Reference no: EM131414100

Assignment

PART 1- Organizational Communication

I need a reply/response to these discussion board answers. Just read the discussion board answers, and respond to the information you read by also adding your own point of information about each topic itself to each discussion board answers not about how to correct the person answers by saying he or she needs to add more information or saying you agreed without stating why. Just four to six Lines response each. Please I need good and quality response to these discussion board answers. Please I need good and quality reply, and plsi want you to add more information about the their answers n your contribution to my classmates answers and topic.

Question to my classmates answers below

Learning Activity 1

Jared Campbell

Personally, I believe that one of the most important and mind changing concept we were introduced to would have to be the idea that organization is communication. That concept has stuck with me since we started the course and it has helped me see how organizations function in a new light. The necessity for organized and efficient communication is vital for an organization to thrive and keep everyone aware of information necessary for the organization to progress.

Having the concept of business being communication as a foundation was helpful when considering all the different forms of communication and how they function in an organization. As we discussed and studied forms of communication such as public speaking, presentations etc. the idea that business is communication helped explain the concept of communication comprehensively. Lastly, the communication audit and the survey utilized highlighted some of the faults an organization may have in communication and ways to fix them.

Cody Strait

At the beginning of this course I was unsure of how it would take eight weeks to teach something as simple as communicating within an organization. Little did I know, organizational communication is a much broader topic than emails and memos alone. The first video that was assigned in week one was over twenty minutes long. I must have watched this video five or six times over the course of the week due to the large amount of information that was put out. Once I had watched the video several times, there are many layers to the topic of organizational communication.

The first concept that I was completely unaware of, was the idea of being culturally competent. Becoming aware of another business partners cultural and the best ways to communicate with said individual is extremely important. Reading the examples that were put out in the weekly readings and researching a specific country for our learning activities made me aware of the many cultural differences. I especially enjoyed filling out the INCA survey. This allowed me to take the perspective of an individual that is interacting with different cultures.

The next concept that I found very useful was identifying channels of communication. For my second writing assignment, it was identified that my organization lacks in channels of communication. This became extremely helpful in identifying the best medium for the message to be sent. For example, sending very important messages via email may not get the point across or the receiver may neglect the message. Therefore, two way communication can allow the sender to verify that the important message had been received and understood.

Ultimately, all of the tools that have been learned throughout this course will be very useful in organization I may interact with in the future.

Learning Activity 2

Jared Campbell

I believe that I have achieved the course outcome and that my understanding of how communication can be improved in an organization has increased. In my opinion, the most helpful assignment was the communication audit. Being made to actually analyze and audit communications within my organization was an interesting eye opener. Additionally, the audit gave me an idea of what exactly a communication audit hoped to achieve. Lastly, being able to come up with solutions for my organization after the audit was a beneficial experience and it assisted my organization and myself in improving communication methods. I personally would have preferred to study the most effective means of communication within an organization and possibly analyze modern trends in communication practices.

Cody Strait

Of the course outcomes, I believe that all of them were completely achieved. The assignment 2 that we conducted during week 6 taught me the appropriate way to conduct a communication audit. Not only did I learn how to conduct this audit, I actually performed an audit on a mythical organization. This thoroughly explained the five areas of organizational communication and also allowed me to learn about the the different channels of communication that can be used in an organization. Furthermore, learning these channels also accomplished the first course outcome.

Next, the cultural differences outcome was completely learned through our first major assignment. The INCA survey allowed us to place ourselves in the position of an individual conducting business with a different cultural and how we would react. Also, for a learning activity we were required to research a country, I choose Singapore, and explain the cultural for this country. This further allowed us to learn the differences between many cultures when it comes to organizational communication.

The assignment that sparked my interest the most was the first writing assignment. This assignment allowed us to view the differences in cultures and realize the impact of cultural competency. Also, I enjoyed the discussion post in which we chose one "talk" from Ted talks and analyzed it. This allowed us to analyze communication from our perspective after reading the references.

