Book Review on Managing The Dream by Warren Bennis

Introduction Managing the dream is a book written by Warren Bennis, who is one of the most renowned leadership writers. The author explores all aspects of leadership from a theoretical and a practitioner point of view. The book is a perfect representation of leadership, which comprises of numerous essays that represents the author’s thinking towards what leadership entails. Bennis focuses on the core competencies of the aspect of effective leadership, at both the individual and group level in his book. Managing the dream is a tool for team leaders and managers who aspire to be effective in their leadership roles (Bennis, 2000). This paper represents a book review of Managing the Dream by outlining the core premise and concepts from the book, the three big ideas represented in the book. In addition, the paper outlines the way in which the core concepts from the book can be implemented at the workplace and their implications to organizations (Bennis, 2000). The main concept of the book bases on the aspect of how dreams are related to leadership. The book focuses on how effective leadership can be modeled basing the aspect of dream. From the book, it is evident that effective leadership comprises of change embracement, mastering the art of leading and embodying the dream in order to mould the character of leadership in a person or within the group context (Bennis, 2000). Leaders are responsible for establishment and implementation of organizational missions; this can be achieved by use of the three concepts outlined in Managing the Dream. The three phases are negotiating the dream, organizing the dream and embodying the dream. Each phase plays a distinctive role in modeling leadership skills at the individual or group level. Negotiating the dream majorly involves the learning the art of leading, and entails having an in depth understanding of managing the dream and the competencies of leadership. In addition, it imperative that leaders be on the leading edge of change and devise appropriate strategies to cope up with the speed and complexity of the present organizational context. Organizing the dream primarily entails deploying leadership aspects at the group or corporate level by use of the social architecture that is effective in the new aspect of global village (Bennis, 2000). This means that global leaders must think on the global level, and so is the implementation of their leadership strategies. The changes in complexity of the business environment pose a major challenge to the leaders of today. The effective le ader should not have a negative attitude towards these changes but instead should focus on ways of developing strategies to cope up with the changes and view them as positive. The next-generation leaders should deploy a leadership strategy that employs dynamism and flexibility to cope with the current complexity in the organizational or group context. Embodying the dream entails modeling the character of effective leadership, that which distinguishes a leader from his followers. Successful managers have distinctive traits from ordinary managers. One of such traits is that a successful leader is charismatic and transformational. A charismatic leader is able to achieve persuasion from his/her followers; he aims at more than just extrinsic rewards and focuses on transformational benefits. A successful leader uses transformational style; implying that a successful leader appeals to his followers and inspires them towards a given direction. In summary, the three big ideas represented in the book are negotiating the dream, which focuses on learning the art of leading; organizing the dream, which focuses on corporate and global leadership; and embodying the dream, which focuses on modeling the leadership character within an individual (Bennis, 2000). The three big ideas can be applied at the workplace in various dimensions. For instance, shared leadership, developing people, empowering people and demonstrating integrity are areas in which the concepts from the book can be applied at the workplace. Empowering people entails motivation of individuals who have already accepted responsibility towards the realization of some goals and objectives. In a business environment, majority of the workforce want to have an influence on the decision-making processes that relate to their areas of technical competence (Bennis, 2000). Global leaders can achieve this through giving employees an opportunity to be leaders in their various areas of technical expertise. Efficient leaders must be able create an open working environment where there is open sharing of information and communication. It is thus the obligation of the successful leader to give opportunities to his staff a chance to be involved in the actual decision making process (Schermerho rn et al, 2005). It requires putting the business goals and objectives rather than more than just personal interests. Demonstrating integrity is one of the requirements of global effective leaders. Effective leader should not only say right things but also implement thing in a right way without violation of the ethical principles. In order to achieve these high levels of integrity, successful leaders must be plain and specific about their values and principles; whether they are self-directed or other-directed. References Bennis, W. G. (2000). Managing the dream : reflections on leadership and change. Cambridge, Mass: Perseus Pub. Schermerhorn, J., Hunt, J., Osborn, R. (2005). Organizational behavior. New York: Wiley.

