Assignment:
Research - Leadership
Assume you have landed your dream job with your dream employer, a global company with several thousand employees with offices and facilities all over the world. You have been recognized as an "up and comer" and placed in the company's training program. Part of this program involves sending you to UMUC to take management courses, including this one, with "Professor Sharp," an expert in the field.
In the past, the company's recognition of future talent such as you has been based on gut feelings. Top management wants to refine the process, and your supervisor has asked you to write a synopsis on leadership, and to suggest an instrument that can be used to evaluate or predict the leadership capabilities of job applicants. After an informal conversation regarding your assignment with your supervisor, you make notes of the following points:
What is leadership?
Is leadership a trait or a process?
Is leadership assigned or emergent?
Is leadership the same as management? Is managing leading?
Are leaders born or made?
Are there commonalities among leaders?
Do leaders have certain skills? If so, what?
Do leaders behave in certain ways? If so, how?
Can the same leadership techniques apply to a variety of conditions?
Is it possible to identify certain characteristics of an individual and then match them to a leadership position?
Are there any instruments (questionnaires or tests) available to determine leader characteristics?
Are the same leadership techniques applicable to different countries?
In a follow-up conversation, your supervisor points out that it would be impossible to cover each of those points in 4 to 6 pages. What he/she has in mind is for you to consider the various leadership concepts you have studied, pick the one you think is most applicable, and recommend a particular course of action that applies best to your company.