Leadership Characteristics and Comparison with Military Leadership

This report analyses the characteristics of a leader and compares them with the author's experience as a military leader. It discusses different leadership styles and their impact on people, and also covers topics such as emotional intelligence, organisational effectiveness, and building relationships. The report also includes examples of leaders such as Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump.

Leadership

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
ESSAY AND REFLECTION ON LEADERSHIP.........................................................................3
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Leadership is considered as an important activity which is helpful in managing large
number of people. The act of leadership is considered as a major function performed by a person
and its influence is on the whole organisation (Aslam, (2018). In the professional and personal
life leadership play a major role by making the whole team effective and efficient. This project
explains various types of leadership and their impact on different people. In this report I am
showing my leadership qualities as a captain in Army. In this report I have taken example of
Kim Jong Un who is the leader of North Korea. I personally consider leadership as a major part
of personality of a candidate in order to perform different operations and functions. The other
example I have taken for this report is Donald Trump who is the former president of America. I
personally have leadership qualities as I have worked as a captain in Australian defence force.
In this report I am writing about leadership as learnt in my lectures and by the help of my own
experience.
MAIN BODY
ESSAY AND REFLECTION ON LEADERSHIP
I personally consider that it is important for a person to have different leadership qualities in
order to develop an effective personality. Kim Jong un is an arrogant leader and takes aggressive
decisions which are devastating in nature. He gives warning to several people and threatens most
of the neighbouring countries which is very bad. Kim Jong un of North Korea mainly follows
autocratic leadership style in most of the times. In autocratic leadership the decisions which are
taken by a person do not take into consideration suggestions which are given by people. In this
style a leader takes decisions related to organisational activities on his own which are not
beneficial for anyone. On the other hand Donald Trump is a leader who follows democratic
leadership style in order to formulate different decision related to functioning of the county. The
nature of Donald Trump is calm and related to peace and he does not take decisions on his own.
The major strength of Donald Trump is calm nature and his ability to take major decisions
related to functioning of the country. The major weakness of Donald trump is that he can’t take
quick decisions related to different aspects of running a country like America.
In my military service life I learnt characteristics of a well recognised leader which helped
me to manage large number of subordinates. A well recognised leader has good communication

skills which makes him perfect in doing conversation with others. A well recognised leader must
have great body language in order to impress others. Being a captain the level of responsibility
on me was more and level of authority was also more (Basaruddin, (2021). I also leant during my
military service that a well recognised leader must have problem solving skills. I used to solve
various problems of my subordinates by using various techniques of problem solving. I also
faced my challenges during my military service period and in order to face them I took the
support of my seniors.
In my views being a captain in armed forces leadership is the major tasks which mainly
five stages that help in effectively in managing and lead a team. The primary stage in leadership
model is forming which deals with formation of a team and after that different tasks are allocated
to different team members. Forming stage in leadership model is considered as crucial stage as it
develops a crucial step which contains formation of a team with different task allocations. The
secondary stage in the model of leadership is known as storming which creates a certain level of
conflicts (Berraies, (2019). Team members react to demands of task by performing interaction
with each other. The tertiary stage in the leadership model is norming which contains the
functioning of team members and different members follow each other to perform various
activities which are helpful in development of the team. The next stage in leadership model is
related to performing in which members of a particular team work for achievement of objectives
which are formulated at the starting. In the functioning of leadership model the next stage is
adjourning which includes stopping team related operations. In other words adjourning is a major
stage in which team members stop being members of a team.
I learnt in my lectures and during my military services that according to the perspective of J.
Richard Hack man, there is a brief explanation given in his book to develop an effective team.
It is essential for a company to develop effective team in the organisation to accomplish set
targets. I personally applied this perspective in training my subordinates as a captain in army.
Another perspective I learnt during my lectures by following Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey, as
they states different reasons why employees resist changing in an organisation (Crevani, (2018).
After reading and understanding their perspective I was able to understand different reasons why
the employees resist change and the solutions to bring change management in the organisation.
I was also able to learn organisational effectiveness and measuring it during my lectures
in order to develop organisational success. In my lectures I also learnt that in starting of a

