Overview
Leadership
Initial Postings: Read and reflect on the assigned readings for the week. Then post what you thought was the most important concept(s), method(s), term(s), and/or any other thing that you felt was worthy of your understanding in each assigned textbook chapter.Your initial post should be based upon the assigned reading for the week, so the textbook should be a source listed in your reference section and cited within the body of the text. Other sources are not required but feel free to use them if they aid in your discussion.
Also, provide a graduate-level response to each of the following questions:
Horizon Build Inc., a construction and design firm, launched a high-stakes infrastructure project to renovate a major city’s transportation hub. The $80 million project had a 15-month deadline and involved collaboration between engineers, architects, city officials, and subcontractors. Midway through the project, the project manager, Daniel, was promoted and reassigned to another region. In his place, Karen Lin, a technical expert with limited leadership experience, was asked to take over the role. Karen was brilliant in systems design but had never led a cross-functional team. Within weeks, Karen struggled to assert authority and build trust among senior engineers and contractors. Communication became disjointed, deadlines were missed, and key stakeholders—especially the city liaison—grew concerned about the lack of direction. Morale began to drop, and teams worked in silos. Facing mounting pressure, Karen had to quickly shift her approach. She realized her directive style wasn’t gaining buy-in, and that people were disengaged because they didn’t feel seen or heard. She needed to re-establish leadership, build cohesion, and regain stakeholder confidence—all while catching up on missed milestones.
Discussion Questions:
- What leadership style would best serve Karen in this crisis, and why? How should she begin rebuilding team morale and trust?
- What immediate steps can Karen take to re-engage stakeholders and regain control of the project without further alienating her team?
- Have you ever worked under a leader who was technically strong but lacked leadership skills? What were the impacts, and how could the situation have been improved?
[Your post must be substantive and demonstrate insight gained from the course material. Postings must be in the student's own words - do not provide quotes!]
[Your initial post should be at least 450+ words and in APA format (including Times New Roman with font size 12 and double spaced). Post the actual body of your paper in the discussion thread then attach a Word version of the paper for APA review]
Leadership
Overview:
This portion of the course deals with leadership, and more specifically leadership styles. If you think of all of the different leaders that you have interacted with, you will quickly realize that there is not a one-size-fits-all mold for leadership. It often feels like no two types of leaders are the same—and those differences all come back to their unique leadership styles. The term “leadership style” focuses less on a person’s traits or qualities, and instead looks specifically at their behaviors. For example, how do they interact with their subordinates? What sort of environment do they thrive in? What matters most to them? All of this ties back to something called the Behavioral Theory of Leadership. This theory operates with the assumption that leadership is something that can be learned. Basically, if you have heard the old cliché that “leaders aren’t born, they’re made” that’s at the crux of this theory. It looks at the specific behaviors of a leader and categorizes them into different leadership styles. Generally speaking, 80% of the population is motivated by goals, visions and targets while the other 20% of the population gets excited by challenges and working for solutions to problems. In sum, some people are motivated by moving towards goals, and others are more energized by moving away from problems. As a leader, your personal preference for goals vs. problems is likely to influence your preferred leadership style. If you are someone who gets excited by overcoming big obstacles, that could mean you often try to motivate your team by highlighting the consequences of not doing good work, rather than inspiring them about the goal itself. In normal circumstances, this might be super effective if you have a team of people with a similar motivational style. But during a crisis? That style of leadership has the potential to seriously stress your team out, since they’re already having to overcome difficult challenges outside of their work environment. Adding stress to the mix only makes that worse, and you risk pushing your team into burnout territory, or worse — you could send them into ‘flight-or-flight’ mode which is unsustainable and dangerous for their health. When adapting your leadership style during a crisis, you should be aware of your leadership style and understanding how you lead will help you to be more intentional about it. Second, you should shift your language from problem-oriented to goal-oriented when speaking with your team. Problem-oriented language uses words like: problems, errors, concerns, issues, pain, avoid and steer clear of. Goal-oriented language uses words like: attain, gain, achieve, dreams, desires, goals and targets. Finally, you should prioritize building psychological safety on your team. Even if this has not been a key element of your company culture before, it is never too late to start.
Learning Objectives
- Understand various leadership styles in order to understand differences between them
- Understand how times of crisis impact leadership styles
- Discuss which leadership model may allow for better project and team success
Leadership Model Background, Models, and Styles Articles
https://www.educba.com/important-leadership-models/
https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/leadership-theories.htm
https://aboutleaders.com/leadership-models/#gs.xaliji
https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/10-common-leadership-styles