The Role of Self-Leadership among the Employees - Essay Example

Self-leadership Name: Institution: Course: Date: Currently, the organizations are being faced by many challenges emanating from the increased levels of competition. As a result, they are diversifying their operations in order to reduce risks and uncertainties associated with concentrating on a single market. Moreover, the increasing level of globalization resulting from liberalization of markets, efficient flow of information, and integration of economies, has led to the entry of multinational companies in the local market. Therefore, for the local businesses to remain competitive, they must come up with effective strategies to retain their segment the market. Many of these businesses have opted to mechanize their operations. However, others have retrenched their employees in order to reduce the operational costs. Nevertheless, these challenges can be resolved through instilling the virtue of self-leadership among the employees. This paper will discuss how self-leadership can be used to replace the current external leadership. Self-leadership entails the setting up of personal goals, understanding the strategies and procedures to be used in order to reach the goals, and having internal motivation without depending on external supervision in order to achieve a specific task. Currently, organization is encouraging innovation in order to remain competitive in the market. However, many of the employees who have the capacity to come up with innovative ideas are held up by lack of freedom to express or explain the ideas to the top management (Neck & Manz 2007). For instance, majority of the major innovators who have made a major difference in the world quitted their formal employment in order to pursue their innovative desire. In an example, Apple Inc company founder Steve Jobs had to quit his job in order to become more innovative without limitation from external managers. Through persistence and numerous tests, he designed a computer which has revolutionized the mode of communication in the world. Self-leadership among the employees is crucial in giving the employees the ability to make crucial and very difficult decisions without the influence of external supervisors. Currently, the organizations have become dynamic. As a result, they are being faced by varying challenges which require instant solutions. Many of the businesses have increased their operations. As a result, the top managers are dealing with various subsidiaries, some of which are located in different parts of the world. Therefore, it’s impossible for them to make instant decisions. This is because some of them require local experience (Jones & George 2013). Hence, self-leadership by the employees is important in delegation of authority, an aspect that gives the subordinates an opportunity to make positive decisions that influence the performance of the organization. The performance of many organizations is being curtailed by constant conflicts. Currently, many firms are employing employees emanating from different races, tribes, and gender. This is to enable the businesses to deal with diversified challenges. However, this strategy has become a challenge because these employees have different ways of conducting their affairs. As a result, there are constant conflicts which are negatively affecting the overall unity of the employees. Self-leadership concept can close this gap by giving the employees the authority to manage the organization. As a result, the employees would be ready to ensure that any outstanding issue that might affect the stability of the business is dealt with before it gets out of hand (Lewis, Goodman & Fandt 2004). This aspect would be significant in enabling all employees to focus their attention to internal and external factors that might threaten the competitive advantage of the organization. In 21st Century, employees' motivation has become an important factor towards the success of the organization. Many firms are using various means in order to keep their subordinates motivated. For instance, a reward system has been widely used as a means of motivating the employees. Although the strategy has been successful, it has been taking a huge amount of profits which could have otherwise been used to expand the operations of the business. However, self-leadership concept would reduce the money spent to motivate the employees through improving the internal motivation of the employees. This is through making the employees feel like part of the organization. As a result, they would be responsible for the success or failure of the organization. In such a case, they would feel recognized and appreciated. This would be significant in improving their motivation levels, an aspect that would be replicated in the overall performance of the organization. Self-leadership is a source of pride, confidence, and effective personal management of time. Many of the employees work to please the top management. Majority of them do not offer all they can because they feel disconnected from the rest of the workforce. In addition, when crucial decisions are being made in the organizations, they are rarely involved. As a result, they feel that they are working in order to earn a salary and other benefits rather than achieving the overall goals that are set in the organization (Jones & George 2013). This aspect prevents the employees from working as a team. In addition, the employees can only work effectively while under maximum supervision. Employing many supervisors is a costly affair to any organization irrespective of its size. Therefore, every organization is trying to reduce the cost of operation. Self-leadership can be able to solve this problem by giving the employees the freedom to operate without being supervised. In addition, the concept allows the employees to make several decisions that do not require technical skills on their own. Although some decisions require guidance from the top managers, this freedom allows the employees to be time conscious and manage the limited resources effectively for the benefit of the organization. As a result, the employees are able to take up major roles of management, an aspect that gives the top management an opportunity to deal with major issues and make decisions to improve the performance of the business (DiLiello & Houghton 2006). For instance, self-leadership among the employees enable the top management to make decisions on expansion of the business to new markets, acquiring or merging with other businesses, and penetration of new market in order to increase the overall returns of the business. Self-leadership can only flourish when the top management implements an open office policy. This would allow the employees to report their grievances to the top management without the use of the intermediaries. In addition, the strategy would reduce the powers embedded on the supervisors and transfer it to the subordinates. This would enable them to make simple decisions without having to request permission from the management. As a result, they would feel integrated into the organization's system. Therefore, they would work hard and in order to ensure that their organization remains competitive in the market. Self-leadership concept can only work when the top management encourages the employees to be self-driven and outspoken. In many cases, the employees feel that their voices are being curtailed by the domineering managers. Therefore, the top managers should be encouraged to delegate some of the simple tasks to the employees (Arbinger Institute 2000). Furthermore, they should encourage the employees to speak out. Moreover, organizing frequent forum with the employees would play a significant role in encouraging the concept. During the meetings, the managers should encourage independent decision-making concept as long as the decisions do not affect the organization negatively. Self-leadership can lose flavor if there is no spirit of teamwork in the organization. When the organization failed to bring the employees together, there is an increased conflict. In such a case, supervisors are called in order to keep an eye on the operations of the employees. This aspect can be interpreted by the employees as an attempt to curtail their freedom. As a result, they can counteract the move by ensuring that they derail the operations of the business. When these aspects are not dealt with effectively, they can affect the competitive position of the business. Self-leadership improves the level of communication in an organization. Communication among the employees and between the top management and the rest of the subordinates has become an important aspect towards the success of any organization (Neck & Houghton 2006). However, if there is a disconnect between any of the groups, the overall performance would be greatly affected. Therefore, self-leadership ensures that employees feel free to speak out and consult on any outstanding issue. This plays a significant in ensuring that the organization remains united. As a result, all teams in the organization work towards dominating the market and fighting against the external forces that might affect the stability of the organization. This is the reason why multinational companies such as Toyota, McDonalds, and KFC have remained competitive for a long time. Although implementation of self-concept might have many advantages, it might also bring different challenges. For instance, it might make it hard for the top management to have control over the operations of the business. In case a mistake is done, it might become very hard to identify the responsible person. In conclusion, the organizations are expanding their operations in different parts of the world. As a result, it is become hard for the managers to monitor the operations of the employees despite the existence of technologies such as videoconferencing. As a result, for the organizations to achieve success, they should implement the self-leadership concept. This would make the employees be responsible, accountable for their actions and results, and integrate the employees in decision-making process. Therefore, it is the high time that the firms implement the concept in order to make it easier to deal with 21st century’s challenges that are threatening the existence of some businesses. References Arbinger Institute. (2000). Leadership and self-deception: Getting out of the box. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler. DiLiello, T. C., & Houghton, J. D. (2006). Maximizing organizational leadership capacity for the future: Toward a model of self-leadership, innovation and creativity. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 21(4), 319-337. Jones, G. R., & George, J. M. (2013). Contemporary management (3rd ed.). North Ryde: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Lewis, P. S., Goodman, S. H., & Fandt, P. M. 2004. Management: Challenges for tomorrow's leaders. Mason, OH: Thomson/South-Western. Neck, C. P., & Manz, C. C. 2007. Mastering self-leadership: Empowering yourself for personal excellence. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall. Neck, C. P., & Houghton, J. D. (2006). Two decades of self-leadership theory and research: Past developments, present trends, and future possibilities. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 21(4), 270-295. Read More