Johnson & Wales University
Leadership Midterm
Tishan
Crowe
Lead
1010
Michael
Moskwa
14
October 2014
Crowe 1
Tishan
Crowe
Michael
Moskwa
Lead
1010
14
October 2014
Leadership Style Midterm
My personal leadership style that I relate to
most is Participative Leadership. This leadership style is based on leaders who
“share decision making with group members” (DuBrin 123). Within Participative Leadership there are
different behaviors that divide this style into three subtypes: consultative,
consensus, and democratic (123). Consultative leaders make the final decisions
but they confer with group members before doing so (123). Consensus leaders
“encourage group discussion about an issue and then make a decision that
reflects general agreement and that group members will support” (123).
Democratic
leaders “function as collectors of group opinion and take a vote before making
a decision” (123). They too have final authority on the group like consultative
leaders. All three of the above mentioned subtypes have one thing in common,
they all include their group members in decision making [which is why they are
participative leaders,] unlike the Autocratic Leaders who make their decisions
themselves and do not consider their group members’ attitudes or opinions
toward their decision (124).
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It is obvious that the Participative
leadership style is what I naturally possess through past experiences. For
instance, over the years working as an Office Assistant, I was held responsible
for numerous in-office projects and events. In each case, I always made sure to
gather the opinions and views of everyone who would be affected. After
reviewing all of the different input, I would then make my decisions based on
what was brought to my attention and what I already knew. In my opinion, it is
very helpful to be able to consider things from different perspectives. It
allows the actions taken to be unbiased, diverse and for the most part,
popular, or at least understood.
One particular example that comes to mind
is when I was responsible for creating a system to assist accounts payable to
run smoothly. I took my time and figured out what needed to be done, but
instead of just placing people with jobs, I allowed everyone to let me know
what they were good at and/or what they would have wanted to be responsible for.
I also listened for any areas that potentially needed improvement and how they
could be improved. As the changes took place, I noticed how much faster vendors
were paid and how much less complaints were received. I feel that by letting my
team have the opportunity to have a say, they were able to enjoy this aspect of
their jobs, which in turn allowed the task to improve overall. It is said that
“this behavior typically increases job satisfaction, employee retention and
skill development for the entire staff” (Tara Duggan, Chron.com). And as I noticed
myself, the results led to higher quality and increased customer satisfaction
(Duggan).
Another reason to believe that I am a
participative leader are the results on my “What style of Leader are you or
would you be?” self-assessment. The assessment
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included
20 statements in which I had to find mostly true or mostly false. Each
statement had it’s own result that would allow me to earn a point for every
response that matched the scoring. According to the assessment, scoring 15 or
higher indicates that I am or would be a participative leader. Just as I
thought, I was considered a Participative leader by earning a total of 17
points.
I am aware that participative leadership
has its disadvantages, such as the amount of time that can be spent in
meetings. However, this does not seem like a setback for a task-oriented person
like myself. I consider the time spent communicating as a mere investment for
several task-related behaviors, such as “direction setting”, ensuring “high
performance standards”, giving the “ability to ask tough questions” and “organizing
for collaboration” (DuBrin 110).
With my career goal of being an
entrepreneur, I personally think that being a task-oriented participative
leader will help my future business to be started on good terms and only
improve. According to Kanazawa and Miles, “you will immediately benefit from
big and practical ideas that boil up from the organization” (145). In other
words, ideas from all levels of a business can assist with improvements, and “that
is how innovation and breakthrough performance are achieved” (145).
I
am also grateful that I have some characteristics and traits of an
Entrepreneurial Leader with my specific career goal. Although it may have a
weaker influence on my leadership abilities, I am aware of the areas that I
need to improve on. These consist of “high degree of enthusiasm and
creativity”, ”visionary perspective combined with tenacity” and “preference for
dealing with external customers” (DuBrin 129-130).
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I
personally think that I need to be more creative and enthusiastic if I want to
reach my future goal, after-all, people want to be able to have different
experiences and products than what are available now. Society is always looking
for bigger and better. My visionary perspective is not my weakest point, but it
could use some improvement on observing potential opportunities. And lastly, I
really do not have a preference for dealing with external customers in
specific. I need to improve my relationship-oriented skills in general. Although
I know how to be professional, I am not a “peoples-person”. I prefer to work
behind the scenes on the tasks at hand.
To focus on my strong points of being an Entrepreneurial
Leader, I do have my “eye on the future” and a “strong achievement drive and sensible
risk taking” (129-130). I have always been the type of person to strive for
success and accomplishments with my future in mind. As for risk taking, I think
I do so sensibly because I always consider what I can gain and lose before
taking any chances. I also consider how much more likely I am to succeed before
taking a risk. A current example of this is attending Johnson and Wales. I knew
that an overseas degree would assist me in my future goal, but in order to take
this opportunity I had to put my job on hold and make the hard decision of not
being able to be with my daughter. Although there is the risk of tampering with
my relationship with my daughter, I knew this was something I could succeed at,
and when I do, I will eventually have more time with her once I have my own
business. My other strong points are the “tendency to act quickly when
opportunity arises”, “constant hurry combined with impatience” and a “dislike
of hierarchy and bureaucracy” (129-130)”.
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Between my Participative and
Entrepreneurial Leadership styles, I know that I will be able to achieve my
future goal of being a business owner. I will work on improving my weak points
and continue to focus on the advantages of my strong points.
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Works Cited
Dubrin,
Andrew J. Leadership: Research Findings,
Practice and Skills,7th Edition. Erin
Joyner. South-Western: Cengage
Learning, 2013. 110-130. Print.
Duggan,
Tara. “About Participative Leadership Style and Front Office Performance.”
Houston
Chronicle. Demand Media.
n.d. Web. 9 Oct 2014.
Kanazawa,
Michael T., and Robert H. Miles. Big
Ideas to Big Results. FT Press, 2008.
145. Print
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