Blog 1: Theories and Models of Leadership and Management

Research has consistently shown that diverse teams produce better results, provided they are well led. The ability to bring together people from different backgrounds, disciplines, cultures, and generations and leverage all they have to offer, therefore, is a must-have for leaders (Ibarra and Hansen 2011: 71).

This blog argues about how effective leadership can lead diverse teams to achieve diverse goals for teams working together. It also describes how different types of leadership which are efficient to develop follower leader relationship successfully. There is a critical analysis which draws a comparison between the transactional and transformational leadership theories.

According to Yukl Leadership is the process of influencing others to understand and agree about what needs to be done and how to do it  and the process of facilitating individual and collective efforts to accomplish shared objectives (Yukl, 2010:26). Kouzes and Posner (1987) offered five key practices to be effective as leaders, including elements. For example, Model the way, inspiring a shared vision, challenge the process, enable others to act and encourage the heart (Kouzes, J. & Posner, B. Z.: 2008)

Many authors suggest that leaders can influence followers in ways which can be uniquely charismatic, transactional, or transformational, All these styles are not interdependent on each other. Leaders who are “transformational” cannot necessarily employ charismatic style. Just as “charismatic” leaders may not be “transformational.” It can be argued that their effects on the followers and the surrounding conditions of the leaders suggest clear distinction between the two. However inspiration and charisma are interchangeable operationally. Charisma is described as the ability of the leaders to generate a symbolic power which can develop an emotional attachment in the followers towards the leaders. According to Bass 1985, “Charisma is often defined with respect to how followers perceive and act towards the leader.” (Barbuto, John E.: 1997)

In contrast, Avolio, Bass & Jung, 1999 suggest that transactional leadership is based mainly on “exchanges” between the leader and the followers and followers are rewarded by the leaders to meet specific goals or their performance. It can be articulated that an effective leader is able to recognise and reward the followers on time but still this does not give a chance to the followers to think innovatively due the goals fixed by the leader (Eliyana, A.: 2010). There are literally varied forms of theories and models of leadership and management which include management, relationship, behavioural, situational and traits theories.

R.M. Stogdill: 1948 argues that “A person does not become a leader by virtue of the possession of some combination of traits”. Research suggests that to be a successful leader traits are not necessarily important but right person at right time matters a lot (Maloş, R.: 2011).

The concept of transformational leadership was developed by Burns in 1978. According to Abu Daud Silong, Lussier & Achua, “Combining trait, behavioural, and contingency approaches of leadership, one of the new integrative leadership theories, namely transformational leadership was developed”(Sadeghi, Amir: 2012).Transformational leaders encourage the followers that they should do more than what is expected from them. Transformational leadership is comprised of basically five dimensions idealized influence (attribute and behaviour), inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration (Sadeghi, Amir: 2012).In contrary to this type of leadership the laissez-faire style of leadership this can be attributed due the freewill given to the followers by the leaders with little directions for the task.(Sadeghi, Amir: 2012)

Why is transformational leadership relevant for most organisations in today’s world?

Hofstede 1980 proposed factors for cultural moderator called the individualism–collectivism dimension. Along with it Jung and Avolio 1999 examined the moderating influence of individualism and collectivism on transformational leadership and transactional leadership. Results showed that collectivists working with a transformational leader generated more ideas as opposed to individualists, who generated more ideas with a transactional leader. The results showed that individual differences have different levels of motivation and performance of the followers.

According to culture-fit theory proposed by Kanungo & Jaeger, 1990; Kanungo, Aycan, & Sinha, 1999, the socio-cultural environment such as societal culture can influence individual behaviour .Bass, and Sosik (1995) transactional and transformational leadership to be enhanced by cultural orientation. It can be perceived that transformational leadership has positive effect in collectivistic cultures among allocentrics and that transactional due to rewards and  will have a more positive effect in individualistic cultures among idiocentrics (Walumbwa, F., Lawler, J., Avolio, B.: 2007).

