MBA

The 20th century revolutionised the idea of leadership and management. As little as ten years ago, leadership and management were clearly separated by rank, position and chain of command. Leadership was seen as something natural, which could maybe not be skilled. It was the stuff of Bill Gates and Richard Branson, the giants of technology and commerce who belonged to a very exclusive club of like-minded individuals. These people manifested the kind of leadership that was connected to charisma, power and the ability to inspire others to buy into their vision. In the past, you needed the right connections or at least an MBA to become a leader of anywhere near that caliber. The ethos was driven by political visionaries such as Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan who promoted the ideas of free enterprise and a move away from socialist economies. It is not simple to understand what are the differences in the role of team leadership and organization leadership? As for me the roles for leaders do change, as will be explained in more detail which include: adjusting organisational structures and supports for collaborative work processes   and monitoring and mediating environmental factors that effect internal operations. Team leadership concerns the level and focus of way a team communicate. Team members may share leadership amongst them or rely on a chosen leader. Wherever it resides, leadership is important in channeling team energy and efforts, and in helping to work through conflicts and problems. Clearly absent from the High-Performance Team Wheel is â€Å"the leader,† as most important aspects of leadership are contained in the nine dimensions and can effectively least in theory—exist without a formal authority or designated leader. After long comparison I concluded that team leaders coordinate while leaders of organization control work and work processes. As general organization leaders are its managers. The team leader's job is to develop the business and the business strategy – e.g. formally or informally researching and identifying new business opportunities. Organization leader are more involved in setting objectives, drafting plans and implementing the work. Moving people is very much part of its role while, at the same time, organization leader   must know how to motivate staff on a daily basis. Team leaders coach and develop e.g. by setting up mentorship relationships between new entrant graduates and experienced, successful senior managers. Organization leader s on the other hand is engaged in training and managing/monitoring staff performance. The leader's role is to renew, reinvent and replenish, while organization leader measure, evaluate and monitor. 21st century leadership is also about growing and developing self-managing teams. Organization leader are more concerned with building and managing conventional teams. The role of leadership is required to communicate a vision of how products need to be developed and to define the desired development process objectives under this new paradigm. Is the focus on time-to market, on product performance and technology, or on product or life cycle costs? Each of these objectives will result in a different orientation for the development process. Specific goals should be established and communicated – â€Å"we will cut our development cycle by 40% over the next three years†. Priorities need to be established – â€Å"we will focus on establishing an effective team-based approach to development before we invest in upgrading our CAD systems†. Resources and funding mechanisms for this effort need to be committed including time for personnel working on the IPD initiative, training, process improvement, and tools implementation. Will these efforts be funded by a separate budget, by departmental budgets or by development program budgets? Explicit guidance is required on objectives, goals, priorities, resources and funding mechanisms. Once the key people in the organization develop a plan of action, it must be reviewed, approved and actively supported by executive management. Leaders must have a wide range of skills, techniques and strategies, which are the same to both organization and team leaders. These include: Planning Communication skills Organization Awareness of the wider environment in which the team operates Jack Welch, respected business leader and writer is quoted as proposing these fundamental leadership principles: There is only one way – the straight way. It sets the tone of the organisation. Be open to the best of what everyone, everywhere, has to offer. transfer learning across your organisation. Get the right people in the right jobs – it is more important than developing a strategy. An informal atmosphere is a competitive advantage. Make sure everybody counts and everybody knows they count. Legitimate self-confidence is a winner – the true test of self-confidence is the courage to be open. Business has to be fun – celebrations energies and organisation. Never underestimate the other guy. Understand where real value is added and put your best people there. Know when to meddle and when to let go – this is pure instinct. Worked Cite: 1. Daniel. F. Predpall, ‘Developing Quality Improvement Processes In Consulting Engineering Firms’, Journal of Management in Engineering, pp 30-31, May-June 1994 2. Richard Pascale, ‘ Managing on the Edge’, Penguin Book, pp 65, 1990 3. John Fenton, ‘ 101 Ways to Boost Your Business Performance’, Mandarin Business, pp 113, 1990 4. Welch, J. (2001). Jack: Straight from the gut. New York: Warner Business Books. Samsung in bloom. (2002, July 15). Newsweek, 35. 