Assignment

Write an eight- to ten-page paper (not including the title and reference pages) that addresses your personal best leadership experience. Personal best is a time when you believe you had performed at the peak as a leader. Be sure to incorporate elements from our reading in regards to your leadership approach, the type of leadership application; transactional, transformational, situational, etc. Some questions to address in the essay are:

• What characterized the situation? Who was involved? Where and when did it take place? Who initiated it?

• What approach did you apply to the situation?

• What type of leadership would you classify yourself as in this situation?

• What motivated you to engage in this project? How did you challenge yourself and others?

• What did you aspire to achieve? How did you build enthusiasm and excitement?

• How did you involve others? How did you foster collaboration? How did you build trust and respect? How did you build the capacity to excel?

• What values and principles guided you and others? How did you set the example? How did you progress from one milestone to another?

• How did you recognize individuals? How did you celebrate success?

• What lessons about leadership did you learn from the experience?

Writing the Paper

The Paper:

1. Must be double-spaced and 12 point font

2. Must be formatted according to APA style

3. Must include a cover page that includes:

a. Title of paper
b. Student's name
c. Course name and number
d. Instructor's name
e. Date submitted

4. Must include an introductory paragraph with a thesis statement

5. Must conclude with a restatement of the thesis and a conclusion paragraph

6. Must include a reference page written in APA format

7. Must use at least five scholarly sources, including a minimum of two from the Ashford Online Library.

8. Must document all sources in APA style.

9. Must include a separate reference page, formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.

Lecture

This final week our focus is on culture and leadership, as well as leadership ethics. These are two very important topics in terms of understanding and working with business strategies.

Our first chapter reading this week focuses on culture and leadership. What is culture and why is it important in terms of business strategies? There are many definitions for culture. According to our textbook, "culture is defined as the learned beliefs, values, rules, norms, symbols and traditions that are common to a group of people" (Northouse, 2013, p. 384). Another definition on culture is that

Culture refers to the cumulative deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles, spatial relations, concepts of the universe, and material objects and possessions acquired by a group of people in the course of generations through individual and group striving (Texas A&M University, Culture, n.d., para. 1).

One last definition might be that "culture is the characteristics of a particular group of people, defined by everything from language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music and arts (Zimmermann, 2012, para. 1). Now that there is an understanding of what culture is, why is culture so important in terms of business strategies? There is a great interview that dives into the importance of aligning culture and strategies in organizations that is recommended to read. It can be found via this link:

Aligning Organizational Culture with Business Strategy.

The value of connecting both the organizations strategy, which would include the values, vision and mission, with the culture is a win-win for both the organization and the employees that come together that make it happen. As we have defined above, culture is a shared connection of knowledge, beliefs, values, etc. In an organizational culture these shared beliefs create an environment in which the stakeholders work together to not only be productive but to also create a successful organization. It should be noted that "culture formed by the moment, will also change by the moment, and ultimately it will disappear in a moment" (Myatt, 2012, para 4). Culture is not formed overnight. It is developed over time and becomes second nature to the organization and the manner in which it operates.

Below is a video that illustrates cultural dimensions:

Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions Theory Video - Lesson and Example.

When working with the term culture, there are many elements to consider. These include ethnocentrism and prejudice. Ethnocentrism is when a group feels their culture is superior to others. Another definition would be that "ethnocentrism is the tendency to believe that one's ethnic or cultural group is centrally important, and that all other groups are measured in relation to one's own (Princeton University, n.d., para. 1). Prejudice according to our textbook is to have a fixed "attitude, belief or emotion" towards another based on invalid information (Northouse, 2013, p. 385).

Below is an interesting video on sociology ethnocentrism and cultural relativism.

Sociology Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism.

Moving forward, let's look at Chapter 16, which focuses on leadership ethics. As we look at the contents of this chapter, let's break down the meaning behind leadership ethics. As illustrated in our textbook, ethics relate to one's "customs, conduct or character" as they relate to ones values, morale and what is and what is not appropriate (Northouse, 2013, p. 424).

An excellent article on the topic of leadership ethics that is recommended is:

Ethical Leadership: Right Relationships and the Emotional Bottom.

The principles of ethical leadership focus on five disciplines:

• Respect Others
• Serves Others
• Shows Justice
• Manifests Honesty
• Builds Community (Northouse, 2013, p. 431).

Below is an excellent video with Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple discussing ethical leadership.

Apple CEO Tim Cook on Ethical Leadership.

Forbes School of Business Faculty

References:

Boutot, R. (2011, November 10). Sociology ethnocentrism and cultural relativism.

Duke University - The Fuqua School of Business. (2013, May 30). Apple CEO Tim Cook on Ethical Leadership.

Education Portal. (2014, September 28). Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory video - Lesson and example.

Myatt, M. (2012, May 29). Culture vs. strategy - What's more important?

Northouse, P. (2013). Leadership theory and practice (6th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Princeton University (n.d.). Ethnocentrism.

Texas A & M University (n.d.) Culture.

Zimmermann, K.A. (2015, February 19). What is culture? Definition of culture.