Reflective Writing on the meaning of Leadership

Reflective Writing on the meaning of Leadership During the first workshop of PASBD, I was in a way taught by our lecture, that working in a group or a team, every member is an important key to achievements, and having a leader is important to keep the team on track as well as lead the team to achieve goals. Leadership can be seen as a counteractive influence when groups experience difficulties in establishing the conditions necessary for making the best possible choice Dennis Gouran (qtd. in Beebe Masterson 2006). Therefore, a leader always gave me an impression that he or she has to be brilliant with good leadership skills, thinking that if a group is lack of a skillful or brilliant leader, a team would most probably fail. Throughout the semester I came to see the importance of a leader, but not as a dominant to the entire team. I felt that having a vertical leadership  [1]  is somehow not so appropriate in completing our task as a group in this subject; rather Shared Leadership will be more appropriate used to explain our g roup. Having a leader is crucial to keep the team going, however a team does not restrict to only one leader. According to Pearce Conger (2003) leadership is broadly distributed among a set of individual instead of centralizes in hands of a single individual who acts in the role of a superior, referring this as Shared Leadership Craig Jay, (2003), which is the process of influencing each other in a team, leading each other to achieve a certain goal or achievement, where leadership is carried out by the team as a whole, rather than solely by an individual alone.  [2]  . In our group, I felt that each group member has a very important role to keep the team going, having each with different skill contributing to a team will only keep the team resourceful, and unlock the thinking by bringing in new idea. Benne and Sheats, 1948, (qtd. In Craig Jay, 2003), raised that team members had actually the roles that is as critical as the team leader, where leadership is a reciprocal process. And the roles are divided by Benne and Sheats into two categories, which are Task Role  [3]  and Socioemotional Roles  [4]  . In my own opinion, I felt that I am most suitable to be classified as the Socioemotional Roles in a team, where I played most of the role as a group observer or as a follower. I do not enjoy leading a team dominantly, most of the time it will depend on situation where I felt suitable to contribute, usually collecting each group member opinion and idea before deciding on which suggestion is most appropriate to be taken up. Team Role Considering the team role, define as A tendency to behave, contribute and interrelate with others in a particular way. Belbins (1993) I would consider myself as a Monitor Evaluator Belbins (1993), being describe as having the characteristic of sober, strategic, discerning, able to sees all options and could judges accurately. A Monitor Evaluator in a team is needed to provide a logical eye, make impartial judgments where required and to weigh up the teams options in a dispassionate way  [5]  . This stands in a part of my personality, where I often not like to make a judgment without knowing the actual situation. During a group discussion, I usually observe the interaction and the statements of others before I start putting more of my opinions. It is important to have delegated team role in a group, with the different combination of characteristic, the team can only help each other to meet up all the requirements needed to complete the task. Due to the different characteristic of members in a group, it leads to a certain disagreement between members during the completion of the task. However to get job done, members of a group often need some corporation to a certain extent. In my situation I find it sometimes difficult to coordinate with group members who are in the team role of a Shaper  [6]  , where they have the tendency to hurt people feeling on some statement they made, without realizing it. Their actions often speak louder than words, made me feel annoying and difficult to concentrate. Despite the characteristics which I do not like about Shaper, they are actually important in providing drive to ensure that the team kept moving and did not lose focus or momentum, Belbins (1993). On the other hand, I most enjoy te aming with members with the role of Co-coordinator ², where they often delegates well, and will seek for advice for other members, allowing each members to feel the respect and involved in to team. According to Beebe Masterson (2006), Not only group members need a mutual concern to unite them, but they also need to feel they belong to a group. Nevertheless, each Team Role has its own contribution; however there are also allowable weakness Belbins (1993), where allowable weaknesses are the downside of the characteristics of the roles, which is allowable due to the strength which goes with it. As for my role as a Monitor Evaluator, I have the weakness of being said to lack of drive and ability to inspire others, and overly critical, Belbin (1993). I often realize this weakness of mine and attempt to change, by trying to say things to keep the discussion in progress. Weakness offers clues to a possible strength, Belbins (1993), knowing my own weaknesses could help to improve more in the future. I believe that by making use of my weakness appropriately, it could transform into strength. Working in Team/Group Working in a group is different from working individually. Working individually