The Unnatural Act of Leadership, Book Review Essay

Odilia Bergh, Peachtree City Police Department Human Resource Management and Development The Unnatural Act of Management February 26, 2013 I began this book like most books, with great anticipation that it was going to be amazing, why else would a qualified instructor assign it. I assumed that it would be a shining example of the finest managerial principals in existence all compacted into a simple to read text with plenty of graphs and helpful handouts. I was certain that I would be a more effective leader for having read it. I spent time strategizing how I would write my paper with great enthusiasm. Then, I read the book. In the first few pages I found myself so caught up with the character development that I quickly lost†¦show more content†¦I value the decision making process more now that I align myself more clearly with upper management than the mind set of line officers. As a first line supervisor I fill in the blanks when the plans and processes have been identified. I recognize the overall need to establish goals and objectives that are clear and measurable but as a first line supervisor I usually find myself making suggestions and providing raw data which is manipulated and interpreted above my position. Chapter six, I read the title and got excited, What is Management and When Are You Managing? Yes, now we are getting somewhere! I found some truth early on, kind of†¦ Stanley had the position that you learn to be a good manager by managing not by going to school. Before I was promoted years ago I had already obtained my four year degree in Business Management and Organizational Leadership so I felt somewhat prepared. Denial is a nice zip code. Within months of being promoted to Sergeant I was escorted to private meeting room by the two senior officers on my newly appointed team. Truly I don’t remember what they said, but the feeling resonates to this day. YOU KNOW NOTHING, BE QUIET, LISTEN, LEARN AND THEN MAYBE WE WILL LET YOU LEAD. I felt humbled, they had been respectful but firm and the message was clear†¦this was going to be much harder than I thought. I agree that it is very unnatural to decide to produce resultsShow MoreRelatedHree Most Pressing Issues in Organizational Behavior2696 Words   |  11 Pagesterms of the whole person, whole group, whole organization, and whole social system. Its purpose is to build better relationships by achieving human objectives, organizational objectives, and social objectives. In this paper we propose to study leadership, motivation and organizational conflict, as among the most pressing issues in organizational behavior. Further, we shall discuss how these issues can be addressed. 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The Thing in the Forrest Free Essays

Sometimes in life when we have an experience that deeply affects us, it can change our whole perspective. The story â€Å"The Thing in the forest† is a example of how this can happen. The two main characters Penny and Primrose meet when they are children and share a horrific experience in the forest. We will write a custom essay sample on The Thing in the Forrest or any similar topic only for you Order Now Then by chance meet back at the scene and briefly reassure one another that what happened really did happen. But their contact ends there once again almost as if seeing each other was too uncomfortable. Then oddly enough both women end up going back to the forest looking for some kind of resolve. In â€Å"The Thing in the Forest† the two little girls encounter a terrifying creature that profoundly affects their sense of reality; this results in similar personal traits and shared sense of searching for what’s real despite that they never talk of it. When the two girls meet not much is given about their characters, however throughout the story we find that the two ladies have quite a few things in common. This is due to their experience in the forest that they shared so long ago. Some of the similarities are within their character and some are sheer coincidence. Neither woman has married probably because of their disrupted childhood when they were exiled from their families and sent to live in the â€Å"great house† by the woods until it was safe again at home (Byatt). This is when Penny and Primrose decide to go into the woods and are followed by a younger girl who is never seen again. The girls encounter a creature that smelled of â€Å"liquid putrefaction† and looked like a mixture of â€Å"rank meat and decaying vegetation† (Byatt). The wake of the creature leaves â€Å"a trail of bloody slime and dead vegetation† in which the younger girl disappears (Byatt). Then the very next day the girls are placed with temporary families. Once home again both girls fathers die in accidents. Penny’s father died in a firefighting accident and Primroses was a causality of the war as he was soldier. The experience of being exiled, their fathers sudden deaths and and seeing this terrifying creature that possibly killed the younger girl has hanged their sense of what is real, I’m sure the concept of love and relationship is very easily questioned