MBA401 - Reflective Journal: People, Culture, and Leadership

This reflective journal delves into the critical interplay of people, culture, and contemporary leadership within organizations, drawing upon various leadership theories and concepts. The journal explores the importance of strategic human resource management, organizational culture types (clan, adhocracy, market, and hierarchy), and leadership styles (trait and democratic). It analyzes a case study involving a company director, Brittany, and her leadership shortcomings, evaluating her warmth, enthusiasm, and communication skills. The journal proposes strategies for Brittany's development, emphasizing the importance of continuous learning, active listening, and employee empowerment, incorporating theories like contingency and behavioral theory. The reflection also includes personal insights, applying the discussed theories to improve the author's leadership capabilities, emphasizing self-management, empathy, and effective communication to achieve organizational goals and foster a positive work environment. The author reflects on the application of leadership theories and concepts, as well as their own leadership style, highlighting areas for improvement and growth.

People, Culture and Contemporary
Leadership

Table of Contents
Describe.......................................................................................................................................................2
Interpret.......................................................................................................................................................3
Evaluate.......................................................................................................................................................4
Plan and transfer new learning....................................................................................................................5
References...................................................................................................................................................8
Page | 1

Describe
Discussion of my leadership style with the help of theories
I am always fascinated to learn about the specific roles of people, culture as well as leadership
within an organization and how these influence the organizational performances. It is well-
known that in an organization, the people, culture, and leadership play a vital role and the
performances of an organization largely depend on these attributes. I aim to explore various
theories related to people, culture, and leadership in this reflective essay to produce useful
perceptive about the significance of people, culture and leadership. Here in this reflective essay, I
intend to relate the important organizational activities like developing a team of talented peoples,
developing leadership and organizational culture with the people, culture and leadership theories
(Managementstudyguide, 2019). The people of an organization are most important and the
organizational performances are highly reliant on the efficiency and performances of the peoples.
The strategic human resources management (SHRM) aligns human resource policies with the
organization's strategic goals and objectives. The human resource management (HRM) of an
organization needs to develop important HRM policies and strategies like recruitment and
selection, training and development, performance management, succession plan, etc., and these
should be effective to meet the strategic goals of the organization (Bratton, 2018). The
organizational performances and further growth are dependent on the performances of the
employees.
The organization culture is also important as it comprises the values and believes of the peoples
of an organization. These cultures are the ones by which the people interact with each other and
exterior entities. The organization culture has a significant contribution to the social as well as
the psychological environment of the workplaces of an organization. There are mainly 4 types of
organization culture, which are clan culture, adhocracy culture, market culture, and hierarchy
culture. The clan culture is friendlier. Adhocracy culture helps in building a more creative and
dynamic working environment. The market culture is a more result-based culture, where the
employees are competitive and mostly focused on their goals and objectives. Lastly, the
hierarchy culture is more formalized as well as structured organizational culture and here the
processes decide about the activity of the peoples (GothamCulture, 2018).
Page | 2

Lastly, the leadership is also an important aspect of an organization and the future of an
organization is largely reliant on the leadership quality and style in that respective organization.
The leadership can be defined as the acts of leading an organization or group of peoples. The
leader should have the personality, courage, ambition as well as clear vision to achieve ambition.
An effective leader can successfully engage the team members with the process of achieving the
organizational goals and encourage the members to deliver the optimum level of performance to
ensure the success of the organization (Chiaramonte, 2014). I have followed the trait theory and
to some extent the democratic theory of leadership.
Interpret
Theories and concepts to describe the development of the skills that Brittany need to get
develop along with the help of the Psychometric test
I am the leader of a company. I try to maintain certain rules and regulations within my company.
Despite maintaining rules and regulations I provide staff with enough opportunity to represent
their skills. Moreover, as a leader, I always try to inspire them a lot in their work and creating a
new strategic approach. For this reason, my staff are honest towards me and help me to
accomplish the project properly. Whenever I lack my confidence they provide me with courage,
intelligence, and innovativeness. Yet, due to providing freedom to my co-workers, staff and
other members of the company I know how to delegate authority to other people (MBA Skool,
2018).
I am pleased to work with my team members due to there so much involvement in work. Thus, it
can be said that I maintain a democratic style of leadership in the company. To know whether my
employees are satisfied with me or and also to do personality tests on my fellow employees I
have adopted the test of Myers Briggs. Myers Briggs is the type of personality inventory that
comprises of certain questions. These questions let me know how people recognize the world
around them. There were several questions regarding reasoning, sensitivity, dominance,
emotional stability, and tension, openness to change, vigilance, warmth and perfectionism (Ocai-
online, 2018).
On completion of this psychometric test, I have found that one of my fellow staff is lacking in
many areas. Brittany the company director normally carries out her performance properly. She
Page | 3

