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Reflective Essay Assignment Task (40%)
Your report needs to be 1500 words (excluding references) and it needs to use Harvard reference style (guidelines for this have been uploaded to our Moodle site).
· PLEASE REMEMBER TO BE EXPLICIT ABOUT YOUR USE OF ACADEMIC THEORY, AS COVERED IN THIS MODULE.
Your reflective Essay title is: -
What This Module Taught Me About Leadership (and Myself)?
Purpose of the Assignment:
This assessment encourages you to integrate academic learning with personal insight. It should develop your ability to think critically about leadership theory, connect it to real-world behaviour, and reflect on your own leadership values and development.
Task Description:
Select one lecture or theme from the module Leading People in Organisations that has had the most impact on your understanding of leadership — either positively or negatively. This could be a topic you strongly agreed or disagreed with, or one that challenged your assumptions about what it really means to lead.
Reflect on why this topic stood out to you and how it connects to your own experiences — in work, study, volunteering, or group projects. Think about moments when you’ve led, followed, or observed leadership in action — what went well, what didn’t, and what you learned.
Use this reflection to explore how leadership theory and practice intersect in real life, and how these insights could shape the kind of leader you want to become. The goal is not to summarise content, but to tell a thoughtful, honest, and forward-looking story about your leadership journey so far — grounded in critical analysis and personal growth.
MORE GUIDANCE TO FACILITATE WRITING THIS REFLECTION:
Reflection Prompts
Use these to stimulate your thinking while writing:
· Which lecture challenged or inspired me the most, and why?
· What assumptions about leadership did I hold before this module? Have they changed?
· How did my own leadership (or my observation of others) align or clash with what we studied?
· What emotions did I experience in that leadership situation — and what did they teach me?
· How can I use these insights to lead more ethically, inclusively, or effectively in the future?
Structure Guidelines:
Note: Write in the first person (“I”) while maintaining an academic tone. Support your reflection with relevant leadership theories and credible sources.
1. Introduction (Approx. 200–250 words)
· Briefly introduce the purpose of your reflection.
· Identify the lecture/theme you have chosen and explain why it resonated with you.
· Introduce the key leadership concept(s) you’ll be reflecting on (i.e. trait vs situation or skills vs behaviour)
2. Description & Context (Approx. 300 words)
· Describe the context of your experience (e.g. a workplace situation, team project, volunteering role).
· Explain how the topic connects to this real or observed experience.
· Highlight what made this situation meaningful, challenging, or surprising.
3. Analysis & Reflection (Approx. 600–700 words)
Use a reflection framework such as Rolfe’s Model (What? So what? Now what?) to guide your thinking.
Critically analyse:
· How did your experience illustrate (or contradict) leadership theories from the module?
· What did this reveal about your values, assumptions, or leadership style?
· How did others respond — and what does this say about effective leadership in practice?
· Draw connections between theory, evidence, and personal insight.
4. Learning & Future Application (Approx. 300 words)
· What have you learned about yourself as a potential leader or team member?
· How will you apply this learning in future professional or academic settings?
· Identify specific skills or mindsets you plan to develop (e.g. empathy, communication, adaptability, ethical awareness).
5. Conclusion (Approx. 100–150 words)
· Summarise the key lessons from your reflection.
· End with a clear, forward-looking statement about your leadership growth journey.
This report should be submitted via Turnitin on Moodle.
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