BIRMINGHAM CITY BUSINESS SCHOOL

POSTGRADUATE DEGREES

COURSEWORK FRONT SHEET

MODULE TITLE: Leadership Development – September start

MODULE CODE: HRM7052

LECTURER: David A. Smith

ISSUE DATE: Monday 23rd September 2024

SUBMISSION DATE: Monday 6th January 2025 at 12:00pm (noon / midday)

HAND BACK DATE: Friday 7th February 2025

Student Name:

Student ID:
Contents
Personal SWOT Analysis:...........................................................................................................................2

Strength:...................................................................................................................................................2

Weakness:.................................................................................................................................................3

Opportunities:..........................................................................................................................................3

Threats:.....................................................................................................................................................4

Personal Development Plan (PDP):........................................................................................................5

Section 02:.....................................................................................................................................................7

1) Individual Reflection on the Individual’s Leadership Development..........................................7

2) How will Artificial Intelligence effect my leadership style?.........................................................7

3) How as a leader I’ll solve this problem?........................................................................................8

4) How will Inclusion and Diversity Impact my leadership Development?....................................9

Conclusion:.................................................................................................................................................10

References....................................................................................................................................................12
Personal SWOT Analysis:
The purpose of a personal SWOT analysis is to evaluate my strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and
threats concerning my leadership development. This analysis will help me identify areas where I excel
and can further build upon, pinpoint weaknesses that need improvement, explore opportunities to advance
my leadership skills, and recognize potential threats that could impede my growth. By doing so, I can
proactively address challenges and develop innovative strategies to overcome them effectively.

Strength Weakness
 Adaptability (Starkutė, 2023)  Emotional Sensitivity (Wall, et al., 2018)
 Confidence (Burns, et al., 2016)  Impulsive Reactions (Baker, et al., 2024)
 Clarity of Values (Parks-Leduc, et al.,  Inconsistency in emotions (Pelt, et al.,
2014) 2018)
 Emotional Insight (Ellis, 1963)
 Reflection (David , 2011)

Opportunities Threat
 Strengthen Emotional Intelligence (Nelis,  Ineffective Communication (Obonadhuze,
et al., 2009) et al., 2021)
 Learning new techniques to resolve  Resistance to change (Darmawan &
conflicts (Tehrani & Yamini , 2020) Azizah, 2019)

Strength:
Results shows technical adaptability which enables you to embrace change as well as address all arising
challenges excellently. This is useful since it trains you to go into situations with an agreed attitude that is
always prepared to change since that is the only constant in life. The third capability is your self-
confidence that allows the firm to make decisions confidently and can change others’ decision-making.
This confidence makes your team to have confidence in your decisions even in areas that are grey at the
workplace (Parks-Leduc, et al., 2014).
That is why your high values identification helps to receive clear understanding in the course of decision-
making, as well as to avoid the situation when some actions can be opposite to your priorities. This
integrity defines a work behavior(patch to work culture) that motivates and guides the people. Emotional
intelligence is also a strength because one is able to analyze his own and other’s feelings meaning that
one is capable of reasoning out the appropriate method of handling certain issues (David , 2011). This
increases your capacity in handling of conflict and making informed decisions. Finally, in reflecting you
always get to learn from experience hence moving you from one level of leadership to another.

Weakness:
Another limitation is emotional vulnerability: becoming overly involved with other people’s feelings or
tension, one might overemphasize emotions at the cost of rational judgement in the context of occupation.
It is positive but it means you can put yourself too much and may cause you to be emotionally charged,
which is not good for your decision making process and therefore poor leadership. Attempts are also
reactive which may become problematic; such decisions may lower the authority level and lead to
destructive decisions and subsequent impulsive outbursts that demotivate teams (Wall, et al., 2018).
When you cannot control reactions, this reduces leadership impact.

The final behavioral vulnerability is fluctuated levels of emotional regulation. Fluctuations in mood also
blame your team for not knowing how to handle your volatile behavior and lack of consistency in your
decisions. A continuous and patterned emotional communication style is important for credibility and
harmony in a team. Finally, it becomes difficult to be an active listener and any leadership is
compromised as a result (Darmawan & Azizah, 2019). When one is not such good at interpersonal
communication because he or she fails to contribute a worthy input into ongoing discussions, interrupts
others, or skips pertinent information, then such a person is likely to engage in a bitter relationship with
colleagues. Leadership entails paying attention to the main stakeholders and comprehending their
concerns in order to arrive at sound working and solving of problems.

