Impact of Leadership in an Organisations Success - Research Paper Example

Impact of leadership in an organisations success Contents Research Question 3 Research Approach 3 Data collection methods 4 Findings 6 Critical discussion related to research question 8 References 15 Research Question In this particular study the impact of leadership on overall organizational success will be analyzed. The research question for the study is – “what is the impact of leadership on organizational success”. There has been limited research study on this topic since leadership is majorly related with workforce performance. However it is often not associated with final outcome of an organization. To be more precise this research question will serve a dual purpose such as highlighting positive or negative impact of leadership and analyzing different leadership styles that proved to be effective in long run. The major objectives of the study are to analyze the impact of leadership on firm’s success and establishing a relation between efficient performance and leadership approach. This research question will be supported with extensive research and outcomes will be analyzed through researcher’s perspective. Thus it shall add on to quality of research study being performed in context of leadership concept. Research Approach Impact of leadership in an organizational context is highly important. It can be both negative and positive impacts on the organizational success. It has been noticed that there are enough studies and researches have been made upon this topic. But due to the extensive vastness of this topic there are still significant scopes are presents to conduct more research on this topic. The particular topic is a burning subject for debate. Here in this paper the research approach is significantly suitable with nature of the topic. For the research purpose both secondary and primary research methods will be included. It will help the researcher to conduct the research in suitable way and this research approach will cover more detail factors related with the report. The research approach will be significantly specific in nature. It will focus towards the high level of precision. It is being observed that primary and secondary research methods have their own limitations. To cover up their limitations this two dimensional approach will be taken. The primary research will be conducted through the focus group interview. Secondary research will be done on the basis of books. The overall research approach will be significantly structured in nature. Data collection methods Data collection methods are a vital component in a research study. There are various approaches which are adopted by a researcher in order to outline research findings. It can be stated that nature of research study determines which of the methods are most suitable. Research methods are basically of two types such as qualitative and quantitative methods. These methods are highly distinct in terms of their individual characteristics. Quantitative research method majorly relates to interaction with key personnel in the market who has a direct association with the research topic. In this approach the focus is on collecting data from the market which has some significance. However the process is not bounded to data collection but it is further extended to incorporation of statistical tools which judges relevancy of data. The most common approach of quantitative research methods are structured interviews, questionnaire survey, etc. Through all these approaches mainly quantitative data is collected and is then statistically analyzed. It can be stated that incorporation of a mathematical tool helps to determine the correctness of data being collected. On the other hand, qualitative research method is usually implemented by a researcher when there is a need to interpret opinions given by experts on the specific field of research study. This in turn enables a researcher to analyze different opinions about a particular topic. It even helps to identify diverse set of opinions within a society. The most well-known methods of qualitative research study are focus group study, review of journals, websites, books, articles, etc. In the present scenario researchers prefer to use this method since it is not time consuming approach and in most cases deliver appropriate results. Qualitative research study does not encompass any form of statistical tools and is solely dependent on researcher’s interpretation or analytical skills. There are two form of data collection procedure known as secondary and primary techniques. For a researcher it is important to select the most suitable data collection techniques which can help in addressing research objectives. For instance secondary data collection technique is usually adopted when a researcher feels that secondary sources such as journals, books, articles, websites, etc., would be appropriate for the study. Secondary methods are applicable in those research studies where effective information can be obtained from author’s viewpoint in some previous study related to the field rather than from market. However primary data collection technique has its importance when a critical research is being performed and market based data is essential. Real time scenario can be well analyzed by a researcher through such primary sources. In this research study effect of leadership approach on organizational success needs to be analyzed. Since this issue has a high relevance in the modern world and also has been reviewed by authors in previous times, so both qualitative and quantitative approach will be incorporated. Qualitative approach will comprise of well structured analysis of books, journals and websites containing information related to research question. It shall even encompass focus group study to highlight wide set of opinions. Focus group study will consist of three groups, each group having three members. These members would be managers of some reputed organizations. Questions asked in the focus group study shall be both in general context and organizational specific. This in turn will enable researcher to analyze leadership approach implemented by firms in order to enhance workforce performance. Hence secondary data collection methods used in this study is Internet, books and journal. Whereas primary data collection techniques implemented is focus group study. Focus group study has been selected since it is less time consuming method and delivers required results. Findings Leadership has significant impact on the organizational success. It has been observed that organizational successes are significantly dependent upon the quality leadership. According to various studies it has been observed that, motivation of the work force is highly important for the organizational effectiveness and productivity (Day, 2014). That motivation can come from the exemplary leadership. Leaders always lead from the front. In the organizational context there are lots of barriers are present. Those organizational barriers can be significantly detrimental for the organizational growth. Under this adverse situation efficient and appropriate leadership can over those barriers and reach towards their goals. It has been noticed that leadership sets the tone for the organizational development (McColl-Kennedy and Anderson, 2002). Leadership is responsible for recognizing the long term business perspective. If proper leadership is not present in the organizational context then long term business sustainability is not at all possible. Leadership can make or break the organizational environment. Leadership of Steve Jobs is a real life example. Before inclusion of Steve Jobs for the second time in Apple, the company was on the verge of bankruptcy. After his joining into the organization the performances of the US based organization increased significantly. It indicates that able leadership can resolve organizational issues and can bring the organizations on the growth track. Modern day business world is significantly competitive in nature. Organizations across all the sectors are facing cut throat competitions. Under this high level of competition leadership can make specific and certain impacts. Before the acquisition by TATA motors, Land rover and Jaguar were facing significant business problems. Those two British automobile giants were on the verge of extinction but able leadership of Ratan Tata have made the situation better for these two organizations. Organizational functionality is significantly important for the success of the companies (Kavanagh and Ashkanasy, 2006). Leadership focuses towards the organizational functionalities and assists the employees to focus towards their duties. Focused and dedicated employees are significantly important for the purpose of organizational success. That purpose can be achieved with the help of leadership. With the transformational leadership style employees of the organizations can be motivated and inspired. It helps the organizations to get best out of the employees. Employees fell that they are the integral parts of the organizations. This sense of self esteem allows the employees to perform their duties properly. For the organizational success strategic implementation is utterly important (Phillips, Phillips and Ray, 2012). Designing strategies and their implementations are being done by the leadership only. That means without leadership neither strategies can be made nor those strategies can be implemented. Without strategic implementations organizations cannot test success. This argument is indicating that leadership has significant and unavoidable impacts on the organizational success. It has been observed that most of the organizational fiascos are the results of faulty and in proper leadership. Satyam Computer was led by Ramalingam Raju. He was the founder of the Hyderabad based organization. The organization was badly impacted by his unethical leadership. Due to his unethical leadership the company was on the verge of closing down. Futures of thousands of employees were under severe threats. Share prices of the company were very low. This example is clearly indicating that improper leadership can be counterproductive for the organizational performances. This example also reinforcing one factor that, to gain organizational success there is no substitute of effective leadership (Abiodun, 2010). Organizational success requires continuous monitoring. That continuous monitoring can be achieved with the help of leadership only. Leadership holds employees of the organizations accountable for their assigned duties. On the basis of their assigned duties performances of the employees are being measured by the leadership of the organizations. In this way leadership control the business operations of the organizations. High level of leadership control is absolutely necessary for the organizational performances. Findings of the focus group interviews are indicating that, all three groups believe leadership has high level of impacts in organizations success. All three groups have stated that in their organizations they follow various kinds of leadership styles. Those styles are democratic, participative and transformational leadership style. The groups have also indicated that their leadership style has changed the organizational outlook significantly. All three groups have indicated that, in their organizations various challenges have been faced and several issues have been resolved with the help of leadership. All three groups have responded that, in their organizations and in general context leadership plays important roles for the organizational growth. During the focus group interview one thing has been observed that all the mangers have given significant focuses towards the long term sustainability in their businesses. They also have indicated that for achieving long term sustainability there is hardly any substitute of visionary leadership. That means results of the focus group interview are also admitting high level impacts of leadership towards the organizational success. Critical discussion related to research question As per Nirenberg (2005), leadership effectiveness can be defined in multiple ways. There have been more than four thousand studies in this field and a great deal of variance is witnessed. Leadership is the least understood and most observed mechanism on earth. People often misinterpret the approach of leadership and assumes it to be tasks performed by leaders or exercising power over others. Leadership effectiveness can be stated as successful personal influence exercise exhibited by multiple personality to accomplish shared objectives. It facilitates satisfaction of the overall team and results into productive outcomes. This concept plays a major role in all those organizations where actions and decisions are greatly affects employees. A limited opinion on leadership states it as a set of functions and behaviours which is tied to one’s formal position or role. In this context there are people who only view CEO as a leader; others might consider leadership to exist in department, division or a committee. However each team member needs to contribute effectively towards organizational goals as it is associated with overall purpose of the firm (Nirenberg, 2005). According to Lussier and Achua (2004), best practices of leadership effectiveness can be highlighted by deciding on the final outcomes that can be significantly influenced by leadership. An influential style of leadership mainly focuses on mobilization of employees in collective and consensual effort to achieve vision of an organization. There are even certain managerial constraints involved in this form of mobilization. For instance, firms might be efficient as well as successfully implement their organizational strategies. Certain practices help to determine effectiveness of leadership like being focused on collective vision, set of values and mission. Leaders even can attempt to establish a communication environment which is fearless. In order to be effective it is essential that there is a two way communication platform present in the system. This enables collaborative workplace practice as team leaders can coordinate well with employees to form strategies. On the other hand, leaders who are