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the scholarly Journal being used is Developing leadership skills and resilience

ID: 432513 • Letter: T

Question

the scholarly Journal being used is Developing leadership skills and resilience in turbulent times.

locate a scholarly journal that publishes work on leadership. Review the journal’s website (or other material) to identify the author guidelines for submission. Provide the journal name, web address (if available), and author guidelines as a separate page after the references in your paper (so that your instructor can review them—you would not normally provide the info in a publication submission). Regardless of the author guidelines provided by your selected journal, the length of your submission is to be 1000–1500 words (4–6 pages, double spaced). Otherwise, follow the author guidelines for the technical aspects of your paper (e.g., specific styles such as APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.). Imagine that the journal you have selected is requesting articles pertaining to the broad theme: Leadership Traits and Skills for the 21st Century. You may select your own topic for submission as long as it clearly connects to the theme. For example, you might write something about leader traits. You might write something about leader skills. You might write something about both. Following good scholarly writing, the introduction to your paper must justify what the topic is and why it is important. As you compose your article, keep in mind the three ideas about scholarly conversations that you frequently see in discussion question instructions. Scholarly conversations are succinct, provocative, and supported. An article that lacks any of the three characteristics is unlikely to get publication approval from a reviewer or an editor.

Explanation / Answer

At the outset, I would like to convey my opinion on the role of leadership within any organization, as well as, the responsibility of any excellent leader. A good leader requires vision, power to enthuse and mostly ability to lead from the front. Every organization requires adequate push of responsibility downwards as no large organization can survive without delegation, this has to be however tempered by retaining power at the top during crisis management. It is these crisis situations that are the true test of a leader, when he/she is expected to jump into the arena to face and manage the crisis effectively, at the same time setting a befitting example for all the employees, as well as a standard. It also restores employee faith in the leadership and the organization and induces unity rather than fear of the outcome amongst all cadres.

We are in a very competitive economic environment today largely due to the massive impact of communication technology putting the world at our fingertips. In this scenario most of the successful brands and large organizations worldwide are creating fresh milestones in leadership excellence and over the top management, a no bars no boundaries mindset and out of the box thinking has taken business management to an altogether different sphere. Hence, 21st century leaders need to be aware of the need to carry the team along with the organization to achieve its core goals of maximization of profits and global growth. They do not want to handle crises within the organization when they have so many to handle externally. Therefore, a leader should have the ability to promote harmony and avert or manage crises effectively internally and externally.

Strategic means related to strategy in other words it is the identification of overall aims and the means to be adopted for achieving them. It consists of devising a plan for achievement of specific goals and following through with perfect implementation of the plan together with adequate control measures to ensure the goal is achieved. Actually, what finally matters is always the goal. Strategic leadership and management both emulate these basic features of strategizing within their jobs. So, a strategic leader whether at top, middle or department level needs to absolutely understand and be attuned to the objectives to be achieved, the plan for the same and how they will manage the people and processes to derive optimal results and what control measures they will implement to ensure success. A leader has to motivate his entire team through performance and maintain a human element through inclusion and encouragement for each individual to explore their talents and excel. I have absolute belief that strategy is the most important management tool at the disposal of leaders for successful achievement of goals, and also to exceed expectations. Lack of a well formulated strategy to lead and motivate others towards achievement of goals as a unified team, is sure to lead to failure or average results at best. It is like going on a treasure hunt without a map.

Transformational and dynamic leadership is a the need of the 21st century as adaptability is essential due to an extremely competent global environment, in the sense that, leadership should be confident in the initiating change, it is highly proactive and focuses on achievement of goals through motivation of the employees and Organization as a whole. This is a dynamic form of leadership and proposed to implement constant changes within the organization, through introduction of new ideas, as well as, dynamic analysis of the goals and the plans set to achieve them, with implementation of changes within them whenever and wherever required. This dynamic approach believes in motivating every individual and group to achieve personal goals through excellence in performance. This is the form of leadership embodies change and encourages individual growth is everything in developing future leaders. The goal of the organization is projected as the goal of every individual as inclusive management is a hallmark of this leadership style. As a result entire organization operates as one and becomes motivated to achieve organizational goals as part of personal goals because an individual grows along with the organization and relationship between the organization and the workers is cooperative and the growth of one simultaneously benefits the other. Such leaders always lead both from the front and from within, meaning they represent all the required leadership qualities, they exemplify leadership by themselves being super achievers and motivate the rest to follow by example. Thus, it promotes an environment of growth and learning within the organization which mimics growth for the organization externally.

