually more aware of how the supposedly intellectual and rationalistic mode of University learning, actually contributes to my personal development in broad, emotional ways. When looking back on my secondary school experience, I realized that the way I approached the learning process was entirely compulsory and I always viewed learning as a means to an end. In motivating myself, I consistently reflected on the ways that my studies would lead to a better job and greater financial success later in life and as a result I sought out knowledge specifically for the reasons of bettering my career prospects. I believe this is what led me in great part towards the development of my certain knowledge, as I saw the immediate and functional necessity in fields such as engineering, business, and science, whereas the humanities seemed to me to be highly irrelevant. My University experience has made me realize that the focus of education is less the accumulation of knowledge, and more centered on learning the process of learning. While the business skills we learn in the modules are obviously important, I believe the deeper essence of what the modules and professors are trying to convey is that successful leaders understand that learning is a lifelong process and that the perhaps the greatest thing one can take from their learning experience is the knowledge of how to function and lead in all environments. Moral Intelligence is the mental capacity to determine how universal human principles should be applied to our values, goals, and actions (Lennick & Keil, 2007). Some might argue that we already have an idea of our strengths and weaknesses, identifying our core values, yet we sometimes insist on believing in what we think is right or wrong. To help us identify these uncertainties, Lennick and Kiel created a Moral Competency Inventory (MCI). This is a worksheet with a set of values that will help us identify our strengths and point out our weaknesses to measure our moral competency alignment to give us a better understanding how we behave everyday and reexamine the values that needs improvement. In considering the Moral Competency Inventory in the context of my leadership the results indicate my strength is “admitting mistakes and failures.” This shows that I have the quality of being responsible; this is an important part of a morally intelligent person. According to Lennick and Kiel, “only a person willing to take responsibility for her actions-and consequences of those actions- will be able to ensure that her actions conform to universal human principles.” I used to be an individual that took life for granted and just road wherever the boat took me. Although it took me a year to realize the importance of responsibility, I was able to overcome a lot of obstacles to be where I am right now. Indeed, my strength from MCI is “admitting mistakes and failures.” References Avolio, B.J., Yammarino, F.J. (2002) Transformational and Charismatic Leadership: The Road Ahead, JAI Elsevier Science, Amsterdam. Daft, Richard (2008). The Leadership Experience, 4th Edition. South-Western Guzzo, Richard A. and Marcus W. Dickson. 1996. "Teams in Organizations: Recent Research on Performance and Effectiveness". Annual Review of Psychology, 47:307-338. Read More