BMO0273: Fundamentals of Leadership Assessment on Leadership

This essay, focusing on the fundamentals of leadership, provides a comprehensive overview of various leadership approaches, including transformational, participatory, value-based, situational, and servant leadership, with examples from Astra Zeneca. It examines the importance of communication, and how to lead virtual teams. The essay also delves into strategies for motivating followers, managing diversity in a business context, and the significance of emotional intelligence for effective leadership. The analysis incorporates academic theory and research to provide insights into the dynamics of leadership in contemporary business environments and concludes with a reflection on the key takeaways.

Fundamentals of
leadership
Contents
INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................................3

TASK 1.................................................................................................................................................3
Leadership approaches......................................................................................................................3
TASK 2.................................................................................................................................................4
Communication and to lead a virtual team........................................................................................4
TASK 3.................................................................................................................................................5
Motivating followers and managing diversity in a busines................................................................5
TASK 4.................................................................................................................................................6
Emotional intelligence.......................................................................................................................6
REFLECTION.....................................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION....................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Leadership and its aspects play a vital role in growth of every organisation, it also
facilitates a business by giving a proper functioning environment. In the dynamic and stiff
competition business world, there is a need of implementation of active leadership which
leads the system. Leadership and its styles both play a crucial role in motivating employees
and in task accomplishment (Bhaduri, 2019). In this report, various approaches of leadership
are covered and communication aspects are also covered with leading a virtual team. In this
project, how to motivate followers and manage diversity along with a precise note on
emotional intelligence is covered with refection. To gain better understanding of this project,
example of Astra Zeneca is taken into consideration. Astra Zeneca is a multinational
pharmaceutical company which is headquartered at Cambridge, United Kingdom.
TASK 1
Leadership approaches
In the era of stiff competition between several competitors in the global market, it is
essential for a business to choose an effective leadership approach to survive. The different
leadership styles are adopted by Astra Zeneca in its operations, according to need and type of
operations. Different types of leadership approaches are beneficial in team management in an
organisation which are important in bringing harmony between workers as well as it also
develops competency in the organisation. The different types of leadership which play an
important role at Astra Zeneca are:
 Transformational leadership- This is one of the most approach in leadership, which
was proposed by two scholars named Bruce Avolio and Bernard Bass. This leadership
approach contains a charismatic leader, who is present in an organisation to inspire
other people in the organisation. The role of transformational leadership also increases
job performance and morale of the employees in a business. The main aim of
transformative leader is to set a vision which inspires other people in the organisation.
Transformational leadership practice is widely adopted and universally accepted way
of leading employees in an organisation. At Astra Zeneca the application of
transformational leadership helps in maintaining global standard of operations and
functioning.
 Participatory leadership- This type of leadership approach is helpful in bringing
contribution in the functioning of a business by involvement of other people. This
approach in leadership is mainly dedicated to a bring a democratic approach in the
functioning of an organisation. Participatory leadership also involves a good approach
in decision making as it involves all the employees to give advice to the leader. In the
application of participatory leadership, the decisions which are taken by a leader have
a major influence of suggestions given by subordinates.
 Value based leadership- As Astra Zeneca is a large multinational company which is
operating at the marketplace with heavy duties and transactions. There is an essential
need for the company to implement values and ethics in the functioning of employees
to ensure optimum efficiency in working (Crosby, 2018). The leader under value
based leadership, encourages the employees of the company by formulating different
values in the employees as well as also employees are supposed to provide feedback.

