How do leaders handle difficult situations, circumstances and people?

This assignment provides you the opportunity to demonstrate mastery of the various theories and concepts studied in the ORGL program by applying them to real life leadership situations and scenarios. The submitted paper should address leadership of organizations from a real life perspective. Topics to be addressed are:

Leadership style or approach.
Success as a leader- how is it achieved?
How do leaders handle difficult situations, circumstances and people?
How do leaders strike a balance between organizational effectiveness and follower morale and well being?
Reliance of leaders on certain theory, concept or philosophy to effectively move an organization forward.
How leaders develop followers to follow in their footsteps. How is the next generation of leaders chosen?
How current leaders are adapting to changes in technology and society.

As you develop this paper, plan on using three reference sources:

Outside literature that focuses on organizational health, development and leadership
Literature and other materials you used and studied in the ORGL program
Content and insight from watching THREE videos form this source and using that content as reference material:

30 Of The Best TED Talks On Leadership That Every Great Leader Should Watch – 2nd Edition

For the interview reference, select two upper level leaders from two different types of organizations to interview. The two individuals you are asked to interview must have a high level of responsibility and supervision within their complex organizations. They must be leaders, not managers. You will be rewarded for your creativity in choosing your appropriate interviewees. The aim of these interviews is to allow you to learn about leadership practices and realities from people who are practicing them on day-to-day basis in real organizations.

Do not interview a family member, relative, or close friend. For your two organizations, pick organizations that are reasonably large and complex in function. For example, one organization could be a for-profit business company (like L-3 Communications, American Airlines, JC Penney, a chain restaurant, or a local bank), while the second one could be a non-profit governmental, educational, or public organization (such as a city government, a local post office, a community college or university, YMCA, or the Red Cross). Do not select someone from your current organization or place of work. I would like for you to explore as many concepts and practices of leadership as possible in a variety of organizational settings.

For reference material, seek supporting material from other outside sources such as journals, published papers and other scholarly sources. Do not rely 100% on website articles from weak, unknown sources as these will result in a lower grade.

You are required to write one integrated paper, analyzing the data you received from your reference material and the two interview participants. Discuss, compare and contrast material that you have gathered around each topic. Include a robust but concise introductory paragraph which will introduce the material to be covered.

To be sure, I want you to do very little reporting, just enough for your readers to understand the context of your discussion. The major bulk of your paper should be your analysis of your topics and reference material. Make sure that you relate or connect the views or perspectives of your interviewees to the other reference material about leadership, followership, organizational theory (how organizations work), and organizational behavior. Familiarize yourself with leadership theories and concepts, particularly Fiedler’s Contingency Leadership Theory and Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Leadership Theory and use these to support your content.

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