business entity the focus of owner should not be on increasing profitability of the company. The
major focus of the organisation should be on business development, customer satisfaction and
increasing goodwill of the organisation (Esser, (2018). It is the major and ethical responsibility
of the company to not only earn profit from the marketplace but to also perform corporate social
responsibility. The corporate responsibility is helpful in development weaker sections of the
society by providing them health, food and shelter. I also learnt the goal attainment approach in
order to measure organisational effectiveness. This approach is helpful in determination of the
results of the organisation by comparing them with objectives that were formulated before
starting the business. I was able to learn systems approach in order to develop various factors
that are helpful in business survival for a long period of time. I also learnt the balance scorecard
approach which states that the executive members of the organisation concentrate on different
objectives and goals (Horner, (2021). The goals and objectives of the company should not be
only related to finance but the organisations must focus on increasing customer engagement and
satisfaction.
In the lectures I also learnt the relationship bond between structure of the
organisation and effectiveness of the organisation. It is essential for a business entity to
choose perfect structure for the organisation in order to achieve different goals and objectives in
a short period of time. The technique of departmentalisation was also taught during my lectures
in which employees with common goals are grouped together. This technique helps an
organisation to develop strong department in order to achieve and perform day to day activities
in a precise manner. For example the accounting department can be grouped with taxation
department and human resource department can be merged with production management in order
to develop values and ethics in the employees. In my lectures one main thing I learned is chain
of command in an organization which links top level management with bottom level of
management (Jena, (2018). This chain of command is helpful in developing coordination and
communication between all the departments and will help the business to maintain transparency.
I also understood the value of span of control which is performed by the manager to manage the
number of employees. In an organisation span of control should be broad so that a manager can
control large number of employees in order to increase the productivity. The technique of
formalisation was also learnt by me as it states the way in which an employee of a business is
ready to perform job related duties.

In my lectures I learnt about different types of organisational structures which are
effective in development of a business. I learnt that a simple structure in an organisation includes
5 to 20 staff members and the best example is Cafe. In a simple structure there are only one or
two levels of management that are effective in managing small number of employees. I also got
to know about virtual organisations which are highly centralised in nature as the main decisions
related to functioning of the business entity will be formulated by supreme authority or directors
(Ji, (2020). The matrix structure in an organisation combines two types of departmentalisation
in a manner that few people report to multiple persons.
In my military services period I was ethical and honest in order to provide best services
to my country. I was able to manage a large number of employees with the help of my leadership
skills which provided me the best team. I got appraisal from seniors, family members, friends
and my team that I am a charismatic leader. This increased my confidence in leadership and also
raised interest in leadership related operations. Feedback from my team members helped me in
doing appropriate corrections related to leadership related functions. I developed effective
techniques of managing a team with utmost priority to discipline and ethics.
The main thing during my lectures was I learnt different leadership styles and their use
according to a particular situation in an organisation. The first leadership style is coercive
leadership style which includes forcing the team members to perform a task even if they want to
do it or not (What is leadership, and who is a leader, 2020). I personally think this leadership
style is not a suitable style of leadership as forcing the employees will create a pressure on them
which will affect their performance. The authoritative leadership is considered as a major style of
leadership which is effective in teaching different employees what to do and which goals are to
be achieved. In this style of leadership the leader has full control over major leadership functions
and employees. The affiliate leadership is a major leadership style which creates a positive
working employment for team members. In this style of leadership the companies achieve
harmony in different workers which leads to increase overall productivity of the organisation
(Martínez‐Córcoles, (2018). I learnt more about my favourite leadership style which is
democratic style as it takes into considerations provided by senior or subordinate members. The
next leadership style I learnt is coaching leadership which includes providing knowledge and
support to different employees.

I learnt the view of John P. Kotter on leadership as he puts a brief contrast between the
management and leadership (John Kotter on Leadership, 2021). The Kotter believes that
intelligent members help employees to cope up with complexity in functions and operations. In
the lectures I was taught the relationship between leadership and personality in order to gain
organisational advantage. It is essential for a person to posses’ different qualities related to
personality for emerging as a good leader. I also learnt more about extraverted people who are
socialistic as they generally get involve often with different people of society (Martínez-
Córcoles, (2017). In order to feel enthusiastic and happy the extraverted people meet with
different people who come from different sections of the society.
When I was studying about leadership I used to learn about agreeableness which makes
a person trustworthy and honest in the organisation. The agreeableness should be present in the
mind of person in order to develop different approaches of acceptability. It is also recommended
for a person to develop conscientiousness in order to be effective in different operations and
functions. The employees in the organisation should be ethical and honest in performing their
duties for development of the company (Meerits, (2020). I learnt that it is compulsory for a
person to have emotional stability and should be confident in order to achieve effective results.
In the functioning of an organisation it is compulsory for an organisation to develop effective
ways of developing emotional intelligence in the employees. The employees should be open in
order to explore new and latest techniques and methods of working effectively in the
organisation. In the functioning of an organisation it is essential for the employees to perform
innovative and creative tasks for making organisation competent at the marketplace. The power
of a leader is immense in a business entity and he must not misuse power. The power should not
be implemented in wrong direction to perform different operations. It is the major responsibility
of a leader to achieve different organisational objectives with the help of power. The power and
authority should be exercised by a person in a positive manner to develop ethical and secure
business functions and operations (Nader, (2019). I personally understand that it is important for
me to understand every aspect with an in depth understanding of development in leadership.
Leading is an important concept which I practised during my military services by
adopting several techniques of self development. In my lecture I learnt about domains and
competencies which are directly or indirectly related to emotional development. The first thing
I learnt about emotional intelligence is building self awareness which contains important factors

