Find the leader on you Essay

Assignment 1: Finding the leader in you: Self – Assessment /Johari Window Leadership can be considered in terms of power capacity and opportunity to give to others, the desire to get involved and take action to achieve a collective goal or achieve a common goal. This power derives an estimated authority, trust or reference mentor who cannot be decreed. Leadership is no way from a status, function or any degree of responsibility. It owes its existence to the recognition of others. 1. Develop a profile of your personality characteristics and assessment results. Personality is not only specific to each, but also a psychological identity of a person distinctive behavioral singularity. It is forged throughout life, from a set of circumstances and experiences. Family executives, professionals or relationship are elements that influence personality. According to (Schermerhorn and others 2012), Personality captures the overall profile, or combination of characteristics, that represents the unique nature of an individual as that individual interacts with others. Personality is determined by both heredity and environment; across all personality characteristics, the mix of heredity and environment is about 50-50† It’s very difficult for somebody to look into the mirror and describe themself. I grew up in a Christian family. I was taught to be honest, modest, and tolerant, to respect others no matter their faith or their convictions. Being asked to describe your personality appears to be a  simple topic. On the contrary, it’s a very difficult and critical exercise. I describe myself as a hard worker. Whatever the circumstances, I have to reach my goals. I do whatever it takes to get the job done, sometimes working extra hours. I inherited that aspect of me from my parents who taught me that, â€Å"to succeed, you must work hard, because sun always shines for those who work hard†. I am not influenced by the gender and race of my colleagues or people around me. I build great relationships with people around me, they appreciate my presence and I have a genuine collaboration with them. I grew up in a multiracial community. We use to play together black and white, male and female. I learnt to respect and embrace different cultures. This helped me better understand cultural diversity. I strongly believe that cultural diversity is a value. Around me I see people with different sexual orientation. I accept and respect their choice, because they may be  influenced by their culture or where they grew up. It’s so interesting to hear people share their experiences. Taking personal initiatives is another part of me. However, I adhere to rational and realistic changes. I have the honesty to recognize my strengths and weaknesses when it comes to skills required for a job. I don’t accept a job if I can’t manage it. I’m ambitious; I love challenges because they reveal my strength and leadership. I am somebody who also learns from my experiences and experiences of others. I like to organize my work by priority and deadlines. I do this so I can produce the highest quality work in the amount of time I have. When I am in charge of a team, I share my vision with my team members and delegate duties with clear and precise instructions and expectations. I value other people’s opinions, suggestions and contributions. My friends, my classmates or my colleagues would tell you that I am a fair man, who always listens when they have something to say. I’m a reliable, flexible, and honest person always open the new ideas, new concept and new experiences. For me, failure is something that should never happen. That is my weakness. So it becomes very difficult for me when I fail to attend my objectives. It takes time for me to accept such situation. That is one aspect of me on which I should take some resolutions. 2. Summarize the result of the assessments you completed for homework in week 1. The 21st century called the century of globalization, is marked by the digital revolution following the development of the information technology. This revolution has given birth to a new form of management, based on constant and innovative changes. Today’s manager must be proactive because technology is advancing very quickly. He must master his professional environment to be effective. In today organization, the person in charge of management should be able to instigate actions and creative ideas. In the ever more demanding world of work, many companies are seeking individuals with more proactive qualities, individuals who take initiative and engage in proactive problem solving. Research supports this, showing that proactive personality is positively related to job performance, creativity, leadership and career success. (Shermerhorn and other 2012). This assessment is applied to Late Steve Job, Co-founder of Apple Company. In term of products, Apple has been at the top for a while. That company is  making products better than anyone else for years. The reason of their success is that Steve was anticipating what people’s needs would be in the future, not what they are right now. A manager has to identify where the market is heading, not where it is right now. That means, he should have a vision. That is one of Steve job traits. I can add imagination and passion. Steve Job has the imagination to create an IPhone which at that time was unique. IPhone is an assemble of six or more most needed products. (Watch, flashlight, telephone, camera, camcorder, music box, calculator and many others services). That was a genius idea. To realize this genius technology, you have to be passionate and willing to settle for a long term goal of achievement. Most companies failed because they put little emphasis on the future. They were focus on day by day management. Kodak was leader in cameras and most photographic supplies. They did not understand the digital revolution. They tried year after year to maintain the same routine. They did not understand people’s need and didn’t integrated changes provided by the outcome of digital technology. That type of management brought the company down. They lost a big part of the market. Transformational leadership style in today organization is most efficient. Leader’s mission is not only to maintain the organization’s stability, but also to bring innovations, high productivity and employee satisfaction. Leaders should inspire followers. Managers or Leaders in charge of organizations should be equipped to challenge conflicts every day, either from employees not willing to change or from organization’s customers or others. Conflict is inevitable among humans. It is a natural outcome of human interaction that begins when two or more social entities engage one another while striving to attain their objective. (M.Afzalur Rahim. 