Human Resourse Managment Leadership - Coursework Example

HRM leadership BY YOU YOUR SCHOOL HERE HERE Leadership Unlike typical management, which deals with concentrated planning and control systems to deliver performance, leadership is setting a vision for the organisation and then using interpersonal relationship theory, coaching, motivation and development to build a better team system. The idea is to empower employees, through leadership, to become self-directed and part of a knowledge system. A leader provides feedback to employees and offers high ethical competence in decision-making. Types of leadership include transformational leaders, those that inspire and encourage through vision. This leader profile is inspirational, offers employees encouragement, has integrity, is decisive, and very performance oriented (Endrissat, Muller & Meissner, 2005). The transformational leader “provides followers with challenges and meaning for engaging in shared goals and undertakings” (Bass & Steidlmeier, 1999, p.188). There are transactional leaders that focus on rewards in exchange for employees meeting organisational goals and, in management by exception, provides corrective action in the event of problems in the business or employee performance (Judge & Piccolo, 2004). This leader profile tends to be resource-oriented, concerned about measures of productivity and how to align employees with goal-setting based on functional processes. There are autocratic leaders that make decisions without consulting others and has strict control systems in place. Alongside this profile is the participative leadership style that focuses on performance through solid listening skills and promotes ongoing team-working practices with a flair for democracy in the organisational structure. 2. A critical review of two leader profiles Transactional leadership is more traditional in style and tends to revert back to previous business years where employees have more controls in place to guarantee performance. “They know what they want to get from their work and provides rewards only based on whether employee performance deserves it” (Hartog, House, Hanges & Ruiz-Quintanilla, 1999, p.220). Having a resource-based and control-based philosophy, this leadership style demands certain exchanges in order to meet organisational goals and often concern themselves with how best to structure the organisation, through resource development and adjustment, to improve productivity and efficiency. This type of leadership profile tends to work best in functional organizational structures where decisions are made at the top of the hierarchy and move downward through the organisation. The idea of contingent reward acts as a sort of scorecard to make sure that certain performance measures are met by employees and does not often allow employees to express their own innovations. Transformational leadership is more people-focused. It deals with ethical personality characteristics that give employees the perception of competence and integrity through direct leader actions and communications. It focuses on how to bring out the best in employees by appealing to their inherent abilities to provide harmony at the organisational level and reinforces developmental strategies to help employees maximise their strengths in job role or cultural contributions. This leadership profile has the leader being visibly ethical and then using charismatic personality traits, such as always telling the truth and being reliable, to bring employees toward meeting strategic goals. This profile empowers employees because it offers them opportunities to expand their knowledge and gives them a genuine advocate for helping them identify with their needs. It focuses on strengthening relationships which is important in most social environments. Apple Inc. uses this strategy to promote diversity and get people in the organisation to be more change-oriented when dealing with heavy competition. It works well in the business’ functional structure that empowers employees to be innovators. 3. Approaches to motivating employees Approaches to motivation include ongoing feedback systems, such as the 360 performance appraisal to identify their strengths in contribution to goal attainment. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, which recognises the stages of human needs that require fulfilment in order to be self-actualised, is another approach for leadership. Alongside this approach is the Theory X and Theory Y approaches that deal with either autonomous environments or those with more controls. McGregor developed his hygiene theory that deals with tangible and intangible job factors that contribute to motivation increases, including quality of compensation or environmental working conditions. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is one of the most relevant motivational theories. It suggests a pyramid structure starting with physiological needs, such as a clean working environment, that must be met before any positive contributions can be made. After these are met, employees require security, such as knowing their jobs will not be replaced by technology improvements. Once met, they require a social environment that is rewarding where they feel valued. Only after these are met can an employee fully develop their self-esteem so as to provide full contribution to the business objectives. Theory X is the idea that employees need many control systems and constant leadership guidance; authoritarian (Chapman, 2002). It describes them as being somewhat lazy and not looking to provide superior contribution. This type of style is often used in manufacturing environments with heavy output demands. Theory Y, on the other hand, sees employees as being capable of reaching target goals through increased job responsibility, empowerment, and knowledge-sharing. This approach brings employees into decision-making and helps to develop their needs to motivate positive performance. When contrasting these two, Theory Y typically brings more motivated employees as it releases heavy controls and helps them expand their business knowledge. Maslow’s theory and Theory Y are closely related and should give leaders an opportunity to boost morale and vision among employees because it focuses on satisfying needs. It promotes team-working and is a favourable option over Theory X that can lead to retention problems if employees feel they are not valued. 4. Conclusions Transactional leadership does not fully develop employees to expand their needs and tends to put resources ahead of the employee. It provides high amount of exchange as reward for meeting goals, but does not focus on Theory Y or Maslow’s principles for better motivational development. The impact of using transformational leadership is much more positive as it inspires others to have a vision of unity which is important in meeting long-term goals. Tighter control systems, such as Theory X and some elements of transactional leadership simply does not provide higher motivation to exceed expectations and senior managers should be more needs-focused to build more commitment to the organisation. 5. References Bass, B. & Steidlmeier, P. (1999). Ethics, character, and authentic transformational leadership behavior, Leadership Quarterly, 10(2), p.188. Chapman, Alan. (2002). Theory X and Theory Y. http://www.businessballs.com/mcgregorxytheorydiagram.pdf (accessed March 31, 2010). Endrissat, N., Muller, W. & Meissner, J. (2005). “What is the meaning of leadership? A guided tour through a Swiss-German Leadership Landscape”, Academy of Management Conference. Hartog, D., House, R., Hanges, P. & Ruiz-Quintanilla. (1999). Culture specific and cross culturally generalizable implicit leadership theories: Are attributes of charismatic/transformational leadership universally endorsed?, Leadership Quarterly, 10(2), pp.219-256. Judge, T. & Piccolo, R. (2004). Transformational and transactional leadership: A meta-analytic test of their relative validity, Journal of Applied Psychology, 89(5), pp.755-768. Read More