Ass 4 Reflective essay - Overview & requirements. eLA comments on submission 57% (I loathe these type PDF

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Overview & requirements. eLA comments on submission 57% (I loathe these type of essays as mix up critical analysis with descriptive)....

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Assignment 4: Self-reflection Teaching period 2, 2018 ORG30002: Leadership in Context Assignment 4: Self-reflection Word limit: 1200 (+/- 10%) Weighting: 10% Due date: 5pm AEST Monday 1 October 2018 (Week 12) After you have read this information, head over to the Assignment 4 Q&A discussion board to ask any questions and see what your peers are saying about this assignment. Assignment overview Developing leadership skills requires not only knowing what leaders do, but also understanding your own skills and getting the opportunity to practise them. Over the course of this unit, you have participated in leadership portfolio activities, reflections and group activities that have allowed you to consider, experience, and/or develop various leadership skills. In this final assignment, you will produce a reflection and review that summarises your participation in the unit and the insights you have gained into your own leadership skills. Related learning outcomes This assignment assesses the following unit learning outcomes: 1. Identify and describe the elements of effective and authentic leadership. 2. Research and apply leadership theories to develop critique of leadership practice in order to evaluate challenges to leadership in a range of contexts and sectors. 3. Understand the value of reflective practice and apply self-reflection to develop an awareness of diversity and personal leadership contributions. 4. Reflect on the contribution of shared meaning and values in shaping organisational culture and building social capital in increasing complex organisational environments. Assignment details Write a 3-page paper (1200 words) in which you reflect on your personal learning experience during the last 11 weeks. Use any format that works for you. For this assignment, it is important that you maintain a weekly diary/learning journal/learning log to record your weekly learning experiences. You may draw on the activities (both individual and group) that you had completed during the teaching period (first 11 weeks) being careful not to provide a pure description of the weekly activities. The activities can be used as supporting evidence to help justify and answer some of the questions below. This information will help you to organise your final write up for the self-reflection due in Week 12. You could use some of the following sets of questions as your framework to structure your reflection: What do you now understand about leaders and leadership? 

Reflect on your relationships with your group and others in class, what learning experiences did you find most useful during the last 11 weeks?

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What is your personal definition of leadership?

What skills are required for leadership?

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What did I learn about my own leadership skills in this unit?

What have you learned about yourself with regard to leadership? 

What leadership skills do I have?

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What leadership skills do I need to develop?

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How can I develop the leadership skills in which I lack experience or confidence?

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Do I feel comfortable taking a leadership role? Generally? Or only in specific situations? If so, in which ones am I willing to be a leader, and in which ones would I be reluctant to lead?

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What are some of the possible implications for your own work as a leader?

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What improvements would you suggest?

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What important personal intention did you develop in your journey that you consider will influence and motivate your way forward?

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Action Plan—identify which aspects of leadership you wish to improve and where and how you will practice these new leadership skills and to what extent.

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What is the planned course of action including a timeline that you would like to put in place to develop your leadership capabilities?

What have you learned about the role of followers in contributing to leadership effectiveness or ineffectiveness? 

You may wish to consider what your experience as both protégé and coach revealed about a leader’s/manager’s ability to motivate to exercise power/authority when they lack coercive/penalising powers.

What have you learned about leadership that you can apply to work and other situations in which you are either a leader or a follower? You may want to consider an instance involving leadership (your own or someone else’s) in your workplace or in another situation: What did you learn in this unit which gives you a better understanding of what occurred and why it was an example of effective or ineffective leadership? Assignment criteria 1. Use of framework (i.e. set of sample questions above). 2. Content and support. 3. Depth of reflection. 4. Referencing, format and presentation. Your work will be assessed using the following marking guide: Criteria

Credit 60-69%

Distinction 70-79%

High Distinction 80-100%

Use of framework (20%)

Well-considered use of framework. One or two aspects of the framework were used.

Highly-considered use of framework. Some aspects of the framework were used.

Outstandingly considered use of framework. The reflection was clearly based on a good

Criteria

Credit 60-69%

Distinction 70-79%

High Distinction 80-100% selection of aspects of the chosen framework.

Content and support (30%)

Evidence of regular participation in leadership portfolio activities, team assignment activities and discussion board posts. Ideas are supported with examples.

Significant participation evident from leadership portfolio activities, team assignment activities and discussion board posts. Ideas, whilst supported with examples, could be further developed.

Excellent ideas presented, supported by evidence from the leadership portfolio activities, team assignment activities and discussion board posts.

Depth and breadth (30%)

Reflection on issues evident in discussion. A sound attempt was made to discuss future implications but this is unclear.

Very good reflection on issues evident in discussion. A basic discussion of future implications.

Deep reflection indicating learning has taken place with a clear and coherent discussion of change in attitudes and insightful thoughts of future implications.