for the both of them. Both women also have chosen jobs that work with children; Penny becomes a child psychologist dealing mostly dealing in the dreams of children and Primrose among her other odd jobs becomes a children’s story time teller at the local mall. Both women are embroiled with children and their minds just on different ends of the spectrum. One lis tens and one tells. When Penny and Primrose meet by quirk of fate back at the â€Å"great house†, that has now been given to the nation and made in to a museum, they are taken aback by the unplanned visit. They become aware of each other while reading a description of a story in a book about a fabled worm like creature that supposedly lurked in the woods near by. The alarm of the story and the by chance meeting of the two women while simultaneously reading its historic description jolts the two. They feel as if they would have never recognized each other if it weren’t for the given situation. They reassure each other that they both really did see the creature that it is real. The women remark on how strange it is that the children’s presence during the exile is not depicted anywhere in the history of the house. This lack of mention about the children in exile ever being in the house reaffirms some of the question of what is real in the two women’s minds. They decide on having some tea and reminisce a little more about the time they spent in exile, on the train, in the â€Å"great house†, brief tidbits of their life and the younger girl named Alys who had disappeared. It did finish her off, that little one, didn’t it? † â€Å"I wonder if we’d made her up,† said Primrose. â€Å"Nobody ever asked where she was or looked for her,† said Penny (Byatt). The women are slightly relived at their agreement because this gives them the assurance they need not to feel as if they made the whole thing up. The assumed death of the you nger girl could be said to mirror the psychological death of Penny and Primrose, and this reassurance helps them feel as if they can finally move on. This brief conversation between the two is the last contact they will have with each other. The women both decide not to honor the dinner date they planed, I believe at this point the Penny and Primrose feel any further contact with each other is unbearable because of the underlying memories of any supplementary conversation. Yet they are still searching for what is real within them selves. Searching to the extent that both women are drawn back in to the woods and for the same reason. Primrose goes to the woods with purpose; she even follows the same path from years ago. Primrose had really been in a magic forest. She knew that the forest was a source of terror† (Byatt). While in the forest she questions what is real in her life, her home and how her mother disclosed that her father had been killed. She resolves that the forest and what happened in it to be truly real. In all of her thinking she decides she is satisfied and in turn wants to go home. The way Primrose views this experience and the woods around her in a story like fashion is very telling about why she deals in storytelling for a job. It all comes from the same place and this is why she has always careful not to scare the children she reads to. Penny on the other hand ends up in the forest even after purposely walking in the opposite direction of their original path. She is very perceptive of her surroundings in a different way than Primrose, who feels the need to almost coach herself along in a story like fashion, whereas Penny was looking for signs of the creature. She looked for all things that would be concrete evidence of the creature. It was the encounter with the thing that led her to deal professionally in dreams. Something that resembled unreality that had lumbered into reality, and she had seen it† (Byatt). Penny believed she could feel the creature and decided that it chose to recede back into the forest. She also spent some time thinking of her own father and how when he died her mother became a recluse, seeing this reaction scared her emotionally. This is the reason she threw herself in to study and possibly never married. At the end of it all this women still do not converse or sit with one another when taking the same train home. They just share an acknowledgeable stare at the train station then go their separate ways. Primrose goes home and back to work but with a new confidence, she decides to tell the story of â€Å"The Thing in the Forest† she is no longer afraid. Penny goes back to the woods with the conviction that she needs this, for this creature to come to her because it has become the most real thing she can recognize. â€Å"She was ready† and waiting for it (Byatt). Despite how different these women are, they are one in the same. Penny and Primrose shared something awful that forever changed them in very similar ways. They also shared separate experiences in the same forest and came to the same realizations that the creature is real and it had affected their person emotionally and steered their paths throughout life. It is apparent to me that that these similarities the women share cannot be a coincidence but are a direct result of that horrifying day they saw â€Å"The Thing in the Forest†. How to cite The Thing in the Forrest, Papers