can execute the provided work within the deadline. But the director does not only mean to
execute the work. A good employee must possess certain characteristics. The characteristics that
I suppose Brittany is lacking were warmth, positive emotions, and tension (IMD business school,
2018). Apart from this test a recent case that had taken place in the company provides a perfect
example that Brittany is lacking in this field. One of the employees has requested her for a two-
week paternity leave. As that very person is expecting their first baby with her wife he has
applied for leave. As per Brittany, this type of leave is not ordinary and wimpy. Regarding
replying Brittany has replied harshly. She replied' Do not you have a mother-in-law who can
help with the new baby? Or are you so poor that you cannot hire a nanny for two weeks'? I have
found that Brittany has no idea how to behave with others. She is even found behaving with her
CEO Derek in a bad manner. Brittany was also seemed to behave with senior employees
ruthlessly. Therefore, Brittany needs to develop in her lacking field. As a leader, I must say that
she needs to improve herself personally. One cannot change her trait. If this continues than
defiantly someday she may lose her post (Raišienė, 2014).
Evaluate
Rating of Brittany's warmth and enthusiasm in regards to the factors that inhibit her
development for being an eminent leader
I being a leader think that I should rate Brittany’s warmth and enthusiasm based on the previous
psychometric test performed. I think for being an effective leader one should understand the
perspective of the other workers working in the company. By thinking that with the help of the
personality test I will mark Brittany a 4 out of 10 as being mentioned above this personality test
is based on the theory accomplished by Briggs Myers'. For being a good leader one has to
communicate well with the team at a regular interval (Smartsheet, 2018). The leader should
understand the shortcomings of the employees and act accordingly. But in this case study, certain
key factors are hampering Brittany from being an effective leader. Regardless of which I have
given her a four out of ten. Such as, not having the courage to let go of the yesterday tools and
adopting the news innovative tools for the development of the organization. Then the lacking of
the leadership process credibility that is a leader cannot be at A in every field (Fremont College,
2018). So he or she at that time has to set up a group of other people who are eminent and
Page | 4

efficient in that work. However, the leader should have a view on that matter. I think there is
another factor that holds Brittany back from being an effective leader. She has a great
enthusiastic nature but dealing with the employees is not so good in her regards. She somewhere
or the other cannot face the power dynamics of being a leader. I think through the personality test
it has become very clear that Brittany can have a great personality in regards to working. But she
lacks in the communication department with the employees. I think all this by analyzing the way
she behaved with the other employees. The employees who wanted so kind of help and have put
forward their opinion for the future development of the company (Whatishumanresource, 2018)
Plan and transfer new learning
Aspects and theories described that are needed to develop the mine and Brittany's skill as a
leader
I recommend Derek some ways and theories through which he can apply to develop the
leadership aspect of Brittany. The aspects are as follows-
 Keep learning: learning is the best way to in the leadership process. To continue her work
Brittany should be provided with the training. It will cultivate her mind further.
 Learn to follow: To improve Brittany I must recommend the CEO Derek to maintain
learns to follow method. He must tell his fellow workers that they should not get
threatened when someone gets angry with them. This also implies that Brittany has to be
more open-minded and provide the merit where and whenever is necessary. She has to
give credit and reward to her subordinates do that they fell more, motivated to work. This
type of activity is not easy for Brittany. To execute this task she has to become more
respectful to others. She must know how to value other people's decisions. Then only the
subordinates' employees will execute their work effectively and as per her order (Evje,
2018).
 Becoming a discerning listener: I think being a leader is not just to stay in limelight every
time. An important attribute of a good leader is to listen to the suggestions of the other
employees and feedbacks to execute them when required. Good listeners know that
communication is not a way o knowing others' thoughts but also his or her body language
and selection of non-verbal cues (Clayton, 2019).
Page | 5

