Question: 1

Leadership practices reflection

Leadership practices are the best personal traits within a leader which are looked at and admired by others because of being effective, efficient, credible, accountable, reliance and resilience to life challenges. According to Kouzes and Posner, there are thousands of leadership traits within different leaders but the leaders perform best when they: model the way, inspire a vision, challenge the process, enable others to act and encourage the heart. Inspiring a shared is one of my strength as a leader because I always believe that I can make a difference (Kouzes & Posner, 2012). I always think about the future, establish an idea or an image of what will happen tomorrow in order to manage how to face the challenges.  Having a vision provides to be the possibilities of succeeding in the future. Modeling the way is the most natural leadership practices because it is concerned with the way people should be treated and the manner in which goals should be achieved. The leadership creates the fundamental standards of excellence and set examples for others to follow. Since the future challenges might overwhelm people, the model set interim and stifle actions to achieve little wins as they wait for the main objectives. I plan to incorporate this model the way leadership practice in my life by eliminating some of the bureaucracies which hinder me from taking quick action during the time of crisis and establishing opportunities which are based on victory.

Question: 2

Despite being a visionary leader and being in position to model the way to achieve the goals and objectives of the future, I do believe my weaknesses are built on the failure to foster teamwork in my leadership practices. I sometimes fail to keep determination and hope alive (Titus, 2010). In addition, I fail recognize the achievement of others and this hinders celebration of the team achievement. Enabling other to act is the least natural because the organization’s objectives and goals can be achieve without others participating in decision making process. The practices of encouraging the heart and enabling the others to act toward improvement of the leadership skills and strategies within an organization are my personal plan action that I need to improve in my leadership.

Question: 3

Just in case the threat of the gridlock become a reality, I would first understand the time trade-offs and the cost being built in the logistic system.  To solve the problem of the gridlock, it would be important to understand the measures which are most likely to increase cost of transportation such as the loading and the unloading costs of the containers. By ensuring efficiency in shipping and containerization time would be saved, stock-outs avoided and prevent overstocking. I would encourage the strategy of direct to store shipments by the manufacturers (George, 2013). I would also encourage improved flow of information within the supply network in order to enhance the predictability and speed within the system. In addition, the mother companies should establish other subsidiary companies in the foreign companies which will basically eliminated the crisis associated with the gridlock challenge. The supply chain management should ensure that there is integration of business process from the manufacturers, suppliers and end users in order to ensure internalization and globalization. The management concerned should ensure that appropriate expertise in product management. There need to be integration in the supply chain processes which interfere with information exchange and transportation of products from one destination to the next (Dawn,2008). Embracing of the necessary modern technology is of great importance as it ensures that the necessary expertise and efficiency through total quality management is embraced.  In conclusion, there must be collaborative logistic in the supply chain management in order to eliminate all the logistic challenges.