Change of Ownership Relations - Essay Example

? Research Methods by The of the The of the The of the school The and where it is located Date Change of ownership relations, the progress of science and technology, the widespread dissemination of information and telecommunication technologies have dramatically changed the look of manufacturing and its socio-cultural environment, and resulted in a significant change in the culture of business organization. In addition, the transition to modern forms of management and governance imposes some new requirements, reflecting the present state of organizational culture, on entrepreneurs. The urgency of studying the problem of leadership as a sociological phenomenon is determined primarily by the fact that the latter represents one of the most important factors of group integration facilitating the achievement of organizational goals with the greatest effect. A key figure in business organization is a leader. His or her role and significance in the modern market society can not be underestimated. Developed countries spend vast resources on training professional managers. This problem is especially acute for many countries, which have very limited experience in training managers with the leadership skills in a market economy. Its solution depends on developing the right ideas about what qualities should be possessed by any leader working under modern conditions. The main objective of work boils down to, to learn the concepts and essence of leadership, to analyze the relationship between supervisor and subordinates, and make recommendations for the improvement of the organization efficiency on the whole. Implementation of the function of leadership must always entail changes and renewal. If any organization wants to survive and succeed in its business, then, on the analogy with people, it must adapt to environmental conditions and change along with them. Leaders are the first people, implementing innovations in their organization’s business. There are always people, individuals and whole groups, who fear to lose-something as a result of change. The last cause tensions, even in such cases, when it is obvious, that such changes are overdue and necessary. Without leadership any organization becomes detached from life, losing its ground, becoming less popular and effective. Leadership involves the process of social impact. The emphasis on "group" was and remains common to leadership theories and research in this area. This level of analysis refers to the micro level of organizational behavior and leadership studies. Business organization and, especially, organizational culture, in this case is rarely included in the scope of scientific interests. In this connection, study of problems of organizational leadership takes its particular relevance through the prism of an entrepreneurial culture under modern conditions. The extent of the given problem, relations between the leadership and team and the root causes of this universal social phenomenon were interesting for both thinkers of antiquity and modern times: Socrates, Aristotle, Machiavelli, and Kant. Analysis of business organizations as socio-cultural phenomenon dates back to the tradition of Max Weber, Talcott Parsons, K. Levin, F. O. Selznick, and especially Charles Barnard and H. Simon (the latter largely foreshadowed the notion of "organizational ethics", the main features of the "organizational culture" category). The very introduction of the term "organizational culture ", as part of the business culture, and its detailed study dates back to the late 70-ies of XX century. G. Hofshtede (2000) conducted the most comprehensive study in the area of ??establishment and functioning of the enterprise culture and its typology. The models of the organizational culture influence on the functioning and management of the organization were suggested by V. Sate, T. Peters and R. Waterman, R. Quinn, J. Rohrbach, R. De George, J. Burns. The new aspects of leadership analysis were labeled in trade organizations in the early XX century, by the so-called classical school of management. The attention was originally focused on the characterization of the nature and essence of the leader's personality. During the study of leadership skills, There were several points of view formed: characterological approach (W. Bennis, R. Mann, R. Stogdill) ; implicit theory (W. Bennis and B. Nanus, J. Burns, L. Atwater and Yammarino II ; behavioral approach (Lewin, R. Lippitt and R. White); probabilistic approach (F. Fiedler, K. Shrishraym and B. Tepper). However, despite the large number of works in the field of leadership, done by western researches mostly, a unified and universal theory of leadership is not yet developed in sociology of management. Most of the studies conducted throughout the world are devoted to the political leadership, as well as to organizational leadership in psychology. Still, nowadays, the leadership studies transition from philosophy and psychology into sociology is being enhanced (Miltenberger, 2004). It should be noted that totality of the developed concepts, approaches, assumptions and methods, which can explain some aspects of this multifaceted phenomenon more or less circumstantially, does not disclose a social phenomenon in extenso. The given research supports the idea that leadership is a social factor of business and its culture organization management. Nowadays, it is important to analyze the role of leadership in shaping and managing the organizational culture of various market structures. The problem of leadership, in the process of shaping the organizational culture is, above all, finding and bringing into operation the social mechanisms of the group integration, which determines the behavior of different social communities within the business culture. When investigate the role of global leadership skills in multinational organizations, it is important to burry in mind such fundamentals: nonlinearity of social events and poor predictability of social relations, especially medium and long term based ones, requires head’s (leader’s) practical application of