MBA401: Examining Leadership Potential in People, Culture & Leadership

This reflective essay explores personal leadership qualities and potential for improvement within the context of people, culture, and contemporary leadership theories. The author analyzes their experiences, learnings from workshops, online resources, guest lectures, and in-class activities. Feedback from assessments and psychometric test results are used to identify strengths and weaknesses in areas such as situational judgment, personality traits, and interpersonal skills. The essay delves into talent acquisition, performance management, and leadership development strategies, drawing upon examples from companies like Google and programs like the Atlanta Symphony's Talent Development Program to illustrate key concepts. Ultimately, the author aims to enhance self-awareness and develop essential leadership skills through continuous learning and practical application.

Running Head: PEOPLE, CULTURE AND CONTEMPORARY LEADERSHIP
People, Culture and Contemporary Leadership
Name of the Student
Nam of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
The primary purpose of this essay is to examine myself as a future leader and improve on
my self –awareness. It also finds out the areas where it is necessary to develop my leadership
related skills. In order to evaluate my possibilities as a leader, I will measure my activities,
experiences, learnings in the class. It will also attach the snapshot of the psychometric test results
which I have gone through.
Reflective Essay
An outline of leadership
The actual meaning of leadership is hard to describe. However, there are few traits that
can be attributed to the ideal leaders. The leaders are expected to inspire the followers through a
clear vision. The true leadership sets direction for the performance which is required to be
followed in order to fulfill the organizational goals (Fletcher and Arnold 2015). The main skills
that a leader should possess is the ability to make people work hard on their own will and not on
dictation. The leaders are often escribed as inspirational and dynamic who are responsible for
setting tasks which are, challenging, motivational and fun. There are various types of leadership
such as the transitional, transformational, autocratic and many others (Gold and Thorpe 2016).
The transformational leaderships are most of the times referred to as the “traditional”
leadership. This model describes that an effective leader must possess certain qualities. He will
have to possess the ability to create an inspirational vision for the future (Hallinger 2018). He
should be motivating and inspiring people to connect with that vision. A leader is completely
responsible for the delivery of the vision. They play a major role in increasing the effectiveness

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of the individual as well as the team as a whole. Notably, leadership cannot be successful if there
is no proper management (Jeon et al. 2015). In order to gain the customer loyalty and the
competitive advantage, in the highly competitive industry, every organization needs good
leadership. When the workforce is inspired from the base level by the leaders, the overall
performance of the organization is uplifted. No matter what is the size of the market, what is the
level of talent in the organization and number of assets, without a strong leadership, the
performance of the organization can become low (Kyratsis et al. 2016). The theoretical practices
of the organization can be supported by the practical knowledge of the leadership. I have learnt
that leadership is a process of interactions that occurs when a group of people accept someone as
their leader in order to achieve the common goals.
The knowledge about the leadership theories
The workshop of week 3 conducted in the class has been of greater importance for me as
have become able to gather knowledge about the leadership theories in depth. The main focus of
the week 3 workshop was on the talent acquisition. The connection of leadership with the talent
acquisition is great as fund by my observations. It has to be kept in mind that the talent
acquisition is not a single task but is a collaboration of various concerning tasks. In order to
acquire talents in an organization requires the human resource management.
I have learnt about the recruitment, hiring, training and employing principles related to
leadership. The human resource planning ensures that the organizational objectives are fulfilled
through the effective utilization of the human resources. It is a series of processes which is with
medium, short –term and long-term contingency options. After the workshop I have become able
to identify the primary drivers of the human resource planning along with the recruitment
process in organizations. I have received deeper insight into the concept of ‘employers of

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choice’. The concept of value proposition of the employees has been described in detail. I have
also gained ability to compare the different employment techniques used by organizations.
In the workshop of week 4, I have learnt about the performance and rewards related to
the leadership. The theories of business performance in relationship with the people performance
have enriched my knowledge. The performance management system plays a role in the
fulfillment of the organizational goals. The theories in this workshop teaches that performance is
the key to success and talent acquisition and the selection of the employees determine the ling
and steady future of the organization. I have realized after the course work that the appraisals of
the employee performances help to motivate the employee which ultimately results in optimized
production and services.
In the workshop of week 5, which is about the talent management and leadership
development I have found my utmost interest. The talent management is nothing but the help to a
person perform well in the current job role and enable his advancement to the next role in the
organization. The learning framework suggests that there are three types of learning, the formal,
informal and social. I have also gathered knowledge regarding the on job training whe4e I have
become able to gather knowledge regarding the employee retention strategies. It suggests that an
increasing need for the commitment and loyalty of the permanent employees because of the
present shortage of skills.
The online resources
I have come to know from the video resources that Laszlo Bock who is the Senior Vice
President of the people operations at Google, about the self-replicating talent machine and how
an organization can become a better place to work through the performance management
strategy. Google has enjoyed rapid success by the help of a team of some brilliant engineers. The

