Reflective Report on Leadership Theory and Practice

leadership
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Introduction
Reflective writing refers to those methods that allows students step back and look into their
learning experiences to develop critical thinking skills and getting improved for future
performances by making analysis of past experiences. These kinds of learning not only help
students in moving towards the surface of critical authentic learning but also includes variety
of activities, including peer-review and self-review to develop personal skill and intellect
(Shum, Sándor, Goldsmith, & McWilliams, 2017). Understanding assessment criteria along
with giving feedback to it is a way through which students are encouraged to reflect upon
what they have learnt throughout the course and how can they get improved through it. This
can aid in personal as well as Academic tutors to discuss with issues realised during the
course for example, how to make finest use of feedback. Peer review is another fruitful
means that allows students to reflect initially over other students work and contributions and
sequentially reflect on our own experiences. Reflective learning can be done in various
manner among which reflective journal and report is particularly very useful to keep a record
of personal learning experience. Lew & Schmidt (2011) defined reflective writing as “those
intellectual and affective activities that individuals engage into explore their experience,
which leads to new understanding and appreciations”. Indeed, with regards to the statement
and significance of reflective journal as mentioned in present literature, the following report
has been prepared to reflect on my personal experience and journey that evolves
understanding the concept of leadership theory and practice studied during my 12 weeks
course. As I look back at the time when I started this course, I recognised that my present
interest in complexity and leadership has evolved from the issues that I have antagonized and
endeavoured to overcome. This report chronicles the development progress of my thinking
related to challenges, theories, practice and contemporary leadership styles.

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This report has been divided into several parts discussing on literature review and how my
class activities have affected and given shape to my understanding about leaders and team
work. For the same, research articles as well as books related to leadership and organisational
behaviour will be reviewed while focussing upon my own thought and ideas of leading and
leadership that have emerged in my life. Additionally, I will also use printed and online
journal articles to make myself fully knowledgeable with the concept of effective leadership
and how effective leaders manage organisations. This discussion will help in considering
about how my peers influences my learning and methods that were used to motivate other
classmates. Both negative and positive side of leadership style will be discussed along with
reflecting upon my own ideas and recommendations based on leadership theories present in
credible sources. The final section of this report will conclude after reflecting my personal
observation and findings on leadership and organisations management.
Critical reflection: Analysis and Evaluation
Leadership can be referred as an ability to develop vision and move others to achieve a
common objective. According to Schein (2004), in an era where leadership is hyped over and
over as a critical element in defining success or failure of firms, it becomes more significant
to look at different aspects of leadership like how does an effective leader create
organisational culture or how organisational culture create leaders. This reflective report will
discuss my reflection about what I learned about leadership theory and practice during the 12
weeks course. During the course, I found that to achieve objectives, organisations rely on
individuals whom it employs. These employees in turn collaborates with each other to
perform specific task. However, to monitor and see if the task is performed accordingly or
not along with motivating employees to perform the job, organisations appoint an individual

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who is given responsibility to perform above mentioned duties. A leader is a person who
motivates, directs and monitors individuals and followers to achieve a common goal (Kumar,
Deshmukh, & Adish, 2014). According to Xiong (2008), leader comprises an important
element within the organisation who ensures that organisational objectives are fulfilled within
a specific time limit and scope.
According to me, leadership is largely about application of influence in a way that
encourages followers to follow to achieve desired outcome. Many authors have given various
definitions along with the leadership models that can be applied by individuals to perform
leadership duties while working for achieving organisational goals. Among all, the article
written by Brown (2012), “Challenges to Business Excellence” have influenced me the most
where the author identifies challenges related to leadership while building support from
subordinates throughout the organisation for decades. In the article, one incident was
mentioned where the new CEO was appointed. Since the organisation had another appointee
who acted as driver of excellence, no significant changes in strategic focus or direction was
encountered. According to the author “The need to have a critical mass of leaders who are
supportive of the business excellence drive was identified as a key requirement”. Here the
author emphasises on influence leaders have upon mases where only few champions
reinforce, drive and push excellence efforts that are required in leaders as well as team
managers. Leadership is all about relationship, strategy and dynamic that aligns
organisational vision that calls upon several actions, out of self interest or requirements to
ensure the completion of task with effectiveness (Schein, 2004). This definition also
identifies the collaborative dynamics that followers and leaders share in participation process
where common vision benefits and provide risks to both of them. Understanding our
innermost dynamic of common vision is also supported among other schools of thought that I
have gone through. Drescher, et al. (2014) further supports the above findings where the