SS5092 Leadership and communities Assessment Workbook
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Table of Contents
Section 1: Importance of personal character of the leader/manager in their effectiveness.............3
Section 2: Successful leaders and managers focusing on the tasks than personal needs of the
followers..........................................................................................................................................5
Section 3: Definition of power and explaining two theories of power............................................7
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Section 1: Importance of personal character of the leader/manager in their effectiveness
Personality often gives clues to the elements that a person loves and does it for free. The
personality understanding for team members is required as a manager. Personality traits are
important to be judged so that a total faith is established among the managers and the workers. In
case the managers are not having confidence then it will not empower each other (Asbari et al.
2020). A good leadership should be having agile technology and flexing the influence while
communicating and delegating effectively. Individuals will understand leadership compatibility
with showcasing the best personality they can. While working as an intern inside an organisation,
I had learned multiple elements on the centres of business communication. Effective leadership
and effective communication has to be intertwined with transmitting information and inspiring
others towards coaching of direct reports. The characteristics of a good leadership are:
Integrity: It can actually be a potential blind spot for individuals and it can reinforce the honesty
and integrity of leaders at various levels. Top-level executives are charting the organisation’s
course and making countless significant decisions. “Organisations reinforce the importance of
honesty and integrity to leaders at various levels” (ccl.org, 2022).
Delegation: It is one of the core responsibilities of the leader who can be tricky to delegate
effectively. The goal is not only just to free up oneself but to enable direct reports to grow.
Enabling direct reports to grow is important for facilitating teamwork, providing autonomy and
leading towards a better decision-making (Avelino, 2021). I have experiences that leaders can
build trust inside the workplace and by showing effective delegation.
Communication: According to Henkel et al. (2019), “the effective leadership and
communication are intertwined". The leaders are skilled communicators who are able to
communicate in various ways and transmit information in coaching direct reports. Effective
communication is helping in the improvement of the organisational culture.
Self-awareness: The aspects of self-awareness and strengthening each component is important
for recognising one's own strength and weakness and making oneself more effective as a leader.
Recognising the strengths and weaknesses is possible with having self-awareness (Hua, 2020).
As an intern I have always looked up to my seniors to understand how I can establish my worth.
Gratitude
The gratitude has to be shown for managing self-esteem and reducing depression and anxiety.
Leaders show the aspects of self-awareness and how to have an appreciative boss. Becoming a
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better leader is possible by showing up at work with a mark of being as effective as one can (Im,
2021).
Learning agility: The ability to excel in unfamiliar circumstances is possible with understanding
the practice, patience, experience and effort. Great learners have been created while learning
agility and showing influence.
Influence: Convincing people is an important characteristic of an individual and it can be done
by becoming a game changer and showing emotional intelligence and leadership effectiveness.
The logical, emotional and cooperative appeals to convince people are important in the case of
becoming a leader. According to Karaszewski, and Drewniak, (2021), the emotional intelligence
and inclusion of leadership is an important aspect of managing the workplace conditions around
people.
Empathy: Empathy is an important part of a person's job performance and it is applicable under
the leadership effectiveness at its best. While I was working as an Intern at IKEA, I was working
as the group leader and the management divided us into small teams. I used to give commands to
other team members and I thought of psychological safety and strong conversational skills and
showing empathy to other team members. This helped me to share a good bond with them and
foster a leadership culture among them.
Collaboration builds strong leaders and I believe that good leaders are made rather than being
born. I find that micromanaging is no more effective nowadays and good leadership has to be
managed as a destination. I believe that organisations can develop good qualities as leaders and
provide successful solutions with clients around so that development is never stopped. I
personally believe in the leadership theory as:
The theory of situations:
The theory of situations helps to
● Develop a connection with the workforce
● Encouraging employees (Mahmoud, et al. 2020)
● Developing teams and units of operations
● Recognising the alternative leadership philosophies
Main leadership styles are organised by instructing staff members on what can be done by
individuals (Purwanto, 2019). This is called telling. Another action is selling where team
members are persuaded to adopt certain leadership concepts. Next is participating where it is
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effectively encouraging team members to take part in problem solving and decision making
processes. The involvement has been limited by leadership and the majority of the work is done
by the team. As explained by Morgan, and Croft (2022), the process lists out problem solving
attitudes such as adaptability, insights and coaching and completely agrees with my own
understanding of the trait theory. I believe in emotional equilibrium and thinking with action
which the theory supports and hence shows the correct attitude of leaders.
