Critically Analyze The Leadership Qualities Of A Role Model - samples

Question: Discuss about the Critically Analyze The Leadership Qualities Of A Role Model. Answer: Introduction Leadership has an important role to play in the success of an organization. The leader of the organization sets a clear goal for the employees along with individual objectives. A clear objective and potential leadership can lead the employees to work with full motivation which adds value to the organization (Antonakis and Day 2017). This assignment will critically analyze the leadership qualities of a role model. The way in which an individual can work on his characteristic traits to build the leadership qualities through the stages of observation, feedback and self- reflection will be focused on. A hotel manager has been selected as the role model for this particular assignment. Observation For the observation stage an effective and successful leader has been selected who will be considered as the role model. Mr. Romeo is the general manager of a five star hotel in Myanmar. He is a native of Philippine and completed his Master degree in Business Administration from Berkeley University. He has been working in the hotel industry for more than 20 years and he has been in the position of a general manager for 10 years. Traits and behaviors The reason behind choosing him as the role model is that he is quite famous for his leadership skills. According to Cameron et al. (2014) effective communication, motivating quality, positive attitude and trust worthiness are some of the leadership skills which were related to Mr. Romeo. Moreover he knows how to act in a responsible way and has always been successful in showing dedication towards the tasks. The acquaintance was built up when I had worked as a part timer in the same hotel in the department of food and beverage. While working in the hotel I got to know more about him such as his brilliant working and leading ways to motivate the staff members. As per Boezeman and Ellemers (2014) an effective leader needs to follow participative style where inputs from the employees are considered valuable. Mr. Romeo followed the same and his leadership capabilities inspired me to continue in the same hotel as an intern longer than I had intended to. I saw the spark in him as a leader a nd his way to mould the team by motivation in order to get back their trust and respect. Power and Intelligence While working with him I had observed his leadership qualities such as being honest and dedicated towards the work and tried to imbibe those within me. Cameron et al. (2014) had mentioned that a leader should not show false hopes or cheat on his team. He had possessed all the traits of a leader such as intelligence, inner motivation, maturity, attitude of an HR, self- confidence, foresightedness, adaptability and open mindedness, responsibility and objectivity. Thus his leadership traits can be linked with the Trait Theory which systematically evaluates the leaders. In this theory, the personal characteristics of a leader are considered as the main factors of leadership success. This theory takes into consideration the personality, social, physical and also intellectual characteristics which distinguish a leader from a commoner. For instance, my role model Mr. Romeo satisfies all the factors of Trait Theory. He is adaptable to situations, assertive, cooperative, decisive, self- confi dent and also possesses other qualities required from a leader (Cashman 2017). He has gained the necessary power and intelligence through years to train and lead his team in a successful way. The role model has all the necessary traits that could link him with the Trait Theory. Contingency While the leader had acquired all the characteristics through years but he had a flexible nature. Through his elastic nature he could gel easily with any one in any kind of situation. Such a unique characteristic quality in his nature led him adapt to tough situations and change his leadership quality accordingly. As Chemers (2014) had stated that leadership is a process by which an individual influence others for attaining the goals to make superior working environment within the organization. There are different leadership styles such as visionary, coaching, affiliative, democratic, pacesetting and commanding and each of these have their own functions. The functions are mobilizing the team towards a vision; developing them for the coming days; creating friendly bonds; building harmony through participation; expecting self direction and excellence; demanding immediate compliance respectively. Mr. Romeo had possessed all these behavior within him and implemented them as per the requi rement of the situation. This change in leadership characteristic of Mr. Romeo can be linked with the Behavioral Theory which analyses the leader on his actions and activities. As per this theory, leadership is the outcome of effective role behavior (Collinson 2014). It is believed that the actual leadership is shown by a persons behavior and not by his traits which is contradictory to the Trait Theory. This theory aims to stress on the behavior of the leader and not on his traits. Effective leadership qualities Daft (2014) had stated that leadership qualities are either innate or acquired. All the great leaders are not born with the leadership qualities but there are some who have possessed or acquired those in their lifetime. Mr. Romeo was one such great leader who not only bore the inborn qualities but also groomed himself to acquire those which he lacked. In order to know more about his leadership qualities, I wanted to talk to him so that I can gain some more knowledge about efficient team handling. While talking to him I got to know that he has not gained these qualities overnight but gradually. He said that he has groomed himself to reach this place. Initially he used to get nervous while managing a team. But with the passage of time he tried to understand his team by keeping himself in their place and what they desire. To understand the same, he had held continuous team discussions and individual meetings for a smooth communication from both the end. Day et al. (2014) had mentioned that