5. Patrick M Lencioni, Jossey-Bass The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, , San Francisco, CA, 2002                      MBA I would like to share the considerations which I have made in my choice to enroll in an Executive MBA program. I believe that the program would help me grow in both personal and professional realms, through an acquisition of both technical and soft skills. Through the rigor and discipline required, I will be equipped with academic content that will help me function more effectively in my job. In securing a Masters’ degree, I also to develop the necessary soft skills that will hone managerial effectiveness. In particular, I want to be enlisted into a program that will help me further develop my skills of problem solving, written and oral communication skills, information retrieval and utilization, and collaboration. From a â€Å"working knowledge† level, I want the program to help me advance to a â€Å"can do† level. For my problem solving skill, I want to learn more on how to analyze and synthesize the emergence of problems, patterns and causes and to generate solutions or options in solving critical or complex issues through various means. I also want to be capable of identifying new, innovative and creative ideas/options to overcome problems. For communication skills, I want to learn how to foster an atmosphere of open communication and to see things from another's perspective. In addition, I want to learn how to assess the need of the audience in order to deliver the appropriate message and content. For information management, I want to broaden my perspective by ensuring that information is free of distortions or personal bias. Finally, on collaboration, I expect the program to teach me how to develop and maintain a strong network of contacts in the industry and outside the company and use this to promote my company's reputation. I also want to learn how to actively building lasting business relationships with other department or companies, private and government institutions. Pursuing this degree is one of my educational goals in the near future. I want to secur the degree within the next 5 years as I simultaneously strive to continue developing my accounting and management skills. I will carry this out by conscientiously attending training and workshop sessions for accounting and administrative professionals. I would also be actively engaged in planning for my own development in my current workplace, suggesting means and venues for skills acquisition to my superior. If time permits, I also intend to join a professional organization within my field of expertise striving to work my way up to a role with greater responsibility and to pursue a Doctorate degree simultaneously to further increase my management competencies. I am fortunate to have been given proper and comprehensive exposure to management roles. I have held positions which allowed me to exercise a substantial degree of autonomy. The positions which I have thus far held helped me to think critically and to make rational decisions amidst ambiguity. While I do not have an exceptionally high GPA, my experience in the organizational setting, I believe, may compensate for this short coming. Upon graduation in 1989, I have worked for a decade in manufacturing companies, holding accounting positions. These include the positions of Cost Accountant, General Accountant, Plant Accountant, and Finance Manager. Gradually, my circle of influence has grown with increasing responsibility. There have been no significant changes in terms of the technical requirements of these roles. The increasing responsibility came with the need to manage people, which is more of a challenge than the technical aspect of these jobs. I take pride in saying that while I have not been academically exceptional, I have been effective at performing these roles, being both results driven and yet to have enough focus on people management. Thus far, the position of Finance Manager have been the most challenging role I have performed so far. Whereas before I was only expected to deliver daily management plans or short-term objectives, this role has necessitated strategic and â€Å"big picture† thinking. In this role, I have also been required to manage people, and have realized that it it important for them to realize how their objectives are meaningfully linked to overall organizational goals. Recognizing the importance of one’s contribution has been an effective motivator. The intangible factors of autonomy, relationship with superior, and engagement cause people to be results-driven and constantly motivated. The people management component of the role has helped me keep a more balanced perspective or focus on work vis-à  -vis people, and initiatives may be cleverly drafted so that one component complements the other. In resolving to apply in the program, I have been convinced that it is critical to my personal development and learning, and may also be key to progress in my career. In entering the program, I expect my technical and management skills to be developed further. For problem solving, I want to be able to break down problems and see patterns or basic relationships or connections among them. Moreover, I want to be able to utilize several analytic or creative ways to break apart complex issues into component problems and to evaluate the identified alternative solutions to problem. I would also want to be taught how to use logical, systematic reasoning to understand and resolve, analyze and resolve issues. In terms of communication skills, I want to express ideas more effectively in both written and oral communication and to pick up non-verbal clues and use non-verbal information. I want to practice effective use direct, open, two-way communication and read beyond what is said