People, Culture and Leadership

The essay brings about the discussion on the topic or concept of People, Culture and leadership and the related aspect or concepts. Organisational culture can be defined as the set of beliefs, values which have been applied within organisation from a long period. It is a reflective essay which will discuss the role of people, culture, and the leadership in the contemporary organisations, leading to higher performance and success in future years.

Running Head: PEOPLE, CULTURE AND LEADERSHIP
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People, Culture and Leadership
1/7/2019

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The essay brings about the discussion on the topic or concept of People, Culture and
leadership and the related aspect or concepts. Organisational culture can be defined as the set
of beliefs, values which have been applied within organisation from a long period. It is a
reflective essay which will discuss the role of people, culture, and the leadership in the
contemporary organisations, leading to higher performance and success in future years. The
reflective journal will outline the leadership theories required to perform the recruitment,
selection, or talent management function within organisation such as, performance gap, roles,
or talent management within organisation. Recommendations will be mentioned using
examples relevant from the class activities, and online resources determining my strengths
and weakness in this context. The essay will end up providing strategy or plan for
improvement leading to the growth and development in the future years.
Following the above discussion, the analysis will be made in the form of reflection journal
which is a collection of the notes, thoughts, ideas, and other relevant materials built over a
period of time. According to my understanding, leadership is the function which helps to
know self, having a vision which has been communicated , and the aspect of establishing
trust amongst the colleagues, and taking effective actions to realize own potential. I believe
that there are no specific qualities or attributes of a leader rather opportunities of coaching,
motivating, leading, team work and public speaking defines an effective leader (Silva, 2016).
Therefore, I possess the skills such as working in a team, and project work, are attributes
which defines about my leadership abilities. These skills and their relevance to the current
scenario of business management can be described effectively through implementing the
leadership concepts or theories which will lead to further improvement (Antonakis, J. and
Day, D.V. eds., 2017).
I will implement and assess two concepts for assessing the abilities which will determine my
leadership effectiveness and the ways I can enhance the level of performance.
Leadership Roles- Positive leadership practice in an organisation is likely to result into
effective management, rewarding cultures and higher productivity of the team and members
working together towards attaining a common goal. Thus, there are certain critical leadership
roles which drive the pathway of success. Motivation, communication, delegating, positivity,
trustworthiness, creativity, feedback, responsibility, and others state about some of the
leadership roles. Over time, I have developed some of these roles and performed well in
different stages of life, such as responsibility, positivity, and creativity (Berson et al., 2015).

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However, ten management or leadership roles have been introduced which sets the criteria of
becoming a good leader.
Figurehead: It describes that as a manager, it is required to fulfil some social, legal, or
ceremonial obligations which needs to be fulfilled. Thus, one needs to motivate and inspire
people or followers in the organisation. People look at the manager as the person with
authority, or figurehead (Friedman, Beckwith and Conroy, 2016).
Leader: It describes about providing leadership skills and abilities for the team members and
the organisation as a whole (Mintzberg, 2015).
Liason: it defines the ability to connect with people in the internal as well external
environment, even on the behalf of the organisation.
Monitor, being a manager, it is a core function to review and monitor the productivity of the
team and the status of wellbeing of members (Mintzberg, 2015).
Disseminator, includes sharing of necessary and useful information with the users in the
organisation.
Spokesperson, defines about the significant role and contribution of the manager in
representing the organisation. Under the role, manager communicates the goals and
objectives of organisation.
Entrepreneur, as a manger controlling change, solving conflicts or problems, generating new
ideas within organisation is an important leadership role (Bolden, 2016).
Resource allocator: Determining what organisational resources are effectively applied within
organisation, and includes the aspect of allocating, funding, and also assigning staff and other
organisational resources (Randel et al., 2018).
Disturbance handler: To resolve the blockages leading to issues or disputes within team or
organisation is another role of manager or effective leader.
Negotiator: the participative role of manager in the negotiations with the team, or
organisational members (Elliott et al., 2016).
An example from the class activities can be stated here, of an event held in college which was
on the analysis of managerial skills and attaining competencies for future business positions.

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Here, in this event I was the leader within my team and there were six individuals in total.
Thus, the positive trait or aspect from this event was the role of figurehead. However, the role
of figurehead in this event led to higher performance and success of the college event.
However, I lagged the skill or ability of negotiation, as I was unable to fulfil the role of
making efficient negotiations with my team members, regarding any change or attaining
goals within organisation. This highlighted the lack of skill of effective communication
which is required to conduct recruitment and talent management within organisations
(Rothwell et al., 2018).
Talent management and Performance gap/Skill gap
The aspect of talent management within an organisation defines about helping people or
employees perform their current performance and directing them towards attaining the
desired performance in the future, by enabling their advancement to the next role. Therefore,
the aspect of performance gap in the management of talent identifying the gap between actual
performance and desired performance is crucial for talent management leading to effective
performance management (Singh, Kumar and Puri, 2017).
Performance gap or skill-gap
In accordance to my understanding, HR plays a vital role in maintaining the talent or higher
performance of the employees within organisation by identifying the skill-gap and bridging
the differences. I have felt that the aspect of skill gap exerts a negative influence on the
attitude, behaviour, and performance towards organisational goals (Mone and London, 2018).
The skill gap in individuals constitutes to both, intellectual and emotional gap found within a
person. Intellectual gap refers to logical thinking, using computer, writing notes, and
technical ability, whereas emotional gap include communication, motivation, and the ability
to manage conflicts (Iqbal, Anwar and Haider, 2015).
Group discussion was conducted as a part of our class activity, wherein four people were
asked to speak on a topic considering the role of leaders, and the leaders are not born they

