The Leadership Growth Plan.

CULMINATING ON LEADERSHIP

ORGANIZATIONAL PRO

My company is engaged in the importation of agricultural products that are also being traded to integrators locally and internationally . The organization has been in business for just about twelve years and is currently growing based on sales performance and liquidity . The organization just has about thirty employees , most of who were in the Sales Department . There are but seven key officers , which include the Managing Director and the Departmental Managers . The three supervisors already serve as the middle managers and the rest were in the

rank and br

The largest department which is the Sales Department conduct most of their business transactions on field and convene twice a month . With that set-up they are not that much too hard to handle since they make their daily transactions reports and have them reconciled with the office during meetings . The members of the Accounting Department were most often the people left in the office . Those members of the Logistics Team were always on field except with the Logistics Head who coordinates his transaction through phones to the different warehouses

As with employee benefits , my company might have been one of the most provident since of the employees , even the newly hired ones are receiving the minimum wage required by law . Health and life insurance are provided , bonuses and incentives , meal and travel allowances including car plans are also provided . In general , the company is set up as a less formal organization where communication to and from the management is open . As with assets and income , the company is generally stable

PERSONAL PROFESSIONAL PRO

I serve as the company 's Logistics Head . My main task is to process purchase s from local customers . What I usually do is to have these s scheduled according to of priority and volume . I have four key persons under me who are directly responsible with delivering the products to the customers . The Finance Head is the one personally handling the importation of the products including the documentation process . I am however the one directly responsible for controlling the stock inventory in assistance to the Finance Head

As the logistics head , it is a minimum requirement that I be able to have the analytical and technical skills required of my field . I do not have a background education on engineering courses but my background on accounting and finance enabled to make it up in the position . Cost and benefit analysis which I have learned in school are now being practically applied in the course of my service as a logistics head . In my line of work , I have to make several considerations before I come up with the final delivery schedules at the end of each day . With just three teams in my department , I need to have a sound judgment as to prioritizing the schedules without sacrificing much of the cost for the company

It is also important to note that all members of my team are older than me and so it is practically hard for me to delegate tasks considering our age gap . My point is that to command people who are older seem to weigh much consideration despite the higher position held by me . As their head , I can always impose company policies and my own set of rules and regulations for the team but respect and consideration make me devise some plan of enforcing their obedience and dedication without being coercive

SUMMARY OF NEEDED AREAS FOR GROWTH

In the area of self-assessment , I found out that I needed improvement on the masculine side of leadership . Although a balance of the feminine and masculine leadership behavior is held favorable , I found out that masculine behaviors are not always displayed by male leaders and vise versa . This is primarily the reason why I , as a male , still found to have been displaying much of the feminine behaviors . Due to the set up of the organization where I belong , I was able to realize that the masculine side of my leadership character needs improvement . I also found that I need to strive to become an HSM leader in to positively influence my subordinates . Upon assessment , I have realized that I am actually classified as LSM leader who has the inability to manage my emotions relative to situations . In employing influence tactics , I need to make efforts in improving the rational persuasion in affecting performance of my team members . Relative to the use of the four powers in to encourage subordinates to obey , I have low score in employing coercive power . In this regard , it is important that I find time to focus on learning to employ these powers in the most appropriate time and situation . Since coercive power is especially beneficial in times of severe scarcity , what I have to put more attention is too lessen being so considerate and learn to employ coercive power

Using the Michigan Organizational Assessment Chart , I have also learned that I have good enough level of task and social interdependence However I have learned that having enough of these leadership attitudes cannot ensure my success which is the reason why I need to focus more on enhancing these attitudes in coordination with the other requirements . I need to work on my weak consideration-orientation behavior and a weak orientation of initiation of structure behavior . Based on the chart of my least worker , I have found that I am relationship-oriented and that I tend to work well on favorable situations . This reality revealed that I need to practice working on any type of situation wherein I still can keep my good composure and sound judgment regardless of the situation . Relative to my need for leadership , I have found although not that severe that I am in need for someone to lead me in that I be able to maximize my performance level . This means that I do not really that character of self-leadership which suggests that self-reliance and self-confidence are the essential leadership attitudes that I lack . Concerning my personal goals and the organizational goals I also found out that I tend to be more collectivistic rather than individualistic . This suggests that I usually sacrifice my personal goals in to be in line with that of the rest of the team . This fact however is not always favorable at all times . I should also need to discern whether there is really a need to sacrifice my personal goals for the benefit of the team or that I am better off sticking to my beliefs and principles

