Transforming Management Mindsets for Effective Leadership Report

This report addresses the challenge of changing a management team's mindset from a strict, results-oriented approach to one that values relationship management and employee well-being. The scenario involves a manager's meeting where concerns about overly strict management styles are raised, with some managers echoing a belief in prioritizing objectives above all else. The report explores how to demonstrate the importance of effective leadership and relationship management in building better-performing teams, using evidence and theories to shift the managers' perspectives. It aims to provide a holistic understanding of leadership, emphasizing the need for a more people-oriented approach to achieve positive transformations within the workforce. The report will likely delve into leadership theories, organizational behavior models, and practical strategies for fostering a more welcoming and productive work environment, ultimately advocating for a leadership style that balances achieving organizational goals with employee satisfaction and well-being.

Organizational Behavior and Leadership
Assignment
Word limit: 1,200 excluding references. I will allow a margin of 10% plus or minus.
DO NOT SUBMIT PDF FILES FOR YOUR ASSIGNMENT. If you submit a pdf file your
assignment will be marked but I will not include any comments in the file and I may
also remove marks for pdf submissions. Submit only Microsoft WORD documents.
Assignment format
 Type in regular 12 point Calibri (although Palatino and Times New Roman font types
are also acceptable). Sub-headings can be in bold.
 2.5 cm margin all round.
 At least a 1.5 spacing between lines.
 Number all pages.
 Please include a Cover Page at the front of your assignment. You should have the
following details on your Cover Page:
1. Title of your assignment
2. Your official name and your student ID (please write your surname first – for
example if your name is John Smith then list it as Smith, John)
3. Your email contact details
4. The word count
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 Only electronic submissions will be accepted. Note that your submission will
automatically be sent to TurnItIn for plagiarism check.
 Please submit only Microsoft WORD documents: DO NOT submitpdf files. If you
do, I may mark them but I will not include any comment at all. I also reserve the
right to deduct marks for pdf submission. Should I decide not to mark the pdf file, I
will then ask you to submit a WORD document but you will be subject to late
submission penalties as I only download your assignments post the deadline. (Please
note that I reserve the right to decide whether I choose to, or not to, mark the pdf
file).
Plagiarism is very serious and you may fail if you have been found to have plagiarized
your work. I expect your assignment to be your own work that is not copied from
anywhere or from any previous assignments. Remember that your report must not
have been submitted for any other assignment in any educational institution. It must
also not have been submitted for this same paper before.
A reference list should be included at the end of your report and should contain only the
publications you used in your assignment. Website references are not encouraged. Only
figures and data from official websites of government and internationally recognized
institutions are acceptable, such as NZ Statistics, Customs, United Nations, International
Monetary Fund, and World Trade Organization. References from Wikipedia will not be
accepted. Do not include a bibliography.
Submission
Submission of your report is to be done digitally. Hard copy submissions for this paper
will not be marked.Please remember that the labeling of your file is part and parcel of
formatting and will be assessed accordingly.This same digital copy will be sent for
plagiarism check.
Marking Criteria
Assignment (40%)
1. Correct formatting, follow all instructions 4
2. Referencing, sufficient and precise 4
3. Structure and language expression 4
4. Demonstration of critical analysis and 22
integration of theories, concepts and models
5. Originality, imaginative, good examples 6
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Your assignment:
You are having a meeting with ten managers who all report to you. During the meeting,
one of the items for discussion was the growing number of complaints about the
manner in which people were being managed. There have been some grumbling about
managers becoming too strict and treating employees like they were just part of some
machine. You have heard some of these complaints yourself. Indeed, just yesterday
when you were walking through the sales section, you overhead two sales people
complain about how they were being made to feel like they were just ‘cogs in a
machine’.
You are leading the discussion on how to make the workplace a little more welcoming
when Blake spoke up and said:
“I think that the most important job for a manager is to make sure that they meet all
their objectives, be it a sales objective, a manufacturing goal or whatever. The stuff that
you learn about taking your human resources and putting them through the
transformation does not mean a thing at all if the goals are not met. After all, what is
the point of having happy employees if you end up with an unhappy organization if the
sales revenues are down! Honestly, if the best way of making sure that the employees
achieve what has been set out for them to achieve is by using the whip, then we should
use it well! All this talk about being people oriented is just simply rubbish. Why, in
today’s economic climate, our employees should be thanking us, indeed, getting down
on their knees to thank us, for their jobs. We provide them with security and their pay.
What else do they want? If they cannot take a little scolding then perhaps it is better
that they try and find another job elsewhere. Like they say, if you cannot stand the
heat, then get out of the kitchen. We don’t want softies who cannot stand up to the
pressure!’
While you are not surprised to hear Blake say what he said, what really astounded you
was that at least five others nodded their heads in agreement. You know that
something needs to be done to change the way that these managers think. You believe
that such a hard posture will not be helpful in relationship management and will be very
likely to result in less than desirable behavior from the subordinates.
How would you go about changing the mindset of your management team? What
evidence and theories can you show them to help them see that effective leadership is
imperative to bring about positive transformation in the work force?
In your assignment, you will be expected to present a holistic picture of what leadership
is and why relationship management is important for building better performing teams
in organizations.
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APA 6th Edition
A quick take on APA 6th.
