The Future of Leadership in Learning Organization - Assignment Example

Distinguish between different approaches to the study of leadership and discuss critically what you see as the relevance of these approaches to today’s organizations. An organization can go through a number of events within its life time. This means that the role of a leader is pertinent to the overall basis of the organization as he finds a way out of every difficult circumstance that hits it. He has to mold the organization in such a way that it responds towards his actions, decisions and policies. (Bass, 2000) The different leadership theories ask for an attacking as well as a defensive approach. This means that leadership needs to decide when it must be on the attack and when it needs to drop down its anchor. This will eventually be the decisive step in the wake of achieving long term success from the organizational standpoint and one that would bring in rich dividends too. The different scenarios can include downsizing where the leadership must communicate to the employees the factual truth and nothing else. A natural calamity would ask for the leadership to help and facilitate the emergency and contingency mechanisms which must have been already set up within the domains of the organization. A merger would ask for the leadership to spell out the terms and conditions that will do the rounds of the very organization in the coming times. Falling sales would ask for the leadership to motivate the employees as well as fire such individuals who are not performing well. There needs to be an attacking mechanism in such a situation nonetheless. Hard decisions need to be made as well as actions must always speak louder than words. Leadership has a scientific angle that needs to be studied in depth so as to attain the finer points related with it. This would mean that the combined strengths of the past leaders can be worked upon and investigated in such a way so as to find out the actual recipe for success and more so within the domains of the organization under discussion. Microsoft is an example of such leadership, Bill Gates being in the lead. He is a role model for the whole organization through his sheer hard work and an impeccable vision matching none other. Indeed leadership is an art since only selected individuals possess the knack of knowing this very art and not everyone can do it with utmost precision and a sense of command and authority. One’s “art of leadership” can be studied by researching and studying about the past leaders as well as finding out what traits of leadership they possessed within their folds. Then one can also improve this art by sticking to one’s own morals and principles and thus there is a strong sense of attachment with the very same so that the end result is one of a good and respected leader by all and sundry. Also having formalization amongst people and commanding respect is another characteristic of improving one’s leadership abilities. But in all essence, leadership can be enhanced by following the manner by which yesteryear leaders excelled in their art and following on their footsteps till the level where a new leader does not copy an old one. This is because if a new leader starts imitating the old one, then he is not a leader anymore. He becomes just a follower and nothing else. Winston and Patterson (2006) define a good leader as someone who could not only influence, select, equip and train his follower(s) that has different sets of abilities and skills but also enables their follower(s) to willingly participate with the leader when it comes to achieving the health organization’s goal. According to Dessler (2001), leaders with a competent leadership skill are individuals who are capable of inspiring another person who often times have the “drive to achieve their goals; the desire to lead; self-confidence; cognitive ability; honesty and integrity; as well as having sufficient knowledge in doing business.” On top of these personality traits, a leader should always be influential among his followers without having the need to use coercion. Instead, a good leader uses his personal power through good communication skills such as the ability to write and speak effectively in public; aside from his ability to know the specific needs and wants of his subordinates. (Huth, 2001) Murphy (1996) and DePree (1989) reveal that the secret behind the successful leaders within a certain group is to select the right people. Collins (2002) explained that getting the right people means that these people should be “in the right seats on the bus.” It only means that the leader should know the strength and weaknesses of each follower in order to distribute tasks based on the capabilities of his followers. The role of the leader is not limited to gathering the right people; it is also their responsibility to “move the followers beyond their own self-interests for the benefit of the whole group.” (Bass, 2000) Managers are required to have analytical minds needed in solving management problems aside from having the ability to influence, supervise, and lead his subordinates belonging to the different levels of the organizational structure. It is also equally important for them to have emotional competence in order to surpass any emotional and interpersonal crisis within the business organization as well as a good communication skill to effectively send his message to the workers. (Dessler, 2001: 11 and 291) Unlike a leader, managers are given the authority to get a task done with the help of his staff members. They often become impersonal rather than emotional when it comes to attaining the organization’s goals. The major role of a manager is to plan, organize, control and lead his subordinates within the business group. (Huth, 2001) Aside from being a good role model within and outside his department, managers also function as ‘negotiator’ in case the need arises; and a ‘leader’ by motivating and encouraging employees. Basically, being persistent is one important characteristic that allows managers to get things done and get good result from his people. Therefore, it is important for managers to have good leadership skills in order to maintain collaborative activities between the people and the managers within the different institutions and other organizations. Leading is quite interpersonal in nature. It is not just the manager in an organization that is supposed to lead. It can even exist between employees. It has to do with mutual influence. All these are normally based on different theories and assumptions. Any style that is incorporated in management can be based on combination of preferences, values and beliefs. Organizational culture also plays a big role in influencing the leadership style used by management. Leadership style used by management plays a big role in affecting the success of the organization. A leader has to clearly understand the different types of leadership styles and their impacts on the organization. Good leadership always includes incorporation of all the leadership styles. Bad leadership just sticks to one style. Leadership is a very important aspect in any organization. This is because it greatly determines the success therein. There are various leadership styles that can be incorporated in overall running of an organization. There is authoritarian leadership which involves telling the employees what needs to be done and how the task should be done. This is very effective when employees are still new in an organization and they have no experience. In participative leadership, employees or other stakeholders are incorporated in the decision making process. It is normally very effective and makes employees to feel important in an organization. In delegative style of leadership, a leader entrusts decision making to employees. This is effective when employees have experience and are qualified. Good leadership always incorporates some authoritarian, participative and delegative style of leadership. Within the healthcare settings, to quote as an example, the presence of a good leadership is an essential factor that could result to a better working condition among the health care workers. In line with leadership’s positive impact on the employees’ working environment, the health care practitioners could deliver the proper health care provision to the patients without being burnout or stressed. As a result, it is possible to lessen the rate of unnecessary hospital deaths caused by miscommunication, mismanagement, and neglect. Under a good leader, collaborative effort among the health care workers is necessary in order to make sure that proper medication and care will be equally provided to all in-patients. Such effort could also make the implementation of new policy and plans with regards to patient safety will be more effective and efficient. Lastly, body language allows other people to have either a bad or good impression about our personality as a leader. In order to avoid a biased judgment from the co-workers, it is important to learn and understand the positive and negative effect of body language in our chosen line of work. All said and done, business organizations achieve a great deal when their leadership regimes are intact and strong at all possible times. There is a dire need to have such measures in essence. Bibliography BASS, B. (2000). The Future of Leadership in Learning Organization. Journal of Leadership Studies , 7(3):18 - 40. COLLINS, J. (2002). Good to Great: Why Some Companies make the Leap... and Others Dont. New York: Harper Business. DePREE, M. (1989). Leadership is an Art. New York: Doubleday. DESSLER, G. (2001). Management: Leading people into the 21st Century. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall Publishers. HUTH, A. J. (Spring 2001). Born to Lead or Made to Manage - We Need Both. The Strategic Edge. Published by American Business Advisors, Inc. MURPHY, E. (1996). Leadership IQ: A Personal Development Process Based on a Scientific Study of a New Generation of Leader. New York: John Wiley. WINSTON, B. E., & PATTERSON, K. (2006). An Integrated Definition of Leadership. International Journal of Leadership Studies , 1(2):6 - 66. Word Count: 1,522 Read More