Role and Responsibility of a Leader - Essay Example

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Leadership Table of Contents Introduction 4 The Role of a Leader 4 Role and Responsibility of a Leader 4 Knowledge and Skills Required for a Good Leader 4 Role of a Leader differs from Role of a Manager 5 Development and Communication of Purpose and Direction 5 Difference between Management and Leadership 6 Leadership Styles 6 Situational and Transformational Leadership Styles 7 Lewin’s Democratic, Autocratic and Lasses faire Theory 7 Examples of adoption of Leadership Styles 8 John Adair’s Action Centred Leadership 9 Culture and Motivation 11 Organizational Structure and Communication Process 11 Span of Control 11 Establishment of Trust, Culture and Respect 12 Benefits of a Diverse Team 13 Comparison of Motivational Theories of Locke & Latham and Mahen Tampoe 13 Conclusion 14 References 15 Appendices 16 Introduction Effective leadership style of the organizational leaders or the managers helps the employees of an organization to perform effectively that can enhance the business performance of an organization and personal prospect of the employees. The study will discuss different aspects of an effective leader. The study will cover three areas, such as role of a leader, different leadership styles, and impact of leadership style on the organizational culture and employee motivation. The Role of a Leader Effective leadership style is important for an organization or a group of several individuals to perform effectively. Role and Responsibility of a Leader The major responsibility of a leader is to organize entire team and motivate them to attain the goals and objectives. Development of attainable goals and objectives are also key responsibilities of a leader. A good leader generally shares several information and effectual experience with the sub-ordinates to accomplish a common task. Sharing experience or knowledge actually influences entire team to give full effort. One of the major responsibilities of a great leader is to implement both top-down and bottom-up approach in order to enhance organizational communication process (Daft, 2008, p.44). Knowledge and Skills Required for a Good Leader An individual cannot be called as an effective leader without effective leadership knowledge and skills. A leader has total authority to manage entire team and develop potential strategies, decisions and goals so that a team can effectively achieve those. Knowledge and skills generally differ from each other. A leader has to have some key skills, such as effective communication skills, speaking power, listening skills, memory skills and skills to motivate entire team. An individual cannot become a leader and lead a team without having these fundamental skills. In terms of knowledge, a good leader has to obtain time management knowledge. It is true that the entire member within a team cannot have similar competencies and views. Therefore, there are some possibilities of conflict of ideas and conflict of skills between the team members (Walker, 2011, p.259). A leader generally has to deal with a diverse team in a specific workforce. Knowledge about workplace diversity, team direction, inspiring initiatives and self-motivation process of a leader can help an organization to become successful. Role of a Leader differs from Role of a Manager The major role of a leader is to develop effective attainable and perceived goals and objectives. On the other hand, role of a manager is to administrate entire team to ensure effective workplace performance and good business output. It is true that a leader always can become an effective manager due to effective leadership skills. Generally leadership skills direct the managerial skills. But, a manager cannot become an effective leader due to lack of leadership skills and visionary power. It is quite challenging for a leader to develop goals and direct an entire team towards success. But, it is quite easy for a manager to assist and administrate a team based on the showed path of a leader to accomplish developed tasks or goals or objectives. Development and Communication of Purpose and Direction A leader only can motivate an entire team if the leader poses integrity, consistency and transparency in decision making and action planning process. An effective leader always has to make a balance between organizational goals and personal interest of sub-ordinates. It is highly important for a leader to maintain workplace ethics in decision making process (Hamilton, 2013, p.301). In addition to this, effective transparency in the communication process can help the sub-ordinates to understand the purpose of action plans and significance of the developed task. Difference between Management and Leadership There are several differences between management and leadership. Integration of innovation and creativity is the key characteristic of a leader. On the other hand, major characteristic and objective of a manger is to administrate a team. Management and leadership styles generally differ with each other due to different characteristics and roles or responsibilities of a leader and a manager. Effective leadership style always helps an organization to develop effective objectives and set up appropriate strategies. On the other hand, effective managerial style helps an organization to create a possible road map to accomplish those developed goals and objectives. It is true that several followers or employees or team members follow the managers in order to meet the goals and objectives, but those individuals generally follow the leaders to meet the purposes. An individual cannot grow in a personal or professional life without gaining knowledge from a leader as effective leadership style of a leader helps a subordinate to gain significant knowledge and skills (Gitman and McDanniel, 2008, p.162). On the other hand, following of a manager in a team helps an employee to gain significant guide and administration so that the individual can accomplish a developed task according to the created road map. Leadership Styles Adoption of leadership style of an individual generally depends upon the character or behaviour or attitude of an individual and nature of a scenario. Leadership styles generally differ from an individual to another. This part of the study will discuss about several leadership styles. Situational and Transformational Leadership Styles Situational leadership style is a specific leadership style that generally helps the leaders to shift the action approaches based on the maturity level of the sub-ordinates. It is true that the leaders generally spend their times in two key responsibilities, such as relationship and times. It is clear from several survey and research works that