The And Responsibilities Of Leadership

According to the textbook, Introduction to Leadership: Concepts and Practice, there are over 100 definitions of the word “leadership”, and all of them are unique in their own way (Northouse, 2015, p.1). There are so many different aspects to leadership that is it nearly impossible to have one definition that covers every area. Each and every person that is a considered a leader has his or her own way of leading because every situation, whether it be work, a team, at home, etc., calls for different and distinctive ways of leading people. Northouse states that there are six main aspects of leadership; it’s a trait, ability, skill, behavior, relationship, and an influential process (Northouse, p. 3-6). Giving a clear answer as to what leadership is defined as is very difficult, but this paper will talk about my specific leadership skills and what leadership means to me.

Kouzes and Posner (2007) emphasize that leadership has a relational nature. Successful leadership is a function of how well people interact and positive relationships between leaders and their followers are important for getting things done (Truesdell, 2011).

As a Naval Officer I had the opportunity to experience both leadership and management. Today's Navy operates with fewer people and resources than before. Therefore, leadership and management are more important than ever. Very early in my career I was taught leadership and as I advanced through the ranks I experienced management.

I have learned throughout my career in the Navy and my master’s program at Old Dominion University, leaders come in all shapes and sizes. Leadership is a trait some individuals are born with and yet it is a skill one can learn, polish, and continually improve upon. No matter the case, in order for one to become a well balanced instructional leader, one must have a central focus of learning rather than teaching, know how to balance being a supervisor and evaluator, and finally, they must encourage and develop professional growth throughout the organizations culture.

Donovan Campbell, a New York Times Bestselling author as well as a former Captain of the United States Marine Corps offers unique insight on what it means and what it takes to become a remain a strong leader; in fact, he offers 8 chapters of insight, each one representing a different key concept on leadership. Each concept is different, however each one builds onto one another as the book progresses. While reading this book, I took careful notes on each concept as well as how I could incorporate each one into my own life.

Although leadership traits can be studied from textbooks, the best way to adopt good leadership traits is to follow an example of positive leadership. In my career, I’ve been very fortunate to have had numerous positive role models on which to model by own behavior after. The following examples are some situations where shipmates and supervisors have demonstrated outstanding leadership, and have had a profound impact on me:

In the near future, I plan to be an officer in the United States Navy. With that being said, an officer is required to have certain traits and abilities in order to succeed. What I believe the most important trait an officer can have is the ability to be an effective leader. Upon commissioning, as a young junior officer in the fleet, I will face challenges that will test my ability to lead efficiently. A trait that in my opinion, that is essential to every effective leader is being knowledgeable. In order to prepare to become an effective

According to Institute of Medicine (2011) situational leaders capabilities include skill presentation recognition, competence and pledge of others, and to be flexible. Carter et al (2005); Northouse (2013) defined situational leadership as an association between the supporter’s development level and leaders ' behaviour to offer encouragement and direction. The leaders maintaining constant communication, offering emotional support therefore, refer to their involvement as supportive behaviour. Similarly Schein (2010) noted that directive behaviour permits the leader to afford the group an amount of direction including their roles. The leader attains this by

Leadership is an important factor within a business environment and often plays a significant role in achievement of organisational success (Landis, Hill & Harvey 2014). However, leadership is an art, therefore there is no simple formula for effective leadership (Hughes, Ginnett & Curphy 2015, p.33) and a leader’s effectiveness can often only be understood in the context of the leader-follower-situation interaction model.

The first leadership theory Jamie Escalante demonstrates is Leader-Member Exchange theory. Jamie is waking the hall, looking for his classroom. Jamie enters the classroom, he sees the students standing and talking, he sees girls sitting in boys lap. Jamie tells the student to take a seat. They act like they don’t hear him talking. Jamie tell them again to take a seat, one girl makes a comment asking if the class can talk about sex. Jamie comment, “what one female student mentions could cost me my job.’ The students stop talking and start looking at Jamie and wondering what he is talking about.

Reflective practice is a highly significant way to develop the skills of students (Pavlovich, Collins, & Jones, 2007). Because it has value and can help students to focus on the issues they see in governance and leadership, it is a practice that should be undertaken by all students working toward a better understanding of management. In order to properly work within the confines of reflective practice, most students write a number of journal entries. Once they create these entries, they can consolidate and reexamine them in an effort to choose the best ones and work to put them all together into something that shows all of their views and opinions in the area of leadership. That is the focus of this paper, where five learning events will be addressed and discussed. Three of them will relate to the leadership and governance concepts that were discussed by Ladkin (2010).

The most popular and extensively researched situational theory of leadership was first proposed by Fred Piedler during the 1960s. Fiedler's model claims that group performance depends on the interaction of the leader style and the favorableness of the situation. Fiedlers major contributions consist of(l) iden-tifying the leadership orientation of the leader and developing a way to measure it, and (2) identifying three situational factors influencing leadership and developing a method of measuring them

Seagram was challenged with maintaining a good image to their employees as well as the public. Much of the challenge involved the lack of communication. According to Tay, Ang, and Hegney (2012), effective communication is defined as “a two-way process – sending the right message that is also being correctly received and understood by the other person” (p.2648). In order to communicate effectively, leaders must be active listeners, understand how perception influences actions, and understand the impacts of the lack of communication. In addition, communication is an essential element in enhancing value change in companies. The values must be well presented, understood for the implementation to be a success. One of a leader’s top responsibilities is to communicate expectations clearly and accurately to followers. Seagram had to change every aspect of the way that it was managed. They had to unlearn their old culture and new values had to be reinforced.

Leadership is about the interaction between the leader, the followers and the situation (Hughes, Ginnett and Curphy (2015, p. 15-26). If a given situation changes, the interaction between the leaders and followers can change dramatically. The leaders who understand well this interaction have a huge advantage because leaders are able to:

The success is achieved through the inversion of the traditional management principles (Brown & Duguid, 1991). This means the effective leadership is very necessary for the development and growth of the organization. In learning organization, the effects of leaders are very long lasting (Buj, 2012). The change in the policies is another point for the company to make remarkable success through innovation in the industry. However, there is no such kind of the problems associated with leadership and organizational behavior. Tough there are some potential points that can be a problem or issue for the company (Forsyth, 2009).