Description

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

21 st  leadership style”. In your evaluation explain how the reading material describes the successful

leadership styles for the 21 st  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 21 st  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 21 st  century manager

and leader. How they work together and how they are different.