it is always important to have a free flow of communication in the organization otherwise conflicts will arise which might take a bad shape. An effective communication helps in avoiding conflicts and issues within the organization. Mr. Romeo followed the same to prevent internal conflicts within the employees. This was a great quality of being a leader which he had. When he was asked about the modifications in behavior he added that being subtle and strict at the same time is important to keep the team members within control. They should be encouraged and at the same time it is the duty of the manager to rebuke them, but not in front of everyone so that others do not take advantage of the situation. Feedback: Leadership styles of the chosen leader According to Chemers (2014) had mentioned about the different leadership styles such as participative, autocratic, democratic and others which is imbibed by the leaders while they are in power. However, the journey of a leader is not as easy as it might look but they also need to overcome hurdles. To overcome these hurdles they need to choose one specific leadership style which will be helpful. At this stage of the assignment the chosen leader was asked about his experience and the hardships that he might have faced in his journey of being a successful leader. While conversing with him I was always eager to get hold of the features that might help me to reach a prestigious position as him. I wanted to imbibe the skills from him which will make a great leader as him in the coming days. Skills, behaviors and traits possessed by the chosen leader After listening to my question he said that he always believed that he could be a great leader. He wanted to build himself up in such a way that other people will aspire to be like him. He added that it is very important to have self confidence because it is the mantra to great leadership. He had also adapted the participative style of leadership (Dinh et al. 2014). When a leader will be able to motivate him, only then will he be able to motivate others. The leader must be a torch bearer who will show the way to others and overcome all the hurdles to attain the goal. Mr. Romeo said that his course in business administration had been an added advantage in his journey of being a great manager of a five star hotel. He had also done leadership workshops in order to learn the theoretical aspects. Difference in the observation and feedback At this point of conversation I somehow felt that my observation has gone wrong somewhere. This is because I was only focusing on his traits and behavior but did not do a proper homework on his background. Therefore I added this on my bucket list. One must know the theory beforehand in order to imply that in practical life. However rest of my observation had gone correct regarding his ability to communicate, loyalty, balance in work-life, problem solving, adaptability to changed situation and distant vision (Fairhurst and Connaughton 2014). Use of power and influence tactics I realized that the path to become a leader is not a bed of roses when he shared a personal experience. When he had joined his first organization as a manager most of the people there were older to him. Thus it became a problem for him to convince them as he wanted. The senior employees were reluctant to listen to the junior manager. Mr. Romeo said that as he was a new comer therefore he could not even show his power over the older employees. It was becoming a problem for him to do his duty in the organization when his hands were tied on ethical grounds. That is when he started grooming himself by attending workshops and understood the necessity of being strict and soft at the same time. He became aware of the tricks of the trade to deal with such severe situations. Characteristics of a good and effective leader Being a participative leader, Mr. Romeo always values the opinion of his team members but take the final decision on his own. As he has adapted this particular style of leadership therefore it has helped in motivating the employees as they can contribute to the decision making process (Frohlich and Oppenheimer 2015). They get the feeling that their opinion matters and their presence is being valued in the organization. As per this great leader, there are several characteristics of a good and effective leader which are given below- He said that honesty and integrity should be an integral part of a leaders life (Hazy and Uhl- Bien 2015). While explaining about the value of honesty in a leaders life he quoted Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th President of United States, the supreme quality of leadership is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army or in an office. In addition to that he said confidence is extremely important to be a great leader which should be passed on to the team too. Mr. Romeo described persuasion of the team is the most difficult task as he had faced in his early work life. This will be effective by enabling good communication which he had done earlier (Johnson 2017). Even in this 5 star hotel he had faced difficulty in convincing people to come to work on holidays which he resolved by increasing their incentives and giving an additional half day leave. He had also arranged for free family meal for every staff twice a month as a strategy to keep a good rapport within the team. How to be a great leader? Mr. Romeo suggested that it always takes good decision making capabilities to be a good leader and also accountability. By saying this, he mentioned a saying of the American businessman Arnold H Glasgow, A good leader takes little more than his share of the blame and little less than his share of the credit. He follows this as his motto in the course of his journey as a leader and recommended certain steps that should not be done while being a leader. I was curious to know about these as one should overcome the hurdles in order to be successful. A leader should learn how to keep his respect in front of the employees and should not insult one employee in front of the other (Johnston and Marshall 2016). Moreover a good leader should not give false hopes to his team. This will result in demoralization