How Leaders or Managers Practice Leadership Skills in the Organization - Research Paper Example

Introduction Leadership in general is defined as a process within which a person uses social influence to engage the aid and support of others in achieving common goals or tasks. However, this report analyzes leadership skills and traits of a manager. Moreover, by using different assessments the report examines how leaders or managers practice leadership skills in the organization and what are the strengths and weaknesses a leader for nonprofit organization possesses. ASSESSMENTS RESULTS AND ANALYSIS: 1. Behavioral Leadership Style Summary of the Theory: High task leadership tends to be more focused on getting the work done. Such leaders are highly motivated and goal oriented. Usually these kinds of leaders have high level of performances and low level of grievances as these leaders are more committed to achieving goals. Moreover, high task leaders are strong when it comes to technical skills and are good nurturers and planners. Another important trait that such leaders possess is the work allocation as proper defining and scheduling of work is done for workers to maximize productivity and later for doing assessment for workers. Similarly, high people leadership style focuses on building trust between manager and workers. This kind of leadership usually has strong personal traits and are committed towards making a bridge between manager and worker by creating or ensuring trust, delegating responsibilities to the workers, motivating employees by listening and fulfilling their needs. Findings and Discussion: Philip Mayers, director of Make a Wish organization Australia, was asked to fill the assessment form for behavioral leadership. He scored 8 (in terms of odd numbers) which proved that he possessed high task leadership. Moreover, in terms of even number, Philip Mayers score was 7, which meant he had high people leadership style as well. It has been found that Mayers ensured that his employees were engaged with work full-time and were not doing any other activity during working hours. Similarly he does not waste time in knowing about employees during working hours and believes in setting goals and agenda during department meetings. He believes in punctuality and has a clear policy of briefing employees what needs to be done. However in case of conflicts in the organization, he personally gets involved and tries to come up with the solution to carry out work in a peaceful manner. Also he periodically tries to motivate his staff so that they can achieve goals easily. In terms of working habits, Mayers is reluctant in giving permission regarding problems that occur during work and the solutions of those problems. He believes in constant monitoring and control so that errors are avoided. He often gives advice to employees. Moreover, he evaluates the performance of employees regularly. Likewise, Philip Mayers promotes trust amongst the department’s members. Also he is likely to take corrective actions against those who are not performing well. However, upon achieving goals, Mayers personally thanks workers so that they remain motivated. He believes in raising standards for employees and is keen on giving challenges so that their overall performances can be improved. Further, he allocates task with respect to time and does not encourage employees to discuss their personal matters during working hours. Communication is the main focus of Mayers’ policy. He believes in communicating rather than competing environment in the office. He adopts to attain maximum productivity is cutting costs. 2. How Ethical Is Your Behavior Summary of the Theory: Ethics in general refers to the desirable and appropriate norms, values and morals according to an individual or society at large. It deals with sense of purity of an individual in terms of carrying out work or having intentions. Ethics describes what is good or bad in a given situation. However, ethical theories related to leaderships have two main points: 1) the actions of leaders 2) character and personality of leaders. Moreover, ethics in leadership has these main traits honesty, dignity and respectfulness, serving others, community building and justice. Findings and Discussion: After Mr. Mayers analyzed ethical behavior in college and at workplace, he got the following results: For College: Philip Mayers cheated frequently doing his home tasks and his score for the assessment is calculated to be 2. Similarly, in case of cheating on exams, he has been marked ‘1’, which means that he frequently cheated. On the other hand, he never used someone else’s work to pass the exams. For Workplace: Lying in order to get his work done is a common practice in the working environment and Mayers is also one of the victims of it. Moreover, Mayer was punctual in terms of coming in the office unlike others who usually come late at office and takes extra breaks and are getting paid for it. 3. Preferred Normative Leadership Style: Summary of the Theory: Normative leadership style basically has to deal with decision making functions of the leaders. However, in times of taking decision, the leader should be well aware of the fact that quality decision and acceptance of the decision by the team will be important. Moreover, usually three different decision making styles are followed in normative leadership; autocratic, delegative and participative. Autocratic styles usually follow a little consultation from athletes by coach, the coach delegates someone else as the head to take decisions then this is known as delegative style leadership. Participative leadership involves whole team including coach to take decisions or in other words combine decision which came after proper consultation (Avolio, Bass, & Jung, 1999). Findings and Discussions: When Mayers was asked to take decisions as a normative leader in different situations, he opted for different types of decision-making styles according to the condition. For instance, in situation 1, where rookie crew performs well and is improving steadily, Mayers opted for option C, which means he will further monitor the practice so that their performance improves or remains the same as it is now. This means he opted for autocratic leadership style. In the Situation 2, where Jill is not performing the task the way she was told, instead she has done work following her own procedure. In this condition, Mayer opted for option ‘A’ which means he is likely to listen why Jill has not followed orders properly and he would try to come up with solution. In this case, Mayers followed participative leadership style or in other words he will go for consultation rather than passing verdicts. Situation 3, Mayers opted for delegative leadership style by giving option to his team regarding deciding their hours. 