MAN6304 Individual Personal Learning Assignment Sample

• Subject Code : MAN6304
• University : Edith Cowan University My Assignment Services is not sponsored or endorsed by this college or university.
• Subject Name : Project Leadership

Project Leadership - Portfolio 1

I work as a team leader in a software company. During my course work, I have taken presentations for improving the potential skills of my team members on those subjects which they aren't aware of. Working in a technical field is not an easy task as at any point of time the technology would change and keep pace with the market I need to make my time updated with the latest projects and languages that are introduced in the market. I had done client work for a variety of projects for both startups and large corporations. I have even spoken at conferences in London and New York on web design and design operations. I have addressed thousands of people ions the launch of my company’s product. Currently, I am handling the software design unit in my company. I work in Sydney and lives with my mother Jennie. I always take part in the extracurricular activities that are organized by the human resource management of my company (Maunsell, 2018). I have participated in chess and carom competition organized as a fun activity in the house. In addition to this, I along with my teammates have taken part in the cricket matches. I believe that I cannot alone achieve the goals set by the project manager. I understand the importance of being in a team and I believe that things which are impossible and be achieved by working together. I always try to help each member to succeed. I always ask my team members to learn I spend most of the time in learning new things.

As per the perspective of my team member, I may not be a perfect leader but I think nobody is and learning can help me to lead the team in a much better way than other leaders in the entire organization. I always try to represent myself with good humour and energy throughout the day because I feel to run a team of 10 it is important to be active so that the entire teamwork with enthusiasm and zeal. I take a genuine interest in the problems of the company and try to find out ways to resolve those problems. If I attend any meeting with the team members, I always ask questions and even give comments on the ideas put forwards by the team. My team member considers that I am a very straight forward person and it can be reflected in my work as well. I believe that transparency is important and communication plays a very important role in it. I always appreciate in the performance of the employees if they work well. I always thank them if they worked hard during a holiday in case of emergencies (He, Standen & Coetzer, 2017). I also thank the team members for their participation to complete the project undertaken by the team.

If I find that there is a problem with some of the member and he or she is not performing well then I try to escalate the issue by asking them the problem experienced. In case if the worker is not performing well, I motivate them and if required I arrange training sessions for them so that they can improve their work and become competent with other team members. I give full support to the workers and do not take credit on someone else’s ideas. While managing the team, I have improved my listening skills. I try to listen to other problems and treat all my team members as my friends. It is very important to be friendly with them to take the feedback from them where they think I am wrong. According to me, everyone views plays a significant role and all these things would help me to know how well am I working. I work hard to build my team members trust in me. I go out of my way to solve the problems. I have improved my communication skills as well. I want that team members after talking to me feel good. I do not want to be their boss but a friend who help each other to achieve the goals and help them to improve potential.

I wish that I can become an inspiration to other members of the organization. I want that employees feel genuine warmth whenever anyone meets with me. I greet everyone in the morning to establish a small conversation with them. I always try to be on time. I am an organized person and this is why I always keep things on its place. Even I keep my workplace proper. Be it organizing an event or conference I do it with utmost interest. I always take the views of the employees on how to improve the current system. I encourage all the team members to share their ideas and opinions not only in the technical field but also help them in maintaining a good client relationship. I accept high standards but even more I accept the support and encouragement from others. I use all of them to live a life of high standards.

Being a team leader is difficult as I have to handle situations of conflicts. In such cases, I listen well to the difference in opinions (Paunova, 2017).Even if I disagree with someone I do not show any sort of animosity with that team member. In difficulties, I stick to the issue instead of bashing on others personality. I always tell my team members what is expected of them. I lead steadily and make sure that my team meet the deadline of the projects. I have faced a circumstance in which due to unavailability of resources we failed to complete the project on time even in such a situation we all came out smartly by explaining things to the project manager. I try to maintain a peaceful environment for everyone so that the entire team member enjoys working with one another. According to me, my best thing is that I am optimistic and even in a difficult situation I always take a positive view to see the opportunities. I believe if one door gets shut there will be another door to the solution. The only thing required to find the correct door.

