Essay on Observational Paper

            The readings for the last week's course materials have been very dynamic in nature, as so many considerable topics were discussed in it. Chapter ten and chapter fifteen has so many useful concepts to learn about. Many of these concepts were quite different from what I always thought about these concepts. For instance, my idea of leadership was so simple, but after reading the essence of leadership in Chapter fifteen, I was amazed to see so many important elements of leadership. I always wondered, why some leaders are able to perform better than the others, and after studying the course material in this regard, I came to know why some leaders are more successful than the others, even having the same level of the position. I was able to understand that there are actually some traits and dynamics, which distinguishes good leaders from the bad leaders. The people who have better leadership skills, ideas, and thinking approach, they are able to better manage things (Fullan, 2018)

            I learned so much about leadership, teams, and groups’ dynamics in last week’s course material, but the ideas regarding leadership really fascinated my thought process. The interesting thing to share is that I was able to observe something in my personal life. There is a shopping plaza, a few meters away from the place, where I live. Last week, I noticed so many positive changes and new progress in the shopping plaza, and there was more activity in this regard. I was wondering what has actually happened in such a short time that shopping plaza administration is looking more active, and many things are being focused, which were unattended for so many months. One of my friends told me that shopping plaza has selected a new administrator two weeks ago. It means that the entire buzz was due to a new leader, who has the responsibility to lead the activities and tasks of this shopping plaza. I visited the shopping plaza twice to have my personal observation on the work being led by the new administrator.

            I would like to mention on the basis of my personal observation that the new administrator was an amazing leader. All workers associated with the management of the shopping plaza were looking more active and concerned about their duties. There was so much order in the building, which I did not notice earlier. It shows that how management of a great leader can change things around in a positive manner. The good thing to mention here is that all workers in the plaza were looking happy too. When I talked to one of them, he told me that our new administrator is an amazing person. On his first day of the appointment here, he held a detailed meeting with all the people who are involved in managing affairs of this plaza, and he asked to give our 100%, and in return, he came up with new rewards and recognition program. He asked all workers to stay positive and motivated and perform their duties with honesty and dedication. The worker also told me that he is such an inspirational leader and speaker, and his one meeting, along with his conduct, has really affected us in a positive way.

            When I tried to relate to this real-world situation with the course material, then I was able to relate it to the Path-Goal Leadership Model. This model asserts that leaders show their effectiveness by making a positive impact on their followers through motivation and inspiration. Such leaders make an impact on the satisfaction and performance of followers, which helps followers to set a path for achieving collective goals, as well as, achieving personal goals. The behavior of such leaders is participative, supportive, and directive. When I see all of these concepts and analyze the situation of the shopping plaza, then I realize how leadership role is so critical in this regard. There were so many missing elements in the shopping plaza, like cleanliness was not good, various items were not working, elevators were often closed, etc. Whenever I visited restrooms, their cleanliness was too questionable. There were no signs ad boards with a warning and directional sign. But now everything was in place, which shows that if a better leader is there with great leaders’ traits, then outcomes will always be better (Alharthey, Alanazi, & Rasli, 2013)

References of Observational Paper

Alharthey, B. K., Alanazi, T. R., & Rasli, A. (2013). Overview of Path-Goal Leadership Theory. Jurnal Teknologi (Social Sciences), 64(2), 49–53.

Fullan, M. (2018). Nuance: Why Some Leaders Succeed and Others Fail. SAGE Publications.