A640.9.2.RB - Final Project Reflection

A640.9.2.RB - Final Project Reflection

One of the major tasks of this course was the completion of a service-learning project. Using the elements of thought, walk through your thoughts, observations and experiences from the service-learning project and how they relate to the course material.

 

The purpose of the service-learning project paper was to complete a course requirement and to apply the leadership theories we were learning about to a real-life situation. The questions I started with were, “What kind of leadership styles will I find at XPO? How do XPO and Boeing leadership styles differ –if they do at all - and how?  The research I did for this project allowed me to start thinking about the work at XPO differently and already it has taken on a new dimension. I wanted to explore the relationship between XPO and Boeing and its inherent challenges.

The information I gathered for this project came from my volunteer activity at XPO Logistics. The leadership style I most observed was a path-goal leadership theory. XPO is not very nuanced. The work is simple and the instruction and all communication is succinct. XPO is a gigantic tightly run ship because it has to be. XPO has big customers – Boeing being only one of many – and these customers have high expectations. So it was an interesting study to see how these things were accomplished in the short amount of time they actually have to get these huge shipments processed and delivered. My conclusion was that there are several leadership styles prevalent within XPO. It really seemed as though they tried to pair up leadership styles with departments and what those departments are trying to accomplish.

The concepts I used were the leadership styles of servant leader, path-goal leadership, and team leadership. I researched other studies on logistics companies and path-goal leadership theory. Insights that I added to my final paper were just that organizations benefit from the right-sized leadership fit. Innovation is important in logistics so having a strategic leader is important but it is the day-to-day hustle that brings money and a positive or negative reputation to the table. 

I don’t think I had any assumptions coming into this project – or at least the volunteering and what I’d find at XPO. I’d worked in factory and warehouse environments before so I knew a bit about what to expect and what questions I needed to ask. The implications and consequences that I found were that if organizations don’t think carefully about the styles of leadership their leaders exude then they could mismatch styles with needs and create a negative working environment.

My point of view as I went about answering these questions was that of a Boeing employee, woman, basically an outsider in the XPO organization, and with a background in supply chain and warehouse activities. The limitations of my POV were that it had been a while since I worked daily in a warehouse environment and that the shipping and receiving technology could have changed, my limitations were also that because I was an outsider and a Boeing employee that people might not be willing to talk to me or would not behave as they normally would if there wasn’t a stranger observing them.