References

Barbuto, John E. (1997) “Taking the Charisma Out of Transformational Leadership” Journal of Social behaviour & Personality 12( 3), 689-697 [online] available from <http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=ac42b8bf-083a-4571-9b9e-2358dcc0e2e8%40sessionmgr10&vid=1&hid=15&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=a9h&AN=1303203 > [20 September 2012]

Eliyana, A., (2010) “Impacts of transactional and transformational leaderships upon organizational citizenship behaviour” Journal of US-China Public Administration, 7 (6), 24-30, [online] available from <http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=c1602516-d2a4-4ea7-92fa-a1301ec9fd9b%40sessionmgr15&vid=1&hid=15&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=a9h&AN=55070548> [20 September 2012]

Kouzes, J. & Posner, B. Z., (2008) The Leadership Challenge, 4 th Edition, Jossey-Bass

Maloş, R., (2011) “LEADESHIP’S TRAIT THEORIES” Annals of Eftimie Murgu University Resita, Fascicle II, Economic Studies, 215-220, [online] available from <http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=515fce15-5539-4ffc-99f4-f9bce14ef54a%40sessionmgr4&vid=1&hid=15&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=bth&AN=78575806> [20 September 2012]

Sadeghi, Amir, Pihie, Zaidatol Akmaliah Lope (2012)”Transformational Leadership and Its Predictive Effects on Leadership Effectiveness” International Journal of Business & Social Science, 3 (7)186-197, [online] Available from< http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=31&hid=25&sid=e6cef3ba-4728-49b4-b0f9-8930f1dee413%40sessionmgr13&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=bth&AN=74268704 > [20 September 2012]

Walumbwa, F., Lawler, J., Avolio, B., (2007) “Leadership, Individual Differences, and Work-related Attitudes: A Cross-Culture Investigation” Applied Psychology: An International Review, 56(2), 212-230, [online] Available from <http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=f0730d3f-feb8-4fc3-a374-67ee3cd87bfd%40sessionmgr13&vid=1&hid=15&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=a9h&AN=24350291> [20 September 2012]

Yukl, G. (2010), Leadership in Organizations: Global Edition, 7th Edition, Pearson Higher Education

Blog 2: Change and resistance to change

Change is nothing new and a simple fact of life. Some people actively thrive on new challenges and constant change, while others prefer the comfort of the status quo and strongly resist any change. It is all down to the personality of the individual and there is little management can do about resistance to change (Mullins 2010: 753)

Organisational change plays an important role in every company. However there are many factors affecting the organisational change to be resisted or accepted. Individual include factors like age of the employees, seniority, maturity and competency. Job factors such as hierarchical level and job satisfaction. Gary Powell, Barry Z. Posner, 1978 suggest that knowledge of these factors enables managers to analyse and evaluate the employees reactions to a particular change.( Gary Powell, Barry Z. Posner:1978)

Managers may choose from different frameworks applicable to design the organisational change. Eventually they choose either autocratic, group or consultative style of decision making regarding the change which is based on the diagnosis of either importance or rationality of the decision, importance of employees’ acceptance and commitment to execute effectively. They may also evaluate the time required to make the decision. Accordingly they can apply Lewin’s model of change processes by which they can make use of the knowledge of employees’ attitudes toward change and determine how much energy must be put into unfreezing step before refreezing of the change takes place.( Gary Powell, Barry Z. Posner:1978)

Three-phase process of behaviour modification in organisation proposed by Lewin is as follows: Unfreezing –reducing force that forces maintaining the present behaviour and recognise the need for improvement or change to occur.

Movement –developing new attitudes or behaviour to implement the change.

 Refreezing – stabilising the change by the reinforcement of supporting mechanisms, for example policies, structure or norms.

In JC Penney the organizational culture was very rigid and formal. There was no freewill given to the employees and were bound to stringent rules and regulations. This hindered innovation and creativity in the employees and led to job dissatisfaction among the employees. The leaders were inheriting the same rules as a tradition. Ullman after being appointed as the CEO was able to bring about remarkable changes at JC Penny. He was able to carry out desired changes to make JC Penney a much better workplace. He started training programs such as Winning Together Principles and a Retail Academy which helped the employees to get the direction to adapt the new changes. Rules of these training programs developed more democratic environment helping the employees to feel more inclusive in the organisation. This led to enhanced performance of the overall organisation new graduates were attracted towards JC Penny and there were sales gain. The culture change reaped competitive advantage and job satisfaction in the organization (ICMR: 2007).

