Is Tim Cook a Good Leader?

Who is more effective at strategic decision-making, Leaders or Manager?  Leadership and Management employ different skills and methods to decision making and obtaining goals.   Some feel both have different methods; however, achieve the same results.  Some argue there is no difference between the two. Other organizations may feel one skill or decision-making method is more effective over the other.  Organizations that foster both leadership and management decision making methods are more successful than those that only rely on a traditional management style of decision making. 

                                                                                                           

Leadership can have a profound impact on strategic decision-making and the lives of individuals, communities, competition, markets, society, and culture.  Leaders inspire and motivate people to a cause.  Leaders have positive character and ethics, and their ability to be a good leader has typically developed and grown from their life experiences.  Leaders can inspire a nation to follow, an individual to change, communities to band together, lead a company to defeat the competition and a culture to change. 

Managers want something.  Managers get the tasks and the goals accomplished with systems, procedures, structure, process, and policy.  Managers get results through enforcing the guidelines through implementing systems, best practices, standards, rules, and processes (Watson, 1983).  Managers manage tasks, and processes, projects, systems, deliverables, and staff.  Managers provide structure for individuals, communities, society, and culture.  Managers run the established play book for competition and strategic decision making, often making decisions based on structure and guidelines. 

When it comes to strategic decision-making leaders are more apt to driving the strategy decisions, and managers are more apt for helping to carrier out the strategic plan to execute the strategy.  A leader who has been placed in a Win -Lose situation will be more apt to identify the issues in the true face of reality, make the hard decisions, absorb the consequences and willing to support their people and work along side of them until the missions is accomplished.  Leaders are inclined to make wok exciting by encouraging an organization style that is intuitive, highly personal and tied in closely to the “carrots” that motivate key players to perform (Watson, 1983). 

Leaders will make sure their key people are taken care of, ensuring they have what they need, and leaders will be there alongside them with them during difficulty to get the job accomplished.  A famous example is an Air Force general was retiring and during the retirement ceremony his troops were lined up outside the tent where the general was standing inside.  During the ceremony it began to rain.  The general stopped the ceremony, ran to get his raincoat, and stood outside in the rain with his troops during the remainder of the ceremony.  

Tim Cook, CEO of Apple was named the World’s greatest leader by Fortune magazine.  Tim was a former operations manager for Apple and took the helm following Steve Jobs, and had the challenge of being a leader in the shallow of Steve’s reputation.  Tim grew into this own strength as a leader by focusing on the strategy of focusing on the existing strengths of the organization and a lack of interest in micromanaging.  Tim faced a number of challenges and took continued criticisms from the media, showed his leadership in his words of “I am not running for office. I don’t need your vote. I have to feel myself doing what is right.  I think that is a much better way to live”.   Tim has democratic management style looking for consensus among leaders for strategic decisions, is an advocate of human rights, using the strengths of Apple to grow in the market and giving back to the community.  Tim was big into philanthropy and had a plan to give his wealth away to give back to the community (Gamble J., Peteraf M., Thompson A., Strickland L. 2018). 

References:

Watson, C. (1983).  Leadership, Management, and the Seven Keys. 

Gamble J., Peteraf M., Thompson A., Strickland L. (2018). Charting a Company’s Direction, Its Vision, Mission, Objectives, and Strategy. 

Khan, H. (2020). Stop Managing and Start Leading. Retrieved from lbry.tv: https://lbry.tv/@BusinessBalls:9/Stop-Managing-and-Start-Leading-by-Hamza-Khan-:b?r=4C7183PFXyVQhgoDpSvTHumsqoXrgADC

Sinic S. (2020). Management versus Leadership. Retrieved from: https://lbry.tv/@Business:5/Management-vs.-Leadership:7?r=4C7183PFXyVQhgoDpSvTHumsqoXrgADC

Decision Making for Leadership Development

“Your decision-making process is OK. You have a good understanding of the basics, but now you need to improve your process and be more proactive. Concentrate on finding lots of options and discovering as many risks and consequences as you can. The better your analysis, the better your decision will be in the long term. Focus specifically on the areas where you lost points, and develop a system that will work for you across a wide variety of situations. (Read below to start)” (mindtools.com). I agreed with the result because I do understand the basic of decision-making but not the depth of decision-making since I tend to react with my decision-making after it happen. I think because I tend to feel stressed or anxiety while I had to think with many decisions in one time.

