MBS663 Leadership Reflection Assignment: Personal Development Plan for Ethical & Adaptive Growth, Singapore

Assessment 1 Overview: Leadership Reflection and Personal Development Plan (20%)

Purpose: This assessment enables you to reflect critically on your current leadership identity and capabilities and to develop a plan for your ongoing professional growth. It assesses your understanding of adaptive leadership, your self-awareness, and your ability to apply theory to personal development within a practical context.

Assessment Structure:

• Part A: Written Personal Development Plan (PDP) (1,000 words maximum)
• Part B: 10-minute one-on-one oral discussion with the lecturer

Submission Format:

Word document (.docx)
Filename format: Surname_FirstName_StudentNumber_MBS663
Submission portal: LMS > Assessment 1A.

Learning Outcomes Assessed:

• LO1: Critically reflect on leadership practice.
• LO3: Apply leadership frameworks and theories.
• LO4: Engage ethically with leadership challenges.
• LO5: Demonstrate systems thinking.
• LO7: Develop strategies for professional growth.

What You Need to Do

This assessment invites you to demonstrate leadership thinking within the organisational context. Consider your leadership identity, actions, and development needs as they relate to your current or intended professional environment. You are encouraged to frame your reflection within the real-world complexities of leading teams, managing change, and influencing outcomes within organisations.

1. Reflect Critically on Your Leadership Identity
   • Who are you as a leader? Consider your personality traits, values, beliefs, behaviours, and leadership experiences.
   • Use Northouse as a foundational reference to explore relevant leadership styles (e.g., authentic, servant, transformational, adaptive).
2. Identify Your Strengths and Areas for Development
   • What are your capabilities and habits as a leader?
   • What feedback have you received in the past?
   • Use tools such as the Adaptive Leadership questionnaire (Northouse, Ch. 11) to evaluate your competencies.
3. Apply Leadership Theory
   • Reference frameworks such as:
     • Complexity Leadership Theory.
     • Adaptive Leadership.
     • 4-Cap+ Model.
   • Anchor your self-assessment in the relevant theories¹ To demonstrate analytical rigour.
4. Create a Personal Development Plan (PDP)Your PDP should include:
   • A brief leadership vision statement
   • Short- and long-term development goals
   • Strategies and action steps
   • Resources/support systems required.
   • Metrics for measuring progress.

   Ensure your plan is:

   • Practical (realistic in scope).
   • Ethical (aligned with personal and professional values).
   • Relevant (to your work or leadership context).
   • Meet the rubric requirements.

Suggested PDP Structure:

1. Leadership Identity (approx. 200 words)
   • Current leadership role and context
   • Leadership style and values
2. Strengths and Development Needs (approx. 300 words)
   • Reflection based on experience and theory.
   • Feedback from others.
3. Leadership Vision and Goals (approx. 200 words)
   • Where do you see yourself as a leader?
   • What kind of leader do you aspire to be?
4. Strategies for Development (approx. 300 words)
   • Specific learning activities or experiences.
   • Mentors, networks, courses, resources.
   • How will you measure your growth?

Essential reading

Northouse, P. G. (2021). Leadership – international student edition: theory and practice (Ninth edition.). SAGE Publications, Inc.

To help complete your reflection and PDP, investigate relevant chapters in Leadership: Theory and Practice by Peter G. Northouse to understand concepts, theories, models, frameworks, and tools in leadership.

Chapters in Northouse:

• Chapter 1: Introduction to Leadership — key definitions and conceptual clarity
• Chapter 2: Trait Approach — The trait approach has its roots in leadership theory that suggested that certain people were born with special traits that made them great leaders.
• Chapter 3: Skills Approach — The skills approach is a leader-centred perspective that emphasises the competencies of leaders.
• Chapter 4: Behavioural Approach — The behavioural approach suggests that leaders engage in two primary types of behaviours: task behaviours and relationship behaviours. How leaders combine these two types of behaviours to influence others is the central focus of the behavioural approach.
• Chapter 5: Situational Approach — The premise of the situational approach is that different situations demand different kinds of leadership. The SLII® approach provides a model that suggests to leaders how they should behave based on the demands of a particular situation.
• Chapter 6: Path-Goal Theory — Path–goal theory was developed to explain how leaders motivate followers to be productive and satisfied with their work.
• Chapter 7: Leader-Member Exchange Theory — Leader-member exchange theory addresses leadership as a process centred on the interactions between leaders and followers. It makes the leader–member relationship the pivotal concept in the leadership process.
• Chapter 8: Transformational Leadership — Transformational leadership is concerned with the process of how certain leaders can inspire followers to accomplish great things. This approach stresses that leaders need to understand and adapt to the needs and motives of followers.
• Chapter 9: Authentic Leadership — Authentic leadership describes leadership that is transparent, morally grounded, and responsive to people’s needs and values.
• Chapter 10: Servant Leadership — Servant leadership emphasises that leaders should be attentive to the needs of followers, empower them, and help them develop their full human capacities.
• Chapter 11: Adaptive Leadership — Adaptive leadership is about helping people change and adjust to new situations through identifying adaptive and technical challenges.
• Chapter 11: Inclusive Leadership — The concept of inclusion has emerged as a key psychological construct for realising the benefits that diversity can bring to the workplace. In today’s multifaceted and multicultural business environment, leaders must be able to identify or create opportunities for growth and competitiveness.
• Chapter 13: Followership — Leadership requires followership, and without understanding what the act of following entails, it is difficult to fully understand leaders and leadership. Therefore, the focus in this chapter is on followership and the central role followers play in the leadership process.
• Chapter 14: Gender and Leadership — Women are significantly underrepresented in major leadership positions. The barriers women encounter on their leadership journey have been dubbed the leadership labyrinth. Removing these barriers will help ensure equal opportunity, access to the greatest talent pool, and diversity, which have been linked to organisational success.
• Chapter 15: Leadership Ethics — This chapter presents an overview of ethical theories as they apply to the leadership process.
• Chapter 16: Team Leadership — The team leadership model provides a framework in which to study the systematic factors that contribute to a team’s outcomes or general effectiveness. Within this approach, the critical function of leadership is to help the team accomplish its goals by monitoring and diagnosing the team and taking the requisite action.

