MAN3121 Leadership III

In order to answer the problem formulation, a case study will be conducted, and the following sub questions will be discussed:

- What are the primary areas of the GDPR for SMEs including GAN Integrity?

- Which GDPR compliance assessment approaches are used in the industry?

- Which tool would be most ideal to use on a case study of GAN Integrity to understand how data is handled in relation to the GDPR?

- What areas can be improved according to the GDPR compliance assessment and what suggestions can be made?

- How can the findings of the case study be generalized in order to be applied to other cases?

Answer:

Introduction

According to Kraemer (2011), a true understanding for values is of utmost importance for current and aspiring leaders. Values are the principles we personally hold in our lives and are established in our early lives. Most of the time, we copy values from the people we look up to in life, these are; our role models, teachers and parents then further shaped by our personal life experiences. There is usually a possibility to change our values in life for the betterment when we reach at a point of self realization. We usually have two broad categories of values that we uphold in our lives, these are; terminal and instrumental values (Lewis et al 2007). Terminal values are the values that are active and in consistent use in our daily lives such as, honesty, responsibility, courage and so on. On the other hand, terminal values are values that guide the lifelong decisions we make such as, contentedness, equality, peace among others. Two of my foremost instrumental values in life are honesty and integrity. These two values have helped improve my leadership by many ways. One of the ways that honesty has helped to boost my leadership is that it has helped people build trust on me as a leader.

Strengths in Leadership

Honesty

Chapman (2018) argues that honesty is transparency or openness, that is, our willingness to communicate freely what we think or feel whether it is uncomfortable or unpopular. One of our greatest fears in life is the fear to communicate what we think because of lack of self-esteem. In my leadership, one of the things that has boosted my level of openness is the ability to speak the truth in every situation irrespective of the outcome. At one instance, I had to witness the suspension of one of my best friends because I had to tell the truth on an incident that he was a victim and I was the only witness. Being the only witness, I had an opportunity to lie in order to protect my best friend, but I resolved to say the truth and let justice take its course. Honesty has helped me be very fair in my leadership duties, despite working among many of my friends.

Everything of worth is founded on trust, from financial systems to relationships (Horsager 2012). Trust is earned by the things we do over time and allows people to be able to depend on us especially in positions of leadership. The more the people we lead trust us in our positions, the easier it is to effectively provide good administration in the various fields that we lead. Trust being the glue that holds the key leadership qualities together, trust has complemented other values that have boosted my leadership. Being honest as a leader has enabled people to trust me and this has made my leadership very influential.

Integrity

On the other hand, upholding integrity has been a key value in my leadership life. Integrity is having strong moral principles, that is, the clear knowledge and a deep commitment to uphold what is right. It is the action of consistency of actions, values, methods, measures, principles, expectations and outcomes (Biju & Lochrie 2009). Most of us in life know what is right at one point of life or the other, but only few uphold and always stand for what is right. Integrity is one of the key leadership principles that has made exceptional leaders (Cohen 2010). People often compromise their stands to fit into a group of people or to feel accepted in a setting and that is where we lose it. One of the secrets to exceptionality is having a firm stand on what you believe as right no matter the circumstance.

Weaknesses

In contrast, apart from the good values I have been able to uphold in leadership, there are certain weaknesses I have too, one of them being patience. Patience simply means waiting (Hamed 2015). I was brought up to believe that once I know my responsibility, it is my duty to do it and see it into completion at the right time. This has made me put people under pressure to ever complete their duties on time. A source from the University of Leeds Career Centre argues that, pressure in a work context is the burden of physical or mental distress and the constraints of circumstances; the urgency of issues requiring attention. One of the ways I am going to apply to overcome this challenge is to reach at a level of understanding that people are different and work under pressure leads to poor results (Menkes 2011). This will help me be able to work with people more closely without putting unnecessary pressure on them.

Conclusion

In conclusion, values are very important in order for us to provide quality leadership. Honesty is very key in every field of leadership. In fact, our level of honesty determines how effective our leadership can be. The ability of the people we lead or even the people above us in our positions of leadership to trust us is very is of great significance. On the other hand, integrity, not only in leadership but also in other aspects of our lives is of great value. People will relate with us well if we are people of integrity.

References

Biju, M., & Lochrie, R.J. (2009). Integrity: the core of leadership. United States of America.  Tate publishing and enterprises, LLC.

Cohen, W.A. (2010). Heroic Leadership: Leading with integrity and honor. San Francisco. Jossey bass.

Chapman, K. (2013). What do honesty, integrity & trust mean in leadership.

Horsager, D. (2012). The trust edge: How top leaders gain faster results, deeper relationships and a stronger bottom line. Simon and Schuster. 5-16.

Hamed, B.D. (2015). Patience: how to wait upon the world. Wipf and stock publishers.

Kraemer, M. H. (2011). From values to action. John wiley & sons. 1-13.

Lewis, P., Goodman, S., Fandt, P., & Michlitsch, J. (2006) Management: Challenges for tomorrow’s leaders. (5^th ed). Thompson learning. Inc.

Menkes, J. (2011). Better under pressure: how great leaders bring out the best in themselves and others. Boston, Massachusetts. Harvard business review press.