Leadership Is a Position or an Act - Essay Example

?INTRODUCTION: Leaders or leadership is among the words that are significantly used in organizations and management literature. A leader can purely be defined as, a person who is responsible and have ability to influence the behavior and performance of others towards the attainment of desired goals within the specified time.. Simply Stating leader is one that has followers (Kruse, 2013) and while leadership is the capability of one to translate vision into reality (Kruse, 2013).Leadership is a position or an act which really require some skills of leading. A leader brings new ideas and plans and for transforming vision into reality in suitable ways. Leader’s focus remains on the people and importantly on ways to inspire them to face new challenges and to perform in any state of affairs. Not to panic at any rate is the most indispensable quality of a leader. Every leader has the quality of maintaining the confidence level up and to assure followers that the whole thing is going to be fine. To be humorous and comical with the employees is an additional great quality that differentiates some leaders from others. According to a study, females have more leadership capabilities than males. Traditionally leadership tasks were associated with men only but over a period of time women are increasingly getting involved in the leadership jobs (Eagly & Johannesen?Schmidt, 2001). LEADERSHIP STYLE There are many styles of the leaders which are being followed but three major leadership styles are commonly used in organizations. These common leadership styles are as follows (Eagly, Johannesen-Schmidt, & Van Engen, 2003): Autocratic, also known as ‘authoritarian’ Participative also known as ‘democratic’ Delegative also known as ‘laissez-fair’ Authoritarian (Autocratic): Example of expression for the above style is, “I want both of you to. . .” This is a style when a leader instructs or orders his/her employees about what to o and how to do This happens when one has all the information for solving the trouble and but don’t have time. Further, when employees knows how exactly the work has to be done and they are well enough equipped with standard way of working then managers adopt autocratic styles (Sosik & Godshalk, 2000). Participative (Democratic): Example of expression for the above style is, “Let's work together to solve this. . .” In this style, there is a leader and one or more employees are collectively involved in making of the decision (deciding what to do & how to do). This style is a mark of potency to work in a team and not a sign of weakness of leader. This authority is bring into play when knowledge or information of others employees can prove valuable contribution. By using this authority, a benefit of mutual understanding allows every other member of the organization to participate for the betterment of decisions (Sosik & Godshalk, 2000). Delegative (Laissez Faire): Example of expression for the above style is, , “You two take care of the problem while I go. . .” This style allows the employees to make their contribution and take decisions. The style is used when the employees have enough knowledge about the situation and know what to do and in what manner the work is to be done. Leader’s complete trust on the capability of employees and intentions to develop decision making capability in employees results in leader to adopt this style. Leaders increasingly use this style in the current professional world (Sosik & Godshalk, 2000). My manager in the current organization has adopted the combination of the three styles. The collective feature of all three defined style have had significant positive impact on my attitude towards works as well as entire organization. With participative decision making our managers enabled us to work in team and incorporating the best of suggestions for the task completion. This participative style adoption was ordered by leader using his autocratic powers. Hence, the manager enabled all employees including me to make decisions with responsibilities delegated. ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE AND CULTURE OF THE COMPANY: Every business or organization possess own style having variations from others. Culture is the set of values and believes that is followed in an organization. Language, dress code, approaches and attitudes towards work are all components of organizational culture. If the office environment, culture and dress code of the people working at the organization are analyzed, then for sure it is to say my organization is having one of the best cultures (Lopez, Peon, & Ordas, 2004). Organization in the screening process analyzes employees’ attitude towards factors that are considered important in our organization. Organizations require employees to follow culture that drives organization successfully to its vision. Being an accounting firm, expression of professions has been adopted through formal suiting as a dress code which every employee has to follow. Every employee is also required to be friendly and respecting to each other and has as a team based culture towards jobs. Celebrations of different events help employees to work efficiently and forgetting their work pressure. The organization does not discriminate employees on the basis of gender, race, geographic background etc. Firm’s culture of team orientation provided opportunity to deal with various ideas and picking the combination of suggestions made that is in best interest of organization. Further, the ethically the conduct of the organization is also very sound (Schein, 2006). As far as structure of the organization it is concerned the company follows a functional organizational structure. The company has different departments for marketing, finance, accounting, human resource and IT. The company has also implemented a decentralized decision making process and every department is responsible to make respective decisions. ETHICAL CONDUCT OF THE LEADER: Ethical conduct of the organization results in the long term success of the organization (Aronson, 2001). Along with doing things right it also considers what is in interest of the organization as well as society (Brown, Trevino, & Harrison, 2005; Gardner, 2003). Manager in my organization has done great job to inculcate the high values and ethical conduct in operations. With great potential to work with employees and to motivate them for work manager with his behavior of respect has also made it clearly evident that employees’ performance shall meet all standards of ethics. This behavior has made him great inspiration for all employees. He works on the factual basis. One of his qualities is the way of guiding path to the vision or the way he pushes towards the goal while keeping in consideration the values for organizational and societal long term interest. Well-bred behavior is regarded as one of his greatest qualities. He heartens employees repeatedly on the way to the goal and always appreciates them. He composes understanding in a way that is easily explicable to one and all. Manager is also fearless works towards goal and utterly believes in his decisions and the ways. He does not panic and also does not lose temper at the point of any trouble. While he tackles out the problem, in a way that does not even bring any mystification or any disorder situation in the work flow. This also motivates employees of the organization to work forward for the success of organization. THREE BEST PRACTICES ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERS CAN USE TO MOTIVATE EMPLOYEE Be a Role Model for Your Organization Employees are follow leader in a constant way and if the leader is staging glowing at his work, and is encouraging, it will somehow leave a good impression on the employees and they will pursue it. For example, sharing matters of critical decision making encourages employees to take initiative for betterment. Leader’s expression of qualities and encouragement to employees to follow is among best tactics available with leaders. This pump up the employees and they get motivated and work at their best (Hackman & Johnson, 2004). Provide Employees with the Opportunity to Be Creative In order to motivate employees it is important for leaders to provide them with an environment and surroundings where they can work challengingly and discover many ways towards innovation. Allowing them independency makes them feel the part of the organization which encourages them a lot. It is also important for leaders to avoid excessive expression of discouragement if any decision of creativity goes wrong (Hackman & Johnson, 2004). Help Your Employees Find Work/Life Balance Work and life balance is critical for every employee’s performance. This can be done with provision of benefits which of course make it easier for the employee to take care of himself and dependents. Employee’s with good health and enough time to spend with family leads one to perform much better at work. For Example; health-club membership, childcare, medical allowance, flexibility in the work and etc are some offers that leaders can offer to followers and get best performance from them (Hackman & Johnson, 2004). BENEFITS OF BEST PRACTICES: Leaders employing above practices, though not limited to, can gain significant increase in the efficiency level of the employees. Further, the performance of employees towards goal achievement can also be enhanced with these practices. Employees are reflection of management and so by making these practices an integral part of the practices organization can provide leaders with set of follower that drives organization towards long term sustainability and relationship bonding with employees and organization as well as leaders. DIVERSITY: In general, diversity can simply be defined as, understanding, accepting, acknowledging and valuing the different ways. Diversity centrally refers to respect for the classes, ethnicity, gender, mental ability and races and etc (Shelton & CAC, 2006). Defining diversity in the workplace it simply means that the company has the potential and the ability to recognize all the above given points through all different aspects. Diversity is considered to be a key factor for the organization to grow in this competitive market. For the changes in the organization and for the continuous growth of the organization diversity plays a crucial part as bring in multi-dimensional approach. There can be many challenges to organization on daily basis and when one falls into any kind of problem diverse employees offers different approaches with motivation and determination to overcome problem or challenge in a way best interest of organization. Hence, different people working in together creates healthy and productive work environment. Diversity in the workplace increases employee morale and encourages employee to work in both ways effectively and efficiently. It also plays a big role in creativity, as employees of different backgrounds and with different caliber offer guideline to achieve a common goal (Coleman, 2012). CHALLENGES OF DIVERSITY IN THE WORKPLACE: It is now more universal to understand the issues of diversity to overcome the problems. Diversity can be proved to be advantageous to both the employer and the employee if well received. But managing diverse work force is critical as diverse work force brings in their respective culture and values (Coleman, 2012). These cultural factors can be considered as bad in one culture while routine matter in other, therefore, creating discrepancy among employees. Diverse work force also means combination of men and women working together. Since each gender has own priorities and so the management is often faced with dilemma in decision making of giving benefit to one set of employees at the acceptable cost incurred to other. Similarly, diversity management can also result failure of organization towards retaining employee’s productivity that is lost in reaction to prejudice and discrimination. Complaining employees turning to legal actions against the organization are also an important risk posed to organization for diversity management (Coleman, 2012). BUSINESS STRATEGIES: Business strategies considered to be the most important part in the business world. It can be defined as tactics and policies made for the achievement of the goal and to move towards the success. It is a collection of activities and actions which we do in the organization. Keeping in view the above discussed issues and challenges that company can face in managing diversity require organization to make approaches and strategies for continues progress and growth while meeting challenges (Hackman & Johnson, 2004). Managing diverse work force requires business to develop culture that provides attention to standards for solution of problem before they arise. In addition, business shall also adopt system that provides more communication opportunity to employees so individuals’ reduce gaps and develop bonding such as social gatherings and meetings etc. CONCLUSION Leadership has taken driving seat in the management of organization. Leader with capabilities can drive employees of organization as followers towards goal attainment successfully. This can be achieved by expressing required positive and competence to deal positively with challenges and diverse set of individuals. References Aronson, E. (2001). Integrating leadership styles and ethical perspectives. Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences/Revue Canadienne des Sciences de l'Administration, 18(4), 244-256. Brown, M. E., Trevino, L. K., & Harrison, D. A. (2005). Ethical leadership: A social learning perspective for construct development and testing. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 97(2), 117-134. Coleman, M. (2012). Leadership and Diversity. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 40(5), 592-609. Eagly, A. H., & Johannesen?Schmidt, M. C. (2001). The leadership styles of women and men. Journal of Social Issues, 57(4), 781-797. Eagly, A. H., Johannesen-Schmidt, M. C., & Van Engen, M. L. (2003). Transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership styles: a meta-analysis comparing women and men. Psychological bulletin, 129(4), 569. Gardner, W. L. (2003). Perceptions of leader charisma, effectiveness, and integrity effects of exemplification, delivery, and ethical reputation. Management Communication Quarterly, 16(4), 502-527. Hackman, M. Z., & Johnson, C. E. (2004). Leadership: A communication perspective. Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press. Kruse, K. (2013). What is leadership? Forbes. Retrieved May 14, 2013, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinkruse/2013/04/09/what-is-leadership/ Lopez, S. P., Peon, J. M. M., & Ordas, C. J. V. (2004). Managing knowledge: the link between culture and organizational learning. Journal of knowledge management, 8(6), 93-104. Schein, E. H. (2006). Organizational culture and leadership (Vol. 356). Jossey-bass. Shelton, M., & CAC, C. (2006). Leadership and Diversity. Camping Magazine, 26-32. Sosik, J. J., & Godshalk, V. M. (2000). Leadership styles, mentoring functions received, and job?related stress: a conceptual model and preliminary study.Journal of Organizational Behavior, 21(4), 365-390. Read More