I am also a believer in the trait theory where the promotion of certain ideas are done and
personality traits are organised from the understanding of main characteristics such as emotional
equilibrium, thinking with action, motivational abilities and competence.
Section 2: Successful leaders and managers focusing on the tasks than personal needs of the
followers
Successful leaders and managers are focusing on the tasks rather than personal needs of the
followers. Leaders can focus on the work by having a general grasp on the final objectives. Task-
oriented leadership focuses on the completion of designated goals as quickly and efficiently as
possible. The workplace goals are depending on the factors of effective communication.
“Leaders who adhere to their values earn respect and commitment from their teams”. In this case
the theory of behaviourism can be approached. Successful leaders work on the different
management approaches which can be identified as Systems management theory, human
relations theory, contingency management theory, theory X and Y (Safari, and Saleh, 2020).
Among all of these I find that the most effective is human relations and contingency
management theory and theory of X & Y. The management theory associated with McGregor’s
understanding and assumptions of human motivation. As explained by Sahoo et al. (2020), the
importance of heightened supervision is explained with theory X. the theory Y highlights the
motivating roles of job satisfaction and encouraging workers to approach tasks without direct
supervision. In theory X, people who dislike work or have little ambition and are unwilling to
take responsibility are identified. On the other hand, theory Y assumes that subordinates do not
dislike the work and they are self-motivated and they can be creative. The responsibility and self-
direction ensures take initiative and self-direction. I have seen my managers get the most work
done through satisfaction, appreciation and motivation.
Human relations theory: In order to manage employees the human relations theory associates
with an understanding of organisational psychology from the early twentieth century. As defined
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by Schunk, and DiBenedetto, (2020), the workplace and acknowledgement of each worker helps
to work as a unique individual. Human relations skills are associated with family relationships,
friendship and personal relationships. The company is all set to make sure that each employee
gets the group dynamics, personality studies. Self-development and behavioural improvement is
possible with management of human relations at its best.
Systems management theory: The management theory is all about how an effective approach
towards management can be approached. A larger system is expected to be functioning optimally
with these management theories. Optimal solutions have been offered by the management to
make sure that the employees are doing the tasks well. Structure and order of the organisation is
maintained for the organisation of systems management theory. System must have a clear
purpose and it should be accountable for the differentiated actions occurring within the
organisation.
Rather than looking for employee’s personal needs, management is quite concerned about their
task completion. Many of the time in IKEA managers have cancelled the leaves of the employees
just to make sure that a timely delivery of a project is done. While leaders are task oriented they
support the staff and trust in their abilities (Siangchokyoo et al. 2020). Great leaders discover
what people are good at and showcase the process implementation such as budgeting and
understanding the ability to focus on a single point of task. Real world tasks are focused on
instruction and learners often show a new whole task positivity around them. The task method
that the leaders follows are:
Pre-task: This step is important in terms of achieving the goals and delegate assignments.
Scheduling things to get done on time is part of pre-task.
Actual task: Helping the students to grow and setting clear processes and deadlines helps
constantly defining the structure and goals. As mentioned by Siangchokyoo et al. (2022),
prioritising tasks helps the project manager in a big project and specifying the time limit and
attaining the project goals.