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story of Google’s culture of freedom and flexibility as inspired me a lot and has gained my
interest. The video of Atlanta Symphony’s 20th Talent Development Program has made
groundbreaking impression on me. This particular video as taught me about the Talent
Development Program alumni on the Sphinx semi –finalists. It also shows the finding of success
with the help of EI Sistema –type programs.
The Industry guest
The guest lecturer’s lectures to the class has been of greater importance and use as per my
assessment. The guest lecturer described his own journey as an evolving leader. Next, he
delineates the concept of leadership, its traits and skills. He further explained the differences
between the leadership skills and the management skills. How team building plays an essential
role in an organization along with motivating by addressing Maslow’s Hierarchy needs. The
main focus of the guest lecturer was on the examination of the role, duties and the
responsibilities of a true leader in the workplace. After attending his lectures, I have learnt that
the development of plan adds points to the development of a leader.
In the due course of his lectures, the guest lecturer demonstrated that leadership is a
function of knowing an individual, with a vision which is well communicated, building trust
among the co-partners, taking necessary and effective action in order to realize an individual’s
own leadership potential. I have further gathered in-depth knowledge regarding the leadership
abilities. As per my own assessment, leadership is nothing but the ability to establish a vision
which motivates other people to move with a passion toward a common goal. On the other hand,
my abilities to differentiate between the leadership and management has also grown perfectly.
Taken for example, I have known that a leader is someone having the ability to influence a
particular group in order to achieve the organizational goals. On the other hand, a manager s

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someone who uses the authority in his designation to obtain the compliance from the members of
the organization.
The in-class activities
I have experienced deep insights into the professional experiences about leadership. I
would like to say that it is not only from the theories in the workshops, the online resources and
the guest lecturer’s lectures that I have collected necessary information, the in –class activities
have equally helped me in gaining better insights into the topic and the leadership skills. The
class activities were focused on the talent management and development, performance
management and reward along with recruitment and selection strategies related to leadership.
The assessment feedback
The feedbacks I received from assessment 1 have helped me to assess my own strengths
and weaknesses. First of all, I have scored 2 in the overall structure of the assessment. The full
marks were 5 and scoring 2 suggests that I have done well in my approach to possible solutions.
The recommended strategies would help to build more linkage with the theoretical framework.
However, I have been asked to explain in more detail why the strategies work by using the
theories such as motivation. In the performance review, I have scored 2 that suggests that the
quality of other works was sufficient but it could benefit from a more in –depth look at the
journal articles. I lacked depth in explaining the concepts in more depth. My score in the culture
and initiatives was moderate as same as previous scores that is 2. I have received the comments
that I have good coverage of the issue but the research task requires me to look beyond the
initiatives of the HR. I have understood that I need to work on preparing the paper with much
refinement. The context of the organization also needed to be described in a more elaborate

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manner. My learning outcome from this feedback is that any assessment requires a solid context
based on which the theories could be elaborated.
Topic – Assessment 1 feedback
The Psychometric tests

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The first psychometric test was conducted on the situational judgement tests. It is a type
of test presents the candidate with realistic workplace situations. There were a good number of
situational case studies based on which I had to answer a lot of questions. My total score was 23
out of 32. I believe that I have scored more than 50 %, I have good analytical skills. The
situational judgment oriented psychometric test has been highly helpful for me to analyze my
reactions towards the situations in the most effective manner. Since it is said that in the
psychological research that an extra psychometric test when combined with the situational
judgement test offers incremental validity, therefore, I have also gone through the personality
test.

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Topic- Situational Judgement test
The personality test also comprised of a bulk of questions base on my own perceptions
and personality (Refer to appendix 2). The results suggested that the leadership skills in my
personality are there in a moderate rate. In terms of openness to experience, I am a very low
scorer that means I am a traditionalist, down to earth, practical and conservative person.
Regarding conscientiousness, I am not so better not so worse performer. Scoring 13 in this area
means that I am spontaneous, disorganized person who prefers flexible plans. As far as
extraversion is concerned, I have scored 25 that suggests that I am a reserved, serious, formal
and quiet person. Next, I have scored 8 in agreeableness which is a very low score. The only area
where I have received good scores is the area of natural reactions. Scoring 66 in this area means
that I am a type of person who is not easily upset in stressful situations.

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Topic – personality test on the first psychometric test
Overall, I am not disheartened by the low scores because I know that every day we learn
something new and this is a great opportunity for me to develop my interpersonal skills such as
communication, collaboration, self-confidence, focus on work, managing capabilities which are
essential for a true leader. The development areas have been pointed out by the psychometric
tests and it will be my prioritized action to focus on my lacking and develop those skills.

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Conclusion
On a concluding note, I would like to say that honestly, I had never thought myself as a
leader. In a nutshell, I can say that after analyzing the leadership theories and skills, going
through the two psychometric tests, I have realized that there is a long way to go in this field and
there are various aspects where I really need to improve. As per my own analysis of the
leadership skills within me, I possess all the necessary characteristics which make a good leader,
but certain areas need to be brush up. I am much motivated to pursue my career in this field in
near future having completed the gaps found in my skills. I believe that, whatever I have learnt in
the course, can help me to increase the self –awareness. I have pointed out my strengths and
weaknesses. Hence, my next task would be balancing my skills by making strategies to develop
myself as a good leader. A true leader is the one who is focused on self –improvement too. It
enables him to lead the team better than before.

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Reference
Fletcher, D. and Arnold, R., 2015. 10 Performance leadership and management in elite
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Gold, J. and Thorpe, R., 2016. Leadership and management development: the current state.
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Hallinger, P., 2018. Surfacing a hidden literature: A systematic review of research on educational
leadership and management in Africa. Educational Management Administration &
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Jeon, Y.H., Simpson, J.M., Li, Z., Cunich, M.M., Thomas, T.H., Chenoweth, L. and Kendig,
H.L., 2015. Cluster randomized controlled trial of an aged care specific leadership and
management program to improve work environment, staff turnover, and care quality. Journal of
the American Medical Directors Association, 16(7), pp.629-e19.
Kyratsis, Y., Armit, K., Zyada, A. and Lees, P., 2016. Medical leadership and management in the
United Kingdom. Australasian Psychiatry, 24(3), pp.240-242.
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Appendix
Topic- Situational Judgement test

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Topic – personality test on the first psychometric test