individual and situational management styles; the leader’s influence on business organization manifests itself in various treaties and agreements, concluded in the framework of social partnership, as well as in income distributions and using the organizational culture as an effective tool for organizational changes implementation; under the development of society and its individuals, culture of business organization becomes a dominant component of the management style; ways of entrepreneurial culture forming imply the perception of business organization not only as a techno-economic but also as a social system; it is suggested that culture performs its function at different stages of organizational development, and thus, there is a number of specific methods, applied for its studying. When considering typologies of leadership and organizational culture of entrepreneurship, it is expedient to use the principles of structure functional, systemic and situational approaches, the method of comparative analysis of various sociological schools, school of human relations and behavioral sciences. In the context of a visual research task, the method of structure functional analysis can be applied for the investigation of the role of global leadership skills in multinational organizations. Structure functional analysis is an approach to the description and explanation of social phenomena, in which we study their components and the dependencies between them, in whole, under the assumption that certain social phenomena perform a specific function in maintaining and changing the social system. Systemic approach is an approach, under which any system (object) is considered as a set of interrelated elements (components), having output (target), input (resources), connection with the external environment and feedback. This is the most sophisticated approach. Systematic approach is a form of application of the theory of knowledge and dialectics to the study of processes occurring in nature, society, thinking. Its essence is to implement the requirements of general systems theory, according to which every object in the course of its investigating should be regarded as a large and complex system and, simultaneously, as part of a common system. Thus, it is obvious that personal leadership qualities of each, let us say manager, are very important for the prosperous and effective functioning of the entire multinational organization. Or, vice versa, the failures of one manager may cause the default of the organization. That is why the given methods are applicable for studying the leadership skills of some particular individual, as such personal skills are integrally linked to the work of the entire organization. The method of comparative analysis can also be applied when studying the leadership skill. It is possible to compare the leadership qualities of some employees and run to a certain conclusion: what kind of qualities and skills are matching the needs of the organization the best, what kind of leadership skill the managers of this organization lack, etc. The method of comparative-historical analysis can be used for the same purpose, as well. Comparative-historical analysis is the scientific method, by which the general and specific in historical process is being singled out by comparing, knowledge of various historical stages of development of one and the same phenomenon or two different coexisting phenomena is achieved; it is a kind of historical method. It helps to identify and compare levels of development of the body of interest, its changes and identify its trends (Schriesheim; Tepper; Tetrault, 1994). Approaches to the leadership skills study differs greatly, first of all, because of three key variables’ combination, which attracts the attention of contemporary researchers: leadership, leadership behavior and the situation in which the leader acts. Each approach offers its own solution of the effective leadership problem. The early traditional concepts suggest that effective leadership can be defined on the basis of either the qualities of a leader or a sample of his behavior. Approaches based on situational leadership, offered the explanation of the leadership effectiveness through a variety of situational variables, i.e. through the influence of external factors; the personality of leader is not taken into consideration. New concepts tried to combine the strengths and achievements of both traditional and situational approaches. These concepts are based on an analysis of the nature of leadership and its relations to the existing situation. “Power is the ability to influence the behavior of others. In addition to the formal authority, the leader needs power, because he or she depends on people both within the chain of commands and out of it” (Tepper; Tetrault, 1994). It is necessary for all organizations to use the power appropriately to achieve the effective functioning, especially for the multinational organizations. In various parts of the organization, the supervisors depend on their subordinates and colleagues. In fact, these groups are part of the manager’s environment. Any supervisor can not perform the functions effectively without these people’s assistance. Many managers are also directly dependent on the people outside their own organization - suppliers, customers, competitors, regulatory agencies and of trade unions. Ideally, all these people and force would be willing to cooperate with the supervisor, and provide everything necessary for the successful work and achievement of the organizational goals. Unfortunately, the real world makes the job more complicated. As it was noted by Chester Barnard (2004), subordinates may refuse complying with the supervisor’s request, without stultifying his or her offices. Contemporary workers are, as a rule, much more educated and less willing to put up with the traditional power than their predecessors. Even if such problem does not arise, the head often depends on the people that are not formally subject to him. For example, in regard to information and services, the linear control is now becoming increasingly