Strong people don’t put others down, they lift them up.”
— Michael P Watson
“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” — John Quincy Adams
“A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” — John C Maxwell
“People ask the difference between the leader and a boss. The leader leads, and the boss drives.” — Theodore Roosevelt
Change is considered by many as the new normal. Effective change management must be part of an organization’s DNA. An emerging leadership style called the transformational style has been shown to be effective in this environment, especially in leading change. This form of leadership goes beyond traditional forms of leadership which relied mainly on centralized control. It emphasizes more open communication, collaboration, and participation by employees. Transformational Leaders are usually best served in a company which is going through hard times or decline. Introducing a transformational leader is a way of implementing a great change within an organization which will be seen as hopefully yielding positive results for years to come. Through their own vision and ideology, transformational leaders are able to change the perception of an organization as well increase the motivation of the workers there.
There are four components (or four Is) of transformational leadership: Idealized Influential, Inspirational Motivation, Intellectually Stimulating as well as Individualized Consideration.
Idealized Influential: Transformational leaders are to act as role models and display a charismatic personality that influences others to want to become better. Transformational leaders are willingness to take risks and follow a core set of values, convictions and ethical principles in the actions they take. It is through this concept that the leader builds trust with their followers. An increase in trust leads to followers developing confidence in their leader.
Inspirational Motivation: Articulating a clear vision for the future and communicate it to followers is important for transformational leaders. Communication is key for a transformational leader, as he must convey is message with precision, power and a sense of authority. Other important behaviors of the leader include his continued optimism, enthusiasm and ability to point out the positive.
Intellectually Stimulating: Transformational Leaders aim to give followers autonomy to give them room for creativity and innovation. Instead of pushing conformity, transformational leaders encourage critical thinking of everyone in the group. With followers being involved more heavily in decision making processes, it increases their sense of contribution to the group. The more people feel they are contributing, the more invested in the task they will be. This will lead to them caring more about the outcome of the task.
Individualized Consideration: Considering the needs of each specific members is key for transformational leaders. Understanding that one person’s needs or motivations are not the same as another person’s needs or motivations is instrumental in overall group growth. Understanding what each group member needs will only create a stronger group connection. The stronger the group connection the better the team will perform.
Concrete examples of transformational leader behaviors:
- Articulate clear & appealing vision
- Explain how vision can be attained
- Act confident & optimistic
- Express confidence in followers
- Provide opportunities for early successes
- Celebrate success
- Use dramatic, symbolic actions to emphasize key values
- Show extraordinary behavior
- Lead by example
- Empower people to achieve vision
OBJECTIVES: You will have a good understanding of the concept of transformational leadership, apply this concept to address managerial issues (perhaps in the future) and improve self-awareness of your strengthens and weaknesses of being an “ideal” leader.
Upon successful completion of this assignment, you will be able to:
- Understand the four Is of transformational leadership;
- Learn how to be a transformational leader;
- Understand to succeed as a leader, you will need to self-reflect to improve your self-awareness of your strengthens and weaknesses as being an “ideal” leader, work on your own skills, and set aside time and space for personal development.
AUDIENCE: Your audience is student peers and instructor.
FORMAT: Case study + Reflection paper.
TASK: There are 2 parts of this assignment, see below:
Part #1 – Case Study – Analyze a Case
What to do:
“The Lord of The Rings – The Return of The King” – Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYYfa_rLF9Q&feature=player_embedded#Links to an external site.
- Watch the video clip from Lord of the Rings by using the link above.
- Identify at least five (5) specific examples of transformational leader behaviors and explain how they relate to transformational leadership based on what you see on this clip.
Part #2 – Self-reflection – Personal Development
Self-reflection is the key to effective leadership and to improve the leadership skills, it is important to be self-aware of the strengths and weaknesses, core values we possess, our beliefs, our influence on others and behavior with others. Therefore, self-awareness and reflecting upon our understanding on certain matters will help determine the kind of leader we want to become. Circumstances might change, there cannot be favorable conditions to take wise decisions, and therefore leaders must be ready with an action plan to manage any situation. A leader’s ability to reflect on their immediate work environment and specially themselves will lead to influence them towards positive directions which will benefit them and their organization. Therefore, it can be concluded that, the act of reflection is important for students who are willing to become leaders for the future as it will bridge the gap between learning and experiences. Self-reflection can and should take place all throughout your leadership journey, and across all aspects of your leadership role.
What to do:
Reflect and answer the following questions:
- What kind of leader do you want to be (you can think about a leader you admire – think of the leader you most admire when reflecting on this question)?
- What are your strengths of developing into the kind of leader that you want to be?
- What are your weaknesses of developing into the kind of leader that you want to be?
- What do you plan to do to overcome the weaknesses you identified above (point #3)?
SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS
- Submit your paper on Canvas via Assignments (Click Assignment 2 and attach your word file) by Sunday, 11:59 pm, 12/08/2024. Use the following file name convention: Lastname_Assignment2_date.
- Submit your paper in the following format:
- Title page (course title and number, semester, assignment title, student names, UTSAID, and date);
- Responses must be organized in subsections (i.e., questions/tasks) with subheadings;
- Typed-up, min. 2 pages – max. 5 pages (excluding the title page), double-spaced, Times New Roman 12.
Therefore, your final submission should be in the following structure in one SINGLE word document.
- Title page
- Case study
- Self-reflection
EVALUATION RUBRIC:
This assignment is worth a total of 10 points and will be evaluated based on completeness (i.e., your efforts in completing all requirements and following the format)