Individual Reflective Journal: People, Culture, and Leadership, MBA401

This reflective journal explores the critical interplay of people, culture, and contemporary leadership within an organizational context. The author, a student, delves into their leadership style, employing various leadership theories and styles, including democratic and functional leadership approaches, while emphasizing the significance of organizational culture. The journal details the interpretation of psychometric tests, revealing strengths and weaknesses in leadership traits such as warmth, dominance, and emotional stability. It analyzes the effectiveness of learning experiences from class activities, including insights from a guest lecture by Mr. Randolph Morrison, and case studies. The author evaluates areas for improvement, such as social boldness and emotional stability, and outlines a plan to apply the acquired knowledge, including the contingency theory and gaining knowledge about leadership styles, to enhance future leadership and management skills, aligning with the goal of becoming a successful business leader. The journal also incorporates reflections on weekly activities like Zappos and Tefal vacuum cleaner activities.

Organization Behavior
People, Culture and Contemporary Leadership

Table of Contents
1. Description..............................................................................................................................................2
2. Interpretation of the event........................................................................................................................3
3. Evaluation of the effectiveness and usefulness of the experiences.........................................................5
4. Plan how the learning will be applied......................................................................................................7
References...................................................................................................................................................9
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1. Description
Description of my leadership style using leadership theories and styles:
The organizational culture is important as it determines the process by which the employees
interact with each other and with the external peoples. It also decides about the method of doing
the respective jobs by the peoples of an organization. I in my organization follow the democratic
form of leadership. That helps me to get along with my staff properly (Komives and Dugan,
2010). The maintenance of workplace culture through this kind of leadership helps me to get
through several workplace issues.
The existence of leadership and management can be evident in every sphere of life. For instance,
it can be seen in schools, colleges, workplaces, coffee shops and even in homes. The main aim of
this reflective report is to provide a necessary understanding of the roles of people, culture, and
leadership. Moreover, for this purpose, I have used my own working experiences and the
applicable theories regarding people, culture, and leadership. The people are most important for
an organization as they have a significant contribution to organizational performance
(Chiaramonte, 2014). I mainly follow the Functional Theory of leadership where I have to
monitor the environment along with organize the activities and also train my subordinates. I also
follow the Environmental Theory of Leadership too. As this theory states that, it is the prime
duty of the leaders to accomplish such an environment where the employees can flourish.
Lastly, the leadership is foremost important for an organization and the future of an organization
is largely dependent on the leaders and their leadership styles. The business leaders are the
peoples who set their own rules and regulations to lead their respective organizations to achieve
the required growth and developments in their respective industries. The business leaders have
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distinct leadership capabilities and styles which support them in directing their subordinate
colleagues and other employees effectively so that they can accomplish their own goals and
objective along with organizational goals. Various types of leadership style can be seen in the
literature as well as in the real organization (Wang, 2016). In my organization, the leaders have
shown the progressive style of leadership and I am also developing myself as a progressive
leader. Regarding this matter, I have analyzed myself and got that I have the qualities of
democratic leadership as I seek opinions from every member of the organization before making
any important decisions. The entire employees are considered by me in the decision-making
process as I think employee empowerment is most important in the present business context It
helps me in increasing the trust of the employees in me and they perform enthusiastically for the
organization and deliver better performances. I also stress on team building and improving the
bonding among team members, which helps me in obtaining better performances from the team
(Kolzow, 2014).
2. Interpretation of the event
Interpretation of the psychometric tests for identifying the organizational factors those are
Inhibited in me:
I have performed a psychometric test, which helps me in recognizing my various characteristic
traits like warmth, reasoning, dominance, rule-consciousness, emotional stability, social
boldness, vigilance, sensitivity, and liveliness. All these character traits are important to define
me and my leadership qualities. I have scored 3.5 in warmth out of 4. The warmth here describes
how nice I am to people. I have scored 3.1 in dominance. Dominance denotes assertive when I
am communicating with people. As per the report I have achieved 2.7 in reasoning. It denotes
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how good I am at abstract thinking. Apart from that my score insensitivity is 1.6; it specifies how
much I could be affected. My emotional stability is 2 this means that how far I could control my
emotions. Further, I have scored 2.1 in apprehension. Apprehension is how much I am troubled
or disturbed. 1.6 I have scored in privations; this specifies how much I am honest regarding
myself. I have also achieved 1.1 in social boldness. Social boldness normally represents how
much I am confident to socially. 2.2 marks have been scored by me in abstractedness. It depicts
how imaginative I am (Price, 2017).