PART 2- Leadership for the 21st Century

Question to my classmates answers below

Learning Activity #1

The perspective of the leader in the 21st century is focused on inspiring people to move toward the vision of the organization. One critical way to move people is to develop a leadership style which has room to change depending on the situation. Because "vision" works on multiple levels; the individual, department, division, and organization as a whole, the need to inspire people on all levels requires the personal development of a leadership style. Moreover, the style should fit and change with the people who connect with the leader on any given level.

Part one:

Read the material in Content for week two.

Take the leadership style assessment in the Kent article and determine what your current style is.

Evaluate your results and determine how you can change or improve your style to fit the "successful 21st leadership style". In your evaluation explain how the reading material describes the successful leadership styles for the 21st century and how your style relates to those characteristics. Use at least 3 reading materials to support your evaluation.

Part two:

Once you have evaluated your style in relationship to the needs of the 21st century leader, take the analysis one step beyond and determine in what situations your style works best and where it does not. For those situations where your style is not a good fit suggest how you would handle the situation in another way. For example would you get someone else to handle the situation on your behalf and why is that a better solution? Or would you adapt yourself to a new style? Explain your ideas using primary sources to support your thinking.

Learning Activity #2

You are the owner of a small company which is looking to expand its shipping and logistics department. You have developed a new Internet line which is taking off and you have several large orders to fill. You wish to hire a manager for the department who is experienced with international shipping. You currently have two other managers Joan and Fritz that handle order fulfillment and packaging. You have envisioned a straight line team process with all managers having equal decision making authority within the team. The shipping team must work together well. Joan's department is good at getting the orders together while Fritz is still struggling with getting the packing department to work with him. The new manager has to act as team leader and get things working smoothly from beginning of the order to delivery.

Identify which characteristics your new employee should have. Describe those characteristics the new manager should possess and why. Address the roles and characteristics of the 21st century manager and leader. How they worktogether and how they are different.

Mark Childress

Part 1

There is no one way (cookie cutter) answer for leadership. Every situation is different and it requires a leader to be flexible. I feel that my leadership style has evolved over time. I feel like earlier in my military career I was more of an authoritarian, especially during deployed assignments. I know this was not always the best way to lead, but given the situation(s) I didn't have time for collaboration (lives were at stake).

However, as I got wiser and more rank I realized that I had to be flexible because different people respond to different stimuli. Although, military personnel cannot quit the job, they could quit being motivated. This could affect the mission which is the goal for the military. During this time, I felt I became more of a transformational leader (as evident by my assessment score). Charisma and energy is not enough to keep a team motivated, although important, I had to learn how to be a participative leader. Per the Lipman-Blumen model, the instrumental achieving leadership style empowers, networks, and persuades (2004). This is very similar to a participative leader that empowers, networks, and persuades to build consensus. By empowering team members, it instills trust in their ability to get the job done. Networking build relationships (professionally) which is important in getting the job done in the 21st century. Persuasion helps individuals to believe in the goals of the company, while understanding their role in achieving those goals.

As a retired military Chief Master Sergeant, I learned to be a servant leader. As a matter of fact, the word "sergeant" means to serve. A servant leader is at the top of the heap, but feels an obligation to serve the organization and all of it's people (E, 2009). This type of leadership must be authentic for employees to let the leader know their needs.

I feel that currently I use a lot more of the Path-Goal Theory of Leadership. This theory suggest that if you want people to be successful in achieving their goals, a leader must help, support and motivate them (Path-Goal Theory, n.d.). This particular theory, in my opinion is flexible enough to meet the needs of a leader. Whether the need is to be directive, supportive, participative, or achievement-oriented.

Part two

In the 21st century my style of a straight authoritarian would not go over very well. Today, the younger generation is taught to ask questions and even challenge authority. Back in my early military days this would not have been tolerated. However, as any good leader you must adapt to changing situations. I feel a leader should never get anyone else to handle a difficult situation on their behalf. In order to reach my younger troops I had to change my leadership style (depending on the situation). That's why I feel like I use more of the Path-Goal Theory of Leadership.