Perception Of Social Based On The Individual s Social...

Introduction Children assume that members of the in-group are more likely to perform good actions. Those actions performed are more likely to be positively recalled. Over time, this personalized biases will create a foundation, which will shift their perception to produce confirmatory suggestions towards groups of categories. Categorization is a mental representation for a class of objects. Stereotypes are categories that link attributes to certain classes of people. The minimal group effect explores the discrimination between two groups. These two groups are set up to have conflicting ideas, practices, and concepts; which creates discrimination towards the two (Wright, 1997). The anticipated stereotypes categorizes favoritism with the†¦show more content†¦Previous research that explains the minimal group phenomenon is the The Robbers Cave experiment. This was done with eleven-year-old boys unknowingly assigned into two teams. There were challenges set up in order to intensify the confli ct between both groups. This experiment lasted one week and consisted of three stages. The first stage consisted of each team gaining a sense of identity and partnership. It was during the end of this stage that the participants were aware of the opposing team; which created the separation between us versus them. The next stage’s purpose was to intensify the competition between the two teams. This included physical competitive games. The last stage goal was to resolve the conflict made by the negative attitudes towards both teams. The results of this study expressed how positive interdependence, and not solely stopping the negative attitudes, was needed to restore the diverse level of negative social perception between groups (Sherif, 1988). Another experiment that investigated the minimal group phenomenon was with males in the Swiss Army. This explored whether organizations had an important benefit to a selfless cooperation and punishment of the norm violation from within a controlled real world sample. The results of this study expressed that the expected

Reflective Journal on Leadership for Emerald Group - myassignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theReflective Journal on Leadership for Emerald Group. Answer: Leadership is one of the main vital functions of management as it helps in maximizing efficiency of the employees in an organization and thereby helps to achieve different organizational goals. I have realized that by effective leadership, an individual in the managerial position can provide direction and at the same time guide and manipulate different behavior and work of the team members of the employees (Renz 2016)These would help them to accomplish specific goals in a given situation. I have also understood that leadership is the ability of a manger to induce the employees under him to work with zeal and with confidence. By proper leadership, the managers can influence the behaviors of the others. It can be defined as the capacity to persuade the employees to recognize and acknowledge the companys goals and objectives and help them to develop future visions so that they remain motivated and achieve the goals (Nahavandi 2016). According to Keith Davis, Leadership is the ability to persuade others to seek defined objectives enthusiastically. It is the human factor which binds a group together and motivates it towards goals. In order to discuss the importance of leadership in a concern, the following actions can be discussed which if conducted properly by the managers will help in overall betterment of the organization. A leader is an individual who should start the work by the means of communicating the policies a well as the plans to the subordinates from the work is initiated. Moreover the best action taken by a managerial leader according to me is to motivate the employees (Grohar-Murray 2016). I have found that motivation of the workers by economic as well as non economic rewards help the leader to get the best work from the subordinates. Moreover the guidance provided by the leaders help the subordinates to achieve their goals effectively and also help them strategically adapt to techniques which help them to accomplish the work faster. Moreover building a proper work environment by the managers by keeping human relationships in mind will help in achieving sound and stable growth of the organizatio n. Moreover he should establish personal contact with the employees and hear their voices and concerns so that they feel respected and cared by the organization. I believe that coordination should be achieved by managers with the help of merging personal interests with organizational aims. This harmonization can be achieved with the help of proper and efficient coordination which should be the key motive of a leader (Finkelman 2015). I should also try to keep these points in my mind so that I get the chance to serve in the position; I can utilize this characteristics to engage my managerial and leadership skills and give the best production to the organization. I have understood the fact that in order to be effective, a managerial leader has to honor certain skills which will help them to master the actions mentioned in the previous paragraph. The important skills that I need to portray to be an effective leader is that I should be inspirational and continuously motivate others. At the same time, I will make sure that I should display high integrity as well as honesty as honesty which are the very important foundations for being a good human being (Goestch and Davis 2014). I will take every initiative to solve any problems or barriers faced by the employees so that they feel that there is someone who is guiding them and do not feel alone in the organization. This will develop their job satisfaction and will prevent development of stress. I will also take an extra initiative to develop proper communication skills to handle the important mediums of communication so that transparency in working procedures are maintained and there remain very l ittle scope of miscommunications and mistrust among each other, one to one conversation, team meetings, email messages, blog post, Skype call should also e mastered by me. Another very important skill is building of relationships between the workers as this is very important for a smooth uninterrupted workplace (Hayton 2015). Developing mutual trust among the employees is extremely important as coordination and collaboration results in high productivity and makes the workplace friendly and harmonious. This will prevent ob stress and increase satisfaction. Other important kills that also need to be mastered by me are developing technical as well as professional practices such as selling or accounting or designing software so that I can become experts in the field and thereby guide employees successfully. I should also master the skill of developing a strategic perspective and help in developing employees with enhancement of their skills and knowledge so that they can become the organ izations next generation leaders. Some of the important theories which have influenced my view and have helped me to develop a strategic approach to prepare myself are the trait theory, Behavioral theory, Likert theory and others. According to trait theory, individuals are born with different characteristics and some of the trait is appropriate to engage in leadership (Avolio and Yanmariono 2013). An efficient leader would be that individual who would have the right combination of traits. Some of the traits according to the skills which I need to develop in myself would be adaptable to situations, show alertness to social environment, being decisive, assertive, dependable, energetic, determined, self confident, understanding to tress and willing to assume responsibility. However the trait mentioned here which is dominant is not accepted by me as I believe that being dominant will have negative impact of the work and mentality of the employees (Fischer et al. 2016). According to the trait theory important skills that need to be developed are being clever, diplomatic and tactful, conceptually skilled, creative, persuasive, socially skilled and many others. It also stated that four important criteria that should be present are emotional stability and composure, intellectual breadth, admitting error and also developing good interpersonal skills. Another theory which opposes the mentioned trait theory is the behavioral their which says that leaders are made but not born. Leadership capability is learned with development of proper behaviors and actions rather than being inherent. This theory says that successful leadership is dependent on definable and learnable behavior. I also believe that no man is born with all good traits but need to develop them with experiences and theoretical knowledge. According to Lewins theory, there are three types of leadership styles like the autocratic, democratic and Laissez Faire. Autocratic leaders take decisions without consulting with others which often leads t high level of discontents, dissatisfaction and turnovers. Employees are not allowed in decision making and their suggestions are not welcomed. Democratic leadership involve the workers in decision making although the process for the final decisions vary on the leaders as he would have the final say (Fernandez et al. 2014). However, such suggestion when taken from workers make them feels happy and content as they feel appreciated and respected in the organization. This increases their zeal to work towards achieving the best outcomes. The next style is the Laissez-Faire style which reduces the leaders contribution in decision making as they allow the workers to take their personal decisions. This is helpful only when workers are capable of making their own; decisions and there is no need for inner coordination. However I have found that it has a negative effect. It may not develop coordination among people working together and many may take decisions which may become harmful for their career or affect the organization as all may not have the capability of effective leadership. This will also delay the working pace. I will be mainly following the democratic leadership styles as evidences show it to be most effective. Likert on the other hand has also proposed a theory called the Likerts leadership styles. This involve exploitive leadership where the leader shows low concern for the people and also uses methods such as intimidation and fear based procedures to achieve conformance. Communication in such style is mainly seen to be downwards and mental distant concerns