Anxiety can interrupt my decision-making by influencing my behavior and thoughts to make a choice to decide. There are great tips to prevent anxiety such as strengthen your brain against anxiety, understand where the anxiety is really coming from, slow it down, don’t buy into the idea that thoughts, feelings and behavior are a package which they are not, act as if, just because there are choices, which doesn’t mean there is a wrong one, and be guided by what you want, rather than by what you want to avoid. I think I am not used with decision-making that often lately but I know we do make many decisions by waking up to decide to wake up or continuous to sleep more.

I had many situations with my neighbors for almost three years and I had to think many decision-making with my husband which I think more anxiety comes worse. Now I found this resource and I realized that I need to slow it down and act as it is. I thank for this course to open my mind about decision-making to help me develop my skills to be in the manager or leader position.

My strength with score interpretation is evaluating alternatives with score eleven out of fifteen, deciding with score ten out of fifteen, and checking the decision. My scores are pretty close with actual scores which I know that I am good at deciding because I always think every day to decision on how my schedule flows for my homework, job, housewife, and day off. Evaluating alternatives is something that I am surprise because sometimes I think my decisions is far from great. I know that my decisions will be not a hundred percent right but sometimes it helps with my result that I did to made myself feel good.

I realize that I need to learn more because my weakness with score interpretation such as establishing a positive decision-making environment, generating potential solutions, and communicating and implementing. One problem is that I am deaf and I think it is tough for my team and I can communicate to have a decision-making but we do communicate through paper and pen or texting. I know that is a bad excuse that I am deaf but it’s true since it’s frustrated for me to communicate with my team or customers because they don’t have the awareness and knowledge of my deaf culture. I found the resource with good tips if they read and understand then I can improve with my decision-making skills in the group or meeting with my team. “Among the more popular tips in the book are: to pay a lot more attention to other people's body language. Learning to listen with your eyes, like deaf people, can help you improve your memory, he said. To speak one at a time and without interrupting others, and resolve any conflicts one at a time. Be both simple and precise in how you convey information. This is something that hearing people have a hard time doing, said Dr. Kahne. When hearing people try to be simple, they are automatically vague. When they try to be precise, they suddenly become complex. Dare to ask questions. Hearing people tend to stop asking questions around the age of five, believing that asking questions shows inferiority, weakness or incompetence. Not so with deaf people. Use visual words and stories to help convey specific messages or answer questions” (Cradden, 2014, www.independent.ie).

 I decided to choose laissez-faire leadership style because other leadership styles are involved with communication, charisma, authentic, and motivate team members. I feel that I have limitation with communication, integrity, creative, and will give a lot of freedom. If I work with deaf people or people who know American sign language then it will be a different story. Laissez-faire: leaders give their team members a lot of freedom in how they do their work, and how they set their deadlines. They provide support   with resources and advice if needed, but otherwise they don't get involved. This autonomy can lead to high job satisfaction, but it can be damaging if team members don't manage their time well, or if they don't have the knowledge, skills, or self motivation to do their work effectively. (Laissez-faire leadership can also occur when managers don't have control over their work and their people.) I want to improve my leadership style since I dislike the part about giving a lot of freedom because I require the communicate with my team about the details for deadline or making sure that we are on same page, etc.

Reference:

Cradden, J. (2014). How deaf people can teach us about effective communication. Retrieved from https://www.independent.ie/business/irish/how-deaf-people-can-teach-us-about-effective-communication-30025066.html

Young, K. (2018). How anxiety interferes with decision-making and how to stop it intruding. Retrieved from https://www.heysigmund.com/anxiety-interferes-decision-making-stop-intruding/

(2018). Retrieved from https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_84.htm

Leadership versus Management Decisions

What is leadership decision-making versus management decision-making?

Leadership and management decisions need to coexist as a team even though management decisions specifically effect the employees, while leadership decisions effect the employees, customers, stakeholders, and the organization as a whole. Managers get to directly impact employees by keeping them clear on the business policies, performance levels and possible personal issues. Leaders have the responsibility of effecting the entire organization, customers and stakeholders through their actions, beliefs and values. Both roles are important, but one is much larger than the other. Managers have the responsibility of focusing on employees, while leaders have the responsibility of focusing on everybody involved. Managers help initiate employees into the business and help them keep the rules and their performance in tact. Leaders have the ability to provide a stronger environment by personal interactions, influencing others with a strong belief system and promoting a better future.