In isolation, the above weaknesses point out directions on which, if enhanced, will lead to more efficient
leadership with higher emotional quotients.

Opportunities:
Enhancing EI offers a great potential for leadership development. It is important to establish that, through
receiving an improved awareness of your feelings and possible reactions, you are a lot more in control
while in high anxiety situations. Emotional intelligence also assists you to know your team and your
needs and appreciate everyone in your team so that you can build a friendly working environment.
Enhancing this capability empowers you to build interpersonal relationships, and make righteous
decisions that can actually have trust amongst your team members.

Another benefit is mastering new types of approaches to conflicts’ solutions. Disputes are bound to occur
in any team and it therefore is very essential for a leader to deal with conflict. Therefore, with skills like
active listening, mediation and problem solving skills you are able to handle conflicts before they get out
of hand and foster teamwork (Tehrani & Yamini , 2020). These skills will in turn strengthen your
leadership qualities to lead through common challenges as well as ensure everyone is listened to because
everyone matters and ensure you foster unity in your organization so as to increase productivity.

Threats:
From the SWOT analysis potential threats that may affect your leadership development are as follows;
Lack of proper communication and Resistance to change. Lack of communication can make it difficult
for you to communicate with your team or manage to understand the requirements of the group and the
ideas that should be conveyed. This can result in misunderstandings, poor morale and subsequent low
team motivation, which in turn affect your leadership performance. This also impact on conflict
resolution, feedback provision, and the general co-ordinates of team’s effort and activities.

A further threat is resistance to change. In one’s career or line of business, change is inevitable and the
key to growth is learning how to embrace and implement new strategies, tools and environment. Fear of
change also plays a major role in that failure to adapt stops people from innovating on the team or
organizational level. This can also mean a lack of fluidity in your leadership style hind you in sustaining
your organization’s adaptation to current business requisites or developments (Darmawan & Azizah,
2019). Tackling the above threats will be decisive in shaping better and stronger leadership in the society.
Personal Development Plan (PDP):
Skill to Objective Action Plan Resources Timeline Evaluation
Develop Needed Criteria
Managing Improve Practice Mindfulness 6 months Demonstrated
Emotions emotional mindfulness apps (e.g., ability to remain
regulation to techniques Headspace). calm and
respond (meditation, Journaling tools. composed in
thoughtfully in journaling). Support from a stressful
stressful Identify mentor situations.
situations. emotional Positive
triggers and use feedback from
the "pause and peers.
reflect" method.
Seek feedback
from peers and
mentors.
Active Develop active Maintain eye Access to 6 months Increased
Listening listening skills to contact, communication engagement and
foster better paraphrase, and workshops or understanding in
communication ask clarifying courses. conversations.
and questions in Books or - Feedback from
understanding. conversations. materials on team members
Enroll in active listening and peers.
communication
workshops.
Conflict Enhance ability Study the Access to TKI 6 months Successfully
Resolution to mediate and Thomas- resources. resolved
resolve conflicts Kilmann - Role-playing workplace
effectively while Conflict Mode opportunities. conflicts.
maintaining team Instrument - Guidance from - Feedback from
harmony. (TKI). experienced mentors and
Participate in mentors colleagues on
conflict mediation skills.
resolution
workshops.
- Apply
techniques in
workplace
scenarios.
Section 02:
1) Individual Reflection on the Individual’s Leadership Development
Leadership training is indeed a lifelong process, and people need to be ready for it by possessing self-
understanding skills and willingness to change. In light of my leadership development, there are prolific
changes in terms of people’s strengths and weaknesses I have to overcome. Other self-developmental
areas are in the management of own and others’ emotions and empathy that facilitated understanding
everyday interpersonal interactions (Viswanath, 2019). Making a positive use of weaknesses including
impulse control and inconsistent emotions, it is becoming easier to control impulse decisions and be more
consistent in controlling how interactions with the team are handled.

