In your current organization, school, sports team, how many diverse culturally backgrounds can you identify? Do you observe any behavioral differences? Are there more male or female leaders?

In todays society, it has become extremely important for organization to foster diversity and inclusion into their work environment. America is known as the land of opportunity, which attracts individuals for all parts of the world. Diversity and inclusion provides a safe environment where individuals can be valuable and respected to voice their perspectives and ideas. As a result, these ideas and innovation can greatly contribute to organizational success. However, some diversity may not settle in the most calming way, for example gender norms and leadership.

For decades, there has been a traditional stigma on the tasks and activities that women should and should not part-take in. These stigmas has placed a strong hold on women today seeking higher positions. They are struck with barriers such as organizational, interpersonal, and personal (PSU WC, 2023).
1. Organizational- conditions and practices that put women at disadvantages. Oftentimes individuals are viewed as incompetent and weak to be leaders. Society also believes they will be bias to promote other women than men. These ideas can become damaging to an organizational.
2. Interpersonal- obstacles occur in working relationships. Many individuals have the idea that women should not hold certain high positions for example presidency. As a result, they often lack the appropriate support needed to advance them in their fields.
3. Personal- elements in women’s personal live.These elements can be issues with family, financial and/ or bills. These personal elements can affect the behavior displayed in organizations and can create conflicts. Women tend to be more emotional than men and organization do their best to avoid having emotions mixed with business.

By understanding and assessing the needs of diverse groups within an organization, leaders fosters a safe, positive and inclusive environment for everyone to feel valuable. In use of an inclusive leadership, organization has the ability to grow accounting for many changes in this dynamic world, meaning long term success.

References

Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2023). PSYCH 485 Lesson 13: Leadership and Diversity.

What makes great leaders? Once again, we are posed with the question of what makes a great leader. There are several approaches such as the traits and skills approach, which provides attributes that makes up a great leader. Servant leadership, a controversial leadership style that is overlooked by many individuals based on name for example. However, Servant leaders has a need/desire to serve others so that they can develop themselves (PSU WC, 2023).

Have you recently serve anyone in which you would not be benefited from? If so, how frequent? Do others grow from your services?

Servant leadership aims to develop and exponentially create as many effective leaders for the future. A society filled with these leaders will help us become more innovative, safe and thriving  as a society.  How does one become a servant leader? Northouse has provided 10 characteristic guidelines that may help individuals become effective servants to one another.

Listening – Leaders must listen to followers being served in order to have a clear and transparent understanding of their needs.

Empathy– Leaders must truly care for their followers and have their best interest.

Healing – Leaders must relief followers that are struggling, by creating ways in which they can help themselves and guiding them throughout.

Awareness – Leaders must be aware of their followers needs in order to serve them. While, each follower may have similar needs, others may have differ. Therefore, it is important to be aware of the different needs to be fulfilled for each follower.

Persuasion– Leaders must be able to influence others. Without influence, leadership does not exist.

Conceptualization – Leaders must have a vision or plan accounting all the present details such as followers and organizational goals.

Foresight– Leaders must be able predict future circumstance that could occur.

Stewardship– Leaders must be able to manage their followers and effectively help them achieve their goals, which in return benefits the organization.

Commitment to the growth of people – Leaders must extensively and effectively work to develop others to be leaders. They must have drive or high motivation to accomplish the task.

Building Community – It is important that leaders create a safe and positive community for the followers to grow amongst one another and build relationships.

Based on these characteristic guidelines, individuals are able to grow to their full potential while helping others develop as well. In my opinion, Servant leadership should be adapted by leaders in order to successful create effectively leaders and more frequently. As leaders leading by example, they are paving a platform for others to follow which can be beneficial to society.

References

Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2023). PSYCH 485 Lesson 11: Servant Leadership. https://psuinstructure.com/courses/2258466/modules/items/38306099

Northouse, P.G., (2013). Leadership: Theory and Practice. (9th Ed.) SAGE Publications Inc.

I remember working for a tech company my first year during college. It was a startup company in the local area, opened for about 5 months. When I began there were only 2 employees excluding our supervisor. They work extensively well ensuring customers products are fixed and out the door in a short period of time. I recall right before school began we started getting tons of customers looking for new devices or trying to fix their old ones. We didn’t have as much time to fix the computers in the system in the same timeframe. Some of my friends started applying for the job and were able to start work immediately. Within 3 weeks of working for the company, my supervisor asked me to become lead representative in the store. I was very hesitant in my answer because I was placed in a leadership position this fast, but he assured me I will be good and if I need any assistance he will be there to help. I took some time to strategize ideas that could help balance the workload, while not making individuals feel overwhelmed. I also cooperated with fun milestones that individuals could work towards throughout the week to keep them motivated. 

Upon my 3 month milestone, the company grew and our business became more popular within the area. We started getting referrals and recurring customers that enjoyed our service. My manager was very pleased with my performance, I was awarded bonuses and a present, which I turned down to receive a dinner for all the employees for their hard work. While I was unaware that I could possibly lead my team, my environment and the circumstances played a vital role to the behavior I exhibited in my role.

Situational leadership emphasizes the importance of leaders adapting to unique situations or tasks to meet the needs of their followers to achieve the goal (PSU WC, 2023). There are 4 behaviors in which a leader may exhibit based on situational leadership: Directive, Supportive, Participative and Achievement-oriented. 