I do not let things to fester, if there is some problem between the team members, I ask the concerned people and try to quickly learn about the issue. After analyzing the issue, I help them out to come to some sort of agreement and put the things in the right place. I m a hard worker and I accept my team member to be the same. I am not at all sensitive to feelings but in spite of this fact, I try to explore the feelings and help employees to do things better. I have schooled myself a lot to be a good team leader (Rahmani, Roels, &Karmarkar, 2018). I take my leadership responsibilities seriously by keeping personal and professional work separate from one another. I put all the efforts to set the team objectives and develop a business plan to do the operations. I try to fulfil my duties well. My long term goal is to become the CEO of the organization and short term goal is to attain the position of the manager of a software development unit.

She is a perfect leader and an inspirational role model. Being a girl she has achieved a lot and her capabilities show that she deserves better. She has immense potential and it is visible from her work. She is phenomenal and a great leader. She has a good grasp on technical concepts and it is under her guidance the team can create software. She is a bit strict but that is the essential cause if she will not be, the team would not be able to provide flawless software to the clients.She is passionate about her work and also takes care of her mother. She is a great daughter and a great leader in the organization(Krcmaric, Nelson & Roberts, 2020). She is incomparable her oration, listening and thinking skills is superb. She is doing a great job and it is her efforts due to which every team member remain active and find ideas to solve the real-world problems of the clients creating software's for them in a very limited period.

The best thing about her is that she is not biased and give equal chance to every member of the team. Apart from the work she has a very jovial nature, she spends time with us and even takes interest to listen to our stories. She keeps her professional and personal life separate and it is due to this reason she earns praises from her managers in the organization. She and her team have worked on most difficult projects using the latest languages that were introduced in the market. It was a difficult job but she used a cooperative environment to learn and make others learn. It is because of the strategies she has achieved the position of team leader and that of the most successful women of the organization.

Project Leadership - Portfolio 2

I being a project manager has the responsibility of the entire project right from the scratch to the successful completion of the project. I keep an eye over all the activities in the project i.e. I closely observe work in all the phases of the software development life cycle be it ideation, planning, designing, development, coding, testing or maintenance (Luţaş, Nistor, Radu&Beleiu, 2020). I have all the rights to ask any question and penetrate any activity at any time in the product development life cycle. I detect the unstated assumptions and also resolves the conflict between the team members which arise due to mismatch in the opinions of the employees. The project manager has a lot of duties that he needs to perform but the organization play a significant role in providing them (Giri, 2019). I identify the risk throughout the project. It’s my primary concern to measure the risk. It is observed that most of the issues arise in a project are a result of the risks. I try to reduces the chances of risk and increases the chances of getting the project done successfully. The project manager has the power to make the decisions for a project. Thus I can actively plan for the resources required in the project. I monitor the tasks assigned to the individual team members and perform his duty of scheduling and developing a budget for the project simultaneously. I am lame if I does not have the authority to take decisions in benefit of the project.

Sometimes it happens in the organization that project manager does not have the authority in spite of having the responsibility to get the work done i.e. my team members have 3-4 other managers as well along with a resource manager. It is the resource manager who has the authority to appraise the salary of the employees based on their consistent performance in the organization. The resource manager assigns the task to the team members that have nothing to do with the project. He has also the powers as he is the ultimate authority of the organization. The responsibility that you have is not in line with the authorities and this is the reason it becomes difficult to accomplish the project which was to get complete under your supervision. The worst thing of getting less authority is that you have the work and the right potential persons who know to do the work but is still not able to assign the task(Silvius 2016). The size of the gap between responsibility and authority gets widened due to the structure of the organization. It is observed in a purely functional organization that all the project managers do not have the full authority to handle the team. In such cases, either the manager has to rely on the super authorities or have to demonstrate good leadership style only then it becomes possible for the manager to assign and get the project done by the team members. The statement here proves to be accurate.

