The Leadership Style or Styles of Senior Executives, Organizational Structures and Cultures - Essay Example

LEADERSHIP ASSESSMENT Number] Leadership assessment This paper intends to analyze the leadership style or styles of senior executives, organizational structures and cultures, ethical conduct, effective communication, motivation, and diversity management. It aims to provide explanations and assessments of each concept stated above through the integration of real life experiences and literature concepts. Looking back at the experiences I had during my early years of being part of an organization, I was able to somehow identify and analyze the style of leadership that one senior executive used. To provide a short background of the senior executive that I am referring to, I would provide a brief description of her educational background and lineage in the company. She is the eldest daughter of the founding CEO of the organization and was moulded by her father to take seat as the next CEO after his passing. The founding CEO used to be more of a transactional leader; with his extensive knowledge and experience on the operations and management of the organization, little is expected among employees in terms of innovations and creativity on how tasks are carried out. According to Team FME (2013), this leadership style is more of an authoritative type of leadership wherein an employee is expected to provide efforts and compliance in exchange of wages or salaries. Other employees would also comment on the strict target goals of the founding CEO, and the inability to attain such goals entails sanctions and a lot of oral reprimands. Also, he practices an active corrective action or “management by exception”. The active form of Management by Exception is defined by Team FME (2013) as a corrective action wherein the leader monitors the tasks of the employee and corrects him/her as needed. On the other hand, her daughter, though also showing extremely strong transaction leadership, also exhibits transformational leadership on new young employees or new hires that she considers to be capable of providing innovations for the organization. Though not taken lightly by old timers in the organization, this approach has led to significant increase in the efficiency of the work place due to the inputs of her personnel. Also, she has a different approach on sanctions, which is considered to be more of a passive type wherein sanctions are only corrected once they arise and not constantly monitored in every step as compared to the active type. My experience with the organisation became advantageous to me since I was given the opportunity to work freely and provide insights on one aspect in the operation. It gave me the confidence and feeling of fulfilment as I was part of something significant. It made working with the organisation enjoyable and less stressful. I was also to deliver my output on time, not because I was asked to, but because I excited to do something significant. With regards to the organisational structure of the company, it can easily be discerned that a “Functional model” has been adapted. Since the company is relatively small, the functional model, wherein the organization is grouped in terms of key functions and departments, is the most appropriate and simplest model for the employees to understand. This makes it easier for departments to identify their specific goal and, in turn, develop activities and execute tasks that ensure that the group functions as it is expected to (The Bridgespan Group, 2009). However, the organisation also encountered some challenges on this kind organisational structure; mainly on the fact that resolution of cross-functional decisions would require the intervention of the Executive Director or department. The organisation may also be considered as having a hybrid type of structure, since it has another department which functions independently and has some similar departments as the core departments under the executive director. This model is also referred as a Program model or specifically a programmatic function combined with a functional model. In conjunction with this model are linking mechanisms, such as the in the case of the compliance team that was created as an ad hoc unit that dealt with cross-unit groups. Another important aspect in the organisation is the concept of an organisational culture. According to the American Management Associate (2008), a corporate culture is affected by a broad concept which includes values, morals, and codes. It also pointed out that corporate cultures play a significant role on how effective the organisation, management, and employees function by having a positive culture in the workplace. For me, one of the most important manifestation of a positive organisational culture is having a strong practice of cooperation or collaborative work. This ensures that check and balances are in place and that the group can ensure a top-notch output. Having said that, I believe that the level of cooperation that I experienced within the organisation, by working in a cross-functional unit, have greatly improved my relationship within the workplace and allowed me to establish trust and mutual respect with other co-workers. When it comes to the concept of ethical leadership, I would say that the senior executives that I have dealt with were able to sincerely convey a degree of integrity and honesty in terms of the dealings in the entire organisation. It can also be considered as culture within the company that ethical conduct is of utmost priority, so as to maintain and strengthen loyalty and trust of both the employees and clients. However, the difficulty of establishing an effective communication within the organisation generates a counter-productive effect to the employees which happens almost every time sanctions and corrective actions are being implemented. There were instances outbursts in emotion have resulted to the dismay of some employees which led to them to leave the company; this becomes a great loss to the company since it is the senior employees that get heavily affected. Anderson (n.d.) outlined the importance of an effective communication stating the failure to communicate leads to failure to collaborate and ultimately the failure to execute. This becomes a major problem in the organisation, since it will also have a direct effect on the company’s credibility among its clients. According to Burton (2012), there are two ways for a leader to motivate his or her employee – financial and non-financial. Offering better benefits for employees is one of the financial motivations that can significantly improve the loyalty and performance of the workforce. This may include more comprehensive HMO programs, housing plans, car plans, and other benefits that will directly encourage and uplift the morale of employees. Also, this will entice highly qualified workers to join the company. On the other hand, non-financial motivations which can be done are recognition of employee performance and another option is to conduct job rotations. Allowing managers to recognize exemplary performances of employees under their watch will greatly improve the morale of the chosen employee and may also challenge other employees to perform better in order for them to receive the same recognition. Lastly, job rotations may provide employees with the opportunity to gain knowledge on other tasks and duties in the work place and reduce the feeling of boredom and discontent of an employee with his or her job due to the repetitive and monotonous nature of some office functions. Managing diversity has become an important factor within an organization. Basically, it is necessary to hire more employees from a diversified background. This will create somehow a shift or change in the organisational culture at the start but will eventually become invaluable to the company by providing an environment capable of inter-disciplinary groups to collaborate on the development of innovations for the company. It will also be important to conduct effective training or dissemination of various cultures. This way, each employee will develop a sense of sensitivity on the differences of each culture. According to the Forbes Insights (n.d.), diversity and inclusion is the formula for success in any organisation. However, this observation has been made on large companies with $10 billion in annual revenue. On the scale of the organisation that I have part of, diversity might have that much significance since the operation and business of the organisation is only limited on the national level. In companies that do business globally, diversity becomes beneficial, or in some cases critical, to ensure the success of the business on the global markets. Forbes Insight (n.d.) suggests that diversity allows the organisation to further improve its innovation strategy, attract top talents, and allow business growth through mergers and acquisitions. References American Management Association. (2008). Cultivating Effective Corporate Cultures – A Global Study of the Challenges and Strategies. Retrieved from http://www.amajapan.co.jp/j/pdf/HRI_Cultivating_Effective_Corporate_Culture.pdf Anderson, Greg. (n.d). Understanding communication: A Key to Effective Leadership [Presentation]. Educause Midwest Regional Conference. Burton, Kelli. (2012). A Study of Motivation: How to Get Your Employees Moving [Thesis]. SPEA Honors Thesis Spring 2012. Indiana University. Forbes Insights. (n.d). Global Diversity and Inclusion: Fostering Innovation Through a Diverse Workforce. Retrieved from http://images.forbes.com/forbesinsights/StudyPDFs/Innovation_Through_Diversity.pdf Team FME. (2013). Team Leadership Styles – Leadership skills. www.free-management-ebooks.com. ISBN 978-1-62620-988-0. The Bridgespan Group. (2009). Designing an Effective Organization Structure. Retrieved from http://www.bridgespan.org/getmedia/b1139597-adfe-4dd7-bbb2-ac8c67883020/Effective-Organizations_-Structural-Design.pdf.aspx Read More