The experience of coaching the CEO and Director (LEADERSHIP)

The leadership PMA gave me an opportunity to maximize my learning about leadership. We were asked to assume the personality of the CEO and the Director. I assumed their role according two real life personalities. I assumed that the personality of the CEO was my father's personality and the personalty of the Director was mine. It was done as after completing my degree I'll go back home and work with my father in our family business, in which my father has the role of the CEO and I'll most probably take the role of managing HR (along with some other things). The leadership theories that I explored gave me very good understanding and I can implement the learning from these theories in real life. This is what I like about this course.......we have been given a free hand and we can explore knowledge according to our own liking, we can take risks in a safe environment and we have been given practical tasks that are very much similar to real life situations so that we can implement what we learn from them in the future.

: 31 Mar 2011 23:16 |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

A better understanding of the requirements of EFQM (KBAM)

To meet the standard of EFQM in relation to knowledge and asset management certain critera requirements have to be fulfilled. I found out that there are two criterias which are particularly about knowledge management and asset managemnt and also there are some partial links of both these aspects with some other criterias. The criteria 4c is particularly about asset management but asset management has some partial links with the criteria 4a too. Similarly criteria 4e is about knowledge management but it has some links with the criteria 4d (as development of IT is a part of this criteria). Also, I found out that the requirements of these criterias can be broken down into key points to make things easy.

Overall this project has given me a better understanding about how to fulfill the requirements of EFQM model. By practically looking at ways to make Waveriders meet the standard of EFQM, I have got a first hand knowledge about ways in which an organization can try to meet the standard of EFQM. If I implement EFQM for my own organization in the future (not totally sure about that....but there is some probability) the understanding from this exercise will be of great benefit to me.       

: 31 Mar 2011 12:18 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

An overview of Asset and Knowledge management (KBAM)

An overview of the contents of Knowledge and asset management revealed a lot of interesting things. This is the first time I've read about the two concepts. They are very broad and comprehensive topics. There are a lot of details in each of them. It totally explains why we have been given around two weeks to prepare for the presentation. In order to develope an approach to knowledge and asset management for Waveriders we'll have to explore these vast topics in detail. Prior to this module, management of assets was a very simple and straightforward concept for me. Sure each organization has to manage its assets, but I thought that it was a very easy thing.... u just buy the assets and make the best use out of them. But after overviewing the different aspects of management of assets I realized how broad this area is...... u have to come up with a strategy for managing the assets, u have to manage and utilize the assets to optimize the whole life cycle performance, u have to look at the impact of using the assets on community and environment, u have to manage the security of assets.............. so many things to look at. It is a very broad and interesting topic and by managing the assets and knowledge of Waveriders, I'll get a first hand experience to practically implement the theories. This practical implementation will be very useful for me as I can use it in the future for my own company.     

: 29 Mar 2011 16:47 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

RDM, KBAM, Leadership…. management of blogs

Right now we have the opportunity to make three types of blog entries: the post module blogs for RDM and Leaderdhip and the in-module blogs for KBAM. It is the time of the degree when the blogging is (or should be) at the peak.

I think it is very important to manage the blogs so that it becomes easy for everyone to read and distinguish which topic it is related to.... it should also be done to make it easy for the module tutors to mark.....beacause they have to read loads and loads of blogs for marking. What can be done is that the title of the blog entry should be very specific and should make it clear which module it is related to. One way of doing it is to write the name of the module in the title of the entry. I think we can manage our blogs in this way and make it easy for everyone to read.    

: 29 Mar 2011 15:13 |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

The impact of marks

A couple of days ago I wrote a blog in which I said that getting marks shouldn't be the main purpose of writing blogs. The learning aspect of blogging is more important.

Today we recieved our marks of blogging in RDM. After seeing the marks I admit that they had an impact on my motivation for writing the blog. The marks came when I was just about to write a blog or comment on someone's blog ......... they were not on the high side. Immediately my motivation went down and I thought that I wouldn't blog.

But this actually contradictd the purpose of writing the blogs, which I discussed before. Getting marks shouldn't be the sole purpose of blogging. Daily refelections and learning from them is the most important thing. I stick to this point and this is why I'm making a blog entry right now.  

: 29 Mar 2011 00:28 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Important to be calm as a leader (and follower) in tough situations

Today I played a very high pressure cricket match. I play cricket quite regularly with my friends but today's match was a challenge with another team. We won from that team a week ago but this time around they came with an even better team. It was a very big match for our team. During the match I felt some pressure due to the situation. I tried my best not to show the tension and remain calm.....my captain was very calm and responsible throughout the match.......overall things went pretty well for our team. 