According to Rodriguez (2017), leaders value input from their employees and let them in on the decision making process which makes them feel important and included. Rodriguez (2017) explained management decision making as a dictatorship that did not allow for employee input, just putting new policies into place and expecting people to follow them. Rock Star Leadership (2015) provided the strengths that management positions can hold and that includes looking after staff, understanding the business, translating business information to the staff, and performance and management counseling. Managers need to keep the staff on track, and if they do not the cause could be employees leaving the business. Films Media Group (2014) includes the important roles of managers by explaining that they need to provide employees confidence to value their jobs, put the job in context for them, give positive examples and focus on the importance of the job. Rock Star Leadership (2015) provides a larger list of duties needed to be provided from the leader of the organization, and some of those include constant personal communication, being a role model of important behaviors and values, providing everybody the chance to share their ideas, translating others behaviors, focusing on the health and welfare of the organization, and the entire time all of their cares and information trickles down to others. The leader not only has to impact all of the employees, customers and stakeholders but also the culture of the organization. Leaders provide the direction of the organization. Business News Daily (2017) shares that leaders need to be effective while having an impact on employees, customers and the marketplace. It sounds like managers have a specific list of job duties that effect employees while leaders have to make constant and multiple decisions in different areas that effect everything.

In a previous department that I worked in, the department manager made sure we knew our job description, told us often the importance of our job and doing it correctly, and about the changes that were occurring. My co-workers and I worked closely as a team and were the most hands on with the customers compared to anybody else. We were never involved in any of the decision making and that wore us down. We knew what was best for the customers and the organization and the manager would make changes that either had a negative effect, or just provided extra work. There was a large turn over rate in that department and they all claimed to human resources that it was because of the negative impact of the manager. The department I work in now has a department leader. She comes in every morning, asks about how things are going and asks us about our ideas on process changes. We feel included in everything and know that we have a say in things any time we feel the need for a change. The people that work in this department have been there for years. The environment is more positive and employees seem more at ease. Also, the department leader constantly shows herself to be a good role model and she makes others want to be better themselves. She is also know by many others as a good person and leader because of the role model that she is. Whenever I mention who I work under people have nothing but good things to say about her.

References

Business News Daily (2017). Decision-Making Techniques. Improve your ability to make effective decisions. Retrieved from: https://myeducationmanager.tradepub.com/c/pubRD.mpl?secure=1&sr=oc&_t=oc:&qf=w_tecc73 (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Rock star leadership [Video file]. (2015). Retrieved February 8, 2017, from http://fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=103246&xtid=93374 (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. 

Rodriguez, I. (2017). What Differences in Decision-Making Approaches Might Occur Among Leadership Styles? Retrieved from: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/differences-decisionmaking-approaches-might-occur-among-leadership-styles-74048.html (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

What are the differences between Leadership and Management

Differences Between Leadership and Management

The difference between leadership and management lies in the actions that are taken in the process of change during the decision-making process. How the leaders make their decisions impacts the people around them, and also demonstrates what type of leaders they are based on these decisions. 

 Leadership is vision focused when making decisions, versus the day to day smaller decisions that management may make. Leadership and Management go hand in hand, you do need both.  As Coleman and Glover (2010) explain “leadership is closely associated with visions and values”, and “managing a change in vision and values is a prime aspect of a leader’s role” (p.14). Leadership is the process of understanding visions and values, and making decisions based on these vision and values. While management demonstrates the action that demonstrates the day to day decision within the process of change. In my own experience, when a new guideline is introduced, it is mandatory that we (as long-term care facilitators) put it into place. How we put the guideline into place is depending on our own systems that we currently have in place that go along with our vision. This demonstrates Leadership, based on leaders making decisions on how to put the guideline into place, while keeping our values and vision in mind when making the decision.  When leading, we (as leaders) align the new process with our current vision, and give those expectations to the facilities with a guideline to follow. Now each facility is different, so they will need to make some adjustments, by the main guidelines will still need to be followed. This decision made by the facility, show the management of the process. When the facilities manage this new guideline, they are making the day to day changes they need too as problems arise. If the facility finds that the system cannot adapt to both processes, they will be able to make the necessary changes needed in order to keep on task (the facility is demonstrating a managing technique). 

