Leadership Foundational and Critical Perspective - Research Paper Example

Leadership Foundational and Critical Perspective Contents Introduction to Psychological Perspective of Leadership 2 Leadership and its sphere of interaction 3 Characteristics of Leadership 4 Trait theories of Personality and Organization Management 5 Organization and Narcissistic Leadership and its Impact 7 Evaluating the Impact 8 Conclusion 8 References 10 Introduction to Psychological Perspective of Leadership Industrial and organizational psychology is a complex area of research that emphasizes on both the overt and covert behavior and mental processes of an individual working in an environment (Tiffin, 1952, p. 1-2). It emphasizes on innate nature of an individual and all those perspectives that help in assessment of cognitive working and behavioral disposition. Different schools of thoughts have surfaced keeping in view the complexity of human behavior. And for industrial psychologists most prominent are the cognitive, humanist and behaviorist schools of thoughts. An important debate that remains common among them is the stimulus response model that drives their management and working abilities. It is inherent to human resource managers to assess this important aspect of workers and executives in an organization. Leadership, then, sits at the highest pyramid of the organizational hierarchy and is important to an organization for its sustenance and growth (John, 2009, p. 3-4). Thus it is important for an organization to have such a leadership that might strive for a win-win condition on the whole. This paper is an attempt to assess a psychological possibility in leadership and its impact on an organization. It is an attempt to put forward a precise research that can be used in an organization to scrutinize leadership issues. It discusses trait theories of personality to gauge the constraints that a personality might pose on the face of effective leadership. It also tries to link managerial efficiency and affectivity with personality traits. An important area of this research is to find the impact of narcissistic personality in an organization. Narcissism, in effect, is a tensile stress that breaks link between organization and its leadership. Managers are prone to this type of disposition because of white color effect and executive ambiance in which they are immersed for a fairly long period of time. A brief concept of this type of leadership is also discussed while revisiting highly sought after leadership characteristics required for a successful organization. Leadership and its sphere of interaction Leadership in an organization is characterized by taking going before, initiatives, setting examples and showing ways to an organization in holistic manner. Organizations, today, in an extremely competitive business environment heavily rely on leadership and their role. The goals that are expected to be set by leadership of an organization can either by humanitarian or entrepreneurial. The level in a hierarchy, leadership exists should instill passion and sense of purpose to work which is organization undertakes (Cecil, 2009, p. 7-8). Thus for Human Resource managers it is an important task to hunt such individuals. Human Resource Management is thus concerned with identification, development and sustenance of leadership in an organization. Structure of an organization is dependent on the type of business field and its standing on the type of economic activity it performs. Leaders of these organizations are entrusted with efficiency and affectivity tasks of various tiers of an organization. Organs that constitute purview of a leader solicit his input, judgment and accountability. It is not possible for them to work as stand-alone unit. The systems are so designed that they might act as internal customers of an organization. These internal customers need directives that must follow all along supervision of leader. From individual-employee satisfaction to organizational behavior role of leaders have a profound effect on employee. Leadership has many important aspects that are important for an organization. They are related to operations, management, accountability and innovation. Each aspect has its own significance and leadership is assessed by how it takes any aspect of an organization. The human resource management plays the most important part in terms of resource utilization. This resource utilization then constitutes one of the main stream leadership characteristics (Pan, 2008, p. 2-3). In addition to the afore-mentioned facts another aspect of leadership and its interaction is internal and external brand management. Leadership plays an important role in this important sphere of management. Recent surveys have assessed that leadership which has proved their employees with recognition of their internal brand and company culture. This gives sense of purpose to employees and their output is led by passion imparted by leadership. One of the latest areas of research is development and management of company culture that emphasizes role of leadership. This area of research has given birth of new responsibilities on leadership. Characteristics of Leadership An established fact about leadership is that it provides for innovation, initiatives, effective utilization of resources and creating opportunities for an organization (DQuins, 2005, p.17-20). Any slack in leadership might render this aspect of an organization meaningless and would surly head organization towards terminal end. Core competencies that are basic to for a leader is to have can be listed as: Strategic and system thinking Problem solving Coaching and delegation Decision making and performance management Productivity, accountability and quality improvement Creativity, innovation and customer service Inspiration and conflict management Teamwork and Employee development However despite all these requirements and development of leadership, idiosyncrasy and trait differences exist among individuals. These individuals provide self-evident directives and outputs which decide present and future of an organization. Trait theories of Personality and Organization Management Trait theories of personality are important explanation of behavior of an individual. Leadership has these personality traits at its center. Psychologists, especially industrial and organizational psychologists merge human resource management with individual psychological assessment. Many prominent industrial psychologists like Fredrick W Taylor, Hawthorne, Robert Owen, Charles Babbage and Henry R Towne were the early developers of this field of organizational behavior and psychology. According to these psychologists the roots of effective resource management is directly linked to following management assignments (Landy, 1997, p. 467-477): 1. Job satisfaction (various factors) 2. Training 3. Quality of workplace 4. Job analysis 5. Performance evaluation 6. Personnel selection 7. Motivation Trait theories were pioneered by Gordon Allport and Raymond Cattel. They assessed different aspects of a personality and categorized these aspects or traits into different categories. Few traits were found in all types of personalities while others were limited to a special group of people. Some special individuals possessed a cardinal set of traits that helped them to indulge in higher level of pursuits. Hans Eysenck late defined 3 dimensions and biological basis of difference among individuals. These traits as an aggregate evaluated a personality to four major classes, namely stable, unstable, introvert or extrovert. Raymond Cattel categorized traits into two main categories as Surface and Source traits. Main difference between these two types is that surface traits are visible and can help to vaguely assess source traits. Surface traits create first impression that is usually enduring. Source traits are very difficult to be assessed. They are the hidden part of a personality and are evident only when special conditions occur. They are actually situation bound. Cattel prepared a personality test known as 16 Personality Factor test. This test assessed 16 major identifiable traits and helped in correctly assessing source traits (Cattel, 1973, p. 64). These traits make individuals unique and help in predicting potentials and weak points in personality. As discussed, leadership qualities and traits are specific and can be compared with personality inventories to evaluate best person for a job. This point will be discussed in later sections. Psychology is a science and has a huge impact on our present day life. It is important to be incorporated in various fields. Leaders are personalities that surface on the horizon on numerous individuals. They are imposing especially in managing and operating their environment, especially business. Trait theories can be used to assess different types of personalities among leaders, especially when leaders of an organization are less interested in internal brand management and teamwork. Apart from this special trait that most of the times become detrimental for an organization, there are other forms of leadership. They are collaborative (adequate), charismatic (extrovert), empathy, toxic leadership etc. Leadership accountability is then another terminology important for human resource managers. It helps in improving and instantaneous assessment of leadership in an organization. Organization and Narcissistic Leadership and its Impact Narcissistic leadership is a style of leading an organization which is self-centric. It emphasized and prioritizes personal gains and interests. Narcissism is a psychological disorder and is discussed in DSM IV (diagnostic and statistical manual) by American Psychology Association. This disorder is frequently referred to be in individuals who are anxious about themselves. However in management studies the equivalent term used to narcissism is Narcissistic Leadership. This type of leadership is characterized by hostility, dominance and arrogance in behavior and non-consultative decision making. The initiatives are taken with hostility and hard handoffs and resets are applied to different organizational workflows and management. It is destructive as leaders are interested in personal gains and eulogy. These leaders prove to be major reason of dissatisfaction and frequent resignations in an organization. Their self-absorption is so high that teamwork is pushed to the wall and no epitome is provided to the co-workers and subordinates. Another feature of this type of leadership is the need of power, admiration and egoistic conduct and directives of a leader (Linda, 2010, p.29). According to a compilation of facts, namely ‘Narcissism- Behind the mask’, research by Michael Maccoby (Thomas, 2010, p. 21), there are four types of leadership personalities that can be categorized according to their traits: 1. Democratic and emotional 2. Authoritarian and emotional 3. Authoritarian and rational / task oriented 4. Democratic and rational/ task oriented Evaluating the Impact Still there are schools of thought which assess narcissistic leadership into two main categories which are positive/ healthy narcissism and negative/ destructive narcissism. The characteristics which sway in positive and negative in terms of impact are (Lubit, 2002, p. 127-138): 1. relationship with organization and its employees (empathy vs. exploitation) 2. desire for power (enjoying the authority vs. pursuing to be despot) 3. consistency (values vs. change of course and easily bored) 4. self-confidence (rational behavior vs. grandiose) Thus it can be said that Narcissistic Leadership is not in any way a stable leadership that falls in any of the above mentioned leadership traits and characteristics. Leadership qualities essentially aim at teamwork, accountability, empathy, rationality, innovation and others as mentioned above. Deviation from these accepted norms for success of an organizational behavior and output absolutely impossible. Conclusion Impact of such leadership is predominantly negative. The internal brand management and company culture becomes precarious as narcissistic leaders are always in search of co-workers and subordinates to serve them. They are characterized by titles, honor, respect due to level of executive post and prestige of the office they hold. Empathy is nowhere to be found which disconnects the higher management from the employees. They put there need before the needs of organization and they are not able to develop relationship their colleagues and co-workers. Also that the innovation aspect of leadership is piloted by initiative and Narcissistic Leaders do not bother about these efforts. Thus the impact is fairly negative on an organization which can cause irreparable losses to both leader and employees. References Cattell, R. B. (1973), Autobiography. In G. Lindsey (Ed.), A history of psychology in autobiography. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, vol. VI, p.64 Cecil V. Martinette Jr (2002). LEARNING ORGANIZATIONS AND LEADERSHIP STYLE . Virginia: EMS Department NFA US. 7-8. D. Quinn Mills (2005). How to Lead, How to Live. Boston: Quinn Mills. 17-20 John B. McGuire (2009). Transforming Your Organization. Colorado: Center for Creative Leadership.. 3-4. Landy, F. J. (1997). Early influences on the development of industrial and organizational psychology. Journal of Applied Psychology, 82, p. 467-477 Linda L. Neider/Chester A. Schriesheim (2010), The Dark Side of Management (2010) p. 29 Lubit, R. (2002). The long-term organizational impact of destructively narcissistic managers. Academy of Management Executive, 16(1), 127-138 Pan Jing-zhou, (2008). The role of leadership between the employees and the organization: a bridge or a ravine?. Journal of Management and Marketing Research. 2008RKA198 (1), 2. Thomas D (2010) Narcissism: Behind the Mask- Chapter 4 Leadership, p. 21 Tiffin, J (1952). Industrial Psychology. 3rd ed. New York: Prentice Hall. 1-2. Read More