The review: checking whether the structure and goals are defined and prioritising the specific
outcomes. Task oriented leadership is important in the organisation of task oriented behaviours
and understands the strength that a person contains to fulfil the job. As defined by Ten Brinke,
and Keltner (2022), we went through extensive training as a part of the management to become
satisfied with our work. An open communication is facilitated as a part of understanding the
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employee growth and development and receiving feedback. The work was given priorities more
than anything. The managers were pushing us to perform more than anything and the work life
balance was reduced. The leadership styles are associated with autocratic, democratic, laissez
and transformational. The best applied methodology to make sure that individuals perform well
is identified as transformational leadership. This style has some qualities such as:
● Openness to new thinking
● Commitment towards active listening
● Tolerance for intelligent risks
● Trust in team members (Barbara Kellerman, 2023)
● Inspiring participation
One of the flag bearers of transformational leadership is Steve Jobs the ex-Apple CEO. He was
famous for his visionary leadership to transform the Apple Company into a leader in the
technology industry. Our manager had shown the quality of being transformative. The person
would sense a bigger picture and inspire in achieving new success. The loyalty was promised to
him as he knew the method of triggering a person’s intelligence. Having competent, skilled,
secure and considerate is important for managing the communications and actions. The
management theory helps to become accountable for the situation and find optimism in different
aspects of the leadership (Barbara Kellerman, 2023). The managers knew the perfect method of
connecting, confidence, cognizance and compelling skills with a range of supporting skills.
Coming across as a pleasing personality helps to provide flexibility to individuals and becomes
focused on work. Principles of self-improvement associates with becoming technically proficient
and developing a sense of responsibility among subordinates.
Section 3: Definition of power and explaining two theories of power
Power can be defined as control, command, dominion and the right to govern or rule or
determine authority. Power is expressible as the undertaking of an entire situation and helps the
team to reach a greater level of performances. The primary organisational theories include
classical, neoclassical, modern theory, contingency theory, motivation, and open systems
theory.
Classical theory: This theory is best applied in different situations. Informational organisations
align with primary aspects of business’s formal organisational structure and discuss the method
of dividing professional tasks in the most efficient and effective way (ccl.org, 2023). While
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working as an interns at IKEA, I have seen the leadership applying this power approaches where
the following elements will be discussed:
● Division of labour: The principle argues that the production of commodities splits into
divisions of manufacturing and working in the area of specialisation where maximum
output is generated.
● Scalar and functional processes: This process helps into the production of commodity
splits and working within each division of manufacturing and area of specialisation.
● Structure: Structure describes the different patterns of professional behaviours that lead
towards the accomplishment of organisational goals (Ten Brinke, and Keltner, 2022).
● Span of control: The control means working on attributes of appropriate numbers of
employees and implementing principles of coordination, planning, motivation and
leadership.
I have also found out that contingency theory works best when it comes to the understanding of
company objectives and deliverables. Most valuable and impactful choices are organised under
the ideal decision making and successfully working on contingent decisions made by the
organisation’s leaders. As explained by Schunk et al. (2020), the contingency theories believe
that management is responsible for analysing the business situation and addressing the
challenges. The theory has been contributed by Herbert A. Simon and it focuses on the following
aspects such as:
● Contingency approach believes that there is no best way of doing things while making
decisions
● The decision making is all dependent on the situation and environmental friendly option
● Diagnostic skills are possessed and improved by the leadership (Sahoo et al. 2020)
● Human relation are necessarily managed to adjust the change
● Communication has to be effective to make sure there is no environmental issues
presented
The contingency variables are two types that are dependent and independent variables.
Dependent variables are having a negative impact on the employees with an existence of
turnover, absenteeism and productivity. Independent variables is an organisation that creates a
change in employee behaviour and causes the dependent variable to shift. As discussed by
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Asbari et al. (2020), “examples of organisational independent variables can be found as
leadership and motivation”. There is not only one way of doing things and the leaders have to be
concerned regarding their leading style and consultation. The effectiveness is all about clarifying
the style and consulting the team members to take decisions independently. Leaders and
employees' maturity level and personality types are boosting the employee morale at its best.
Contingency theory helps in overall learning, growing and developing skills. I have seen IKEA
leaders applying self reflection and boosting synergy and morale.