I also take stock in such competencies as active listening as well as conflict resolution that I believe has
space for improvement. These have helped me to improve on matters concerning overall cooperation and
skills in handling worsened conflict resolution. Applying Goleman’s Leadership Competencies such as
the Emotional Intelligence Framework has served as a great help in determining the leader’s traits which
match the needs of the team.

This reflection is a reminder of the need one to constantly learn and be flexible as the vital factors that
enhance leadership performance reminding me on the importance of the growth as a leader.

2) How will Artificial Intelligence effect my leadership style?

Leadership trends analysis shows that Artificial Intelligence (AI) will the bring significant changes to
leadership activities, decision-making processes, and interactions with subordinates (Peifer, et al., 2022).
Incorporation of AI to my leadership style will present possibilities of improving decision making,
creating a culture of creativity and promoting group cooperation.

Finally, I see that data and analysis are going to be one of the major areas where AI will make a
difference as a leader, impacting how I make or make decisions daily. Businesses can use AI for a
massive load of data processing and gaining insights on team, market, and customers. I can then perform
the necessary calculations to make even more accurate decisions. For instance, substantive analysis can
be used in identifying factors, which causes a certain trend, which can help in solving the problems before
they cause more disruptions.

AI will also help in individual team management. Praising and analyzing the data of employees, AI can
reveal the strengths and weaknesses as well as preferences of particular workers (Arslan, et al., 2021).
This will assist me in praising and rewarding, assigning assignments properly, and designing development
interventions correctly. Thus, it focuses on engagement and motivation, as well as on how this is linked
with a team’s and personal objectives.

Also automation means that the time will be free for higher level, strategic activities. This way, I can
save countless hours on mundane activities and focus more on coming up with ways to help my team
grow, strengthen spirit de corps, and work on developing the drivers of creativity and innovation.
Applications of artificial intelligence such as catboats can easily answer simple questions to cut on
resources and improve on the gains.

However, incorporating AI into leadership also requires ethics and care, as great as we would like
technology to be. With the move towards an AI, it is important for decisions to remain free from
prejudice and bias and to operate to values and standards within an organization. Integrated application of
AI with human input shall be one of the key tasks during the action to ensure the AI’s trustworthiness and
people-oriented management approach (Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Management and Leadership
in research and development, 2021).

Therefore, AI will augment my leadership by making the decision-making part better, reducing general
work time, and tailoring the team aspect. If implemented responsibly, AI can help me adapt my leadership
skills to improve as I step into the future workspace.

3) How as a leader I’ll solve this problem?

The adaptation of AI in leadership and organizational processes pose a number of problems and the
solution to these problems needs an affirmative, ethical and an intelligent strategy. AI has huge
opportunities, however, it has challenge like job loser, data security problem and decisive Techno-ethical
challenges etc.

Addressing Workforce Displacement: There is still disagreement up to job loss, which is a critical issue
of AI technology. In regards to My Leadership Policies I will dedicate my attention to improving the
employees, helping them acquire new skills and thus avoiding being replaced by an AI system and some
of the tasks that include creative and emotional aspects as well as strategic planning. The implementation
of training programs and generation of opportunities in my team will ensure its relevance and optimally
motivated in a working environment dominated by Artificial intelligence.

Ensuring Ethical Use of AI: It argued that ethical issues, including data privacy and the bias of the
decision-making process are all important. I shall make sure that organizational use of AI is done
transparent and fairly so I shall develop a policy and standard measures pertaining to the same. Regular
audits by or with the varied diverse teams will go a long way in addressing issues of bias to AI systems
and the resultant decisions. Furthermore, having an active and constructive discussion with employees
and potential risks associated with AI will create trust.

Balancing AI with Human Judgment: Even though it is able to process large amounts of information,
AI does not possess qualities of understanding of a human leader. I will focus on the post human
approach, thus, I will underline the use of AI as the assistive tool in making decisions. For instance,
technique results from data-generated AI will be employed to inform and not supersede organizational
strategies and priorities in a way that puts people first.

All in all, leadership in addressing AI related issues requires application of people capital, setting of right
ethical tone and applying technology with wisdom. Since trust, adaptability, and collaboration are
important aspects when dealing with change, I will be in a limited position to lead my team through AI all
the opportunities and challenges.

