Effective Leadership in the Organizational Success - Term Paper Example

Effective leadership is one of the major attributes for organizational success. Northouse, (2011) has described leadership as a process that assists individual to influence a group of people in terms of achieving a common goal. Leadership acts as a catalyst to influence four fundamental factors of any organization’s productivity such as labor, land, entrepreneurship, and capital. The leadership style of management or owners is very important for effectively structuring the culture of the organization. There are a number of leadership styles that have been evaluated and examined by researchers overall period of time. As per Selznick, (2011) the style of leadership must differ according to the structure of the organization, work culture and personality as well as tolerance of subordinates. Hunter, (2008) has described the effectiveness and importance of servant leadership for organizational management in his book “The Servant”. The theory of servant leadership illustrates that in order to increase the effectiveness of leadership activities a leader needs to serve first. Rather than a leadership style or technique, servant leadership can be described as a pattern of behavior that can assist management to gather long-term benefit (Van Dierendonck, 2011). Hunter, (2008) has described the impact and application of this leadership style through the tale of a business executive and his failure as a boss, coach, father and husband. The discussion in the book has explained that effective leadership is highly influenced by care, respect and interplay of responsibilities. The further discussion in this study will interlink, elaborate and align the concept addressed in this book with the effectiveness leadership activities, efficiency in terms of team building and management and importance of communication within organization. It will also emphasize on different leadership as well as managerial skills such as persuasion and effective decision making with the assistance of the concept acquired from the book “The Servant”. The Servant and Becoming the Boss; What to Ask the Person in the Mirror; and Survival Guide for Leaders Vaccaro et al., (2012) have explained that there is a considerable dissimilarity between the management and leadership practices. The role of managers involves merely handling a team of subordinates while leaders create followers within organization along evaluating and restructuring organizational vision and goal as per changing environment. Leaders also play an influential role in terms of creating shared focus. In the book “Becoming the Boss” Hill & Lineback, (2011) have described that the process of becoming a leader from a manager is an arduous journey which involves incessant self-development and learning. Inadequate leadership abilities and insufficient experience of an employee who has been promoted to management responsibility just because of strong individual performances can cause considerable financial and human costs to organization. The authors have mentioned a number of common myths in terms of power and authority that enforces the despair or disorientation of their functions in the initial stages of leadership, such as: The power of a manager is the result of their formal; position in the organization. Managers possess significant freedom and power to make things happen by subordinates. Managers are authorized to control direct report by the subordinates. The role of manager is to build one-on-one relationship with the employees. Most of these long-believed activities of management have been considered as misconceptions by Hill & Lineback, (2011) which enforces failure of the manager in terms of becoming and effective leader or boss. During the description of the real picture of managerial role as well as suggesting the process of effectiveness of leadership, the authors has strongly followed the rules of servant leadership mentioned by Hunter, (2008) in “The Servant”. According to the book, the knowledge and sense of authority is highly important rather than power and position to increase the effectiveness of leadership while developing organizational task as well as employment relationship. In accordance to this principle, Hill & Lineback, (2011) have elaborated the importance of authority over power in terms of increasing the effectiveness of leadership. The authors has described that the role and characteristics of a servant leader is very essential to improve the relationship with the subordinates in the initial phase of management. Rather than utilizing position power, which forces people into action against their will, managers need to focus on building the characteristics that influence authority. Hunter, (2008) has detailed that the skill of authority assists management to encourage subordinates to willingly indulge in organizational tasks. Hence, this characteristic assists managers to become a boss by building relationship with the employees. Kaplan, (2011) has detailed the necessity of continuous self-development in terms of increasing and maintaining the effectiveness of the leadership capability which not only improves the employee-employer relationship but also assists organizations to achieve their desired goal. With the increase in position in the organization the openness and access to guidance and suggestion decrease for management. This situation sometimes enforces the management to lose their path from effective leadership. The authors have evaluated different skills of servant leaders mentioned by Hunter, (2008) to increase and maintain the effectiveness of organizational goals, tasks performance, employee engagement and motivation and