Fayol 1949 argues that management can be characterised further into planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating and controlling. Arguably change implementation is not solely under control of the mangers. This can be perceived from Weick’s 2000 “sense making theory of organizational change” which represents  how a range of sense making drivers assist individuals to develop their capabilities to analyse the uncertainties involving change. Still it can be argued that a manager, however, is not hegemonic. As Balogun and Johnson, 2005 illustrate that individuals in organizations are ‘sensemakers’, not just ‘sense-takers’. Individuals also play important role in determining the successful outcome of change initiatives and strategy of change implementation. Hence it can be argued that there is no guarantee for the managers that the final destination will be according to the initial plan .Thus mangers act as navigators of the organisation but managing change is only partially controllable due to the individual reactions (Palmer, I., Dunford, R.: 2008)

Successful change can also be hindered by the resistance of the individuals in the organisation. Why do people resist changing? Resistance happens when leaders introduced new things for the organization and abandon the traditional way of doing things .Resistance affects the speed at which an innovation is adopted. It affects the feelings and opinions of employees at stages of the adoption of a change thereby affecting productivity, quality, and relationships (Merrell, P.: 2012).

Managers can overcome the barriers of resistance by making efforts to improve relationship with the employees. They can implement effective communication with the employees and deliver training to the employees to make the change adaptable and successful (Merrell, P.: 2012). Hence to make improvements and necessary changes in organisations management needs to set a platform to accommodate the changes effectively according to the managers (Merrell, P.: 2012).

References

ICMR (2007) “Remaking JC Penney’s Organizational Culture” [online] available from <http://www.icmrindia.org/casestudies/catalogue/Human%20Resource%20and%20Organization%20Behavior/HROB093.htm > [20 September 2012]

Laurie J. Mullins Gill Christy Harlow, Essex, England; New York: Financial Times Prentice Hall 2010.

Merrell, P., (2012) “Effective Change Management: The Simple Truth” Management Service, 56 (2), 20-23, [online] available from <http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=27&hid=9&sid=c42479f7-8f91-4007-8262-469149f83944%40sessionmgr12&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=bth&AN=77508042> [20 September 2012]

Palmer, I., Dunford, R., (2008) “Organizational Change and the Importance of Embedded Assumption” British Journal of Management,  19, 20-S32 [online] available from <http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=15&hid=9&sid=c42479f7-8f91-4007-8262-469149f83944%40sessionmgr12&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=bth&AN=29993786> [20 September 2012]

Powell, Gary.,Posner, Barry Z. (1978) Resistance to Change Reconsidered: Implications for Managers.

Human Resource Management; 17 (1), 29-34, 6 [online]available from <http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=7&hid=13&sid=c42479f7-8f91-4007-8262-469149f83944%40sessionmgr12&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=bth&AN=12569903> [20 September 2012]

 

 

 

Blog 3: Analysis of leaders in global business

In surveys of most innovative companies, firms like Apple, Google, Microsoft, or Virgin regularly top the ranks, and stories of their emblematic leaders are recurring topics for management books and magazines. But what do Steve Jobs, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Bill Gates, and Richard Branson have in common? What do they do that steers innovation in their companies? Are they the sole drivers of innovation leadership? And is there a direct link between the innovation capability of a firm and the charisma of its leader? (Bel 2010: 47)

This blog is gives a view of the comparison between Sir Andrew Witty and Joseph Jimenez who are the leaders of pharmaceutical industry. It also gives a description about the contributions of the creative ideas by these leaders to pharmaceutical industries. It also gives a description of how their charisma has influenced the innovative capability of their companies.

Sir Andrew Witty CEO of GlaxoSmithKline is also a non-executive director of the UK Government’s Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. He has been very influential in leading his company GlaxoSmithKline towards a new way of delivering pharmaceuticals to the society. His past experiences in Africa and Asia made him aware of the need to develop innovative drugs for tropical neglected diseases. He displayed his innovative vision for poor countries in an interview with Health Affairs, saying that “I’m trying to focus on a very specific failure in the current system, which is the absence of innovations reaching patients for neglected diseases in the least developed countries” (Dentzer, s.: 2009).