 Empowerment of employees: Letting the employees do their work and not every time
poke nose in their work as a leader.
There are certain theories such as the contingency theory and behavioral theory that must be
followed by Brittany to improve her leadership-
 Contingency Theory: This theory says that no one leadership style is best in all conditions
or situations. This says that becoming a good leader is the maintenance of a balance
between the context, behavior, and needs.
 Behavioral Theory: This theory suggests that people can become a good leader if they
learn aspects through observation and teachings. The grass root of this theory is
maintaining behaviorism (Cherry, 2019)
The three most eminent points that I thought will be valuable
I think among all the four aspects that are Keep Learning, Learn To Follow and Becoming a
Discerning Listener, Empowerment Of Employees; becoming a discerning listener, keep
learning and learn to follow aspects are most appropriate to Brittany‘s situation. I think these
aspects will also help me to be more efficient in my workplace. However, I follow all this now
also. But if I like to maintain this in the future and achieve the great heights of being an eminent
leader I should continue following all aspects. The above mentioned three aspects go the same as
the speaker's thought. The speaker told that leadership is all about having confidence. He had
given several examples that helped me to know what the qualities I persist are and what others I
need to develop or enhance. He discussed how one should conduct himself or herself as a leader.
The leaders should communicate well and understand the perspective and culture of the ones
with whom they are working with. I think he is right in this regard. We should know the people
and their perspectives. He had also said that leaders should be always open to new opportunities
and innovative techniques. I think if I will endorse this in my future I will gain development and
growth too. One should handle properly his or her emotional quotient as being suggested by him
for improving their IQ. I have concluded from his lecture that to be a great leader one should
maintain proper self-management, empathy, listening skill, self-confidence, etc. He told certain
attributes to showcase the rightful path for future leadership without compromising with certain
aspects in the course of management and leadership.
Page | 6

Page | 7

References
Bratton, J. (2018). Strategic human resource management. [online] Otaru-uc.ac.jp. Available at:
https://www.otaru-uc.ac.jp/~js/downloads/SP2005-PDF/SP2005-Chapter2SHRM.pdf [Accessed
28 Sep. 2019].
Cherry, K. (2019). The Major Leadership Theories. [online] Verywell Mind. Available
at: https://www.verywellmind.com/leadership-theories-2795323 [Accessed 28 Sep. 2019].
Chiaramonte, P. (2014). On the Theory and Practice of Contemporary Leadership Education.
[online] Academia.edu. Available at:
https://www.academia.edu/8288025/On_the_Theory_and_Practice_of_Contemporary_Leadershi
p_Education [Accessed 28 Sep. 2019].
Clayton, J. (2019). The Five Stages of the Strategic Management Process. [online]
Smallbusiness.chron.com. Available at: https://smallbusiness.chron.com/five-stages-strategic-
management-process-18785.html [Accessed 28 Sep. 2019].
Evje, B. (2018). 10 Barriers to Great Leadership. [online] Inc.com. Available
at: https://www.inc.com/brian-evje/ten-stumbling-blocks-to-great-leadership.html [Accessed 28
Sep. 2019].
Fremont College (2018). 6 Business Leadership Skills for Business Success | Fremont College.
[online] Fremont College. Available at: https://fremont.edu/6-business-leadership-skills-for-
business-success/ [Accessed 28 Sep. 2019].
GothamCulture (2018). What is Organizational Culture? | Complete Definition and
Characteristics. [online] gothamCulture. Available at: https://gothamculture.com/what-is-
organizational-culture-definition/ [Accessed 28 Sep. 2019].
IMD business school (2018). Top 21 Leadership qualities in Business Management. [online]
IMD business school. Available at:
https://www.imd.org/imd-reflections/leadership-reflections/leadership-qualities/ [Accessed 28
Sep. 2019].
Page | 8

Managementstudyguide (2019). Strategic Management - Meaning and Important Concepts.
[online] Managementstudyguide.com. Available at:
https://www.managementstudyguide.com/strategic-management.htm [Accessed 28 Sep. 2019].
MBA Skool (2018). Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) Definition | Human
Resources (HR) Dictionary | MBA Skool-Study.Learn.Share.. [online] MBA Skool-
Study.Learn.Share. Available at: https://www.mbaskool.com/business-concepts/human-
resources-hr-terms/7152-strategic-human-resource-management-shrm.html [Accessed 28 Sep.
2019].
Ocai-online (2018). Organizational Culture Types. [online] Ocai-online.com. Available at:
https://www.ocai-online.com/about-the-Organizational-Culture-Assessment-Instrument-OCAI/
Organizational-Culture-Types [Accessed 28 Sep. 2019].
Raišienė, A. (2014). LEADERSHIP AND MANAGERIAL COMPETENCES IN A
CONTEMPORARY ORGANIZATION FROM THE STANDPOINT OF BUSINESS
EXECUTIVES. [online] Economics-sociology.eu. Available at: https://www.economics-
sociology.eu/files/18_69_Raisiene.pdf [Accessed 28 Sep. 2019].
Smartsheet (2018). Strategic Human Resource Management | Smartsheet. [online] Smartsheet.
Available at: https://www.smartsheet.com/strategic-human-resource-management [Accessed 28
Sep. 2019].
Whatishumanresource (2018). Strategic human Resources Management - What is Human
Resource? (Defined) Human Resource Management Topics - Labour Laws - High Courts &
Supreme Court Citation - Case Laws. [online] Whatishumanresource.com. Available at:
http://www.whatishumanresource.com/strategic-human-resources-management [Accessed 28
Sep. 2019].
Page | 9