Leading People and Organizations

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Recommended: how to define leadership

Overview

There are many ways to define leadership, but perhaps the most laconic as well as accurate definition is presented in Peter G. Northouse's Leadership: Theory and Practice book (Northouse, 2013, p.5): "Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal". Individuals, engaged in leadership, use influence to solve challenges, which the groups under their leadership face, in order to succeed in their common goals.

In Leadership: Theory and Practice Peter G. Northouse examines various leadership styles and also looks at the concept of leadership from different perspectives. As a future leader I used Northouse's book to explore my leadership styles and ways to apply them in practice. In this paper I will describe a few of the recent challenges that my employer has been going through. I will determine which of the leadership styles, described by Northouse, correlate to me and how I could possibly apply my leadership styles to handling those challenges, if I was the leader at my organization. I will also reflect on my own profile in light of the provided leadership descriptors and categories.

Challenges at Workplace

I work at General Dynamics Information Technology (gdit.com, 2014), and during the past year our company has faced a number of financial challenges (General Dynamics. Annual Report, 2013, p.3). As General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT) is a government contractor, these challenges are primarily related to defense budget cuts that are currently being implemented in the U.S. (Daleda, 2014). As Forbes Magazine article puts it, these days sthose companies that mainly provide services to the U.S. military are facing toughest times (Thompson, 2013). GDIT i...

... middle of paper ...

...12), Luebbert, L. (2013). Annual review. [e-book] Rockville: GDIT. pp. 1-8. Available through: GDIT [Accessed: 2 Mar 2014].

10. Pinsky, E. (2013). Leadership lessons from Hillary Rodham Clinton. [online] 28/08. Retrieved from: http://www.respectfulworkplace.com/2013/08/22/leadership-lessons-from-hilary-rodham-clinton/ [Accessed: 2 Mar 2014].

11. Robbins, S. P., Decenzo, D. A. & Coulter, M. K. (2013). Fundamentals of management. Harlow: Pearson.

12. Shoemaker, P. (2013). Nelson Mandela, transformational leader. [online] 05/12. Retrieved from: http://www.inc.com/paul-schoemaker/what-made-mandela-a-transformational-leader.html [Accessed: 2 Mar 2014].

13. Thompson, L. (2013). As budget cuts bite, defense contractors' fortunes diverge. Forbes, 24/04.

14. Walters, R., rwalters@gdit.com (2013). Low results in October. [email] (rockvilleteam@gdit.com). Sent 03.11.14.

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