Figure 1: Contingency model
(Source: https://www.betterup.com/blog/contingency-theory-of-leadership)
The model has the advantages and disadvantages included and it can organise the contingency
model as follows:
Advantages:
● Self-awareness is increased along with evaluating leadership styles
● A straightforward way of checking one’s leadership style and determines the skills that
suits a situation is executed
● The in hand situation is focused with leader scoring more than 75
Disadvantage of the theory includes
● Biased results and unreliable as LPC (least-preferred co-worker scale) scale is a
perceived score
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● Depending on the situation leaders are often addressing themselves within a situation or
replacing themselves (Avelino, 2021)
● Moderate LPC leader with scores less than 70 has uncertainty in handling the situation
At times, I have also seen my managers applying the motivational theory to boost up employee
morale and focus on intrinsic and extrinsic factors that are developing effective systems and
managerial strategies. According to Hua (2021), considering the theories associated with
economic conditions, business leaders have been adapting to the local cultural ethics at its best.
Extensive academic training is possessed by understanding the legal considerations and
remaining productive and successful. With timely motivation all the workers are enabled to
showcase their development and encourage themselves to perform efficiently.
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References
Journals
Asbari, M., Santoso, P.B. and Prasetya, A.B., 2020. Elitical and antidemocratic transformational
leadership critics: is it still relevant?(A literature study). INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF
SOCIAL, POLICY AND LAW, 1(1), pp.12-16.
Avelino, F., 2021. Theories of power and social change. Power contestations and their
implications for research on social change and innovation. Journal of Political Power, 14(3),
pp.425-448.
Henkel, T.G., Marion Jr, J.W. and Bourdeau, D.T., 2019. Project manager leadership behavior:
Task-oriented versus relationship-oriented. Journal of Leadership Education, 18(2), p.1.
Hua, N.T.A., 2020. The relationship between task-oriented leadership style, psychological
capital, job satisfaction and organizational commitment: evidence from Vietnamese small and
medium-sized enterprises. Journal of Advances in Management Research.
Im, E.O., 2021. Properties of Situation-Specific Theories and Neo-pragmatism. Advances in
Nursing Science, 44(4), pp.E114-E126.
Karaszewski, R. and Drewniak, R., 2021. The Leading Traits of the Modern Corporate Leader:
Comparing Survey Results from 2008 and 2018. Energies, 14(23), p.7926.
Mahmoud, A.B., Fuxman, L., Mohr, I., Reisel, W.D. and Grigoriou, N., 2020. “We aren't your
reincarnation!” workplace motivation across X, Y and Z generations. International Journal of
Manpower.
Morgan, H.J. and Croft, B., 2022. The Five Most Important Qualities in Coaching Your
Employees: Anywhere in the World. Coach Me! Your Personal Board of Directors: Leadership
advice from the world's greatest coaches, pp.96-98.
Purwanto, A., 2019. Influence of leadership, motivation, competence, commitment and culture
on ISO 9001: 2015 performance in packaging industry. Scholars Journal of Economics, Business
and Management.
Safari, A. and Saleh, A.S., 2020. Key determinants of SMEs’ export performance: a resource-
based view and contingency theory approach using potential mediators. Journal of Business &
Industrial Marketing.
Sahoo, B., Routray, S.K. and Rout, P.K., 2020. Hybrid generalised power theory for power
quality enhancement. IET Energy Systems Integration, 2(4), pp.404-414.
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Schunk, D.H. and DiBenedetto, M.K., 2020. Motivation and social cognitive
theory. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 60, p.101832.
Siangchokyoo, N., Klinger, R.L. and Campion, E.D., 2020. Follower transformation as the
linchpin of transformational leadership theory: A systematic review and future research
agenda. The Leadership Quarterly, 31(1), p.101341.
Sørensen, G., Møller, J. and Jackson, R.H., 2022. Introduction to international relations:
theories and approaches. Oxford university press.
Ten Brinke, L. and Keltner, D., 2022. Theories of power: Perceived strategies for gaining and
maintaining power. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 122(1), p.53.
Websites
Barbara Kellerman, 2023. Available at: https://hbr.org/2007/12/what-every-leader-needs-to-
know-about-followers. [Accessed on 05/12/2022]
Ccl.org, 2023. Available at:
https://www.ccl.org/articles/leading-effectively-articles/characteristics-good-leader/[Accessed on
05/12/2022]
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