I have an excellent entrepreneurial skill. It is because of these qualities I can think beyond the basic skills and manage the project well. I can then direct the teams and ask the members to finish the work on time. At the end of the software development, success and failure of the project is the sole responsibility of mine. I have technical knowledge of the project assigned and keep the flow of knowledge and information. It is because of the technical knowledge; Ican share my ideas effectively with the team. A manager with his leadership style can win the hearts of his team members (Haughey, 2018). I never leave my team with long checklists, spreadsheets and whiteboards. Instead, I manage the team by putting them in the front. I cut down bureaucracy prevailing in the organization and simulates the team members to achieve full potential. In addition to this, it is my responsibility to involve customers in the project or else keep updating them about their project's progress.

I know the importance of the final report and documentation as it helps them to represent through a comprehensive report that all the requirements of the project are achieved. It also gives a detail report of the history and future of the project(Henkel, Marion &Bourdeau, 2019). No matter how long is the project, all the project manager must ensure that software documentation is maintained effectively.It is often observed that a client judges a project’s success with its deadline. Moreover, it is not possible to negotiate with the deadline once the project gets started. It is my responsibility to set a realistic deadline for completing the project. If I will not have authority, I will have to demonstrate my leadership qualities like how to bedemocratic and commanding, how to coach team members, how to set a vision and affiliate a team. I know when to use which leadership style at the most appropriate place. It is due to this quality I am a successful project manager.

Project Leadership - Portfolio 3

Different leadership styleswork best for an organization. But all of these have some advantages and disadvantages associated with them. Thus, it becomes very important for the leader to identify which leadership style would suit him or her best.

According to me, the transformational leadership style will suit me the best as this leadership style would help me to improve upon the company's conventions and goals. It will help me to motivate and inspire all the members of my team to thinks out of the box and work exponentially hard to meet the projects deadline. Besides, this leadership style will help me to bring the change in the organization which will shape the future success of the company. The best part about this leadership is that it will give a room to the employees to be creative and find out solutions to real-world problems. Gartner in his report state that 40 per cent of the CIO's are in the information technology sector is leader of digital transformation. Further, it was identified that 34 per cent of them are responsible for innovation (Hawkins, 2017).

Transformational leadership provides an agile environment especially when the chances of risk is minimum even the project fails. There are some hallmarks for being a transformational leader and will achieve them all. I will make sure that employees follow a moral standard in the organization and will encourage others also to do the same. I will try to create a positive environment of work by motivating employees on a timely basis. I will help employees to move out from the motive of self-interest to a mindset of the common good. I will emphasis employees to openly communicate with the team members and ask them to corporate one another wherever required. I will monitor the employees and will provide them with coachings. It will help the employees to take ownership of the task assigned and will also help them to take decisions in favour of the organization. In addition to this, this leadership style will also help me to ask employees to be authentic and maintain transparency within the organization.

This leadership style will fit with team goals properly as this leadership style creates a valuable and positive change in the team members. Here are some characteristics that transformational leaders possess. I have often seen that when a leader is in position ego of that person takes over but this leadership style will help me to control my ego and will also stop me to interfere in areas where there is no requirement(Hoch, Bommer, Dulebohn, & Wu, 2018). It will also help me to put the team goals first and force the employees to give their best performances. This leadership style will help me to self-manage myself which is again important. Until and unless I am not on the correct path how will I direct my team members for the same. The key characteristics of a transformational leader are that they take the right risk. This characteristic will help me to trust my team members and take the most informed decision in favour of the organization by trusting my instincts and knowledge gathered from my team members. I will be able to take risky decisions for the growth of the organization.

Since, I am working as a team leader, thus I understand that being a leader is not always smooth sailing as I have to deal with the difficult situations as well like missed deadlines of the projects and so on. In such a situation transformational leadership will help to take clear and focused decisions by keeping values, vision and objectives of the organization. This leadership will further help me to share and understand the collective consciousness of all the team members. It will give me a clear idea of which actions I must take to elicit the employees to work and get the desired result. It will also help me to create a shared vision of the organization in which all my team members feel as they are part of it. This leadership style will also help me to treat each member of my team as a valued individual(Nguyen, Mia, Winata, & Chong, 2017).

