Analysis of Leadership Definitions and Biographical Leadership
Option #1: Analysis of Leadership Definitions and Biographical Leadership
If you haven’t already, watch these LinkedIn Learning videos which were listed in your module 1 lecture:
Leadership Traits (Links to an external site.)
Leadership Styles
Autocratic (Links to an external site.)
Democratic (Links to an external site.)
Laissez-faire (Links to an external site.)
There are three parts to this week’s Critical Thinking Assignment paper.
Part I:
An important concept for this week’s study is that no single standard definition of leadership exists. We can trace the history of how leadership has been defined and redefined by scholars and managers. The videos for review this week provide insight into an exercise that may be useful for individuals wanting to understand their own leadership definitions: constructing a biographical leadership explanation. (I am democratic leadership)
Begin the Week 1 Critical Thinking Assignment by composing your personal biographic leadership explanation. Begin with when your leadership journey started, which could be from an early age. What shaped your leadership origin? Was it a mentor, boss, teacher, or someone else? A class during your educational voyage? How has your leadership style changed over time? What and where are you currently? You may use any format that is supported by the literature or that fits your career purpose.
Place the biographical leadership explanation in Appendix A of the paper.
Part II:
Create an historical overview of selected leadership definitions by constructing a timeline figure illustrating how leadership definitions transformed over three decades. Review Modernism Leader to Post-Modernism leadership to visualize and identify the leadership definitions over time. For each leadership style in the timeline, include a minimum of three summarized definitions from different sources.
Place the timeline and definition overview in Appendix B of the paper.
Part III:
In this section explore how your leadership explanation was informed by time and by different leadership definitions. That is, deconstruct and extract elements from your biographical explanation and determine if and where the elements might be related to the timeline and definitions.
Include a conclusion based on findings and insights related to what influenced your personal leadership assumptions and experiences.
Requirements:
Your paper should be 4-6 pages in length, not counting the required title and reference pages and appendices.
Support your response with research from 2-5 scholarly sources and, in addition, you may use the required course readings.
The CSU Global Library (Links to an external site.) is a good place to find these references.
Your paper must conform to APA guidelines in the CSU Global Writing Center (Links to an external site.).
Review the grading rubric, which is below the Module 1 assignment, to understand how you will be graded on this assignment. Reach out to your instructor if you have questions about the assignment.
References:
Lyon, A. (2019a, March 6). Autocratic style (Links to an external site.) [Video]. LinkedIn Learning.
Lyon, A. (2019b, March 6). Democratic style (Links to an external site.) [Video]. LinkedIn Learning.
Lyon, A. (2019c, March 6). Laissez-faire style (Links to an external site.) [Video]. LinkedIn Learning.
Lyon, A. (2019d, March 6). Leadership traits (Links to an external site.) [Video]. LinkedIn Learning.
Analysis of Leadership Definitions and Bibliographic Leadership
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Analysis of Leadership Definitions and Bibliographic Leadership
Part III: Leadership Exploration
Leadership definitions vary depending on the timeline. Many researchers have established different definitions of leadership and interpretations. Besides, leadership definitions have also been influenced by careers and professions. For instance, a teacher and a manager would uniquely define leadership and leadership traits. Understanding and exploring leadership meanings are significant for leadership classification based on traits. Understanding effective and non-effective leadership is essential and significant in understanding leadership definitions. According to Lyon (2019d), an effective leader can think critically and make valid decisions that suit the followers. Leaders are essential since they communicate the mission and vision of the organization to the employee. Besides, they also create a conducive working environment that allows goal achievement and productivity in different organizations. Leaders also use communication approaches to mobilize their subordinates to actualize the objectives. However, being a leader is a journey. In my bibliographic leadership in appendix A, I define myself as a democratic leader from childhood.
Democratic Leadership/ New Direction Leadership Theory (2012-Current)
The leadership theory explains a leader from 2012 onwards and identifies a leader as an individual controlled by morals, ethics, and behaviors. Besides, different elements are noted before defining a leader, such as their level of engagement and decision-making. The new direction theory also portrays leadership as a form of empowerment where followers' participation is encouraged to enhance organizational productivity (Barthold et al., 2022). The theory abandons specific elements such as ethnicity, race, and gender in leadership. The theory also insists that a leader should understand the environment before making a definition. Digital transformation influences the definition in the recent world where people can easily access information. Therefore, their opinions may be significant in decision-making and improving the organizational process. A leader invites the organizational members to share their opinions in decision-making, leading to satisfaction, recognition, and involvement (Lyon, 2019b). Regardless of the shift in leadership definition with post-modernism changes, a leader remains the decision-maker; however, they should review every opinion to identify strengths and weaknesses before making any final decision. A leader must have significant traits such as accountability and long-term thinking (Lyon, 2019d). Therefore, my leadership explanation was influenced by the post-modernism elements and traits that have shifted with the timeline.
The theoretical explanation relates to my biographical definition of leadership, which focuses on collective decision-making as indicated in Appendix A. It informs my explanation by focusing on reliable traits, as indicated by Lyon (2019d). In my biographical, leadership definition as a leader requires a combination of different elements such as skills, knowledge, and experience that an individual has. I define a leader as an individual with adequate critical thinking skills necessary for decision-making. My democratic leadership style is suitable for the profession since it focuses on high workplace satisfaction and employee engagement. As a democratic leader, I also believe in collective engagement and discussions before making the final decision. Therefore, the new theory influenced my leadership explanation by focusing on decision-making's ethical and contextual outcomes. A leader in contemporary society must examine all the environmental changes and the followers' opinions. For instance, as a democratic leader, every opinion is significant; evaluating them and noting their strengths and limitations is necessary before taking any action. Besides, the new direction theory also considers the common challenges in leader-follower engagement. Therefore, my bibliographical explanation is influenced by the post-modernism timeline, which comprehensively defines leadership and focuses on freedom and democracy.
Laissez-Faire Leadership Theory (2001-2011)
Leissez-faire is also crucial and has heavily transformed between 2001 and 2011, as identified in Appendix B. The theory states that a leader should allow the followers to make decisions and set rules for high productivity (Lyon, 2019). Besides, a leader should not micromanage the employees and allow them to use experience, resources, and creativity. The theory explains a leader as an individual with strong relationships with followers (Yang, 2015). Therefore, the relationship enhances organizational performance and employee motivation. A leader should not ignore any effort the employees make and should use specific motivation strategies to earn employees' trust and loyalty. The leadership timeline is critical since it links organization performance and employee motivation which was essential between 2001 and 2011.
The Leissez-faire definition relates to my bibliographic explanation. However, it does not inform my leadership approach. The key relationship between the definition and my bibliographic leadership is freedom of decision-making. Democratic leaders and Leissez-faire bring on board the employees before final decision-making. The followers can air their opinion ...