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Management and Leadership Leadership and management are often interrelated. Deming, who shaped the main concepts of leadership in its modern interpretation, distinguished nine features of leader. However, in spite of these postulates, ever individual has its own interpretation of leadership and leaders characteristics. In my opinion, Woodrow Wilson is a perfect example of a leader. Woodrow Wilson was the 29 th President of the United States. He tried to reform national strategy of America and had a strong desire to focus attention on issues of internal policy (Brands 2003).
During his first years of presidency he tried to avoid involvement of the United States into a world conflict. His policy seemed to be so effective that he was re-elected in 1916 due to his stand for peace. From the very beginning of his career Woodrow Wilson had reputation of pacifist. However, the war started by Germany forced him to enter the conflict in 1917. Wilson proclaimed the war as the war to stop all wars. It is interesting to notice that Wilson, who hardly had an experience in war actions, showed himself as a talented and competent leader of wartime (Brands 2003).
He rarely argued with generals and admirals, but made all his efforts to get American economics headed toward the direction of war. When the war was over, Woodrow Wilson decided to transform world policy by means of democracy and new international institutions. So, what are the main leadership traits of Woodrow Wilson? Wilsons phenomenon of leader consists of three main components: Traditional authority; Official or legal authority; The authority of unique personality or charisma.
Charisma is a component that is quite difficult to identify. It is, actually, an individual who is able to inspire people and to make them follow his example. Charismatic leader is characterized by high ethical and moral standards. We can also distinguish such features like competence (including knowledge, intellect, ability to appoint appropriate people) and trust. Woodrow Wilson had talent to convince people of the truth of his words. When he pronounced speeches or spoke to his subordinates, he tried to generalize the main aspects of discussion.
In such a way, his interlocutors didnt loose the thread of conversation. Wilson clearly expressed his opinion. He masterly convinced people in his rightfulness and forced them to agree with his point of view. Wilsons internal political strategy entered the history as new democracy, or new freedom. It consisted of three main paragraphs: individualism, individual freedom, and freedom of competition. The historians claim that Wilson determined aims, specified conditions and defined the characters of foreign and home policy of the United States in this century.
Wilson as a strong charismatic leader underlined that the President should be active and strong politician. He considered that the President should always remember that he is the face of one of the most influential world countries. He should always be at the head of all country affairs. Being a progressive political leader, Woodrow Wilson supported radical changes in American political system. He saw the government as a social arbiter and considered a necessity to provide the citizens with justice and freedom. Wilsons policy was conductive to democracy because he was firmly convinced that without democracy there would be no effective and strong government.
Lets compare Wilsons traits of leadership with those from the textbook. According to the authors of the book, leader should have three main skills: Diagnosing. The leader should be able to understand the situation he tries to influence (Hersey 2001); Adapting. The leader should alter his behavior and the other resources he has available to meet the contingencies of the situation; Finally, the communicating. Communicating implies interacting with other in a way that people can easily understand and accept (p. 11). As far as we can see, Wilsons traits of leadership completely coincide with the main general skills of traditional leadership.
We explore the concept of leadership as alternative to generally acknowledged system of management. The very paradigm of relationship between the leader and his subordinates is different. The leader can have exceptional personal qualities; however, it is not obligatory. The main condition is that the real leader has to be able to take leadership and responsibility, to be a strong-willed person who has constant desire for perfection. Inspired by the example of Woodrow Wilson, I will undertake all efforts to become a leader.
My future career plans are to become a lawyer. A professional lawyer should be a good leader in order to become successful. Ill try to put into practice all information concerning the leadership because it will help me in my future. I was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. Los Angeles is the city of boundless opportunities for strong personalities. I have all chances to carve out a career for a lawyer if Ill be a good leader.
I realize that all components of leadership are very important. To my opinion, I have to focus attention on some of them in order to shape the required strategy that will allow me reaching my aim. Lets dwell on the traits of leadership I have. They are as follows: understanding of aim and vision, persistence, correct self-appraisal, ability to meet changes, etc. I know that leader has his aim plus vision.
The leader should be persistent. Sometimes the leader meets with resistance but should be always looking for a way to solve problem. Leader cannot fail. Nothing can stop him or distract from his aim. A good leader has correct self-appraisal.
The leader should know both his strengths and weaknesses. In case you know only your strengths, you can suffer from pride and arrogance. As far as I belong to Catholic religion, my moral values are determined by traditional Catholic dogmas. In such a way, my religion will help me to shape my future career path in accordance with generally recognized moral principles. What are the qualities I have to take into account? To summarize the information, we come to conclusion that effective leader should have the following characteristics: - Leading vision.
You should understand your role as a professional and personality. You should be persistent in anything you do. - Passion. The leader should have passion, a desire to use all possibilities in order to reach the goal. You should love your profession. - Integrity of personality. Integrity of personality is a derivative of an individual, his sincerity and maturity. The leader is aware of his strengths and weaknesses; he is devoted to his beliefs and traditions. - Trust.
The leader should be trustworthy. - Intellectual curiosity. The leader is interested in new information; he likes to make experiments and to try his strength. - Risk. The leader is not afraid of reasonable risk. - Astuteness. The leader always goes ahead of all. He tries to forecast future situation. - The leader regulates speed, direction and rhythm of changes to make them correspond to the course of external events. In such a way, he always controls the situation. - Ability to create organization.
The leader is a good manager. His inheritance is organization that is able to reach success in business or any other aspect of activity; - Education. The leader is in constant process of study. - Zeal. You should demonstrate ability to put your ideas and prospects into practice. In conclusion I would like to add that leadership qualities are very important. They help to predict human behavior, to get desirable results, to direct, change and control behavior of people.
An effective leader should be a good psychologist to inspire people with his own example. He can use teams to involve people in deliberating on beliefs and strategic goals of the company. A good leader is a synonym to trust. He focuses attention on what is just and fair. He is less authoritative and is more opened to innovative thinking and vision because he raises the followers above self-interest. He works hard to create the atmosphere of trust and confidence.
He is moral but not moralistic. He is competent and authoritative but not authoritarian. An effective leader is not an inborn quality. An individual can enhance his traits of character and personal qualities during the course of life.
Leadership allows people questioning assumptions and forces them to find new creative approaches for problem solving. The aim of an effective leader is to achieve consensus in combining organizational and individual interests. The leader involves people in collaborative goal setting. He tries to avoid power abuse and manipulation. Instead, the leader is open to cooperation and encourages people to help each other.
His aim is to create friendly environment that will be conductive to the companys effectiveness in general. References Brands, H. W. (2003). Woodrow Wilson. Henry Holt and Company. Hersey, P. , Blanchard, K. , & Johnson, D.
E. (2001). Management of Organizational Behavior: Leading human resources (8 th ed. ). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
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Research essay sample on Strengths And Weaknesses Woodrow Wilson
