Reflective Piece on Critical Leadership Studies

Running Head: ASSESSMENT 3 1
ASSESSMENT 3: Reflective Piece
Student Name
Student Code
Critical Leadership Studies
Subject Code
5-June-2019

ASSESSMENT 3 2
Introduction
This reflection piece follows a systematic praxis approach to critically analyse leadership
approaches and relate preferred styles with critical leadership. Without a doubt, I have
learned a lot about leadership styles and critical theories to leadership that made me question
the relevance and authenticity of the approach I prefer, which is a situational approach
maintaining the transformational style of leadership. Having participated in many group
activities in the role of a leader, the same has not only helped me focus on successful
outcomes along with the involvement and cooperation of others but each experience of being
a leader has helped me gain valuable learning outcomes in my life. Critical leadership studies
has been an eye-opening topic for me during the course, as it helped me review my
understanding, ethics, traits and skills as a leader and reflect on the extent to which a leader
can be defined, or expected to function and perform in reality. Therefore, the reflective essay
presents my experiences and critical revelations of studying critical leadership approaches,
theories and styles that can help me flourish and grow as a leader. Additionally, the essay
discusses my future approaches and applications to the lessons and knowledge I have gained
from completing the subject.
Reflection of Critical Leadership Studies with leadership approaches
One of the first topics introduced to me was identifying the differences between leadership
and management. I have always looked at leadership and management going hand in hand,
primarily because I believe that management is impossible or ineffective without leadership.
Every manager needs to be a leader, who can practice control and resistance with his/her
followers from a situational approach that focuses on the context rather than a set of rules or
principles. While performing the topic activity, I realised that my perceptions of leadership
and management had not changed much by the end of the session. One can always be a
manager, but not a ‘good’ manager without leadership traits and skills. Additionally, I do not
believe in change resistance and therefore, the ideas of Edwards et al. (2015) such as the four-
quadrant framework is something that I wish to learn more about for further practice and
application if possible. I find the framework very relatable with my ideas and preference of
being a leader, and also believe that leadership is more effective and performance-driven than
management (Zoller & Fairhurst, 2007). Further ahead in the course, I realised that there was
a huge difference between what I was relating to leadership in my mind and knowledge, and

ASSESSMENT 3 3
what it actually is in practice. Although I believe in a situational approach while practicing a
leadership style, excessive preference on the context or situation may cause leaders to deviate
from the main idea, causing further discrepancies in performativity and accountability (Denis,
Langley & Rouleau, 2010). This thought came true through the knowledge and information I
gained on my most preferred leadership style, i.e. the transformational style for organisations.
I have always been an ambitious person and thus, always dreamt of becoming a manager in
the future. Therefore, learning and critically evaluating the nature of the leadership style and
approach that I prefer was of paramount importance. On one hand, where transformational
leadership style is considered one of the most effective and favourable styles of all, the style
has also been criticised for being manipulative, biased, and which lacks conceptual clarity
(Parry & Kempster, 2013). As I was being introduced to more complexities and challenges
that exist with leadership, especially in the organizational world, I realised that I would have
to look at things from a different perspective and apply more of critical thinking to the topics
that would be discussed ahead. The topic activity of leadership traits, competencies,
personality, skills, charisma, etc. opened me more to the fact that there is no one particular
definition or set of characteristics for a leader. Different contexts have different kinds of
needs and functionality, which require leaders to practice leadership and approach the
fundamentals in a different manner. This thought made me more doubtful about everything
that I knew about leadership and got me questioning about my ideas and belief in the
transformational style and situational approach to leadership.
Additionally, critical leadership studies have developed my understanding and belief of
possessing certain traits, skills, a kind of personality (e.g. charisma), style and intelligence
(e.g. cognitive, emotional, etc.), known as competencies that make true leaders. Especially
while discussing the five specific characteristics that make effective leaders, I realised that I
relate myself strongly to all those characteristics, which are openness to new
experiences/ideas, being careful and efficient (conscientiousness), extroverted (extrovertism),
being sympathetic and kind to others, and being assertive and aggressive as and if the
situation requires. Striking a balance of all these competencies is challenging and therefore, it
takes a lot of practice for an individual to become a leader. Apart from personality of a
leader, I think that the next important aspect of leadership for me is the intelligence factor
that can be defined as emotional, cognitive, spiritual, moral and behavioural skills (Gill,
2006). According to me, a leader needs to be intelligent beyond just logical reasoning and
knowledge dependency. A successful leader behaves and treats others around equally, and