According to Burns, Sorenson, Goethals (2004) states that “most decisions are made behind closed doors, yet they often define an individual’s leadership better than public appearances”, also that “how decisions are framed, informed, and executed thus has much to do with the quality of leadership that results” (p.316-317).  This is an important indicator. Our corporate office is full of leaders, these leaders are the ones making the main decisions on how our process work every day. The facilities have their own leaders, but they see themselves as managers. When it comes to making the main decisions, the administrators are bound by what corporate sees is mandatory. How the process is to take place within their facilities is based on their own decisions, they are managing the process. The administrators are also seen as leaders because there are situations, where the decisions are theirs alone. The decision that Corporate, or the administrator, make are judged by the staff in how they affect them (staff). If the staff members feel as if the decisions that were made is not beneficial to them or their communities, they will see that leader as being an inefficient leader. When it is a decision that is forced by the corporate office, the staff do not look at the administrator as if they are an inefficient leader, they blame the leaders within the corporate office. 

The way in which the decision is made is important in how the decision will affect the people around them. If the leader does not take into account how the decision will affect the people around them, they are likely to make a decision that will negatively affect the people they are leading. The leader will be looked at as a bad leader, who does not have the peoples interest in mind when they are making their decisions. This will affect the leader’s ability to lead effectively. 

Burns, J. M., Sorenson, G. J., Goethals, G. R., & Sage Publications, I. (2004). 

Encyclopedia of Leadership. Thousand Oaks, Calif: SAGE Publications, Inc. 

Coleman, M., & Glover, D. (2010). Educational Leadership and Management: 

Developing Insights and Skills. Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill Education.

Improving Ethical Behavior

           Ethics in Business

           Leaders and managers can under report expenses and/or over report sales figures. Either of these would have the effect of making the company appear to be in a healthier financial position than they are actually in. These same people can also suppress information on anticipated litigation where the company has significant risk of being levied with financial penalties or being barred from certain markets due to regulatory non-compliance. Any of these actions can drive higher stock prices until they are exposed.

            One of the key reasons why unethical behavior occurs in financial management is that it tends to be rewarded in one form or another. Employees, managers, and leadership at many companies have a portion of their compensation tied to financial results. Even if compensation isn’t tied to financial results, continued employment often is. Given these pressures it isn’t hard to understand how some people may give in to the temptation to realize personal gain at the expense of the long term financial health of the organization. In some cases unethical behavior is a symptom of widespread cultural dysfunction, while in other cases it can be limited to isolated individuals or departments.

            There are several things that companies can do to improve ethical behavior. The first is to clearly communicate what the behavioral expectations in terms of code of conduct, anti-corruption and ethics training that goes beyond the 15 minute annual training that hasn’t changed since 2000 that so many companies offer. When companies take that approach to ethics training it is often motivated by the desire to claim plausible deniability when employees acting unethically are caught by authorities or exposed in the media. The second thing is to lead by example from the top down. Leadership and management must be seen to be acting ethically even when it is not in the companies or their personal best interest. This will help to build a culture of ethical behavior. The third thing is to stop rewarding unethical behavior. Compensation and promotions need to be based on a system that is fair, transparent and auditable. Finally, companies can hold individuals responsible for their behavior. If unethical behavior is consistently punished with demotion, termination, or handing the offender to authorities, employees will quickly realize that developing a strong ethical compass is in their best interest.

4P's of Motivation

There are primarily 4 forces that motivate people to make change, and conveniently they all happen to begin with the letter 'P':  

PUSH, PULL, PAIN & PLEASURE

Real Estate agents are really change agents; we help people navigate the change of buying and selling a home and the process of moving.

A PUSH - motivator is an event or factor this "pushing" the person to move.  "moving out of / in state, new family member (baby), loss job, etc.".

The client feels the "PULL" when there are circumstances that are "pulling" them to make a move "empty nesters, retirement, moving warmer climate, etc."

PAIN often occurs with a life event that is deemed negative at the time "divorce, death, loss of job, financial reversal, etc."

PLEASURE in most cases is associated with joyful events or circumstance, such as "marriage, welcoming a child, a new career, financial abundance, etc"

These forces occur in some combination for example "A divorce Pushes family to sell their home, which is Painful for everyone.  And yet somewhere along the journey there is the Pull of a new life and the Pleasure of moving on".