employer-employee relationship. These skills include empathy, stewardship, commitment, foresight, persuasion, awareness and listening tendency. Hunter, (2008) has also mentioned in the “law of harvest” that management needs to create a right and fruitful environment in any organization by appropriately using these skills. They also need to focus on time-to-time nurturing their activities to ensure that their activities and application of skills are actually providing desired results. In accordance to the concept of servant leadership skills mentioned in “The Servant”, Kaplan, (2011) has evaluated different tasks that a manager needs to follow religiously enhance the efficacy of their leadership abilities. These tasks suggested by the authors can enable management to maintain the proficiency and accuracy of their activities over the period of time while evaluating and monitoring the performance, motivation and knowledge of the employees on a regular basis. According to the author, the primary task of a manager is to efficiently communicate the vision and priorities of the organization to the employees on a time-to-time basis along with proper distribution of time to each of the task or goal. This will increase the sense of common goal and commitment within the employees while increases their awareness regarding the importance of different tasks. Management needs to enhance their listening as well as persuasion power by initiating the process of efficiently delivering and receiving feedbacks throughout the organizational structure. This process will encourage them to motivate employees while gathering their opinions and viewpoints about organizational work. The process of succession plan elaborates the stewardship skill of management which emphasizes the careful and responsible decision making process. The task of evaluating and aligning the constant changes in business environment and developing leadership style as per the changing situation and organizational needs details the skill of foresights of management (Kaplan, 2011). The discussion of Hunter, (2008) regarding the development of healthy relationship within C.E.O.S, i.e. customers, employees, owners and suppliers, emphasizes on the efficient and effective survival guide for any leader. Heifetz. & Linsky, (2002) have mentioned that the internal and external market framework and environment of businesses is continuously changing with the changing requirement and needs of different stakeholders. Hence, management must serve the need of the stakeholders to improve and strengthen the long-term relationship with the stakeholders. This process can act as a catalyst to increase the effectiveness of leaders in terms of surviving in the ever-changing market environment. Hunter (2008) has detailed that understanding and meeting the needs to employees and customer is very essential for managers to influence long-term healthy relationship with them. Maslow need pyramid has also been discussed in the book “The Servant” to guide the leaders in terms of basic and actual needs of stakeholders. Heifetz. & Linsky, (2002) have shown that the proper abidance of different stages of the need pyramid can enable the leaders to increase the commitment of valuable employees towards different and challenging tasks. It can also enable them to reduce the conflict within workforce by properly aligning the tasks as per the skills and competencies of employees. It can also be said that the process of serving the needs of employees and consumers enables the management to decrease their hunger for power and influence them to enhance the skill of authority which subsequently improves the performance and loyalty of employees. The Servant and HBRs 10 Must-Reads- On Teams Katzenbach et al., (2013) have described the role of leaders in the effectiveness of team performances by detailing that in spite of having highly skilled employees as team members a number of teams fail to perform effectively due to the absence of proper leadership styles. A number of researchers have detailed that effective teamwork is one of the major feature to influence the performance of any organization (West, 2012). The team-based approach of any organization enables the management to improve the productivity and quality, enhance innovation, reduce the time taken and serve consumers in a better manner. To suggest the efficient manner of management in terms of successfully balancing the team requirement and team outcome Katzenbach et al., (2013) have utilized the theories and principles of servant leadership detailed in the book “The Servant”. Hunter (2008) has described that servant leadership assists management to serve the employees and organization selflessly. This leadership style increases the commitment of followers through respectful, selfless and patient activities of the management. The author evaluated that the servant leaders must predominantly serve the needs of followers by providing empowerment and vision. As per Katzenbach et al., (2013) this process of serving the needs of valuable team members or followers can assist management to motivate and direct a large group to handle complex projects and provide constructive outcomes. Katzenbach et al., (2013) have also mentioned that leaders must boost the performance of team through mutual accountability. The authors have undertaken the assistance of the inverted pyramid of management to evaluate the importance of bottom-up management in terms of enhancing the performance of team members as well as their mutual accountability (Figure 1). This process of management enhances the knowledge and accountability of the employees and subordinate of the organization regarding the consumer needs and the functions and missions of the entire organization. Therefore, it can also decrease the situation of decision bottleneck within the leaders. The principle of servant leadership emphasizes on empowering the skilled employees which enhances their participation in the decision making process. Hence, it increases the effectiveness of the team work in terms of group decision making (Hunter, 2008; Katzenbach et al., 2013). Figure 1: New Paradigm of Management (Source: Hunter, 2008) The Servant and HBRs 10 Must Reads on Communication Conger, (2013) has described the art of persuasion to evaluate the changing dimension of efficient leadership. The author has mentioned that effective communication is very essential for management to increase the efficiency of their leadership capability. The effectiveness of communication can enable management to persuade the employees as well as other stakeholders to follow the vision and mission of the organization (Conger, 2013). As per the discussion of “The Servant”, persuasion can be considered as an important characteristic of servant leaders. This characteristic influences the leaders to effectively communicate and convince the subordinates to willingly follow the goal and mission of the organization instead of forcing them to work under strict restrictions (Hunter, 2008). According to Conger, (2013), the processes of business across the world are changing in a rapid manner which is increasing the number of generation X offspring and baby boomers in organizations. The author has illustrated that these workforce are highly skilled and less tolerant towards undue authorities of the management. Hence, the author has suggested that managers need to adopt and demonstrate the characteristics of servant leader to persuade the workforce in terms of adhering to the goals and objectives of the organization. Conger, (2013) has utilized the opinion and viewpoint of Hunter (2008) while evaluating the possible communication practices to increase the art of persuasion within the leaders of any organization. Hunter (2008) has demonstrated that establishing positive relationship is essential for increasing credibility within the team. Conger, (2013) has undertaken this characteristic of servant leaders as it assists in increasing the trust of employees and peers towards the expertise of the leader and influences them to follow their authority. The author has also described that leaders need to demonstrate empathy towards the needs of the stakeholders by creating a common goal which not only serve the purpose of the organization but also fulfills the requirement of each stakeholder. This activity can assist leaders to increase the interest and involvement of stakeholders in the discussions and communications related to organizational tasks, goals and mission (Conger, 2013). According to Hunter (2008), showing kindness and honesty is one of the major characteristic of servant leadership that can assist the leaders to connect emotionally with the subordinates. Hence, management needs to connect audience to their communication by increasing honesty and showing passion to the topic. Conger, (2013) has supported this viewpoint by elaborating that the leaders need to connect emotionally with the subordinates through their communication process to gain their trust and attention towards the minute details regarding the vision, mission and priorities of the organization. The Servant and Online Lectures from the Course Spears & Lawrence, (2004) have described that the term “Servant-Leader” demonstrates a paradox. “Servant” describes the person who serves others need and demand while “Leader” emphasizes on the position of power. Hence, utilizing both the term together to demonstrate a leadership style evaluates perfect contradiction. The concept of effective leadership demonstrated by Hunter (2008) in “The Servant” has accumulated both of these contradictory terms while suggesting that to lead efficiently one must serve first. The process of serving the organization and its stakeholder involves selflessness, honesty, kindness, respect, empathy and patience. These attributes assists leaders to gain trust and loyalty of subordinates which subsequently enhances the team strength, overall outcome and long-term gain. This concept offered by Hunter (2008) highly supports, aligns and connects with the widely accepted and appreciated leadership advices of Tzu, (2012). The effective leadership advice of Tzu, (2012) describes that leaders should lead their subordinates by examples rather than forcing them to accomplish any work against their will. This approach directly connects with the theory of servant leadership detailed by Hunter (2008) that emphasizes on the importance of relationship build up and creation of common goal. According to the author, these practices assist leaders to create authority upon the subordinates to motivate them in terms of indulging in the proper execution of the tasks related common goal and vision. Tzu, (2012) has also demonstrated interconnection with the principle of servant leadership by illustrating that an effective leader needs to treat subordinates with love, trust and compassion to gain their loyalty during the challenging situations. Various leading business executives have also followed the concept of servant leadership by concentrating on the relationship with the subordinates for their better performances. Jack Welch, the CEO of General Electronics, has developed an excellent leadership practice across the organization through the adaption of servant leadership principles. His leadership activities strictly contradict the process of management. The leadership management of Jack Welch focuses on creating a constructive vision