The Nature and Art of Effective Leadership - Essay Example

The Nature and Art of Effective Leadership Introduction Leadership is the art of motivating a certain group of people to act towards the achievement of a common set goal in that the leader is the inspiration and the director of the action. The traditional concept of leadership as being the directing chief at the top of a hierarchy has been overtaken by events and nature and no longer represents the true nature and art of effective leadership. Therefore leadership means much more than directing and instructing people as well as the making of important decisions in an organization. In order to understand the very nature and art of effective leadership, it is important to differentiate it from management.1 While management is concerned with processes and relies on measurable capabilities like systems, goals, planning and evaluation2, the leadership is majorly concerned with behavior and relies on less tangible measurable like trust, motivation and the personal character of a person. This means that leadership is about leading people and influencing their behavior while management is about managing processes and securing the results and more often than not, the culture of the organization will dictate how the leadership and the management is.3 This paper explores the very nature and art of leadership and how to attain effective leadership and maintain it within the organization. It will also give insights into issues of leadership such as power, delegation, job enrichment vis-à-vis job enlargement and answer a question as to whether leaders are born or made. The paper also affirms the fact that leadership style is dependent upon the circumstances and situation in which a person is in and concludes with the traits and personal characteristics that define an effective leader. Leadership Leadership is a process where an individual or a group of individuals influences others in order that they help in the pursuing and the fulfilment of set goals by an organization as shared by the leadership itself and those being led.4 The leadership will always depend on the circumstances and the situations in which the person leading is in and the style encompasses how they relate to others within and outside the organization. The style of the leadership will be reflected in both the nature of the organization and how it relates to the human resources within the organization and how they intend to achieve their goals. Therefore, the style of leadership that a leader adopts will ultimately define the organization as it has profound effects on the people within the organization and everything that the organization undertakes as well as the concepts. These conceptions include the exercise of power, gaining and exercising the privileges of high status, task orientation and empowerment as facets of a particular leadership style by any leader in an organization. Leadership may take different styles depending on the circumstances of the organization or its situation at any given time in the running of an organization. Leadership may be autocratic in nature in that the autocratic leaders usually insist on doing everything themselves and make all the decisions themselves. This is further made by worse due to the fact that an autocratic leader maintains his authority through force, intimidation, reward, threats and punishment in order to ensure that the goals of an organization. A managerial leader concerns himself with the running of the organization and the success is usually measured depending on the nature and stability of the organization. Additionally, leadership may adopt a democratic style where the leader appreciates that there is no organization without its people and each person has a status and responsibility and therefore, there is need for consultation in all decision-making. The style may also be collaborative in nature, which involves every person within the organization in the leadership, and there is no need for control or power for effective leadership. Depending on the circumstances that an organization finds itself in, it is important that it chooses the best leadership style that will enable it meet its goals or achievements. This requires that there is a clear balance between the issues of power, delegation and job enrichment as compared to job empowerment for effective leadership of an organization. Power Leaders in the present organizations do work in socially complex environments where they need the assistance of subordinates, peers, superiors and external parties in order to accomplish their goals and this requires effective leadership that has a strong power base. In any organization, leaders acquire and utilize power to accomplish specific work goals and strengthening their positions in line the goals and objectives of the organization. Leaders in conjunction may use power with people, ideas and money, in order to obtain interpersonal influence which is core to the accomplishment of the goals of the organization.5 Through power, a leader can make rigid bureaucracies more flexible, innovative and adaptive as well as making the work place more exciting and satisfying to the people within the organization.6 Having a strong power base and the development of influence strategies that are effective in producing power dynamics is therefore an important aspect of having an effective leadership within an organization. Therefore, a leader must maintain perspective in the use of power to achieve influence in that having a strong power base secures effort, compliance and commitment amongst the people within the organization. Delegation Delegation is important for any form of effective leadership in that it frees up the leader to tackle the important aspects of the organization and increases the morale, confidence and productivity of subordinates.7 It also has the effect of saving time as it allows the leader to concentrate on more important matters as compared to the least important issues in the business organization. Effective leadership at times is dependent on the task, the individual capabilities of the human resources within the organization, their knowledge and the time and resources for accomplishing the tasks. As a leader, a person makes decisions on the style of leadership to employ in any given situation and one can foster the involvement of employees for them to contribute their best efforts to the organization. In order that the organization is well led and managed, it is important that the delegation is done effectively. It is important to pick the best people that can effectively carry out the responsibilities that are delegated while at the same time ensuring that you delegate in a way that people will willingly accept the assignment. There must be consistent standards that are attainable for the task as well as the freedom of the employees to complete the task. For effective leadership, when delegating a task or a duty, it is important to give a person a whole task to do as well as making sure that the employees understand the overall purpose of the project or the task. The people on whom the task is delegated must be connected with those that are managing and planning the work and ensure that the staff person understands what is expected of him. It is imperative that the leader is well aware that the successful delegation of authority as a mode of effective leadership style takes time and energy in the enhancement of employee involvement and empowerment. Job Enrichment versus Job Enlargement Job enrichment incorporates factors that motivate the employee in order that he derives satisfaction in what he does within the organization. Job enlargement on the other hand is a design technique for a job that adds more workload, duties and responsibilities to an employee so that they do not feel bored or uncoordinated at the place of work. It adds a variety in the job by granting the employee a wider and unlimited number of tasks and helps in utilizing the worker fully thus increasing his simulation. Job enrichment is considered a restructuring method but in a vertical manner as it adds autonomy, authority and control on how a particular task is done while job enlargement restructures the job or the task in a horizontal manner. Therefore, the difference between job enrichment and job enlargement is that the former adds quality to a job while the latter adds quantity to the job within an organization at any given time. This is because the job enrichment improves a particular job by upgrading and development it, while job enlargement adds more duties and responsibilities as well as increasing the workload. Job enlargement and job enrichment are important for any organization as they usually motivate the workers or the employees to perform the tasks enthusiastically. The difference between job enrichment and job enlargement is that in job enrichment, an employee finds fulfilment in respect of growth both personally and in terms of position, which is contrary to job enlargement where there are additional duties and responsibilities on an existing job description. The job enlargement is normally used by employers to add workloads on employees especially when there is economic crisis and may there is need to downsize the workforce. It may also be used when it is the idea of the employer that by adding more variety and enlarging the responsibilities to an employee, he will be enhanced and more productive. Job enlargement and job enrichment also possess some distinct features between themselves especially in such areas as expansion, mutual reliance, allocation of responsibilities and duties as well as matters on insight and motivation. In job enrichment, the employee focuses more on the depth of the job and has a greater motivational impact that is contrary to the situation in job enhancement where the employee may have been added additional responsibilities but with no increase in pay. Are Leaders Born or Made? This question has always elicited much debate, as some people are natural born leaders while others work their life in order to become great leaders in that they are nurtured. In my opinion, which is the most widely held opinion; leaders are not born but made in that whatever makes a person a good leader is through discovery. What makes a leader effective is not the natural ability, but the desire to lead people combined with skills that require that they exercise the integrity that is required in running an organization. It is important to note that leaders are made because of their desire to lead which motivates them to lead and acquire skills for effective leadership. While most people believe that leadership is based on a title or position, it has been found that it is not usually about those two aspects only. Any individual who is encouraged and empowered to express themselves in the leadership position for specific set goals and purposes can derive the leadership qualities. Therefore, leadership is about a process in which leaders and the persons being led are made to engage in order to achieve the goals set by an organization. Conclusion Learning how to motivate the human resources within an organization is an important leadership tool in that leaders know that they need the other people to accomplish a task or a job. The leader may not be the most knowledgeable or analytical person at the work place but may know how to utilize the strengths and capabilities of others to get a task done through delegation. A better leader must have interpersonal relational skills, charisma, personality, character as well as impartiality in order to lead an organization in order that it achieves its goals. As already discussed, effective leadership requires that the leader becomes a servant in that the leader must see himself as serving the organization and the people within it. Effective leadership must understand that leadership is about people and their behaviour and there must be trust and good relationship among the human resources within the organization. The leader must therefore possess such positive skills like integrity, honesty, humility, wisdom and courage amongst others. The leader should also be an engaging conversationalist in order to engender the necessary trust, confidence and loyalty amongst the people within the organization. Listening is important and the leader must know what time to stop talking and do the listening for an informed decision. The leaders must be able to focus and motivate themselves in order to motivate the others within the organization in order to realize its success. However, the fact that there are individual differences in personality traits due to the heritage of an individual, there is that chance that it may have little effects on how a person is perceived as an effective leader. Bibliography Adair, J. E. How to Grow Leaders: The Seven Key Principles of Effective Leadership Development. London: Kogan Page, 2005. Manning, G, and Curtis, K. The Art of Leadership. Boston, Mass: McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2003. Print. Mullins, L., J. Management and Organisational Behaviour. Harlow [u.a.: Financial Times Prentice Hall, 2009. Print. Owen, J. The Leadership Skills Handbook: 50 Essential Skills You Need to Be a Leader. London: Kogan Page, 2012. Porter, K, Smith, P., Fagg, R, and Winfield, P., W. Leadership and Management for Hr Professionals. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2006. Print. Sadler, P. Leadership. London: Kogan Page Ltd, 2003. Print. Schein, E., H. Organizational Culture and Leadership. San Franciso, Calif: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1991. Print. Read More