Deliverable 7

 

You have become comfortable with contemporary leadership competencies and feel it is time to open your own small business. As a future business owner, you know that all organizations must be well managed and that effective leadership is at the core of ensuring that a business runs smoothly. Reflect on the following questions and write a 3-5 page report to help you solidify your thinking and describe your plan for running a small business.

• Refer to the DISC behavioral characteristics you identified for yourself in module 01. How will you use two of these characteristics (i.e., values, culture, mission, and vision) to shape your small business?
• Employees are a business’s greatest asset. Refer to the best leader traits/skills/tactics you identified in module 02. How will you mentor the informal and formal leaders that you hire?
• Identify the leader theory from module 03 that fits you best. How can this leader theory help you align business goals, customer expectations, and employee objectives? (Attached)
• Refer to the challenges to leading change that you selected in module 04. Identify two of these challenges. How will you address these challenges to minimize risk for your new business?
• Utilizing the facilitative leadership skills you studied in module 05, discuss the three facilitative leadership skills that you think are the most important for your business. How will you incorporate what you learned about facultative leadership into your business so that employees can successfully run meetings and projects?
• Refer to the leadership skills you presented in module 06, as well as the other concepts you’ve studied in the course (e.g., leader traits, leadership theory, and facilitative leadership skills). How will you use these to ensure effective leadership in your small business?

Running head: COMPETENCY AND LEADESRHIP THEORIES 1

COMPETENCY AND LEADESRHIP THEORIES 4

The Best Leader

Competency and leadership theories

Leadership theory

Period

Advantages

Disadvantages

Assumptions

Great man theory

1840s

Appropriate leader is always available

Heroes are products of the times and situations

Leadership traits are intrinsic

Trait theory

1930s to 1940s

A good leader is determined by qualities

There are slight extra qualities

People are born or made with traits that will make them excel.

Behavioral theories

1940s to 1950s

It is possible to measure human behavior from leaders

Some situations may not find the appropriate leader

Leaders can be divided into various categories

Contingency theory

1960s

Leadership is associated with the situation

At times, actions are done at minimal level when the element is taken out

There is no single way of leading

Transactional leadership theories

1970s

Leaders are able to align with their followers in different ways

Leader must find ways to reward the followers

Transactions are made between leaders and their followers (Luthans, 2005)

When I offered voluntary services in a records department during my freshman year, I worked with a leader who valued the ideas of others and delegated duties to give each of the workers a chance to learn. In this case, Mr. Smith mainly valued the transactional forms of leadership as well as the transformational leadership. He made this effective by involving everyone in decision making and making every effort appreciated. As a leader, I would mainly prefer the transformational theory of leadership over the transactional since as indicated by Luthans (2005), it helps in the development of a strong relationship that is built on trust. This helps in the enhancement of productivity as it creates a sense of responsibility.

References

Luthans, Fred. (2005). Organizational Behavior. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill Irwin.