1. Assessment Brief
1.1. Brief
Part A:
Max 2,000 words
Complete five (5) pieces of reflective writing that may be based on lectures, seminar activities, recommended videos and/or readings that have been undertaken during the module. A list of themes is provided below to ensure that you are able to meet the learning outcomes.
Part B:
750 words Max 1,000 words
Complete a personal statement identifying how you have met the learning outcomes for this module through your reflective writing.
Tasks
Part A: (2,000 words)
Complete five (5) pieces of reflective writing that may be based on lectures, seminar activities, recommended videos or readings that have been completed during the module.
Topics
- A leader’s effectiveness in influencing others. ( situation: a colleague has been too emotional, throwing different objects to the wall, showing his unhappiness and etc., showing his anger next to the team; please use Big Five Analysis, The Natural Leader analysis, Impulsiveness analysis. Please talk here about low emotional intelligence and how to Improve self awareness. Key learning can be : the person needs more training; to put him to work with the same people like him, to pay for a coach or mentor, the person showed cycological game playing damaging his own reputation)
- Ethics and the ‘dark side’ of leadership. ( situation: new manager that just joined the company has done 360 degree feedback, announced the results in open meeting. Please use analysis such as Abuse of power, Mayers Briggs personal diagram. All about me attitude, the situation is ambush, lost trust straight away)
- Using different styles of leadership successfully. ( situation: whilst working as a bouncer in the night club, the owner allowed to be fully in charge and to make a decision on further actions. Please use model such as Delegation style model and etc)
- When leadership is completely different from management.
- What can be done to develop an individual’s ability to lead?
You need to relate your reflective writing to concepts, models and theories of leadership and also to YOUR OWN EXPERIENCES OF LEADERSHIP. This can relate to all, or some of the situations below:
- Your own personal experiences as a leader in formal or informal situations.
- Your own personal experiences of people who currently have, or previously had a leadership responsibility for you.
- Leadership in companies you are working for or have worked for in the past.
- Leadership in voluntary/community/political/cultural organisations or groups you have worked with.
- Leadership in organisations known well to you, where you have seen the impact of those responsible for leadership on people you know.
Structure for reflective writing (About 400 words per topic)
Each reflective piece needs to include the following:
- An introduction, outlining the reasons for choice of topic/situation/leader.
- An analysis of the topic which describes the situation and also incorporates relevant leadership models, theory and principles to analyse the situation.
- A concluding statement which captures key learning.
Structure:
- Introduction (50 to 75 words)
- Analysis (250 words)
- Conclusion/key learning (75 – 100 words)
Example:
A leader’s effectiveness as a leader and their ability to influence a specific situation.
Introduction
One of my first experiences as a leader was being asked to act up as temporary supervisor in a sports retail store, leading a team of 6 colleagues of whom I had always got on really well with. However, it was these relationships which prohibited effective leadership.
Analysis
I’ve always had a strong relationship with everyone, considering them good friends rather than colleagues. However, Gentry (2015) notes that it can be hard to manage former co-workers as some fail to take tasks seriously, attempting to use their “friendly relationship” to their advantage. This was certainly an issue for me, as some team members became lazy frequently arrived late
Although I knew these were issues that had to be addressed, I feared confronting the team could damage our existing relationship. Therefore, I ignored the issues, and attempted to complete the unfinished work myself. However, this only led to further problems and presented me as a weak leader.
Figure 1 represents a self-assessment of my leadership at this time, by applying Kirkpatrick and Locke (1991) listed leadership traits. Although I had some strong leadership traits, which included good knowledge of the business, my self-confidence prevented me from becoming a successful leader. Not being confident enough to approach the team to address the problems I had noticed, actually decreased my motivation to lead.
| Trait | My score out of 5 |
| Drive | 4 |
| Desire and Motivation to Lead | 2 |
| Honesty and Integrity | 3 |
| Self-confidence | 2 |
| Intelligence | 4 |
| Knowledge of the business | 5 |
| Other Traits (weaker support): charisma, creativity/originality, flexibility | 4 |
Also, only being given the title of ‘temporary supervisor’ meant I lacked ‘legitimate power’ of formal position to make demands of my co-workers (French & Raven, 1959 – See Figure 2). My colleagues picked this up and consequently allowed standards to drop. Additionally, without the threat of ‘coercive power’, staff were non-conformant to typical expectations, likely because there was no fear of punishment (McCrosky at al, 1983).
Conclusion
As Groon (2003) states, “there can be no leaders without followers”, therefore, my overall lack of support made it hard to become an effective leader. In future, I would consider operating as a “self-managed team” (SMT) where employees share the responsibility and work load, rather than having one outright leader (Nahavandi, 2015). Instead of allowing standards to drop, this would have improved efficiency and productivity by sharing a common goal (Burns, 2017).
One action I would implement is to hold a short team briefing meeting at the beginning of each day and agree key tasks and responsibilities with the team, giving team members some say in how these are decided.
Part B: (1000 words)
Complete a personal statement identifying how you have met the learning outcomes for this module. Your content in Part B can relate to your own experience of leadership or the wider business world.
You must include the following elements, (which directly relate to the learning outcomes).
- Assess the strengths and limitations of two leadership theories when applied to leadership in practice.
- Critically evaluate the strengths and limitations of two leadership concepts and frameworks in solving problems in different contexts.
- Appraising two different factors and contexts which impact on leadership practice.
- Analysing how the concept of ethics can impact on leadership and decision-making.
1.2. Assessment Submission Structure (for Parts A and B)
- cover sheet
- Title page
- Table of contents
- Leadership
- Ethics
- Leadership styles
- Leadership and management
- Developing leadership ability
- Personal statement
- References
- Appendices
1.3. Assessment Marking Scheme (Student Version)
The assignment is marked out of 100. The following table shows the mark allocation and the approach required.
| Assignment Part | Mark | Approach |
| Part A – five reflective pieces
Indicative word-count: 400 words x 5 (2000 words in total)
|
For an excellent mark, the reflective pieces will:
– Provide an in-depth coverage of the concept of leadership, supported by a wide range of leadership theories and models, which will be insightfully applied to specific situations that you have personal experience of. – Show insightful appreciation of different contexts and how leadership needs to adapt to the needs of key stakeholders and the wider situation. – Show creative/innovative thought and incorporate modern leadership theory, accurately relating this to a suitable context related to personal experience or learning. – Include insightful coverage of the concept of ethical leadership, which will be clearly explained and integrated into analysis and reflections. – Incorporate evidence of significant wider reading and Harvard referencing. |
|
| Part B – personal statement
Indicative word-count: 750 words
|
For an excellent mark the personal statement will explain with insight how you have:
– Assessed the strengths and limitations of two leadership theories when applied to leadership in practice. – Critically evaluated the strengths and limitations of two leadership concepts and frameworks in solving problems in different contexts. – Appraised two different factors and contexts which impact on leadership practice. – Analysed how the concept of ethics can impact on leadership and decision-making. |
