Leadership

a) Transformational leadership; a person that has functioned as a transformational leader in my life. I have always had to be pushed by my parents to go to school, do my homework, and study for my exams. This has been the case until college days. Growing up, I have never been able to understand the purpose of studying let aside having to go to school, that, on the other hand, did not stop me from going to school and doing my homework simply because I either go to school or get punished, and I chose to go to school. By the age of eighteen, right after finishing high school, I was fortunate enough to receive a scholarship to study abroad. The United States of America is where I chose to go to based on my friends feedback. Before being accepted to the college I went to, I had to be enrolled into an English program in preparation for the Toefl exam that I had to pass in order to be accepted. At the beginning, it was pretty challenging to wake up and go to the English program without the help of my mother waking me up by dragging me off my bed and into the bathroom. Few days later, I learned that I had to depend on myself since my parents are no longer around to "push" me to go to school and do my assignments and so on. Two months passed, and I managed to pass the first two English levels with decent grades. In the third English level, I met a teacher whose name is Joe. Joe was my "English college writing" teacher. In his class, I received my very first "F" in the first exam he gave me. Getting an "F" came as shocking news to me since despite how carless I have always been, I have never failed any class. Because of that, I decided that I need to study harder to the point that I almost spent most of my days reading and writing random stuff so I can improve my English writing skills. Thinking I was ready for the next exam, I went ahead with confidence to the second exam yet to receive another "F". At this point, I was frustrated and decided to look at what is it that people who got "B" and "A" did and I have not. To my surprise, their writing was way worst than me, I immediately thought that this teacher has some sort of personal issue with me. Having this thought on mind, I went and demanded a meeting with him, I immediately started with the fact that I received an "F" and people with much worst writing than me got at least "B". Soft laughter was his initial response to my statement, he then said "I know" followed by "let me ask you a question" his question was a very simple question, yet it was a question that I never asked myself before. "What's your purpose of being here" before I replied, he asked another question which was "what's your purpose in life." I paused for a minute not knowing what to say, seconds later, he said "that's your today's assignment. He asked me to write a paper about these questions. I went home and spent most of the day writing about how I came to the USA so I can, not only obtain a college degree, but also to gain knowledge of a culture that most of everyone thinks very highly of. I also talked about having a personal purpose of being positively distinguished amongst people for being successful in hopefully all aspects of life. On the next day, I rushed to Joe's office and handed out my paper, before reading it, Joe said "the people I compared grades with have a completely different purpose of being here than you Ahmed" he said they came to the U.S to have fun and party, and the reason they are attending this English program is because it is easier for them to get a school visa than visiting visa, "you on the other hand" Joe said, "are here to go to college and in college, professors don't care whither English is your first, second or fifth language". Joe then went ahead and read my paper right in front of me and commented that I did a better job in the witting part of this paper, but, he asked if I really believed in what I wrote, "Sure" was my reply to his question. He then told me that he will do his best to help me obtain the required to reach my vision tools. Throughout the following few months, Joe has helped me realize that studying and reading books should not only be for passing exams purpose, he helped me understand that knowledge is power that will help me achieve my vision of being successful in life. His charisma has inspired me to have a greater purpose in life and his wisdom and passion has helped me in gaining the required skills to achieve this purpose (vision). Joe's "emotional intelligence" and "agreeableness" along with other transformational leadership traits is what has helped me transform to who I am today, he transformed me from being and accepting being a follower to become a leader not only in my work, but also amongst friends and family. b) If I were to set out to be a transformational leader, what would I do what would my strengths and weaknesses be' if I were to set out to be a transformational leader I would first start working on my "agreeableness" ,"emotional inelegance" and "charismatic traits as I strongly believe that these are the back bone of any transformational leader. At the end of the day, how can a leader get people to change and believe in change if they don't have what it takes to make their followers agree with them, and if they are not emotionally connected to their followers and lack the knowledge of how to arouse people's feelings to be motivated to transform to the vision of the organization. Another thing that I will have to concentrate on is my ability to transform the people I am leading into leaders themselves. My strengths would be the ability to motivate people not only to achieve the targeted goals, but also to strive for higher goals that will benefit them personally and the organization as a whole. My weaknesses would be, the ability of being "emotional intelligent", I always find it hard to emotionally connect with people within my work environment. I guess part of that has to do with the fact that policies and procedures enforced within my work environment pretty much sets everyone's role in a way that eliminates the need for emotional connections. c) Is there a down side to transformational leadership I think there are two down sides to transformational leadership. The first downside is the fact that transformational leaders tend to focus on the vision and changing that vision whenever it's found to best for the organization and followers to do so. Such behavior could lead to unpleasant outcomes due to the fact that what happens today (present) and how to prepare for tomorrow (short term planning) and having a detailed plane of what needs to be done in order to reach your vision (mission) is just as important as the vision itself. On the contrary, being transactional leader will also result no improvements and falling behind everyone within the same felid. To me, a mixture transformational with transactional leadership is desirable. The other downside is what the book referred to as the "black hat of charisma" we by now know that charisma plays a very important rule in being transformational leader. Charisma is about people's ability to motivate others to do things, sometimes these things tend to be bad or in some cases evil, Hitler is a perfect example of a leader with a black hat of charisma and we all know why. d) Multifactor questionnaire results and interpretation The results of the first factor (10) "Charisma & Idealized Influence" show that I tend to hold subordinates’ trust, maintain their faith and respect, show dedication to them, appeal to their hopes and dreams, and act as their role model, which in reality is what I tend to do. Factor 2; I scored 6 in this factor "inspirational and motivational" this shows that I am a bit on the week side when it comes to providing a vision, use appropriate symbols and images to help others focus on their work, and try to make others feel their work is significant. The third factor is another factor that I consider to be one of my strengths which is "Intellectual stimulation" I scored 10 in this factor, that shows the degree I encourage others to be creative in looking at old problems in new ways, create an environment that is tolerant of seemingly extreme positions, and nurture people to question their own values and beliefs and those of the organization. The forth factor " Individualized Consideration" is another factor that I think I am doing fairly good in, this factor deals with the degree I show interest in others’ well-being, assign projects individually, and pay attention to those who seem less involved in the group. Moving to the fifth factor "Contingent Reward & Constructive Transactions", the score that I got for this factor is seven, this shows that I am also on the week side when it comes to the degree I tell the others what to do in order to be rewarded, emphasize what you expect from them, and recognize their accomplishments. My score for the sixth factor "Management-by-exception & Corrective Transactions" was also seven, this factor assesses whether I tell others the job requirements, are content with standard performance, provide coaching to substandard performers, which I also tend to agree with as being a reflection of what I do in my real work related life. The seventh and last factor " Laissez-faire Leadership" is by far my lowest scored factor, I scored three in this factor which reflects my reflects that I very little to don't require little of others and don't let other do their own thing, , I tend to make sure that people are doing what they should be doing instead. Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire: Form 6S* Instructions: This questionnaire describes your leadership style. For each statement below, judge how frequently it matches your leader behavior with others (peers, direct reports, followers, clients, team members, colleagues, etc.). Key: 0 = not at all; 1 = every once in a while; 2 = sometimes; 3 = fairly often; 4 = frequently, if not always ____3_____ | 1. I make others feel good to be around me. | ____1_____ | 2. I express with a few simple words what we could or should do. | ____3_____ | 3. I enable others to think about old problems in new ways. | ____4_____ | 4. I help others develop themselves. | ____2_____ | 5. I tell others what to do if they want to be rewarded for their work. | ____3_____ | 6. I am satisfied when others meet agreed-upon standards. | ____0_____ | 7. I am content to let others continue working in the same way as always. | ____4_____ | 8. Others have complete faith in me. | ____3_____ | 9. I provide appealing images of what we can do. | ____3_____ | 10. I provide others with new ways of looking at puzzling things. | ____2_____ | 11. I let others know how I think they are doing. | ____2_____ | 12. I provide recognition/rewards when others reach their goals. | ____0_____ | 13. As long as things are working, I do not try to change anything. | ____0_____ | 14. Whatever others want to do is okay with me. | ____3_____ | 15. Others are proud to be associated with me. | ____2_____ | 16. I help others find meaning in their work. | ____4_____ | 17. I get others to rethink ideas that they never questioned before. | ____2_____ | 18. I give personal attention to others who seem rejected. | ____3_____ | 19. I call attention to what others can get for what they accomplish. | ____4_____ | 20. I tell others the standards they have to know to carry out their work. | ____3_____ | 21. I ask no more of others than is absolutely necessary. | ------------------------------------------------- Source: Bass, B. M., & Avolio, B. J. (1994). Improving organizational effectiveness through transformational leadership. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Scoring the Instrument: Total the items in parentheses for each of the following factors. 1. Charisma & Idealized Influence (items 1, 8, & 15) __10___ Factor 1 2. Inspirational Motivation (items 2, 9, & 16) __6___ Factor 2 3. Intellectual Stimulation (item 3, 10, & 17) __10___ Factor 3 4. Individualized Consideration (items 4, 11, & 18) __8___ Factor 4 5. Contingent Reward & Constructive Transactions (items 5, 12, & 19) __7___ Factor 5 6. Management-by-exception & Corrective Transactions (items 6, 13, & 20) __7___ Factor 6 7. Laissez-faire Leadership (item 7, 14, & 21) __3___ Factor 7 Score Interpretation: Factor 1: Charisma & Idealized Influence indicates whether you hold subordinates’ trust, maintain their faith and respect, show dedication to them, appeal to their hopes and dreams, and act as their role model. Factor 2: Inspirational Motivation measures the degree you provide a vision, use appropriate symbols and images to help others focus on their work, and try to make others feel their work is significant. Factor 3: Intellectual Stimulation shows the degree you encourage others to be creative in looking at old problems in new ways, create an environment that is tolerant of seemingly extreme positions, and nurture people to question their own values and beliefs and those of the organization. Factor 4 Individualized Consideration indicates the degree you show interest in others’ well-being, assign projects individually, and pay attention to those who seem less involved in the group. Factor 5 Contingent Reward & Constructive Transactions show the degree you tell other what to do in order to be rewarded, emphasize what you expect from them, and recognize their accomplishments. Factor 6 Management-by-exception & Corrective Transactions assesses whether you tell others the job requirements, are content with standard performance, provide coaching to substandard performers, and believe “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.” Factor 7 Laissez-faire Leadership measures whether you require little of others, are content to let things lie, and let other do their own thing. Source: Bass, B. M., & Avolio, B. J. (1994). Improving organizational effectiveness through transformational leadership, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.