4) How will Inclusion and Diversity Impact my leadership Development?

The concept of inclusion and diversity is truly the core piece that plays an extensive role on the leadership
dynamic, regarding how leaders interact with teams, resolve problems, and foster creativity. Applying
these principles advances leadership effectiveness of promoting cooperation, utilizing diversity, and
developing a climate encouraging value of diversity in the organization. As for the leadership
development, the two concepts of inclusion and diversity bring options for change and improvement for
the persona at personal as well as at the workplace level.

The ability to lead a diverse group encourages me to embrace and accept the cultural as well as the
background variation involved. I can encourage team members, organize them to maximize everyone’s
strengths and effectively address problems since we obtain diverse ways of reasoning. A number of
studies have proven the fact that diverse teams are more effective than non-diverse for the same reasons –
a variety of approaches comes in handy with multitude of tasks that may be brought to the workplace
(Anita, 2024). To me, this means transforming into a leader who consistently goes out of his/ her way
looking for as many points of view as possible and factors them in the decision-making process, and
consequently coming up with more balanced decisions.

In addition, the inclusion enhances the sense of the psychological safety, which is critical for the
performance of a team. Making workplace more diverse requires that every employee should be treated
with dignity and allowed to develop the social capital of the firm free from prejudice. When growing into
a leader I will make sure to my teams adopt this notion of belonging. This entails listening,
understanding, and a readiness to change the self and the organization’s attitudes. In this way, I create the
necessary conditions of trust and improve the interaction within the team, and, therefore, achieve higher
result.

From this perspective, it is also possible to state that inclusion and diversity make me develop on the
gradual level of self-reflectiveness and flexibility. There are always times when more mature, different, or
productive solutions are more effective when managing diverse teams require managing correspondingly
different forms of communication. This means that I have to develop an interpersonal skill in order to
appreciate something and be willing to learn. This kind of experience make me more likely to cultivate
the global perspective and readiness to meet the challenging demands of international environment as
internationally responsible leader.

However, diversity and inclusion are principles that are also captured under ethical leadership thus
keeping with fairness and equality as well as social justice (Khameis & Alshamsi, 2023). Being a leader, I
understand the necessity of dealing with systematic problem and providing chances for minorities.
Generating more equal practices and policies will also help make a workplace more inclusive, which is
something that I who want to influence people, can do. This also helps for me to establish credibility as a
leader while furthering the goals of today’s progressive organizations, where diversity and inclusion are
key to success.

Therefore, I have learnt that diversity and inclusion are central to leadership and how I should solve
problems and manage people processes. Thus, I will be able to design settings that support and motivate
people while recognizing the talent of collected groups and achieving good results. In the end, both
inclusion and diversity also allow me to be a better leader while trying to construct organizations that are
fair, inclusive and comprise of individuals with shared goals. By engaging in the process of lifelong
learning and personal development, I should be able to apply these values across the leadership domains.

Conclusion:
The fundamental principles of inclusion and diversities should be taken as a core of leadership studies
with its importance and values for solutions enriched with diversity as well as for the growth, innovation,
and impact. In their practice, these principles help me to support cooperation, trust, development of the
organizational culture in which every person will be empowered. The method of such an approach is that
diversity leads to better team decision making as different backgrounds in the teams provide more unique
solutions. When practicing diversity, I am able to create a psychological safety to foster active
participation from my team members and bring out the best in them by creating positive team cohesion.
In addition, dealing with diverse people poses me to increase to be more aware of myself, how to bend
and how to embrace diversity since the world is interconnected. Inclusion and diversity also resonate with
the ethical leadership values making me more focused on equal opportunities for all the diverse people.
This way, stating these principles helps me to build credibility and at the same time, makes sure my
leadership positively impacts organizational and social concerns.

Therefore, inclusion and Diversity cannot be viewed on an organizational setting as mere values but as
strategic organizational keys to leadership success. Applying these principles in leadership opens the
opportunities of enhancing the talents possessed by the employees or the members of an organization,
foster creativity and invention, and create new forms of organizations that portrays fairness, respect and
value of purpose for the success to endure.
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