There are two important issues that you should take care of with regards
referencing you assignments. The first has to do in in-text citations (the
ones that you include in the main body of your essay or report) and the
second is the reference list.
Let’s take a look at how in-text citations are to be done. But before we
proceed any further, please remember to only use the SURNAMES (that’s
family names) of the authors. In-text citations do not use first names (or
given names) or initials.
Let’s just say that you have sourced an idea from an article that Smith and
Jones wrote in 2002. This in-text citation can be included in your essay or
report in the following manner:
 In brackets – such as (Smith & Jones, 2002) or
 As part of a sentence – such as Smith and Jones (2002) suggest
that ....
I trust that this is clear. Do note that when you use the citation in a
bracketed form, the ampersand symbol (&) is utilized. When you use the
citation as part of the sentence, do not use the ‘&’ symbol - write the word
‘and’ instead. It is not good writing form to use & as part of a sentence.
Thus, ‘apples and oranges’ would be acceptable but ‘apples & oranges’
would not.
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What about situations where there are more than two authors? Well, the
table below will show you how to do this.
Number of
authors
First time you cite this
source
Subsequent citations
1 Author’s surname Author’s surname
2 Both authors Both authors
3 to 5 All authors First author et al.
6 to 7 First author et al. First author et al.
8 or more First author et al. First author et al.
So in this case, say that you are citing a paper that has five authors. The first time
you include the citation, list all five authors. For example, you might say:
The research suggests that people need to have regular breaks from work (Smith,
Jones, Tan, Pandit&Orm, 2010).
This can also be written as:
Smith, Jones, Tan, Pandit and Orm (2010) say that people need to have regular
breaks from work.
Subsequently, when you cite this work again, what you do is just mention the first
author. The following example will help (I hope)
Having regular breaks is helpful because ......... and it is like recharging depleted
batteries (Smith et al, 2010).
Smith et al. (2010) recommend that regular breaks are helpful because ....depleted
batteries.
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I trust that this is fairly clear to you.
But what if there are no authors?
Where there are no authors, use the first few words of the title, or use the
complete title if that title is short. This should correspond to what you have
written in the reference list. Let’s say that you have read a newspaper article
entitled ‘Key reforms required to propel the country forward’. You realize that the
author(s) is/are not listed. The way to include this in your essay or report is to
write in one of the following ways:
According to the article ‘Key reforms required to propel the country forward’
(2010), New Zealand needs to ...
It was reported that the government will need to bring about reforms to ensure
that the country .....(‘Key reforms required to propel the country forward’, 2010).
Direct quotes.
For quotes you must include exact page numbers in your citation. Do note that
there are two categories of quotes. Short quotations are less than 40 words long
and can be incorporated into the text; for example
The researchers state that “...............................” (Smith, 2010, p. 377)
The above can also be written thus:
Smith (2010) said that “....................................” (p. 377).
Well, so much for short quotations. What about the long quotations?
For long quotations that are more than 40 words, introduce the quote with a colon
and then start the quote on a new line. Make sure that you have indented the
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quote but do not use quotation marks. You will need to make sure that you do
give the page number. Here is an example:
Smith and Jones argue that:
Without leadership succession companies would be vulnerable
to .....................................................................
.................................................................................(p. 377)
The above is not exhaustive and you should refer to the APA 6th edition for full
information. Now let’s move to the matter of the reference list.
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Reference list
First of all, do not use a bibliography. Use only a reference list that includes only
the sources that you referred to in your essay or report. All references cited
MUST appear in the reference list.
Arrange your reference list in alphabetical order.
Remember to indent the second and subsequent lines of each entry. The
indentation should be about 5 to 7 spaces. For example (these two sourced do
not exist – I made them up for this example):
Smith, J., Jones, T., Tan, J., Pandit, V. &Orm, K. L. (2010).The problem with
leadership succession planning systems in Fortune 500 companies. New
York, NY: Leadership Press.
Randall, P. K., Oracle, J. & Goodnight, J. (2009). When company cultures collide.
The Journal of Management Review, 30(4), 12–25.
You will notice that the title of the book is in italics while the name of the journal is
italicized.
Now, assume that the Smith et al. (2010) book was not published in the USA but
was published in Auckland. This would then read as follows:
Smith, J., Jones, T., Tan, J., Pandit, V. &Orm, K. L. (2010).The problem with
leadership succession planning systems in Fortune 500
companies.Auckland, New Zealand: Leadership Press.
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There are lots more that we can get into and you really must consult the APA 6th
Edition on this yourself. I have included a sample reference list (all fictional
sources) for you to follow:
References
Alfred, G. J., Brulette, C. T., & Oliver, W. E. (2009). The business of writing: A
writer’s handbook. New York, NY: St Martin’s Press.
Best, A. (2004).International history of the twentieth century management. Retrieved
from http://www.onlinenetlibrary.com
Easton, C. B. (2008).The impact of poverty on health. In K. Dew & A. Matheson (Eds.),
Understanding the problems of health inequalities in New Zealand (pp.97-106).
Dunedin, New Zealand: Otago University Press.
Flesch, R. (n.d.). How to write in plain, simple and clear English.Retrieved April
12,2009, from
http://www.mangle.canterbury.ac.nz/writing_guide/writing/flesch.shtml
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