Leadership and Talent Management: A Reflective Journal

Running Head: MANAGEMENT
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People culture
5/11/2019

MANAGEMENT
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The essay brings about the discussion on the concept of people, culture and contemporary
leadership and other related aspects. The concept of leadership is vital to obtain number of
benefits and ensure coordination amongst the members of the organisation. Leadership is the
process of influencing the behaviour of individuals and integrating their efforts towards
achieving a common goal. Therefore, this is the reflective journal, which will analyse the use
of theories, and other resources in context to the leadership. Leaders are the individuals who
influence the performance of the organisation through a positive influence on the practices.
Thus, the reader will gain an understanding of the effective leadership in the path of self-
growth and development.
A reflective journal is the collection of the thoughts, ideas, and other relevant material built
over a period. According to me, the concept of leadership lies in exercising the command or
control of the employees, and promoting them to perform better, to achieve both, personal
and organisational goals. I believe as per my understanding that there are no specific
qualities or capabilities of a leader, however the opportunities of coaching, teaching, leading
defines the characteristics of an effective leader (Grint, Jones and Holt, 2016). Therefore, I
possess some of the leadership skills such as teamwork, which defines about my leadership
qualities. To work in today’s business organisations, these skills are essential as they can be
described effectively through the implementation of leadership concepts, theories leading to
the attainment of goals ensuring improvement in the future (Black, 2015).
Now, in the later section of this reflective journal, I will mention examples from the given six
categories or criteria, to determine the leadership effectiveness, i.e. type of leader I am and
improvement. Essential traits or leadership roles which state or mention the criteria to
become a good leader:
Figurehead: As a manager, it is essential to fulfil some social, legal, and ceremonial
responsibilities in order to complete responsibilities in the organisation. Therefore, one needs
to encourage or inspire his/her followers or employees to work with high commitment.
People observe and perceive the manager as a person with the authority, i.e. called as
figurehead (Bolden, 2016).
Leader: A leader is the person who exercises effective leadership skills and abilities for their
team and organisation as a whole (Mintzberg, 2015).

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Liason: The ability of a leader to connect with the people in the external and internal
environment, on behalf of the organisation.
Monitor, on the other hand, is another core function of the being a manager, that reviews and
monitors the team productivity, and improve status of wellbeing of members (Mintzberg,
2015).
Disseminator includes exchange or sharing of the important and useful information with the
users in the organisation.
Spokesperson, describes about significant role and contribution of the manager to represent
the organisation. Under this role, the manager performs the duty of communicating the goals
and objectives of organisation (Mikkelson, York and Arritola, 2015).
Resource allocator: We have been taught about the role of resource allocator, which
determines what organisational resources are effectively utilised within organisation. In
addition, it includes the aspect of allocating, funding, and assigning staff with their
appropriate roles and function (Black, 2015).
Disturbance handler: To resolve any conflict or blockages leading which further create
disputes within team or organisation is another role of effective leader.
Negotiator: It mentions about the participative role of manager in the negotiations with the
team members or organisation (Elliott et al., 2016).
To understand the significance and application of these theories in the business organisations,
we have used the online resources such as class activities and the use of textbook chapters.
One of the example of the class activities I can mention, is an event which was held in our
college which conducted an analysis of managerial skills and competencies essential for
future business operations. In this particular event, I performed the role of a leader, and the
positive trait or aspect from this event was the role of a figurehead. Therefore, the role of
figurehead led to higher performance of the event. However, I analysed through the class
activity/event that I lagged the skill to negotiate about the roles, or in consideration to any
change or attainment of goal within an organisation. this further highlighted the lack of