2001). A manager should give all parties to a conflict an equal voice, regardless of their position, length of service or political influence. People in conflict can become defensive if they feel they are being marginalized or are going through a process leading to a predetermined outcome. Time is an important but limited resource that we never seem to have enough. So, a manager must be a well organizing person. He should prioritize, planning and understand completing activities of the organization. Most organizations today are taking organic characteristics. No matter the design, to succeed, leader must socialize with his colleagues. He must be a team player and should have a strong  self-awareness. He must get his followers his passion and his visions. Successful leaders today involve employees in all aspects of the work process: design, manufacture, inventory, marketing. Leaders create team. They don’t issue orders from above. Dale Carnegie and others. (1993). Today’s manager must be proactive because things are going very quickly. He must master professional environment to be effective. 3. Analyze how attribute / scores speak to your relationships and career. By analyzing the results of this self-assessment, I discovered my strengths and weaknesses. My results have revealed the leadership qualities that I have and what I don’t have. Self-assessment # 22 reveals to me that I met more than seventy percent requirements needed to be a manager 21st century manager. I manage stress effectively and focus on the objectives. I socialize with people in my environment. I listen to my intuition when necessary and like to take initiatives. However, I have to personally set my skills to work to a higher performance standard. I work as a manager in a multinational company which retains its value and its name from the quality of products and services it offers to its customers. This conceptualization of standard is not always accepted by all customers. Consequently, to meet my financial goals and also to provide customer satisfaction I sometimes take the decisions to violate the established standards. Transformational leaders typically have charisma and are known for their ability to develop a vision and the ability to inspire others to follow them toward it. The results of transformational leadership take time. Transformational leaders must invest time and confidence; build energy to convince their followers to share their vision. Today, organizations that are not highly equipped and prepared, and who hire transformational leaders are likely to be frustrated and disappointed. It would be important for me to improve my skills on Organizational Leadership style to be able to succeed in my mission. Organizational leadership skills are also required to stabilize an organization because without stability, you cannot install a real vision and get people to share it. The organization that I work for was created by a dozen people whose common goal is to make profit, but with different approaches. We’ve an organic design preference organization. Employees are sometimes under pressure from the shareholders to increase  productivity. That pressure develops stress on employees. The stress generally impacts employees and their individual behavior. It stimulates their instant creativity and generates short-term enthusiasm. In such situation, employees works hard not to improve the company productivities, but to save their job. They become irritable, nervous and resistant. Otherwise, some employees loose the job satisfaction. All those aspects off stress have impact on company productivities. A manager should be able to anticipate and manage employee stress. I understand the necessity for a leader to have both type of leadership style. Definitely, I have to improve my skills in the style of Organizational leadership. My intuition level is above average, but I believe that I’ve room for improvement. The intuition is an important character for a leader because you have to read between the lines to anticipate action. I am able to improve my intuitive skills. Under the management of conflict, I’m pushing for compromise. I think it helps to calm passion and save time for manager and employees. However, I recognize that a leader must sometimes impose his ideas if he strongly believes he is on the right path. In this case the leader must be prepared to face resistance from other parties which may complicate the process. I firmly believe that the leader must be able to manage conflicts and get away without too much damage. Conflict management is also a part of my daily activities. You cannot be a good manager in an organization when you only choose solutions that favor you, especially if you’ve several customer/employee complaints. You have to be open and willing to compromise. Employees and customers may not be always right, but as a manager, I must listen to their complaints and provide satisfactory solutions. I feel more comfortable in an organization that values long-term relationship; one that emphasizes systematic career development, mandates regular training, and provides promotions based on gained achievement and expertise. I recognize that it is beneficial for an organization to train its employees from top to bottom. This instills in them the true value of the organization even though it may not provide a guarantee of stability. It often happens that the well- trained staff leaves the organization to go elsewhere for a higher pay and benefits. To create a balance, I apply the concept of just-in-time training to minimize destabilization of the organization.