I always wanted to be an inspirational model for others and this leadership style will help me in achieving my dream. In addition to this, I will become more receptive to the new ideas and will use the insights gained to make the right decisions for the organization. I know that it is important for me to change according to the changing market conditions and this is why I will train the team members to adapt new situations and seek a creative way to respond to the dynamic business environment. I understand that not every part in the information technology like security, new technology and shifting platforms will get benefit from my leadership style. Some structure and projects require consistency and reliability which is gained through transactional leadership qualities. Giving a lot of liberty to the employees can fire back on me and this is why I will make sure that employees are not taking advantage of the freedom which I have provided them.

I will try to develop valuable things by taking inspiration of the world leaders who are managing such a diverse workforce with ease through their leadership skills. I will evaluate the areas where I fall short and then will work on it. If required I will join leadership program conducted by the organization. It will help me to boost my role in the organization. I will keep learning through all the situations that my seniors encounter. It will practice discipline in learning and will try to be a discerning listener.

Delegation does not mean how to improve productivity and profitability of your own rather it means how you assign the tasks to others and get the highest return from the team members. I will, therefore, try to bring out the very best in the people. I will always put the team at first and if I have to delegate the tasks that I love doing than I will happily do that because I am the leader of the team and it will often happen that I have to work on the task which is difficult or new for the team members and delegate those task to the others which I enjoy doing. It would be a little difficult for me but since I accept the challenges therefore at some point of time I would be fine to delegate those works to others which I am perfect at. Delegation is considered as one of the most important and effective management skills(Brittenham, Lindquist, & Subramanian, 2016).It is realized that if a leader fails to delegate the work properly then he or she cannot advance to a higher position in management. Delegation allows the person to move from what a person can do to what he or she can manage.

I always pay less attention to the budget and cost of the project to the organization and leave it for the accountancy department but to be a good leader I will try to create a budget estimation of the projects that we are going to take from our clients. I will do proper planning of the budget as it is one of the most important tasks of a project manager (Suliman&Kadoda, 2017). As if the cost of the project exceeds than the company has to pay the extra amount and it will turn into a loss for the organization. Therefore, I will devise the budget of the project and will make sure to closely stick by it. I understand the importance of right funds allocation but sometimes fail in predicting the exact cost. I will improve my budget estimation skill through the constant learning process.

Project Leadership - Portfolio 4

Ethical dilemma situations in which I was stuck.

• Taking credit for other’s work

Employees often work in a team to complete a project; they all are assigned work according to their capabilities and understanding of the subject. All the team members perform equally to complete the task and contribute to the team's success. But sometimes it happens that one member of the team smartly takes the entire credit stating that it is because of him the project got completed. He does not allow the other members to speak and put every other member of the team in a negative light even though it is because of everyone's contribution, the project got complete (Rodríguez &Juričić, 2018). As a result, the person who took the credit gets an appraisal while all the others do not. Taking someone else’s credit is against the ethics but in most of the organizations, some employees take the other's credit as in my organization. I felt bad about the misconduct done by my team member. I could easily recognize this wrong practice as I was closely examining everyone. In spite of this, I did not take any action against that person.

• Harassing and inappropriate behaviour

I came across another incident when one of my juniors was facing harassment and inappropriate behaviour. She did not raise her voice against senior who was harassing her and making the workplace hostile. Being a woman even I have experienced workplace harassment and thus I can easily relate to her situation. She was worried about her job as reporting against a senior can result in losing her job (Mohanan, Gupta, &Sagar, 2018). Every member of the team was aware of the harassment and inappropriate behaviour but none of the colleagues helped her out thinking that the senior will fret them as a trouble maker. Since she did not have any other option in hand therefore she continues to experience that offence at the workplace. I was aware of the situation and using my managerial power I punished the employee by taking his position and giving it to a deserving candidate.

• Data privacy concerns

A data breach is a common practice in IT organizations. Employees use the confidential data of the organization for personal gains. Employee shares the details with other people who make use of the organization's detail to gain projects from the client for their organization. It is because of this the company have to face a great loss. One of the employees in my team was using sharing the confidential information outside(Sulsky, Marcus & MacDonald, 2016). Initially, I wasn’t aware of the data breach because the person who was conducting this illegal activity has gained my trust and it since I did not have any proofs for the person I could not take action against that person. That day, I realized that I cannot trust anyone in the team for any work even though I consider them as my team. A person can deceive me and the organization at any point in time to earn profits and I must always remember it while working with the people. I was aware of the breach but could not do anything as I did not have proof of it.