Awareness of our clients motivator is the 1st step in understanding the four P's.  As a Real Estate Agent, being cognizant of our clients motivators to buy or sell a home is how we can meet their true needs.  On the surface it looks like a financial and legal transaction, yet underneath there are multiple levels of emotions present.

UNDERSTAND & USE THE 4 P's OF MOTIVATION TO HELP YOUR CLIENTS NAVIGATE CHANGE !

Literature Review on organizational structure, management, leadership, economics, government, law, value creation, and career skills

Literature Review on organizational structure, management, leadership, economics, government, law, value creation, and career skills

Introduction

Developing a literature review ensures that many sources are compared and contrasted for the best plan of action or strategic plan. Cross checking with many different sources ensures that the work is of top quality and leaves no gaps in knowledge. Inductive reasoning was applied in order to forecast the most likely outcome out of the different sources of material found in regards to organizational performance, value creation and career skills management coming up with solutions to commonly found problems in organizations.

Roles that structure, management, and leadership play in organizational performance.

            Organizational performance must be ensured within an organization through structure and management. Using transformational methods of management, in which a leader or manager interacts with the employees in a continuous work setting has been found to have a positive effect in organizational performance versus a transactional style of management where a manager or leader leverages rewards and punishment (Spahr, 2014)as a method to drive organizational performance (Felfe & Schyns, 2004). Transactional leadership is essentially a way of telling people what to do, rather than sell them on what to do through encouragement and incentives (Spahr, 2014). Implementing methods of information management are beneficial within a virtual organization as it allows for the documentation of performance and ensures that all metrics are being met in an organizational level (Strader, 1998).

            Essentially, coming up with ways to motivate employees through transformational, rather than transactional management can help drive performance. Ensuring that methods of management are right for the type of organization can also help increase performance and create a better environment for everyone involved.

Economics, government, and law affect value creation in the global context.

            Creating value is a difficult part of business management; daily businesses struggle with creating differentiators or value added services to their business to keep their clients. Ensuring that the clients have the best experience possible, that the businesses have a differentiator and that it provides benefits to the clients are some of the things that an organization can do to ensure that the customers see value in the products or services that are being provided to them (Rocca & Snehota, 2014). In addition, value creation can be seen in things such as, management of strategies and goals, financial measures and waste eliminators which lead to better organizational performance overall (Hillstrom, 2004). Essentially, providing a manner for improvement overall and ensuring that growth occurs over a long-term basis (Hindle, 2009).

Career skills in the field of business and management

            Guidance and training in a business environment has been found to increase morale, reduce supervision and increased productivity in a variety of businesses. Without training, organizations create ambiguity that impact all aspects of the organization and makes it less profitable in the long run (Management Study Guide, n.d.). In addition, training instills confidence in the employees, giving them the necessary push to do what they are doing in a better way knowing that they are educating the client and providing them with the best possible service available (Johnson, 1997). In addition, creating a rigid training course for a business position, allows the employers to set expectations and thus drive results in a more direct form and allowing employees to ease into a role (Dale Carnegie Training, 2016).

Conclusion

In conclusion, implementing a transitional style of management, instilling training programs and creating value creates a better organization overall. An organization that is better able to tackle and implement the necessary changes and meet objectives on a consistent basis through the use of motivation, confidence and necessary skills acquirement.

References

Dale Carnegie Training. (2016). Why Training Is Important to Employee Engagement. Retrieved from Dale Carnegie Training: http://www.dalecarnegie.com/why-training-is-important-to-employee-engagement/

Felfe, J., & Schyns, B. (2004). Is Similarity in Leadership Related to Organizational Outcomes? The Case of Transformational Leadership. Retrieved from Available from ABI/INFORM Collection.:

Hillstrom, L. C. (2004). Value Creation. Retrieved from Reference for Business: http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/management/Tr-Z/Value-Creation.html

Hindle, T. (2009). Value creation. Retrieved from The Economist: http://www.economist.com/node/14301714

Johnson, T. (1997). Gaining the executive edge. Black Enterprise, 27, 103-107. Retrieved from Available from ABI/INFORM Collection.:

Management Study Guide. (n.d.). Training of Employees - Need and Importance of Training. Retrieved from Management Study Guide: http://www.managementstudyguide.com/training-of-employees.htm

Rocca, A. L., & Snehota, I. (2014). Value creation and organisational practices at firm boundaries. Retrieved from Available from ABI/INFORM Collection.: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/MD-04-2013-0229

Spahr, P. (2014). St. Thomas University. Retrieved from Transactional Leadership: http://online.stu.edu/transactional-leadership/

Strader, T. J. (1998). Information infrastructure for electronic virtual organization management. Retrieved from Science Direct: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167923698000372

Internship Reflections

Internship Reflections

Executive Summary

            The business world is constantly moving and constantly changing. It is important to keep up with work and maintain good relationships to the best of your ability. Businesses always run smoother when the workers can work as a team. We have all had some coworkers that we do not agree with or do not get along with but it is important to put those differences aside while at work and work together so that everyone has a smooth and productive day. It is important that when on a team to be willing to help others. If you accomplish your work early always be willing to help out others on the team to ensure that all of the work gets done and no one gets left behind.

Introduction

            Things are finally starting to get into full swing with the internships. Each week an assignment is given to work on from the project controller to everyone, we also have to stay in contact with our clients and make sure that all of their wants and needs are being fulfilled throughout the week. It is important that everyone works together and is willing to help one another if someone is confused about some of the work. “Teamwork makes the dream work.” (Maxwell, J. C. 2002).

Body

            Each week we are all given an assignment to work on by the Project Coordinator. This will give us something to help us get our hours for the week in case our clients are not contacting us. Sometimes the clients do not respond quickly or they do not have much for us to do. This week we were all asked to write a SWOT report on University Consulting. We were allowed to either write an essay or create a PowerPoint. I chose to write a PowerPoint for the project. Research always needs to be done and so I have been evaluating University Consulting trying to discover their pros and cons to write the best SWOT report that I can.

            Each week we must also keep in touch with our clients to ensure they are being helped with everything that they have asked for help with. I am currently working as an Operations Consultant and I personally have two clients that I am helping. My first client is Better Brodhead they are a non-profit organization out of Wisconsin that help troubled teens with sexual assault and drug problems. They have asked for help with creating a Volunteer and Recruitment Plan for their organization. I personally did not know where to even begin with this so I started doing research to see what information I could find. I also asked my team for help, I contacted my Project Coordinator and asked him where he thought I should begin I also asked another women who has been helping me to get acquainted with my other client. My Project Coordinator informed me to ask the client if they have anything in place right now and what the volunteers will be needed for. We also have to create a sign-up sheet and advertise for volunteers. The other women that I asked for help from told me she hadn’t done much work with this kind of thing before but to start with research and advertising and gave me the name of someone I could contact for help. My team helped me to find somewhere to start helping the client so that now I can proceed forward. According to Root III, G. N. (2016) “An efficient team can be trained as a group, help each other maximize their job performance, and help to make an inviting and productive atmosphere for new team members.” This internship has definitely accomplished that, everyone on my team has been exceedingly helpful with everything that I have asked for help with.

            My other client is The Parenting Place and The Children’s Museum located in Wisconsin. They help parents with learning to handle children and learning to protect and help their children grow. They are working on a coupon book to help promote business for themselves and their communities. They were given to me by another intern because my other client had not contacted me in some time and I did not have anything to do so I asked for work to ensure that I could be getting my hours. The PP & CM has contacted me to help them with getting phone numbers for potential donors to the coupon book and to help with follow up calls to the donors. I have received the list of donors and I have been finding phone numbers until the coordinator and I can speak over the phone about what it is she would like me to be asking the potential donors. I have noticed during these projects that everyone within University Consulting really works together and helps each other throughout everything. Everyone has been very willing to help me when I have questions and concerns. University Consulting has done an amazing job with adapting to the changing times and creating this internship online for the working students. According to Tollman, P., Toma, A., Roghe, F., Morieux, Y., Maaseide, S., Tamboto, E., and Koike, J., (2016) “the priority concern for many business leaders is to adapt to the changing conditions in order to boost their company’s performance.” This is a great explanation of what University Consulting has done they have allowed students to finish their degrees with their internship without taking time off of their jobs because at this point most people have to be working in order to support themselves.

