Leadership Leadership is an act of influencing others towards a goal. We learnt that the leaders are present at different levels in an organization or a company. There are two types of leaders, formal leaders and informal leaders. The formal leaders are those who hold a position of authority and may utilize the power that comes from their position, as well as their personal power to influence others. Whereas the informal leaders are those without a formal position authorities within the organization but demonstrate leadership by influencing those around them through personal forms of power.
From the class we came to know Leadership is about articulating visions, embodying values, and creating the environment within which things can be accomplished and it is the process of influencing the activities of an organized group toward goal achievement.We came to know that there are few traits that show relatively strong relations with leadership. And the best example of a trait approach is the charismatic leadership. The important traits are discussed below. 1. Intelligence: Observed general mental ability correlates with leadership, whereas the actual intelligent has smaller correlation. * (Emotional Intelligence): This one will allow predicting leadership beyond the general mental ability. And also people with high EQ demonstrate a high level of self-awareness, motivation, emphathy and social skills. 2. Personality (the Big 5) : It is positively correlated with leader rise & leader effectiveness. It is called Big 5 model, because it rates an individual according to O C E A N (personality traits) Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism. 3. Self-esteem: The higher the self-esteem of the leader, the more likely it is that he or she can perform that function successfully. A mind that distrusts itself cannot engender the best in the minds of others. 4. Integrity: The people who are effective as leaders tend to have a moral compass and often demonstrate honesty and integrity.
The major approaches to leadership are Behavior and Situational Approach. In Behavior approach we find how the managers or team lead spend time , on the managerial activities and in the Situational approach we see how his behavior will influences on the situation on demands, constraints from subordinates.
May be not all but some of the points from the class and the text book, I have experienced in my real life when I was been president for 3 years for Indian Student Association at University of South Alabama. From my point of view and experience I came to know that a leader should possess good communicational skills, need to be a good interpreter, honest and influence others with your work. While I was the leader, I was representing India. One wrong step will result in bad impression on other. So need to be careful while communicating.
I have communicated with different organizations and my team members with my Intelligent, integrity, maintained my self-esteem, and Personality. Through these things I help the students who are in need and organizing the cultural events around the campus with the help of my team members. The most important insights gained from this experience is how to be an leader by possessing managing things, communication, motivating, dealing with different personalities, having patience, understanding things, problem solving, reading prominent books about the leaders and personalities to know valuable information from their experiences, being fair to everyone, making a safe and good work environment and last but not least to be leader, one should be a good follower.

Negotiation
Negotiation is a process whereby two or more parties work toward an agreement. Negotiation is been part of our daily life. I have been exposed to negotiation at earlier age through my parents. Like if u do A, you will get B or if u get B, I will do A. We make many deals with our parents and friends without knowing the concept of negotiation. As from the class we came to know that there are five phases for effective Negotiation, they are Investigation, Determine your BATNA (Best alternative to negotiated agreement), Presentation, Bargaining and Closure. Let’s learn about them.
Investigation: In this stage we learn or gather information. Here we need the clearest possible view of our goals. And we need to be brutally honest with yourself about your priorities.
Determine your BATNA: First of all BATNA stands for best alternative to a negotiated agreement. Determining your BATNA is one important part of the investigation and planning phase in negotiation. It helps you to decide whether to accept an offer you received during the negotiation.
Presentation: In this phase we assemble the information we gathered in a way that supports your position.
Bargaining: In this phase, each party discusses their goals and seeks to get an agreement.
In the Negotiation Strategies we have two types of approaches one is Distributive approach and Integrative approach. In the distributive view, the negotiation is the traditional fixed pie approach in which negotiators see the situation as a pie that they have to divide between them where as in integrative approach; both parties look for ways to integrate their goals under a large umbrella.
The common mistakes which we do in negotiation and are need to avoid are Failing to negotiate/ accepting the first offer, letting your ego get in the way, having unrealistic expectations, getting overly emotional.
If everything fails then we have Third party negotiations, resolving the conflicts with the help of a specially trained, neutral third party.
My experience in negotiation recently was in the last month when I went to buy a CD player for my car. I followed the steps which I learnt from the class and first thing I did is to enquire or investigate about the CD player around the auto shops and choose the best one. With the help of BATNA , I have planned what to say and how to negotiate with the selected vendor. And with all the information in my hand I started the bargaing with the vendor and given examples of the other auto shops where it was better deal than this and if he could make a better one than them then I will buy the CD player from him and after a while of bargaining I got a great deal On the CD player with service too.

Employment Interviews
From the Class we came to know that the Purpose of the Interview is to exchange information between all parties, where terms and expectations of employment are set by both the employer and the employee. It also used to evaluate things that can only be measured by face to face interaction.
The main advantages of the Interview is to know whether the applicant have good communication, verbal fluency, and social skills necessary for the job? And allows interviewer to obtain supplementary information about the candidate; also allows candidate to ask questions which may give employer additional information. It also can be helpful in selection of equally qualified potential employees
The Disadvantages of the Interview is the Interviewees tend to mislead information in a more socially appropriate manner. Basically the first impressions usually influence the remainder of the interview and stereotypes are often formed by the interviewer, creating potential for subjective evaluations. Mainly there is not much evidence for the validity or reliability of the interview process.
There are two types of interviews which are Structured Interviews and Unstructured Interviews. The definition of the two types of interview is given below
Structured interview is a process where pre-planned, standardized questions are asked of each potential employee. This interview format will result in consistent responses. Where in Structured interviews are significantly more valid than unstructured interviews and structure decreases differences between racial groups, and are less likely to be challenged in court.
Unstructured interviews are unplanned non-directed, and unstandardized. They are uncontrolled and unformatted, and have a great deal of interviewer flexibility.
In my real life experience of my Job interview was a structured interview. They asked questions based on past-experience and also how this past situations that may be relevant to job. And asked some situational questions like Can you tell me about a situation when you had to deal with the delicate problem at a work place. Or Imagine a circumstance where you have to deal with a upset customer and how would you handle. I think by asking these questions they have evaluated my ability to problem solving and management technics. And also asked future oriented question like what would you do if you were selected for higher position or have a trouble solving an issue?
By asking these kinds of questions in the interview, it will evaluate the problem solving ability, metal ability, personality, job experience and goals.