When it comes to management in the real world and in various organizations, leadership is a key concept that will decide either the success or failure of a manager. In our textbook, Daft and Marcic have defined leadership to be "the ability to influence people toward the attainment of goals." (Daft & Marcic, p. 410) With this definition, it is almost impossible to imagine a corporation to reach the goals it has set without a valid form of leadership, which is why I believe leading is one of the most important aspects of management.
Looking at leading, there are many topics that must be discussed. The first one that I will be discussing here is self-awareness. Self-awareness is one of the four basic components of emotional intelligence, and Daft and Marcic simply define it as "being aware of what you are feeling." (Daft & Marcic, p. 388) As a manager, we have the responsibility of knowing just exactly what we feel in regards to certain aspects of the organization. With a strong self-awareness, a manager will also be able to know his or her own strengths and weaknesses, as well as have a healthy sense of self-confidence. As a manager myself, I know my own limitations and so I can be more productive by playing into my strengths instead. By being self-aware of one's own strengths, managers can can put better use of their time and work "smarter" by focusing on tasks that use these skills. Maintaining self-awareness can be done by keeping note of your feelings on situations at all times, and by also realizing what areas you are strong in and which ones need more work. Along with being aware of one's own self, a good leading manager will also need to be able to understand the perceptions and attributions of other people in order to handle any emotions and make good decisions. This can be done by getting a good understanding of what other people feel, and then removing one's own emotions from the situation at hand. By doing this, the manager will be able to make a decision based on the effect it will have on everyone, and not just him or herself.
Other factors of emotional intelligence include self-management, social awareness, and relationship management. Before talking about these other factors and my role in each of them, it is essential to look at the Big Five personality factors and how they relate to me. According to Daft and Marcic, the Big Five personality factors "describe an individual's extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness to experience." (Daft & Marcic, p. 386) With each of these traits, I can safely say that I have a high degree of each one as a manager. Out of these five traits, the one that most defines me as a leader is my openness to experience. This is defined in the textbook as "the degree to which a person has a broad range of interests and is imaginative, creative, artistically sensitive, and willing to consider new ideas," (Daft & Marcic, p. 386) which defines me perfectly. OI am a manager who would always be open to listening to various people in order to discover new ideas and approaches. In a way, this is the essence of my personality, and to manage it, I must make sure that even though somebody states a new idea, I take careful consideration and thoughtful decision making approaches to pick the best idea. Going back to emotional intelligence, I have great abilities in the four basic components. However, when looking at which one might be the most challenging one for me, the answer would have to be self-management. Although I would still say I have a good sense of self-management, this can be my weakest facet in terms of letting worry and anxiety let out at times. I know as a manager I must work on improving this by being able to better control disruptive and harmful emotions, especially when it comes to the workplace.
Tying into the topic of self-awareness, this trait can also help with understanding my personal motivations as a manager. By looking at my own personal motivations, it becomes easier to figure out how to keep employers motivated as well. The concept of motivation has two types of rewards behind it: intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. Intrinsic rewards are "the satisfactions a person receives in the process of performing a particular action," (Daft & Marcic, p. 442) such as the feeling of accomplishment somebody gets when they complete a task. Extrinsic rewards are "given by another person, typically a manager, and include promotions, pay increases, and bonuses." (Daft & Marcic, p. 442) In order to keep employees motivated, as a manager I would use both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. Intrinsic rewards could come as a sense of achievement when employees do their work, and this can be done by making sure that the work that employees do is valuable and useful to the organization. Employees will also be motivated with extrinsic rewards such as bonuses for exceeding expectations and doing superior work assignments. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs can accurately depict what each employee might value in the organization. As a manager, I would want a job that is both rewarding, and pays appropriately, which takes care of the physiological needs descrived in this hierarchy. Next, I would want job safety, and also a culture in which I feel included in. These two relate to the safety needs, and belongingness needs of the hierarchy. Lastly, I would want a job in which I have the opportunity for improvement and growth, which is similar to the esteem needs and the self-actualization needs. I would speculate that most people would value these needs as well for what they want out of a job, and so as a manager I will make sure that these needs are met. Employees must have some sense of empowerment, and by allowing them to fulfill these needs, I as a manager will also give them this empowerment.
As a manager and a leader, it is important to know about the different leadership styles. For my organization, I would be more of a situational leader. This is a "contingency approach to leadership that links the leader's behavioral style with the task readiness of subordinates." (Daft & Marcic, p. 418) I believe that everybody has their own skills and strengths, and so each person will also need a different leadership style in order to increase overall mood and productivity in the workplace. With the situational style of leadership, I will be able to adopt different leadership styles based on a combination of relationship and task behavior. The biggest downside to this approach would have to be custom tailoring leadership styles for different people, but this is also a positive because it ensures that the manager has a sense of what each employee thinks and feels, and can form better relations.
- Sayuz
Sources:
Daft, Richard L. Management. 9th ed., Cengage Learning, 2018.
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