Saturday, May 20, 2017

A511.9.3.RB - Course Reflections Clark_A


     After exploring several different definitions of leadership in the assigned readings during the first module of the MSLD 511 Organizational Leadership course, my personal definition for leadership was as follows:

Leadership is a group of individuals responsible for effectively directing and delivering information, knowledge and methods to others in an effort to motivate others to perform efficiently and suitably to reach the desired goals to fulfill the corporate vision.

     After reviewing the leadership concepts presented the following weeks of this course I would change this definition to also include an individual leader as well.  Yes, leadership can be a group of peoples within an organization however; the behavior studies conducted by researchers in leadership are centered on the individual leader and their traits and characteristics.  Several of the leadership approaches reviewed requires that an individual takes an assessment or questionnaire in order to measure the effectiveness of style of the participant.

     Learning about these leadership theories in this course has informed my view of leadership.  Leadership as a process involves leaders as well as followers (Northouse, 2016).  The issues that are important to followers must also be addressed and are just as important the issues that concern leaders.  The leadership processes discussed in this course present ways to improve these interactions and also can easily be utilized to improve leadership in real situations.    

     I have found that my personal leadership style is a combination of most if not all of the leadership approaches we reviewed during this course.  Being a new leader within my organization it is important for me to identify the leadership style that works for me and my followers.  In the future I can see myself striving to be an authentic and transformational leader.   It is my goal to have a positive impact on the people I encounter someday.  This can be accomplished by leading self-first and keeping the needs of my followers in mind in my decision making.  I will keep working toward my goals in order to reach my full leasdership potential no matter how long it takes. 


Reference

Northouse, P. G. (2015). Leadership: theory and practice 7th ed. Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publishing.

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