Reflective Journal on Leadership

This reflective journal explores the concept of leadership in the context of contemporary human resource management. It discusses theories of recruitment, selection, and retention, talent management theories, online sources for leadership knowledge, practical insights from guest speakers, class events and assessment feedback, and psychometric test results. The journal aims to enhance the author's understanding of leadership and prepare them for future career opportunities.

Running Head: REFLECTIVE JOURNAL
People culture and contemporary leadership
Assessment 2-reflective journal
Student name
University name
Author notes

2REFLECTIVE JOURNAL ON LEADERSHIP
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The reflective journal is a measure of the leadership qualities in me and how I perceive
leadership as a differentiator in modern day human resource management. Leadership in itself is
a vast concept and ample research on it is still an area of concern. Here I have adhered to a
systematic framework to depict my knowhow of contemporary leadership and people culture.
Organizational culture has been constantly evolving and emotional intelligence and cultural
influx have been deeply embedded into the core system of Human resource management. Focus
on ‘work life blend’ is emphasized and present-day leaders are more open to changes and have
higher degree of adaptability. I have shared my experience of class performance, theoretical
knowhow, practical expertise and knowledge acquired from industry experts. This discussion
will increase my sphere of understanding of leadership and I could prepare myself to be better in
my professional arena and career opportunities will expand in future times. Self-consciousness is
the best practice to enhance expertise and this reflection of mine in this journal form will develop
my caliber as a professional in this tough competitive world of business.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
CRITICAL ANALYSIS WITH SUPPORTING THEORIES.........................................................5
DISCUSSION OF RELEVANT THEORIES..............................................................................5
THEORIES OF RECRUITMENT, SELECTION AND RETENTION..................................5
TALENT MANAGEMENT THEORIES................................................................................6
ONLINE SOURCES AND THEIR REFLECTION ON MY LEADERSHIP KNOWHOW.....7
PRACTICAL OUTLOOK ACHIEVED FROM GUEST SPEAKERS......................................7
CLASS EVENTS AND ASSESSMENT FEEDBACK...............................................................9
PSYCHOMETRIC TEST RESULTS AND THEIR PRACTICAL INFERENCES...................9
IDENTIFICATION OF MY STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES.........................................10
RECOMMENDATION AND CONCLUSION............................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13
APPENDICES...............................................................................................................................14

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INTRODUCTION
The major objective of this assessment task is to write a reflective journal of what type of
leader I am? The journal will include discussion areas of what I have learnt so far. It includes
various theories of leadership, recruitment and talent management, online sources providing a
multidimensional explanation of knowledge and skills related to leadership, practical knowhow
from guest industry speakers, class activities and assessment questionnaire feedback of various
psychometric tests related to leadership. Before I start sharing my knowhow it is necessary to
have a look at the current leadership aspects prevailing in businesses. The sphere of leadership
has widened and there is no single right way to lead a team or to be a leader. Modern day leaders
encourage their team members to be brand ambassador for their organization that will improve
market insights, people culture and quality standard of the organization (Potgieter and Coetzee
2013). I have learnt that modern leaders invest in Human Capital Development. Promotion of
lifelong learning and education is one of the major factors for success of millennial leaders.

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CRITICAL ANALYSIS WITH SUPPORTING THEORIES
After the tenure of my post-graduate degree I will be led to the globalized world of
business and I need to have strong leadership traits in order to be successful in my life. To add
weightage to my reflective writing I have used Gibb’s framework of reflective learning. This
reflective journal highlights six major areas of discussion. Each point is analyzed below.
DISCUSSION OF RELEVANT THEORIES
THEORIES OF RECRUITMENT, SELECTION AND RETENTION
The theoretical base of leadership considers a number of factors like quality of leaders,
developmental scope of those qualities and the relationship between both organizational and
individual success with effective leadership. I think the stigmatization approach provides fairness
to the recruitment and selection process. It is important for me to know about the various
recruitment and selection processes so that I could prepare myself accordingly and prove my
caliber for the job role. Some major tools and techniques for improved recruitment procedure is
discussed. The organizational chart provides better insights to workforce creation and labor
needs planning would be more effective (Brandt and Laiho 2013). The job description will
systemize the process of recruitment, selection and employee retention. A fair JD provides exact
job entails based on qualification, competencies and skills. Fair treatment and deserved perks
reduce employee turnover enhancing employee retention and add to the success of the
organization. My knowledge on this regard says that systematic process of recruitment and
selection when followed, many issues gets resolved. Chance of Legal issues gets diminished
considerably. Interviews are the best option for recruiting a candidate. It provides an in-depth
knowhow of their areas of expertise, work experiences, problem solving experiences and how
committed they are in serving your company. Retention is another major step in organizational

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success. Stability is induced by lower turnover rates. Proper communication, timely feedback
and motivating the employees to perform better will increase their retention rate.
TALENT MANAGEMENT THEORIES
Though it is been largely opined that talent management theories and practices are
limited to high and potential employees but its holistic approach could be applicable for all
individuals. Talent is an inherent quality embedded in every individual. Recognition of the talent
and using it in the most effective manner will increase both individual productivity as well as
organizational success. Current trend of Talent War is being prevalent in large corporates
because globalization has caused dearth of talented employees and increased brain drain has also
created havoc on the retention of the most talented employee (Potgieter and Coetzee 2013). The
philosophy of talent management provides a number of theoretical bases in support of it. Two
most important theories are human capital theory and built-to-change theory. The human capital
theory considers talent management as an investment that will have high returns in future.
Investment in a talented employee, development and training the employee will increase
shareholder’s returns in due time. Thus, strategic goal of managing the talent and retaining it is a
measure of the capital investment for sustainable competitive positioning. According to the built-
to-change theory talent management should be a part of the integrated organizational strategy.
But some organizations do not support their talent as strategic goal. I think talent management is
an important aspect of leadership. Good leaders know how to retain the expert talents and sue
them for organizational success. Right talent at the right time at the right position leads to overall
success. I think talent management reduce talent wastage and thus potential outlook of
employees gets enhanced. Best leaders are capable of utilizing the talent in the best possible
manner.

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ONLINE SOURCES AND THEIR REFLECTION ON MY LEADERSHIP KNOWHOW
I have gone through innumerable number of online sources of information about
leadership, cultural competency and people in general. I have researched a number of peer-
reviewed journals, periodicals, e-books and articles. The study has widened my sphere of
knowledge and now I can relate them to my practical professional world easily. I have
understood the fact that leaders are not really born but situational demands make them leaders.
Though it is quite controversial till now that some inherent qualities of a leader are in them by
birth. But there are a number of instances that shows that leadership quality is not genetic
(Nichols and Erakovich 2013). A number of examples are there where the father is a great leader
but his son lacks the leadership qualities. External environmental situations demand the birth of a
leader. There is no specific system for the formation of a leader. I mean to say leaders could
evolve from anywhere at anytime. Though it is also true that a leader starts to lead from very
childhood. The traits are already embedded as recessive traits within them, professional exposure
make them dominating. A number of theories are been formulated to support the leadership
approach. The main theories include trait theory, behavioral theories, contingency theories and
transformational leadership theory (Odumeru and Ogbonna 2013). I have learnt the prospects of
each and every theory in detail and have gained a compact knowledge on leadership styles and
traits and their influence in real world circumstances.
PRACTICAL OUTLOOK ACHIEVED FROM GUEST SPEAKERS
Kaplan has provided us with a number of guest speakers from industries. They have
shared with us their real-life experiences and how they adopt to changes and strategize their
decisions in favor of the organization. They have shifted from their natural leadership styles
when required and have taken decision just to achieve the ultimate goal. I am sharing some of the

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practical knowledge that I have gained from them with their practical implications in my life. Let
us consider the behavioral theories first. Here emphasis on what effective leaders do is given
instead of who effective leaders are. The main performance parameters include how they
communicate with co-workers, how they delegate the tasks, how they motivate their followers
and how perform themselves (Landis, Hill and Harvey 2014). There is no such particular leader
behavior, but three leadership styles combine to give the picture of behavior of leaders. They are
autocratic, democratic and delegative or laissez-faire. The autocratic leaders take decisions on
their own and do not involve subordinates in decision-making. The success sphere of autocratic
leadership is very limited. The democratic leaders include participation of the team in decision
making and has wider scope than autocratic leaders. The delegative leaders give full freedom to
their subordinates in decision making and use their power rarely. Delegative leadership style has
high risk of chaos and conflict of interest (Miner 2015). All feel superior and as a result the core-
decision making process becomes difficult. But if line of command is strong then laissez-faire
leadership style is the most effective one. But as far practicability is concerned the democratic
leadership style is the most successful one in respect of both quantity and quality of work done.
But to clear this dilemma of which style is best further research shows that management style
needs to be incorporated in it. The management style of participative leadership combined with
democratic style is the most successful one for effective decision making (Amanchukwu, Stanley
and Ololube 2015). The use of Managerial grid system also defines the best leadership style by
considering two variables people concern and production concern. The grid reflects five
leadership styles such as impoverished management, country club management, authority
compliance management, organization-man management and team management. The last grid
style of team management is the most effective one. Most leaders find the contingency theory of

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leadership the most comfortable one to follow. It includes three basic steps of task requirement,
superior’s behavior and expectations and organizational policies and prevailing work culture
(Kroeger and Thuesen 2013). And I think this is one of the most holistic approach of leadership.
CLASS EVENTS AND ASSESSMENT FEEDBACK
I have gained ample scope of improvement in my areas of team building skills, public-
speaking skills, communication skills and in class activities has helped me in enhancing my
confidence level remarkably. I have participated in debate session, impromptu speech session,
group discussion session, mind-games session and other activities that has helped sharpening my
leadership skills. I have participated in many of the in-class presentations and have well
interactive bonding with other fellow mates. I am good-going in writing assignments which has
increased my vocabulary skills and has improved my presentation skills as well. The assessment
feedback I received from my mentor has identified my caliber along with my weak areas and
other areas of improvement. Now I have a clear picture of my position in this real world and
need to improve a number of areas to strengthen my professional presence.
PSYCHOMETRIC TEST RESULTS AND THEIR PRACTICAL INFERENCES
I have done a lot of psychometric tests to test my leadership qualities and find my
professional position. The results are provided in the appendix section. But elaborate analysis of
the results is provided in this section. The psychometric tests provide me scope to know myself
better and helped in finding self-improvement measures. I have taken the five leadership
personality tests including, Wealth dynamics, John Maxwell leadership assessment, Myers
Briggs Type Indicator, DISC profile and Strength Finder (Brandt and Laiho 2013). Keeping the
results in mind I highly commend everyone to take the Myers Briggs test once in their lifetime. I
found myself to be an INFP (Introverted Intuitive Feeling Perceiving) that is Mediator. The

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results give a feeling of happiness as I am what I am and need not try to pretend to be someone
that I am not. The Wealth Dynamics test is basically for entrepreneurs. It explicitly shows one’s
stand and also shows where need to focus in work and life (Amanchukwu, Stanley and Ololube
2015). The test results show that I am basically a CREATOR and have MECHANIC and STAR
as secondary. The John Maxwell Leadership assessment measures 64 leadership attributes,
supports easy feedback compilation, provides summary of leadership attributes based on my
average score, and overall category scores on the five leadership levels (Fretwell, Lewis and
Hannay 2013). I am a good leader according to the test results on individual scale. Strength
finder helped in identifying my top 5 strengths out of 34 provided. As it does not provide any top
weakness, the area of improvement in this test result is nil. The DISC profile test is based on four
behavioral patterns of dominance, influence, steadiness and compliance. I am more of an
influence type.
IDENTIFICATION OF MY STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES
The SWOT analysis tool has helped me in identifying my strengths and weaknesses. My major
strengths include
 I am creative and can stimulate others
 I am visionary and optimistic
 I have influencing ability and can inspire others
 Have multitasking ability
 I am an initiator and is great at getting things started
My weaknesses include
 I have poor sense of time management which I need to improve

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 I am impatient and restless at times
 Optimism is my strength but sometimes over-optimism adds to problems
 I am an influencer and is also easily influenced by others
 I like initiating things but is terrible in getting the same thing finished.

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RECOMMENDATION AND CONCLUSION
I must say that I still have a lot to explain and many more to include but I have tried my
best to wrap up the writing in the given word limit and has tried to put most of the supporting
theories and practical implications that I thought I could have incorporated in the paper. I have
shared my in-class experience and other knowledge that I gained from online sources and study
materials. I have also mentioned my strengths and weaknesses and firmly believe that my
strengths will overshadow my weaknesses in future times. What I suggest today’s leaders is that
they need to develop cultural intelligence along with leadership. Cultural intelligence will widen
their ability to cross divide workforce and adopt to multi-cultural influx. CQ incorporates
collaboration, networking, trust factors and demographic variations. I have well understood the
importance of cross-cultural importance in diversified work-life and has manifested how it leads
to overall organizational success.

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REFERENCES
Amanchukwu, R.N., Stanley, G.J. and Ololube, N.P., 2015. A review of leadership theories,
principles and styles and their relevance to educational management. Management, 5(1), pp.6-14.
Amanchukwu, R.N., Stanley, G.J. and Ololube, N.P., 2015. The nature of leadership. Sage
publications.
Brandt, T. and Laiho, M., 2013. Gender and personality in transformational leadership context:
An examination of leader and subordinate perspectives. Leadership & Organization
Development Journal, 34(1), pp.44-66.
Fretwell, C.E., Lewis, C.C. and Hannay, M., 2013. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, A/B
Personality Types, and Locus of Control: Where Do They Intersect?. American Journal of
Management, 13(3), pp.57-66.
Kroeger, O. and Thuesen, J.M., 2013. Type talk: The 16 personality types that determine how we
live, love, and work. Dell.
Landis, E.A., Hill, D. and Harvey, M.R., 2014. A synthesis of leadership theories and
styles. Journal of Management Policy and Practice, 15(2), p.97.
Miner, J.B., 2015. Organizational behavior 1: Essential theories of motivation and leadership.
Routledge.
Nichols, T.W. and Erakovich, R., 2013. Authentic leadership and implicit theory: a normative
form of leadership?. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 34(2), pp.182-195.
Odumeru, J.A. and Ogbonna, I.G., 2013. Transformational vs. transactional leadership theories:
Evidence in literature. International Review of Management and Business Research, 2(2), p.355.
Potgieter, I. and Coetzee, M., 2013. Employability attributes and personality preferences of
postgraduate business management students. SA Journal of Industrial Psychology, 39(1), pp.01-
10.

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APPENDICES
LEADERSHIP PERSONALITY TESTS
WEALTH DYNAMICS PROFILE REPORT

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STRENGTH TEST RESULTS

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MYERS-BRIGGS TEST

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DISC PROFILE TEST

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JOHN MAXWELL’S LEADERSHIP ASSESSMENT QUESTIONNAIRE

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