allows having flexibility in time management, as I can plan my own schedule to work on the assignment, as well as deciding on something without have to seek discussion or the opinion of other group members. When working in group, one of the major frustration about group work is the time it takes to accomplish task Beebe Masterson (2006). Working in a group, it needs much cooperation from each group members to get things done effectively and efficiently. This includes encouraging the group members to attend the discussion meeting, and ensuring every group member to take on the responsibility to complete their task assigned, If we want a better solution, it is going to take time, patients, and understanding, Beebe Masterson (2006). Because working in a group involves a few individuals, and few individual usually means involving different time to suit, as each has own different daily activities. This will create some difficulties in finding the correct time and place that is convenient for all to hold a discussion meeting. On the other hand, I also find many advantages in working in a group. Having a group of people working together is like pooling of skills and knowledge, and this will to certain extent speed up the researching process and the decision making. Working together with a few person, allows to have discussion on problems and solutions, increasing the probability of picking the error done by another, and could pool different opinion to a problem. There are different types of group according to Beebe Masterson (2006); there are the primary group and secondary group. Primary group members associate with one another to perpetuate the joy of community, to fulfill the basic human needs to be social Beebe Masterson (2006), therefor the conversation is informal. Secondary group is what I would classify as our group, as the secondary groups exist to accomplish task or achieve goal the reason you join secondary group is to get something done Beebe Masterson (2006). Our group is assigned with a take to complete every week, we gather to solve the problem in the task given. Further, our group could also be classifying as the Focus Group, where we have a goal to focus, as well as given a particular topic to follow, Beebe Masterson (2006). In order to get the group working well there are two most important behavior of group member based on Michael Mayer, Beebe Masterson (2006), these behavior encourage members to participate fully in the discussion, especially in analyzing problem, and, offer supportive comments to others, Beebe Masterson (2006). To me, having these behaviors can only our group fully utilize the skills and knowledge we have to achieve the best result possible. However, working in groups, I had come through different types of personalities grouping. Some are in a dominating role, where without seeking permission from others, they tries too in a way give order to people telling them what to do. Trying to get ideas across group members who like to dominate is rather challenging for me, I had experience some hard time convincing on an idea. This experience gives me a lot of practice on my patients, and practicing different way of communicating an idea. Nevertheless, there are also group members who are B locks Progress and some are Social Loafing, Beebe Masterson (2006). Block Progress has an attitude which is often stubborn and disagreeable with no supportive reason. Social Loafing are people who attempt to rely on others to do their job, and hold back on their contribution, Beebe Masterson (2006). These group members will delay the progress of the group, keeping the group from achieving goals. From these, I had realized that to work together effectively, individuals must develop common goals and collective focus rather than pursuing only individual goals Beebe Masterson (2006). To get the work effectively done I will have learn to be a competent group communicator, Beebe Masterson (2006), to always have motivation  [7]  and have the ability to interact appropriately to achieve goal. Communication Having the ability to convey ideas through communication is very important when working in group, as Speech communication gives individual access to the ideas and inner world of other group members, Beebe Masterson (2006). Failure in communication well will cause misunderstanding, leading to conflict or inability to come out with a well done assignment. Problems of communication that I have faced are such as Bypassing and Allness Statement, Beebe Masterson (2006). Bypassing is when, I or my group member is trying to make a statement, we misunderstand the meaning of on a same word, and this had leaded us to produce or work not as required at first. Further is Allness Statement, means that some statement is simple but untrue generalization, Beebe Masterson (2006). Knowing that there are chances that we may misunderstand out group members word, I often like to summarize our discussion at the end of the meeting, to ensure that the message is got through clearly. Throughout the entire course, I found myself in groups are being generally low profile, in the sense where I prefer to monitor the progress of the group discussion and only give opinions when I felt I am needed to, in another words seeking for others to discover that I have something to say. Realizing that a group cannot function without words; communication is the vehicle that allows a group to move towards its goals Beebe Masterson (2006), I have encouraged myself to speak out more during a discussion. At the beginning I was