Conclusion

            Businesses are always going to have difficulties and are always going to be striving to do the best they can but teamwork is what will push them to get there. Most people have had good and bad jobs and know what good and bad teamwork looks like so striving for good teamwork is what all businesses should be doing. I have found that while being an intern with University Consulting everyone really does work as a team and is always willing to help each other and get all of the work done that is necessary.

Recommendations

            Research is always the best recommendation for any issue. Doing research to help you understand an issue and then how to solve it is always where you should start. In a business asking for help from your team members is also a great place to start because everyone always has different opinions and this can help you to find the best answer. In my current projects within in my internship I asked my team members for advice on where to start and I got a lot of great advice and I started doing research to find any information that is available to me.

A Story about Leadership Presence

A Story about Leadership Presence

I was a freshly minted second lieutenant out of my basic course and jump school and assigned to my first command as a airborne cavalry platoon leader.  My unit had just returned from Vietnam and my platoon sergeant, Ron Sneed, was taking me through the motor pool to take a look at all the vehicles I was to sign for.  Sergeant Sneed handed me an Army Memorandum book.  This is a small bound with green cloth cover and numerous empty lined pages.  It’s small enough to fit into a pocket.  I asked Sergeant Sneed what it was for? His reply, Sir, this is your book to annotate everything about every man in this platoon; their names, rank, next promotion opportunity, their wife’s name, children’s names and anything particular to that family.  Sir, you put everything you can possibly know about every man in this platoon to refer to and commit to memory.  Sir, your men won’t follow you until they know you care.” Sergeant Sneed later was the Command Sergeant Major of a Calvary Regiment in Desert Storm, and a leader of men. You can learn a lot about leadership from people like Sergeant Sneed.

Creighton Abrams, recognized as a great leader of combat troops, taught his NCO’s to keep a Memorandum book with the names and military information as well as personal information on each individual soldier they were responsible for.  Additionally, he expected every leader to keep the family information for each of the soldiers they were responsible for to include the health of each family member.  His rationale was that a troop can never leave his personal life at home no matter how he tries.  If he has a sick wife or child that will affect his contributions to the operation.  If the leader is aware of the situation and makes efforts to help the soldier with it, the Army has a better soldier knowing someone is there for him and makes a greater contribution to the operation.  If you know your customer has family issues and can convey your understanding of his or her situation, even if you don’t do anything for them, they understand your concern and you understand their actions in the decisions they make.  This has repeatedly proven to result in greater customer relations and smoother customer operations.

This also works well with both your senior as well as your subordinates.  Think of others before you think of yourself.  Help to make them as successful as you possibly can and you will reap the rewards of their support in your endeavors.

Management versus Leadership

Management versus Leadership

Leadership means a person could be alone in his or her initial vision, and it implies some risk. These people are innovators. Their job is to inspire others to see and believe in the vision and goals of the organization or initiative.

Management means responsibility for administration of a plan or carrying out the plan or initiative through others.

Leadership…What is it?

According to Dubrin (2010), leaders inspire others to follow them in realizing goals. Depending on the organization or team of people being led, the definition can have different nuances. A famous U.S. football quarterback once said that a leader is the one willing to “take the blame” (as cited in Dubrin, 2010, p. 3).

Leaders can move whole nations to action. One example of this is Winston Churchill’s famous radio broadcasts (as Prime Minister) in the United Kingdom duringWorldWar II (1939–
1945). On the brink of defeat in the campaign against Germany, Churchill refused to be conquered or accept anything less than total surrender from the enemy. His broadcasts and speeches inspired the entirety of the nation to keep on fighting. However, Churchill also risked ridicule at the very beginning of the war when he warned the public of the threat of Hitler’s
ambitions in Europe.

Sometimes a leader can be a visionary such as Steve Jobs at Apple®. Jobs pioneered a vision of streamlined products that interacted in a user-friendly manner. His penchant for simplified or sleek design of the company products in response to consumer needs drove industry growth and inspired competitors.

