Organization Requires Strong Leadership Rather Than Sound Management - Essay Example

?“An organisation requires strong leadership rather than sound management if it is to become a learning organisation” Introduction Organisation struggle to develop into model institutions whose structure of leadership can be emulated by others and considered as a beacon of great management practices. Leadership can be defined as the ability of the management to provide inspiration, objectives, operational oversight and administrative services to a business that enables it to grow and change into a major institution in the business world. A strong leader is one who can inspire confidence and support among the people that work under him in order to improve service delivery within the learning institution. Strong leadership influences positive behaviour and strong belief among people in an organisation thus improving the overall performance of the organisation. Learning organisations are companies or organisations that develop programs to facilitate the learning of its people with the objective of continuously transforming itself to enable the company remain competitive in the harsh current business environment. Building an organisation into learning organisations begins with changing people’s rational of thinking and how they act to different business situations. Strong leadership is essential in shaping the working mentality of people in organisation, an element which is essential in shaping an institution to become a learning organisation. Sound management influences how different employees at different levels of management in the organisation relate with each other towards achieving the objectives of growing into a learning organisation (Gosling and Dennison, 2003). The success of institution is however hinged on a number of factors that are under the control of the management and the people in the organization as whole. Sound management refers to the practical plan and control mechanisms put in place by an organisation to enable it implement its policies and organisational programs. Organizations struggle to adopt sound management practices hoping that such practices will improve their chances of growing into greater institutions that can be emulated by other organisations. Success in an organization however requires strong leadership capabilities as opposed to the adoption of sound management practices without improving the leadership abilities of the organization (Gosling and Dennison, 2003). The presence of good leadership in an organization can be felt throughout the entire organization through the sound policies that the organization implements and its ability to handle different challenging situations surrounding the business. Good leadership develops a great corporate and organizational culture that guide the progress made by the organization and its success in the future decisions. The traits and features of a successful leader are quite evident in the way they handle different situations in an organization that affects the development of an organization. This paper will evaluate the traits of a great leader in organizations and how these traits shape the image of the business and its success. In providing the basis for the conclusion that strong leadership is important for an organisation that intends to grow into a learning organisation, this paper will analyse the various strong leadership theories and how they influences the development of an organisation. To demonstrate the choice of strong leadership as the best way of ensuring the growth of a company into a learning organisation, this paper will discuss three dimensions of strong leadership. In these dimensions, the different theories of leaderships will be discussed to demonstrate my choice of strong leadership. The attributes of strong leadership is the second dimension that the paper will discuss with bias towards how these attributes can enable an organisation to grow into a learning organisation. In the final dimension, the weaknesses of sound management will be evaluated as compared to the strengths of strong leadership in relations to management of organisations. The benefits of developing strong leadership qualities as opposed to sound management policies will also be evaluated to demonstrate how good leadership position are essential in an organization as opposed to sound management (Hamlin, 2002). Benefits of strong leadership as compared to sound management A good leader seeks to develop the attitude of the employees below him by providing a good structure that encourages individual development through motivation and culturing of great skills. The motivation of the people in a business encourages the development of good attitudes and behaviours among employees which results into increased productivity. A good leader thus seeks to encourage individual development through motivation and encouragement without the use of threats and blackmail. If a business for example intends to bring in a new line of production, sound management policies will deal with how the consumers or clients will develop a positive attitude towards the product without much consideration on how the people will view this additional task. Such an organization will go an extra mile to organize for open days with their clients in order to orient them with the new products and why it is good for them (Burns, 2003). However, it fails to appreciate the input of its people into the idea and how their contribution will be essential towards the successful implementation of the project. A good leader seeks to involve its people from the inception of the idea all the way through to its implementation because he appreciates the importance of employee participation. Employee engagement, a practice that has been shown to influence the success of an organization significantly can only be found in an environment that cultures good leadership practices. With this approach, it is highly possible that any program intended by the organization will most certainly succeed due to the approach used in introducing it and how the low level employees were motivated through good leadership to understand the need for the new project (Manning, 2003). Team leadership is an essential element of organizational leadership that enables an organization to develop and implement its policies within the timelines. This is quite different in a situation where an organization concentrates in improving its management qualities to enable it succeed in the business world. Teamwork eliminates individual weaknesses and increases the possibility of a plan or an idea being implemented to succeed and improve the business situation (Viinamaki, 2009). A team leader believes in delegation of duties and the appreciation of the different talents and abilities of the people in an organization. Talents and different levels of knowledge are essential for the success of a business idea and a combination of both is impossible in one individual making it necessary for teamwork leadership. Leadership build on diversity and the differences that exist among different employees encourages participation and involvement of all employees. A good team leader with the positive leadership attributes thus celebrates and embraces diversity among the people in an organization to improve its success (Malby, 2007). In an organization like Samsung Inc, there exist different people with different skills that enable the business to develop greater innovative products as has been witnessed in the organization. Good leadership thus appreciates and is not threatened by talent of the people within the organization as such talent can be used positively by the organization to increase its productivity and profitability. It also encourages the growth of personal strengths of its employees by adopting practices that allow the people to grow and develop their strengths. As I mentioned in the previous sections of this paper, the missions and visions of an institution strengthens its ability to achieve both its short and long-term goals. A good leader must thus be able to project the vision of the company positively to act as the guiding factor in the institution and to enable the organization achieves its goals (Hood, 2003). The success of a business or any organization for that matter is dependent upon the ability of the leadership to communicate its policies to its stakeholders appropriately. Good leadership skills include the ability to communicate business decision effectively to the people in the business and other people that the business interacts with. This cannot be found within sound management policies of a business but can only be natured through good organizational leadership and mentorship. A good leader communicates effectively within different levels of management and to all employees irrespective of the roles they play in the organization because he appreciates their roles and contribution in the business. Communication requires a platform that allows for interactive way of passing the information to people in an organization. Good leadership qualities integrate humour and warmth in communicative interactions, a process that improves the ability of the information to sink without misinterpretation. Women leaders have scored highly in their ability to pass information to the intended audience effectively using the demeanour and feminine mien. Persuasive communication is requires the ability of a leader to model his message to fit into the audience while avoiding prejudicial judgments (Raelin, 2003). A good leader possesses great outgoing personality that enables him to interact freely with employees from within the different ranks in the organization. A good leader must thus be able to work the crowd and make them buy his ideas at any time, a trait that is beneficial when the management intends to introduce a new program to the organization. Outgoing individuals are charismatic and have the ability to gain the attention, respect and trust of others in an organization, a trait that may not be present in sound management practices. Martin Luther King possessed great leadership qualities that enabled him to rally people behind him to support his movements despite the government and pro-whites group resistance. His ideas and manifestos were great but that alone could not have made the people see the logic and support his course against the discrimination that the blacks minority in the country faced. He thus used his great leadership attributes such as great charisma and outgoing personality to rally the people behind them. Strong leadership trait in the management enables the business to develop its ideals and goals based on the mission statement and visions of the business. Mission statement in an organization acts as the motivational elements in organization that is looked upon by other employees in implementing the business goals and ideas. Sound management policies focuses implementing the current policy without much consideration on the missions of the business. Good leadership qualities however look upon the founding statements and visions of the business in developing and implementing any policy within the organization. The designing of an organizations purpose is influenced by its traditional goals and this is applied in all business decisions from marketing and branding (McGuire, 2003). Organizational leadership in a company that is focused enables a business to achieve its goals and objectives within the stipulated timelines effectively. A good leadership foundation in a business facilitates the development of skills for employees that promotes more rapid growth in any business setup. It thus seeks to empower the employee by providing equal training and promotional opportunities to all irrespective of the roles they play in the organization. Organizations all over the globe are faced with resistance to change and organizational remodelling that affects the implementation of different programs that are necessary for the progress of the business. Change is an important element of any business that seeks to grow and counter the competition that exists in the business environment at all times. However, change is one of the elements of a business that is quite unfamiliar among people in an organization due to the impacts it presents to the traditional roles that such employees played. Such personal reasons that are known to increase the prevalence of resistance in an organization can be countered not through sound management but through the adoption of strong leadership skills. Managing organizational resistance to change is an important aspect of management that has for long, affected the success of the business in the changing business environment (Leslie, 2009). The management of change requires the presence of strong business leadership skills that can effectively communicate the changes to the employees to stall any resistance, which can affect the implementation of the policies. A good business leader seeks the opinion of other employees on the various issues of the business and involves them at the different level of the policy formulation and implementation. In involving the employees, a good business leader engages the inputs of the employees in developing a new idea that is part of the change that the business intends to introduce by taking in their contributions and changing the policy in line with the desires of the various stakeholders (Northup, 2005). Great leadership qualities appreciated the need for culturing teamwork and collectiveness in implementing any policy in the organization. Employee and staff teamwork has been shown to be a necessary part that allows for group cooperation that is necessary for the success of the organization plans and policies. This cannot be done through the use of good sound management techniques but through the ability of the leadership to adopt clear behaviour and practices that appreciates the inputs of the employees (Grint, 2004). Good leadership qualities in an organization encourage integrity and transparency in an organization, traits that enable an organization to progress and maintain its customer base. Promotion and hiring within the human resource department is one of the major concerns to employees as it determines the desires of the management to encourage sound development of all the people in the organization. Good leadership qualities encourage promotions on talent and integrity as opposed to the common least threatening individual as commonly done most organization (Hamel and Breen, 2007). As is present in other avenues of leadership, organizations also have different kinds of leaderships that determine its ability to succeed and integrate clear business policies that can enable it to succeed. There are three different types of leaders and each influences the ability of a business to succeed due to the impacts it has on employees and the stakeholder. Authoritarian leaders are threatening, coercive and intimidating to ensure that the decisions of the business are implemented. Such an organization intimidates its employees into accepting and implementing their decisions irrespective of the divergent opinions that may exist. Such a kind of leadership discourages the inputs of the employees in the formulation and implementation of policies and this increases the possibility of resistance and organizational sabotage. Such organizations works on the principles of the end justifies the means and have little regards for the approach that the business uses in implementing the programs (Carneiro, 2008). Laissez-fair kind of leadership adopts hands off approach in its management style and thus does not give much direction to its people. Such a leader allows members to make independent decisions and implement them based on their own individual judgment. Such kind of leadership fails to provide direction and mentorship to the employees and this increases the possibility of failure of the business policies. A good kind of leadership that can manage the current business environment requires the ability of the management to adopt the ‘we’ approach in its decision formulation and implementation (Burke and Cooper, 2006). A democratic leader focuses on what the organization can do collectively through the inputs of the all employees irrespective of their ranks. Authoritarian leadership can increase productivity due to the no q1nonsense approach that it adopts which provides no room for the input of other employees. Good democratic leadership encourages interpersonal connection and teamwork, which are some of the best management traits that encourages business growth in the current business environment (Arakawa and Greenberg, 2007). Technological growth today determines the ability of a business to change its practices and adopt clear business policies that encourages increased productivity and employee satisfaction. However, the ability of a business to incorporate modern methods and technology in its practices is dependent upon the leadership attributes of the management. A good business leader identifies the right technology, trains its staff on the new skills before introducing it into the business and makes the necessary adjustment to the business, which will enable it, integrates the changes effectively. A great leader thus searches for new and innovative ways of improving production and innovation in the organization in an environment that is people friendly. Sound management practices agitate with for the introduction of new innovative policies but fail to appreciate the inputs of the people in ensuring the success of such programs. Introduction of new ways of production alone does not guarantee success in any way but only improves ways of business practice in the organization (Cassandro and Simonton, 2002). Good leaders are known to shape the culture of an organization and this influences the ability of the organization to succeed and improve its performance in the international business environment. In shaping the culture of organization, the leaders in an organization must be able to measure and control the behaviours of people in the organization (Abbas and Asghar, 2010). Different scenarios in a business affect the position of the business and this is influenced by the reactions of the leaders. Resource allocation is an important aspect of a business that influences its ability to shape the department’s performance and success. The method used by a business leader to allocate its resources to the different levels of management within the organization is influenced by the positive attributes of such leadership. This influences the culture and image of the organization and its performance in the business environment, which is influenced by the attitude of the employees towards the image of the organization (Manz et al, 2009) Effective leadership involves role modelling, teaching and coaching the employees to understand the practices of the organization and adopts behaviours that are cognizant with the institution. As an institution, that requires emulation and to act as learning centre for other organization, the culture of an organization must thus be a clear picture of the real business. Recruitments, employee selection, promotion, retirement and retrenchment of employees must be handled in way that portrays the organization as both humane and considerate of the people’s plight. This can only be influenced by the trait of the organizational leader, which will be adopted by the organization thus becoming a culture of the organization (Cassandro and Simonton, 2002). Transformational leadership involves mutual stimulation and elevation that enables the conversion of the people who are viewed as followers in an organization into leaders. Good leadership in an organization thus cares about continuity within the organization and works to ensure that other employees are equipped with the necessary skills that can enable them to lead the organization later after the current leaders leave the organization. A transformational leader thus acts by increasing the roles and powers of his followers with aim of improving their ability to tackle different situation within the organization. Employees possess self-interest which may not auger well with the desires of the organization thus affects their ability to serve the interest of the organization effectively. Sound management practices will demand for the removal of such employees as they are viewed as a threat to the implementation of the organisation’s policies and goals (James and Burgoyne 2001). Good transformational leadership however seeks to transform the interest of the followers to concur with the interest of business thus making the inputs of such people beneficial to the institution. Such kind of leadership therefore appreciates the benefits of behavioural change among the employees that is highly essential for the modelling of the employees’ interest and desires to tally with the organisation’s visions and missions (Burkus, 2011). The current business environment is characterised by the desires to promote change through the implementation of an organisation’s visions and strategies. This is due to the increased customer demands and vibrant business environment characterised with high competition and lack of ethical business practises. Organisations must therefore have leaders with strategic leadership skills that can be able to predict the essential alterations and changes in the business environment. This will enable the business to create the required commitment and suitable policies for both its people and stakeholders to remain relevant in the business arena. Strategic leadership as opposed to sound management is thus important not only for an organisation’s effectiveness but also to