Leadership and Ethics for Managers - Research Paper Example

Report on Leader Member Exchange Model This report discusses about the “in and out” group concepts and their impact on the performance of an organization. It has been found that division of team members in separate groups creates engagement and loyalty in those that are associated with a group. These people are considered as in-group. However, other hand there are some member that are not associated with the group and these are considered as out-group members. Out-group members are dissatisfied, and it is harmful for the organization. Role of relationship development and management is analyzed in the creation of effective leadership and how an effective leader can engage the employees. INTRODUCTION The leader member exchange theory refers to the relationship built due to time pressure by leaders with the small group of followers. These members make in-group are highly trusted, get high privileges and have unbalanced attention of leader as compare to others that fall into out-group category. Relations of out group followers are formal with the leader and based on formal interaction; out-group members do not gain the reward that are controlled by the leader and have a smaller amount of leader’s time. In history when the relationship between leaders and provided followers begun leader categorized their followers into two groups “in group” and “out group” and stability seen in such relationships over time. Leader Member exchange model has been introduced in order to reward in-group employees that are most trusted and close to the leader and punish those who fall in out-group and not close to the leader (Liden, Wayne, & Stilwell, 1993; Wayne, Shore, Bommer, & Tetrick, 2002). It has been encountered that there is no such procedure through which leaders chose their in-group member, but they choose on the basis of similarities in characteristics of personality, attitude and demographic or it can be said that on a higher level of competence (Duchon, Green, and Taber, 1986). It has been found that leaders have differential attitudes among followers and members fall into in-group do the hard work, have a rating in higher performers, describe high level of satisfaction with their leaders and engage in citizenship behavior at work (Gerstner, & Day, 1997). IMPACT OF IN AND OUT GROUP ON ORGANIZATION: Workers that are included in the in-group are more engaged, reliable, trustworthy and hardworking as compare to out-group members. In-group and out-group differences bring favoritism and create dissatisfaction among the members of out group. It has been found that favoritism has a damaging impact and costly for an organization (Prendergast and Topel, 1993). Out-group members can create deviant workplace which is against the norms and practices of an organization and can be threatening for the well being of the organization. As it has been explored that people considered themselves as member of an in-group then they believe that they are highly trusted, get high privileges and have unbalanced attention of leader as compared to others that belong to out-group category. It happens almost in all organizations. At times, I feel I am considered as an in-group member and sometimes I believe I am from an out-group. After analyzing my past, I came up to this fact that when people belong to in-group then they are committed with their work, take interest in doing extra work and do uphill struggle to attain their goals and even spend additional hours for the completion of work and have supportive attitude towards their staff members because they know they will be appreciated and may have chances to get promotions or incentives. One of the examples that I would like to discuss to show my experience being an in-group member was at my university level. Our group was assigned a project and the team leader was my best friend. He really helped me and gave me favour and always wanted to know my opinion before making any decision. I was really motivated while working on that project and I really took a lot of interest in that project as I felt an in-group member. In contrast, when people belong to out-group normally do not put additional efforts, they do not have supportive attitude and found annoyed and uncomfortable. When I was new to my organization, I felt the situation of a out-group member. I was not friendly with my colleagues and during that time, I felt how it is to be an out-group member. That particular situation of being alone or an out-group member resulted in discomfort and lack of interaction or sharing of ideas with leaders as well as the situation demoralized me. ROLE OF RELATIONSHIP DEVELOPMENT: Leader has many roles to perform such as a communicator, thinker, decision maker, image maker and team builder (Elaine, 2012). Leadership is a procedure of influencing the thought, behaviors and attitudes of others and it is only possible when leader has a good relationship with his followers. A genuine leader is one who can be approached easily, solutions of problems, achievement of further objective and delivery of new ideas are necessary to appreciate and it is possible only when a member has an appropriate time or attention of leader; relationship development is also cause to create employee engagement. Harter, Schmidt, & Hayes, (2002) have stated that employees that are engaged and considered as in-groups, and these employees have high satisfaction of job, low turnover, and more productive than those who were not engaged and are considered as out-groups . Leaders prefer to divide members into two groups that are “in and out” groups. This practice is not harmful all the time. However, this can create problems because building