Leadership Skills

 
Executive skills needed by leaders according to Hackman andWalton (1986) are: being able to see and communicate the big picture or the end goal to others, negotiating for needed resources, making good decisions after consulting all available data and viewpoints, empowering others to develop and learn, and working well with a diverse range of people to accomplish goals (Hickman, 2010, p.222).
One great individual possessing these leadership skills was former U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. He assembled a cabinet of people around him who, in some cases, had initially been his adversaries, but he knew that having a diverse range of thought, talent, and debate would benefit both the country and his ability to make good decisions. He also would tell story after story to drive home an idea or make his argument and sway opinion to his side. The public could relate to him because these were stories they could all understand and which were based on common sense and everyday day life. He also timed his decisions so that he would propose a new law or announce a decision when he knew the public was ready for it, and as a result they were able to accept it (Goodwin, 2005).

As we move into the 21st Century, leadership is becoming increasingly more collaborative. As the world becomes more globalized, and thus more complex, so too does the nature of leadership. Collaborative leadership is based on the idea that no one has all the answers and expertise at everything. Now the leader becomes more of a facilitator, empowering and motivating the team (Hickman, 2010). This type of leadership is characterized by fostering diversity and learning, soliciting feedback and opinions of the group, and supporting the group’s decisions. It also involves mentoring team members and empowering others to lead special project or assignment teams. However, this collaborative leadership model must be balanced with the need for timely decision-making as the pace of business increases with globalization and increased productivity through the use of technology.

Leadership Styles

There are various leadership styles. See if you can recognize your leadership style from this list:
The Transactional Leader: Employees comply with the leader’s requests, and they are judged on performance and paid accordingly. These leaders want to change things for the better and work through their employees to accomplish the goal. A version of this style is the task-oriented leader who really discounts team input in order to get the job done on a timely basis. The latter style results in higher turnover and absenteeism.

The Autocratic Leader: This leadership style is efficient. The leader tells the employees or team what needs to be done; team members are expected to comply without any questioning whether the action is the best way to accomplish the goals. This style can lead to high turnover, but it can be effective in military situations and some unskilled positions.

The Charismatic versus Transformational Leader: The charismatic leader has a personality that inspires others. Such leaders are excited about the goals and, as a result, they can motivate others. However, their excitement may make them driven but oblivious to empowering others or oblivious to the pitfalls of their strategies. Steve Jobs would be an example of a charismatic leader. When Steve Jobs was not at the company he helped found, Apple, Inc., the company floundered.While the transformational leader is admired by employees and therefore influences employees behavior. These leaders are risk takers while instilling a sense of mission and zeal in their employees. These leaders coach each employee and act as mentors to inspire and empower their employees. They provide clear guidelines for both behavior and expectations as well as goals and how to get there. But they encourage employees to be innovative in reaching those goals.

Bureaucratic Leaders versus Participative Leaders versus Laissez faire leaders:

Bureaucratic leaders follow the rules verbatim, which is good when the goal is safety (toxins and dangerous machinery for instance). However, this style stifles any creativity or career advancement based on anything other than abiding by the rules.

The participative leader allows team decision-making and reaches team consensus to move forward, which in turn empowers the team and can lead to better decisions. The downside of this style is that it is not efficient.When time is of the essence this is not an advantageous style.

The extreme version of this style can be people first type of style where the leader loses track of the goal in their quest to better the team.

Laissez faire is French for, let do or act, meaning this leader really lets everyone do as they wish. It is really non–leadership. This form of leadership is more likely to occur in a startup company where someone is designated the leader but, in essence, everyone involved is deciding and doing. This is not an effective leadership style, as ultimately it leads to conflict and, at worst, it can stymie an organization and the employees from effectively reaching their goals.

Leadership Styles:

The reality is that most leaders use a variety of styles at various points. However, there is usually a predominant leadership style.

References

Bass, B. M. & Riggio, R. E. (2010). The transformation model of leadership. In G. R. Hickman (Ed.), Leading Organizations: Perspectives for a new era (pp.76–85). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE

Dubrin, A. J. (2010). Leadership: Research findings, practice, and skills (6th ed.). Mason, OH: Cengage.

Goodwin, D.K. (2005). Team of rivals. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.

Hackman, J.R. (2010). Leading teams: Imperatives for leaders. In G. R. Hickman (Ed.), Leading organizations: Perspectives for a new era. (pp. 206–238). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE

Hickman, G. R. Ed. (2010). Leading organizations: Perspectives for a new era (2nd ed.).
Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE

Hicks, D. A. (2010). Globalization. In G. R. Hickman (Ed.), Leading organizations: Perspectives for a new era. (pp. 14–20). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE