Leadership: Important Aspect of the Society - Essay Example

Leadership: Important Aspect of the Society PART A Leadership is a very important aspect of the society and, therefore, leaders are expected to exhibit specific qualities and attributes which demonstrate that they are effective leaders. Polsfuss and Ardichvili (2009, p. 23) add that leaders must be equipped with adequate and relevant knowledge diverse aspects of the society and organizations for them to achieve success in leadership. Good leaders are admired and considered to be competent in the whole leadership process. This results from their ability to effectively apply competencies, skills, talents, attributes and knowledge in leading their subordinates. Moreover, an appropriate approach to leadership allows leaders to cause a positive impact on an organization or a group. Due to the combination of individual strengths and an appropriate leadership trait, leaders are enabled to cause a desirable change within organizations. In this paper I present an essay which gives a critical evaluation and reflection of my strengths and weaknesses in leadership and followership. The evaluation of skills will include my competencies, skills, knowledge and attributes. Moreover, the essay provides illustrations which are based on my leadership and followership abilities and weaknesses. These illustrations are given within the assay with a view of describing how I would develop my leadership and followership further both within the short term and long term. Within my interactions, team and group work, I have been described as an individual who is able to impart influence on others, especially on matters of opinion. I consider this to be most valuable of my abilities which would streamline and promote my leadership and followership roles. Naquin and Holton (2006, p. 144) bring this point home by defining a leader as a person who is able to influence others. In addition, leaders achieve success by influencing their fellowship to work towards achievement of the goals and objectives of the organization. I consider the ability that I have in being influential as a strength which illustrates my competence which would make me a successful leader in future. However, I am aware that the competence of being influential can only be effective if applied in the achievement of positive change within an organization or institution. Foster (2006, p. 15) illustrates that influential leaders use their abilities for the advantage of causing a positive change in the culture of an organization and, thus, improve performance and productivity among the subordinates. I am a very innovative individual because I have a special ability of evaluating situations and defining the most appropriate and innovative approach of reaching a solution. Nollenberger (2006, p. 28) supports innovativeness as a strength which enhances leadership by describing an effective leader as an innovative person. This is due to the fact that organizations are at many instances and times faced with complex situations which require innovative solutions. For example, the productivity of an organization may decline due to social and economic forces within an organization. It is only through the innovativeness of a leader that the most effective approaches are applied in reaching a solution. Beagrie (2004, p. 28) argues that an innovative leader will be able to involve project teams in the process of sharing ideas with an intention of selecting the most innovative ideas among those provided by the team members. I, therefore, consider my innovativeness as a skill which defines my strength as a leader and which will play the role of enabling me to achieve success in leading my fellowship. I am competent in achieving personal development because I tend to learn from every situation and experience of everyday life. This competence favors my leadership role within any organization. However, there are gaps in evaluation because self evaluation may make me to be biased. However, I am convinced that my ability to develop myself to cause positive change has enabled me through my study programs and relationship with the members of the society. I, therefore, consider my ability to develop as a competence which defines my strength which would definitely play a major role in leadership endeavors both in the present and the future. Vrba (2007, p. 25) explains that a leader who values personal development supports the training needs within an organization. This, in return, improves job satisfaction of the followership and, thus, their performance in work activities. Polsfuss and Ardichvili (2009, p. 23) add that leaders must value the need for daily development of their skills and abilities. This is important in enabling leaders to be able to effectively, adjust, accommodate and implement the rapid changes which characterize the modern work environments. I consider myself to be ambitious and, thus, I have a self driven motivation of endeavoring to achieve goals regardless of the challenges and obstacles which would come in my way. Drennan and Richey (2012, p. 50) illustrate that ambition is a positive attribute of a good leader. On the other hand, a leader should be both ambitious and humble. This means that in the endeavors of leadership, leaders must be humble regardless of the height of their ambition. Ambition plays a significant role in leadership because it causes the leader to be determined to reach the set goals for an organization. It is through ambition that obstacles to the achievement of objectives are overcome. Beagrie (2004, p. 28) further illustrates that an ambitious leader, who is also humble, is able to achieve goals without creating a negative impression of the leadership among the followers. However, ambition and being humble are a challenging combination for any person. When someone is ambitious, the application of forceful endeavors in achievement of goals normally results. Therefore, I would consider the combination of being humble and ambitious a challenge which I have to overcome so that I would be an effective leader. When I engage in any activity, my focus is usually the end product or result of what I do. In this sense, I correctly describe myself as a visionary individual. Hsieh (2010, p. 99) explains being visionary in the context of leadership by linking leaders to the strategic goals of an organization. In this sense, an effective leader must be visionary and, thus, focused on the vision and strategic goals of an organization. It is through being visionary that a leader is able to actively engage the followership to work toward a common mission. Therefore, my visionary behavior is an important attribute which would enable me to achieve high performance as a leader. Through a visionary view of an organization, a leader sees an organization in terms of where it would be in a specific period in the future. Thus, being visionary enables a leader to devise creative measures which would effectively enable an organization to reach the desired position in the market in the future. I appreciate the role of information and communication technology in the modern business environment. However, I have limited knowledge and skills in the application of information system within an organization, especially in securing the organization from security threats. To cause improvement on my strengths and overcome my limitations in skills and knowledge, I plan to put effective measures which would enable me to be a good leader. I plan to take a course in information technology with a special focus on the development, adoption and application of information systems within organization. Vrba (2007, p. 25) demonstrates that with globalization and internationalization of businesses, information and communication technology is playing a central role in the success of businesses. This is due to the advantages of implementing the use of technology within functional areas of an organization. Moreover, I have not established my leadership style yet. This illustrates a gap within my leadership ambitions. A proper leadership trait which must be parallel to a specific leadership trait is necessary for the achievement of success in leadership. Elmuti, Minnis and Abebe (2005, p. 1018) point out that a transformational leadership approach is the most appropriate style in leadership because it is relations oriented and, thus, encourages communication, cohesion, collaboration, sharing ideas and consensus decision making. Because of this reason, I plan to allow my colleagues to evaluate my leadership train which will enable me to combine this knowledge with the theoretical framework to achieve greater success as a leader. In conclusion, the analysis of my strengths and weaknesses within the competencies, skills, abilities and knowledge which are required of a leader have enabled me determine what I require to do in order to become an effective leader in the short term and long term endeavors. To be able to lead towards high organizational performance, it is important for me to apply my competencies of being visionary and influential so that I would be an exemplary leader towards my subordinates or followers. Moreover, my creative and innovative mind is a strength which I have to apply within the current and future leadership roles which I would assume. Through innovativeness, the most appropriate solutions to problems are reached and this will enable me to involve project teams in sharing ideas for the selection of creative suggestions. With the increased application of information and communication technology within modern business organizations, I have appreciated the need for improving my skills and knowledge in IT especially in information system application and security. I would apply both theoretical frameworks and formal training on technology and, thus, enable me to effectively apply it in leadership and decision making. Moreover, I plan to engage my colleagues and peers to evaluate my leadership trait. This would enable me to apply the most appropriate leadership style or approach within an organization so that I would enhance collaboration, information sharing, communication and consensus decision making because these are the things I value in leadership and organizational behavior. PART B Topic 2: Emotions and Emotional Intelligence Emotions play a significant role in the behavior of an individual including the attitudes and perceptions which are developed about others, situations and environments. In a larger scale, emotions define the culture of an organization. This is due to the fact that a combination of the behavior of leaders and their followership leads to a specific and general approach of doing things within an organization. Because of this reason, emotional intelligence of a leader becomes a very important aspect within the abilities, competencies, skills and abilities of a leader. Ashkanasy and Dasborough (2003, p. 18) emphasize that it is through the application of emotional intelligence that leaders have been able to understand their fellowship. In return, emotional intelligence has allowed leaders to apply their abilities with a view of imparting influence among their subordinates and thus showing exemplary behavior. An emotionally intelligent leader is, therefore, described as an individual who is able to cause achieve high productivity through subordinates only by ensuring that their emotions and feelings are not hurt. However, it is notable that scientific research findings have led to criticisms of the concept of emotional intelligence and its applicability within the context of leadership. This essay presents a critical analysis and discussion of the role of emotional intelligence and emotions in the framework of leadership and followership. The essay also describes emotional intelligence with a view of trying to find out whether it is a key trait for leaders with illustration of evidence which is based on research evidence. According to Emmerling and Goleman (2005, p. 9), it is through emotional intelligence that leaders have the ability for self awareness. Self awareness is the ability of a leader to understand self so that the impact that his or her emotions have on the subordinates and the organization in general can be determined and managed accordingly. Therefore, it is through the application of emotional intelligence in leadership that the leader is allowed to read and understand their emotions and, thus, define how they affect the work environment. While playing their role, leaders become influential to their followers. Because of this, their emotions would have a great impact on the relationships within the organizations. It is through emotional expressions that subordinate judge leaders and, thus, poor emotional expression may cause followers to have a negative impression on their leaders. Bolton and English (2010, p. 561) confirm that emotions play an important role in enhancing relationships within an organization. Therefore, it can be argued that through emotional intelligence, leaders are able to control their emotions so that they have the desired effect among the followers. It is through emotional intelligence that leaders are able regulating the business environment. Kerr et al. (2006, p. 265) assert that emotional intelligence plays a leading role in the self regulation of leaders. This means that it is through the emotional intelligence that leaders are able to attain self control and, thus, help them to achieve positive influence on their followers. Anand and UdayaSuriyan (2010, p. 65) add that the role of emotional intelligence is demonstrated by its applicability by leaders to control organizational behavior, attitudes and perceptions in a way that enables employees to work towards achievement of a common goal and mission of the organization. The role of emotional intelligence in regulation is specifically identified in cases where an organization has to deal with a significant a change such as adoption of information and communication technology in business activities and practices. Through proper regulation of employee emotions, their attitudes towards change are enhanced and a result, a leader is able to achieve success in helping an organization implement a positive change within its business activities and functionalities. According to Prati et al (2003, p. 21), emotional intelligence and emotions in general play a significant role in motivation. The importance of motivation in an organization cannot be overlooked because of its necessity in enhancing the performance and productivity of employees. Bolton and English (2010, p. 561) point out that negative emotions cause poor performance within an organizations. This is because poorly motivated employees are less likely to communicate effectively or share information. It is, therefore, evident that emotional intelligence plays a leading role in organizational leadership. This is illustrated by the fact that emotionally intelligent leaders are able to understand the emotional and social needs of employees which affect their motivation. For example, through effective application of emotional intelligence, a leader is able to know the need for communication and interaction with their followers which would promote positive emotions and enhance relationship for the good of the organization. Hui-Wen, Mu-Shang and Nelson (2010, p. 899) point out that it is through emotional intelligence that leaders are able to empathize with their subordinates and, thus, approve measures which would improve their working environment and thus enhance their working experience. Service and Fekula (2008, p. 23) define emotional intelligence as a social skill within a leader which causes them to effectively interact with employees to understand and meet their needs. It is, however, important to note that many scholars have criticized the concept of emotional intelligence while basing their arguments along research literature. Rosete and Ciarrochi (2005, p. 388) reflect that emotional intelligence has not been fully accepted as a form of intelligence. Moreover, critics of emotional intelligence argue that it has not been successfully linked to improvement of job performance among followers. However, it is argued that emotional intelligence and emotions of a leader influences the behavior of his or her followers significantly. This fact demonstrates that emotional intelligence has an inevitable role that it has to play within an organization. In conclusion, emotions and emotional intelligence play a significant role within an organizational leadership. This is explained by the importance of emotional intelligence for a leader in understanding self and, thus, determining how his or her emotions can affect the organization in general. The influence which leaders impart within their organizations is not exclusive of emotional influence on employee behaviors attitudes and perceptions. Moreover, emotional intelligence helps leaders to regulate themselves and their subordinates. The importance of self control in leadership and its implication on the organization justifies the role of emotional intelligence in leadership. It has been revealed that emotional intelligence and emotions play a leading role in motivation. It is through emotional intelligence that a leader is able to understand the needs of the employees and, thus, empathize with them by providing a motivating work environment. TOPIC 4: Coaching and Mentoring According to Antonioni (2000, p. 27), the scheme of improving the employee competence is the pillar of any organizations general oblige stratagem. To participate effectively in the market, an organization has the responsibility of retaining employees, instigating them, and enhancing consistence learning among the organization employees. Coaching has a very extensive variety of materialization in any society. At one extreme, it can be a line up for personal intensification and development; while in the other end, it can be a program to inculcate specific skills to a profession. As stated by Kinlaw (2007, p.38), coaching of employees by their managers and other competent personnel is an essential aspect of the managerial recital role with the rationale of humanizing the workers aptitude and work place concert. Mentoring, on the other hand, is a role interaction where the mentor provide aid, direction, instruction, back-up, and prop up to another person in order to foster their occupational and certified development. The center of attention in the writing is to analyze the contribution of coaching and mentoring to the management, as well as the benefits of coaching and mentoring to leaders. As observed by Baker (2006, p. 89), business environment in many organizations is determined by prevailing global trend. The global tendency is directed by globalization, technological innovation and collective and demographic changes. The current changes in the international market have significantly altered the function of executive in many organizations. To cope with the changes in the global market, the organization management has the responsibility of ensuring the employees are well motivated and coached. With few resources, managers in an organization detect the uncertainty of their work. In a demanding environment, both managers and human resources are anticipated to exhibit concrete acquaintance and skills. Parsloe (2002, p. 90) confirmed this by observing that demonstration of concrete self enthusiasm, inventiveness and innovation are very basic at this time. To achieve all these necessities, workers are required to be more knowledgeable and properly motivated. Motivation and adequate coaching enhance exceptional competition in a changing market arena. Well skilled workers who can compete in a dynamic market increase the management level of an organization. They motivate managers in an organization. Managers who are well motivated offer profound services to the organization. In reference to Trica (2005, p. 62), mentoring and coaching assist the administration in retaining the scare talent and experience. In the past decades, technical knowledge which requires supplement of experiences is retreating in the job market. The trend is expected to widen over time. To tackle the inadequacy, many organizations have intensified the coaching and motivation programs. Human resource department has been mandated with the prime responsibility of promoting coaching, performance organization, employee disciplinary action, execution decision, occupation advancement, and staffing and selection. Proper institution of these responsibilities facilitates the retention of the organization employees. Coaching and mentoring to retain capable employees improves productivity of an organization. Furthermore, retention of skilled senior managers helps in improving the leadership capacity of an organization As sated by Baruch (2004, p.58), ageing workforce has numerous insinuations for director and organization administrators. The retiree lives a considerable vacuity in an organization. It is sometimes very hard to reinstate a retired experience. Coaching and motivation have emerged as a very decisive invention of transferring acquaintance from one person to another. The procedure of transferring knowledge can either be official or unofficial. An opposite formula for transmitting knowledge contributes to the cutback of operation cost. Training is very costly in terms of time and resources. The institution of internal coaching and mentoring activities can reduces the training cost in an organization hence reducing the operation cost. The outgoing senior officials use coaching sessions to instruct the incoming managers in an organization. The process increases the competent of the incoming managers, thus, improving the level of management in an organization. As stated by Lee (2003, p. 440), coaching and mentoring help leaders and administrators to comprehend the internal staff politics. Complains and critics in an organization are understood better through tangible mentoring. Through coaching, senior administrator develops an effectual leadership aptitude. In most cases, organizations and businesses tender special training to their senior administrators to develop the leadership quality and competency in an organization. Competent administers are more influential in an organization than less knowledgeable managers. Coaching is very pertinent in inducting the required knowledge to an administrator. Coherent and effective communication is enhanced through solid coaching. Middle level managers and senior managers develop suitable etiquette of interacting with their juniors. Effective communication, on the other hand, increases the management level and decision making process in an organization. The time depleted in coaching and training develops wider learning atmosphere in an organization. It also develops an admiration of the significant of learning for organizational changes and progress. Employees develop good motivation for learning within the organization. Kram (2009p. 98) stated that coaching and mentoring helps in improving the level of management in the entire organization. Clutterbuck and Lane (2005, p. 340) further insisted that frequent coaching and mentoring help in sustaining a superb management in an organization. They also develop sound leadership in an organization. Frequent training for administrators and other senior managers increases their dedication in an organization. They feel treasured by an organization. This enhances continuity of program and implementation. It also providing extremely firm leadership with a segment overwhelmed by high staff turnover. In conclusion, mentoring and coaching are very relevant for the success of any organization. As observed, mentoring and coaching have assisted significantly in the modern vibrant global market. Mentoring and coaching have contributed extensively to the leadership, development, and management in numerous organizations. Mentoring and coaching have necessities retention of experienced employees and administrator in an organization. Preservation of experienced workers in an organization is imperative in ensuring consistency in the implementation of organization policies. Coaching and motivation provide an avenue for the administrators to get an in-depth incite on complains and critique within the employees. As observed by Klasen (2002, P 124), the intertwinement of coaching and mentorship in an organization is very vital and pertinent. Its contribution to management and leadership in an organization is paramount. The good attitudes developed through adequate motivation is very relevant to the development and improvement in production of an organization. As a matter of fact, lack of concrete motivation among the employee is equivalent to low commitment and morale in the organization. Well motivated administrators develop a sense of ownership in an organization. Additionally, training develops personal etiquette among the administrators. 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