In his reign his endless efforts in collaboration with Gates Foundation Funded PATH /Malaria Vaccine initiative has led to new product development and  the  discovery of new malaria vaccine which  showed successful results and now entering Phase III trials. Andrew Witty also proposed the voluntary ‘patent pool’ and envisioned innovative idea of developing a Patent Pool for Intellectual Property. This will help GSK to share the patented knowledge it uses to develop medicines for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) including malaria and tuberculosis with other drugs companies, governments and nongovernmental organizations. (Dentzer, s.: 2009).

Bel (2010) explains a modern innovator as someone who has the ability to acknowledge possibilities and tries to create them.

On the other hand Joseph Jimnez CEO of Novartis pharmaceutical second in Europe is also taking initiatives to provide innovative drug development. Under his leadership Novartis was successfully able to start the initiative for SMS for Life the goal of which was to eliminate stock-outs of anti malarial drugs in Tanzania. SMS for Life uses mobile phones, SMS messages and electronic mapping technology to ensure that the facilities to provide anti malarial drugs are well received. The program initiated by Novartis under Joseph Jimenez the won the 2011 Wall Street Journal (WSJ) Technology Innovation Award in the Health-Care IT category (Novartis AG: 2012).

Novartis CEO Joseph Jimenez receives “CEO in Action” award for commitment and engagement in Novartis Diversity & Inclusion initiatives (Novartis AG: 2012).

He was awarded this to introduce a leadership program called LEAD which combines business and leadership programs together for the associates in the emerging markets. It combines business and leadership seminars with hands-on learning to help enhance each associate’s knowledge of other markets (Diversity journal: 2012).

He also recently merged Novartis with global eye care Alcon for which he contemplates that this would lead to diversifying the business portfolio and reaches the emerging markets. For which he says “Our combined research activities will enable us to further build our innovation power to develop new treatments” (Banks, L.: 2011)

It can be perceived that both the CEOs have zeal to reach out to the suffering populations and bring about improvements in the society. But Andrew Witty is more keen on innovating the measures which can speed up drug discovery  by creating a shared “patent pool” while Joseph Jimenez is taking the company towards more IT integrated drug delivery  systems by using the tracking system via mobile. Novartis is also planning to develop smart pills containing digestible which would track and monitor the health of the patients. This will help maintain better connectivity with the patients.

According to Bel 2010 charismatic style of leadership is communicating with a vision, energising, and accelerating innovation processes. Since they have a charisma of standing out in the industry they influence there firm greatly.  Hence from the above argument it can be perceived that innovation does have a direct link to the vision of these two business tycoons.

 

References

Banks, L. (2011) “Interview: Joseph Jimenez, Novartis” [online] available from <http://www.pmlive.com/pharma_news/interview_joseph_jimenez,_novartis_340344> [20 September 2012]

Bel, R (2010), “Leadership and innovation: Learning from the best” Global Business & Organizational Excellence [online], 29, (2), 47-60.

Dentzer, s., (2009) “Eliminating Neglected Diseases In Poor Countries: A Conversation With Andrwew Witty” Health Affairs, 28 (3), 411-w416, [online] available from <http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=88691be5-aded-4967-88d9-cd69b9c645f3%40sessionmgr14&vid=1&hid=15&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=a9h&AN=39761814> [20 September 2012]

Diversity journal (2012) “Making Diversity and Inclusion a Priority” [online] available from <http://www.diversityjournal.com/7695-joseph-jimenez-novartis-ag/> [20 September 2012]

Novartis AG (2012) “Innovation for the developing world” [online] available from <http://www.novartis.com/innovation/innovation-for-the-developing-world/index.shtml > [20 September 2012]

Novartis AG (2012) “Rankings and awards” [online] available from <http://www.novartis.com/careers/rankings-awards/index.shtml> [20 September 2012]

Blog 4: Ethical relationships between leaders and their teams

Ethical leadership, defining it as “the demonstration of normatively appropriate conduct through personal actions and interpersonal relationships, and the promotion of such conduct to followers through two-way communication, reinforcement and decision-making”… [And] the evidence suggests that ethical leader behaviour can have important positive effects on both individual and organizational effectiveness (Rubin et al 2010: 216-17).