Ekaterina Khmaruk

Part 1

So as a leader, my authoritarianstyle prevail over the others, but I try to combine different variations, regarding the team, deadline and tasks. A good leader will use a variety of styles of leadership according to the situation whereas bad leaders tend to fall in to just one style. In practice, most leaders use both task-oriented and people-oriented styles of leadership (Kent, 2011). Using a leadership style means that you are role flexible-we can shift from one style to the next, like wearing a set of clothes. You are not locked into a particular one, but can change your leadership style depending leadership (Murray Johannsen, 2014).While some leaders combine the six styles of leadership, others may use only two of the styles. I think that moving from authoritarian to the transformational leadership style will be better for my role as a leader. Transformational leaders inspire followers to accomplish more by concentrating on the follower's values and helping the follower align these values with the values of the organization (Roger J. Givens, 2008). This action will make the team forced to work towards attaining organizational goals, objective vision as well as the mission. The group would be well-motivated and will be ready to take the control in their hands, when needed. The vision of the clear goal will be helpful for achieving the successful results. The transformational style requires a number of different skills and is closely associated with two other leadership styles: charismatic and visionary leadership (Murray Johannsen, 2014). Nevertheless, leaders can either be coached into developing the other four styles or they can build leadership teams using other people with different leadership styles to complement their repertoire of styles. In the daily work environment there may arise the need for the use of anyone or a combination of the leadership styles. In the 21st century the most successful leaders focus on sustaining superior performance by aligning people around mission and values and empowering leaders at all levels, while concentrating on serving customers and collaborating throughout the organization.

Part Two:

I am close to the Authoritarian (Transactional) leadership style. I am good in directing and controlling the team.

• The leader has a lot of power over team members & has the right to reward good performance or punish members if they don't reach the agreed standard.

• They tell their team what they want done & how without often asking for advice from team members. Team members are given little opportunity to make suggestions, even if these would be in the team's interest (Kent, 2011).

Autocratic leaders make decisions without consulting their team members, even if their input would be useful, so the integration with the team becomes an essential element. The periodical meetings can make the team changes pass successfully.This style can be appropriate when there's no need for team input, and when team agreement isn't necessary for a successful outcome. However, this style can be demoralizing, and it can lead to high levels of absenteeism and staff turnover (Leadership Styles: Choosing the Right Approach for the Situation, n.d.). This style should normally only be used occasionally, focusing on short-term tasks. It can be beneficial for some routine & unskilled tasks, in a crisis or with difficult employees. But without the control of the group, there wouldn`t be any results achieved.

Andrae Williams

Part 1

My top two are transformational and Participative. My low two are authoritarian and procedural. From my top two I would like to look at the cons and from my low two I want to look at the pros. The main pro of my low which was Procedural Clearly defines the tasks & the roles required. Puts structures in place. This is a weak point in my leadership style now as it relates to my current job. In my current position it sometimes does not afford the opportunity to be flexible. I have to be able to set the guidelines. In the structure set forth. The pros of Authoritarian this can achieve results quickly sometimes work or task need to be done quickly this is definitely a weak point in my leadership style I have never cared about things getting done quickly. I would rather have a service member stumble though a project and learn than have the supervisor stand over his or her shoulder telling them what to do and how to do it to get it done fast. The cons of my dominate styles are participation takes time things may happen more slowly than with an autocratic approach, but often the end result is better and taken to extremes, can lead to failure to achieve the team's goals. I think this means sometimes I will have to use a more hands on or direct approach to leadership when the situation or people call for it. The 21st century Leaders whose skills are limited to the more traditional leadership approaches of dominating, competing, or collaborating will not be effective. According to the reading material I have a lots of the 21st century leadership qualities. Deal in truth. Save yourself the agony of delusion. Just accept life as it is the whole drama of life. It's fascinating. Life is unique. Leadership is unique. The skills that work well for one leader may not work at all for another. In leadership, we learn that it's OK to be witty but not silly; fun but not foolish we must be kind enough to tell it like it is and not deal in delusion. These are said to be qualities of a Great leader. I am a leader that coaches a great coach is definitely a leader who also possess a unique gifts ability to teach and train. They groom people to improve both knowledge and skill

