MBA401 Leadership Theory Assignment Sample

• Subject Code : MBA401
• University : Kaplan University My Assignment Services is not sponsored or endorsed by this college or university.
• Subject Name : leadership

People, Culture and Contemporary Leadership

Introduction to Leadership Theory

The main purpose of this reflection is to select an appropriate leadership theory that has created an impact in my life. In this report, I am going to discuss the ways in which it changed my perspective on leadership. Also, through the use of a self-analysis tool, I am going to determine my pros and cons in terms of the chosen leadership theory and the way in which I am going to make use of such information.

Charismatic Leadership Model

According to the charismatic leadership theory, the role of a leader is to generate a powerful feeling from those individuals who are working under him (Grabo et al., 2017). In this context, a leader usually motivates his followers to give complete dedication towards the work of the organization and thereby take the desired course of action. Such a feeling liaises the connection between the persona and its impact. The success of a leader can be determined in terms of the persona they use to resolve a particular issue.

Analysis

I think the charismatic leadership model is based on the persona of a leader. I think the Status which is a commercial communication organization is accurate when it says that a charismatic leader is the one who makes use of their persona as well as communication skills to create an influence on those who are following him (Mittal, 2015). I think this is the only reason due to which a personality-oriented leader is mostly dependent on their potential to get the trust and attention of the people around them. Moreover, through the various understandings I have gained about the theory, I can say that those leaders who embrace the charismatic style have the potential to react smartly to societal prompts.

Impact- Change in my Perspective

Initially, I used to think that the powerful persona of a leader has the greatest potential to generate a favorable outcome for the organization in which he is working. In this context, I had a belief that a charismatic leader makes use of his emotions to keep his followers encouraged as well as create a sense of calmness among the followers (Epley, 2015). Also, I had a feeling that such a type of a leader continiously instills motivation among the admirers.

Charismatic leadership created a huge impact in my life because of which I started to believe that not all the benefits mentioned above were completely true. There was an incident in my high-school days, where our head-girl was known to have a charming personality. Every student was influenced by her and were ready to follow the perspective demonstrated by her. But, she was very confident about herself and never considered the view-points shared by the other students. This led her to fail our school in one of the high-level competitions in the education sector.

Thus, after this incident the meaning of charismatic leadership changed for me as I think such leaders are very much arrogant and this creates an impact on their potential to influence others.

Self- Analysis Tool-Myer Briggs Personality Test Indicator

Through this test I determined that I like engaging in communication with a huge group and I get disappointed when other people are disappointed. Thus I am influenced by other people's feelings and emotions. Moreover, I am very much efficient in developing connections at my place of work, which I realized while doing my internship. Hence, I have the potential to serve as a charismatic leader and create influence on others and be influenced by other people's feelings. One more aspect of my personality I explored is that I get worried very easily in case of an undoubtful situation which is not a positive attribute of any leader. Also, if a charismatic leader gets anxious so easily he or she will lose their influence on their followers.

Development

I think in order to be an effective leader I should learn to control my emotions and don’t show my disappointment in front of others. I can achieve the same by practicing more professionalism and developing a pleasant personality that will enable me to convince others to follow me. However, if I demonstrate my disappointment in front of the followers so easily they will not believe in my emotions or my perceptions. Also, this will discourage the followers to achieve their objectives.

Democratic Leadership

As per the democratic leadership theory the leader tends to share responsibilities and powers among the other members of the team as well as the management and involve them in the process of decision-making ( Sandberg et al., 2015).

Analysis

I think democratic leadership model is very effective as it tends to motivate the employees and allows them to take part in the decision making process of an organization. In this way individuals will feel that they are an important part of the team and will contribute towards the goals of the organization more effectively (Fiaz, et al., 2017). For example, during my internship days, when I was consulted by my leader while taking a group decision, I felt valued and was thus motivated to work harder.

Impact

My view on democratic leadership did not really change but I think too much freedom should not be given to the members of the team as it will lead to an immense level of confusion.

Self- Analysis Tool- Your Personality Style

I have determined that I prefer working independently, which has the chance to make me over-confidence and reject the viewpoints of other people belonging to my team (Iqbal et al., 2015). This is also considered to be a drawback for a democratic leader that will create a negative influence on those I will be leading in the future.

