Midterm Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Midterm Paper - Essay Example Theoretically, leadership is explained as a process of influencing the society in which one can procure the assistance and the support of others in the procedure of accomplishing the desired outcomes through the common tasks. In simple words, leadership is all about the leaders those who mobilize others to get the job accomplished within the organization. It reflects the practices of the leaders which they perform to transform the values into the actions, the vision of the organization into realities, the obstacles within the work into the innovations and the risk factors into the rewards. As demonstrated by Bennis & Thomas (2013) in this context, it is the leadership that creates an atmosphere where the employees face the challenge and turn the challenging situations or the opportunities into the remarkable success. Initially, I used to perceive that leadership is all about steering people towards the determined goals. But, after going through the ‘crucibles’, I realize d that I had actually mistaken between management and leadership at the theoretical level where managers are bestowed with the responsibility to direct their staff through negative and positive motivations towards predetermined goals in the short run, but leaders pursue greater responsibilities towards the sustenance of the team focusing on shared values fundamentally focusing upon the long run performances of the overall team. Being motivated by the context of Bennis & Thomas, I went through various leadership case studies, where various organizational, political as well as social leaders were assessed on the basis of their leadership qualities and the corresponding achievements. In most instances, especially when reading about the modern day organizational leaders, I found that they attempt to find logical solutions to the problems encountered within the organization. The controlling power and the directing power possessed by these leaders have been further observed to reward them with a height in their achievements which has also been addressed in the discussion of Bennis & Thomas. According to my learning, intellectual analytical skills are quite essential for leaders to perform in the increasingly competitive environment of the 21st century wherein Bennis & Thomas reveals that leadership concepts and approaches have changed over the past few decades. This is when I realized that leadership is not at all an easy task and I needed to develop my skills immensely to reach the level already benchmarked by these leaders. In accordance with the above scenario a drastic change came to my perception not only regarding my competencies as a leader but also regarding my approach towards life. This particular experience or learning exposed the underneath values and beliefs related to the leadership qualities and theories that were inherited in my mind. The article by Bennis & Thomas focuses on the leadership practices in automotive industry which has recently been wit nessed strong effects from economic downturn and high degree of fluctuations in the customer buying behavior within the worldwide context. Presenting an interesting scenario, the authors successfully draws the attention of the readers about leadership that such skills can be developed through regular life experiences as well. In fact, learning and developing leadership skills through experiences has been argued as a more effective procedure or rather the most essential quality of an effective leader as argued in the