I have scored mediocre marks in rule-consciousness. Near about 2.6 marks out of 4 is scored by
me in rule-consciousness. It defines how much I am abiding by the authority. I have scored 1.7 in
vigilance. Most importantly I have scored 2 in liveliness. Liveliness here explains at what
quantity of energy I have displayed. Most importantly I have scored 1.7 in tension. This depicts
how much impatience I am and how much I am controlled by another person. Moreover, I have
scored 2.6 in perfectionism. Perfectionism reflects how high are my standards for me. I have
scored 2 in openness to change. Openness to change has shed light on how much I am not stuck
in the way. Lastly, I have scored 2.9 in self-reliance. Self-reliance denotes how my needs and
requirements are restricted (Bloemhard, 2016).
The results of the psychometric test define me as a democratic leader; however, I have to work
on my several traits to improve my leadership quality. I think I have to improve emotional
stability, liveliness, and boldness to become a successful leader in the future (Raišienė, 2014).
The weak activities also help me in understanding about culture and leadership. The week 1
activity named Zappo's activity helps me in understanding the process of building an excellent
organizational culture and core values of the organization. It also put great importance to set high
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standards for hiring peoples and motivating them. The week 3 activity named Tafel vacuum
cleaner states the importance of placing the right peoples at the right time and the right place. In
week 6 we attend a class of a guest lecturer named Randolph Morrison. He teaches about the
process of maintaining an effective work culture within an organization. In the week 7 activity of
the case study of Brittany, I have seen that Brittany have rude with the employees that
demoralized them. I have learned about the effect of bad behavior with the employees in an
organization (Kuada, 2010).
3. Evaluation of the effectiveness and usefulness of the experiences
Evaluation of lacking areas of the mine:
The class activates that are attended by me also summaries that how much lack I can have in
managerial aspects according to this. I think I should improve my leadership roles and styles. If I
am a leader then how I should deal with other staff that is very important which I understood
through the case study of Brittany. In that case study, Brittany has behaved harshly with her
subordinates. I think it is not correct. So I have taken a personality and psychometric test to
analyze my lack of points (Educational-business-articles, 2016).
As per the results from the test which has been conducted for examining my leadership traits
were evaluated in this segment. The leadership characteristics which I lack in my leadership
approach are social boldness, sensitivity, privateness, tension, and vigilance. The points I have
got for my social boldness is very pitiable. This signifies that I do not have effective
communication skills. I believe for being a successful leader I need to develop good
communication attributes. This could be only developed by being an active listener, work on
group presentation and practicing empathy. I have also identified that I easily get stress out when
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I go through any kind of issues (Millard, 2016). The degree of stress leads to affect my thinking
ability and problem-solving skills (Hasan, 2017). On the other hand, the areas where I have got
good results were warmth, dominance, reasoning ability, self-reliance, and perfectionism. These
are identified as some areas where I have got higher points. As per the analysis of the results I
have concluded that my leadership skill is not very effective. Moreover, I need to develop my
competencies in many important areas. After the completion of the test, I have found that I have
certain good qualities and certain average qualities. To be the leader I need to maintain honesty
within myself (Aalateeg, 2017). I need to focus on several skills that I am lacking.
Ways to improve my leadership skills:
Certain theories can help me to develop my skills in relevance to a class activity. The behavioral
theory deals with the aspect that how someone behavior can influence how they should lead their
work. This theory tells that the leaders can be good leaders if they are a good observer and have
the zeal to know more (Nawaz, Ahmed, and Khan, 2016). Trait theory defines that leaders are
born with certain physical personality and characteristics that differentiate them from non-
leaders. These include self-confidence, attractiveness, intelligence, skills, effectiveness, and
knowledge. As per this theory individual must possess these traits for attaining leadership (M
and E, 2015). Then comes the contingency theory that says that to become a good leader one has
to be flexible. That means I have to work according to the situational demand by keeping my
values integrated. This goes very well if I will be in a situation where Brittany was. I think in
accordance with activity 1 that is the case of Tefal Vacuum Cleaner I should advocate my
creativity skill along with the skill of motivating the employees. For activity 2 that is leadership
roles, I should develop my critically thinking approach and enhance positive thinking to handle
out the situation. For the activity related to leadership style, I think I should possess a clear
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vision and try out new ideas. I should gain knowledge about the leadership style for improving
leadership qualities within me.
