BMGT365 DQ

Review the readings under Theme #1 related to leaders’ shifting roles and skill sets associated with them. Then comment on whether a leader’s skill and character/personality traits affect how s/he approaches leadership functions in an era where technology and globalization are driving changes in market preferences.  What do you think leaders should pay attention to in order to lead a motivated workforce?   Use the readings in your answers.

Theme #1:  There are various types of leadership roles in an organization. They extend from the executive leadership role to the project leader. Each has different sets of responsibilities to the organization and each leadership role utilizes skill sets which require influencing people to move the business towards the vision. This week’s theme focuses on those levels which are most visible to the students either because they are seen from afar as being on the top or because they seek to become involved personally: executive, managerial, and team leaders. We will examine the role of each and the skill sets associated with them.

Executive Leader: Is the leader that many of our students see from afar. They are the people at the top.  Their role is to design the vision, mission, structure and culture of the organization. It is their ideas that provide the framework upon which the manager builds.

The job of the executive leader is to be the social architect. Executive leaders create the vision, mission, structure and culture and are change agents.

Read: 

The Leader as a Social Architect   

· The Leader’s Role in Strategy

· Definition of the term social architect  

· Organizational Structures in the 21st Century

Managerial Leadership: Leaders create followers through influence while managers lead people and manage things (overlap is the skills needed to lead people to do things)

Read:

· Manage or Lead or do Both

Leading Teams:   Many of our students may have this type of leadership job already. They may be team leaders with some leadership tools necessary.

Read:

· Team Leader vs. Supervisor Responsibilities

· 5 Responsibilities For Leading Elite Teams

The theme for this Activity is leading from where you are. It suggests that leadership is not a position, but influence. Given that premise, what kinds of actions would a leader need to undertake to accomplish positive change in the organization?  What and who would s/he start and end with? Use the readings in your answers.

Theme #2:  Leading from where you are. It doesn’t depend on where you are in an organization you can lead in any position. The job of the executive leader is to encourage this role for everyone through empowerment, the manager through motivation, and the team leader or supervisor through mentoring, listening, and encouragement.

Read:

· John Maxwell: Lead From Where You Are

· Leading your Boss: Managing Up

· Strategy for how to Influence