Pre-subject reflection

The concept of managing, leadership and stewardship is typically interrelated with our familial, personal as well as professional life. According to researchers managing any task of our life should always be associative, spontaneous as well as principled. Strong management skill is one of the crucial aspect of leaders and managers which is directly proportional to the enhancement in employee satisfaction as well as revenue of the organization. When it comes to leadership, I will describe it as the task of lading a group of individual along with the aptitude to perform the responsibilities. Stewardship on the other hand can be defined as the job of caring as well as supervising something, for instance an organization or property. As per my opinion, in order to gain success in one’s life, it is highly crucial to maintain an appropriate integration all of the three mentioned factors.

Being a student of UTS, I had spend commendable amount of time going through the subject outline a week before by session was about to get started. There I got introduced with the concept of Managing, Leadership and Stewardship (MLS). After going through the subject outline I got really impressed by the subject along with the study materials. My interest in the subject grew after the video chat session with one of my friend where I evidenced great effort off using technology in the education system. The chief concept I developed from the subject material includes MLS is a topic that provides the students with major theories as well as practices of not just being a good manager in the coming future but also teaches them to be  ideal followers. MLS also discusses stewardship, which is about distinctive personal capability and disposition.

My expectation from the Subject

I have gained my bachelor degree in Business Administration from a recognized university of Australia. As a result of this I already possessed a broad view of business economy and its crucial roles. However, when it comes to practical experience, being the vise president of out local club I struggled a lot while managing stuffs at crucial moments. Now that I will be obtaining an in depth knowledge of managing, leadership and stewardship, I expect that I will be able to develop the skill of both managing a well as nurturing the team in order to enhance effectiveness as well as productivity of our activities. Another major issue I faced while I was appointed as the general affair manager of the XYZ organization, a popular company in Australia. I had come across several conflicts which had taken place due to different organizational issues. One of the major issues that I had evidenced in my previous organization includes severe grapevine communication leading to numerous unethical rumors and acts. As a result of these rumors, conflicts took place and finally several skill employees resigned. Another major concern I faced in my profession life while I was working at the same institution is associated with providing appropriate leadership to the subordinates. I have faced major issues like lack of obedience of the subordinates. All this issues had really enhanced my stress level and I was compelled by myself to quit the institution. However, I am still suffering from MLS issues since I am planning to establish my startup business. Hence I still have several concerns about how to build effective organizational culture in an organization and how to lead the same in an ethical way. Moreover since I am currently the president of Australian Dynamic students, an association that focuses on organizing events for students studying at Australia as well as for foreign student, I an eagerly looking forward to obtain the knowledge of MLS that may help me lead this new team in an appropriate way. I assume that the mentioned subject will provide me with theoretical researches of management along with modern practices which in turn will enable me to manage both my professional as well as social life with greater efficiency. Not only that, it is expected that MLS will provide students the efficiently to both systematically as well as critically think about how to obtain success in their future career.

My expectation from the Subject

In spite of being a short term semester that is comprised of only 11 weeks, I find the classes of MLS highly interesting and existing. Our MLS class is held on every Friday and this Friday we are taught about ideas of being a manager in a stipulated organization. Along with that we are also being taught about the merits s well as the demerits of power and authority within an organization. The semester, till now, comprises of insight full lectures backed by engaging tutorial activities. All these lessons, as per my opinion, not only sharpen the academic and theoretical knowledge of the students but also make them criticize the managerial actions in case study. Thus during the first 3 week of learning this subject, I learned about several managerial and leadership theories and practical application of the same which I strongly believe will definitely enhance my future professional experience.

Considering the fact that I had previously gone through my subject outline and syllabus, I was quite aware of the activities that had taken place in the first 3 weeks in the class. In spite of the fact that I had noticed that there would be arguments and debates during the tutorials, I did not actually expected those activities provide me with such real as well as complex experiences. For instance, I had to attain two tutorials which were about the Seven eleven case. In week 4, all the students were introduced with the case of Seven eleven worker exploitation case study. We were informed that a role play based on the case study will be organized and every student of the class would be provided with specific role such as the Managing director, HR director, employees who are supposed to be provided with higher wage but are suffering from exploitation and others. Majority of the students were well aware of the role play and all of us were exited and well prepared for it. 4 groups consisting of 5 students were formed and each of groups was formed in the first tutorial in such a create way, would play only one role. Our group was given the role of the exploited employees and we had tried our best to point out all the issues that had been faced by the employees of the seven eleven organization. We tried to demonstrate the critical condition of the foreign workers who were treated like slaves by the institution. We, as a team, also pointed out that legally the organization was supposed to pay us 24 USD per hour. However, we were paid just the half. In order to stay safe legally, the management used to demonstrate only half of the hours we had provided service the organization. Our team had tried to point out the exact reasons behind the silence of the foreign labor through the role play that includes lack of knowledge of the foreign workers about the policies and procedure and the fear of being got deported.  Initially, I found it a bit difficult to act in such a realist way. However, later in the preparation phase, we decided to focus on being desperate and kept looking for unions’ support. 