relationship with specific in-group followers brings interactional justice. Interactional justice is a degree on which one person is treated with respect and dignity. This treatment causes out-group followers to be uncomfortable or dissatisfied. Thus, dissatisfied followers and their emotions of dissatisfaction can lead to deviant workplace behavior. Therefore, it can be said that relationship development plays a decisive role in effective leadership. ROLE OF MANAGEMENT: Management has a crucial role in the effectiveness of leadership. Leadership and management go hand in hand and cannot be separated. If these two are separated, then it will create problems. Leaders develop ideas and lead the team. Manager’s duty is to administrate or govern those ideas if management does not perform its duties well it will hurt the effectiveness of leadership. Leader is liable of anything that happens and manager’s responsibility is that how recommended processes are applied and managed. Managers think about the foundation of the idea and about its implementation. Leaders think about the scope and how ideas can be effective. Leader always does the right thing, and managers are responsible to do things right. The effectiveness of leadership depends upon management activities. ANALYZING DIFFERENT CHARACTERISTICS CONTRIBUTE IN LEADERSHIP. A leader should have self confidence. Leader must have an ability to act rapidly to circumstances that occur accidently without damaging the quality of decision. Leader must be energetic, flexible (to be able to handle changes), emotionally mature (balanced in behavioral and psychological dimensions), he must have personal integrity, social skills, influencing skills (Bowerman and Wart, 2011). Cultural characteristics play an essential part in leadership and managers sooner or later have to respond to the cultural changes. There are factors knows as key situational factors that determine the effectiveness of leadership. One is “leader member relation” it is about the confidence, respect and trust group members having in their leader. Second is “task structure” refers to the procedure of assignments. Third is “position power” it refers the power a leader has on hiring, firing, training, salary distribution, promotion, demotion and reward distribution. A leader must have personal and management qualities. At the personal level, he must be confident about what he is doing, a good communicator, emotionally mature, dynamic personality, responsible, and innovative. At managerial level, he must have considerable knowledge of human skills, should be a good manager who can manage people and task in different situations, he must have the ability to decide and judge things, he must have technical knowledge so he can be a demonstrator for followers. To be an effective leader or to run leadership in effective style communication of ideas, vision, mission and strategies is extremely crucial and many techniques have been introduced for communication. It increases the chance of success; there are four types of communication such as verbal, non-verbal (dress, iconic, kinetics and etc), written and visual. In verbal communication emotions can be projected; meetings, Phone conversation and voice chat are normally used for internal and external communication and come under verbal communication. In written communication open-ended questionnaires, detailed questionnaire, E-mails and memos, are used. Non-verbal communication includes posture of body, gestures, facial expression. Visual communication technique is also extremely crucial to present ideas, major issues, and success points can be presented through this technique, and it includes projects and presentations. All of the techniques are essential in business organization. CONCLUSION It has been analyses that Workers fall in in-group are more engaged, reliable, trustworthy and hardworking as compare to out-group members and that relationship development plays a crucial role in effective leadership. It is also concluded that the effectiveness of leadership depends upon management activities, and they both go to hand in hand and can not be separated. Communication techniques and relationship of leaders with their followers is necessary for the success of the organization. References Bowerman, K. D., & Van Wart, M. (2011). The Business of Leadership: An Introduction. ME Sharpe Incorporated. Duchon, D., Green, S. G., & Taber, T. D. (1986). Vertical dyad linkage: A longitudinal assessment of antecedents, measures, and consequences. Journal of Applied Psychology, 71(1), 56. Elaine, B. G (2012). Five Roles a Leader Needs to Play. Every Thing Business Corporation, Retrieved January 10, 2014 from http://www.corpmagazine.com/executives-entrepreneurs/expert-advice/itemid/9927/five-roles-a-leader-needs-to-play Gerstner, C. R., & Day, D. V. (1997). Meta-Analytic review of leader–member exchange theory: Correlates and construct issues. Journal of applied psychology, 82(6), 827. Harter, J. K., Schmidt, F. L., & Hayes, T. L. (2002). Business-unit-level relationship between employee satisfaction, employee engagement, and business outcomes: a meta-analysis. Journal of applied psychology, 87(2), 268-279. Liden, R. C., Wayne, S. J., & Stilwell, D. (1993). A longitudinal study on the early development of leader-member exchanges. Journal of applied psychology, 78(4), 662 - 674. Prendergast, C., & Topel, R. H. (1993). Favoritism in organizations. The Journal of Political Economy, 104 (5), 958-978. Wayne, S. J., Shore, L. M., Bommer, W. H., & Tetrick, L. E. (2002). The role of fair treatment and rewards in perceptions of organizational support and leader-member exchange. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87(3), 590. Read More