This blog argues about the effects of ethics on leadership in an organisation and analyses the relationship between the followers and the leaders. According to Brown & Treviño, 2006, Ethics play an important role in the organisations as they also help the leaders to make right decisions and direct the organisation to the right path. Although ethics is believed to be in the heart of leadership it is only since the past decade study on ethics related to leadership increased (Dove, M., Freeley, M.: 2011).

Oketch 2004 argues that since business is a part of larger society there it has other responsibilities beyond maximising profits. With the succession of widely publicised unethical acts ethical laws are becoming more stringent with the increased demand by the consumers for a better business conduct.

Green & Odom, 2003 on the other hand argue that leaders play an important role and corporations are a reflection of their employees. Therefore it is the responsibility of the leaders operating them to be ethical for the company to hold high standards .Since the firms have a direct impact on the society leaders must bear in mind the external consequences of their actions.

Society benefits when a business maintains its standards and falls when low standards are held by the society (Thompson, K., Thach, E., Morelli, M.: 2010).

Research suggest that ethical sensitivity and behaviour in the organisation often spring from a founder of the company or the current leadership. Some of the pharmaceutical companies a CEO or ethical leaders are regarded as the driving force

For some, a CEO or an ethical leader within the company was the driving force behind their approach to ethics. At Millennium Pharmaceuticals, the CEO/Founder’s commitment to ethics was the driving force behind the company’s ethical culture. Their Vice President of their Ethics and Corporate Responsibility explained: “In the business ethics arena it is particularly important to have an identifiable leader with charisma and a deep sense of commitment to the institution and someone who models ethical behaviour for his or her employees” (Mackie, J., Et, Al: 2006).

Pharmaceutical have a responsibility to ensure that their drugs will be safe for the consumers and details any risks associated with the intake of the medications. Failure to transparency and dishonesty in revealing such information may lead to hazardous situations such as Avandia Scandal which hit GlaxoSmithKline recently. Hence this shows that a single step to conceal ethical standards can lead to disastrous consequences bringing a bad name to the organisation. Philpott, Sean.,Baker, Robert(2010)

Brief & Motowidlo, 1986 argues that ethical relationship plays an important role and it is the leaders’ responsibility to maintain the well being and integrity of the co-workers by co-operating and treating them with dignity. Ethical leaders should set an example as role models to influence the moral courage of the followers by invoking their inner standards to do the right thing.

Walumbwa, Avolio, Gardner, Wemsing, & Peterson, 2008 defines an authentic leaders who is capable of maintaining a behaviour which promotes ethical climate by maintaining internalized moral values of the workers .He also suggests that the leader must carry out balanced information processing between the followers and maintain a relational transperancy. Avolio, Gardner, Walumbwa, Luthans, & May, 2004; Gardner, Avolio, Luthans, May, & Walumbwa, 2005; Hies, Morgeson, & Nahrgang, 2005 argue authentic leaders are  perceived by followers as being high in moral perspectives and have a fair decision making which can influence the moral courage of the followers to abstain from unethical thinking (Sean T., Bruce J., Fred O.: 2011)

 From the above argument it can be concluded that to implement a carry out right decision making leaders must maintain a balanced relationship with the followers. Hence leaders must focus on respecting and rewarding the followers for successful implementation of ethical climate.

 

References

Dove, M., Freeley, M., (2011) “The Effects of Leadership on Innovative Program Implementation” Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin, 77(3), 25-32, [online] available from <http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=37&hid=9&sid=eb7860fb-b26a-4ac6-b833-010e1b13f4a4%40sessionmgr12&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=a9h&AN=59778783> [20 September 2012]

Mackie, J., Taylor, A., Finegold, D., Daar, A., Singer, P., (2006) “Lessons on Ethical Decision Making from the Bioscience Industry” PLoS Medicine, 3(4), 129-0610, [online] available from <http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=25&hid=9&sid=4884a280-4d01-4f9e-a84e-ed6f0af18dec%40sessionmgr13&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=a9h&AN=23302772> [20 September 2012]

