Leadership and Management: Individual Reflection and Analysis Report

This report provides an individual reflection on leadership and management theories, with a focus on the leadership style of Jack Ma and its application in Alibaba. The analysis covers autocratic, democratic, and situational leadership styles, assessing their benefits and limitations. The author reflects on the importance of ethical culture, vision, and the ability to generate innovative ideas. The report includes a personal reflection on the project experience, highlighting the development of academic skills such as presentation, writing, and numerical abilities, as well as the need for improved teamwork and decision-making skills. It references relevant literature to support the analysis.

LEADERSHIP AND
MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
TASK 2........................................................................................................................................3
Individual Reflection...................................................................................................................3
1 Summary and overview of the theories and conclusions................................................3
2 Personal Reflection..........................................................................................................4
REFERENCES............................................................................................................................6

TASK 2
Individual Reflection
1 Summary and overview of the theories and conclusions
I learned that in order to make Alibaba successful Jack Ma had to use different theories
and styles of management and then he was able to find out that which theory would help him
the most and will be beneficial for the company. After the analysis according to me Jack Ma
comes into the list of those leaders who made the company reach success with their
charismatic style of leadership. In the beginning stage the leadership style that was used by
Jack Ma was Autocratic style of leadership. I understood that how the autocratic style of
leadership works for the company and its leaders such as Jack Ma. This style of leadership
allows an individual to have control over on all the decisions and with that they get the input
from the members of the group. According to the theory I summarize that leaders do not take
advice from their employees or other people and they take decisions only on the basis of their
judgments and ideas they have. I assessed that this style has its own benefits and limitations
just like every style of leadership. People who implemented this type of theory such as Jack
Ma is said to be a dictator, bossy and because of their this type of nature and characteristics
they have the power to use it in different type of situations. Then there is another style of
leadership that is democratic style of leadership. This type of leadership allows the employees
and other members in the company to have the authority to take decisions jointly. It helps in
making everyone feel valued and helps to retain employees. I believe that it is better for
Alibaba and Jack Ma to choose this type of leadership instead of autocratic as it will make
changes in culture and I feel that decisions taken together are more effective and up to the
current knowledge which reduces the chances of failure and I also believe that this will help
the employees of the company top work as a team (Anderson and Sun, 2017). I have assessed
that according to the theory this theory will help the company to increase their level of
productivity and efficiency which will also help to boost the morale of the employees.
According to me the best alternative available to both of these theories is the style of
situational leadership as it allows the leaders of the company to take decisions and change
their style of leadership according to the nature of the situation. I believe that this theory will
help Jack Ma to maintain the balance in the company and take decisions which helps them to
get their expected results. This theory will help Jack Ma to fulfill the demand of the company

as well as the demand of the employees. When I looked up and collected the information
about the culture of the company and do they have an ethical culture or not. Then I found out
that Alibaba offers equal opportunities to everyone irrespective of their age and experience
they are just looking for candidates who are eligible. I recognized that Jack Ma has the vision
which helps him to generate new and innovative ideas for the betterment of the company. It is
because of his vision that the company was able to turn themselves from small operations to a
global company. I believe he is the one who takes all the responsibility for the actions of the
company and his passion and beliefs has helped the company to gain the position in the market
they have today (Kutz, 2018).
2 Personal Reflection
In doing this project I highly contributed in performing role and achieving goals. We
created a group of 4 and we were all assigned different roles. We all did our task in proper
way. Moreover, I searched on internet about the topic and gather data and information. I came
to realize that I need to enhance my academic skills so that I am get the new height within my
career (Baldwin, 2016). To grow my academic skills I need to focused on the various skills
that can be learned by me is Presentation. I understood that how the autocratic style of
leadership works for the company and its leaders such as Jack Ma. This style of leadership
allows an individual to have control over on all the decisions and with that they get the input
from the members of the group. I also have evaluated that I engaged myself in taking the
coaching of presentation skills and with the help of the peers so that I easily achieve my long
terms goals. It will support me to explore new opportunities as well as also identified my skills
such as reading skills as I include my reading including not so good not so bad ,i consider it
as medium plan as it will also help me to aids me within growing within my career and after
that I can opt my career within reading comprehension (Winnicott,2018). I cam to know that I
am very weak in writing skills also for that my peers helps me a lot as they take my test on
different essays on a regular basis and check my work regularly. I also join the online English
communication classes so that I can improve my skills on writing skills. With developing the
communication skills I can choose my career in writing and reading in both. Reading skills is
also support me to change my image in front of my tutors as well as in front of my seniors
also. It aids me to get the good grades as because of improving skills of reading my tutors
gives me good marks so I need to focus on the comprehensive skills. It will gives me new

growth within my career and objectives. I came to realized that I am very weak in numerical
ability also I can need to take training or coaching so that I can improve that I can increase
my numerical ability skills so that it will aids me to enhance my control over the numbers
(Winnicott,2018). It also improves my skills to that I can also choose my career in numerical
ability. I gain knowledge about various types of leadership styles and theories hat are been
followed in different situations. Also I learn skills about being a great leader and how to
make decisions .Besides this I gain knowledge about Jack Ma Personality and traits which he
posses and how he started his business by leading people and taking right decisions. I realized
that in future I need to enhance my team working and communication skills so that I will be
able to work effectively. Moreover, I need to improve my decision making skills. It will help
me in taking proper decisions in critical situations. I recognized that Jack Ma has the vision
which helps him to generate new and innovative ideas for the betterment of the company
(Baldwin, 2016).

REFERENCES
Books and Journal
Anderson, M.H. and Sun, P.Y., 2017. Reviewing leadership styles: Overlaps and the need for
a new ‘full‐range’theory. International Journal of Management Reviews, 19(1), pp.76-
96.
Baldwin, M., 2016. Social work, critical reflection and the learning organization. Routledge.
Kutz, M.R., 2018. Leadership and management in athletic training. Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Winnicott, C., 2018. DWW: a reflection. In Psycho-analytic explorations (pp. 1-18).
Routledge.