Bhaskar Kumar Tetarbe

Leadership Discovery Self Reflection

PGP30252

Leadership is both an art and a science, and it is a continuous process of transformation which has
no set template. Leadership Discovery tries to map out the different varieties of leadership as
studied by great scholars before. I did not find any set of characteristics or traits, neither did I find
any one situation or life that created a leader, but I found myself fascinated by the multitude of
possibilities that can lead an individual towards his own leadership discovery.
I have studied Leadership Clinic and Leadership through Literature before to understand more about
leadership being someone who aspires to be a future leader. I have read through the more abstract
and deep thoughts around leadership but I have always felt a lack of structure in the way things
were always presented in those courses. That was something that this course remedied. We began
the very first class in endeavouring to arrive at a definition of leadership. Interestingly, all of us came
up with our own versions of leadership, which have all been covered in different theories of
leadership. That was when I first realized that were multiple angles of looking at a leader.

My Initial Thoughts about Leadership

Initially, before joining this course I had already formed a lot of opinions about leadership from my
previous courses on them. I had read about the plumber and poets definition of leadership. I had
read about leadership from the angle of literature, in various spheres of life. A leader for me inspires
people to mobilise for a shared aspiration and work hard towards that aspiration. There are various
kinds of people in the history who have been able to mobilize people for a shared aspiration. In the
current professional context, the management of employees is very important. But, as the managers
grow into top management roles, they need to be leaders much more than managers. They need to
be the motivation more than the doers.

Recognising the difference between a Manager and a Leader

One of the crucial lessons have been a better understanding of how a manager can have leadership
abilities but not every manager has good leadership abilities. A manager is analytical, controlled,
deliberate and orderly while a leader is experimental, visionary, flexible and creative. A manager
manages change and tries to find stability while a leader embraces change and deconstructs system
to make it better in the long term. MBA has taught me to be a good manager but I can only be a
good leader by experiencing professional life. Along the way, the learnings from my understanding
of my leadership strengths and weaknesses would certainly help me.

Learnings from Class Case Studies

Andys Recipe case study helped me understand the importance of simplicity and a long-term vision
for the organization. Understanding your followers is very important the way he was able to
motivate his three followers. Being flexible is one of his asset skills. He proves that you dont need to
be good at all the three leadership skills to succeed.
The case study of Mark who started as a drill sergeant in his new organisation helped me understand
how leadership style should be changed according to the evolution of an organization. When he was
reorganising the organisation, he acted like a drill sergeant who enforced his authority. Later when
he formed good relationships with his team members, and acted in a more supportive manner later.
The case of Bruce Cannons conundrum on deciding his leadership style with three different kind of
followers showed three different approaches. This shows that a top management person would
prefer to deal with S3-D3 and S4-D4 kinds of styles of people.

Bhaskar Kumar Tetarbe

Leadership Discovery Self Reflection

PGP30252

In Contingency Theory, there was a case of finding the best leader match. Their decision to find who
should be the person to handle the reorganization of Universal Drugs. The new position needs to be
defined according to contingency theory.
The Path-Goal Theory case on Three Shifts, Three Supervisors was a great example on why certain
people are less effective than Carol. The leadership of the three supervisors affect the motivation of
their respective subordinates.
The case study on Re-examining a Proposal, questions the importance of ethics in deciding on
writing such a proposal. It questions the deontological as well as the teleological perspective on
ethics.

Learnings from Case Study Submissions

Our first case study was on Performance Coaching by Darcy Gallagher. We evaluated the leadership
skills based on which we arrived at technical skills as the focus skill. Performance Coaching is a
process where one person facilitates the development and action planning of another, in order that
the individual can bring about changes in their lives.
The second case on CDO discusses about the essential requirements that a leader needs to possess.
It talks about the protagonist Rohit Sharmas dilemma. It shows that giving ample time to the
employees to adopt the changing practices in the organization helps in identifying reasons for
government lack of interest in organization. It also shows that performance based pay salary keep
the employees motivated and result oriented.
The Transkin Income Fund case is an application of the Contigency Theory of Leadership According
to the theory, such a situation requires the leader to have a low LPC. A low LPC leader would be able
to successfully complete the task in such a situation. A low LPC means that he should be task
oriented. Thus, in this case, Lind should adopt a strict approach and tell the GMs that it is his
decision to roll back the salaries that is based on all considerations.
The case on the CEOs of GE gives the transition of GE from the leadership of Jack Welsh to Jeffrey
Immelt and contrasts the different approaches to the Path Goal theory of leadership followed by the
both of them. Path goal theory is based on the premise that the leader should use the type of
leadership style that is appropriate for their subordinated motivational needs.
In Douglas Fine Foods case study, certain factors need to be deduced in terms of Transformational
Leadership Theory. According to the Transformational Leadership Factors theory, there are 4 factors
in transformational leadership.
At the end of the course, we arrived at collaborative leadership as our model for our project.
Leadership is defined, as the action of leading an organization or a group of people or the sheer
ability to lead. Collaborative leadership is therefore extending this ability into intentional and skilful
management of interpersonal relationships that helps or enables others to succeed individually
while accomplishing a collective outcome. In a business situation it is about bringing together people from different backgrounds, disciplines, cultures, and aspirations and leveraging all they have
to offer, to achieve business goals as well as their personal goals. The traditional leadership style of
top down management that primarily focused only in organizational goals is slowly evolving into a
more collaborative approach that empowers employees and blurs the lines between the boss and
the worker.