Other Recommended Readings:

• Uhl-Bien, M., Marion, R., & McKelvey, B. (2007). Complexity Leadership Theory: Shifting leadership from the industrial age to the knowledge era. The Leadership Quarterly, 18(4), 298–318.
• Heifetz, R. A. (2009). Leadership Without Easy Answers. Harvard University Press.
• Ancona, D., & Bresman, H. (2019). The five key capabilities of effective leadership. NZ Business + Management, 33(2), (Sp)4-(Sp)5.
• Lewis, M. W., Andriopoulos, C., & Smith, W. K. (2014). Paradoxical Leadership to Enable Strategic Agility. California Management Review, 56(3), 58–77.
• Nonaka, I., & Takeuchi, H. (2011). The Wise Leader. Harvard Business Review, 89(5), 58–67.

Diagnostic Tools (Questionnaires):

• Use the self-assessment questionnaires – where relevant – at the end of each chapter to evaluate your current leadership orientation (e.g., leadership style, adaptability, servant leadership score, etc.)
• These are helpful starting points for identifying strengths and development areas.

Academic Expectations

• Use APA 7 referencing for all sources.
• Write clearly and professionally in UK English
• Proofread for spelling, grammar, and clarity.
• Submit on time.

Core Reference:
Northouse, P. G. (2021). Leadership: Theory and Practice (9th ed.). SAGE Publications.

Ethical Use of Generative AI

You may use AI tools to:

• Check grammar and clarity.
• Organise or outline ideas.
• Generate drafts to revise critically.

Do not use AI to:

• Write your reflection or PDP.
• Fabricate citations or leadership experiences.

Reminder: Submissions will be checked for authenticity through the oral interaction.

Independent Activities to Support Your Learning

These self-guided activities are designed to help you reflect on your leadership within an organisational setting, apply theory, and complete your Personal Development Plan (PDP). They are also structured to support your preparation for the 10-minute oral discussion by encouraging you to think systemically and practically about how leadership theory informs your work in organisational contexts. Each activity develops your ability to critically engage with your leadership identity, articulate your developmental goals, and speak confidently about theory in practice.

These self-guided activities are designed to help you reflect, apply theory, and complete your Personal Development Plan (PDP). You can do them independently without access to the LMS:

1. Leadership Reflection Journal
   • Maintain a personal journal where you reflect on your leadership experiences, identity, values, and challenges.
   • Use prompts such as: “When did I last demonstrate leadership?”, “How do I respond to uncertainty or conflict?”
2. Northouse Chapter Questionnaires (Printed or PDF)
   • Use the self-assessments at the end of key chapters (e.g., Authentic, Servant, Adaptive Leadership) to explore your leadership style.
   • Score yourself and note insights in your journal.
3. Leadership Observation Log
   • Observe leadership behaviours in your workplace or community.
   • Note what worked, what did not, and how it aligns with leadership theories.
4. Personal SWOT Analysis
   • Conduct a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis of your leadership capabilities.
   • Use this analysis to inform the goals and strategies in your PDP.
5. Create a Leadership Mind Map
   • Visually map how different theories (e.g., Adaptive, Transformational, Authentic Leadership) connect to your experience.
   • Use colour coding or diagrams to express complexity and relationships.

These activities will help you internalise key concepts, structure your written submission, and prepare confidently for the oral component.

Oral Preparation Tip: During the 10-minute oral discussion, you will not have access to notes or the written PDP. These activities help you internalise and rehearse your ideas so you can speak confidently about your leadership journey. Practice articulating your leadership strengths and challenges, applying theory to explain your development plan, and reflecting aloud on how your goals align with ethical leadership and systems thinking.