4. Names Summary of the Theory: This theory is somewhat related to the communication style that managers tends to follow. Moreover, it deals with the ability of remembering names. As in most of the cases, people tend to forgot names or they have short memory. Findings and Discussions: Mayers likes to meet new people and he remembers their names. Moreover, he prefers to call people by their names to create more bonding and strong communication. However, Mayers is still willing to increase his memory so as to learn more names and communicate with them. 5. Negotiating Summary of the Theory: Negotiation in leadership means how one behaves or moves when some issue arises. It may be for carrying out a friendly relationship, or it may be for finalizing some business deal or any other thing. However, it is not necessary to carry same pattern for different type of issues. Different styles and patterns are followed by different person (Prince, 2007). Some believe in dictating, others believe in carrying out negotiating in a peaceful and friendly manner. Findings and Discussion: The overall findings in terms of score suggest that Mayers is an effective negotiator. His score is 57. Also, Mayers knows enough about the negotiator way before having conversation with him. He prefers and plans the overall negotiation and knows what he is likely to talk. He, in most cases, prefers to take initiative and dictate in terms of carrying out negotiations. To negotiate well Mayers believes in providing friendly environment for the negotiation process. As both parties can ease and focus their line of action. In terms of making first move Mayers have no issues whether he or the other negotiating party starts the proceedings. He is more inclined towards getting results. However, if things are not going accordingly and the other party is not willing to accept Mayers offer then he is more likely to ask for something in return. Moreover, if that particular party tries to delay or postpone the event Mayers shows urgency and tries to convince them what they might be losing if things does not go accordingly. Similarly, if Mayers plans to postpone the negotiation process, then he does not come under pressure of other parties as he possesses a dictating attitude in this regard. In terms of making any deals, he further ensures that what other options are available so that he might not have regret in the future. Furthermore, he also rechecks the pricing issue and compares the prices of product with others so as to better understand the situation. Mayers believes in taking advice before taking any decision to have the perspective of other fellowmen as well. As in most cases, he tries to take views of other so that no angle is missed which shows that he follows and believes in somewhat decentralization decision making styles. Meanwhile during whole process of negotiation, Mayers is always willing to develop the overall relationship and tries to maintain it rather than focusing on one time deal. ACTION PLAN: Leveraging Strengths Strength Number 1: High Task Leadership Skill and High People Leadership Style Philip Mayers possessed high task leadership skill and also high people leadership style. This is one of the best strengths possessed by any leader. As these strengths helps leaders to achieve goals. As leaders are focused and committed towards achieving goals. They are more concerned about getting their work done by using different techniques and convincing workers to work for them. Moreover, high people leadership style also ensures productivity and mobility of work. As leaders who possess this kind of style are not only focused on getting their work done but are also committed towards their workers. Such leaders listen to their workers and make relationship with them. Giving them various luxuries and vesting power in workers. Manager and workers relations are the main emphasis of this kind of leadership. Uses This strength upon adoption can give various numbers of benefits. For instance, it increases productivity, creates healthy and peaceful working environment. As a leader, one should always be in contact with employees not only looking for his performances but also his social conditions afterwards. As this will give employees a sense of believe that they are the integral part of the organization as a result they will give maximum productivity (Bass, 1990). Strength Number 2: Decision Making Another important strength that came out from assessment of this paper is decision making. As decisions always plays vital role in making or breaking of an organization. Leaders are engraved with the quality of decision making at crucial times. Uses As a leader one should always be vigilant and should always be in a position to predict what future may hold. If a leader is unsure what to do then he should take advices from his subordinates. Altering styles and patterns should be common practice. Past experiences should also be considered as there is a famous saying “In Rome do as the Romans do”. Addressing Needs for Improvements Need for Improvement Number 1: Negotiation Style Philip Mayers, although, have many different qualities as a leader but according to the scores in the negotiation department he needs some improvements. As at times, he shows rigid behavior in terms of carrying negotiation. Furthermore, overall aptitude is good but in terms of changing his view lacks a bit. For instance, if he plans to postpone negotiation, he will hold his stance regardless whatever comes in his way and how bad the consequences are. Uses Negotiation, today, plays a vital role in development of any organization or in carrying out work properly. As a leader one should always be ready for negotiation no matter how strong or weak a leader is. As all types of issues can be resolved peacefully provided negotiation is done properly. This is one of the great assets possessed by leaders and can always provide win-win situation. Need for Improvement Number 2: Ethical Behavior Behavior of people varies from country to country and culture to culture. A leader should have a sound ethical behavior. Since large number of subordinates has observing him so this makes it more responsible to follow proper code of conduct in terms of ethical behavior. A leader is a role model so all necessary measures should be taken accordingly to carry ethical behavior in the right direction (Lucas et al., 2000). Uses The world has seen transformation as different technological advancements are carried out on a daily basis. Man is far more educated and resourceful in terms of technology and sciences. However in terms of social conducts and ethical behaviors mankind has gone through degradation process. Not respecting elders, cheating to gain our goals, scolding, killing, and using all unlawful means to gain temporary success is a common practice these days. However, as a leader one should educate his subordinates and nurture social awareness on the mass level as it is required to gain benefits from the system. Conclusion There is lot to learn from this assessment as it gives detailed knowledge about different kind of qualities that one leader should possess and their possible uses. This assessment also enhances and focuses on negotiation as a key line of action for leaders. Moreover, ethical perspectives and behavior perspectives are well directed and explained in these assessments which add the beauty of this piece of writing. References Avolio, B. J., Bass, B. M., & Jung, D. I. (1999). Re-examining the components of transformational and transactional leadership using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 72: 441–462. Bass, B. (1990). From Transactional to transformational leadership: Learning to share the vision. Organizational Dynamics, 18: 19-31. Retrieved from http://numerons.in/files/documents/II-5-a.-From-Transactional-to-Transformational-Leadership.pdf Lucas, R. E., Diener, E., Grob, A., Suh, E. M., & Shao, L. (2000). Cross-cultural evidence for the fundamental features of extraversion. Journal of Applied Psychology, 79, 452–468. Price, A. (2007). Human resource management in a business context. 3rd edition. London: Cengage. Read More