like emotional self awareness, self assessment and building self confidence. The second thing I
learnt is about how to manage self by using different techniques of self management. Self
management includes self control, transparency, adaptability, achievement and initiative. I also
learnt to develop social awareness by the help of developing empathy, organisational awareness
and service. In my lectures I learnt about building relationship with different people by using
inspiration, influence, developing others, change catalyst and by learning how to manage and
deal with conflicts (Oc, (2018). I also have knowledge of application of authentic leadership in
the organisation as this considers development of professional leaders with genuine and trust
factor. It is important for an organisation to select authentic leaders in order to conduct ethical
and legal business. I also understand that it is important for a person to be authentic leader by the
support of self awareness. It is important for a person to develop self awareness in order to be an
authentic leader.
I also consider the views of Heather J Anderson during my academic and military service
life in which the leadership and its dimensions are explained in a precise manner. In my views
Heather J Anderson provides a brief overview of leadership in an optimistic sense. Heather J
Anderson gives a brief contrast on leadership aspects and development of a professional leader. I
also prefer Sin Sitkin to learn organisational leadership in order to lead organisational task
related team. During my military service I prefer to read books and articles which were based on
leadership (Petriglieri, (2020). In my personal views I used democratic style of leadership which
helped me in taking decisions with the help of my subordinate and senior team members. I don’t
prefer nor recommend democratic leadership style because in this type of leadership style the
decisions which are formulated by the leader are not mutual.
In order to understand learn more about authentic leadership I prefer Bill George, the ideas
and thoughts of Bill George are effective in order to develop authentic leadership. In my military
service period I preferred to learn about authentic leadership as it builds an honest and
trustworthy leader. In the recent times the importance of authentic leadership is increasing day
by day. In most of the successful national and international companies authentic leadership style
is used in a frequent manner (Taylor, (2018). Many different companies in today’s world are
focussed on development of authentic leaders in order to gain competitive advantage in the
corporate world. In the recent times most of the successful companies are also professing to
develop democratic leadership in order to facilitate decision making. According to my learning

so far the authentic and democratic leader are two best styles of leadership which develops a
competitive approach.
In my academic and military service I preferred to take into consideration the views of
Daniel golman. I have learnt that it is important to get fair results from leadership in a short span
of time which is taught by Daniel Golman very well. According to Daniel Golman leadership is
an art as well as scientific approach in formulating various results related to precise management
of a team. In most of the cases the organisations prefer to consider the views of Daniel Golman .
The responsibility level is high in leadership so a leader must not take pressure on his mind and
formulate effective actions with the help of subordinate team members. In my personal opinion a
leader should be optimistic in order to find out best results from a particular situation. A leader
should be ready to face many challenges during the course of action and also take assistance of
team members in order to deal with several problems (Rosinha, (2019). It is also important for a
leader to develop a precise strategy with the help of professional strategic management which is
present in the organisation. The leader must also develop and learn best techniques of leadership
in order to achieve results in a short period of time (Pietsch, (2017). During my military services
I learnt many different ways to solve a problem with the help of subordinate team members and
seniors.

CONCLUSION
From the above stated report it can be concluded that leadership is a crucial function which
is performed by most of the organisations to develop in the market. This report concludes that it
is essential for an organisation to choose best leadership style for performing different employee
operations. This project concludes that it is essential for an organisation to follow a precise
structure according to its nature and size. This report concludes that it is essential for an
organisation to choose the best leadership style in order to manage large number of employees.
In this report the value of democratic leadership is explained along with different ways to
measure organisational effectiveness. In the organisation there is an important role played by a
leader and manager to perform different actions that are helpful in management of several
employees. This report it is essential to choose best leadership style in order to determine various
decisions related to functioning of the organisation in long and short run.

REFERENCES
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Ji, Y. (2020). How Xi Jinping dominates elite party politics: A case study of civil-military
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Nader, R. (2019). Leadership and motivation (Doctoral dissertation).
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leadership and its outcomes. The Leadership Quarterly, 29(1), 218-235.
Petriglieri, G. (2020). The psychology behind effective crisis leadership. Harvard Business
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Online: