Overcoming High Employee Turnover by Changing Leadership Behaviour - Coursework Example

Overcoming High Employee Turnover by Changing Leadership Behaviour Table of Contents Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………… 3 Participative leadership concepts……………………………………………………….................4 Practicing the concept of participative leadership………………………………………...............8 Limitations of participative leadership behaviour……………………………………….............10 Reflection of skill development…………………………………………………………….........11 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………12 References……………………………………………………………………………………….13 Introduction High employee turnover is a problem that continues to bedevil the management of various organisations in the business world. The leadership style used by the management of organisations is a factor in influencing worker engagement. How employees are involved in their work depends on how the management provides leadership. In this sense, poor leadership, affects negatively on the employee’s work and eventually affects an organisation’s bottom line. This is because a lack of good leadership from the management results in a demoralized workforce. It is important for the management of organisations to exhibit good leadership that resonates with the employees. This helps in improving morale and performance in organisations. Major factors that contribute to employees leaving an organisation includes; the management’s lack of interest in the employee’s needs, employing autocratic leadership, not involving the employee’s in the organisation’s decision-making process, lack of recognizing employee’s skills and providing employee’s with autonomy in the work environment(Oshagbemi 2008, p.1902). While it is important for the management of an organisation to take charge in terms of leading their subordinates, showing good leadership is vital in retaining skilled and experienced workforce. Further, employee turnover rate is a pertinent issue in organisations, and it is important to look at the factors that promote low employee turnover. In this regard, the leadership behaviour adopted in organisations is one of the key factors that influence employee turnover rate in organisations. In addition, while there is different leadership behaviours that the management of an organisation can utilize, a leadership behaviour that fosters democracy in the work environment is ideal in retaining skilled and experienced employees. In essence, changing organisational situation in regard to high employee turnover requires a participative or democratic leadership behaviour. This type of leadership places value on teamwork; however, the responsibility of the final decision-making rests with the leader of the team. This leadership is important in organisation with vibrant workforce in the sense that, it helps to improve employee’s morale. In addition, this leadership behaviour is ideal in times of change management process (Sorensen & Holman 2014, p.72). In relying on theoretical concepts and practice, this paper explores how a participative leadership behaviour can help to change high employee turnover. Participative leadership concepts Concerning participative leadership concepts, ideal leadership behaviour entails considering the input of others in the organisation. In this sense, a leader is required to promote participation and employee contribution by working in teams. Further, a participative model of leadership require the leader to assist employees feel as part the organisation by engaging the decision making process. However, while the leader allows contributions from other employees, this model gives the leader the mandate to make the final decision, but through a consultative process with other employees. This model further involves the leader maintaining the role of a facilitator and not issuing orders to employees concerning daily work assignments. The business environment is not static and change from time to time and this require the management of organisations to assess their leadership models. The changing business environment is directly associated with globalization which require creativity or innovativeness to remain relevant in a competitive business world (Pihlak & Alas 2012, p.46). A participative model is ideal in this context in the sense that, the leadership style allows for autonomy of employees in the work environment. This does not mean that the leader takes hands off approach, but remains in the background to observe other employee’s initiative. In a competitive business world, a participative model creates a type of leadership behaviour that allows employees to engage actively in their work. This is important in the sense that ideal leadership in the contemporary business world should provide employees with the freedom to plan and implement their own initiatives. However, it is important to note that while a participative model fosters teamwork, the leaders for the participative group need to be skilled and experienced than other members. This suits the leader as a facilitator who helps to polish the ideas or opinions suggested by other employees. In this model, the leader needs to show an example by leading from the front. This involves showing an interest in the initiatives proposed by group members and providing a positive feedback. Ideal leadership behaviour as exemplified in a participative model entails appreciating other member’s work. Worker engagement in organisations often improves when the leaders show appreciation to work done by their subordinates (Pihlak & Alas 2012, p.48). A reciprocal relationship within the work environment depends on leadership behaviour where understanding of one another is emphasised. For example, working in a team enhances understanding among the team members and their group leaders. Most organisations using the participative model are successful because their leaders consult with employees thus; developing an understanding of their needs. This in essence plays an important part in retaining skilled and experienced employees (Pihlak & Alas 2012, p.56). On another note, a participative model improves followership. This is because the team members learn from the skilled and experienced group leader. In order to become a leader, one has to follow the example of the experienced and emulate their leadership behaviour in improving both employee and organisational performance in general. In embracing a participative leadership, the management needs to emphasise the importance of followership. This is because, a lack of followership result in the development of incompetent leaders. In order to become a leader, employees must first accept to follow someone, and this is emphasised in a participative leadership model. Working in a group is an interactive process, and in the same manner, leadership entails an interactive process in the sense that, leaders depend on those under them and vice versa. Since teamwork is important for many organisations today, the success of a group’s input depends on developing active followers (Carsten et al 2010, p.544). In this sense, it is important for followers to establish the acceptance levels required for leadership. Conversely, leaders also need to understand their followers at a greater length compared to followers understanding of leaders. An important aspect for employees working in a group involves cooperation in terms of completing a particular task. This further requires cohesiveness and high-level team work participation. In essence, this is how leadership among employees begins to develop. In participative leadership behaviour, effective followership acts as a building block for good leadership skills. The following behaviours considered necessary in developing a participative leadership include being ready as an employee to work on the organisation to accomplish the identified goals (Carsten et al 2010, p.544). Employees also need to be ready in terms of accepting the assigned tasks by group leaders. In addition, loyalty among group members forms part of understanding each other and improving oneself leadership skills. Accepting criticism while supporting the opinions or ideas of other members is also important in developing ideal leadership behaviour. Developing participative leadership behaviour further requires members of a team to develop a positive attitude regardless of the organisation’s situation. It is also important to put the team first other than prioritizing personal interests. For employees contemplating to develop participative leadership behaviour, it is important to critically assess one’s personal views concerning leadership and the work environment in order to develop a proper understanding of the prevailing situations in the organisation (Huang, Rode & Schroeder 2011, p.1103). Through this evaluation, employees can learn to develop change in themselves in terms of dealing with challenging situations and enhancing their work performance. A self-reflection as a follower in a participative leadership requires employees to ask themselves questions such as whether their intention entails pursuing the team’s objectives, what ideas they intend to share with the group leader and whether to assert more effort in teamwork. Further reflection relate to exploring the changes that a leader may face and the importance of providing support to the group leader. For followers, it is important to emulate the qualities of the group leader if one wants to develop an effective participative leadership. Achieving good leadership qualities as a follower entails evaluating one’s roles as an individual, collaborator and a group member. These assist employees to gauge their performance and improve on the identified weaknesses. Overall, effective participative leadership depends on developing an effective followership (Murray & Clark 2013, p.289). Using participative leadership behaviour to improve employee engagement is critical in overcoming high employee turnover. Most employees quit their work because of being unhappy with the leadership style in an organisation. Employees, often feel comfortable when they are given the opportunity to participate in the decision making of the organisation they work. Further, creating an environment where employees work as a team improves cohesion and job satisfaction. As such, where an organisation is experiencing high employee turnover, a starting point to make organisational change involves changing to a leadership style that embraces the participation of employees in the organisation’s decision-making process. This plays a role in ensuring that employees understand any change made in the organization, and work to support such change rather resist and walk out of the organisation. In essence, a participative leadership is necessary in organisations experiencing high employee turnover because this leadership behaviour lays emphasis on a consultative process between the management and employees of an organisation (Murray & Clark 2013, p.295). Practicing the concept of participative leadership In organisations across the world, liberalisation creates a situation where leadership behaviour like authoritarian only serves to derail an organisation’s performance and bottom-line. Employees in the contemporary business world prefer freedom in their work environment with little or no supervision. This provides them with the chance to come up with their own ideas geared at improving organisation’s performance. In essence, workers are comfortable in an environment that provides them a space to explore their skills and experience rather than working under strict supervision and using ideas of another person. Further, since most organisations in the present business world lay emphasis on creativity or innovativeness to remain relevant in a competitive market, there is a need to embrace teamwork in organisations (Somech 2003, p.1009). Working in groups not only assists employees to improve on their skills, but also develop effective leadership qualities because of operating as followers. Creativity and personal development as a leader cannot be enhanced by working as individuals. This is because in order to evaluate oneself in terms of leadership qualities, an employee needs to assess himself or herself in a collaborative process with other employees. This is achievable in teamwork because employees engage in a constructive criticism of their skills and this helps group members to improve on their weaknesses in terms of exhibiting effective leadership behaviours. Participative leadership behaviour is ideal in changing the trend of high employee turnover in organisations. This is because, a participative leadership behaviour helps employees to understand where the organisation is going in spite of challenges that may worry employees and make them leave the organisation (Ismail, Zainuddin & Ibrahim 2010, p.11). This leadership behaviour prioritizes employee’s interest and this ensure that their needs at work place are provided, and any conflict between the management can be solved amicably because employees are part of the decision making process. Since most employees’ ambition is to develop their skills, participative leadership helps them to achieve this ambition. This is because participative leadership allows employees to explore their skills in teamwork. As a result, employees feel satisfied when they contribute and in turn receive positive feedback from their leaders. As a motivating factor, participative leadership is important in boosting employee morale because, a major contributor to high employee turnover is demoralization at work place (Ismail, Zainuddin & Ibrahim 2010, p.20). When employees are happy with their organisation’s leadership, this also reflects in the organisation’s performance and revenue. This is because they give their best to improve the performance of the organisation because of understanding the goals of the organisation. Participative leadership