Current Issues in Leadership - Assignment Example

Current Issues in Leadership Discuss what the “tools of leadership” are as described in these Modules to Include what the techniques involveand what you get from using them. Leadership behavior is extremely important for an organization, as a leader is the one who can successfully give direction to an organization. An able leader helps the organization realize the organization goals and effectively executes orders. Leadership is often equated to a project, which needs a set of tools to perform a task successfully. According to Yukl (2008), the most important tools of leadership are directive leadership behavior, supportive leadership behavior, reward and punishment behaviors, empowerment and delegation, participative behavior and charismatic behavior. Leaders must be aware of all these leadership tools in order to be successful. However, it is recommended that the leader use only one of these tools while dealing with a particular project. The leader can nonetheless deploy other forms of leadership tools, if he feels they are required in different management situations. For example in directive leadership, the leader is completely aware of the expectations of the workforce and hence tells the workforce to perform tasks accordingly. In scenarios where the employees have ambiguous tasks, directive leadership behaviors come in handy (Yukl, 2008). On the other hand for participative leadership, leaders often require consulting with the followers and ask for suggestion from the followers or employees. In supportive leadership behavior, the leader plays a role of a friend who is extremely approachable. The leader encourages the workforce and helps them build confidence (Yukl, 2008). The leader therefore needs to first understand the current situation and then use the leadership tool which he or she finds to be the most appropriate. Hence these are some of the most important tools of leadership which helps leaders control and direct organizations more efficiently. 2. Discuss what the specific types and sources of power are (French & Raven, 1959) and discuss the benefits and costs associated with the use of each one. It is a known fact that leadership and power are very closely connected to each other. Since people follow a person who is powerful, a powerful person is the one who often leads. One of the most significant studies on the link between power and leadership was conducted by French psychologists Bertram Raven and John French in 1959. According to French and Raven, there are essentially five bases of power. They are namely Reward, Expert, Referent, Coercive and Legitimate (French & Raven, 1959). Legitimate power is the power which is derived from a person who has the ability of making demands and the one who expects people to show obedience to him. Expert power on the other hand is established on the person’s superior knowledge and skills. Reward is type of power which is a result of a person who can compensate another person for compliance. Coercive is the other source of power which means that a person is powerful enough to punish another person for non compliance. The final source of power, according to French and Raven is Referent. Referent is the type of power which is based on a leader’s perceived worthiness, attractiveness and his inherent ability to get respect from other people (French & Raven, 1959). Legitimate power is a source of power which is heavily reliant on the position or status that a person is in. A President’s post can be compared to legitimate power. As long as the person is President, his power remains but it disappears once he loses his designation. Therefore, other sources of power are required in order to be a powerful. Giving rewards to subordinates and others is a great way of exercising power and ensuring that people follow and are obedient to the orders and instructions. If others are convinced that one will reward them if they follow orders, in most cases they would be following the orders. However, a flip side of reward power is that people would subsequently need bigger rewards in order to remain motivated. People can also get satiated by frequent rewards. Coercive power is a power which is more aggressive and as such is very controversial. Coercive power is also one of the most abused sources of power. In an organizational setting however, using coercive power is not very effective since it is nowadays considered as demoralizing and derogatory for an organization’s set of values. The two other sources of power, expert power and referent power are considered by French and Raven to be sources of personal power. Using Expert power is ideal for improving one’s leadership skills in the organization (French & Raven, 1959). Moreover, referent power is another source of power which is equated with a person’s charisma, appeal and charm. A person who has a substantial amount of charisma is successful in making people follow him. However, depending excessively on referent power is not adequate to sustain leadership in an organization. Hence, it is important to integrate the other sources of power for achieving sustained success in the organization. 3. Discuss the specific traits that Stogdill (1948, 1974) originally discovered and which ones he discovered later, and which ones tend to still to be referred to as important traits that leaders should possess (in other words, which ones seem to have held up well under further research). In the mid part of the twentieth century, researchers such as Stogdill put more emphasis on the personal traits of leaders. Leadership trait researchers such as Stogdill tried to extensively analyze the leadership qualities and traits of leaders in order to differentiate the followers from the leaders. A number of their personal characteristics and traits were studied extensively by researchers. It was found by researchers that leaders acquire a status in the organization through continuous and active participation in organizational affairs. It was also observed that effective leaders are intelligent workers, are extremely alert to the needs of other colleagues, and are always encouraging group work for attaining organizational goals. Stogdill moreover identified six important aspects of a leader which are associated with leadership (Stogdill 1948). The six primary qualities included achievement, capacity, responsibility, status, situation and participation. Leaders are the ones who display a great amount of persistence while dealing with difficult situations and organizational deadlocks, they almost always accept responsibility, and always show an initiative. Stogdill also found that no single trait can distinguish a leader from a non-leader; rather it’s the combination of traits which make a leader. About 124 traits were evaluated by Stogdill from the year 1904 to 1948. It was observed that an effective leader helped the group in attaining goals by the virtue of certain leadership qualities. Some of those leadership qualities included having a clear understanding of the task at hand, displaying a fair amount of intelligence, being alert to the needs of the workforce, having a great problem solving ability, being responsible for the job, having self confidence and finally, displaying the leadership qualities of control and dominance in order to make the employees or the group follow the leader (Stogdill 1948). Thus, after several observations, Stogdill concluded that there are certain leadership traits which have held up under further research very well. The traits therefore were: Strong, persistent, goal-oriented, determined Hard worker, achiever, ambitious Insightful, empathic, sensitive, perceptive Conscientious, responsible, dependable Wise, verbal, intelligent, articulate, alert Optimistic, problem-solver, positive, Power-motivated, popular, status-oriented Honesty, trustworthy, integrity Active, sociable, warm, friendly, likable Learner, adaptive, growing , flexible, resilient Stogdill analyzed the data and used several methods as well as several groups for studying the data. He concluded that the groups and their social composition, as well as the variations in the methodology affected the leadership criteria difference (Stogdill 1948). He also stated that investigators who studies leadership qualities of famous leaders by studying their biographies are actually studying similar type of leadership behavior which could be observed in children’s leadership in children’s group activities. Stogdill additionally stated that different investigators used time sampling of behavior in group situations, analysis of biographical data and choice of associates for identifying the essential traits of leadership. 4. The author (Gary Yukl) discusses what he calls “Applications for Adaptive Leadership” (insights about effective leadership in different situations). Discuss each of these ideas, being sure to include comments about why the application may be a good thing to use in the work setting. According to author Gary Yukl (1994), there have been several researches on management and leadership. All the research carried on for several years have pointed that a leadership which is flexible and adaptive is the most effective form of leadership. A flexible and adaptive leadership is required the most when organizational situations change considerably. There are various reasons for changing situation in an organization. For example, when a manager transitions to a different leadership role or when there are sweeping changes in the current position of a leader or manager. Thus the research on situational differences for the same leader has several effects on improving the adaptive leadership and flexibility. Adaptive leadership first of all teaches managers to understand and evaluate a situation quickly (Yukl, 1994). It also requires a manager to choose the right pattern of behavior for producing the desired outcome. Adaptive leadership also helps managers to become experts in using various kinds of behaviors. It also assists the managers to influence the situational variables in order to determine the right behavioral choices. Adaptive leadership according to Gary Yukl is also necessary since often external events which are unusual, create a large crisis in the organization. There might be situations wherein there are uncertainty priorities of client s and bosses. There might be a scenario where quick revisions in schedules are required. Adaptive behavior also becomes necessary when there are organizational breakdowns such as supply shortages, accidents, terrorist attacks or weather problems (Yukl 1994). These are situations which entail the leader to display a high level of adaptive skills and crisis management. Hence, there are often situations where a prior Strategy or decision is rendered useless, and thus a timely and quick decision making process is required. Gary Yukl believes that the research on crisis management and sudden external changes in an organization gives researchers a good insight into the dynamics of flexible and adaptive behavior (Yukl 1994). Therefore, adaptive leadership is an invaluable tool for organizational leaders which help them to identify potential issues in the organization and take appropriate steps to correct the problems. References Bass, B. M. (1985) Leadership and Performance beyond Expectation, New York: Free Press Brown, R. V., Kahr, A. S. and Peterson, C., (1974), “Decision Analysis For the Manager”, International Series in Decision Processes, Holt, Rinehart and Winston French, John R.P. and Bertram Raven (1959) “Bases of Social Power.” Studies in Social Power, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Hersey, P. (1984) The Situational Leader, New York: Warner. Jones M. H., (1957), “Executive Decision Making”, Richard D. Irwin Inc., Homewood, Ill. Stogdill, R. M. (1948) ‘Personal factors associated with leadership. A survey of the literature, Journal of Psychology 25: 35-71 Wren, J. T. (1995). The Leader’s Companion: Insights on Leadership Through the Ages. New York, NY: The Free Press Yukl, Gary (1994) Leadership in Organizations. Third Edition, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Read More