dependent on a managerial staff, which is out of control. In some situations, staff personnel have only advisory powers, and the operators are dependent on line managers during the implementation of their recommendations. Such dependence on the factors and people, which can not be controlled directly, is the main reason for the difficulties experienced by senior staff. However, not only feelings suffer. If the managers are unable to cope with these number of "uncontrollable" forces effectively, they will not be able to perform their own functions, and this will inevitably result in reduction of the efficiency of both individual labor input and the entire organization operation (Zaccaro, S J, Gulick, 2004). However, now it is widely recognized that “the influence and power are in equal measure dependant on the individuals that are affected, as well as on the situation and the ability of the manager or supervisor. Power of this or that person in a particular situation is not determined by the level of the formal powers, it is determined by degree of dependence on another person. The greater dependence on another person is, the more power that person possesses” (Nobel, 2011). The earliest approach to assessing management style was an opinion, based on an assessment of personal qualities. “According to the personal theories of leadership, also known as theory of great people, the best managers have a certain set of common to all of them personal qualities (intelligence, knowledge, impressive appearance, honesty, common sense, initiative, social and economic education and a high degree of self-confidence)” (Nobel, 2011). Therefore, if one possesses these qualities, the further development of them will allow become a good leader in the future. Later there was another behavioral approach. But this approach was not efficient. Further investigation showed that the situational factors play a significant role in management effectiveness; such situational factors include, for example, needs and personal characteristics of subordinates, the nature of the job requirements and the impact of the environment and manager’s available information. In practice this means that the manager-leader should behave differently, in accordance with the current situations. Thus, representatives of the school have developed a behavioral approach to determining the important factors of effective leadership: an approach from a position of personal qualities, peculiarities of human behavior in organizations and the specific situation. According to the behavioral approach to management, on the ways and methods related to subordinates, “each organization is a unique combination of individuals, goals and objectives” (Nobel, 2011). And every manager is a unique personality, possessing a number of abilities. Therefore, the leadership style should be related to a position of leader. According to the classification of Kurt Levin (1997), style is one-dimensional and can be authoritarian, democratic or liberal. Personnel manager's job is related to many sciences such as psychology, sociology, law, ethics and economics. Manager should understand people, understand their needs, and be able to communicate with different people. Each person is unique, and understanding the motives of conduct specifics of employee, sober assessing his or her abilities and potential can be very helpful for the effective functioning of organization. Thus, the most important skills of a leader, referring to the “combination of knowledge, behavior and experience, include the ability to implement, the ability to delegate authority and responsibility, the ability to organize and motivate the teamwork. Priority setting, self-confidence and self-knowledge, analytical thinking, ability to recognize the most significant factors, systematic information processing, program development, trend identification and the distribution of time and efforts are also the integral leadership skill of any successful manager” (Nobel, 2011). All the methods and approaches towards investigation of global leadership skills can be successfully applied by various organizations. Organization, as it was stated above, is a socio-technical system, where people work together to achieve common goals. Functioning of any organization requires all employees’ (not just management) awareness of goals and values ??of the organization and their participation in policy-making. Good leader is the key to the success of the organization, especially multinational one, as finding approach to the employees, taking into consideration the specifics of their mentality, needs and beliefs, requires much effort and experience. References Bennis W, Nanus B 1985, Leaders: The strategies/ or taking charge. New York: Harper & Row. Bennis W. 1984, The 4 Competencies of Leadership//Training and Development Journal. August 5(16). Burns JM. 1978, Leadership. New York: Harper & Row. De George, R T 2009, A History of Business Ethics. Retrieved 18 May from http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/focusareas/business/conference/presentations/ Harvard Business School Put leadership into practice as you learn in the classroom and in the world. Retrieved 19 May from http://www.hbs.edu/learning/ Lewin, K; Lippitt, R., White, RK 1939, Patterns of aggressive behavior in experimentally created "social climates." Journal of Social Psychology, 10: 271-299. Miltenberger, RG 2004, Behavior Modification Principles and Procedures (3rd ed). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning. Nobel, C 2011, Being the Boss Published: Author. Retrieved 18 May from /http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/6573.html/ Schriesheim С А, Tepper B J & Tetrault L A 1994, Least preferred co-worker score, situational control, and leadership effectiveness: A meta-analysis of contingency model performance predictions. Journal of Applied Psychology, 5 (3): 16-43. Smith, J.A, Foti RJ 1998, A pattern approach to the study of leader emergence. Leadership Quarterly, 9(8) 147-160. Zaccaro, S J, Gulick, LM & Khare, VP 2008, Personality and leadership Westport, CT: Praeger. Read More