Influence Of Characteristics On Perceptions -Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss About The Influence Of Characteristics On Perceptions? Answer: Introduction Leadership is one of the growing concepts in every organization. This is because o its role it plays in every activity in the workplace or anywhere else. It is a type of skill that a person has within it to lead others in achieving their targets. However, a leader has been defined to know the way they have to lead and also goes the way they or their team members decide or shows the way to other members in the group to follow. Leader has to be courageous to accept all type so failure and success. There are many more traits that a leader holds to be successful in their leadership (Northouse, 2015). The paper discusses about different traits of the leadership and the roles in plays while carrying out a successful leadership strategy in a decision making process. Further, it analyses the role of a leader to support the saying that a leaders knows the way, follows the way and shows the way to others. Discussion Leadership is not a simple context as it seems to be. It involves a lot of responsibilities and understanding to carry out tasks appropriately and with proper understanding. A true leader is always focused with their work and the path they are going. A true leader is said to have a clear vision and knowledge about whatever they do. This is because they are the one that lead the way for others and help them reach a correct place. Thus without knowing the destination it is not possible for the leader to take others to that unknown journey. A leader has been the one that lead others to the correct path that he/she has already experienced himself/herself after being in that position (Antonakis Day, 2017). Thus, it is important that a leader knows where they are leading itself and the team. Moreover, along with knowing the destination it is also important for them to know the path they will follow to reach there. It has been stated by Antonakis and Day, (2017) that this path should be th e most effective and easiest path compared to other alternative paths. However, the vision of the leader also changes overtime due to the changing situation and the objective of the leader. However, even with the change in vision a leader has to be clear with the new vision that is been created. As long as the leader knows the way through which it will reach its goals or vision, there is no problem in altering the vision in the way he/she wants. As people say that everyone loves to be on the position of a leader, however it is difficult to stay in that position with the type of responsibilities they will have to handle. Moreover, the position also calls for a lot of challenges to be taken by the person for handling its fellow members, explaining the vision to the members, motivating them to take part effectively and leading them to the right path (Zhang et al., 2015). A person failing to do this being a leader will never become successful in that position. Moreover, knowing the vision clearly is solely the responsibility of the leaders. This is because in that position there is no one to guide him/her and provide them a road map to success. It can only be done by their knowledge, experience and far sightedness (Heath, Martin Shahisaman, 2016). Thus, a leader is said to move ahead with surety of its action and with the assurance that his/her actions will only benefit the people walking behind them. Zuka (2016) in his paper explained that along with knowing the way, a leader must also go the way they have decided. This is the most difficult part a leader has to follow in that role. This is because directly others to follow the path are an easy task; however, itself moving on the same path requires a lot of cautiousness. However, an effective leader is the one that himself lead first and ask its team to follow him/her. This requires that they know the path that they will walk is safe and appropriate. However, it is seen that most leaders fails to realize their actual role and only be in the position for the sake of their name. This is not the quality of a real leader as a real leader is always concerned about its members that are following him/her (Zuka, 2016). Thus, there are certain important steps a leader should take up in order to lead the team. The first step is to get a clear picture about the goals of the company in which it acts like a leader. This is necessary as the le ader in order to lead the team should know the goals where the need to reach. Secondly, it is necessary to draw the schedule to take u one on one session with the team members to know them efficiently so that they can follow the leader with trust. Thirdly, it is necessary that the leader diagnose its team effectively to understand their capability to understand the path the leader is leading them to (Zuka, 2016). In this stage the leader needs to understand the development level of the team members and this