MGMT5006: Global Leadership - Followership -Vision and Direction - Assessment Answer

Global Leadership Assignment

Assignment Task1

Students are required to submit an individual reflective log that highlights the key concepts and theories addressed in the weekly lectures delivered from teaching week 1 to teaching week 5. and students are required to define and describe the key concepts and theories addressed in the following topics:

Topic 1: Why Global Leadership

Topic 2: Followership

Topic 3: Leading Global Teams

Topic 4: Thinking Globally

Topic 5: Responsible and Ethical Leadership

Assignment Task2

In small groups (pending class size), students are given the opportunity to explore the application of theoretical frameworks by examining the global leadership style and practice of a leader within real world organisational settings. In doing so, student groups will be exposed to a practicing leader from Industry who will share their experience as a practicing leader in class.

Students are required to ask questions, interview and engage with the appointed leader in class in order to investigate how this individual practices their leadership style in terms of appreciating diversity, providing vision and direction, leading change and shaping organisational culture and values. In doing so, students will provide real world examples of leadership practice in relation to the following topics remaining topics covered in the semester:

Topic 6: Diversity, women and leadership (teaching week 6)

Topic 7: Vision and Direction (teaching week 7)

Topic 8: Leading Change (teaching week 8)

Topic 9: Shaping organisational culture and values (teaching week 9)

Assignment Task3

Introduction

Global leadership is a contemporary issue that came into limelight in the 90s. The concept has various definitions, which makes it difficult to give the term precise definition. It is thus a field and is defined through examples and illustrations. For instance, global leaders are persons who have a significant positive effect on the operations of an organization. Such leaders achieve this feat by congregating followers through a process of unity and trust to engage in activities aimed at achieving their goals. Global leaders form structures and develop operational designs that involve several cross-boundary players (Mobley, & Wang, 2011). Through their efforts, such leaders are able to unify people from various backgrounds to work towards achieving the intended. This Paper brings up full understanding of global leadership, theories of leadership, and leadership styles. This figure below summarizes what global leadership is and what is all about.

Global leadership competencies

Global leaders must possess exceptional leadership competencies that enable them achieve their goals in an organization. A global should be able to operate with diversity and complexity owing to the fact that such a leader has the task of unifying people from several backgrounds. Though domestic leadership is challenging as well, global leadership is an uphill task. A global leader deals with people with diverse beliefs and mindsets. Every organization thus strives to get a leader capable of handling diversity in the firm. Some of the competencies that such a leader should possess include the ability to accept and manage change (Rosen et al., 2000). This means that for one to be successful as a global leader, he should be flexible enough to adapt and adopt the various changes arising for instance from emerging technologies. The leader should have the ability manage complexity and be able to handle both the rich and the poor while minimizing the gap between the two. The leader should be flexible enough to fit into new environments and culture and interact comfortably with the people.

Global mind set

Global mindset is an important aspect of global leadership. According to Luthans (2013), a global leader must be adequately equipped in mind to have a worldwide view perspective of issues. Such a mindset will have the ability to appreciate and accommodate global performance standards and quality. Global standards are high-class qualities. For one to be able to able to raise and maintain such standards, then definitely the right mindset is required (Mobley, Li & Wang, 2011).

Ethical Leadership

Ethics is a metaphysical term adopted from the Greek word ethos, which means norm or oddity. It is concerned with establishing all the moral requirements and behaviors. It thus points out to the acceptable and unacceptable behaviors that are a subset of principles. Leadership is defined as the art of influencing followers to act in a manner that promotes the beliefs and goals of a leader. The role of a leader is thus to control the followers to act in the manner that promotes the goals of the leader. Ethical leadership is crucial and significant in provision of instructions that assists an organization towards achieving its objectives (Suutari & Brewster, 2000). It is thus fundamental towards actualization of an organizations goals and targets. An ethical leader is one that guides others according to the principles described by ethos. Such a leader is guided by universal acceptable standards of behavior. Such a leadership style is regarded as healing and having energizing powers to propel the followers towards assisting the organization to meet its targets.

Personal global network

Global Leadership Network has the following benefit. It enables achieving of world-class performance corporate citizenship. Personal global network enhance a unique sequence in the corporate practices form a leadership voice on what constitutes excellencein corporate citizenship (Gundling, Hogan, Cvitkovich & Aperian Global, 2011)

Business communication and intercultural competence

These terms are closely related to global leadership. For one to succeed in leadership and most importantly in global leadership, business communication and intercultural competence is crucial. Business communication is the ability to interact with people in an appropriate way in articulation of issues related to the operations of an organization.