Part 2

Once you have evaluated your style in relationship to the needs of the 21st century leader, take the analysis one step beyond and determine in what situations your style works best and where it does not. For those situations where your style is not a good fit suggest how you would handle the situation in another way. For example would you get someone else to handle the situation on your behalf and why is that a better solution? Or would you adapt yourself to a new style? Explain your ideas using primary sources to support your thinking. I like to think of myself as a 21st century leader and one of the key components to 21 century leadership is flexibility and adaptability. I have the perfect analysis for where my leadership style suffers and where it thrives. In the office garrison environment my leadership style fits well. Where I have to adapt my style is during combat deployments. I teach my team members to always challenge the information, but recognize there's a difference between being a skeptic and being discerning during a combat deployment there is not much room for challenging. I combat this by mentioning specific tasks, actions, and behaviors that bring the vision to life, we as leaders can help service members convert the concept into practice This is being flexible and adaptable I show them both sides of my style they can put that in their tool box.

Learning Activity 2

Mark Childress

Transparency is key because the current managers do not know the new manager, but the new manager has information about the current managers. This could make the current managers feel a little uneasy. Tell the current managers a little about yourself to include strengths and weakness (we all have them). Let them know what leadership expects and what is the goals of the team. Communication is another element that is another characteristic that is vital to a leader. A leader should be able to communicate upwards, downwards, and laterally. In this case, a lot of communication will be done laterally as all managers have equal decision making authority. Also, the new manager should listen to the other managers since they have been working for the company and may have some great ideas. As the team leader, I think using the path-goal theory could go a long way with the group. There will be times the team leader must be directive in setting the goals, supportive with team needs, participative as the team leader is part of the group, and achievement oriented as the team leader sets high expectations (Path-Goal Theory, n.d.). You would also want the team manager to display confidence not only in his/her ability to get the job done, but also have confidence in the ability of the team to get the job done. Innovation would be key as new ideas and initiatives may help the group, especially Fritz with their sections.

Ekaterina Khmaruk

"Leaders who are strategic are always looking ahead and analyzing the present in terms of preparation for what may come for the business." (What is Strategic Leadership, n. d.) I suppose that new manager should have good analyzing abilities, because it will be necessary for him/her to find out all mistakes and correct them in order to organize all processes in Fritz's department first of all. Then this new manager should be good at shipping and logistics (having education or an experience), because he/she will need to manage these processes, and not everybody can do it "by intuition." Besides, I think that this manager should be able to make decisions quickly, because he/she will need to correct the situation as soon as possible."Leadership promotes new directions; management executes existing directions." (Kotter, 1990) Manager's roles in 21st century are to be investors (How to allocate resources to obtain the best return), customers (employees can be more proactive to identify the needs of managers), sports coaches (when managing rare, expensive talent, they cannot fire them without carefully weighing the consequences, they need to teach them), and partners. (McCrimmon, n. d.) At the same time leader's roles are communicator, thinker, decision-maker, team-builder, and image-builder (When an organization strives to institute an effective organizational culture and demands high standards across the board, an extraordinary level of performance results). (Blanchard, 2012)

Andrae Williams

My new employee needs to be a Strategic leader. Or what I like to call a 21st century "Manager leader" He or She must be able to motivate Fritz and the packing department to take the initiative to improve their productivity in the company. Strategy involves thinking and planning, while leadership inspires others to take the appropriate action. This management model trains and encourages employees to best prepare the company for the future. Productivity is a main goal of strategic leadership. He or she must know when affordability trumps innovation, be adept at building relationships and able to learn what motivates employees Managers in the 21st century will need to become super motivators who drive productivity and innovation, create competitive products, and generate more sales and increased profits. Managers can use facilitative skills to foster innovation .The manager works by making sound decisions and by facilitating execution and creative thinking. The leader sets the vision. The 21 century manger can be a leader and the leader can be the manager. Leadership promotes new directions; management executes existing directions. The 21st century leader manager must be a more facilitative, nurturing, and developmental empowering functions alongside leadership.