struggling to get points out of my mouth, after few discussions, I had felt more comfortable. In order to be sure of my communication skill I had done a test through the internet, on a website call Test Yourself  [8]  . The outcome of the test on my communication skill says that I am insightful, where I sometimes have difficulties interpreting other peoples words and actions, and see things from their perspective, although I can generally sense what others are feeling and thinking relatively well. Conflict between group members Conflict, happens when members have disagreement over two or more options that a group can take, Beebe Masterson (2006), and A conflict occurs because people do not understand one another Beebe Masterson (2006). It is something difficult to avoid when involving contact between human, in terms of communication or what so ever. In my situation, while needed to work in a group of five, there are always chances of conflict happening once any members cant get into the same opinion. A group with more than two people will often add complexity and element of uncertainty to the Trans active communication process, and this will affect the outcome Beebe Masterson (2006). I would preferably try my best to avoid conflict when working in my group, as conflict will have negative impact on a group harmony and the outcome of our work, I will keep the group from completing its task, interferes with the quality of the groups decision or productivity, threatens the existence of the group Beebe Maste rson (2006). According to the book of communication in small groups, Beebe Masterson (2006), Communication scholars Gerald Milller and Mark Steinberg had identified three common types of interpersonal conflict; they are the pseudo-conflict, where people misunderstand one another, Simple conflict, where people disagree about issues, and, Ego conflict, when personalities clash, Beebe Masterson (2006). Throughout the entire course, I came through the three types of interpersonal conflict in a different way. These conflict does not happen when our group members first met, it all happen when we begin to know more about each characteristic and working style, then begin the disagreement between each other. The conflict that I found most challenging to deal with is the Ego Conflict, as in the situation when the group members become defensive about their position because they think they are being personally attacked, Beebe Masterson (2006). There are times where the entire progress of the task is being delayed, and other group members are put into pressure, by worrying if the deadline could be met. Fortunately, we managed to overcome these obstacles, meeting the deadline. Dealing with conflict, each individual will have different style in managing it. Even though working in a group, each will manage the conflict in their own way as the feel more comfortable with. I myself manage conflict in a Nonconfrontational Style, one of the three general styles of managing conflict by, Linda Putnam and Charmaine, according to Beebe Masterson (2006). Nonconfrontational Style explains that a person in managing the conflict face by working hard to avoid conflict with others, Beebe Masterson (2006). I do not like to go into argument with others, for any reason; I will feel very uncomfortable to communicate or rather become speechless, when things begin to feel unpleasant. Thus, I would choose to withdraw myself to a certain extent, until the situation become calmer before I start to sort things out by communicating with the group member. Avoiding an immediate attack from another group member may give you time to think of more appropriate response rather than blurti ng out the first thing come to your mind Beebe Masterson (2006). However, in some situation, Avoiding conflict does not make the source of problem go away, it still exist Beebe Masterson (2006). When the conflict became too critical to be left to calm by itself, it cant be avoided by keeping quiet, things would have gotten worst if so. In this, no matter how uncomfortable I am to face the conflict, I still have to stand out to solve the problem, trying not to make things reach the extent where, group members turn into enemies. If others are unlikely to change, then you may have to change yourself, Belbins (1993). Conclusion Going through the entire PASBD course is a whole process of learning, teaching in the lecture, and through experience. From the lecture, I had learned on skills of presentation as well as got more understanding on the topic of PASBD. What I gain from the lecture are actually from the experience of others, and I can only understand it theoretically, if I did not got the true experience I can never have the real feeling of what the theories actually trying to convey. Mr. JJ said something about experience, the meaning is roughly of: experiencing the process is like riding a roller coaster; you will not want others to tell u about it, it is what you need to feel for yourself through your real experience. It is through the experience that I could utilize what I learned, and physically going through the process allowing me to have deeper impression on the leanings. Belbins (1993) had also mentioned something about experience learning, saying that Like competing in the Olympic Games, the g reat thing is to have taken part. Unless people enrol for the event, they cannot win the race. What we do will be what we learn; people equipped themselves for work through working, and through the lessons learned through experience, Beebe Masterson (2006).

