Your Project in this module consists of two elements: Reflective Portfolio (40% of your final grade) Leadership Critique (60% of your final grade) Throughout the module, you have participated in activities and completed assignments that have helped prepare you to complete this Final Project. In the case of your Reflective Journal entries, you already have many of these completed. For your Leadership Critique, you should refer to the feedback you received on earlier related assignments, particularly your Draft Leadership Critique from Unit 4. Use the instructions below to complete each element of your Final Project. Reflective Portfolio o Compile your Reflective Journal entries from Units 1 through 5 into a single document. o Review each entry in light of the grading rubric and feedback received from your Faculty Member, and revise appropriately. You should seek to present appropriate illustrations and detailed descriptions of beneficial learning strategies that you have encountered and employed. Critically reflect on the strategies and explain how you feel your learning could be enhanced. Consider a variety of significant concepts and ideas gained from the Shared Activities and other learning experiences, and remember to support them with properly cited references. o Add a final 2 to 3paragraph summary of what you learned from completing your Reflective Journal entries, describing any growth or development you observed as you progressed through the module and addressing anything you plan to do differently in future modules to improve your approach to learning and critical selfreflection. Your submission should be approximately 2,500 words in length, in total. Leadership Critique You have completed several activities and assignments in this module on finding and summarising resources on leadership and connecting leadership concepts to your own experiences. As you have read and discussed, it is important for leaders to stay abreast of developments in the field of leadership and management and to maintain a critical stance towards new ideas and theories that emerge. This part of your Final Project will be your first opportunity in your programme to practice critical thinking and academic writing on leadership concepts. Prepare an essay of approximately 2,500 words using the following general outline: o Introduction o A description of one or two leadership theories, concepts or models that interest you, including a brief discussion on why you find them interesting or relevant to your work o A discussion of how these leadership theories, concepts or models relate to your personal perspectives on leadership: in other words, whether you find them useful to explain your understanding of and experiences with leadership or whether they seem to conflict with your understanding and experiences, and how o Conclusion o References/Works Cited You will likely derive the most value from this assignment by choosing at least two leadership theories, concepts or models to critique, one which seems in accord with your personal perspectives on leadership and one which seems in conflict. This approach will allow you to compare and contrast the value of the two theories, concepts or models in making sense of your personal perspective and experiences. Examples of leadership theories, concepts and models you might address are found in readings throughout the unit. Some of these include the following: o Leadership as a personality trait o Servant leadership o Situational leadership o Styles of leadership o Transactional leadership o Transformational leadership In many cases, different authors use the same terms to describe different concepts or use different terms to mean what are essentially very similar ideas. Do not let terminology worry you; discuss your chosen concepts or theories in specific, descriptive language, without too much jargon. Good academic writing is clear and explanatory, not dense or obfuscatory (and, hopefully, does not include words such as obfuscatory!). To complete your Final Project, do the following: 1. Use the DRAFT Turnitin link for the Unit 6 Final Project, accessed via the Turnitin page on the Module Menu, to check your Project for accidental plagiarism before submitting it. 2. Submit your Final Project, including both the Reflective Portfolio and Leadership Critique, in one Word document to the Final Project Turnitin submission link in the Final Project area of the Module Menu. Introduction Leadership is about asking the questions, 'what' and 'why' and empowering people by giving them the responsibility and freedom to do things right and works with people. Leaders pay attention on their vision and therefore face the problems and obstacles that must be tackled along the way. They take risks and deal with them so that they can straighten up the path that is required to reach their vision. Leader can easily convert problems into opportunities and adapt to the situation to get the things done. Leader uses passion and emotions for organizing people. Leaders help themselves and others to do the right things. They set direction, build an inspiring vision, and create something new. Leadership is about mapping out where you need to go to "win" as a team or an organization; and it is dynamic, exciting, and inspiring (Manktelow, n.d.) Leadership Theories Over time, a number of leadership theories have been proposed including Great man Theory, Trait Theory, Behavioral theories, Participative Leadership, situational Leadership, Contingency Theory, Transactional Leadership, Transformational Leadership. Participative Leadership: In participative leadership, the leader values team's contribution. Excellent decision can be made in participative leadership. Of course the leader has more power than others. The leader gets from his / her team skills and ideas to make decisions. Ideas from teams that may be different can enrich the input to make better decisions. Participative leadership can boost staff moral and makes team responsible (both liable and accountable) for the success of the organization. However, In participative leadership team members may feel isolated, if their contributions or ideas are not accepted. This may create a difficult work atmosphere. Participative leadership can be time consuming to bring the whole team in to a unified view. It can also be difficult to harmonize ideas and get consensus. Autocratic Leadership: In an autocratic leadership, a leader has absolute authority and control over decision making. This may be time efficient and easy. This kind of leadership style is good in situations where there is no room for error (errors can expose organization to danger) and absolute control is necessary. Best example is military. Firm rules can keep people or property out of harm. However, decisions may be shallow as team contribution is hardly encouraged. Here are some things to keep in mind to be an effective when acting as an autocratic leader: Respect your Subordinates: even though the leader have absolute power, it is important for leaders to respect their team members, this can help motivating members to produce more. Explain the rules: in order rules to be effective, they have to be explained to everyone. Be consistent: Leaders have to be fair, consistent in all terms. Educate before you enforce: orders or directions cannot make team or people do their job. Listen, even if you don't change: by listening could benefit a lot, listening to team members can motivate to be more productive. Conclusion: Leadership theories are not one size fits all. One theory can be best in an organization and although both leadership theories are useful in some ways, they have their own shortcomings. I personally agree in places like military construction or small businesses Participative Theory cannot be effective. Participative leadership style may expose organizations to lose control of management or administrations and expose them to complete chaos. Autocratic Leadership has also its own limitations, It is always true more heads specially when it is diversified in terms of all categories yields more ideas. Autocratic leadership doesn't encourage such atmosphere. I would say, visions or goals give us a clearer image which style works better where. That's why leadership ideas still evolving. References Reference Sandling J. (2014) THREE REASONS WHY WE NEED LEADERSHIP; available at http://jonathansandling.com/3-reasons-why-we-need-leaders/ Manktelow J. (no date) CORE LEADERSHIP THEORIES; http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/leadership-theories.htm available at; No Name., (2015) Leadership tool box; Leadership; Autocratic Leadership style; available at ; http://www.leadership-toolbox.com/autocratic-leadership.html George N. (no date) The Advantages of Participative Leadership; available at: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/advantages-participative-leadership-17629.html No name (no date) 7 Disadvantages of Participative or democratic leadership; available at: http://www.preservearticles.com/2012051932586/7-disadvantages-of-participative-ordemocratic-leadership.html No Name (2015) Leadership Styles: Autocratic Leadership; available at: http://www.leadership-toolbox.com/autocratic-leadership.html