enable employees to understand the goals of their organisation because they are participating in identifying such goals. In addition, working in a group enable the leader to identity employees potentials. This is important in retaining employees in an organisation because the group leader can offer a recommendation for employees to get a promotion or listed for in service training to develop their skills (Ismail, Zainuddin & Ibrahim 2010, p.23). Limitations of participative leadership behaviour This type of leadership behaviour is influenced by certain conditions that include, having a pool of literate employees. This is because, providing autonomy to employees to work as a team with little or no experience require a work environment where employees are skilful and experienced. However, in most cases, this is not possible within an organisational setting because some of the employees might be new and lack experience to contribute in a team. Further, this leadership style tends to assume that all employees have a genuine interest in the organisation and their individual interest commensurate with the organisation’s goals. The validity of this assumption cannot be determined where employees work in groups since, contributions by employees to enhance organisational performance involves a collaborative effort. Some employees in these groups often rely on the contribution of others and prefer remain dormant in times of contributing ideas. In addition, this leadership behaviour depends on trust established between the management and employees. However, it is a common occurrence for some employees to view this style as a way of exploitation or manipulation by the organisation’s management. As a result, for this approach to work in an organisation, it requires a receptive workforce (Kanji 2008, p.421). This approach may also create a feeling of alienation among some workers. This is because within the group set up, ideas by some employees is often neglected by a clique of employees who view themselves as more skilled and experienced. As a result, the neglected employees experience frustrations and this impact negatively on their performance at the workplace. This approach is also notorious in terms of time wastage since numerous viewpoints has to be digested by the team before arriving at a conclusive decision. As such, impatient management may experience frustration concerning the slow pace of the decision making process. On the other hand, managers may feel uncomfortable with this style in the sense that, involving employees in the decision-making process encroaches on their mandate as the ultimate authority in the organisation. Further, for this approach to work there is a need for the management to offer incentives and motivate employees by recognizing their work through positive feedback. As a result, employees may hold the management at ransom where their effort is influenced by the amount of incentives the organisation can offer. Under this approach, situations may arise where roles are not clear and this impact negatively on effective communication. This lack of clear roles can cause delays in completion of projects implemented by an organisation (Soonhee 2002, p.231). Reflection of skill development Skill development concerning participative leadership require patience and commitment as a follower to learn from the group leader. Further, in order for an employee to improve his or her skills, such an employee needs to accept and learn from past mistakes. This involves being ready to accept criticism from other members of the team. Teamwork involves learning from others, and whether a person feels he or she is skilled than other members, this should not reflect in the group in the form of imposing individual ideas on other members. On the same note, whether other members seems to lack the required skills for a particular initiative, developing as a leader require one to help others grow and reach the required competency level. Skill development is a learning process that requires an employee to evaluate his knowledge or level of development while in a group. Where a person feels he, or she is lacking, the ideal approach is to consult with the group leader for advice on the way forward (Hann 2013, p.57). In developing skills required for an effective leader, one must endeavour to learn a number of leadership characteristics that include honesty, genuineness, trustworthy and understanding. On another note, skill development requires an employee to explore his or her work environment. This is important in terms of understanding the goals of the organisation and work towards achieving those goals. To this end, a person needs to embrace deductive thinking. Through the act of probing, a person can acquire the knowledge necessary to succeed as a leader. Probing may involve consulting with experienced leaders to understand the dynamics of effective leadership (Hann 2013, p.58). Conclusion High employee turnover rate often arises in most organisations because of poor leadership. In order to change this trend, the best leadership style to implement in an organisation experiencing high employee turnover is a participative leadership. This approach ensures that employees are considered as part of the organisation by being involved in the decision making process. Where employees are involved in deciding on the affairs of the organisation, it is difficult for those employees to leave. This is due to the fact that, the strategy taken by organisations is derived from the employee’s ideas. However, while participative leadership provides the best alternative to overcome high employee turnover, the management needs to be careful when implementing this approach because if not properly implemented, organisations may experience failures with new plans to retain employees. References Carsten, M.K; Uhl-Bien, M; West, B; Pater, J & McGregor, R 2010. Exploring social constructions of followership: A qualitative study. University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Hann, C 2013, ‘We’re all in this together’, Entrepreneur, Vol. 41, no. 3, pp. 57-58. Huang, X; Rode, J. C & Schroeder, R 2011, ‘Organizational structure and continuous improvement and learning: Moderating effects of cultural endorsement of participative leadership’, G. Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 42, no. 9, pp. 1103-1120. 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Somech, A 2003, ‘Relationships of participative leadership with relational demography variables: a multi-level perspective’, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Vol. 24, no. 8, pp. 1003-1018. Sorensen, O H & Holman, D 2014, ‘A participative intervention to improve employee well-being in knowledge work jobs: A mixed-methods evaluation study’, Work & Stress, Vol. 28, no.1, pp. 67-86. Soonhee, K 2002, ‘Participative Management and Job Satisfaction: Lessons for Management Leadership’, Public Administration Review, Vol. 62, no. 2, p. 231. Read More