Student Name: JUAN DIEGO GOMEZ QUINTELA

Student ID: 27043532

Module Title: Leadership Development

Module Code: MGT9700

Course Tutor: Dr Xavier Pierron

Date of Submission: Monday 6th of March 2023 by 12:00 noon (UK time)
Tracey White Lincoln International Business School
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Contents
Part 1 Discussion Board..........................................................................................2
Week 4 – The Dark Ages....................................................................................................................2
Primary post:.................................................................................................................................2
Part 2 Risk Management Report.............................................................................3
Introduction.......................................................................................................................................3

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Part 1 Case-Study Analysis

Case-study ‘The Glass Ceiling’ (Northouse 2021: 410-411)

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References:

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Part 2 Reflective Journal

Reflective Journal for Week 1 – Introduction to Leadership Theory

This week, we have started our journey for this module with an introduction to
Leadership Theory, learning about the early leadership approaches, the traits theory,
and behavioural leadership theory.

Studying the traits theory, I have asked my family, friends, and co-workers to
complete the Leadership Trait Questionnaire, the purpose of this was to give me a
way to assess my strengths and weaknesses. In general, the average rating for each
characteristic was high, and slightly above my self-rating, except for the self-assure
characteristic which I obtained a low rating, with which I agree as I agree with most
of their perceptions, however, I disagree with the average rate for the traits self-
confidence, determined and conscientious. I think I was overrated on these traits; I
consider that I should develop and work more on self-confidence, be more
determined, and be more organized, traits that I consider essential to be a good
leader.

Although I strongly believe that these traits are necessary to be a good leader, I
agree with Cherry (2022), that there are obvious flaws in this theory, those who
possess the traits don’t always become leaders. Stogdill (1948, cited in Northouse,
2018, 27) suggested that no consistent set of traits differentiated leaders from non-
leaders across a variety of situations. Based on my own experience, to be an
effective and successful leader, these traits need to be accompanied by strong
knowledge, experience, passion, motivation, and commitment.

Later on, we continued with the contemporary leadership approaches to finally study
the…

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Word count:
References:

Cherry, K. (2022) Understanding the Trait Theory of Leadership. Can certain traits
predict your leadership success?. Verywell Mind. Available from
https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-the-trait-theory-of-leadership-
2795322#:~:text=Trait%20Theory%20of%20Leadership%20Rationale [accessed 14
February 2023].

Neck, C.P., Houghton, J. D. and Murray, E.L. (2017) Organizational Behavior: A

Critical-Thinking Approach. Los Angeles, USA: SAGE. Available from
https://content.talisaspire.com/lincoln/bundles/5dd2e5d20cb4c35946376f24
[accessed 14 February 2023].

Northouse, P. G. (2018) Leadership: Theory and practice. 8th edition, London,

SAGE Publication. Available from:
https://app.talis.com/lincoln/player#/modules/5f5f5177adef5502c0dcf177/resources/
609e621f25f5980acbef5e45#page-448 [accessed 23 January 2023].

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Reflective Journal for Week 2 – Leadership Philosophy and Styles

This week’s topic about leadership philosophies and styles has allowed me to
discover the most prominent leadership approaches in the corporate world and thus
ponder upon my previous experiences in leading. This reflective journal is an attempt
to implicate this week’s acquisitions in identifying, evaluating, and improving my style
of leadership.

After an insightful reading about the topic mainly chapter 3 of Leadership; regional
and global perspectives, I was introduced to the 3 principal leadership styles
identified by Lewin, Lippit, and White (1939), the autocratic approach where the
leader usually dictates the particular tasks of each of the followers while all
determination of policy is done by him alone (Lewin,1939, 273), simply doesn’t suit
my personality profile even though I reckon some of the advantages of this style. In
fact, I matched plenty of the characteristics of the democratic leadership style with
my work conduct therefore I was led to believe I was the democratic type of leader,
for instance, I frequently involve my team in decision making and this approach is
mainly known for how all policies are a matter of groups discussions encouraged and
assisted by the leader (Lewin,1939,273).

At first, I thought I’m not the kind of superior who gives complete freedom for group
or individual decisions without participating as it’s the case in the laissez-faire
leadership style (Lewin, 1939, 273) however my questionnaire results have shown
that I might be wrong.

This week’s topic was concluded by a questionnaire to identify my leadership style

where my democratic leadership score was dominant, thus confirming the
assumption I made earlier in this journal, my laissez-faire leadership score however
was higher than expected, and showing that I have an inclination toward this leading
approach which makes me an excessive delegator according to Hunt’s paradigm
(Muenjohn, 2018, 78), something I intend to test in future leading opportunities.

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Finally, I scored a low range in autocratic leadership, a reasonable result since the
only time I showed elements of this approach was when I dealt with a team of
trainees, probably due to what Tannenbaum and Schmidt called tolerance for
ambiguity (Muenjohn, 2018, 68).

Northouse (1997, 167) stated: To determine what is needed in a particular situation,

a leader must evaluate her or his followers and assess how competent and
committed they are to performing a given goal.

Overall, this week’s topic has allowed me to identify my leadership style which is
mostly democratic with elements of servant leadership since I try to put followers
first, empower them, and help them develop their full personal capacities, Northouse
(1997, 349) perhaps more precisely a coaching leadership style as Colman named it
(Muenjohn, 2018, 88), a notion that I see as a strength along with the fact that I
consider ethics authenticity and transparency the pillars of my work environment,
that being said I believe that it is up to my followers to decide whether I have any
dark triads of leadership. I was also able to identify weaknesses which are leaning
toward the laissez-faire style and the probability of being a delegating leader. In the
end, I assigned a short-term plan which consists of declining from the laissez-faire
approach to democratic by being more objective and participative, and a long-term
plan which is to become a transformational leader by improving my communication
skills and stimulating my follower’s inspiration, motivation, and intellect.

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References:

Lewin, K., Lippitt, R. and White, R. K. (1939) Patterns of Aggressive Behavior in

Experimentally Created “Social Climates”. The Journal of Social Psychology, 10(2)
269-299. Available from https://doi.org/10.1080/00224545.1939.9713366 [accessed
14 February 2023].

Muenjohn, N., McMurray, A., Fernando, M., Hunt, J., Fitzgerald, M., McKenna, B.,
Interzari, A., Bankins, S. and Waterhouse, J. (2018) Leadership: Regional and
Global Perspectives. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
Available from
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/332457270_Leadership_Regional_and_Gl
obal_Perspectives [accessed 14 February 2023].

Northouse, P. G. (2018) Leadership: Theory and practice. 8th edition, London,

SAGE Publication. Available from:
https://app.talis.com/lincoln/player#/modules/5f5f5177adef5502c0dcf177/resources/
609e621f25f5980acbef5e45#page-448 [accessed 23 January 2023].

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Reflective Journal for Week 3 – Leadership Ethics

This week’s topic is about leadership ethics and styles. This reflective journal is an
attempt to implicate this week’s acquisitions in identifying, evaluating, and improving
my ethical leadership style.

At the beginning of this week, I completed the Ethical Leadership Style

Questionnaire, an instrument created by Peter Northouse which offers some real-
world scenarios that give me a sense of what is important to me when I address an
ethical concern after comparing the scores regarding these ethical perspectives.
According to this questionnaire (Northouse, 2018), scoring higher on Duty Ethics, as
I did, means I follow the rules and do what I think I am supposed to do when facing
ethical dilemmas. Focusing on fulfilling my responsibilities and doing what I think is
the right thing to do. Following Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development, I fit in level
2 ‘Conventional Morality’, which means I can fall into two different stages that
Kohlberg defined as Stage 3, Interpersonal Accord and Conformity ‘I try to be good
and do what others expect of me’, and Stage 4, Maintaining the Social Order ‘I follow
the rules and support the laws of society’.

The fact, I fall into this category, makes me feel dissatisfied with my ethical
leadership style. I would like to be more in level 3, which is defined by Kohlberg as
‘Postconventional Morality’ where the individuals have developed their own personal
set of ethics and morals that guide their behaviour (Northouse, 2018, 425). Maybe
because of the pressure of being criticized within the organization, my family’s and
Catholic education based on principles to be a good person and/or a good citizen,
obeying the rules and laws, or maybe even from being afraid of doing something
wrong and losing my job, falling into a dilemma, ‘Should I do what I believe, even
though I could face consequences’ Or ‘I should do what I think is the correct thing to
do for others, even though I am not happy doing it’, are all facts that are limiting me
to reach the level 3.

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To assess consequences, there are three different approaches to making decisions
regarding moral conduct: ethical egoism, utilitarianism, and altruism (Northouse,
2018, 426). To reach Kohlberg’s level 3, I propose to develop a hybrid approach
between utilitarianism and altruism. Where not only I should behave as to create the
creates good for the greatest number (Northouse, 2018, 426), but to promote the
best interests of others as well (Northouse, 2018, 427).

Promoting opportunities for skills development, not only professionally but personally
too, and creating an environment with shared values based on respect, support, and
friendship are mechanisms that, from my point of view, can contribute to helping to
cultivate the spirit of altruism, that at the same time, creates a team more motivated,
skilled and effective.

References:

Northouse, P. G. (2018) Leadership: Theory and practice. 8th edition, London,

SAGE Publication. Available from:
https://app.talis.com/lincoln/player#/modules/5f5f5177adef5502c0dcf177/resources/
609e621f25f5980acbef5e45#page-448 [accessed 23 January 2023].

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Reflective Journal for Week 6 – Influence, Power and Politics

In this week's topic, after reading about different actors from political and business
life who expose their experiences, anecdotes, realities, etc., extracted throughout
their lives, I have been able to verify the importance of the topic and how interesting
it is to draw conclusions and reflections to improve and enrich my own leadership in
the coming years.

This topic is complex and current, interesting enough to get passionate and excited
about it. With influence, Power, and Politics, we can achieve not only personal
satisfaction but great achievements and advances for humanity. But we can easily
go to the bad side and make unpleasant and negative mistakes, falling into the dark
side of politics.

Keltner (2017, cited in Buchanan and Huczynski, 2019, 758) argues that our good
qualities give us power, which then allows our bad qualities to surface. I have met
many people inside my organization that have changed for bad when they get a
position of power, transforming the way they behave towards others, and being more
arrogant and selfish. In my opinion, if we gain power within an organization, we
should use it, not only for our own benefit but to improve the things we wanted to
improve when we didn’t have that power.

Carly Fiorina, the first female chief executive of a Fortune 20 company, Hewlett-
Packard, tells in her autobiography about her experience as a woman being the first
female CEO. She says that ‘Life isn’t always fair’, and it is different for men than for
women (Fiorina, 2006, 70, cited in Buchanan and Huczynski, 2019, 779). Women's
abilities are underestimated. My reflection is that every day we are in a more
egalitarian world, where inequality is more of a thing of the past every day. In
conclusion, I would like to emphasize that there are certain cliches that have settled

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in our society and are continuously repeating without ceasing, branding men as
macho and little less than ogres.

Buchanan and Badham (2008, cited in Buchanan and Huczynski, 2019, 779)
emphasize that much of the research evidence is dated. Social norms and attitudes
change rapidly, and these stereotypes may no longer apply in today's organizations.
I can think of many ideas that can be implemented to help to reduce gender
inequality in my own organization. I believe that the main rule is respect since people
can play the same roles regardless of their gender, therefore they must be treated
equally since in intelligence, attitude, perseverance, responsibility, etc. we are all the
same, and I strongly believe that we demonstrate this in our society every day.

In this week's topic where I have read among others; chapters of Dacher Kelner
"2017" cites for example; Power is not just something that applies to leaders and top
managers. In the chapter, Power in Organizations, she says that power is a
"challenged concept." John French and Bertram Raven "1958" identified five power
bases. (Hickson et al., 1971; Salancik and Pfeffer, 1977; Mintzberg, 1983) theories
of strategic contingencies. The three faces of power. Stephen Lukes "2005". They
are enriching teachings for the conquest of influence and the understanding of
power.

References:

Buchanan, D. and Huczynski, A.  (2019) Organisational Behaviour, 10th ed., Harlow,

England, Pearson. Available from: https://ebookcentral-proquest-
com.proxy.library.lincoln.ac.uk/lib/ulinc/reader.action?docID=5821088&ppg=486 [ ac
cessed 16th February 2023]

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Reflective Journal for Week 7 – Communication and Conflict Resolution

This week’s topic is about managing conflict. According to Northouse (2018, 239),
conflict is inevitable in groups and organizations, and always will be present in
leadership situations. Conflicts can also occur between people because they have
different values, creating a difficult and challenging situation (Northouse, 2018, 243).

Northouse (2018, 240) emphasizes when leaders know how to handle conflicts
effectively, problem-solving increases, and interpersonal relationships become
stronger. Communication plays a central role in handling conflict. By communicating
effectively, leaders and followers can successfully resolve conflicts to bring positive
results (Northouse, 2018, 239).

To identify my conflict style and analyze how it can vary in different contexts or
relationships, I completed the Conflict Style Questionnaire, which comes from the
conflict style model developed by Kilmann and Thomas (1975, 1977, cited in
Northouse, 2018, 259), based on the work of Blake and Mouton (1964, cited in
Northouse, 2018, 259). After answering a variety of questions about two different
situations (A and B) where I had a conflict with two co-workers, and based on the
results obtained from this questionnaire, I can identify my conflict style as
‘Collaboration’, which requires high levels of assertiveness and cooperativeness.
Another conclusion I can obtain from this questionnaire is the fact that I handle
conflicts in a similar way, in both situations I got the same scores with slight
differences.

Although the Collaboration style has many advantages as both parties win, the
communication is effective, it demands a huge amount of energy and hard work
between participants (Northouse, 2018, 263). To try to minimize these factors, I

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suggest using the approach to conflict negotiation developed by Roger Fisher and
William Ury. The method, called principled negotiation, comprises four principles.
Each of these principles focuses on one of the following basic elements of
negotiation: people, interests, options, and criteria (Northouse, 2018, 250).

By applying, for example, the first principle ‘ Separate the People From the Problem’
disentangling people and the problem when addressing the conflict (Northouse,
2018, 251), the second principle ‘Focus on Interests, Not Positions’ focusing on
interests and not positions (Northouse, 2018, 252), and the third principle ‘Invent
Options for Mutual Gains’, by exploring where our interests flap and coincide,
identifying solutions that benefit both sides (Northouse, 2018, 254), we can
drastically help to increase the levels of assertiveness and cooperativeness.

During my days as an engineering student at the Andres Bello Catholic University in

Caracas, Venezuela, I volunteered in the parish of Antímano, attending tutoring
classes to school-age children every Wednesday. Every day we assist this school in
the heart of the Carapita slum, we were facing many conflicts with the kids, and to
handle the conflicts, we had to apply the first principle. Separate the people, in this
case, the kids, from the problem help us to reduce the time trying to find the culprit
and looking for the reasons, we focused on the problem to find the solution and raise
awareness in the children.

References:

Northouse, P. G. (2018) Leadership: Theory and practice. 8th edition, London,

SAGE Publication. Available from:
https://app.talis.com/lincoln/player#/modules/5f5f5177adef5502c0dcf177/resources/
609e621f25f5980acbef5e45#page-448 [accessed 23 January 2023].

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