within the team and they will lose faith on their leader. A leader should think about the organization and the benefits of his team before thinking of his own selfish reasons. The leader s hould not crave for power or misuse power in order to keep his position, rather he should always think ahead of time for the betterment of the organization. This feedback session with Mr. Romeo helped me in self- analyzing and I marked myself in those areas which needed improvement. I got to know in minute detail how one can build himself up as a good leader and the habits that he must let go in order to be efficient. Reflection From the first two stages of observation and feedback I could gain a lot of knowledge from my role model Mr. Romeo who is the general manager of a five star hotel in Myanmar. While conversing with him I got to know the tricks of the trade required to become an efficient leader. While interning in his organization I had seen the change in his behavior and I wanted to know the reason behind it. This is because I always had it in mind that the minor knowledge gained from this exposure will help me later in life in being an effective leader. In the initial days of my internship I completely observed Mr. Romeo and his activities. In doing so I tried to imbibe his leadership qualities within myself, such as the way he speaks, behaves, reacts to certain situations, solves critical problems and makes decisions. Observation is considered as a major part of learning and therefore I deduced a general idea about him. From the ideas that I have collected about him a rough picture could be painted but not clearly. In order to get a transparent idea one- to- one conversation was very important which counted for a complete and detailed recognition of the person (Klenke 2016). After the two stages of observation and feedback I somehow felt that the two stages contradicted each other at some point. This is because the two theories of leadership were applicable in this, Trait Theory and Behavioral theory (Komives 2016). The feedback session helped me to learn about the hurdles that might come in the way of being an effective leader. Mr. Romeo had shared his personal experience with me which gave me an idea about the bitter reality. He shared that the main obstacle that he had faced while working in this five star hotel is the difference in culture. Food habit of people is dependent on the culture of the place that is why it became essential for the manager to learn the food habits of Myanmar (Miner 2015). Moreover Philippines has majority of Christian population while Burma has Buddhist majority. As the festivals are different in these two cultures therefore the eating habit also varied accordingly. Previously meat and dairy products were avoided by Christia n population during a fixed part of the year while they have a ritual of having bread and wine relative to the body and blood of Jesus Christ (Robertson 2016). On the other hand, the Buddhists are more inclined towards vegetarian food as they cannot tolerate violence against the animals. They prohibit themselves from drinking alcohol and mostly rely on donations as they are not allowed to cook their own food (Sanders 2017). These were some major differences between the two cultures and Mr. Romeo had taken these in consideration to avoid unnecessary complications. Thus, I learned from the interaction that the qualities or traits that I might lack within myself need to be showcased by my behavior in order to be an efficient leader (Northouse 2017). After spending a number of days with my role model I understood that I need to groom and develop myself as per the industry requirement because practical functions are much different than theoretical course. As a leader I need to be a favorite person of the team or else they will not listen to me. Failure of a leader lies in his capability to manage a team. This internship helped me a lot to deal with practical situations which would not have been possible otherwise. Being a student I learnt about the tools and techniques of workplace especially in the hospitality sector where I wish to excel in the future days. As per the observation and feedback I appreciated the strategies that he had implemented in his workplace to bind his team together. I became so friendly with him during these days that at the end o our conversation he asked if I could suggest something to improve his leadership skills. I could not believe that my role model who I aspire to be asked me for recommendation. That is another quality of being a great leader; he should know how to be humble. That is why I felt embarrassed in front of him as I was the one who was learning from him then there is no way I could give him suggestion. Therefore in a very polite tone I expressed my thoughts in front of him and told him to continue in the same way which helped to reach this position. I told him that he should initiate innovative working style in order to boost up his team (Raelin 2016). I also told him to keep his spirits high so that he can continue to be my role model for many more years to come. The interaction ended on a good note which encouraged me to work harder for my future. This assessment helped me to understand the necessity of being a good leader for the improvement of an organization. Conclusion From this assignment it can be concluded that the three stages of observation, feedback and reflection was effective for me in being a good leader. I could measure my skills and capabilities in comparison to my role model. I understood that self- realization is the best way to gauge ones own qualities. Not only did I observe my chosen leader from a close distance but also tried to adapt his qualities and develop myself. The two theories of Behavioral and Trait theory made the learning easier for me and I got motivated in building myself up as a good leader. References Antonakis, J. and Day, D.V. eds., 2017.The nature of leadership. Sage publications. Boezeman, E.J. and Ellemers, N., 2014. Volunteer leadership: The role of pride and respect in organizational identification and leadership satisfaction.Leadership,10(2), pp.160-173. 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