 Situational leadership- Business situations are not constant in competitive world; it
keeps in changing from time to time. The role of situational leadership is dynamic and
vital in an organisation as it deals in handling situation on timely basis. It requires a
professional person to lead a team in a giant company, the role of situational
leadership is very important in a business as it minimises the risk associated with a
business. The situational leadership is requirement of most of businesses in this stiff
competition world as it provides dynamic solutions to various problems in the
organisation. Application of situational leadership in an organisation always makes a
leader who is capable of developing ethical behaviour in employees on the basis of
diagnosis. In the situational leadership, an organisation can expect high performance
from the employees in case of various risky situations which arise in its functioning.
 Servant leadership- This type of leadership deals in formation of leader who cares
and brings equity in an organisation. Servant leadership is mostly practiced by
organisations in their sensitive operations which requires a specific amount of care in
its functioning. A leader who practice servant leadership in the organisation always
possess a good amount of emotional intelligence in mind as well as also has dynamic
thinking. The servant leadership is accepted by most of employees in a business entity
as it always provides maximum output and performance from the employees. In the
practice of servant leadership, it is believed that the decisions which are made by a
leader are effective and efficient.
TASK 2
Communication and to lead a virtual team
Communication
Communication is termed as one of the aspect which facilitates transfer of crucial
information in an organisation from one source to another. Communication is an important
function which is performed at Astra Zeneca at global level, the company always try to
communicate with its employees in most effective way. There are various methods of
communication which are available to the organisations, it is however the choice of an
organisation that what choice it makes in selecting the method (Ghawe, 2018).
Communication in a business helps in development of cooperation and coordination between
employees as well as it facilitates business development. It is the essential need in today’s
business world to develop effective communication with the help of information and
technology to gain competitive advantage. There are generally various modern ways to
communicate with employees but in businesses most of the organisations use Mobile, emails
and internet to perform transfer information. The importance of communication for Astra
Zeneca is mentioned below:
 Communication helps in providing instructions to the employees in an effective
manner, this leads to task accomplishment.
 With the help of communication, the company can easily supervise and control
its operations at the marketplace.
 Communication is beneficial for an organisation as it helps in coordination all
major functions of the company.
 It is always possible for an organisation to achieve its objectives and goals with
the help of proper communication.

Leading a virtual team
It is important for the management of Astra Zeneca to lead a virtual team for effective
coordination and corporation between the employees. There is an essential need in a business
to lead a virtual team in the organisation for gaining competitive advantage at the
marketplace. Leadership in an organisation always helps in management of a virtual team
which is effective in making its functioning effective at the marketplace (Hallinger, 2018).
The development of virtual team in an organisation is mainly supported by four major
principles which are explained below:
 Relationship management- The management should ensure that relationship between
various employees is maintained properly. The aspect of relationship management always
helps employees in gaining effective harmony amongst them. With the help of maintaining
relationship between the employees, a business can achieve team corporation. It is essential
for a business to develop an effective relationship between employees, which will also
develop unity in the team.
 Accountability- Responsibility should be there in the mind of employees, so that they report
every task which happens in an organisation to the senior. If there is an accountability in an
organisation there will be various ethics and values in an organisation. The sense of
accountability brings transparency in the business operations as well as it also encourages
team members to develop critical responsibilities.
Motivation- Due to workload and pressure in mind of team members, their efficiency and
effectiveness decreases. Thus, it is essential for the management to provide time to time motivation to
all team members in order to increase their efficiency in the modern organisations (Höddinghaus,
2021). Motivation is an essential element to lead a team in the organisation, the application of
motivation always helps an organisation to gain competency and also creates job satisfaction in the
mind of employees.
 Process- In the management of a virtual team in the organisation, there should be a
systematic process in a company. The process should include systematic flow of activities in
order to develop a comprehensive approach in the team management. The process should be
formulated by management with the help of strategic planning, so that it may lead to effective
management of whole virtual team in the organisation.
TASK 3
Motivating followers and managing diversity in a business
Motivating followers
In a business motivation play an essential role in the overall development of
employees. So it is important to motivate employees from time to time in order to gain
competitive advantage (Kelemen, 2020). The employees in a business are considered as
followers, who helps a business to grow effectively at the marketplace. There is need to
motivate followers by using universally adopted scientific techniques which are proposed
various scholars. It is the ethical responsibility of management of Astra Zeneca to motivate it
employees in order to gain competitive advantage at the marketplace. The top management of
Astra Zeneca is always dedicated to motivate its employees in various aspects related to
functioning of its business activities. The techniques which are used by Astra Zeneca in
motivating employees are mentioned below:

 Salaries and perks- The company always try to provide handsome salaries and perks
in order to maintain performance of the individuals. Human resource management
system of Astra Zeneca always facilitates it employees by rewarding them great
monetary assistance in order to motivate employees (Kouzes, 2019).
 Holidays- The company always try to give maximum holidays to its employees in
order to create a feeling of comfortableness in the mind of employees. Holidays in a
particular calendar year are facilitated by human resource department of Astra Zeneca
to bring motivation in employees.
 Accommodation- The company provides free accommodation facilities to its
employees which is essential for creating job satisfaction in the employees. The
company provides in campus and outside campus accommodation to its employees in
order to gain competency.
Managing diversity in a Business
In the global multinational companies there is a presence of large number of employees, who
belongs to different sections of the society. This is essential role of human resource
management to maintain an effective diversity in the business environment to increase
efficiency of business. It is difficult for a company to maintain large diversity in its
operations as it leads to conflicts in an organisation (Lucas, 2018). This is the responsibility
of human resource manager to manage all kinds of persons who are working in the company.
The culture of company is mostly influenced by presence of diversity in its functioning.
Management of diversity helps a company to increase its efficiency and effectiveness at the
marketplace. At Astra Zeneca, the management handles a large number of diversity as the
company is a giant multinational firm. The diversity management on the other hand also
helps a business to achieve its long and short term objectives (Rudolph, 2020).
TASK 4
Emotional intelligence
The mental strength of employees matters the most for a business, thus it is essential
for management to keep mental status of employee stress free. The emotional intelligence,
mainly means the mental ability of employees to perform important major tasks in the
routine. It is the utmost priority of management to keep an essential bond with its employees
in order to make ensure the functioning of a business in a proper manner (Uhl-Bien, 2017).
Emotional intelligence is mainly achieved by motivating employees and to manage their
performance appraisal. This is to be considered by Astra Zeneca to give utmost priority to
emotional intelligence in order to secure mental efficiency from its workers. There is a key
role played by emotional intelligence in a business, as it facilitates overall development of
employees (Takeuchi, 2020). The tasks which are completed by employees in a business are
mainly performed by the application of emotional intelligence. The role and importance of
emotional intelligence in a business is mentioned below:
 Emotional intelligence is essential in binging motivation in employees, there is
need of it in stiff competition.
 The importance of emotional intelligence is that, it brings unity and harmony
between employees (Uhl-Bien, 2018).

 Application of emotional intelligence increases the performance of a task in a
precise way, that play an important role in business development (Waddington,
2018)
REFLECTION
I personally believe that in order to bring efficiency in an organisation, it is essential
to bring best leadership approach. The role which is played by a leadership approach in an
organisation is essential in developing cooperation and coordination between employees.
According to me democratic leadership approach is the best approach which an organisation
can adopt. In my perspective, communication is also a major factor that determines
organisational success. It is also important to lead a virtual team in the organisation in order
to achieve personal and organisational goals. I have recently observed that motivation has
helped many organisations to create a feeling of job satisfaction in the mind of employees. I
also feel that giant multinational companies should focus on diversity management in order to
gain competitive advantage at the marketplace. I also believe that emotional intelligence is a
major factor which is present in the mind of organisational employees. According to me,
emotional intelligence is majorly dependent on the mind set of employees. It is essential for
the human resource management to keep an eye on motivation factors and factors which have
impact on emotional intelligence of the employees. There is an important role of human
resource management to implement all the operations and techniques which are essential in
bringing harmony and unity between employees. In my perspective, management of a
company should be competent enough to handle major aspects which increases efficiency in
the employees.
CONCLUSION
From the above stated report it can be concluded that, leadership is important aspect
for every organisation. Communication also play a crucial rule in development of cooperation
and coordination between employees which leads in goals accomplishment. This report
concludes that it is important to lead a team with essential motivation in the mind of
employees. This report also concludes that it is important for a leader to motivate followers
and manage diversity in an organisation. With the help of motivation, it is possible to achieve
organisational as well as individual goals in a short span of time. The above stated report also
concludes that emotional intelligence play an important role in development of mental status
of an employee in a business. Diversity management is important for a business; it helps in
managing different types of people who are from different sections of society as well as
increases their working capacity. This report also concludes that in order to compete with all
competitors at the marketplace, a company should implement all leadership innovations and
should manage various aspects of diversity.

REFERENCES
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