Virtual Leader Reflection Paper
James Sams
MGMT 291/ Professor Werner
Virtual Leader Reflection Paper
13 April 2012
According to the book, management is the process of working with and through others to achieve organizational objectives efficiently and ethically, as well as effectively. Before we started to learn the class material and before the Virtual Leader simulation began, I thought that managing others would not be too difficult. I mainly thought that with authority came power, but as we learned in class this is not the case. My initial perception was that employees under managers would comply with their manager’s requests without much hesitation since the manager would automatically have reward, coercive, and legitimate power. The Virtual Leader scenario was quite a learning experience as I was not too good at it to begin with. Beginning with scenario 1, I struggled getting Oli to accomplish the tasks that I wanted him to do. Even though I (Corey) was new to the company, I thought that I could get my ideas passed more easily since I was Oli’s manager. My pure authority over him was not enough to convince him easily. At the beginning of the simulation, Oli is noticeably overqualified and underpaid for his position and is showing little respect for his new manager. I learned after running the simulation multiple times that you have to “give and take” with Oli. If you support his ideas and encourage him, then he is more likely to support your ideas. You also have to keep him under control and negatively influence him if he was encouraging wrong ideas. As I did the next scenarios, I tried to apply original leadership style of using my authority to try and push my ideas through. Again, this was unsuccessful. As the scenarios continued and I (Corey) was no longer the highest position, my overpowering approach again proved to be the wrong approach. For example, I could not exercise my legitimate power in scenario 3 with Herman and Will because they were both superior to me in terms
MGMT 291/ Professor Werner
Virtual Leader Reflection Paper
13 April 2012
According to the book, management is the process of working with and through others to achieve organizational objectives efficiently and ethically, as well as effectively. Before we started to learn the class material and before the Virtual Leader simulation began, I thought that managing others would not be too difficult. I mainly thought that with authority came power, but as we learned in class this is not the case. My initial perception was that employees under managers would comply with their manager’s requests without much hesitation since the manager would automatically have reward, coercive, and legitimate power. The Virtual Leader scenario was quite a learning experience as I was not too good at it to begin with. Beginning with scenario 1, I struggled getting Oli to accomplish the tasks that I wanted him to do. Even though I (Corey) was new to the company, I thought that I could get my ideas passed more easily since I was Oli’s manager. My pure authority over him was not enough to convince him easily. At the beginning of the simulation, Oli is noticeably overqualified and underpaid for his position and is showing little respect for his new manager. I learned after running the simulation multiple times that you have to “give and take” with Oli. If you support his ideas and encourage him, then he is more likely to support your ideas. You also have to keep him under control and negatively influence him if he was encouraging wrong ideas. As I did the next scenarios, I tried to apply original leadership style of using my authority to try and push my ideas through. Again, this was unsuccessful. As the scenarios continued and I (Corey) was no longer the highest position, my overpowering approach again proved to be the wrong approach. For example, I could not exercise my legitimate power in scenario 3 with Herman and Will because they were both superior to me in terms