of the employees are also ignored. I believe that this kind of leadership will make the employees develop negative feelings and they will not be able to out in their best efforts. These would feel disrespected and as a result it would increase turnover and increased job dissatisfaction. A tensed environment can never bring in the best skills of workers (Fernandez et al. 2014). Another leadership style mentioned by him is the benevolent authoritative styles where the leaders shows concerns to people and also utilizes a reward system to encourage appropriate performance. However although communication take place effectively, but the feed back and suggestions are rose tinted that is their communication I limited to the topic or decisions which the leaders wants to hear. Although delegation of decisions may occur, in most cases decisions are ultimately made by leaders centrally (Shattock 2013). I personally do not like this leadership style as the suggestions are sugar coated by the employees to make their boss happy and does not reflect their own concern. This affects the transparency and open mindedness in the workplace. In consultative leadership, upward flow of information occurs but they employees are still cautious and rose tinted to some degree. Leaders make genuine efforts but decisions are largely centrally made. Participants are the best style of leadership as this involves all the members in decision making procedure (Schumann et al. 2014). I thereby like the method as it helps in adopting innovative ideas for achieving goals. Bass' Transformational Leadership Theory praises a transformational leader follow idealized include on the workers with inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and individualize consideration in the teams (Tourish 2013). They have ethical values which make the workers happy and committed towards organizations vision and mission. Therefore reflecting in my knowledge, I feel that I need to develop proper skills of leadership and develop leadership style like democratic or transformational leadership styles. This would help me as manger to effectively maintain a workforce who will not only be productive but would be happy, satisfied and committed towards organizations goals and objectives. References: Avolio, B.J. and Yammarino, F.J. eds., 2013. Introduction to, and overview of, transformational and charismatic leadership. InTransformational and Charismatic Leadership: The Road Ahead 10th Anniversary Edition(pp. xxvii-xxxiii). Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Fernndez-Muiz, B., Montes-Pen, J.M. and Vzquez-Ords, C.J., 2014. Safety leadership, risk management and safety performance in Spanish firms.Safety science,70, pp.295-307. Finkelman, A., 2015.Leadership and Management in Nursing: Core Competencies for Quality Care. Pearson. Fischer, M.D., Dopson, S., Fitzgerald, L., Bennett, C., Ferlie, E., Ledger, J. and McGivern, G., 2016. Knowledge leadership: mobilizing management research by becoming the knowledge object.human relations,69(7), pp.1563-1585. Goetsch, D.L. and Davis, S.B., 2014.Quality management for organizational excellence. Upper Saddle River, NJ: pearson. Grohar-Murray, M.E., DiCroce, H.R. and Langan, J.C., 2016.Leadership and management in nursing. Pearson. Hayton, J., 2015. Leadership and Management Skills in SMEs.Warwick Business School. Nahavandi, A., 2016.The Art and Science of Leadership -Global Edition. Pearson. Renz, D.O., 2016.The Jossey-Bass handbook of nonprofit leadership and management. John Wiley Sons. Schuhmann, R.J., Magarian, J.N. and Huttner-Loan, E., 2014. A method for assessing engineering leadership content in the engineering curriculum: A first look at civil engineering project management courses. In2014 ASEE Conference, June. Shattock, M., 2013. University governance, leadership and management in a decade of diversification and uncertainty.Higher Education Quarterly,67(3), pp.217-233. Tourish, D., 2013. The dark side of transformational leadership: A critical perspective.Development and Learning in Organizations,28(1).

The Allegory of Billy Budd free essay sample

This paper analyzes the book Billy Budd by Herman Melville This paper takes a look at the book Billy Bud by Herman Melville. Melville makes many allusions to Christianity and Jesus in his book. The paper examines the main characters Claggart and Captain Vere and how they connect to these analogies. From the paper: In many ways, Melville?s ?Billy Bud? lends itself to a religious or biblical interpretation. For example, the life and death of the main character, Billy Bud, shows striking parallels to the life and death of Jesus Christ. As well, Claggart and Captain Vere further implicate ?Billy Bud? in the story of Christ. But Melville, in interesting ways, moves beyond a strict re-telling of the story or mythology surrounding Christ. Melville sets in motion a certain expectation in the minds of his audience through the obvious parallels between the story of ?Billy Bud? and that of Christ, but then, at key moments, the author turns away from the traditional story, disrupting our expectations, in order to critically comment on Christianity and the legacy of Christ in the minds of humanity. We will write a custom essay sample on The Allegory of Billy Budd or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page