the leaders generally relate to the employees in various degrees of relationship-task based on the competency and maturity level of a particular employee (Lumpe, 2012, p.9). The situational leaders generally use more effective task-oriented directive communication tool at the lowest level of the maturity of the employees. Transformational leadership style is a particular leadership style that used to motivate the sub-ordinates or the followers to adopt, implement and accept positive change process in organizational operation processes. Generally the transformational leaders used to radiate quality that induces others to allocate them full authority (Rothwell, 2007, p.165). The transformational leaders are passionate, energetic and enthusiastic in nature. Lewin’s Democratic, Autocratic and Lasses faire Theory Kurt Lewin developed three managerial leadership styles based on the behaviour and attitude of the leaders. Kurt Lewin’s leadership style theory consists of three elements, such as democratic, autocratic and lasses faire theory (Figure 1). Democratic leadership style is considered as participative leadership style. This particular leadership style generally fosters the organizational and workplace environment. In this specific leadership style the leaders motivate the sub-ordinates to formulate policies, work assignments and processes. Democratic leadership style allows the followers and leaders to work collaboratively in order to make direction of the organization and collective decision. Autocratic leadership style is also known as authoritarian leadership style. This leadership style can be characterized by top-down and strictly autocratic leadership style in which the leaders has the full authority to dictate work assignments and policies without considering ideas or needs of the sub-ordinates. In laissez faire leadership style the leaders follow “Let’s Do It” approach and allow the followers to determine all the procedures and policies without the engagement of the leaders. It is also known as participative leadership style. In this leadership style, the leaders have the full faith in the competency and decision making or goal setting ability of the sub-ordinates. Situational and transformational leadership styles are effectively build up depending on the concept of Kurt Lewin’s behavioural leadership theory. In transformational leadership style, the leaders generally motivate the followers to take part in the strategy formulation part. In addition to this, a leader motivate the followers to accept the change in the decision making process. A democratic leader can use transformational leadership style in which the leader can under4stand the value of organizational goals and needs of employees. Situational leadership style is entirely based on the characteristics of a laissez fair leadership theory. In this situational leadership style the leaders generally takes laissez fair approach and allow the individuals to formulate policies and work assignment without any participation at the highest maturity level of the employees. Examples of adoption of Leadership Styles A leader should adopt leadership style based on the situations. For an example, if a leader prefers democratic leadership style and identifies that his or her followers or sub-ordinates have lesser competency or decision making ability or limited skill level, then the leader has to transform democratic leadership style to autocratic leadership style. It will help the leader to dictate the valuable ideas and policies that can help the incompetent and unskilled followers to accomplish a common task in an easy way. For another example, if a leader believes in autocratic leadership style and identifies that the followers are self motivated and have the ability to formulate effective ideas and actions plans, then the leader needs to adopt democratic leadership style. This strategy will help to maintain effective workplace environment and organizational culture. John Adair’s Action Centred Leadership The action centred leadership concept of John Adair is based on three circle’s diagram that illustrates core leadership responsibilities, such as task, team and individual (Figure 2). The Responsibilities for Achieving Task Identification of goals and vision for purpose, group and direction. Identification of organizational resources. Developing plans, responsibilities and objectives. Establishment of quality, standard, reporting parameters and time frames. Maintain and Monitor overall performance. Review, re-assess and adjust plans to set target. The Responsibilities for Managing Team Establish culture, style and approach for team. Maintain and monitor disciplines, integrity, focus and ethics. Resolving disagreements and conflicts. Collaborative work performance and identifying needs of training. Giving feedback on overall task progression. The Responsibilities for Managing Individuals Understanding the needs of team members and their competencies. Providing assistance in case of requirements. Identify objectives and responsibilities. Effective recognition and feedback in positive performance. Training and development for better performance. Undertaking the aspect of individual authority and freedom to motivate for better performance. Culture and Motivation Leadership style has a great impact on the organizational culture and employee motivation. Organizational Structure and Communication Process There are generally two types of organizational structure, such as formal or hierarchical organization structure and informal or flatter organizational structure. In flatter organization structure, an organization generally involves the employees of the organization in the communication and decision making process. It is easy for the management of the organization to communicate with the employees in a flatter organization structure due to limited levels and stages in the organizational structure. On the other hand, the management of an organization with the hierarchical or formal organizations structure find it difficult to communicate with the lower management and employee level due to complex and multiple hierarchical stages and conflict of several ideas (Barak, 2010, p.48). Span of Control This formal or hierarchical organizational structure affects the span of control as it is important for an employee to gain social recognition and value from the top management and employers. This top down communication approach of the hierarchical organizational structure affects the workplace environment and creates several conflicts within the workplace. Span of control is an important term that is generally used in human resource management. Inadequate leadership style, lack of effective training and development programme, strong geographical dispersion