Reflective Essay: Transformational Leadership for Diverse Teams

This reflective essay explores the importance of leadership, particularly transformational leadership, in today's diverse workplaces. It discusses various leadership styles and models, emphasizing the suitability of transformational leadership for managing diverse teams and fostering a positive organizational culture. The essay highlights the author's personal traits that align with transformational leadership, such as extraversion, openness to experience, and agreeableness. It also contrasts transformational leadership with other styles like transactional and laissez-faire, arguing for its superior effectiveness in promoting employee morale, motivation, and overall organizational success. Furthermore, the essay delves into the transformational leadership model, emphasizing its role in setting goals, aligning objectives, and fostering creativity within the organization. The author concludes that adopting a transformational leadership style and model is crucial for achieving success in a diverse work environment.

Running head: REFLECTIVE ESSAY
LEADERSHIP REFLECTIVE
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Learning outcome 2: Part B
Leadership
Introduction
Leadership can be described as a practical skill the possession of which can be considered
to be very crucial for the welfare of the organization. Any organization functioning in the
competitive business environment, would be incomplete without the guidance of a leader and it
is this guidance of a leader which assists the organization at large and helps it to take the leap
and achieve the goals (Antonakis & Day, 2017). However, not all leaders are of the same time
and this often leads to issues with respect to the management of the different teams at large. The
primary aim of the given reflective essay is to present my thought processes and learnings based
on the different styles of leadership and related models which are generally useful in a
workplace. However, particularly this essay will concentrate on the particular leadership style
and model which I will be required to apply in my workplace which will be diverse in nature due
to the changing face of the global workplace.
Discussion
One might wonder, that leadership is not crucial in an organization and that the absence
of a good leadership program will not have any relevant impact on the organization. However,
this is not the case, and leadership in an organization is considered to be very relevant. There are
several reasons, I believe that Leadership is important and they will be discussed in this section.
Firstly, Leadership assists in initiating action. The leader is often considered to be the head of the
organization, whose guidance goes a long way in helping the members of the workplace to start
their work (Bhatti et al., 2012). Secondly, it motivates the organizational members by helping

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them and providing them with adequate guidance. Moreover, leadership is also considered to be
important as it assists in creating a sense of confidence among the different team members which
helps in further achievement of the different goals as well as objectives. In addition to this, I
believe that leadership is considered to be important for the organization because it builds the
morale of the workplace and helps in the development of a work environment which goes a long
way in achieving a stable growth. Lastly, as an organization comprises of different members
belonging to different backgrounds, leadership helps in coordination of the different employees
and tasks which take place in the workplace.
According to Spillane (2012), the leadership style can be rightfully described as the style
of leader which assists them to provide direction as well as implement plans in order to motivate
the different people in an organization, there have been various propositions of different
leadership styles which have been exhibited by different leaders in the past and to lead the
different organizations. According to me, the leadership style of an individual can be stated to be
dependent on various conceptual abilities, agility, judgement, innovation and interpersonal
knowledge as well as tact’s. The domain knowledge can be rightfully be described as the
technical knowledge as possessed by a leader and the cultural awareness.
As the business environment has become highly competitive due to the advent of
globalization, I believe that the organizations have become highly diverse in nature and this
amalgamation of the different cultures, race, gender and other backgrounds require tactful
management. If a leader fails to provide suitable management to this diverse crowd, the
organization may fall apart. Hence, according to me, the leadership style which would be the
most beneficial in my work settings which will be quite diverse in nature, will be the
Transformational Leadership style. According to me, the leadership style which is the most

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suitable for my personality and style of work should be primarily based on vision and change.
The transformational leadership style can be effectively defined as a theory of leadership
whereby the leader works effectively in order to identify change within the organization or the
scope of it and thereby create a vision with respect to its which shall assist the company in
making a smooth transition through the change (Northouse, 2015). Moreover, in this leadership
style, the change is done in line with the committed members of an organization which means
that the employee engagement aspect is generally very high in this type of leadership.
I believe that the chosen leadership style will be suitable for the diverse settings and
appearance of a workplace because the transformational leadership tends to enhance the morale
and motivation of the different members or the followers of the chosen leader. This is done in a
subtle manner in the sense that when the follower`s opinion is taken into consideration and
placed against the overall collective identity of the organization, then they get inspired to work
even harder and come to an understanding of the different strengths as well as weaknesses of
themselves which then further aligns them in enhancing their overall performance.
According to me, with the diverse culture coming into force, there exist different
employees in the workplace who have different needs and in order to ensure that all of them
work well and perform adequately as per the goals of the organization it is the help of important
to align them in a single goal objective. This can be done with the help of applying
transformational leadership theory as it challenges the followers to take the risk of the work on
themselves and helps them to understand their own strengths as well as the weaknesses which
then assists the organization to ensure that these employees work well for the goals of the
organization.

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Moreover, I believe that this leadership style will be more suitable for me because of the
important personality traits which are required in to be able to able to lead in this manner. These
different personality traits have been discussed in the given section. The first characteristic is
extraversion which relate extensively to the personality of a leader and can be used to inspire the
different members of a workplace (Mitchell, 2013). Hence, for this reason, I believe that I will be
able to apply transformational theory well because this is a characteristic which I possess. The
next crucial trait which builds the notion of a transformational leadership style is openness to
experience and expression.
It is believed that in order to be successful in the long run, the leader in a transformational
style must comprise of creative expression and emotional responsiveness. According to me, I
possess these qualities and am emotionally responsiveness and exposed to creativity as well as
experience, which further indicates that as a leader in a workplace setting I should be ideally
applying a transformational leadership style. Lastly, another important trait for a leader using the
transformational leadership style is that they need to possess an agreeable nature which is highly
concerned for others and mostly related to ensuring that the different members of an organization
are easily able to gel with one another. This can be stated to be a characteristic which is very
crucial in the management of a diverse workforce (Kara et al., 2013). Lastly, in order to be a
good transformational leader, it is also crucial for the leader to possess a strong sense of direction
and the ability to put a large amount of work to tasks in order to ensure that all the members of
the organization have adequate work responsibilities and are fulfilled. Charisma and
management based abilities are crucial to possess in this case.
Therefore, from the given analysis on the meaning and the different crucial
characteristics which are required for a good transformational leadership procedure, it can be

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stated that I believe that I have adequate qualities which will thereby assist me to portray this
leadership style in the workplace.
Moreover, I believe that this leadership style is better the other leadership styles in order
to manage a diverse workforce because they are highly associated with positive outcomes. This
helps in imbibing a positive culture among employees (Northouse, 2015). On the other hand,
other leadership styles like the transactional leadership style highly focuses on the use of various
rewards and punishments, which is not considered to be appropriate for the accomplishment of
goals and other related objectives. In addition to this, various studies have also reflected that the
transformational leadership styles is often associated with better outcomes than compared to
laissez faire style which has various negative outcomes in relation to the effectiveness
The next section of the reflective essay will be building up on my views of the kind of
leadership model which will be suitable in order to be applied in the diverse workplace and
culture. However, before I describe the suitable leadership model, I would like to briefly present
my understanding of the Leadership Models and their importance in the general workplace at
large (Hargreaves & Fink, 2012). As per the previous understanding it was examined that
leadership plays a great role in the organizational domain and that it is considered to be relevant
for various aspects. Having said this, it can be stated that, it is important for any leader to apply a
correct leadership model. The model which is required to be applied needs to be simple as well
as organized in nature. The appropriate leadership model comprises of the different parts of the
firm and the system which need to be nurtured in order to ensure that they give positive leaders.
According to Bolman and Deal (2017), the leadership models can be rightfully described
as the mechanism which helps the specific leader in achieving the appropriate results for the
welfare of the firm at large. As a leader, it is important that I am required to be aware of the

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relevant leadership models in order to ensure that the correct one suitable to the workplace can
be effectively applied. The different types of leadership models are Transformational Leadership
model, Transactional Leadership model, Task oriented Leadership models and others.
According to me, I believe that in order to be successful in the long run, it is important that I
apply the Transformational Leadership model in the workplace as this would go a long way in
assisting me to achieve success with respect to the achievements of the diverse work culture. A
transformational leadership model can be essentially described as a model which tends to assist
the leader thereby setting appropriate goals for all the members and for the leader as well
(Nahavandi, 2016). This model is believed to be providing essential results which goes a long
way in assisting the firm to achieve their overall objective.
I believe that the transformational business model is highly related to the transformational
leadership style in a business domain and that if a firm wants to ensure the overall success in a
diverse workforce, the application of this model will thereby ensure that the members are
provided with adequate tasks and that their objectives are aligned to that of the organization.
Moreover, I believe that in an autonomous setting where each employee is different from the, the
application of this model would then go a long way in assisting the organization to improve
performance and thereby foster creativity.
Conclusion
Hence, from the given analysis as done on the different leadership models which are
available, I have understood that in a workplace setting according to my characteristics, the
transformational leadership style would be the most suitable and assist me in managing my
future endeavors. Through this model, I can easily set goals for different members and thereby
guide them. Moreover, as stated previously, the leadership style which I wish to adopt in the

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workplace is the Transformational leadership style. I have made this choice because the
personality traits and characteristics which are required in this style, match with my personal
traits and therefore implementing this would be comparatively very easy for me. The given
reflective essay highlighted the meaning and importance of leadership and thereby stated the
appropriate leadership style as well as the model which I can apply in a workplace. Moreover,
the reasons why the applicability of the transformational model and style will be appropriate for
me have also been provided.

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References
Antonakis, J. & Day, D.V. eds. (2017). The nature of leadership. Sage publications.
Bhatti, N., Maitlo, G.M., Shaikh, N., Hashmi, M.A. & Shaikh, F.M. (2012). The impact of
autocratic and democratic leadership style on job satisfaction. International Business
Research, 5(2), p.192.
Bolman, L.G. & Deal, T.E. (2017). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership.
John Wiley & Sons.
Hargreaves, A. & Fink, D. (2012). Sustainable leadership (Vol. 6). John Wiley & Sons.
Kara, D., Uysal, M., Sirgy, M.J. & Lee, G. (2013). The effects of leadership style on employee
well-being in hospitality. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 34, pp.9-18.
Mitchell, G. (2013). Selecting the best theory to implement planned change. Nursing
Management-UK, 20(1).
Nahavandi, A. (2016). The Art and Science of Leadership -Global Edition. Pearson.
Northouse, P.G. (2015). Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage publications.
Spillane, J.P. (2012). Distributed leadership (Vol. 4). John Wiley & Sons.