Blood Imagery In Macbeth Essay -- essays research papers

In Shakespeare's Macbeth a play, a man named Macbeth goes through a great transformation; Macbeth goes from being a heroic general in the king's army to an assassin and a tyrant. The theme of the play is never give into evil because it destroys no matter what the benefits are. Blood Imagery is very important in the play; it shows Macbeth's evil ambition in the beginning, middle, and end of the play. In the beginning of the play, blood imagery is very important. "Till he unseamed him from the nave to the chaps, / and fixed his head upon our battlements"(I.ii.22-23). Macbeth has just killed the enemy and become a hero; Macbeth killed the enemy not for fame or fortune but to defend his land and people. In this next quote Macbeth's evil spirit starts to grow by completing the witches prophecy. "I go, and it is done; the bell invites me. / Hear it not, Duncan; for it is a knell / that summons thee to heaven or to hell"(II.i.62-64). Macbeth's selfish and evil desires have grown; he kills his own king in order to obtain the crown; this is no act of a heroic general but a selfish cold-hearted man. "Oh, yet I do repent me of my fury, / that I did kill them"(II.iii.99-100). Macbeth slaughters these two men to conceal his actions and to remove suspicion from him; Macbeth's evil spirit is growing; he must commit more evil crimes in order to cover up his others. In addition to the beginnig, Blood Imagery is very important in the middle of the play. Macbeth's...

Self-storage began in America Essay

The Shurgard concept of self-storage began in America in 1970 when cofounder of the company Chuck Barbo identified a gap in the market for both homeowners and businesses with a requirement for extra space. He came up with the notion of mini-warehouses for people with excess belongings and businesses with long forgotten records or documents. Twenty years later Shurgard began to expand into Europe and in 1995 the first European store opened in Brussels. Four years later the first UK store opened in South London and earlier this year the company was bought for $5bn by Public Storage, the world’s largest owner and operator of self-storage facilities. The challenge The growth and success of Shurgard in Europe meant that increasing demands and expectations were being placed on the company’s operations middle managers who were wrestling with a growing number of stores, an ever-larger geographic area of responsibility, increased numbers of employees, decentralisation of country and panEuropean support centres, greater autonomy and reorganisation of roles. Terry Whitney, European Learning and Development Manager of Shurgard SelfStorage Centers, said: â€Å"The business of self-storage was very different in Europe than it was in the US and there were different points of maturity in the market so there were many challenges to face. Most of our attention was focussed on buying property and building new facilities. Suddenly we realised we had a management team that was bright and hard working but had suffered from a lack of development focus.† â€Å"The best result of our partnership with SHL is that the district managers are now motivated because they know what is expected of them, how they will be held accountable and have focused training and development in place. Importantly, they also know what success looks like.† Terry Whitney, Shurgard shl.com Case Study | Shurgard Typical of many fast growing companies, Shurgard realised that it had no consistency of job titles, roles or responsibilities and no standardised job descriptions or job competencies for its staff. In addition there was no formal evaluation, training or development and no succession planning. What Shurgard wanted to create was a consistent layer of district managers across Europe. Some people already had this title but their job seemed little different to a market manager, operations manager or area manager. â€Å"We were promoting great operations people from store managers to more senior job titles with responsibility for profit and loss accounts for specific districts. We also wanted them to lead, inspire and motivate and the more senior roles had a completely different set of skills requirements which we had not measured or trained for,† said Whitney. District managers were identified as the operations critical layer with which to start work. Shurgard felt that if these people could not understand and accurately report on key occupancy and rates figures for stores, then shareholders would not have the confidence to invest money for expansion and more storage sites. The solution This client places people development high on its list of organizational priorities. With an agreed name for the role, the company needed to align the title with expectations and competencies that could be used across Europe and which would accommodate future growth of new stores. The people had to more effectively lead and manage an ever larger number of store personnel at a time of reduced centralised support. They were also required to operate at a higher managerial level than had previously been demanded. Faced with this challenge, Shurgard partnered with SHL – global experts in workplace assessment – to conduct a performance assessment of the mid-management team in Europe. The programme was designed to: †¢ Establish a benchmark of current managerial talents †¢ Undertake a