My leadership style can analyzed based on these 4 behaviors. I provided a supportive environment for my coworkers by encouraging them as we work. However, employees did not require much support as they we were motivated and excited about the job. I part-take in doing tasks rather than directive others on what to do. We often hear the phrase “Lead by Example”. I ensured I went above and beyond in doing my tasks because others will join as they see you working just as hard as they are. In addition, I scored high on achievement orientation. Creating new and fun ideas was to keep coworkers engaged and motivated, but mainly to achieve the common goal. I strongly believed if the goal is not being achieved then leadership has failed. It is vital for leaders to be flexible to the specific needs of their followers while achieving the common goal.

References

Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2023). PSYCH 485 Lesson 5: Leadership in Work Settings https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2258466/modules/items/38305990

One of the most recent movies I’ve watched is “The Longshot”. The movie is based on a true story of a 11 year old girl (Jasmine Plummer)  who had the opportunity to play as the first female in the Pop Warner Football Tournament. Jasmine received many backlash from peers and opponents that she was incapable of playing football and should try other sports for girls. With coaching from her uncle, a former football player, she was able to play on the boys football team as the quarterback and eventually rise to ranks leading the team to the championship. 

While there are various definitions to what leadership is, I believe the trait approach does provide a more basic guideline for individuals to possess to become leaders. 

According to  (Northouse), the skills approach is a process by which individuals use to evaluate potential leaders. This approach requires 3 basic skills: Technical, Conceptual and Human.

1. Technical Skill- is the ability to accomplish the task. 
2. Conceptual Skills- The ability to work with ideas and concepts.
3. Human Skills- the ability to work and communicate with others.

Evaluating Jasmine capabilities based on the 3 basic skills listed by Kaz proves she had 

1. Technical Skills – Uncle recognized that Jasmine was able to throw a football better than the boys that were playing for the team. Even though she didn’t show an interest in playing, her uncle sparked her interest by making the exercises enjoyable. In addition, she proved herself by making game winning strategic plays. 
2. Conceptual Skills- Jasmine was able to create ideas and plays that were vital to the team’s winning streak. One of the best plays in the movie was when she decided to go for “the longshot” in the championship to win the title. She planned every detail, timing releasing the ball before the clock, and anticipating being tackled. 
3. Human Skills- Jasmine struggled to positively communicate with others when she first joined the team. A girl was never seen playing in the league, so it created quite a stir. However, Jasmine quickly proved why she was there and eventually she began making tons of friends. Sometimes, her teammates did not quite understand what to expect, but they had faith in her abilities so they followed.While many individuals set out to be leaders, The skills approach organizes the traits which leadership requires. With the help of these guidelines, individuals are able to focus on 3 general requirements which they can later expand upon. Kaz argued that skills were accomplished by leaders who possess the traits, because that is simply who they are. 

   References

   Northouse, P.G. (2023). Leadership: Theory and Practice (9th Ed). SAGE Publications, Inc.

   Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2023). PSYCH 485 Lesson 4: Skills Approach. 

   
   
   

 

Companies struggle to find effective leaders, as most leaders do not possess all skills and attributes for a job. As a result, companies choose individuals that possess the most leadership skills that are needed for the required task. “Skills approach focuses on the behavior in which individuals perform that makes them great leaders” (PSU WC, L4.p1). While individuals may possess the most leadership skills required, they can also develop other skills making them more strong as a leader. Based on Robert Kaz, there are 3 specific skills that leaders must possess in order to be successful

 

1. Technical Skills- the physical aspects of the job. These aspects may require employees to have typing speed or  computer skills such as using office 365 (PSU, 2023).

 

1. Human Skills- Being able to develop a strong relationship with employees creating a strong leader-follower leadership style. Leadership is an interactive process. Without a strong influence and relationship of employees, leadership does not exist. (Northouse, 2022). It is important for managers to build an interpersonal relationship with employees, understanding more of their feelings/emotions, being able to provide appropriate support and communicate effectively with employees. These are favorable factors that help lead to the success of the company.

 

1. Conceptual Skills- having creative ideas that can help accomplish the goal (Northouse 2022, p.58). Oftentimes repetitive tasks can become boring or overwhelming, leading to productivity levels decreasing. It is important for leaders to frequently come up with fun ideas, for example: reaching a certain number of sales or reviews in a day  and linking them with rewards such as gift cards or early dismissal for the day, these can help boost employees’ work productivity and motivate them towards work.  (PSU, 2023).

 

In addition to the specific goals required of leaders listed by Robert Kaz, the skills model focused on 3 specific components required of leaders: Individual Attributes, Competencies and Leadership outcomes (PSU 2023). 

 

1.Individual attributes focus on personality, cognitive ability and how motivated leaders are. Are leaders supportive?, do they go above and beyond at work?. The individual attributes of leaders are important to understand what leaders bring to the workplace and how others may view based on how they are.

 

2. Competencies focus on problem solving, social judgment skills, and knowledge. Can leaders solve problems quickly and effectively? Do they possess more knowledge than their employees? Do they communicate well with employees and customers?

 

3. Leadership outcome focuses on how effective and their performance- Are leaders successful in leading their team? Is the goal accomplished or getting closer to being accomplished? 

 

Leadership can be viewed in many different forms. Therefore it is important to understand what leadership skills individuals possess and how to learn other skills that can be vital within their leadership position. While some individuals may be born with certain leaders attributes that make them great leaders, oftentimes the appropriate leadership skills are normally taught to help individuals better understand what is needed within a specific environment.

 

References 

 

Northouse, P.G. (2022). Trait Approach. Leadership: Theory and Practice (9th Ed.). SAGE

 

Pennsylvania State University World Campus. (2023). Skills Approach. PSYCH 485 Lesson 4: Skills Approach. Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2245314/modules/items/37104660