MBA401: Reflective Journal on People, Culture and Leadership

This reflective essay, submitted as part of the MBA401 course on People, Culture, and Contemporary Leadership, presents a detailed exploration of the student's learning journey. The essay comprises six journals, each reflecting on key concepts such as organizational performance, talent management, leadership styles, and culture and engagement. The student reflects on the application of these theories, the value of online resources, the insights gained from a guest lecture, the benefits of in-class activities, and the impact of assessment feedback. Furthermore, the essay highlights the significance of psychometric tests in understanding interpersonal and leadership traits. The student discusses how these elements have influenced their understanding of leadership and their professional development, emphasizing the development of communication, interpersonal, and leadership skills. The essay concludes with a reflection on how the acquired knowledge will contribute to future career growth and the achievement of business goals.

REFLECTIVE ESSAY 1
STUDENT NAME:
STUDENT ID:
TOPIC: REFLECTIVE ESSAY
DATE: 9-10-2019

REFLECTIVE ESSAY 2
Introduction
The purpose of the reflective essay is to provide detail knowledge about what I learned in the
course study. The theories of organizational performance, talent acquisition, culture and
engagement, and leadership development are emphasized. I have gained knowledge of these
concepts with the help of study materials, guest lectures. Videos, in-class activities, and
discussions. These concepts have assured me about professional and personal development. I
have learned these concepts to focus on my career growth. I have learned the leadership style
which is the main purpose of learning the theories. Charismatic leadership, transformation
leadership, and transactional leadership theories are the types of leadership (Allen 2018). The
concept of human resource development, human resource planning, and process are studied in
detail to explore human resource management. Culture change is addressed in the subject as the
leadership development theories help me to engage in leadership roles and its importance. The
reflective essay depicts the topics that were learned in the university. Six journals are prepared
which are based on the DIEP strategy (Describe Interpret Evaluate Plan).
Journal One
The most significant concepts that I learned in this session are the organizational performance,
talent management, culture and engagement, leadership style and leadership development. The
major emphasize in talent acquisition covered the key drivers of human resource planning,
recruitment process, the concept of employers of choice, concept of employee value proposition
and different ways of selection in the business. In this session, the importance of managing talent
was described and leadership styles were described.
These aspects are important to study the theories of leadership, culture and engagement and
leadership development. The role of people in the company was realized, the importance of
human resource management and leadership theories were explained in the workshop while
considering the role of HR in an organization. The nature of organizational culture is explained
as it ensures managing change and measures the impact of the performance (Hudson & Roberts
2014).
The theories of organization performance, talent acquisition, leadership styles, and leadership
development have helped me to learn with different leadership styles. The theories are very

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important as it helps to have a positive impact on the organization and change the business
perspectives in several ways. There are theoretical approaches to culture and engagement that
help in leadership development (Kovach 2018).
The theories will be useful in the further course as it will help me to engage in applying those
theories into practical life. In this course, the leadership styles will help me to work on a
particular leadership style as it suits my profession.
Journal Two
The most important thing that I learned in this course is about using online resources such as
readings, videos, and podcasts. The online resources that were used ensured that leadership
styles, organizational performance, talent management, and leadership development are
effective. These resources are helpful and consider the importance of culture, people and
contemporary leadership theories.
The importance of using online resources is relevant as the major emphasizes is towards the
possible implication of new ideas that are extracted from podcasts and videos. Learning becomes
easy while the understanding of the topic people, culture and contemporary leadership is
effective.
The concept of learning from online resources has changed the way of learning. Online resources
are helpful in several ways as they are consists of a wide library that has an insight into
developing an understanding of the topic of leadership, culture, and people. Learning from
videos have emphasized and helped me to connect with the knowledge and discipline of the area.
I have gained a deeper understanding while using online resources.
Learning from online resources will be useful in the future as it ensures analyzing the data and
working on reliable and valid data. In the future, I will ensure that I work on several online
resources to gain insight into reliable data and work on analysis skills.
Journal Three
The most interesting thing that I heard in class industry guest speakers is about linking the
theoretical knowledge with practical examples. During the guest lecture, the main emphasis was

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on people, culture and contemporary leadership theories to be applied in real life. Leadership
process elements were explained in which the leadership characteristics, the context of the
situation and group members took initiative in the discussion.
The realization of leadership theories that were explained includes the importance of leadership
responsibility with the necessary factors. In the guest lecture, it was explained that leadership and
performance are related to each other as there are specific criteria that leaders need to focus on
making decisions that ensure company performance. With the leader’s activity, there is a
probability of achieving higher results which ultimately leads to organizational performance
(Harter 2012). The learning outcome from a guest lecture includes that leaders are influencers.
Emotional intelligence and cultural intelligence were described. The leadership role that the
guest played in the past was discussed. I build motivation and was inspired by the guest lecture’s
communication and leadership theories.
From the guest lecture, I have learned how to implement leadership theories in practical life. I
observed the communication skills of guest lecturer while the connectedness was built with a
proper understanding of leadership skills and practical life. This is useful as it helps me to have a
deeper understanding of leadership and people management theories. I observed how the guest
lecturer fulfilled his role while being a team builder, coach, and motivator. These aspects are
highly considered as they enhance leadership roles.
The learning in the course will be useful in my future career as it describes the major insights of
leadership theories such as charismatic leadership, transactional and transformational theories.
Applying this theory in my future career will help me to focus on knowledge-based aspects. The
charismatic style of leadership will enhance productivity and enhance job satisfaction. The
characteristics of charismatic leaders will help me to gain communication skills, inspire trust,
self-promoting personality, energy orientation, and dramatic and unique personality.
Journal Four
During in-class activity such as discussions and cognitive exercises, I realized that these
activities are important as it helps to build knowledge and produce relevant insights. In the class
activity, we discussed several aspects such as types of leadership, charismatic leadership,
transformational leadership, and transactional leadership. Everyone was aware of the difference