• Critiques of handling the situation

In the first incident, I should have stopped the promotion of the person who took the credit of the others but in spite of knowing that it was a team activity and I should appreciate every member of the team I only promoted a single person. I did not make justice with the others but I was bound with the terms and condition of the organization which permitted me to promote a single person of the team. Since he was proving that he did a very good job to others that is why it became important for me to decide in favour of him.

I truly appreciate how I handled the situation of harassment and inappropriate behaviour experienced by my junior. I am very well informed about the government policies which state that everyone should be treated equally at workplace irrespective of their position, gender and the work that they do(Nielsen et al. 2017). I am proud of myself that I decided of laying off that employee from the organization because of her misconduct with an innocent employee. I gave the empty seat to a deserving candidate who can justify the position that I provided him.

I failed in taking the right decision in this incident as I did not have proofs to prove that the data breach was done by the member of my team. Moreover, I was thinking that if I will raise voice against it the reputation of my team will get affected. I did not take the decision based on my moral standard and this proves I am not a good project manager.

• Implications from the incidents

I will try my best to make sure that the decision I will take will be ethical. I will do them justice in cases when the person takes the credit of the other. I will not let this situation to come further, I will evaluate the work of each member properly. I will continue to take similar kinds of decisions in cases of harassment against anyone. I will purchase internet tracking software to detect the cases of breaches (Jim Tadewald& CRISC, 2019). Moreover, I will make sure that none of the confidential information reaches my team member.

Project Leadership - Portfolio 5

Reflective practice within the team is a good process by which any team individual can gain an understanding of the personal experiences and knowledge required to deal with the situation.Reflection is something which we experience were less while working in the organization as we are always overloaded with the work and in a hurry to start another task assigned to us we often forget to reflect are feelings for the project(Sharp, 2018). Reflection is the most formidable thought a person can write down for future references in case a similar project comes the way. It is an active process which will help the project manager to tackle a similar situation in future. Sharing of reflection with others also helps to build a good relationship with the other team members of the organization. Reflection can also be used for training employees in an agile environment as it is closely linked with learning from experience(Graham and Walton, 2018).

It is a process by which an individual pause and think and then consciously analyze the decision taken during the project. It can be easily related to the theory of what you did to complete the task. A reflective process is an important tool that helps to learn from our profession instead of relying solely on some knowledge that you have acquired during your graduation or post-graduation. The reflective process is closely linked with PM&E that is planning, monitoring and evaluation of the project. It is observed that an individual learning process is not accepted by everyone(Sekarwinahyu, Rustaman, Widodo, &Riandi, 2019). Accepting new challenges and new information upsets the belief of the members in the organization who are not ready to accept the change. The need of the hour is to adopt a reflective process in the organization.

I always take out some time to reflect how I feel about the project, what are my experiences for the project, which types of hurdles I have encountered while completion of the project, which steps me and my team members have taken to reach the plateau of success, what is my thought over the project and what I would like to share with other people who will experience a similar thing while handling the project(Markkanen, Välimäki, Anttila, &Kuuskorpi, 2020). I believe that there should be an appropriate system for everyone to note down their experiences as soon as the person ends up his task. All the members in the team must use Gibbs reflective cycle for noting down their experiences. Gibbs reflective cycle covers all the points needed in a reflection right from the description to the conclusion. The structure of Gibbs reflective cycle includes description, feelings, analysis, evaluation, conclusion and an action plan taken to complete the project(Pullman 2018). The best thing about this model is that it can be used in various situation.

References for Project Leadership

Brittenham, P. J., Lindquist, D. B., & Subramanian, B. (2016). U.S. Patent No. 9,479,389. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Giri, O. P. (2019). Study on the Role of Project Manager in Improving the Project Performance. Technical Journal, 1(1), 133-139.

Graham, E., & Walton, H. (2018). Theological reflection: methods. scm Press.