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are. In the discussion, other members took effective role and actively represented their views
on the topic (Bolman and Deal, 2017). However, I lacked in mentioning the statistical aspects
or analytical knowledge about the concept. Moreover, I was not vocal about my views or
understanding of the concept, to the participants and person conducting or organising the
activity.
Therefore, it defines the gap what I can do and what should I able to do, thus there were
major differences due to intellectual skill gaps. Apart from this, I represented or showcased
effective communication skills, as the things I mentioned in the group discussion activity
were clearly demonstrated to the people observing or providing judgements. Moreover, in our
first assignment to complete a project for final semesters, we were provided the assessment
feedback, wherein I was asked to make improvements in my analytical understanding of the
skills, and make interpersonal skills/communication better with other people.
From the above discussion it has been stated that the aspect of leadership skills, performance
management, or talent management determines effectiveness of an organisation to recruit or
retain people in the organisation. In my perspective to retain best talent within organisation
for long-term, the managers or leaders should first ensure effective recruitment, and provide
them training to enable them perform at their best. In addition, they need to measure the
performance through using rating scales, and other performance criteria, making them aware
of the need of change, or improvement (Northouse, 2017). The above mentioned leadership
theories or concepts, employee engagement, role of HR in recruitment or selection,
organisational culture, talent management or talent attraction; I have understood that
acquiring effective leadership skills or qualities are essential to attain goals and attain higher
performance in the future.
The reflective essay has outlined critically the meaning and importance of the concepts
leading to effective strategic management of organisational as well as personal goals.
Psychometric tests was undertaken by our organiser or educator which identified some of my
skills, abilities that forms a part of my personality specially to become a successful leader.
Now, some recommendations or strategies need to be adopted for improving my performance
and overcome the issues or problems faced by me to emerge as an effective leader in my
future years.
Improvement plan

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Goals/Milestones Action Evidence of achievement Time- period
Acquiring Analytical
skills
Undertaking various
Seminars, conferences and
various other projects related
to management of businesses.
Ability and increased
involvement in the further
activities to lead group
objectives. As the activities
influences my behaviour, thus
will show the evidence towards
achievement of goals.
Within period
of 2 months
from 7th of
January
2019.
Negotiation skills Finding a negotiation coach
and training to improve the
negotiation skills with the
team members and
organisation.
Effectiveness in the negotiation
agreements and leader in
acquiring and successful
participation of projects.
Within two
months as of
07-01-19.
Communication skills Acquiring knowledge, in
context to various aspects or
theories of leadership will
enhance confidence. The
increase in my confidence
levels will help in
communicating effectively
with the organisational
members.
Enhanced interpersonal skills,
and relationships, and better
management of the businesses
(Bolden, 2016).
Within 2
months.
To conclude the above discussion it has been analysed that leadership play an important role
in determining the skills or abilities leading to higher performance. I have analysed that
attributes such as communication, listening, empathy, commitment, team-work, and
awareness are crucial to become a successful manager or leader in the future. The reflective
essay in the above part, has well discussed about the role and relevance of leadership
theories, concepts to my individual goals by determining the performance gap or skill gap.
However, these gaps were identified and some improvement plan or strategies has been also
mentioned which determines my ability to become a successful leader in the future.

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References
Antonakis, J. and Day, D.V. (2017) The nature of leadership. United States: Sage
publications.
Berson, Y., Halevy, N., Shamir, B. and Erez, M. (2015) Leading from different
psychological distances: A construal-level perspective on vision communication, goal setting,
and follower motivation. The Leadership Quarterly, 26(2), pp.143-155.
Bolden, R. (2016) Leadership, management and organisational development. In Gower
handbook of leadership and management development (pp. 143-158). United Kingdom:
Routledge.
Bolman, L.G. and Deal, T.E. (2017) Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and
leadership. United States: John Wiley & Sons.
Desai, M.N., Lockett, A. and Paton, D. (2016) The effects of leader succession and prior
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Elliott, N., Begley, C., Sheaf, G. and Higgins, A. (2016) Barriers and enablers to advanced
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Friedman, M.G., Beckwith, R.M. and Conroy, J.W. (2016) Effective strategies for supporting
individuals with complex needs in leadership roles. Inclusion, 4(3), pp.170-182.
Iqbal, N., Anwar, S. and Haider, N. (2015) Effect of leadership style on employee
performance. Arabian Journal of Business and Management Review, 5(5), pp.1-6.
Mintzberg, H. (2015) Henry MINTZBERG, The Nature of Managerial Work (1973) &
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Mone, E.M. and London, M. (2018) Employee engagement through effective performance
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Northouse, P.G. (2017) Introduction to leadership: Concepts and practice. United States:
Sage Publications.

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Randel, A.E., Galvin, B.M., Shore, L.M., Ehrhart, K.H., Chung, B.G., Dean, M.A. and
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Rothwell, W.J., Hohne, C.K. and King, S.B. (2018) Human performance improvement:
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