Reflecting back on that match I think that it is very important to remain calm in tough situations for a leader as well as a follower. If the leader shows some signs of tension that the followers will most probably fell the tension too. Similarly the follower's tensions are going to impact the leader too. I think that tough and difficult situations are inevitable in real life as well as in organizational settings. We may have to make decisions at some points in our life or in the organizations we work, which are very important and crucial. It is important both as a leader and as a follower to handle the situation by remaining calm ........ and even enjoy the challenge. These situations are a test of character and by handling them effectively our personality can become stronger and better.    

: 28 Mar 2011 00:52 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

An area of improvement

This blog is related to the blog written by Vagelis in which he quoted Plato......''Knowledge which is acquired under compulsion has no hold in the mind''. I totally agree with that. What immediately came in my mind is the way I write blogs.... most of the time the motivation behind writing the blogs is the 7% or 10% marks allocated for it. I would admit that it is a compulsion that 'I have created for myself'. The main purpose for which the blogs have been created in MBE is to reflect on what we have learnt everyday. It shouldn't be written to get the marks only. I think that we can get a lot of knowledge and learn a lot by daily reflection. I have noticed and realised that a lot of times I write with an intention to maximize my marks (even while writing this blog I thought about either including something about Leadership or RDM so that I'll get some marks) but it shouldn't be like this. I will agree that I have unconsciously learnt a lot from all the blogs that I have written so far but I must say that I need to work on the way I see and write the blogs to maximize the learning from them.... an area of improvement for me.    

: 27 Mar 2011 23:50 |  Comments (3) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Combination of different leadership theories

I chose some of the leadership theories but noticed that not all of them gel together so well. There are some conflicts and some commonalities. In some cases the relationship betweem them is not clear. I think that there are a lot of theories and literature on ledership but to decide what's best for Waveriders I'll have to be subjective and take the points from different theories which I think are suitable for the Waveriders problem. It might be that I end up contradicting some of the points of the theories which I adopt but if it suits the problem then I'll adopt that. I think that during the module we were not taught in particular about the theories (all the exercises were experiential) as it is difficult to combine all the vast literature on leadership and because different leadership styles suit different people and work well in different situations. The combination of leadership theories would then mean that we try to take the best points out of the different theories that suit the particular situation of Waveriders and suit the assumptions we make about the character of the CEO and the Director.  

: 25 Mar 2011 14:34 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Translating vision into action

It is very important to have a vision for the organization as it decides in what direction should the organization aim and it shapes the future of the organization. But it is equally important to translate the vision into action. Creating a vision is a first step and forming an action plan, in accordance with it, is the next step. As Bennis says that action without vision is stumbling in the dark,  and vision without action is poverty-stricken poetry. If an organization has a catchy vision but does not take any steps to implement it then the vision is going to be of no benefit to the organization. I think that every person of the organization should take part in formulating the action plan. It is a leader's job to present the vision in a meaningful way to the people of the organization so that each person feels connected to the vision, can relate to it in his own way and internalize it. But to carry out the actions all the people should contribute in their own unique way.   

: 24 Mar 2011 14:03 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Bias in selection of leadership theories

Today  I started my research on the leadership theories. In selection of the appropriate theory for the PMA, I noticed that my selection was a bit biased. The theories that I shortlisted were Deming's leadership from management sciencesand teamwork and framework from psychological theories. I think that as soon as I saw Deming on the list I immediately made a decision to include that because I personally like Deming's ideas and theories and since I've come across Deming's ideas, at the start of the MBE program, I have been very much impressed by them. I chose the teamwork because teamwork has been the norm of the MBE. We have been working in teams throughout the MBE program and I have found working in teams very efficient.

So I have picked the theories which I like the most and with which I am most familiar with. I didn't go deep into the other theories. If I had searched more about all the other theories, maybe my choices would have been different. This is similar to the choices about the decision making tools in the RDM module. Our team chose those tools which we were most familiar with. The rationale for the selection of the tools was that we wanted to use the tools appropriately. If we had chosen some difficult or unfamiliar tools we could have ended up not using them appropriately and that would have an adverse effect on our final decision. The rationale for the leadership theories is quite similar to that. But I think that in the future this is something I need to work on.... get out of my comfort zone and explore the unfamiliar things because they can give more benefit.    

: 23 Mar 2011 00:49 |  Comments (3) |  Close comments |  Report a problem