Interpersonal skills are one of the most important life skills that are required for achieving success in both professional and personal life, but a mandatory skill set for effective leadership. A lot of our success depends upon inherent ability to communicate effectively rather than extensively, as this is very essential to solving problems as well as finding solutions to overcome the numerous obstacles that we encounter in our personal and professional lives. Interpersonal skills do not only consist of verbal communication but communication and understanding of every type physical, emotional and mental.

Having excellent verbal communication skills, that is, being able to clearly express verbally our thoughts to ensure that the communication is effective. For this communication to be effective it is important that we have adequate listening skills which becomes input for our verbal output. If we are unable to process the input correctly the output will definitely be imperfect. This also includes all non-verbal communication which is through body language, tone of voice, our facial expressions and our attention. Another skill set which is very important is the development of adequate analytical skills to facilitate ability to view a problem through various angles and promote consensus on the solution. To achieve this we require adequate skills to influence the decision of others through assertiveness, as well as, persuasion. The same skills also serve as a great tool for negotiation which is an important process in the global economy.

Leadership is an important element of Total Quality Management and it successful implementation, as is the case with every area of an organization. Without effective leadership total quality management cannot be successful. Total quality management provides all the principles required to be implemented within the framework of an organization to ensure optimal output from every department concerned. However for these principles to be put into action a dynamic and exemplary leadership is mandatory. For effectiveness of quality management a leader requires to create a very positive environment within the organization which facilities and welcomes positive changes. It also requires a leader to understand that inclusive management is a major requirement for achieving quality goals. Any leader to be effective, has to lead by example, by being a proactive rather than a reactive leader and also exhibit his skills and capabilities by ensuring his every action is backed by due diligence and analysis of the market and the sector. It is also required that a leader managing total quality management and its implementation have a perfect strategy in place, in order to ensure, that the aim of the implementation of TQM is clear, as also the means of achieving it. All organizational leaders need to understand requirement for mastering every aspect of the total quality management puzzle to stay on top of the game. Kotter's dimensions are a comprehensive amalgamation of the qualities and methodologies which contribute to the success of leaders, enabling them to guide organizations through change along with successful execution of their strategies, ensuring exceptional results for the organization.

The values and principles of leaders resonate throughout the organization internally and become the image of the organization externally, making the building of the right tone at the top an important business strategy which cannot be stressed upon enough. Even with an adhocratic structure the impact of a strong leader exemplifies the ethics and principles exhibited, resulting in emulation throughout whereas, in a hierarchical structure the leadership values and principles become even more significant as it is the dominant influence. This tone is meant to guide the organization not only towards achievement of goals, but also create the perfect ethical climate with focus on the values to be imbibed and projected by the organization. Given the fact that business reputation risk is being viewed as a major challenge due to vulnerability of a business to lightning spread of negative publicity through social media and mobile technologies, it has become essential that the top management identifies the values and ethics to be followed by an organization and ensure its implementation within the actions and environment of the organization. It is especially an important part of a leader’s portfolio to exhibit the required vision and commitment for establishment of core ethical values and principles within every process and system operating in an organization through effective and clear communication. It is important that the entire organization understand the intention of the top management of considering ethics as a Priority which cannot be sidelined.

I would determine the most essential values to be adopted and exhibited by every leader on the basis of the significance of the value to the operation of the organization and the consequent impact on the internal and external environment and image, and all values which are crucial to the success of the organization. This would be values relating to operations of the organization in terms of ethical, responsible, accountable, non-discriminatory and compassionate action and behavior in every process and department of the organization. This shall result in a leadership in every organization which is accountable to and protects the interests of the society, environment and future generations.