On the test on participatory leadership attitudes , there is a need for me to work on enhancing my working relationship with the members of the team . Since I score far less than the favorable level , I need to work on opening the doors for suggestions , conversation and information sharing for the other members of the team . After conducting an inventory of my personal leadership substitutes , I also found that I need to focus on enhancing these additional attitudes that are also important as guide and motivation tools . There is an urgent need for me to make improvements on leadership substitutes especially on areas that concern organizational formalization and inflexibility , intrinsically satisfying tasks and on advisory and staff functions . I need to learn how to place more importance on the value of my subordinates including the importance I place for the organization as a whole . Scoring favorable in organization-based self-esteem , I still see the need to strive to the perfection of this leadership attitude

Finally , there is a need for me to work on improving my emotional intelligence specifically on the dimension of emotional facilitation thinking which suggest that I have to work on managing my emotions in stressful situations . An extra effort is needed on enhancing my charismatic leadership especially on the dimension of intellectual stimulation

LEADERSHIP GOALS AND PLANS TO ADDRESS

In to enhance work performance of my team , there is a need for me to make observations and re-assessment on the real need of my team . I need to know the level of influence they need and in what way can I possible impose obedience and maximize their work performance . I have plans of allocating much time on this assessment process , both for the organization 's need and my personal need as a leader . Since I found that my leadership style is not that much favorable or efficient enough to enhance work performance , I have to allocate more time and energy working on shifting to the leadership style most fitted to my organizational set up

As a leader and a team member , it is my goal to establish a more formidable yet pleasant working relationship with each member of the team . As posted on my action plans , I am to make myself available in group discussions and engage myself in more frequent informal talks in that I can display that leadership attitude of openness . This way my goal of getting the members ' trust and confidence in me will be somehow improved . Although it is not in my innate character of letting me exposed to socializations , I believe that for professional reasons and for the benefit of the team , I need to work on dealing with other people other than discussing job-related s

Communication is one big factor of the success of an organization , an old adage which I always believe in to . With this therefore , I would have to include in my plans the need for me to practice my patience and of handling my emotions even in stressful situations . What I can initially do , although this will not be that easy , is to expose myself with the stubborn and the least team members . This is not to challenge myself how I can go with my patience and the extent of pressure I can handle to maintain my composure , rather this is the best chance I can see to prove how communication and openness can settle even the most pressuring situations . Using open communication , I also have to make myself always clear with my subordinates . I believe that it should always be held important the leader and each member of the team to have each others ' expectations , thoughts and ideas clear and concise . This is important because communication can make an organization successful and thus it can be the most likely reason for the failure of any organization

Human resources are always the most important asset or element of the organization which made me believe that understanding each of these team members is severely important or shall we say vital to the success of the organization . I need to have a re assessment of the types of people in my team : their expectations , their needs and their commitments . I have plans of conducting an informal survey of their general situations whether financial or social situations in that I can have an idea as a starting point knowing what it is the best leadership style I can use to maximize their work performance

As social beings , it is my goal to at least make them feel their importance in the team . In addition , I also wanted that they develop their sense of belongingness , their trust and confidence with each other and their love for their jobs . In to accomplish all of these , I need to let them realize the importance of having these characters and how to properly display such attitudes towards each other . I wanted that each of them be able to learn the concept of respect and consideration For the benefit of my team and the whole organization , I have plans of learning the techniques of planning and coordinating things ahead of time . From here , I am planning to have a wider door for the participation of each team member especially on decision-making processes . As early as the planning stage , I wanted that each team member is encouraged to enhance their creativity and analytical skills by encouraging their participation

As for my personal leadership plans , I am decided to accept more complicated tasks in to practice my analytical skills . As for my patience and the skills of managing my emotions in stressful situations it is my preference to work with erratic and stubborn employees . This way , I believe that it is not only my plan of learning the skills of emotional management are enhanced but also I am giving myself the chance to teach (although not expressively ) my teammates the value of consideration and patience . I can also see my need to enhance my self-reliance and the character of self-confidence which when displayed well enough with the rest of team can positively influence their working behaviors . Although patience and consideration are favorable to the organization as whole , I do not have plans of compromising my culture and principle unless it is first proven that the consequence will be generally favorable to the organization

LEADERSHIP GOALS FOR THE ORGANIZATION

It has always been my goal throughout this course to maximize the performance of my team . Guided by this general organizational goal , I made plans of re-assessing the leadership needs of my team , what are the particular weaknesses and strengths of my team as a whole and the level of influence they need . It is also one of my goals of establishing a favorable working environment for the whole team . Relative to this it is my goal of establishing and maintaining a good working relationship among the members of team which can be practically extended to the organization as a whole . By making me available at all times especially in communicating (sending and receiving ) information that directly concerns our transactions . If possible the open communication line will be extended to the personal lives of the members since I believe that these personal matters also affect the work performance of each member

Trust and confidence must be built and enhanced in the team . Each member therefore has to be directly involved with the decision making process especially those people who at a particular plan will be much affected . Their ideas and contributions as early as the planning stage will be highly considered in that they also develop their sense of accountability and responsibility . This can also be a practical step in boosting their sense of belongingness and their moral as important members of the organization . The delegation of tasks should always be critically evaluated and that each task must not only cover that skills and abilities but the tasks should also pose a challenge to their cognitive abilities

For the benefit of the team , it is my one of my goals to impose clarity of the organizational goals and have a survey of their personal goals This is for the purpose of finding out if each personal goal are in line with the organizational goals and if not , I need to know whether there is a need for these employees to change their personal goals especially that which will threaten the goals of the organization . Despite their personal differences , it is still my goal of keeping them intact by developing their sense of responsibility and concern towards each other I believe that if people would love the people around them , they will practically be happier and satisfied with their job . In an organization all members necessarily have to be in relationship with each other and so the social needs of these people must be highly considered . My goal of establishing a favorable environment is not only to make them happy and comfortable in their jobs but also to make them feel worthy in the positions they hold

Trainings and seminars are practical steps to enhance the social skills but occasional trainings for their cognitive development can also be practical . It is my plan of developing the members of the team as enthusiastic , dedicated and committed employees and as socially healthy team members . I do not aim perfection for the team but to aim for a highly formidable relationship may be practically considerable . In my belief that social skills are also important , my plans are focused on enhancing these skills . I also believe that cognitive skills must already be developed during their education in their pre-employment years and so what are needed during their employment are enhancers . My team members in their line of work require highly analytical skills as what is required of the logistics tasks . These members were hired in consideration of these analytical skills . What they need as employed individuals is of managing these skills in line with their behavioral strengths , the support from the organization and the leader moral-boosters and those that strengthen working relationships inside and outside of the team and the organization

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Because every organization is made up of people who are social beings it is important that a leader be able to learn the importance of keeping a good working relationship with each member . As Stogdill observed , that leadership is a relationship (Stogdill , Ralph cited in Pierce and Newstrom ,

.29 . This relationship requires the importance of having self-assessment on the areas of self-confidence , leader-member exchange trust , and job affect and leadership motivation . A more specific observation asserts leadership as something that constitutes an influence relationship between two or more persons who depend upon one another for the attainment of certain mutual goals (Hollander , E .P and J .W . Julian , 1969

The concept of leadership also requires that a leader reflect on his inner masculine and feminine leadership qualities . In the study conducted by Kent and Mass on Leadership and the Role of Gender (Kent Russell L . and Sherry E . Mass , they found that gender or sex still matters when it comes to leadership issues . A leader must also develop the ability manage his own emotions and behaviors which is vital in influencing other people . A leader , according to Yukl , must strive to positively influence other members of the team in to have their commitment (Yukl , Gary 1989 cited in Yukl , Gary and J . Bruce Tracey ,

br 153

After learning the process of self-assessment and self-reflection , a leader must also be able to develop his action plan which involves the identification of the specific area of one 's personality that needs improvement . Using the Michigan Organizational Assessment Chart , one will be able to pinpoint the behaviors that can either shape the leader to an efficient or inefficient one . What is important in this area of concern is that a leader should be able to perform well on every situation he is bound to be in although Fiedler stressed that experience and situation are big factors (Fiedler , Fred E , pg . 204

In that leadership become somewhat wholesome in nature , it is also important that a leader focus on developing his participatory leadership attitudes , which placed importance on understanding the leader-follower relationship . Pierce and Newstrom stressed that it is vital in understanding the whole leadership process (Pierce and Newstrom ,

. 257 . Another area to focus on is of developing a healthy environment that can be both beneficial to the leader and the followers In to do this , the leader must be able to learn to display loyalty and commitment in that these qualities or characteristics are also displayed by the followers . Establishing and developing the culture of organization-based self-esteem will be beneficial in creating a healthy leader-follower relationship

Finally experts also recognize the importance of cultivating or developing the emotional intelligence of the leader . Emotional intelligence embraces the concept of managing the emotions of a person possibly in all situations . It is this EQ that measures how well a person display the right kind of emotion regardless of the stressful situation . Emotional Intelligence encompasses the dimensions of understanding the emotions of others , the perception and appraisal of such emotions and how they are regulated and facilitated . Wolff and colleagues stress the importance of developing one 's EQ by stating emotional intelligence plays an important role in leadership emergence (Wolff , Steven B . et . al

.353 . IN another aspect of leadership studies , experts also recognize the importance of possessing the characteristic of a transformational and charismatic leader . The seven dimensions of these leadership qualities are highly important that the leader must possess each of these dimensions in to increase his assurance of leadership success

PERSONAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL IMPLICATIONS OF LEADERSHIP GROWTH PLANS

Shifting of leadership style from the way the team members and I have been used to is really not that simple . To assess the most efficient leadership style for my organization requires much time , skills and knowledge on the area . What is probably the most evident implication is the adjustment that each of the members should undergo in that they can at least participate in the changes . Outside the organization self-monitoring can also be personally beneficial for me as a leader since I also have other people to manage and to deal with like my family and community where I belong . It is also a practical step to monitor our HSM characteristics in to continue controlling them until we gain the full access to LSM characteristics

Understanding influence tactics can be beneficial for the leader and the team as a whole . As mentioned earlier , human resources in the organization as social , rational beings who also have their different needs and situations that was to be addressed with . With an understanding of the influence tactics , leaders will be able to make a wider view of the team and that the needs other than the evident ones can also be properly addressed . That way , I as the leader can inspire them to work , encourage them to strive harder and thus can inspire them to love their job . If each member is able to feel their worth the organization is able to recognize the contribution then each team member can possibly work well enough because they know how much they are treated worthy by the team

It is not enough that I am able to identify my behavioral strengths rather the behavioral assessments must be applied practically in my job as a leader , an organizational member and as a member of the community The question will be : how will my behavioral strengths become useful in a particular situation ' The most fitted answer could have been that each behavioral strength must be learned to be applied in each situation , that is , not all of these strengths are fitted in all situations . Relative to consideration , the assessment practically implies that there is a certain level of consideration that each team member need , different from the level of the organizational need . The assessment of consideration is practically important in gauging the task delegation skill of a leader and from there , how the information and ideas from the team members can be useful for the company plans and programs . I have to stress that consideration entails mutual respect and of understanding the social needs of the subordinates as opposed to tolerance of errors and inefficiency

Because there is no best way of influencing team members , I believe that the assessment on influence tactics is practically applicable in identifying the most fitted tactic in each person and situation . The assessment therefore have taught me to have the leadership style flexibility at a certain level , a technique that can be useful in dealing with different people , of different level of leadership needs and are working in different situations . Independence at work also suggests that it is not wrong to ask for assistance . Independence teach us that simple tasks that are delegated by the leader should be done according to one 's best performance but in cases where there is uncertainty of completing the task according to expected , it is practically best to ask for assistance . From here , we can draw out the importance of having the work support of the leader . On the concept of collectivism and individualism , the assessment practically implies that there is at certain level that the leader must compromise his personal goals for the benefit of the team but the leader must also have to discern which of these personal goals can hinder or promote organization plans and goals

Emotional intelligence is practically important in dealing with different types of people in different situations . The assessment on EQ has taught me to manage my emotions despite the stressful situation . It also has taught me that it is always important that a leader is able to stay calm and maintain composure all situations in that his judgment will not be negatively affected . Finally , it is important that one should make others aware of what we want and expect from them so to make them also recognize your own needs and desires

REFERENCES

Fiedler , Fred E . How Do You Make Leaders More Effective ? New Answers to an Old Puzzle . Pp .204-219 . Abstracted from Pierce , Jon L Newstrom John W (2005 . Leadership and Situational Differences . 4th edition McGraw-Hill . Boston . pp . 189-220

Hollander , E .P . Emergent Leadership and Social Influence . Reading 14 pp .125-128 . Abstracted from Pierce , Jon L Newstrom , John W (2005 Leader Emergence . 4th edition . McGraw-Hill . Boston . pp . 125-137

Kent , Russell L . and Sherry E . Mass . Effect of Sex and Gender Role on Leader Emergence . Reading 11 . pp .95-98 . Abstracted from Pierce , Jon L Newstrom , John W (2005 . Leadership and the Role of Gender . 4th edition . McGraw-Hill . Boston . pp . 95-120

Pierce , Jon L Newstrom , John W (2005 .The Leader-Follower Relationship : Fairness , Trust and Ethical Behavior . pp 29-32

Stogdill , R .M . Personal Factors with Leadership : A Survey of the Literature . The Journal of Psychology .28 . pp . 35-71 .Cited in Pierce Jon and John Newstrom . Leaders and the Role of Personal Trait , pp . 61-65Yukl , Gary and L . Bruce Tracey . Consequences of Influence Tactics Used with Subordinates , Peers and Boss . Reading 18 . pp .153-160 . Abstracted from Pierce , Jon L Newstrom , John W (2005 . Leadership as an Influence Process . 4th edition . McGraw-Hill . Boston . pp . 139-161

Wolff , Steven B . Emotional Intelligence as the Basis of Leadership Emergence in Self-Manging Teams . pp . 348-354 . Abstracted from Pierce Jon L Newstrom , John W (2005 . Leadership and Work Teams . 4th edition . McGraw-Hill . Boston . pp . 348-354 ...