and similarity of tasks generally affect the span of control. Span of control, can be referred as number of total subordinates a leader or a manager or a supervisor has. Formal hierarchical structure generally affects span of control of an organization as different levels in an organization structure increase the number of subordinates of different geographical or cultural background. This can create conflict of views and ideas among the subordinates that can create difficulty for supervisor to control the entire team. Establishment of Trust, Culture and Respect It is important for an organization to develop effective culture, values and ethics. An organization can ensure positive and significance business performance through mutual trust, respect and values between the management and employees. These aspects can be developed only through effective leadership style that can motivate the employees to perform effectively. First of all, the organizational leaders have to develop transparent and clear strategies and decision to develop an organizational goal and objective so that the goals are perceived as feasible to the employees. In addition to this, the leader has to consider strong workplace and organizational ethics in decision making strategy. A mutual trust and culture can be developed between the management and employees within an organization by taking care of the needs and ideas of the employees. An employee only can become effective if he or she is motivated enough to perform according to his skills and competencies. It is important for the leaders to give effective performance appraisal and compensation to the employees (Pierce, 2011, p.281). Bonus distribution is another motivation technique that helps an organization to develop significant mutual trust and respect. In addition to this, it is also important for the organization to provide effective training to the employees to increase the skill and self-confidence level of the employees. Benefits of a Diverse Team There are several benefits of workplace diversity or having a diverse team in a workplace. Team members or co-workers in a diverse social or cultural background bring unique perception and experience to the groups or teams. This diverse knowledge and skills can help an organization to perform effectively with high integrity and responsiveness in changing conditions. Another advantage of diverse team is that the diverse workforce possesses unique and effectual strengths and weaknesses of employees derived from individual culture (Thiederman, 2008, p.39). In addition to this, this diversity helps to perform an entire workforce collaboratively knowing each others’ strengths and weaknesses. Comparison of Motivational Theories of Locke & Latham and Mahen Tampoe Locke and Latham’s motivational theory is also known as goal setting theory. According to this theory, developed goals can motivate employees or individuals to accomplish those goals based on the specific extent to which they have the challenge, clarity, task complexity, feedback and commitment. Clear goals help to identify the behaviours which need to be rewarded. Challenging goals motivate the employees to work hard. In terms of commitment, the organizations have to encourage the employees to develop goals and objectives for themselves. Effective feedback can help an employee to rectify their errors in the way of achieving goals (Campbell, 2007, p.54). In terms of task complexity, the organization has to provide effective training and time to encourage the employees to accomplish the task. On the other hand, according to the Mahen Tampoe’s motivation theory the knowledge workers need to motivated through the development of different reward strategies. The leaders or the organizational management should consider reward distribution, compensation distribution, personal growth of the employees, creative achievements and social recognition to keep those employees highly motivated (Mullins, 2009, p.506). According to Mahen Tampoe’s motivational theory four key motivators, such as task achievement, personal growth, money or financial reward and operational autonomy help the employees in an organization to perform effectively. Task achievement helps an employee to focus on future career growth if he or she receives valuable and appropriate performance appraisal. It is important for a leader within an organization to consider the personal growth aspect of the employees. Promotion of effective and skilled employees will help the organization gain more competitive advantages. Effective reward and compensation distribution against good work performance will help the employees to accomplish several developed organizational tasks. It is important for the organizations to consider the independence of employees. Employees will be motivated enough if the organization gives some operation autonomy to skilled employees. It is clear from above discussions that the insight of both these theories used differs from each other. Mahen Tampoe believes in reward strategy to motivate employees. On the other hand, Locke and Latham believe in goal and objective development to motivate the employees. Conclusion Leadership is an important aspect that helps an organization to achieve effective business output. Effective leadership style ensures effective and collaborative performance of an entire team. It is important for an organization implement effective leadership style based on the behaviour of the team and importance of organizational goals. It is important for a leader of the organization to implement several unique strategies in order to motivate the employees so that organization can able to develop mutual trust and respect. References Barak, M., 2010. Managing Diversity. London: Sage. Campbell, J., 2007. Motivation, Attitude, Goal Settings, Performance and Interactive Effects of Pay for Performance. London: ProQuest. Draft, R., 2008. The Leadership Experience. Stamford: Cengage Learning. Gitman, L., and McDanniel, C., 2008. The Future of Business. Stamford: Cengage Learning. Hamilton, C., 2013. Communicating for Results. Stamford: Cengage Learning. Lumpe, M., 2012. Leadership and Organization in the Aviation Industry. London: Ashgate Publishing. Mullins, L., 2009. Management and Organizational Behaviour. New Jersey: Pearson. Pierce, J., 2011. Leaders & Leadership Process. New York: McGraw-Hill. Rothwell, J., 2007. In Mixed Company: Communicating in Small Groups and Teams. Stamford: Cengage Learning. Thiederman, S., 2008. Making Diversity Work. London: Kaplan Publishing. Walker, A., 2011. Organizational Behaviour in Construction. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Appendices Figure 1: Kurt Lewin’s Leadership Theory Figure 2: John Adair’s Action Centred Leadership Read More