Fundamentals of Leadership Reflection Essay

This essay involves a reflection on the leadership style being observed in the workplace, discussing the participative leadership style and relevant theories related to leadership. It focuses on the lessons being learnt from that working experiences and the manners in which the organization got benefited from that leadership style.

Fundamentals of Leadership Reflection Essay

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................1
REFLECTIVE DISCUSSION...................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES...........................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
Leadership plays a very crucial role in achieving success and growth. It is the
leadership that helps in collaborating with others for performing the task effectively to
achieve the desired goals. The current essay involves a reflection on the leadership style
being observed in the workplace I have been volunteered in the past. The essay will discuss
about the participative leadership style and relevant theories related to leadership. It will also
be going to focus on the lessons being learnt from that working experiences and the manners
in which the organization got benefited from that leadership style will also be discussed.
REFLECTIVE DISCUSSION
During the course of my professional career in varied business corporations in the
past few years, I have worked under different managers. However, the last company for
which I worked offered me great learning. The overall experience in that company was a
learning curve for me as I got to know about varied leadership styles and characteristics of
leading individuals within workplace. I was appointed as a relationship manager and was
asked to work in a team under the leadership of my manager. Initially, I was very anxious and
worried as I am not sure how he will be going to treat me as I am new to the company and
work patterns. But, with the passage of time, I go to know that the manager was quite
supportive and helpful. He displayed a participative leadership style and informed each and
every thing to me to make a best decision (Poole, 2015). The leadership style being followed
by my manager was quite effective as all the employees under him were quite motivated for
higher work performance and all the members in the organization felt empowered as they got
the chance to participate in the crucial decision-making process of the firm. Additionally, this
style of leadership of the manager can also be connected with one of the most important
theories of leadership that is great man theory. As per this theory, leaders are born with just
the accurate and suitable characteristics and skills for leading people. They have that
communication skills, confidence level, charisma and social skills which are needed by an
effective leader. In addition to this, the great man theory also recommends that the capability
of leading is inherent and the best leaders are born and not made. The leader of my company
was also born to be a leader as he was very valiant, intended and mythic.
In addition to this, it has also been observed that participative style of leadership of
the manager was also proved effective in improving the performance of the company. My
manager always used to motivate collaboration and hear the ideas of each and every member
of our team adequately. Other than this, my manager also asked our team to get ourselves
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involves in each and every decision of the company which enhanced our motivation and
morale to perform better and helped in attaining the desired objectives of the company
effectively. Participative leadership style of the manager in my past company where I used to
work also facilitated free movement of concepts and notions wherein almost every staff
member had something or the other to share. However, all the contribution was not valuable
or actionable, development of the environment in which the employees can come and discuss
is itself very imperative (Chemers, 2017).
This is not my first job. I have been working from past few years and I have not
experienced such type of leadership style in my job career yet. Prior to my previous job, I
used to work in a super market, where I worked under the mentorship of store manager. The
culture of that company was not conducive rather authoritative. The store manager used to
give orders and all have to follow the same without any discussion. Other than this, each and
every employee in that company felt stifled and unheard as all their attempts to contribute in
the decision making of the firm was not heard by the manager. Further, all the opinions along
with the experiences of the staff members were completely ignored by the store manager.
Therefore, it can be said that the conditions of this organization were quite different from the
firm which I previously worked under.
In regards with the knowledge and skills being needed for interacting with autocratic
leadership skills, it can be attributed that at that period of time, I was a good listener.
Autocratic leaders are the one who passes on orders and sub-ordinates have to follow the
same. So, I used to listen to what my manager used to tell me. Moreover, for working with
such kind of a leader, there is a requirement of a realistic and productive expectation to win
on all points and I didn’t have that so I faced many difficulties. Furthermore, for the purpose
of understanding the leadership style there are different important factors such as the
situation, communication, the lead and the leader. All these factors have some or the other
influence on the working as well as performance of the organization. in my previous
organization my manager came across with different situations, as no single condition in the
business are same.
Leadership which is suitable in one situation might not be relevant in the other
situation. This can be explained by considering the example, in which there was some
conflict that took place amid the two of our team members because of some ambiguities
related to task. The manager politely listened to their issues and made efforts to resolve the
issues between them. He adopted coaching leadership style. However, when in different
perspective such in case of the situation of coronavirus pandemic, the employees and team
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members faced different problems while working remotely and the leaders adopted different
approach in that situation such as laissez-faire or delegative (Gold, 2017).
This can be supported by the situational theories of leadership which states that no
single leadership is best. In fact, it is very much dependent on the type of task to be
completed. As per this theory, the most effective leaders are those who changes their style of
leadership on the basis of the situation and search for the clues. If I have came across with
same kind of situation as in the case of any kind of conflict than I would have adopted same
kind of leadership style that my manager has adopted that is coaching style. This because, it
is one of the best styles which involves great deal of time and energy on determining plus
nurturing the individual strengths of each of the member of the team. However, in case of the
situation of pandemic, I would have adopted different style of leading the workers such as
transactional style of leading (Moon, 2015).
Overall, it can be said that I have learned several lessons from my observations. The
very first is that the managers and leaders are not same and they are different. Secondly, self-
awareness is very much essential and one must be honest about their views on strengths and
weaknesses. Thirdly, in order to be a good leader, it is crucial to have good communication
skills. It is important that the leaders must have strong and clear message to the get the
desired outcomes. In my previous company, my manager has adopted participative or
democratic leadership style. However, as per my perspective in the present dynamic business
environment, situational leadership style will be going to work quite well. This is because of
the fact that in such type of style, leader choses the accurate and right kind of style for
leading the team that best fits in the situation. If I was in the same situation, I would have
adopted transformational leadership style as in this style, leaders motivate and inspire their
workforce for creating modification and innovating. These things will help in shaping the
future and will help me in attaining success (Huynh, Duong & Phan, 2019). Furthermore, for
improving my reactions in the future I need to be more flexible and adaptive. This is being
regarded as the most important change that I would like to bring as this will help me in
dealing with any kind of situation and condition in work and life without any difficulties.
CONCLUSION
Thus, from the above analysis, it can be said that overall, I have learnt many things
which has helped me in learning different leadership styles that can be adopted in different
perspectives and situations. I have also learned that being a leader is not easy rather it is quite
hard. I have observed that a good leader can help in pushing through fear, evaluate the risk
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and take actions when action is needed. I have also learned that the leaders have to make
tough decisions which cannot be taken by anyone else. Furthermore, it has been understood
by me while working that company that a good and an effective leader is the one who
motivates and influences the other people and individuals to achieve the pe-determined goals
of the company.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Chemers, M. (2017). An integrative theory of leadership. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates,
Publishers.
Gold, G. (2017). Leadership and management Development. London: Chartered Institute of
Personnel and Development.
Huynh, T., Duong, M.H., & Phan, T.T. (2019). Team dynamics, leadership, and employee
proactivity of Vietnamese firms. Journal of Open Innovation, 5(1), 1–16.
Moon, J. (2015). Reflection in Learning and Professional Development, Theory and Practice.
Manchester: Routledge Falmer.
Poole, M. (2015). Editorial: Human resource management in an international perspective.
The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 1(1), 1–15.
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