A511.9.3.RB.Module 9 – Course Reflections

             Nine weeks ago, I viewed leadership as a specialized or shared influence process and a direct or indirect administration.  A leader who is in a dedicated leadership role, in general, has the responsibility to lead its followers in accomplishing a common task while a leader who is an extraordinary influence does not have to be the “chosen leader” of a group.  The leader has the innate power to motivate an individual or a group of people either directly or indirectly with an intended result for the benefits of one collective group.  Leaders like CEOs of an organization have a direct influence on their employees.  They have the authority to implement organizational policies and procedures that employees of the organization are required to comply. 

            My simple or basic definition of leadership from nine weeks ago has changed if not improved.  I was enthralled by Northouse’s comments or definition of a Leader-Member Theory and Hongdan Zhao’s research finding on the leader-member exchange differentiation and team creativity.  According to Northouse (2015), Leader-Member Theory (LMX) can be best understood within the leadership-making model of Graen and Uhl-Bien (1991).  Northouse further indicated that Graen and Uhl-Bien advocated that leaders should create a special relationship with all followers.  Leaders should offer each member the opportunity to take on new roles and responsibilities.  Also, leaders should nurture high-quality exchanges with their supporters.  Instead of concentrating on the distinctions between the in and out- group members, the leadership-making model recommended that leaders should consider looking for different avenues to build trust and respect with all their followers and creating the entire work unit an in-group accordingly (Northouse, 2015 p.145).

Zhao’s study on the leader-member exchange differentiation and team creativity had theoretical and practical significance.  According to Zhao (2015), high LMX differentiation challenged delegation and social harmony in groups were more likely to precipitate disaccord in the relationship within the team thus resulting in greater conflict.  The results of Zhao’s research has some practical contributions.  One great example is that because the increase in relationship conflict may cause an adverse effect on team creativity under the LMX differentiation, it is imperative that leaders be proactive in finding ways to lessen if not eliminate adverse effects correlated with LMX differentiation. 

One way of managing negative impact is for leaders to define every members’ contribution thus depleting unfair rationale from members.  It would also be judicious for organizations to cultivate pathways of conflict management diminishing conflict relationships in the workplace.  Ultimately, to facilitate better understanding within team members the importance of their responsibilities as well as other team members, leaders and organizations need to promote task-oriented reciprocation within groups or departments.  The success of this initiative is for managers to encourage work rotations, acknowledge supporting behaviors in the workplace and inspiring their workforce to partake openly in communicating workplace issues and work-related theories or ideas.               

Zhao’s study confirms Northouse description of LMX theory.  According to Northouse (2015), LMX theory has useful and destructive features.  One positive feature of LMX theory is that it is unique where its primary focus of the leadership technique is the leader-member relationship.  It channels awareness that open communication between leaders and members is imperative to the success of organizational outcomes.  The destructive feature of LMX theory is that the in-group perceived inequalities can negatively impact the out-group members’ behavior or attitudes.          

I have experienced many years of management and leadership in the workplace and the community, but I have never analyzed, assessed nor ascertained the style or type of leadership that I exercise or practice.  Through this course, I was able to transpose myself to every leadership styles such as transactional leader, transformational leader, adaptive leader and authentic leader that I came across during the study.  I discovered that my current leadership style could be more identifiable to a transformational leader.  A transformational leader who prevails on change, exercises “control” through trust, inspires a vision of what might be to attain the respect and confidence of followers.  I possess the behavioral characteristics of a role model and “walk the walk” even in times of testing occasions (Dubois et al., 2015).  I have the ability to focus on motivating and empowering my team always on a commitment to excellence, excellent team-building, and a strategic collaborative effort with my group to achieve transformation successfully. Lastly, I have managed to find different avenues to elicit a solid performance from my team in the absence of blind allegiance. 

I would like to conclude with Gary Yukl and Peter Northouse’s criterion of a leader and trait approach of leadership.  Yukl (2012) wrote that the underlining criterion of a leader is personality, motives, values, and skills.  The central premise of said standard is that there is the existence of individuals that are leaders in nature, endowed with leadership attributes that are not of existence from other persons.  Then there is Northouse (2015) who wrote that trait approach reinforces that finding the right leader with a particular set of leadership attributes is essential in having a dynamic leader.  It is also advantageous to a leader to analyze or assess his/her leadership attributes i.e. strengths and weaknesses to move up or move to other positions within the organization.  Trait assessment provides individuals a more lucid explication of their character and behavior as a leader and how they culturally fit into the organizational hierarchy (Northouse, 2015).

References:

Dubois, Melissa, Hanlon, John, Koch, Jodi, Nyatuga, Betty, & Kerr, Nathan (2015). Leadership

Styles of Effective Project Managers: Techniques and Traits to Lead High Performance Teams. Journal of Economic Development, Management, IT, Finance, and Marketing 7.1 (Mar 2015): 30-46.  Retrieved from: http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/docview/1681254193?pq-origsite=summon

Northouse, Peter (2015). Leadership: Theory and Practice (7^th ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Sage

            Publishing

Winston, Bruce & Patterson, Kathleen (2006). An Integrative Definitions of Leadership.

            International Journal of Leadership Studies. Retrieved from:

http://www.regent.edu/acad/global/publications/ijls/new/vol1iss2/winston_patterson.doc/winston_patterson.pdf

Yukl, Gary (2012), Leadership in the Organization (8^th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice

Zhao, Hongdan (2015). Leader-member exchange differentiation and team creativity: A

moderated mediation study. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 36 Iss: 7, pp.798 – 815. Retrieved from: http://www.emeraldinsight.com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/doi/pdfplus/10.1108/LODJ-12-2013-0172