Perceptions and leaders - Essay Example

Perception and Leadership al affiliation: A leader is a person who assumes administrative responsibilities(Bertocci, 2009). The term leader identifies a person who leads in accomplishing some assigned duties. In the article, I will discuss how followers’ perception on their leader affects his leadership style and how to assess how they perceive the leadership style that is used. Later it will analyze the steps that a leader should take if he discovers that the way he perceives himself is not the same way that the followers perceive him.

In an organization, both the leader and follower are essential in an organization. Although many scholars concentrate on the leaders and their roles only, it is important to note that both the leader and follower are equally important in leadership as they depend on one another. (Bertocci, 2009) There are two theories that talk about leadership and this are transformational leadership and transactional leadership. In transformational leadership, the follower is there to be recipients of the leaders influence and behavior while in transactional leadership the followers and leaders both take part in the leadership process.

Therefore, to look at how followers’ perceptions affect the leader’s style, two types of leadership will be important in our discussion.In looking at the perception that the followers have on their leader and how it affects the style of leadership, it is important to look at the behavior of the leaders (Schumann 2011). The leader behavior is divided into two categories that is, initiating and consideration. Those who are initiating are goal centered they focus on rules, tasks and coordinating the followers.

While the consideration leaders are open to followers suggestions and are supportive to the followers. From this, it is possible that some followers perform their duties because they fear the leader while others accomplish their duties because they want to please the leader and later be rewarded. Therefore, it is proper to say that the behavior of the leader and the perception of the follower can determine the leadership style that the leader uses. To assess your leadership style you need to look at the behavior of the follower.

The followers always have certain expectations that they expect their leader to meet .if he meets those expectations then the followers ascribe authority to you as a leader they respect and trust you. However, if he fails to meet the expectations of the followers, the relation between them is strained, and the followers develop mistrust towards the leader. If, as a leader, you are using transformational leadership, you will always notice that the followers are motivated to perform their assigned duties because of the feelings they have towards you as a leader.

However, if you are using transactional leadership, the followers will always work towards achieving a reward. Followers, who are mostly agreeable, open and extroverts are associated with transformational leadership.When a leader discovers that the perceptions of the follower are not in alignment with his self-perception, he should try to evaluate himself; this is according to (Schyns, & Hansbrough, 2010). He should not just overlook the fact that, there is a relationship between how his followers perceive his leadership skills, his strengths, self-esteem and how he rewards their efforts.

If he discovers that something is not happening according to his expectations, then it is time for him to readjust and adapt a different leadership strategy.Finally, I believe this kind of assessment is good for a leader because, through assessing how the followers perceive you, it is easy to know the type of leadership to use. When you discover that the way you perceive yourself is not the way they perceive you, then you are able to work on yourself image and offer the leadership that suits their situation.

ReferencesBertocci, D. I. (2009). Leadership in organizations: There is a difference between leaders and managers. Lanham, Md: University Press of America.Schumann, S. (2011). Time perception in leadership: A case study of Chinese business culture. München: GRIN Verlag GmbH.Schyns, B., & Hansbrough, T. (2010). When leadership goes wrong: Destructive leadership, mistakes, and ethical failures. Charlotte, N.C: Information Age Pub.