Organizational Leadership
As a valued and seasoned employee, one is presented with the rare opportunity of determining the type of leadership position that best suits him or her. To some extent this opportunity would be a dream come true. As an experienced employee, one should be familiar with the vision and mission of the organization. One should also be familiar and acclimated to the day to day operations and processes of the company. Identifying ones attributes will better help one define his or her role which will most benefit the success of the organization. When identifying ones strengths and weaknesses, a personal leadership style will assist one in the defining processes for which position will be a perfect fit.
Therefore, presented this opportunity sounds awesome, but choosing a career is a tricky business. Where does one start? Is there just one career that would be the perfect match or are there dozens out there waiting to be discovered? “More often than not, if one chooses a career that doesn’t suit his or her personality one becomes confused, unhappy and burned out” (Lorenz, 2004). No one wants a job he or she dislikes. People want to enjoy going to work because in most cases it takes up a quarter of the day. Settling down with the right career can be as central to your happiness as choosing the right person in a relationship. But with any relationship, there is no right or wrong answers. So instead of choosing a career based on what one thinks he or she should do, self assessments can help one find a career that fits his...
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... skills that are needed to lead this new virtual set of team members, I am definitely going to have an immense challenge in my perfect position.
References
Gratton, L. (2007, June 16). Working Together...When Apart. Retrieved March 13, 2009, from http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118165895540732559-search.html
Hefferman, M. (2007, December 19). What You See Is What You Get -- or Is It? Retrieved March 14, 2009, from http://www.fastcompany.com/node/74036/print
Lorenz, K. (2004, December 20). Six moves to make more money. Retrieved March 12, 2009, from http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/Careers/08/03/job.burnout/
Shrader, R. W. (2007, Fall). Leadership in a Liquid World. Leadership and Organizational Studies, 49, 96. Retrieved March 14, 2009, from http://sloanreview.mit.edu/smr/issue/2007/fall/17/
Have you ever been in a position where you where stuck and couldn’t decide between two careers? Whether it was something that you love to do or something that pays well? The answer may seem easy to you but when you start comparing the facts; that’s when it gets hard to choose. For many of us, graduates and people around the world have a difficult time choosing a career that can be a confusing process. A lot of people tend to settle down on a career quickly. Unfortunately, choosing a rapid occupation often leads to an unsatisfying path in the future, if not sooner. Eventually the individual decides to quit and start all over again. According to choosingacareer.net, “6% of workers over the age 50 are in the process of changing a career, resumes mailed to companies’ staffing departments only accounts for 3% of hires nationwide, and 95% of human resources managers and 95% of job seekers depend on personal contacts and networking to fill and find openings.” (choosingacareer.net) Choosing a career takes time and research, so it’s better to plan your future than rapidly pick one. Although some people claim they are happy with the career they chose of the bat, choosing a career carefully is much more effective because in the long run you will feel content and appreciate more with the choice you made.
There are almost as many definitions of leadership as there are persons who have attempted to define leadership (Stogdill, 1974). Therefore, it is very difficult to understand what leadership actually is. According to John Sculley leadership revolves around vision and ideas and has to do more with inspiring people towards direction and goal. A leader is a person capable of inspiring other people to do things without sitting on top of them with a checklist. Precisely, leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a desired goal (Northouse, 2012). Distinguishing between leaders and non-leaders is hard as there exists no clear understanding of what differentiates leaders from non-leaders. Leadership and authority are constructed socially by superiors and subordinates, followers and peers.
Kouzes, J., & Posner, B., (2007). The leadership challenge, (4th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-
In taking a further look into the article Ten Traits of effective leaders, leaders are often taught skills to help create a successful leadership style. An effective leadership style is supportive in addition to directive. As a leader it’s not enough to have leadership sense. You must understand your employees. Once you have established a connection as a leader you gain a strong logic of what employees are looking for in a company. For exa...
Application of career theories to my own life allows for analyzing past and future career decisions. Holland’s Theory of Careers states that one’s vocation is an expression of self, personality, and way of life. There is an indisputable and fundamental difference in the quality of life one experiences if they choose a career one truly enjoys, versus choosing a career one detests. A true testament to the validity of Holland’s theory, my job/career choices reflect my interests, as well as the evolution of my personality (internal self). My first job as a fine jewelry specialist and second job as a make-up artist echo my love of the fashion world. As I matured and became less fascinated by presumed “glamour” careers, I became captivated by physical fitness, nutrition, and medicine; I received my national fitness trainer certificate so that I may become a personal trainer. Nevertheless, my career decisions do not fit uniformly into merely one career theory.