Leadership theories

According to Gill (2012), the following theories talks about leadership Great Man Theory, BehavioralTheories,TraitTheory, TransformationalTheories, Transactional Theories and Contingency Theories According to Great Man theory, popularized by a writer and a teacher known as Thomas Carlyle the traits of governance are intrinsic. In other words, successful leaders are born but not made. The theory further suggests that successful leaders are destined right from birth to lead. Moreover, great leaders will rise upon confrontation with the suitable matters. Behavioral theory, focus on the behavior of leader as opposed to his physical, mental, or social characteristics (Gundling, Hogan, Cvitkovich & Aperian Global, 2011).The theory divides leaders into two classes: leaders that are apprehensive with people and second leaders that are apprehensive with tasks. The researchers measured the cause and effects relationship of leader’s behavior in evolutions in psychometrics, from specific human. Consequently the, behavioral theory supports that leaders are born. The trait governance theory argues that people either are born or are made with definite potentials that will enable them shine in leadership roles. These qualities include sense of obligation, inspiration, and intelligence among other qualities (Kitada, Williams, InFonldt & International Conference on Maritime Women, 2015). Additionally, the theory emphases on examining physical, mental, and social traits to acquire a better appreciative of mutual characteristic or the combination of traits that are present among leaders. However, trait theory has number of limitations. First, it does not consider context of the leader, it does not offer explanation to the relation between every individual characteristic as well as the impacts. Another limitation includes low study samples of managers, lack of reliability of personality trait measurements and finally psychometrics was in its early years late in 1930s (Mobley, & Wang, 2011). Numerous studies have been conducted and analyze leader’s trait with hope of identifying responsible leaders’ abilities. However it is unfortunate that the only characteristic that was identified is characteristics that is slightly taller and more intelligent.

Transformational Theories

The leadership theories of transformational allege that a person in leadership should be able to interact with other people in a perfect relationship that yields positive results. This is after the people have developed some confidence and trust with their leader, which enhances their motivation to work more. The leader as well s the followers are encouraged through intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to the extent that they feel that they are part of the success or failure of the organization. In cases where the followers have a negative attitude towards the organization, the leader is able to transform them through their charisma and ensure that the organizational goals and objectives are met. the leader sets reasonable rules and regulations guided by acceptable norms to ensure that the followers identify themselves with the leader as well as the organization(Mobley, & Wang, 2011). Transaction theories, which are part of this group of leadership theories, are based on the transactions between the leader and the followers. The theory proposes an optimistic and reciprocally beneficial relationship between the leaders and the subject (Black & Morrison, 2014). With such kind of a relationship, the followers are motivated to work towards accomplishing the assigned duties and responsibilities. The followers develop a mutually reinforcing capacity to handle their tasks diligently and as expected. The contingency theory of leadership alleges that there is no single way of leading it proposes that an effective leader must adopt several types of leadership styles in order to be successful. The theory further suggests that every leadership is applicable at some point in the general leadership depending on the situation and issues at hand (Mobley, & Wang, 2011). This implies that the theory is closely related to trait theory (Black & Morrison, 2014).

Leadership theories are depicted on the figure below.

Leadership styles

Leadership style is a way and attitude of executing plans, providing direction, and inspiring people. It is also includes the total design of inherent and explicit actions accomplished by a leader. According to the research, the first major study of global leadership styles was performed by Kurt Lewin in the year 1939 (Gundling, Hogan, Cvitkovich & Aperian Global, 2011) Lewin was in charge of researchers whose aim was to identify different styles of leadership. This early study still remain influential up to now because it established the three major leadership styles which include democratic or participative, delegative laissez-fair or free-rein, and autocratic or authoritarian (Mobley, & Wang, 2011).Under this style of governance, the leader includes his subjects in the decision making process but preserves his final decision. In the delegative style of governance, leader allows employees to make decisions and become responsible for the decision made. Finally, autocrat styles is when a leader tell his employers what to do and how to do it without their advice. The figure below shows different type of leadership styles

Global leadership is a crucial to the management of organizations in the modern era. Global leaders are by far successful compared to the domestic ones. A successful global leader must possess several competencies including the ability to manage changes, flexibility in though and decision making and appropriate communication styles. The paper has highlighted various issues associated with global leadership including theories of leadership and leadership styles.