Leadership Reflection and Development Action Plan- Assignment Task

Upon the successful completion of this module the student will be able to:

1. Recognise and evaluate the complexities involved in leading and managing people in organisations and the practical application of Leadership and Management theory and principles.
2. Critically evaluate the design and implementation of strategies which are focused on enhancing the effectiveness of Leaders and Managers in order to meet current and future organisational needs.

PLEASE NOTE: Due to the current coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the assessment brief for June 2021 term has been amended to allow for the entirety of the assessment to take place online.

Assignment Task:

Based on your chosen organisation, critically reflect on your own experience of leadership, and suggest areas for your own development, including an Action Plan (2000 words).

1. Assessment Task Guidance

You are advised to focus on one or two specific experiences of leadership – either where you were in a leadership role, or where you could observe ‘leadership’ in action even if you were not a ‘leader’. These experiences might be drawn from your work experience or from other experience (voluntary work, student  experience in working in a group, parenting, sport or other leisure activities).

The experience should be one where you were an active participant. You should briefly describe the situation and evaluate the leadership process using relevant theory and concepts drawn from the academic literature on leadership. You should reflect on what the leadership experience taught you about your own leadership style and how you need to develop. In suggesting areas for your own development, you should focus on skills or attributes that you think you need to develop, based on analysis of the experience. You should situate this reflection within the concepts and theory discussed in class and/or through your reading for the module.

As an appendix, you should attach a Leadership development plan template (See Sample below – Do notcopy this rather develop your own) uploaded on Moodle which will help you provide concrete evidence of how you have sought to improve your leadership skills.

The guidance offered below is linked to the five common assessment criteria overleaf.

1. Research-informed Literature

Your work must be informed and supported by scholarly material that is relevant to and focused on the task(s)  set. You should provide evidence that you have accessed a wide range of sources, which may be academic, governmental and industrial; these sources may include academic journal articles, textbooks, current news articles, organisational documents, and websites. You should consider the credibility of your sources; academic journals are normally highly credible sources while websites require careful consideration/selection and should be used sparingly. Any sources you use should be current and up-to-date, mostly published within the last five years or so, though seminal/important works in the field may be older. You must provide evidence of your research/own reading throughout your work, using in-text citations in the main body of your work and a reference list that is alphabetical at the end of your work. Please use the Harvard referencing system. Specific to Assignment 1: Any sources secondary data used in your assignment should be correctly referenced.

2. Knowledge and Understanding of Subject

Your work must demonstrate the growing extent of your knowledge and understanding of concepts and underlying principles associated with the subject area. Knowledge relates to the facts, information and skills you have acquired through your learning. You demonstrate your understanding by interpreting the meaning of the facts and information (knowledge). This means that you need to select and include in your work the concepts, techniques, models, theories, etc. appropriate to the task(s) set. You should be able to explain the theories, concepts, etc. meaningfully to show your understanding. Your mark/grade will also depend upon the extent to which you demonstrate your knowledge and understanding; ideally each should be complete and detailed, with comprehensive coverage.

Specific to Assignment 1: Based on your knowledge of the subject you should select appropriate techniques, models and/or theories in the following areas: Leadership theories, management theories just to mention a few. You do not need to explain in depth the models, as this assignment is weighted more towards analysis and practical application.

3. Analysis

Your work must contain evidence of logical, analytical thinking, evaluation and synthesis. For example, to examine and break information down into parts, make inferences, compile, compare and contrast information. This means not just describing What! but also justifying: Why? How? When? Who? Where? At all times, you must provide justification for your arguments and judgements. Evidence that you have reflected upon theideas of others within the subject area is crucial to you providing a reasoned and informed debate within your  work. Furthermore, you should provide evidence that you are able to make sound judgements and convincing arguments using data and concepts. Sound, valid conclusions are necessary and must be derived from the content of your work. There should be no new information presented within your conclusion. Where relevant, alternative solutions and recommendations may be proposed.