Presentation, format and referencing (20%)

Good standard of presentation and formatting with clear communication. Evidence of additional research. Presents intext citations/reference list consistently and clearly.

High standard of presentation and formatting with clear communication. Evidence of depth of research. Sources are authoritative and current. Direct quotations mostly identified with quotation marks, citation and page numbers. Presents intext citations/reference list consistently and clearly.

Excellent standard of presentation and formatting with clear communication. Makes use of multiple research sources that are sound and current. Direct quotations are identified correctly. Correctly uses consistent referencing style for all citations and reference list.

Assessment declaration All students must agree to the following declaration when submitting assignment items. Declaration and Statement of Authorship 1. I have not impersonated, or allowed myself to be impersonated by any person for the purposes of this assignment.

2. This assignment is my/our original work and no part of it has been copied from any other source except where due acknowledgement is made. 3. No part of this assignment has been written for me by any other person except where such collaboration has been authorised by the lecturer/teacher concerned. 4. I have not previously submitted this work for this or any other course/unit. 5. I give permission for my assignment response to be reproduced, communicated, compared and archived for plagiarism detection, benchmarking or educational purposes. I understand that: 

Plagiarism is the presentation of another person's work as though it is your own. It is a form of cheating and is a very serious academic offence that may lead to exclusion from the university.

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Plagiarised material may be drawn from published and unpublished written documents, interpretations, computer software, designs, music, sounds, images, photographs, and ideas or ideological frameworks gained through working with another person or in a group.

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Plagiarised material can be drawn from, and presented in, written, graphic and visual form, including electronic data and oral presentations. Plagiarism occurs when the origin of the material used is not appropriately cited.

I agree and acknowledge that: 1. I have read and understood the Declaration and Statement of Authorship above. 2. I accept that use of my Swinburne account to electronically submit this assignment constitutes my agreement to the Declaration and Statement of Authorship. 3. If I do not agree to the Declaration and Statement of Authorship in this context, the assessment outcome may not be valid for assessment purposes and may not be included in my aggregate score for this unit. Penalties for plagiarismLinks to an external site. range from a formal caution to expulsion from the university, and are detailed in the Student Academic Misconduct Regulations 2012.

57% Grade “Dear Jane, The self-reflection is the final submission for this unit so I wish to take this opportunity to thank you for your hard work and efforts in your study of this unit. The reflection has drawn on some critical analysis concerning theories. Evidence of your participation and interaction with others in the learning group and team work could be reflected on. The reflection could have been improved by linking to specific portfolio and team assignment activities and discussion board posts. Ideas supported with specific examples, could be clearly stated and further developed. Scholarly references and journal articles have been sourced and synthesised in some paragraphs. More concluding sentences that explain the implications of the experience upon future leadership behaviours would have been useful. Use of framework (20%) 17/20 Content and support (30%) 10/30 Depth and breadth (30%) 19/30 Presentation, format and referencing (20%) 11/20 Total mark 57/100”.

Self-reflection on leaders and leadership Introduction “Take me to your Leader!”, demands an alien of an earthling. A ‘Leader’ is a complex, passionate, protagonist who brings out the best in followers to achieve a better, sustainable, future. As opposed to an alien demanding a “Ruler”, as those people direct and control. If the universe took King Henry IIIV as our ideal, we earthlings would be viewed as a very unethical, biased, selfish humanity. This essay is an opportunity to reflect on my learnings of Leadership in context with my own experiences and desires.

I recognise a leader as being strongly ethical; behaving in such a way as to be a moral example to followers. If a leader does not have the characteristics and interpersonal abilities to instil confidence, they will fail. My definition of leadership involves practicing empathy and creative thinking to find alternatives when there are roadblocks along our path. Effective leadership needs a special skill set for leadership ability. These skills act as the catalyst to drive results. Without education, self-development, self-discipline and on-the job experience, a graduate will not emerge as a leader. Taking the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator test (Myer & Briggs foundation, n.d.), is a key to understanding my preferences and best-fit vocation. Undertaking the quizzes supplied in our eText (DuBrin 2016), meant analysis of my skills is insightful. I feel uneasy when placed in a leadership role. This disquiet is unfounded, according to the statements ascribed to my results. My self-image is extremely confident, genuinely optimistic, and trustworthy, which is conducive for elevating performance attitude. I am an effective communicator; expression is verbal and nonverbal. In a multicultural work environment, I function well by respecting individual’s differences; modifying my conduct accordingly. My use of conciliatory influence tactics creates a win-win situation when negotiating resolution of differences of opinion. Additional interaction with academic on-line team, and, ranging research, has given me greater awareness of driving my own momentum; not to procrastinate. I desire leadership experience to achieve adroitness in adapting appropriate styles to situations. Participating in leadership forums provides expert knowledge. An alternative is volunteering to coach a netball team in a new social demographic. Provided there is controlled risk and uncertainty, relationship-orientated leader style is my preferred technique in team work. An environment filled with a diversity of stakeholders and task requirements is where I perceive myself being an effective leader. If I can instil my vision, of respectfully pooling our experiences to perform creatively and successfully, then the entire organisation will benefit. Through experience and strong situational perspectives, I acknowledge that I become bolshy when authority dictates my style. Being a leader in a hierarchical corporate setting would turn into a nightmare. Heavy-handed tactics will receive increased resistance from me.

When I develop greater competitiveness with team members, the challenges can energise everyone. I can do this without using hard tactics. Another skill that I am lacking is the practice of rewarding others who have helped us get what we want. Recognition is positive organisational politics. Improving my political participation, and gift-giving, are tactics I have not had many opportunities to use in a work environment. Initially, to bring a person a gift of appreciation, I could cut bouquets from my own garden. This recognition is highly motivating with relatively low cost. With experience, I can gauge its valence for the receiver, then opt for alternative forms, such as a personalised gift voucher. This variety elicits higher impact, in my opinion. Consulting the team for suggestions of social media groups to follow will make me confident that I’m engaged in areas relevant to my peers. If I express enthusiasm in certain threads, hopefully, it will provide me with positive and constructive feedback. Energising competitiveness creates an environment where a team can excel. However, I will struggle to stave off the individual win-lose mindset. Continually refocusing on our shared, collaborative goal to benefit our organisation can become my exercise. I can demonstrate that skill and perspective diversity are vital to the challenge. Individual performance will be placed on at a lower value than team success, and, rewarded accordingly. I will frequently ask if we are competing on the most effective and efficient path. In my personal and professional journey, I intend to be proactive in pursuit of learning opportunities, not ‘wait and see what comes up’. My first action this term was to resign from a role restricting influential strengths, and, had no avenue to improve on other work-related skills. Fortnightly, I search for jobs requiring leadership skills. Where I note a skill deficit, it is added it to a list for my reassessment. At our monthly review, my job search provider gives feedback. I will push them for placement with governmental organisations as these frequently implement leadership succession. Volunteering to umpire and coach junior netball teams will give me seasonal practice in engaging with non-office team behaviours. My music mentor gave hours of his time to show me techniques to raise creativity and self-discipline. It empowered me with confidence to extend myself. Plus, my peers approved his influence. This was a wonderful experience of how constructive, caring leadership affects others. I know of a small business manager-leader who has eroded his influence. His fixed attitudes and behaviours are unsuited to their industry evolution. Listening to an inspirational speaker, such as Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929 – 1968), encourages me to point out the emergent environment would be best served by applying the situational leadership II model (DuBrin 2016, p. 157). Forming a unique relationship with every employee, he can estimate both the competence and commitment to perform. His support and direction should not hinder outcomes. Our stakeholders mentioned increased incidents of unethical conduct and business practices by the manager that harmed the organisation (Carrol 2015, pp. 189 – 200). This decline in values set an appalling precedent in the work environment. Relationships weakened through verbal abuse and obviating accountability. It has been most useful to learn about different leadership techniques. I am an enthusiastic fan of adapting leadership style to contingency or situational change. I have witnessed the Robert House Path-goal model successfully drive a franchise’s spare parts division to outperform previous records. Fielder’s Contingency model has been applied during numerous family holidays! As I do not have an extensive network of support, I could not significantly help in a crisis situation. Reading DuBrin (2016) and McShane (2015) has taught me that a business suffers when a strategy limits views and uitlization of people’s skills.

Conclusion I believe a leader’s authenticity taps into the human potential to bring about change. Just because an individual has an authoritative position or title, they will not necessarily have adopted a successful leadership aspect to maintain a following. The learning materials of this unit highlight that my interpersonal behaviours and characteristics are effective traits to form a positive following. Within organisational context, I am keen to develop varied strategies to evaluate, motivate and communicate vision to group members. Given the chance

to attend further leadership forums, it will be fantastic motivation to hear other’s experiences. My short-term plans are to sharpen my leadership skills academically, or, in a voluntary coaching role. Long term, my mission is to inspire, to motivate, to lead others to greater outcomes!

References Carroll, AB 2015, Business & Society: Ethics, Sustainability, and Stakeholder Management, 9th Edn, Cenage Learning, Mason, OH, USA. DuBrin, AJ 2016, Leadership: Research Findings, Practice, and Skills, 8th Ed, Cengage Learning, Mason, OH, USA. McShane, S 2015, Organisational Behaviour: Emerging knowledge, global insights, 5th Edn, McGraw-Hill Australia. Myer & Briggs Foundation 2018, My MBTI Personality Type, viewed 29 July 2018, < https://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/home.htm?bhcp=1>....