Mid-subject reflection

In the next tutorial, the managerial issues of the seven eleven organization and how it should be dealt with in order to obtain a highly beneficial result were discussed. The perspective of each and every student was heard by both the professor as well as the students and arguments of contradictory perspective took place. These debates helped me to think from different perspectives and also helped me to gain effective insights of managing an organization. Finally, during at the end of the discussion we came to the conclusion that multilayered management along with complexity in the supply chain was two major reasons behind the major that took place. We also agree with the fact that the discrimination that took place due in the institution is a sign of inappropriate managerial skill and leadership. Hence to be an efficient leader, a leader must ensure that no discrimination on the basis of age, gender, race and other fctors should take place within the institution.

In the middle of the course, I learned the ways of how not to make unethical managerial decisions. I also learned that being a manager in the modern days, I should focus more on stewardship where the major responsibilities are taken by the leaders for the subordinates rather than for own personal interest. The tutorials made me understood that there all m issues does not have only one solution. Hence, I should balance my ambitions to be an excellent leader.

Towards the end of the MLS course, more and more interesting experiences were obtained with different kinds of role play and debate activates associated with real scenarios. The activities that were performed in the class enhanced my interest in the Subject and the class experiences were far beyond to what I had expected. While the Seven-Eleven’s case made me understood how the lack of managerial skills posses the capacity to demolish a business, other cases like that of the Apple company truly impressed me. I understood how oversea subsidiaries and outsourcing factories operate woke me up from my passionate love for Apple products. I gained the learning that even a highly popular company with high ethics can make mistake. This was also mentioned in the last chapter of the book written by Cunliffe which was our study material in this subject. In her book, Cuniffle has mentioned that even in this era where a good number of managerial theories are there to guide managers, a good number of managers still struggle to maintain appropriate balance between business efficiency and corporate values. When it comes to financial market, I have been enlightened by the case if Enron. In week 11, we were educated about organizational culture. There I learned several theories associated with the topic that includes Institutional theories, agency theory, transactional cost economics and power and politics. With the help of these theories as well as activities performed during the class, I understand how effective organizational culture posses the potential to enhance the revenue of the organization both directly as well as indirectly. Effective organizational culture means lower number of conflict between the employee and effective bondage between the same. I understood that the more employee friendly, the environment of the organization, more will be its employee retention capability. High employee retention not only reduces the investment cost of the company but also enhances its revenue and competitive advantage in the industry.

Activities in the class

Changes in managerial practices

The lesions and lively activities that I was a part of during my MLS course made me feel that I am ready to undertake the role of manger in near future.  The knowledge I gained through the learning have made me understood my previous managerial mistakes and I, by myself feel ready for the future challenges. Not only that, the mentioned course also made me understood which job role best suits me. Previously, while discussing my mid subject experience I had mentioned that I had taken part in the role play as a presenter, a  group cohesion and an organizing person. However, slowly, with repeated participations in role plays and debate I understood that I have become more of a devil advocate who instead of following the already stated facts, prefers to conduct a deep investigation in order to posses several critics. As per my understanding, I am more of a person who press to fight for justice instead of speaking for the privileged.

Along with that, my perception of MLS has been broadened with a concept of being a good follower. I understood the act that to be a good leader in future, an individual must be an effective follower. As a leader, I will always prefer to think from the perspective of my subordinate in order to prevent any unethical pressurization. After the course, I obtained several valuable feedbacks from my team mates who concluded that I had a set of leadership of skills that includes very good judgment ability, very good task leadership as well as highly effective oral communication as well as summary skill. I do appreciate their feedbacks, and I will definitely apply these strengths into my practices in future

After obtaining adequate knowledge from my MLS course, I personally try to find ways to promote responsive as well as ethical methods of leadership and management while working for any institution. My lessons have taught me that discrimination on the basis of age, gender, race, sexual orientation and other factors are not only unethical but are also subjected to legal consequences. One of the major issues associated with managerial skill which I used to face includes lack of potential to handle conflict. After the completion of the course, I understood that better understanding of the psychology of both the parities associated with the conflict is essential in order to ensure an effective mitigation of conflict. In order to deal with any kinds of conflicts in future I will call both the parties separately and gather knowledge about there concern. Secondly, I will ask them, what they think is the ideal solution of the issue that has been raised. This will be beneficial in two was. Firstly letting the employees select measures all by themselves will make them feel valued and empowered which in turn will enhance their loyalty towards the organization. Not only that, this tactics will also help the employees to develop a problem solving attitude which will be beneficial for both their personal as well as professional life. However, sometimes it is hard to promote the code of ethics keeping in mind the benefit of the company. In such crucial situations will definitely select the optimum solution so that both benefits of the company as well as ethics can be minted.  Besides that being a leader, I will definitely treat all my followers equally and ethically. As an individual I strongly oppose the concept of favoritism. As a manager I think it is highly crucial to have an honest and transparent communication between the employees and the supervisors. In order to ensure that there prevail effective communications within the organization I work in, I will implement several internal communication devices like the intranet and social media platforms. Effective internal communication within the employees as well between the employees and manager will develop employee relation, reduce conflict and thus will ensure an employee friendly environment.