Determining_Your_Perfect_Position

Abstract In this paper the subject to discuss will be the perfect position for me at my expanding company. There will be a discussion about my company and the opportunities that are going to be available. After the brief discussion about the company, the paper will then discuss the strengths and weaknesses of my leadership style what was learned from the self-assessments. Then I will compare and contrast some different leadership theories with those that fit my own approach to leadership. At the end of the paper I will identify some positions within my company that best fit my leadership style. Determining Your Perfect Position “Leadership is the ability to influence a group toward the achievement of a vision or set of goals” (Robbins & Judge, 2007, p. 402). A leader is someone that is looked up to for guidance within an organization. There will be a time when I will be looked up to as a leader within a business. It is important to understand your leadership style and how it will affect the way you lead your current or future team. This paper will discuss the expansion opportunities within my current employment. Then I will lay out some strengths and weaknesses of my leadership style that I learned from some self-assessments on leadership. Following that I will compare and contrast some leadership theories with my own approach to being a leader. At the conclusion of the paper I will identify the job(s) within my company that are compatible with my leadership style. Company Background and Expansion I currently work for a service based company inside the uniform and linen industry. My current employer is on the brink of expansion and the development of new opportunities. I am currently a first line supervisor that has been with the company for six years. I currently oversee eight service routes and the drivers who take care of those routes. The company is about to launch a new division within our location and I am granted the opportunity from my boss to choose the new position that will help benefit the business. It is my duty to understand what my strengths and weaknesses are and how they will help me determine what my new role should be. Strengths and Weaknesses of my Leadership Style found through Self-Assessments I recently took a series of self-assessments that analyzed my whole leadership approach and style. This section will go through and discuss the results of these assessments. The first one was titled “what’s my leadership style'” This assessments tries to determine if you are task or people-oriented. Task-orientation is concerned with getting the job done, where as people-orientation focuses on group interactions and the needs of individual members. My score for people-oriented was a nine, while the score for my task-orientation was a seven. I scored high for people versus low on task. Usually the best leaders are the ones who can balance the two scores. Therefore I need to improve on getting the task done and not letting relationships with the team members slow me down. The next assessment measured how charismatic you are. It takes scores from six different categories of management to attention, trust, meaning, self, risk, and feelings. My total score was an 85, which means I have fairly strong charismatic qualities. By being charismatic I will be able to gain the confidence of my team to be their leader. “Effective leaders have built a trusting relationship between themselves and those they seek to lead” (Bromiley & Cummings, 1996, p. 328). This is the basis for the next assessment titled “Do others see me as trustworthy'” The scoring range is from 9 to 63 and I scored a 55. This means that others are likely to perceive me as trustworthy. This can be a big strength as a leader of a team. The last two assessments are titled “How good am I at disciplining others'” and “How good am I at building and leading a team'” In the disciplining assessment I scored as an effective discipliner. My score in the building and leading a team assessment I scored a 95 which is in the top quartile of the assessment. By applying the information that I have gathered from all these assessments, I will be able to determine what direction I will want to pursue with my newly expanded company. Leadership Theories In order to gain a better understanding of becoming a good leader, I will take a look at two dimensions of behavioral theories of leadership. According to Robbins and Judge (2007), behavioral theories of leadership propose that specific behaviors differentiate leaders from non-leaders. The first dimension of this theory is initiating structure, which “refers to the extent to which a leader is likely to define and structure his or her role and those employees in the search for goal attainment” (Robbins & Judge, 2007, p. 405). This type of leader is one who is structure oriented and keeps everyone on task. They have high standards of performance and meeting the deadlines. The second dimension mentioned is consideration. This is described “as the extent to which a person is likely to have job relationships that are characterized by mutual trust, respect for employees’ ideas, and regard for their feelings. The person shows concern for followers’ comfort, well-being, status, and satisfaction” (Robbins & Judge, 2007, p. 405). Studies have shown that those that are high in consideration have more satisfied employees and are motivated to work for that leader. Between these two styles mentioned above, I have more consideration qualities in my style. I find myself more people oriented and I have good working and personal relationships with my employees. I am also trustworthy and I usually have the respect of my employees. My Leadership Style After the all the research and gathering of information, I have come up with a leadership style of my own. This style consists of being a people-oriented leader. I am leader who empowers the employee to accomplish the goals and tasks. I also have the ability to lead by example and show them the way. I am trusted by those around me and I have a good charismatic approach to leading. I also have the ability to keep my team focused and motivated. I also have the strong ability to pick a team and make them successful. Therefore my new job position will be the head service manager within our newly developed business unit. I will be able to recruit and hiring the right employees to help reach our company’s goals. I will be able to motivate them and keep them satisfied as they progress within the organization. Conclusion Leaders are those that can get people to follow them to accomplish a certain task or goal within a structured system. Not all managers are leaders. It takes certain qualities and behaviors to make a great leader. This paper discussed some of those qualities and behaviors that I encompass. I also revealed my strengths and weaknesses by analyzing the leadership self-assessments. Therefore, I was able to choose the perfect position within my company. References Bromiley, P., & Cummings, L. (1996). “The Organizational Trust Inventory,” in R.M. Kramer and T.R. Tyler, Trust in Organizations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Robbins, S.P., & Judge, T. A. (2007). Organazational Behavior (12th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.