and empowering and encouraging other to passionately work accordingly that vision. The leadership structure of GE relies on: Involving each and every employee in the vision and mission of the organization and empowering them to working together towards a common goal. This leadership activity empowers the employees to brainstorm with their bosses and colleagues. Communicating with employees in a manner that assists the leader to easily persuade their interest and attention. This activity encourages the leaders to conduct informal meetings that assist subordinates to clearly absorb the messages while communicating their doubts. Finally, the example of Jack Welch’s leadership in GE has also elaborated another major aspect of servant leadership i.e. pruning. The process of pruning allows leaders to eliminate the loss making or unwanted projects and activities. This process also enables leaders to cut down to extra burden of work allocated to each employee by providing them tasks that compliment their skills and competencies. The improper communication of the purpose for pruning processes can hurt the feeling of employees. It can also demotivate them from providing their best (Greenleaf et al., 2003). Hence, the concept of servant leadership described in “The Servant” has detailed that leaders need to clearly communicate with the employees in order to enhance the transparency with which business practices are conducted (Hunter, 2008). Conclusion The discussion in this study has evaluated the concept and principles of effective leadership described in the book “The Servant” with different activities of management. The study has provided a number of important guidance in terms of the roles and characteristics of leaders that can be beneficial for a budding management in long run. The first section of the study has evaluated different important aspects of leadership activities under the influence of the principles of servant leadership style detailed in “The Servant”. This section has elaborated the initial stage of becoming a leader can be very turmoil if management follows the myth of leading team with the assistance of their position power. The discussion has evaluated that sense of authority is much important than sense of power to influence the workforce in terms of willingly indulge in the challenging tasks of organization. Building relationship with employees rather than forcing them with position power is essential for any successful leader. The discussion has also detailed a number of servant leadership skills, such as empathy, stewardship, commitment, foresight, persuasion, awareness and listening tendency, which are essential for self-development of management. Management must indulge in time-to-time communication in term of imparting knowledge regarding organizations goal and priorities as well as collecting feedbacks from employees. Empowering employees is also an important phenomenon for leaders to eliminate the bottle neck situation of decision making. The illustration of the study has conveyed that meeting the needs of employees and other stakeholders is very crucial for management to enhance the effectiveness of their leadership capability. It can assist them to strengthen the relationship with stakeholder while gathering their loyalty during challenging phase of organization. The elaboration of the leadership theory has also suggested that bottom-up management structure can play an importance role in terms of increasing the effectiveness of any team. This process assists management to enhance the mutual accountability and sense of common goal within the team members. The evaluation of the procedure of effective communication has conveyed that leaders need to persuade the attention of workforce by being open to audience, connecting audience to the communication, being passionate to topic and by listening to audience’s feedbacks. References Conger, J. A. (2013). HBRs 10 Must Reads on Communication. Massachusetts: Harvard Business Review Press. Greenleaf, R. K., Beazley, H. & Beggs, J. (2003). The servant-leader within: A transformative path. New York: Paulist press. Heifetz, R. A. & Linsky, M. (2002). A survival guide for leaders. Harvard business review, 80(6), 65-74. Hill, L. A. & Lineback, K. (2011). Being the boss: The 3 imperatives for becoming a great leader. Massachusetts: Harvard Business Press. Hunter, J. C. (2008). The servant: A simple story about the true essence of leadership. New York: Crown Business. Kaplan, R. S. (2011). What to ask the person in the mirror: critical questions for becoming a more effective leader and reaching your potential. Massachusetts: Harvard Business Press. Katzenbach, J. R., Eisenhardt, K. M. & Gratto, L. (2013). HBRs 10 Must Reads on Teams. Massachusetts: Harvard Business Review Press. Northouse, P. G. (2011). Introduction to leadership: Concepts and practice. London: Sage Publications. Selznick, P. (2011). Leadership in administration: A sociological interpretation. Louisiana: Quid Pro Books. Spears, L. C. & Lawrence, M. (2004). Practicing servant-leadership. Leader to leader, 2004(34), 7-11. Tzu, S. (2012). The art of war. Beijing: e-artnow. Vaccaro, I. G., Jansen, J. J., Van Den Bosch, F. A. & Volberda, H. W. (2012). Management innovation and leadership: The moderating role of organizational size. Journal of Management Studies, 49(1), 28-51. Van Dierendonck, D. (2011). Servant leadership: A review and synthesis.Journal of Management, 37(4), 1228-1261. Welch, J. (2014). Jack: what Ive learned leading a great company and great people. United Kingdom: Hachette. West, M. A. (2012). Effective teamwork: Practical lessons from organizational research. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Read More