Bhaskar Kumar Tetarbe

Leadership Discovery Self Reflection

PGP30252

Discovering my Leadership Style

For me, Leadership Discovery is all about finding out my leadership style strengths and weaknesses
and adapt myself to lead or follow based on those findings.
One of the first leadership style tests that I did was change leadership indicator, which showed me to
be moderate in scores. I have realized that I am unable to reinforce the change which causes the
team members to fall back to their old ways.
I did not have to do the Big Five test because we have already done that before in BIO classes of first
term. I am strong on conscientiousness and openness while I am weak on extraversion and
agreeableness. I am weak on one of the strongest traits of leadership extraversion. I need to work
on my sociability and energy.
EQ is often considered as the more important parameter to measure a persons career potential
over IQ. While an average manager spends a lot of time on problem solving, a successful and
effective manager spends time more on the softer side of things like communication and
networking. I feel that I have all the traits of becoming a good top level manager who needs
conceptual skills the most, but along the way I lack human skills, especially on inter-personal level.
My Skill Inventory questionnaire test proved that I am strong on technical and conceptual skills but
lack human skills. (Technical Skill 26, Human Skill 17, Conceptual Skill 25)
I have always been sure that I am a task oriented leader and thus I have been working on increasing
my relationship orientation. Interestingly enough, my scores in the Style Questionnaire showed that
I am a middle-of-the-road manager who is balanced on both these parameters. I make compromises
try achieve an equilibrium by avoiding conflict while encouraging with moderate targets. (Task 36,
Relationship 33)
Different situations demand different types of leadership. To be an effective leader, I need to
recognize the conditions where I would be a more effective leader. There are two dimensions to
each situation in leadership: directive and supportive. I should vary these two dimensions depending
on the followers motivation and skills. Based on the questionnaire on Leader Effectiveness and
Adaptability Description (LEAD) by Hersey and Blanchard, I have a Supportive Leadership style (S3),
which means that I prefer that my team members should have moderate levels of development and
would probably have low commitment levels. I am good at commanding reluctant contributors.
(Quadrant Scores: S1 4, S2 0, S3 7, S4 1 and Grand Total 3)
Effective leadership is contingent to the style of leader and the situation that he is in. Three things
determine the contingent leadership style: leader-member relations, task structure and position
power. I have a medium LPC score which means that I am independent. On the contingency model, I
fall into the category of good leader-member relations, high task structure and low position power
which comes with a medium LPC score at category 2. (LPC Score 61)
On top of the previous points of leadership, the motivation of the followers is critical for leaders to
understand. The challenge is to use a leadership style that best meets subordinates motivational
needs. Based on the Path-Goal Leadership Questionnaire, I have a high Achievement Oriented style
of path-goal leadership. I like to provide challenges to the people of my team. I have high
expectations of my followers, and prefer having followers who want to excel in their work. They are
good with ambiguous, challenging and complicated tasks. (Directive style 26, Supportive style 27,
Participative style 23, Achievement-oriented style 26)

Bhaskar Kumar Tetarbe

Leadership Discovery Self Reflection

PGP30252

The interactions between the leader and the follower defines the focal point of their leadership
style. They often create in and out-groups within the team. Leadership development is a prescriptive
approach to leadership emphasizing that a leader should try for high-quality exchanges with the
members of the group. The LMX 7 Questionnaire puts me in the moderate category of a LMX
leadership style. It implies that I have more neutral exchanges with my group members without
creating in-groups and out-groups. (LM 7 Score 23)
In the emergent professional scenario, ethics have become a critical component of any leader. JRD
Tata exemplified how well a professional can grow in his career with proper ethics. Ethical leaders
are transparent in their dealing and hold their followers accountable for their work. Perceived
Leader Integrity Scale (PLIS) is a disguised third-person based questionnaire to test the respondents
integrity in an organizational setting. I am moderately ethical based on this test which pegs me as a
person who might engage in some unethical behaviours under certain conditions. (PLIS Score 42)
In the Indian scenario, leadership changes slightly due to the cultural influences of India. Indian
leaders source of competitive advantage lies in their people much more than themselves.
Compared to western leaders who are much more charismatic, Indian leaders are much more
focused on their team. These organizations take a more long-term internal-view. There is a strong
commitment to social goals.

Learnings Acquired as a Future Leader

In this journey of Leadership Discovery, I have come to realize interesting things about myself in
terms of leadership.

STRENGTHS
I am strong in changing the structure of an organization. I have strong conscientiousness and high
openness, which make me more structured and direct in dealings. I have high technical and
conceptual skills which make me good at what I do. I can plan for the long term by keeping the vision
of the organisation in context of the plans of the team. I am a task-relationship balanced leader who
can avoid conflicts in a group well. I have a Supportive Leadership style (S3), which means that I
prefer that my team members should have moderate levels of development and would probably
have low commitment levels. I am good at commanding reluctant contributors. I am an independent
person, and have good leader-member relations, high task structure and low position power. I have
an achievement oriented style of leadership which makes me challenge my followers to strive for
targets that are always higher and higher. I prefer to have my followers to be good with ambiguous,
challenging and complicated tasks. I like to keep my exchanges with my followers to be as neutral as
possible.

WEAKNESSES
I am unable to enforce the change in the structure of the organization for the future. I am low on
extraversion, a vital part of leadership which shows that I am weak at networking with people. I am
weak at human skills which make it difficult for me to have good team-work with people. I make too
many compromises as a leader. I am not good with followers who are either unskilled or
unmotivated. I need to have followers who are more interested in the task of the organisation. I can
often make unrealistic targets for my followers. I am not able to form strong bonds with my
followers.
In the future, I need to work on my social skills and make sure that I network with people. I need to
work in areas where I am able to command the team faster and with people who are skilled at what
they do. I can inspire such people to contribute to the team.