This course highlighted how leaders apply different leadership styles
towards different work environments. Each leadership style includes
various personal and socially appropriate work behaviors.
In assignment one, you demonstrated your knowledge of leadership
styles, including identifying a leader’s roles, responsibilities, and
critical decision-making processes during an organization’s difficult
time. Now you will expand on your knowledge gained from this leadership
analysis. You will choose your leadership style and explain your
visualization of how you will implement this style, acknowledge
challenges, and communicate effectively with your employees within a
virtual world.
Use the prompt, essay structure instructions, and questions below to construct an essay between 1000 -1200 words.
Prompt
You have just been appointed Marketing Director for a large, global
consumer products company. While you are excited about the new position,
you also anticipate challenges that you will face. You oversee ten
global sales offices worldwide, two in South America, four in Europe,
and four in Asia. Sales have been good, but not what you believe they
should be. You will lead the 10 Divisional Managers, leading each office
to increase sales and build the company brand. Aside from the big
budget meeting at headquarters that takes place at the end of the year,
you will not have face-to-face contact with any of them. Except for a
few visits, which the company frowns on because of the expense,
communication will be virtual, primarily via email or video
conferencing. You know that the key to success will be getting these
division managers and their employees to use their creativity to develop
ideas that will work in their respective regions.
Essay Structure Instructions:
Introduction: Compose an introduction paragraph assessing the
various leadership styles, and determine which leadership style you
would choose as a Marketing Director working in a predominantly virtual
environment. Explain why you would choose that leadership style.
Include at least one additional paragraph that discusses the styles you
did not choose and explains why not.
Body: Thoroughly answer each of the following questions,
ensuring that you provide at least one paragraph per question response.
This will be the body of your essay.
How will you apply your leadership style to remotely support
division managers across global regions in the virtual world? Break down
how you would implement the traits of a Participative or Democratic
Leader who shares and encourages employees or the traits of an
Authoritarian or Autocratic leader who likes to hold control in the work
environment.
You will also be performing the management functions every day.
Which one do you think is the most important to this job, and why?
Based on your leadership style and being in a predominantly
virtual environment, what challenges and conflicts could you infer
related to your new remote role, and how would you address them?
Conclusion: Complete the essay by providing a
succinct closing paragraph that distinguishes your style and management
approach based solely on virtual communication versus the physical
office environment.
Related Lessons
The following lessons from the course may help you with this assignment:
Leadership Style & Fit in the Workplace
Leadership Philosophies: Types & Examples
The Participative or Democratic Leader
The Authoritarian or Autocratic Leader Effective Management Styles for Virtual Teams
Sources & Formatting
You may refer to the course material for supporting evidence but use
at least two credible outside sources and cite them using APA
formatting. Please include a mix of primary and secondary sources, with
at least one source from a scholarly peer-reviewed journal. If you use
any Study.com lessons as sources, please also cite them in APA
(including the lesson title and instructor’s name).
• Primary sources are first-hand accounts such as interviews,
advertisements, speeches, company documents, statements, and press
releases published by the company in question.
• Secondary sources come from peer-reviewed scholarly journals like
the Journal of Management. You may use sites like JSTOR, Google Scholar,
and Social Science Research Network to find articles from these
journals. Secondary sources may also come from reputable websites with
.gov, .edu, or .org in the domain. (Wikipedia is not reputable, though
the sources listed in Wikipedia articles may be acceptable.)