and to alter my own behavior to respond appropriately. Information management is also one of the areas which I want to develop. I want to be able to compare, recognize and correct discrepancies with multiples sets of data to balance records and to utilize monitoring systems to ensure achievement of goals of individuals in the organization I work for. I also want to be taught the rigor of verifying or uncovering additional information for accuracy. I also want to be more effective at collaborating with others. I want to build good relationships with people within and outside of the organization to identify or resolve differences, issues and obstacles. All these soft skills, together with the technical content that shall be imparted in the program will help me become a more effective professional. I am thoroughly convinced that to progress in one’s profession, there must be continuous passion for learning – both academically and through practical applications. The learning not only comes with solid academic content but also equips one with the soft skills needed to advance in one’s career. This realization of the value of learning upon application to the program in itself is valuable. I have changed my perspective of learning as a tedious process, to one in which I could be actively engaged, and to even have fun. I really appreciate what the program has to offer, and its promise of helping me advance both my personal and professional career. I also expect the program to espouse an atmosphere of learning where students can be inquisitive. That is, where questions and further inquiry are encouraged. Moreover, I hope that the teachers of the program may be prudent in knowing when to handhold a student and when to let him work independently. There may be some subjects which I will find difficult and in which I expect more help from my Executive MBA mentors.    MBA My decision to pursue my MBA rests on my commitment to improve myself. Being a firm believer that learning is a life-long process which should an individual’s top priority, I am applying for an MBA program with the hope of furthering my strengths and competencies while contributing my acquired knowledge and skills to this institution. After my college graduation, I remember being very much excited on applying the theoretical concepts which I have learned inside the four walls of the classroom into the outside world. Surprisingly, working in the corporate arena equipped me with the new skills which are beyond what are taught by professors. My job experiences furnished me with the capacity to lead, become creative as well as self motivated. Having been assigned to lead my team in the creation of communication tool for managing promotions, I have experienced how it is to manage a workforce with members of different values, expertise, and ideas. I can say that the most challenging part in being a leader is coordination especially because I’ve dealt with a team from different functional areas. However, this experience taught me the essential qualities to be an efficient leader—being goal-oriented, credible, approachable, firm, and the ability to deal with a diverse workforce. I am the type of person who doesn’t settle for the conventional but as much as possible, I look for ways to improve things. In the business sense, I apply this through a continuous search for ways which can help my business organization to be more efficient like the communication tool I have described above. I believe that my acceptance for the MBA program should not only be credited for my skills that I currently posses but even more for my passion in gaining more knowledge and enhancing my skills in order for me to reach my full potential. I am very much motivated to excel in my career but more importantly is my motivation to improve myself. I know that there is no simple formula which can make a person succeed in everything that he does. My measure of accomplishment is usually gauged in the amount of things that I have learned from the experience and not victory itself. So far, I am very proud of the three accomplishments which have instilled me with a sense of fulfillment namely being able to land my first full time job at VCS, being a core team member of business projects, and leading a team which worked for the creation of a communication tool for promotions management. I am one of those fortunate fellows who have experienced the thrill and challenge of landing a first full time job after searching for months. I can still remember how overjoyed I was when I am informed that I am hired for the position of _________ at ______________. This job opportunity has tested my patience and perseverance. The company also became the first venue for me to apply my knowledge and skills and instilled me with the values of being a good employee. Secondly, I am proud to be a core team member of the Business Objects project where members representing various departments worked hard together to reach a common goal. While we spent countless hours to test and implement the project, in the end, it is very much self-fulfilling. I value the ideas that I have learned from my colleagues as well as the good working relationship which we have established. Lastly, I consider launching a communication tool for managing promotions, which is now utilized by sales, operations, finance and senior management the most challenging task that I have ever handled. I am specifically proud of my recognizing some of the shortfalls which I committed during the project because this is where most of the learning comes from. I am proud to have led the project which is now generating numerous benefits for the company not just in its bottom line but on overall efficiency.