gap analysis to determine the strengths and limitation of the management team against the new job competencies †¢ Recommend how the current managerial team could achieve the new expectations for the district manager role †¢ Assess the leadership potential of the current team †¢ Identify the ideal profile of a district manager for use in future recruitment. Supporting more than 10,000 customers every year Organisations that understand and maximize their people’s potential achieve outstanding results. SHL gives you the insights to make better decisions about your people. We call this People Intelligence, Business Results. â€Å"With SHL’s Universal competency Framework cards, we were able to define the critical behaviours required for the district managers role†, comments Whitney â€Å"This competency model was the hub around which SHL was able to design an appropriate development centre programme.† Individuals were invited to a one-day assessment at an SHL diagnostic development centre in order to see how they fitted the need and behavioural competencies of the district manager role. The assessment included exercises aligned to specific competencies, psychometric tests in local languages, management scenario role-play and numerical, verbal and abstract reasoning tests. Each attendee received feedback from a senior SHL assessor who took them through their results and talked about their development needs. The Results As a result of the assessment, Shurgard found that its mid-management team had a wide spectrum of skills and abilities but also specific patterns of managerial strengths and weaknesses. Recognising these areas enabled the company to target the appropriate training and development to address specific competencies and behaviours. â€Å"Shurgard really learned the critical importance of aligning the district manager job description, job competencies, hiring profile, training activities and performance management processes to create improved motivation and performance,† said Whitney. He added that using the competencies created by SHL also changed the recruitment and promotion process. New recruits are now given competency-based interviews focused on certain experiences whilst promotions are no longer based on length of service and performance alone but on potential against the required competencies. â€Å"For me it’s the competencies – everything ties back to them,† said Whitney. And he adds: â€Å"The best result of our partnership with SHL is that the district managers are now motivated because they know what is expected of them, how they will be held accountable and have focused training and development in place. Importantly, they also know what success looks like.† Case Study | Shurgard Shurgard’s need to focus on developing its managers was being hampered by a lack of consistency in job titles, roles, responsibilities and competencies for its staff. SHL worked with the firm to assess its midmanagement team in Europe and identify the ideal profile for district managers. Shurgard is now able to target management development and recruit more effectively for improved motivation and performance 25 million assessments every year. Organisations that understand and maximize their people’s potential achieve outstanding results. SHL gives you the insights to make better decisions about your people. We call this People Intelligence, Business Results.

Friendship Is More Than Just For Entertainment - 2160 Words

Friendship is something that every human being in this world craves and desires - the happiness of laughing with friends, having a shoulder to cry on when life seems rough, and the comfort of knowing that although you may be alone, you’re not necessarily lonely. Although some people prefer to have more friends, and some have less, it is clear to see that even in today’s society, friendship is more than just for entertainment. Similarly, characters in books, whether they be round and complex, or flat with ‘no mental or emotional development’ (Forster, 1927), will often have their closest friend or two with them, playing not only a role of supporting character, but giving the main character more depth, allowing for deep friend-to-friend†¦show more content†¦To begin an argument for this essay, the definitions of fantasy and realism genres must be noted. Timmerman (1983) describes the fantasy genre as â€Å"offering a parallel reality which gives us a renewed awareness of what we already know† – for example, â€Å"A child may well believe a report that there are ogres in the next country, while many grown-up persons find it easy to believe of another country†. (JRR Tolkien). However, realism is defined by childliterature.net as â€Å"depicting the world as it is, not as it could be†, with an absence of fantasy, magic and supernatural events. They often feature a common garden protagonist, rather than a heroic one. It is already clear to see the stark differences between the two genres. The books chosen for this essay are two fantasy books and two realism books. The fantasy books selected are Matilda, by Roald Dahl, selected due to fond past memories, and Skulduggery Pleasant, by Derek Landy, chosen as it has been on the â€Å"to read† list for quite a while now. The two realism books chosen to convey the theme of friendship are The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. These realism novels were chosen as their titles drew interest; along with