Haughey, D. (2018). The role of the project manager. Project Smart, faculty. northseattle. edu.

Hawkins, P. (2017). Leadership team coaching: Developing collective transformational leadership. Kogan Page Publishers.

He, L., Standen, P., &Coetzer, A. (2017). The perceived personal characteristics of entrepreneurial leaders. Small Enterprise Research, 24(2), 97-119.

Henkel, T., Marion, J., &Bourdeau, D. (2019). Project Manager Motivation: Job Motivators And Maintenance Factors. Journal of Diversity Management (JDM), 14(1), 1-8.

Hoch, J. E., Bommer, W. H., Dulebohn, J. H., & Wu, D. (2018). Do ethical, authentic, and servant leadership explain variance above and beyond transformational leadership? A meta-analysis. Journal of Management, 44(2), 501-529.

Jim Tadewald, C. M. A., & CRISC, C. (2019). DATA ETHICS: DOING THE RIGHT THING WITH DATA. Strategic Finance, 100(12), 19-20.

Krcmaric, D., Nelson, S. C., & Roberts, A. (2020). Studying Leaders and Elites: The Personal Biography Approach. Annual Review of Political Science, 23.

Luţaş, M., Nistor, R., Radu, M., &Beleiu, I. (2020). Perceptions Regarding the Profile of an Ideal Project Manager. Amfiteatru Economic, 22(54), 608-622.

Markkanen, P., Välimäki, M., Anttila, M., &Kuuskorpi, M. (2020). A reflective cycle: Understanding challenging situations in a school setting. Educational Research, 1-17.

Maunsell, J. B. (2018). Portraits from Life: Modernist Novelists and Autobiography. Oxford University Press.

Mohanan, K., Gupta, S., &Sagar, R. (2018). Approaching Legal System against Sexual Harassment-A Dilemma among Young Female Adults. Glob J Nurs Forensic Stud, 2(114), 2572-0899.

Nguyen, T. T., Mia, L., Winata, L., & Chong, V. K. (2017). Effect of transformational-leadership style and management control system on managerial performance. Journal of Business Research, 70, 202-213.

Nielsen, M. B. D., Kjær, S., Aldrich, P. T., Madsen, I. E., Friborg, M. K., Rugulies, R., &Folker, A. P. (2017). Sexual harassment in care work–Dilemmas and consequences: A qualitative investigation. International journal of nursing studies, 70, 122-130.

Paunova, M. (2017). Who gets to lead the multinational team? An updated status characteristics perspective. Human Relations, 70(7), 883-907.

Pullman, E. (2018). Applying the Framework as a reflective tool: A teacher learner perspective. College & Research Libraries News, 79(8), 416.

Rahmani, M., Roels, G., &Karmarkar, U. S. (2018). Team leadership and performance: Combining the roles of direction and contribution. Management Science, 64(11), 5234-5249.

Rodríguez, J. V., &Juričić, Ž. (2018). Perceptions and attitudes of community pharmacists toward professional ethics and ethical dilemmas in the workplace. Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy, 14(5), 441-450.

Sekarwinahyu, M., Rustaman, N. Y., Widodo, A., &Riandi, R. (2019, February). Development of problem based learning for online tutorial program in plant development using Gibbs’ reflective cycle and e-portfolio to enhance reflective thinking skills. In Journal of Physics: Conference Series (Vol. 1157, No. 2, p. 022099). IOP Publishing.

Sharp, L. A. (2018). Reflective practice: Understanding ourselves and our work. Australian Nursing and Midwifery Journal, 25(10), 48-48.

Silvius, G. (2016). Sustainability as a competence of Project Managers. PM World J, 9, 1-13.

Suliman, S. M. A., &Kadoda, G. (2017, November). Factors that influence software project cost and schedule estimation. In 2017 Sudan Conference on Computer Science and Information Technology (SCCSIT) (pp. 1-9). IEEE.

Sulsky, L. M., Marcus, J., & MacDonald, H. A. (2016). Examining ethicality judgements of theft behavior: The role of moral relativism. Journal of Business and Psychology, 31(3), 383-398.

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