Application of Systems Theory on Leadership - Research Paper Example

Application Of Systems Theory On Leadership Abstract Even though leadership is a talent, application of systems theory helps improve performance because systems theory motivates employees and research show that it enhances staff cohesion. Leaders are gauged in how well their juniors perform. For the juniors of a leader to perform well, there needs to be cohesion within the team, and individual team members need to be personally motivated to perform their tasks. In this paper, we will carry out a case study to find out how the application of systems theory can help improve the performance of a leader. To achieve this, we will analyse the leadership of one of the trainers of MMI cadets who was found to apply systems theory as part of his leadership style. Through this case study, a revelation will be done in the important role that systems theory has played in the career of the senior trainer (Salas, Tannenbaum, Kraiger & Smith-Jentsch, 2012). Introduction Having a high performing organization or unit is the dream of any leader in today`s leadership environment. Leaders are now more and more being measured based on the output of their organizations and no other immeasurable performance indicators (Wong & Laschinger, 2013). High performing leaders are considered the best in the world and can be said to be doing more than just surviving. These leaders prosper due to their capacity building and continuous adaptation of the ever-changing leadership landscape (Wong & Laschinger, 2013). Due to this performance, high performing leaders deliver the expectations of their stakeholders thereby lifting their portfolio and capacity as well. Sustained performance by a leader is crucial in maintaining the overall strength of a company or organization (Wong & Laschinger, 2013). This is only possible if a leader can implement successful systems that can adapt to the long-term internal and external changes. The leader to be analyzed for this case study was able to create a high performing organization in relatively stable conditions which poses a significant challenge. The application of systems theory by a leader involves taking a systems approach to leadership. This is a comprehensive approach to sustainable leadership and organization progression (Voegtlin, Patzer, & Scherer,2012). This is a methodology that helps a leader overcome challenges posed by the reductionist approach of working on a whole system. A systems approach to leadership provides practical solutions to the various challenges that face any organizational leader today. A systems approach to leadership involves the use of four major components which include; an overall strategy, actionable method, support action strategies, skills and processes and methods and basic assumptions (Voegtlin, Patzer, & Scherer,2012). Hypothesis Even though leadership is a talent, application of systems theory helps improve performance because systems theory motivates employees and research show that it enhances staff cohesion. Some philosophers argue that leadership is a talent and therefore inborn. In this paper, we will differ with that ideology by arguing that through the application of certain leadership theories one can become a high performing leader. To achieve this, we will research the performance of an MMI cadet trainer, before the application of systems theory and after. Methodology This research will be carried out in the form of a case study. We will analyze the performance of an MMI cadet trainer before undergoing training on leadership theories and after the application of these theories, systems theory to be particular. The team will also interview the MMI cadet trainer and the leadership theories trainer. When interviewing the MMI cadet trainer, we will seek to find out whether he applied what he was taught in class. With the leadership theories trainer, we will find out whether indeed he trained our study subject systems theory and how it can be applied. Results To conclude as to whether the application of systems theory had helped our subject in becoming a better leader we collected data on the number of trainees that had graduated from his training college. We also learned that cadets graduating with high marks get to join another leadership training for them to lead others in battle. We also analyzed how many leadership candidates our subject was producing before and after the leadership theories training. Our study subject had been a junior trainer at the same cadet training school. He was promoted to the chief trainer position in the year 2010. We will study the data from 2010 since this is the period he was in a decision-making capacity. He was trained on leadership theories in the year 2013 and says that he began applying system approach to leadership immediately. On analyzing the performance of the trainer, we realized that he had been averaging 406 graduates from his college in the four years before attending the training. Upon attending the training, his average number of graduates moved to 613 in three years' time as shown in Illustration 1. This shows that through the application of systems theory he was able to improve processes within his college thereby being able to produce many graduates. At the same time, we measured the quality of the training offered. To do this, we collected data on the number of top performers in the years. These top performers qualified to join leadership colleges. Surprisingly the figure had also moved from an average of 11 cadets to an average of 31. This proofs that despite producing many graduates the quality of training was also good. Conclusion Nowadays leadership has changed especially on the key performance indicators. Organizations and companies are now more concerned on the production of a leader more than before (Wong & Laschinger, 2013). Leaders of the 21st century should now be more concerned in coining their leadership styles into achieving the highest possible results. This can be achieved through the application of certain leadership theories. In this paper, we have shown how a leader was able to success transform his leadership performance through the application of systems theory. To understand how the leadership performance of the cadet trainer improved we analyzed his performance regarding quantity and quality (Salas, Tannenbaum, Kraiger & Smith-Jentsch, 2012). The number of cadets graduating from his college was discovered to be on an upward trend since the application of systems theory. The number of graduates qualifying for training on leadership was also increasing depicting the fact that training quality was also improving courtesy of systems theory. References Salas, E., Tannenbaum, S. I., Kraiger, K., & Smith-Jentsch, K. A. (2012). The science of training and development in organizations: What matters in practice. Psychological science in the public interest, 13(2), 74-101. Voegtlin, C., Patzer, M., & Scherer, A. G. (2012). Responsible leadership in global business: A new approach to leadership and its multi-level outcomes. Journal of Business Ethics, 105(1), 1-16. Wong, C. A., & Laschinger, H. K. (2013). Authentic leadership, performance, and job satisfaction: the mediating role of empowerment. Journal of advanced nursing, 69(4), 947-959. Appendix 1 Appendix 2 Year Graduates Leadership promotions 2010 442 13 2011 392 8 2012 403 12 2013 387 11 2014 456 18 2015 639 32 2016 745 44 Read More