Sean T., Bruce J., Fred O. (2011) “Relationships between Authentic Leadership, Moral Courage, and Ethical and Pro-Social Behaviours” Business Ethics Quarterly, 21 (4), 555-578 [online] available from <http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=28&hid=9&sid=4884a280-4d01-4f9e-a84e-ed6f0af18dec%40sessionmgr13&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=bth&AN=66804210> [20 September 2012]

Thompson, K., Thach, E., Morelli, M., (2010) “Implementing Ethical Leadership: Current Challenges And Solutions” Insights to a Changing World Journal, 4, 107-130, [online] available from <http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=41&hid=9&sid=eb7860fb-b26a-4ac6-b833-010e1b13f4a4%40sessionmgr12&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=a9h&AN=58079756> [20 September 2012]

Philpott, Sean.,Baker, Robert(2010) Why the Avandia Scandal Proves Big Pharma Needs Stronger Ethical Standards, Bioethics, 24 (8)[online]available from< http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=4&hid=13&sid=4c1af6be-1272-4147-8f61-cfa2d5aa87c5%40sessionmgr13&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=a9h&AN=53474868 >[20 September 2012]

Blog 5: The benefits of studying leadership

In this competitive world of business acquiring leadership skills is very important. Since it determines the way in which one can perform or allocate task to others and accomplish it successfully.

According to Covey 2004, “Leadership is communicating to people their worth and potential so clearly that they come to see it in themselves”. On the other hand Robbins 2001 described leadership as the ability of the leader to influence people to achieve goals.

 Burns (1978) defined leaders as people who induce the followers to act towards certain goals which represent the expectations of both the leaders and the followers (Norris, E.: 2009).

I have learned many different factors influencing the leadership in my M005LON at Coventry University London Campus which helped me to attain a myriad of skills.

I have learned that leadership if done effectively can multiply the efforts of the followers. Effective leadership can also successfully implement changes in an organisation successful and lead the teams successfully. I have acknowledged that this module has delivered me with many skills that can be helpful to become a successful manager or a leader in a business organisation I have chosen Sir Andrew Witty as my ideal leader as I am interested in pursuing a career in the pharmaceutical industry. I have also learned many styles of leadership such as situational, transformational, inspirational, charismatic leadership which has influenced my conscience to learn some of the qualities embedded in them. Before learning this module I had a perception that leaders are born and traits for leadership are inherited. But after completing this course of module I have realised that attaining leadership is a learning process. I have also learned that ethical values also play an important role in shaping a leader and the organisation.

Based on the peer review which I received from my colleagues I need to gain a foothold in some specific areas. I received a feedback from my colleague which stated that “you must be patient while making decisions”. I have started the policy of “wait, see and go” to every situation as I have learned that wrong decision making is the root cause of every adverse consequences reaped.

To improve my decision making skills I will refer to books like Mullins 2010 which gives how effective leaders make decision while working in a team.I was also told by my peer during a group activity that “you must focus on your leadership skills because you have the ability to build a team together”. I have started browsing through a leadership sites like LeadersIn (Leaders in: 2012) and Forbes which gives a review of the influential styles of the leaders. I can learn from the strategies used by these leaders to take lead in the industry (Forbes: 2012).

I was also told my group colleague that “you must improve my interpersonal skills.”I was told this when I received a feedback after a group activity in which I was suppose to interact with other group members and bring information from them within a time limit. Since interpersonal skills will also help me to attain better interactive skills it will help me lead teams effectively at my workplace in future. I aim to attain all these skills before I complete my MBA so that when I am out of these skills will help me to perform better at my work place. I have now learned that leadership is an ongoing process which improves with practice.

 

References

Forbes (2012) “The Richest People In America” [online] available from <http://www.forbes.com/lists/> [20 September 2012]

Leadersin (2012) “Sharing wisdom from world leaders in their field, for free” [online] available from <http://leadersin.com> [20 September 2012]

Norris, E. (2009) “LEADERSHIP: CULTIVATING PEOPLE SKILLS” Review of Business Research 9 (4), 67-83 [online] available from <http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=44&hid=9&sid=4884a280-4d01-4f9e-a84e-ed6f0af18dec%40sessionmgr13&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=bth&AN=45463153> [20 September 2012]