Critical Reflection

1. Leadership and Organizational Behavior
Critical Reflection
From my previous job, there was a project where I lead a team of two. The project was
confidential, so it was crucial the discretion of the team, since it was a project to be launched
during the next months. The project consisted on an analytical research in order to develop the
project, on the first stage they had to hand in the documentation of their findings, next was the
development plan of the project, and lastly the delivery of the final document to execute. Further,
the members were going to be recognized for the project (reinforcement). Member X, was
always on time and in contact with the team, while member Y never deliver the required task on
time, Y tended to always have a convenient excuse to justify missing the previously agreed
deadline, and later giving a work that didn’t meet the standards, likewise, Y wanted to have more
information that needed. Moreso, in the multiple meetings we had related to this topic, we
discussed the way that Y could work in a more efficient way. Findings during this meeting were
that we could work hand-in-hand in a more flexible work time. Nonetheless, even if Y had enough
chances and flexibility, it didn’t improved Y’s job.
While this was happening, the boss was expecting results in a qualitative, rather than fast
manner, even though there was a deadline, the boss was understanding for more chances on this
member. For the purposes of this project the contract stipulated that the responsibility was to
deliver their works on specific jobs and time, so at any given time, the members must have reach
out in order to organize the tasks depending on the problematic, something that didn’t
happened.The members always had weekly meetings in order to understand what each of them
were doing, and to speak up on any matter that they wanted to discuss. By the end of two
months of the project, little progress was done by member Y. At a meeting with the manager, this
topic was discussed and while it was agreed that Y was given enough chances and that Y was
delaying the project. It was concluded that this member wasn’t a good fit for the job and must be
lay off, something that was my responsibility to do.
From the course, we had learned that from the bases of power, coercive power is used when
firing someone. While, the environment of the project needed more reliable members on this
project (legitimate power), as the contract stipulated. Y needed to be laid off, and by giving
feedback from their job done, and giving Y the reasoning behind this decision, Y was fired

2. without further problems, nonetheless the project was delayed, and as a two member team we
had to finish the task on time, taking more resources and time to finalize the project.
In conclusion, a leader must foresee if there are red lights that might affect the project. While a
leader can be empathetic with one’s problematic, and be an open-minded leader that will allow
the member of their team to open up and communicate, a leader must use emotional intelligence
to understand if this might be an issue that will or will not affect the task assigned. Being a
leader, is not an easy task, communication is a must, but the consequences fall into the team
leader, rather than on its members.