Development

I should give up the habit of working alone without the interference of others. Sometimes, interference of other members plays a vital role in terms of generating more fruitful ideas and perspectives (Teles, 2015) . In order to achieve the same, I should learn to work in a team, give others the chance to share their viewpoints and include them in important decision-making processes by practicing demorcratic leadership style.

Autocratic Leadership Style

According to this model of leadership, the leader dominates the whole decision-making process and does not welcome much suggestions from the other members of the group (Holmberg et al., 2016).

Analysis & Impact

Initially, I used to believe that an autocratic leader tends to play an important role in discouraging his followers and hence they are unable to generate any fruitful result (Amanchukwu et al., 2015) . But after working as a team-leader in my college project, I realized that autocratic leadership is the need of the hour in circumstances when the situation is very complicated and it requires a strict course of action.

Self-Analysis Tool- Emotional Intelligence

Through this analysis I determined that I don’t understand the reason for my emotions, I go by logic, hence I am a successful autocratic leader. Also, I am unable to see the goodness in my team as well as their positive intention. This has the potential to create a negative impact on my team by discouraging them.

Development

I think I should learn the right skills to motivate the members of my team and this I can do by involving them in the decision-making process (Dartey, 2015). Reason being, if I don’t discuss with them, they are likely to be highly discouraged.

Conclusion on Leadership Theory

Through this report it can be concluded that all the three models discussed in the report has both its share of pros and cons, hence in order to be an effective leader an individual should change himself accordingly. Moreover, my greatest ability to communicate with a large group of people can help me to be a successful charismatic leader in the long-run. Also, my potential to emotionally persuade others will help to win the trust and admiration of my followers, who will be easily influenced by me and take the desired course of action.

References for Leadership Theory

Grabo, A., Spisak, B. R., & van Vugt, M. (2017). Charisma as signal: An evolutionary perspective on charismatic leadership. The Leadership Quarterly, 28(4), 473-485. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1048984317303466

Mittal, R. (2015). Charismatic and transformational leadership styles: A cross-cultural perspective. International Journal of Business and Management, 10(3), 26. Retrieved from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/e70a/bf8746a42e54000f17743b20dda079913f03.pdf

Epley, J. L. (2015). Weber’s theory of charismatic leadership: The case of muslim leaders in contemporary Indonesian politics. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 5(7), 7-17. 

Sandberg, Y., & Moreman, C. M. (2015). Common threads among different forms of charismatic leadership. Journal of Religion and Business Ethics, 3(1), 19. Retrieved from https://via.library.depaul.edu/jrbe/vol3/iss1/19/

Fiaz, M., Su, Q., & Saqib, A. (2017). Leadership styles and employees' motivation: Perspective from an emerging economy. The Journal of Developing Areas, 51(4), 143-156. Retrieved from https://muse.jhu.edu/article/662834/summary

Iqbal, N., Anwar, S., & Haider, N. (2015). Effect of leadership style on employee performance. Arabian Journal of Business and Management Review, 5(5), 1-6. 

Teles, F. (2015). The distinctiveness of democratic political leadership. Political Studies Review, 13(1), 22-36. Retrieved from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1478-9302.12029

Holmberg, R., Larsson, M., & Bäckström, M. (2016). Developing leadership skills and resilience in turbulent times. Journal of Management Development. Retrieved from https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JMD-09-2014-0093/full/html

Amanchukwu, R. N., Stanley, G. J., & Ololube, N. P. (2015). A review of leadership theories, principles and styles and their relevance to educational management. Management, 5(1), 6-14. Retrieved from https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/A-Review-of-Leadership-Theories%2C-Principles-and-and-Amanchukwu-Stanley/2307c61b175cb5ba9bdb614907bdb46cd242c1d6

Dartey-Baah, K. (2015). Resilient leadership: A transformational-transactional leadership mix. Journal of Global Responsibility. Retrieved from https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JGR-07-2014-0026/full/html

Remember, at the center of any academic work, lies clarity and evidence. Should you need further assistance, do look up to our Leadership Assignment Help