ensure survival in the current rough business terrain (James and Burgoyne, 2001). Visionary leadership is also important for the development of a business and the implementation of policies that enables the business to remain relevant despite the tough competition it faces. While sound management agitates for the development of proper policies, visionary leadership foresees the benefits of the policies to the business in future (Rodgers et al, 2003). This shapes the decisions that the organisation makes and increase its chances of succeeding in the highly competitive and unpredictable business terrain. Visionary leaders thus have the ability to judge and perceive in a precise and accurate manner the best policies and decisions that the business should adopt. Visionary leadership also enables an organisation to identify the best course to be taken in moving forwards towards the implementation of a business policy. It does not just perceive and foresee the future but develop a framework that if correctly adhered to by the organisation will enable it to succeed despite the challenges present (Gosling and Dennison, 2003). Sound management formulates policies like a dreamer would have seen his ideas in the mind, leadership however posses the ability to turn dreams and ideas into reality. Good leadership is therefore not tied to the position of an individual as it is described as a state of mind, which is not dependent in any way on the position an individual holds. The need for leaders with strong leadership and management skills has thus increased now more than before mainly due to the uncertain business conditions that require innovation and the ability to aptly respond to the situations available. Innovation has the ability to move a company from its current position into a new position that is dependent on its products and the services it offers (Higgs, 2003). The consequences of poor leadership to an organisation can be so devastating to an extent that a business may be forced to close its operations and wind up. This demonstrates the need for good and business worthy leadership attributes in organisational leaders before the need for the development and growth of proper management structures. Businesses invest large sums of money in their management models and the benefit from such an investment can only be achieved through a leadership model that makes sound business policies and decisions (Perren, and Burgoyne, 2001). Research conducted by various organisations in the United Kingdom has shown that ineffective and poor leadership models are responsible for over ?19 billion losses annually from firms in the country. This further strengthens the need for organisations to change their leadership models for them to increase their productivity and profitability. The current economic status does not in any way; favour an organisation that has poor leadership and management practises. This can also occur despite the presence of good workforce in the organisation due to the inability of the management to tap the talent and strengths of its people positively to improve the business situation. The management of any organisation must therefore be cognisant of their mistakes and struggle to change them or turn them into opportunities for the business (Hamlin, 2002). The current business environment is faced with the challenge of handling a dynamic human resource that operates in a more dynamic environment. Employment today mean different things to different people thus making it essential for an organisation to learn new ways of tapping into the benefits that the current business environment presents. People in an organisation today prefer to have an environment that appreciates and nurtures their talents in a way that promotes their personal development. The inability of an organisation to handle such kind of people in an organisation increases the probability of failure and collision between the management and its people. Employee involvement and participation is no longer a preserve of a few institutions but a practise that must be perfected by almost all institutions that values success and competitive advantage. Not all this can be achieved by an organisation that lacks sound and strong leadership attributes among the managers (Gosling and Dennison, 2003). Good leadership qualities are therefore tools that can increase an organisation performance by being attentive to the emerging market issues and implementing sound policies that makes it possible for such an organisation to remain relevant. A good leader identifies where the problem lies and comes up with better ways of handling it with the available resources to improve the business position. Sound management however enables a business to delegate roles and duties to different offices without ascertaining the abilities of such offices and people to handle the situation. It does desire to know how a specific role will be attained but requires seeing the results at the end (Hamlin, 2002). Conclusion Good leadership is however engaging and requires the participation of all those that will be involved in almost all functions of the organisation. It thus seeks to engage the various managers in developing a work plan that is both flexible and beneficial to the organisation. Good leadership structures should thus be developed by all institutions that seek to manage the current and emerging business issues in the most effective way possible. It values the inputs of other employees and is thus highly engaging and moulding to ensure that any program it develops gets the support of all members in the organisation. Good leadership appreciate the existence of succession and thus seeks to train other employs to learn the culture of the business to enable them attain leadership positions later. Communication is an essential element of every business and especially in instances where an organisation intends to introduce changes within the institution. A good leader should be able to communicate his desires to his employees in the best way possible and seek their support before moving ahead to implement it. This is highly essential for an institution that seeks to develop itself into a model institution that can be emulated by others (Cassandro and Simonton, 2002). The development of an organisation into a learning organisation is influenced to a larger extent by the inputs of its leaders and how they relate with the employees of the organisation. The attitudes and behavioural development of the employee influences the image and ultimate performance of an organisation especially if such organisation seeks to develop into a learning organisation. Strong leadership qualities attributes such as communication abilities, interpersonal skills, ability to represent the organisations objectives and listen to the concerns of the employees has a major effect on the ability of the organisation to grow as this paper has discussed. Different theories that have been put forward on their contributions and impacts on an organisation are also very essential and makes it possible to conclude that strong leadership is necessary if an organisation is to grow into a learning organisation as opposed to sound management practises. 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