4. Plan how the learning will be applied
The analysis is helping me to learn about the procedures by which the behavior of an
organization has been established. I have also understood how the people of an organization
behave. Most importantly the class activities are an important aspect that helped me in
understanding various aspects of organizational behavior and leadership. I have developed an
effective plan for improving my leadership and management skills. I have also learned about the
influential factors and organizational culture that direct the peoples of an organization to behave
in a certain manner. I am also gaining knowledge related to the improvement of my leadership
skills. The learning from the assignment will be most important for my future carrier as I aim to
become a successful business leader. I have done a psychometric test for myself to understand
my personality characteristics and aptitudes. This psychometric test supports me to recognize the
extent to which my personality, as well as cognitive capabilities, match with the roles which will
be performed by me as a business leader.However in some matters, I have performed quite well
but still, I have decided to work on those matters to improve my capabilities and edge on those
subjects (Ramamoorthy, 2019). Apart from the psychometric test, I have evaluated that speech of
the guest lecturer Mr. Randolph Morrison, who is the CEO of BEYOND STRATA a renowned
property technology company in Australia. From the evaluation, I have recognized that
technology and innovation plays a vital role in the success of the contemporary business
organization. Hence, business leaders should support innovation and the latest technology (Yan,
2019).
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Three valuable aspects chosen by me are-
 The contingency theory: I think this a very good approach that every individual for a
good leader should acclaim for. According to this theory, I can gain access to any kind of
situation.
 Gaining knowledge about the leadership style: I should know all leadership style to
improve qualities and handle out the employees in my workplace in the future. This will
also help me in knowing the culture of the people too and take out the best qualities from
them to improve productivity.
 Effective listening: I should be a good listener before taking the decision. I should listen
to the employees’ views and feedbacks. I think I should listen to the workers and them
make possible executions in my workplace.
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References
Aalateeg, S. (2017). Literature Review on Leadership Theories. [online] Iosrjournals.org.
Available at: http://www.iosrjournals.org/iosr-jbm/papers/Vol19-issue11/Version-3/
E1911033543.pdf [Accessed 26 Sep. 2019].
Educational-business-articles (2016). Understand trait theory of leadership is and how you can
adopt some of the required characteristics and behaviours. [online] educational-business-
articles.com. Available at: https://www.educational-business-articles.com/trait-theory-of-
leadership/ [Accessed 26 Sep. 2019].
Hasan, S. (2017). Top 10 Leadership Qualities That Make Good Leaders. [online] taskque.com.
Available at: https://blog.taskque.com/characteristics-good-leaders/ [Accessed 26 Sep. 2019].
M, D. and E, P. (2015). The Scope of Cultural Dimensions in Contemporary Global Leadership
Practices – A Study”. [online] researchgate.net. Available at:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/280084455_The_Scope_of_Cultural_Dimensions_in_
Contemporary_Global_Leadership_Practices_-_A_Study [Accessed 27 Sep. 2019].
Millard, M. (2016). 5 Traits of Continuous Improvement Leaders That YOU Need To Develop.
[online] Blog.kainexus.com. Available at:
https://blog.kainexus.com/continuous-improvement/continuous-improvement-leadership/5-traits-
you-need-to-develop [Accessed 26 Sep. 2019].
Nawaz, A., Ahmed, Z. and Khan, I. (2016). Leadership Theories and Styles: A Literature
Review. [online] researchgate.net. Available at:
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https://www.researchgate.net/publication/293885908_Leadership_Theories_and_Styles_A_Liter
ature_Review [Accessed 26 Sep. 2019].
Ramamoorthy, A. (2019). How to Develop Leadership Qualities. [online] wikiHow. Available
at: https://www.wikihow.com/Develop-Leadership-Qualities [Accessed 26 Sep. 2019].
Yan, A. (2019). How to Improve Your Leadership Skills. [online] Investopedia. Available
at: https://www.investopedia.com/articles/pf/12/leadership-skils.asp [Accessed 26 Sep. 2019].
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