Leadership at times can be a complex topic to delve into and may appear to be a simple and graspable concept for a certain few. Leadership skills are not simply acquired through position, seniority, pay scale, or the amount of titles an individual holds but is a characteristic acquired or is an innate trait for the fortunate few who possess it. Leadership can be misconstrued with management; a manager “manages” the daily operations of a company’s work while a leader envisions, influences, and empowers the individuals around them.
A person’s title within the organization does not make them a leader. The driving factor which determines if someone is in a leader position is their behavior. This person who is a leader will guide those in the organization by influencing, guiding, giving direction, and opinions (Marquis & Huston, 2012). The culture as well as the climate of an organization begins with the leadership (Azaare & Gross, 2011). Each individual person has their own leadership style. Knowing one’s own leadership style will help them understand themselves and be able to grow as a leader. The purpose of this paper is to look at my own leadership style, including my strengths for leading others. A description of a potential challenge that I foresee due to my leadership style and a plan for my personal leadership development will be discussed.
Leadership is the glue that binds any business together, identifying and understanding your type of leadership style can ultimately aid you in becoming a better leader in your professional career. A successful business cannot function without leadership therefore this is a crucial aspect of internal employee development for businesses striving to stay relevant in a crowded marketplace. In addition to recognizing your leadership style every leader needs to look to them and identify what type of personality they have. By becoming an informed business leader you will gain trust and respect of your team to guide them into the future and maximizing potential growth. Throughout this paper I will identify my leadership style and also personality type and how it has affected my personal career growth. Identifying these conclusions is extremely important in crafting company culture.
In this era of organizational restructuring and technological change, individuals can no longer plan on spending their entire working lives with one organization. Life no longer follows a linear path: schooling, work, retirement. Career paths, too, are no longer a linear rise up the ladder to the top. Some analysts proclaim the "new rules of work" : everyone is self-employed and the concept of "job " is disappearing (Hall and Mirvis 1995). Such fundamental changes mean that people need more help than ever with career issues. However, a recent survey of 1,046 adults (Hoyt and Lester 1995) showed that 40% would turn to family or friends first; 37% to counselors. Only 30% had discussed career choices with school or college counselors; only 36% had made a conscious career choice or plan; and, for 4...
Organizational culture is the key to organizational excellence and leadership is a function to create and manage culture (Chen 1992). Organizational researchers have become more aware of the importance of understanding and enhancing the cultural life of the institution. "This study is one of a group of companies with high-performance in North America, interest in organizational culture is an important element in organizational success. Tesluk et al (1997). Looking at the" soft "of the organization, the researchers claim that" the organizational culture may be suitable for a means to explore and understanding of life at work, and make them more humane and more pronounced (Tesluk et al, 1997), and the graves (1986) also stressed the importance of corporate culture, and the need for research strategies and methods of investigating the various elements and processes of the organizational culture. He argued the culture that meets the basic needs of belonging and security in an attempt to describe this gathering that culture is "the only thing that distinguishes one company from another gives them coherence and self-confidence and rationalises the lives of those who work for it. Standard that may seem random, is to enhance the life to be different, and safe to be similar, and culture is a concept that provides the means to achieve this compromise (p. 157).
Leadership has been defined as mobilizing the workforce towards training organizational goals (Yukl, 1998). The style of the leader is considered to be important in achieving organizational goals and therefore it is important to know your own leadership style as the leadership style will impact on the performance among subordinates (Berson et al., 2001). However this does not mean the leadership style alone will be responsible for all the performance of workers and attainment of goals.
Choosing a career is very important in a person’s life. Over the past two decades, many professions have change significantly with the influx of technological developments. One needs to think about the things that interest them and what kind of lifestyle they want to have. Some things a person should think about are what qualifications are needed, what type of training is necessary, and the future need of the career they choose. Some other things to consider would be how much money they will make, what is the probability of advancement, and does the career satisfy their need for an enjoyable life.
In the workplace leaders need to be approachable and available for the employees. In addition, leaders need to serve their employees. The role of a leader is to facilitate and provide tools for the employees in order for the employees to be successful (Kouzes, 2006). This is an area that I want to continue to work on.
Choosing which career path to follow is one of the most important decision people take in their lifetime. Considering that this decision will affect the entire future life, it is very important to be sure that it is the right one. It is one of the most important steps in order to successfully find a job that would satisfy personality needs and guarantee a steady income. If he or she is passionate about their job, hard work is simplified and high salary helps to concentrate on results. The key about being successful at work is to be in love with it.
Choosing a career is one of the most important decisions a person has to make in their life. It is so important because that is what we will have to do to support ourselves throughout life. Imagine being stuck in a dead end job and having to go to work every morning and dreading it. That is no spending oneÕs time and life is too short to work 35 years and be unhappy with it. If a person likes the job they do then it is not work, because finding satisfaction out of a job can bring great happiness. That information has enabled me to make the decision of choosing my area of study and career in the field of Information Technology.