Reading Reflection

The content of this course presents a lot of information on leadership and management, both familiar and completely new. The course readings are quite interesting because they help to improve both my personal and professional knowledge of various concepts. The information that is presented in a majority of the texts focuses on the application in the organization setting, but there is information that can help improve life and interaction in the social context, too. In this reflection, I focus on my thoughts on some of the most important concepts I have learned from the course readings.

An important lesson I have learned from almost all of the texts is that great leadership and management skills start from within a person and later reflect on the teams within which they work. For instance, the mind, heart and imagination thinking habits present various guidelines for improving one’s leadership and management capabilities. Various thinking habits such as caring empathy, conceptual clarity, and continuous learning are the only things that one can do by themselves when one actively decides to. Similarly, knowledge is part of the driving forces in the new business realities. Knowledge is considered the primary source of wealth. An individual has to personally decide to build this source of wealth by always learning.

Nonetheless, these texts have also demonstrated that leadership and management cannot be effective without the integration of efforts between team members. Team dynamics play an important role in most of the concepts presented in these texts. For example, Galbraith (2002) explains the structure of today’s organizations in the book designing organizations. The contemporary organization is made up of various stakeholders who work together to ensure that a business excels to its best potential. These stakeholders include people within and outside the business, as explained in the new business realities, where sociocultural expectations shape the actions of business organizations. Thus, these texts help to understand that business success requires efforts from various directions.

Lastly, reading these texts on leadership and organizations demonstrates that one single leadership or management model does not work for all organizations. These texts have presented numerous concepts, and in my opinion, applying each in a single organization is not feasible. A business has to choose the leadership models and management theories that work best for their business. For instance, there is the classical theory, contingency and systems theory, and chaos theory, each with different characteristics. A business or a leader can only choose the models they believe are the best for their respective environments.

In conclusion, the readings of this course are very informative. I have learned a lot about the changes I can make to become a better leader, as well as the strategies I must use to be better at management. In addition, I have learned more about my colleagues based on the learning that is rooted in the concepts presented in the texts. Thus, they are all texts that I would recommend to a person who would like to learn more about leadership and management in various contexts.

References

Galbraith, J. R. (2002). Designing organizations: Strategy, Structure and Process and the Business Unit and Enterprise Levels.

Hagedorn, R. New Business Realities of the 21^st Century

Thinking Habits of the Mind, Heart and Imagination. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://courseroom.capella.edu/bbcswebdav/institution/BUS/BUS4012/180700/Course_Files/thinking habits.html

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u01d1 Reading Reflection

Reflect on the unit readings. Post your thoughts on the readings in 1-2 page, if 1 page no less than 3 paragraphs.

Reading Reflection

Use this discussion as a forum to digest your readings and gather ideas for your reflective paper assignment.

Resources

• Discussion Participation Scoring Guide.

DISCUSSION PARTICIPATION SCORING GUIDE

Due Date: Weekly.
Percentage of Course Grade: 20%.