Question

1. Unit 9 dealt with Leadership and described many theories in that field. Reflect on your own experience and describe two leaders you encountered, one you admired and found easy to follow, and the other one who you found ineffective. Describe the behaviors of each that underlie your opinion of them. What lessons did you learn from them you could apply to your own managerial style?

2. Unit 4 looked at decision making, and discussed the situational aspect. Please describe two situations; the first, a situation where you believe a very directive style would be appropriate and the second, one where you think a very collaborative style would better serve the situation. In both instances, describe the situation and your reasoning.

3. In Unit 14, we looked at small business. Would you prefer managing in a huge enterprise or a small one? What factors entered into your decision?

4. Review 8.1 in Unit 8. Do you think the “$2,000.00 to quit” offer is a sound business practice? Why or why not?

5. By this point, you hopefully have a fairly full understanding of what a manager does. If you were offered a managerial position (or if you currently hold one), what aspect of being a manager is a natural fit with your skills and personality? Conversely, which aspect do you feel would require more conscious effort on your part? Management is definitely NOT for everyone… do you think it is a career path you would enjoy?

Answer 1

Q1) A leader should have the ability to attract people/followers not by force but by their way. Leaders need not be positionally higher in the rankings, but leaders can be found in the smallest echelons of companies too. The difference between a Manager and a Leader lies there-in. Manager comes with positional hierarchy, whereas for a leader this hierarchy is not mandatory. Let me list the comparison of two of the senior managers who used to manage my account in IT Organization. When I was new to my organziation, I was deployed in a very unstable account which had loads of IT issues every day. My role was to support and rectify the issues which are occurring on a day-to-day basis

Person A - Aggressive, Competitive and Egoistic. This guy comes to the floor everyday in the morning, with his aggressive tone, questions us as to how things are progressing. If at all there are any issues, he used to rebuke us on the floor in front of everyone (showing that he was the boss) and then instruct us to complete the task at the earliest without giving heed to our difficulties

Person B - Charismatic, Empathetic and Supportive. This person does the same as far as follow up is concerned, however, he is more empathetic in nature. He first understands what is the underlying problem before advising us how to go forward with the situation. He has never raised his voice and has always shown us a solution whenever we faced difficulty

Comparing the two above, both were getting things done at the end of the day, however, no one was comfortable with Person A. He was removed from the account due to multiple complaints from employees reporting his behavioural issues. Even though things were moving ahead, people were never happy to work and it created a very negative environment. Person B came as a replacement and due to his jovial and supportive nature, things took a U turn and people started performing better. Now we get appreciations every now and then and are considered one of the best accounts in the company. Thus a leader needs to "lead" and not just "manage" the people