My perspective on leadership in the workplace

prepared ADMISSION ESSAY Leadership and management are two very different concepts. In the article Effective Leadership in the Workplace, the most notable distinction between a leader and a manager is that leaders are relationship-focused, while managers are more involved about processes (Effective Leadership in the Workplace 2011). Leaders have a greater task of delivering results, and at the same ensuring that the workplace operates in its optimal capacities. Leaders bring an organization to greater level of achievements. Moreover, leaders must come with a variety of skill sets and must be able to project varied types of personalities to be able to integrate into the workplace evolution.
Current globalization issues demand leaders to reach a certain level of adaptability. Looking at my previous and present work experiences, I have seen that diversification is not just an important term in the investment space but also amongst leadership in the workplace. When a corporation desires to conquer globalization, leaders must be ready to embrace, adapt and shift accordingly to help realize the company’s objectives. While it is true that companies may hire local leaders who are more at ease with their respective countries’ eccentricities and market needs, there are so-called global leaders who should travel to each and every location to ensure that system-wide implementation of policies, programs and procedures. Heads of multinationals do this a lot. Case in point is Procter and Gamble, which has local hires in every global location. However, there are Country Managers whose function is really to hold the whole organization into one whole fully functional company. Much is expected from these people, who are supposed to learn and understand the unique markets and develop product solutions to help the business grow.
Globalization has great impacts on a company’s management structure. When going global, management needs to consider a variety of factors, which includes unique market situations and demands, a different culture, different socio-political and economic circumstances. They embark on a more competitive environment, being in a bigger arena and must face the challenge of integrating corporate mission-vision with local hires, which in return have different sets of expectations from the company. Even in terms of human resource management, local policies have a way of disturbing an established set of guidelines that cover compensation and benefits. There are countless challenges.
The key to be able to penetrate global markets is to send leaders who are fully equipped to tackle the challenges. They must not only be learned, but more importantly, they have to be highly experienced in their respective fields. Global leaders must have excellent business sense and knowledge, awareness and sensitivity to cultural differences and standards. He must have prior knowledge on the market he is about to conquer, and must be ready to cope with any difficulty he may and will definitely encounter.
On top of these credentials there are personal characteristics that should be able to intricacies of a global market. Good work ethics, personal and professional integrity and strong determination are personal qualities that a leader must possess. He must have strong visions and have a sense of purpose. Ultimately, he must be results-oriented, who is well armed to embark in the global battle.
Works Cited
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“ Effective Leadership in the Workplace”. The network journal. November 27, 2011. http://www. tnj. com/career/career-advice/effective-leadership-workplace