requires them to use different leadership style to control them. Fourthly, the leader also needs to form a team charter in which it will state the objectives behind the formation of the team. Further it also sets the goals of the team and the way they will achieve the goals together. Last and the most important factor that a leader must consider in order to lead the team successfully is to maintain a climate of trust with the team members. These steps help the leader to get the c onfidence of leading the team by moving first towards the goal. The last responsibility that a leader carries out is to show the road map to its team members to reach the objective that the business needs. In this responsibility the leader does not lead the way. It helps in showing and guiding the members to their actual goals (Hinojosa et al., 2014). They are the one that helps the team members step by step to move up to the goal. However, the method of showing the way differs from leader to leader and organization to organization. There are certain organization that has a much matrix and flat system. In this situation a leader has to carry out persuasive nature in order to motivate the team to take part in the activities. Moreover, it is the duty of the leader to ask the members to think outside their own job and give their best to whatever they are doing (Mann Harter, 2016). To encourage the teammates and help them reach a goal, a leader can design a plan it which it can state all the necessary things required to move towards their objectives (Gopee Galloway, 2017). However, they should also make the team aware about the criticality and the challenges they might face on the way. Thus, it is also necessary that the members are motivated by their leader to keep them active in the goal path. This shows that role of the leader in showing the way towards the objectives to their teammates(Smith, 2016). This is called the leadership from behind as the leader does not walk in front. This is another type of role that a leader has to carry out in order to be successful in its leadership responsibility. Even though the concept is bit confusing as we have mostly heard that leaders always leads his/her team, yet leading from behind has gained importance in recent times (Bottomley, Burgess Fox III, 2014). Leading from behind has a lot of importance to the company and the leader if it is guided properly. This shows that leaders also allow their team members to operate on their own, make their own decision and take up risk while doin g their job effectively. This is because it is difficult for the leader to allow their members work according to the decision and actions taken by them. Hus, in order to keep the team intact and working leaders find it beneficial to keep individuals autonomous in many cases. Conclusion The above analysis can help to deduce about the nature and role of the leaders in various situations. Leaders are the one that needs to take up various decisions for the team as well as for the organization. For the purpose they have to act differently in different situations depending on the criticality of the issues to be dealt. This shows that a leader knows the way it has to go and help its team lead to their objectives. Moreover, a leader also goes the way and shows the way. This shows that a leader acts from front such as taking initiative of the actions and road that it has planned to achieve the target. A leader also moves from behind in certain situations where the members can move by themselves and act autonomously. Thus, a leader led different types of role depending n the type of objectives to be achieved. Moreover, it also uses different leadership styles such as participative, authoritative and others according to the situations References Antonakis, J., Day, D. V. (Eds.). (2017).The nature of leadership. Sage publications. Bottomley, K., Burgess, S., Fox III, M. (2014). Are the behaviors of transformational leaders impacting organizations? A study of transformational leadership.International Management Review,10(1), 5. Gopee, N., Galloway, J. (2017).Leadership and management in healthcare. Sage. Heath, K., Martin, L., Shahisaman, L. (2016). Global Leadership Competence: The Intelligence Evolution of a Great Leader.Journal of Global Leadership, 167. Hinojosa, A. S., McCauley, K. D., Randolph-Seng, B., Gardner, W. L. (2014). Leader and follower attachment styles: Implications for authentic leaderfollower relationships.The Leadership Quarterly,25(3), 595-610. Mann, A., Harter, J. (2016). The worldwide employee engagement crisis.Gallup Business Journal,7. Northouse, P. G. (2015).Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage publications. Smith, S. M. (2016). " I'm Sure He Didn't Mean It That Way": The Influence of Leader Characteristics on Perceptions of Everyday Sexism. Zhang, Y., Waldman, D. A., Han, Y. L., Li, X. B. (2015). Paradoxical leader behaviors in people management: Antecedents and consequences.Academy of Management Journal,58(2), 538-566. Zuka, J. (2016). The role of the leader in the success of the changes in an organization.Edited by Zoran ?ekerevac. MEST Journal, 176-184