UTS 21937 Managing, Leading, and Stewardship Reflective Portfolio

This document presents a student's reflective portfolio on the subject of Managing, Leading, and Stewardship (MLS), likely for UTS course 21937. The portfolio includes pre-subject, mid-subject, and post-subject reflections, detailing the student's initial expectations, evolving understanding, and final takeaways from the course. It discusses activities like the Seven-Eleven case study role-play, exploring ethical considerations and managerial skills. The student reflects on changes in their understanding of leadership, stewardship, and organizational culture, and how the course has prepared them for future managerial roles. The reflection also covers the impact of course materials and activities on the student's thinking and potential changes in managerial practices. The student identifies their strengths as a devil's advocate, preferring deep investigation and critical analysis. The document is available on Desklib, where students can find similar solved assignments and past papers.

Running head: MANAGING, LEADING AND STEWARDSHIP
Managing, Leading and Stewardship
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

1MANAGING, LEADING AND STEWARDSHIP
Pre-subject reflection
The concept of managing, leadership and stewardship is typically interrelated with our
familial, personal as well as professional life. According to researchers managing any task of our
life should always be associative, spontaneous as well as principled. Strong management skill is
one of the crucial aspect of leaders and managers which is directly proportional to the
enhancement in employee satisfaction as well as revenue of the organization. When it comes to
leadership, I will describe it as the task of lading a group of individual along with the aptitude to
perform the responsibilities. Stewardship on the other hand can be defined as the job of caring as
well as supervising something, for instance an organization or property. As per my opinion, in
order to gain success in one’s life, it is highly crucial to maintain an appropriate integration all of
the three mentioned factors.
Being a student of UTS, I had spend commendable amount of time going through the
subject outline a week before by session was about to get started. There I got introduced with the
concept of Managing, Leadership and Stewardship (MLS). After going through the subject
outline I got really impressed by the subject along with the study materials. My interest in the
subject grew after the video chat session with one of my friend where I evidenced great effort off
using technology in the education system. The chief concept I developed from the subject
material includes MLS is a topic that provides the students with major theories as well as
practices of not just being a good manager in the coming future but also teaches them to be ideal
followers. MLS also discusses stewardship, which is about distinctive personal capability and
disposition.
My expectation from the Subject
I have gained my bachelor degree in Business Administration from a recognized
university of Australia. As a result of this I already possessed a broad view of business economy
and its crucial roles. However, when it comes to practical experience, being the vise president of
out local club I struggled a lot while managing stuffs at crucial moments. Now that I will be
obtaining an in depth knowledge of managing, leadership and stewardship, I expect that I will be
able to develop the skill of both managing a well as nurturing the team in order to enhance
effectiveness as well as productivity of our activities. Another major issue I faced while I was

2MANAGING, LEADING AND STEWARDSHIP
appointed as the general affair manager of the XYZ organization, a popular company in
Australia. I had come across several conflicts which had taken place due to different
organizational issues. One of the major issues that I had evidenced in my previous organization
includes severe grapevine communication leading to numerous unethical rumors and acts. As a
result of these rumors, conflicts took place and finally several skill employees resigned. Another
major concern I faced in my profession life while I was working at the same institution is
associated with providing appropriate leadership to the subordinates. I have faced major issues
like lack of obedience of the subordinates. All this issues had really enhanced my stress level and
I was compelled by myself to quit the institution. However, I am still suffering from MLS issues
since I am planning to establish my startup business. Hence I still have several concerns about
how to build effective organizational culture in an organization and how to lead the same in an
ethical way. Moreover since I am currently the president of Australian Dynamic students, an
association that focuses on organizing events for students studying at Australia as well as for
foreign student, I an eagerly looking forward to obtain the knowledge of MLS that may help me
lead this new team in an appropriate way. I assume that the mentioned subject will provide me
with theoretical researches of management along with modern practices which in turn will enable
me to manage both my professional as well as social life with greater efficiency. Not only that, it
is expected that MLS will provide students the efficiently to both systematically as well as
critically think about how to obtain success in their future career.
Mid-subject reflection
In spite of being a short term semester that is comprised of only 11 weeks, I find the
classes of MLS highly interesting and existing. Our MLS class is held on every Friday and this
Friday we are taught about ideas of being a manager in a stipulated organization. Along with that
we are also being taught about the merits s well as the demerits of power and authority within an
organization. The semester, till now, comprises of insight full lectures backed by engaging
tutorial activities. All these lessons, as per my opinion, not only sharpen the academic and
theoretical knowledge of the students but also make them criticize the managerial actions in case
study. Thus during the first 3 week of learning this subject, I learned about several managerial
and leadership theories and practical application of the same which I strongly believe will
definitely enhance my future professional experience.

3MANAGING, LEADING AND STEWARDSHIP
Activities in the class
Considering the fact that I had previously gone through my subject outline and syllabus, I
was quite aware of the activities that had taken place in the first 3 weeks in the class. In spite of
the fact that I had noticed that there would be arguments and debates during the tutorials, I did
not actually expected those activities provide me with such real as well as complex experiences.
For instance, I had to attain two tutorials which were about the Seven eleven case. In week 4, all
the students were introduced with the case of Seven eleven worker exploitation case study. We
were informed that a role play based on the case study will be organized and every student of the
class would be provided with specific role such as the Managing director, HR director,
employees who are supposed to be provided with higher wage but are suffering from exploitation
and others. Majority of the students were well aware of the role play and all of us were exited
and well prepared for it. 4 groups consisting of 5 students were formed and each of groups was
formed in the first tutorial in such a create way, would play only one role. Our group was given
the role of the exploited employees and we had tried our best to point out all the issues that had
been faced by the employees of the seven eleven organization. We tried to demonstrate the
critical condition of the foreign workers who were treated like slaves by the institution. We, as a
team, also pointed out that legally the organization was supposed to pay us 24 USD per hour.
However, we were paid just the half. In order to stay safe legally, the management used to
demonstrate only half of the hours we had provided service the organization. Our team had tried
to point out the exact reasons behind the silence of the foreign labor through the role play that
includes lack of knowledge of the foreign workers about the policies and procedure and the fear
of being got deported. Initially, I found it a bit difficult to act in such a realist way. However,
later in the preparation phase, we decided to focus on being desperate and kept looking for
unions’ support.
In the next tutorial, the managerial issues of the seven eleven organization and how it
should be dealt with in order to obtain a highly beneficial result were discussed. The perspective
of each and every student was heard by both the professor as well as the students and arguments
of contradictory perspective took place. These debates helped me to think from different
perspectives and also helped me to gain effective insights of managing an organization. Finally,
during at the end of the discussion we came to the conclusion that multilayered management

4MANAGING, LEADING AND STEWARDSHIP
along with complexity in the supply chain was two major reasons behind the major that took
place. We also agree with the fact that the discrimination that took place due in the institution is
a sign of inappropriate managerial skill and leadership. Hence to be an efficient leader, a leader
must ensure that no discrimination on the basis of age, gender, race and other fctors should take
place within the institution.
Changes in my expectation
In the middle of the course, I learned the ways of how not to make unethical managerial
decisions. I also learned that being a manager in the modern days, I should focus more on
stewardship where the major responsibilities are taken by the leaders for the subordinates rather
than for own personal interest. The tutorials made me understood that there all m issues does not
have only one solution. Hence, I should balance my ambitions to be an excellent leader.
Post-subject reflection
Towards the end of the MLS course, more and more interesting experiences were
obtained with different kinds of role play and debate activates associated with real scenarios. The
activities that were performed in the class enhanced my interest in the Subject and the class
experiences were far beyond to what I had expected. While the Seven-Eleven’s case made me
understood how the lack of managerial skills posses the capacity to demolish a business, other
cases like that of the Apple company truly impressed me. I understood how oversea subsidiaries
and outsourcing factories operate woke me up from my passionate love for Apple products. I
gained the learning that even a highly popular company with high ethics can make mistake. This
was also mentioned in the last chapter of the book written by Cunliffe which was our study
material in this subject. In her book, Cuniffle has mentioned that even in this era where a good
number of managerial theories are there to guide managers, a good number of managers still
struggle to maintain appropriate balance between business efficiency and corporate values. When
it comes to financial market, I have been enlightened by the case if Enron. In week 11, we were
educated about organizational culture. There I learned several theories associated with the topic
that includes Institutional theories, agency theory, transactional cost economics and power and
politics. With the help of these theories as well as activities performed during the class, I
understand how effective organizational culture posses the potential to enhance the revenue of

5MANAGING, LEADING AND STEWARDSHIP
the organization both directly as well as indirectly. Effective organizational culture means lower
number of conflict between the employee and effective bondage between the same. I understood
that the more employee friendly, the environment of the organization, more will be its employee
retention capability. High employee retention not only reduces the investment cost of the
company but also enhances its revenue and competitive advantage in the industry.
Changes in managerial practices
The lesions and lively activities that I was a part of during my MLS course made me feel
that I am ready to undertake the role of manger in near future. The knowledge I gained through
the learning have made me understood my previous managerial mistakes and I, by myself feel
ready for the future challenges. Not only that, the mentioned course also made me understood
which job role best suits me. Previously, while discussing my mid subject experience I had
mentioned that I had taken part in the role play as a presenter, a group cohesion and an
organizing person. However, slowly, with repeated participations in role plays and debate I
understood that I have become more of a devil advocate who instead of following the already
stated facts, prefers to conduct a deep investigation in order to posses several critics. As per my
understanding, I am more of a person who press to fight for justice instead of speaking for the
privileged.
Along with that, my perception of MLS has been broadened with a concept of being a
good follower. I understood the act that to be a good leader in future, an individual must be an
effective follower. As a leader, I will always prefer to think from the perspective of my
subordinate in order to prevent any unethical pressurization. After the course, I obtained several
valuable feedbacks from my team mates who concluded that I had a set of leadership of skills
that includes very good judgment ability, very good task leadership as well as highly effective
oral communication as well as summary skill. I do appreciate their feedbacks, and I will
definitely apply these strengths into my practices in future
Individual action guiding principles
After obtaining adequate knowledge from my MLS course, I personally try to find ways
to promote responsive as well as ethical methods of leadership and management while working
for any institution. My lessons have taught me that discrimination on the basis of age, gender,

6MANAGING, LEADING AND STEWARDSHIP
race, sexual orientation and other factors are not only unethical but are also subjected to legal
consequences. One of the major issues associated with managerial skill which I used to face
includes lack of potential to handle conflict. After the completion of the course, I understood that
better understanding of the psychology of both the parities associated with the conflict is
essential in order to ensure an effective mitigation of conflict. In order to deal with any kinds of
conflicts in future I will call both the parties separately and gather knowledge about there
concern. Secondly, I will ask them, what they think is the ideal solution of the issue that has been
raised. This will be beneficial in two was. Firstly letting the employees select measures all by
themselves will make them feel valued and empowered which in turn will enhance their loyalty
towards the organization. Not only that, this tactics will also help the employees to develop a
problem solving attitude which will be beneficial for both their personal as well as professional
life. However, sometimes it is hard to promote the code of ethics keeping in mind the benefit of
the company. In such crucial situations will definitely select the optimum solution so that both
benefits of the company as well as ethics can be minted. Besides that being a leader, I will
definitely treat all my followers equally and ethically. As an individual I strongly oppose the
concept of favoritism. As a manager I think it is highly crucial to have an honest and transparent
communication between the employees and the supervisors. In order to ensure that there prevail
effective communications within the organization I work in, I will implement several internal
communication devices like the intranet and social media platforms. Effective internal
communication within the employees as well between the employees and manager will develop
employee relation, reduce conflict and thus will ensure an employee friendly environment.