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and the characteristics of leadership. We got engaged in cognitive exercises such as drawing a
map for certain topics that help to navigate and sharpen the memory. Brain training games are
pretty good that help to increase mental flexibility.
The discussion related to situational influences on organizational theories includes situational
factors that help to focus on situations in which leaders behave and the influence of leaders'
behavior. The idea of human resource planning and the key drivers were discussed the in-class
activity. We even discussed the influence of the recruitment process and the value proposition
that highly links with the business strategy. Human resource concepts were applied in decision
making that meets the strategic goals of the organization. Training games improve clear cut
objectives and long term effects of discussion about the leadership and people management
theories (Hannah & Avolio 2010).
In-class activities several aspects of leadership, people management and culture aspects were
learned. I observed that team members were involved and provided insights and perceptions
about what they think about leadership theories and leaders' roles. The concept of discussion and
cognitive exercises is important as it helps to improve knowledge and provide mental health.
The learning from class activities will help me in my career. In the career stage, I will get the
opportunity for discussion and presentation, while these discussions and mind games will build
confidence in me and will transfer knowledge.
Journal Five
The assessment feedback that I received on my assignments is very good which helps me to
work on a better aspect. There is no such negative feedback, while I feel that critics will help to
improve overall results and performance. Positive results may even result in overconfidence but I
will make sure that it does not harm my image and results.
Assessment feedback connects the performance of an individual. My results show a positive
outcome in progress report which seems that hard work pays and discipline knowledge is
effective to gain competitive advantage. Assessment feedback was about leadership assignments
and theories that I have worked on which shows my understanding and ideas about the topic I
have learned previously.

REFLECTIVE ESSAY 6
From the assessment feedback, I feel that I need more improvement to achieve excellent results
rather than good results. I have critically analyzed the insights of assessment feedback which will
help me in the future. The assessment feedback is related to theoretical approaches and concepts
that were realized and I intend to perform better shortly.
The learning from assessment feedback is useful as I have gained intrinsic knowledge and
theoretical knowledge. Applying these concepts in my career will help me to improve my results.
The theories and concepts will be applied in my future career as it will ensure result-oriented
goals.
Journal Six
The most significant insight that I went through is the psychometric tests used in interpersonal
traits and leadership traits. The significant issue that has not been addressed in my assignment is
about the psychometric test which is very helpful to gain knowledge about leadership and
interpersonal traits. I read the importance of psychometric tests which tend to improve
interaction with team members.
Emotional intelligence is built with psychometric tests that suggest the likelihood to consider the
decision-making process in a team-based exercise. I achieved team performance, integrity,
empathy, and social boldness while using psychometric tests. The interpersonal skills are
improved and leadership traits are observed in the psychometric test. Teamwork skills and
increased productivity are achieved while using leadership theories is observed while using
psychometric tests (DuBrin 2010).
Using psychometric tests, I feel that there is a change in me as the interpersonal skills are
sharpened and the importance of using a theoretical approach is effective. I intend to develop the
interpersonal skills while observing the effects of the psychometric test.
In my future career, a psychometric test is important as it will help to develop interpersonal skills
while affecting emotional intelligence, interpersonal attributes, awareness of my strength and
social interactions. These will help me to build a strong relationship and consider the importance
of managerial and leadership skills in the business. Client-based business tactics will sharpen my

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career and indicate a growth in the career stage. I will achieve a competitive advantage which
will help me to improve business stability and growth.
Conclusion
The reflective essay consists of six journals which indicate several topics that I have learned in
the course study. The course study includes theories of organizational performance, talent
management, leadership styles, and culture and engagement. The reflective essay describes, what
I have learned in the course and how this will affect my future career. The course reflects how I
describe leadership style, which factors will help me to gain leadership style and how will I
develop leadership skills. These are the key aspects that I have provided in detail. From the
theories that I have learned, I have achieved communication skills, interpersonal skills, and
leadership skills. These are important to focus on future growth. I have developed valuable
insight, knowledge, and interest from the topics. The guest lecture helped me to gain knowledge
about leadership roles and their influence on people. I got motivates and was inspired by a guest
lecture. In-class activities included discussions and cognitive exercises which resulted in several
new ideas of creativity and innovation to be applied in the business. I have gained knowledge
while watching videos and reading notes in the class.

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References
Allen, W., 2018, Leadership theory: A different conceptual approach, Journal of leadership
education, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 149-160.
DuBrin, A. J. 2010, Leadership: Research, practice, and skills. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Hannah, S. & Avolio, B. J. 2010, Ready or not: How do we accelerate the developmental
readiness of leaders? Journal of Organizational Behavior, vol. 31, no. 8, pp. 1181-1187.
Harter, N. 2012, Point of view: Leadership studies from different perspectives. Journal of
Leadership Education, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 158-175.
Hudson, N. W., & Roberts, B. W. 2014, Goals to change personality traits: Concurrent links
between personality traits, daily behavior, and goals to change oneself. Journal of Research in
Personality, vol. 53, no. 1, pp. 68-83.
Kovach, M., 2018, An examination of leadership theories in business and sport achievement
contexts, Journal of value based leadership, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 1-16.