able to build trust level in an organization and enhance respect for one another usually positively influence organizational success (Lussier and Achua, 2004). Kerr, Garvin, Heaton and Boyle (2006), in their studies stated that a leader needs to possess excessive patience and should be inclusive in nature in terms of being concerned for every other individual. Work performance has a direct correlation with leadership approach since a follower is generally motivated or encouraged by a team leader. A high performance environment is developed by a leader. Leadership effectiveness needs to take into consideration four dimensional behavioural aspects. The three dimensions are maintaining managerial clarity and goal emphasis, ability to provide required support to team members so as to accomplish business goals and objectives, facilitating interaction of subordinate with one another to create teamwork, efficiencies and good feelings. Individuals need to possess certain skills and attitudes so as to address such dimensions. In personal context, individuals should have self confidence, be authentic, committed towards common goals and interests, communicate truth, possess creative thinking, able to reduce anxiety and stress, and must be good listener. Amongst the interpersonal skills, individuals should be creative, adaptable, and resourceful, offer coaching and peer supervision, use self-assessment, team building skills, consensus building methods and creative problem identification, and needs to suspend judgements. Organization’s increase success rate creates the demand towards leadership (Kerr, Garvin, Heaton and Boyle, 2006). According to Robinson, Lloyd and Rowe, (2008), a successful approach of leadership facilitates more open interpersonal experience of team members. Effective leadership approach helps to meet changing needs of customers as well as employees. A collective productive intention is generated through this approach which helps to gain effective results. Leadership is all about intelligence and being open to various news opportunities and eradicating any form of limitations. The major focus of leadership is to create successful, better and more enjoyable organization. In overall context, the leadership act can be closely associated with forming strong positive relationships. Leadership effectiveness is ultimately development of seamless partnerships between organizational purpose, employees and customers so as to succeed in the market place. However as suggested by authors that leadership effectiveness drives organizational success but this is not true always as strategy formulation is a vital component of success and growth. Still it can be argued that if leaders are not able to bring forth coordination amongst team members than it negatively impacts workplace performance (Robinson, Lloyd and Rowe, 2008). Collaborative workplace environment can be facilitated only through appropriate leadership style because a leader is supposedly a role model for followers. As per Bass and Riggio (2006), organizational effectiveness is the purpose of leadership effectiveness. People at all levels are capable enough to take individual decisions but a true leader is one who takes strategic decision for the entire team. The idea of developing leadership culture or organization of leaders transfers the responsibility to more number of people. This in turn makes employees more responsible by incorporating within them a sense of ownership. A charismatic leader cannot enhance the level of effectiveness within an organization in comparison to organization of leaders. Many researchers have stated that organizational longevity is dependent on its culture. Apart from this aspect, commitment, productivity, economic performance and employee satisfaction can be closely associated with culture. Culture is the single most efficient element that helps to build great organizations. There are certain theories which denote leadership effectiveness such as trait theory, situational theory, transformation leadership and behavioural approach. Trait theory denotes effective leaders consist of specific traits which can be acquired or inherited. Strength of this approach is it supported by experiential data and self-report measures can assess it. Behavioural theories indicate there is certain behaviour present within effective leaders. Its strengths are process is linked to organizational productivity, and standard questionnaires can be utilized to assess other person’s perceptions. On the other hand, situational model states that specific situations determine behaviours or traits which will be effective for a leader. Transformational leadership regards an effective leader to create a situation by utilizing skills and processed that is best fit for a firm. It can be stated that in most cases combined approach of all these models are needed to indicate relationship between success and effective leadership. This kind of relationship has been represented in figure1. Figure 1: Leadership Process (Leithwood and Jantzi, 2007) As per figure1, leadership process is the main component which can be associated with organizational processes and outcomes. Individuals attributes of leader and leadership team performance combines together to form overall leadership process. The leadership process is further subdivided into multiple components as stated in figure2. Figure 2: Integrated Model (Northouse, 2004) There are different factors being affected by individual attributes and team performance such as identity, strategy, adaptability, relationships, system operations and results. To be more precise these factors denote the effectiveness of a leadership approach in terms of accomplishment of goals and objectives. These kinds of models are a strategic framework but in real time scenario a leader needs to interact effectively so as to develop a thriving organization. The key attributes that needs to be present within every leader are they need to be visionary, purposeful, authentic and capability to motivate other employees (Bass and Riggio, 2006). Two-way communication channels not only help to resolve conflict between team members and leader, but even facilitate implementing strategic decisions. Success of an organization is totally dependent on workforce performance. In order to enhance the level of performance it is necessary to communicate common goals to all employees. This would enable employees to feel a sense of ownership and take corrective actions in crisis time. Effective communication channels support a leader to make productive strategies to achieve desirable goals and objectives. However attributes are internal aspect of a leader which cannot be changed or altered, and plays a major role in organizational success. References Abiodun, R. A., 2010. Leadership behaviour impact on employees loyalty, engagement and organizational performance: leadership behaviour and employee perception of the organization. New York: AuthorHouse. Bass, B., and Riggio, R., 2006. Transformational leadership. New York: Routledge. Day, D., 2014. The oxford handbook of leadership and organizations. London: Oxford University Press. Kavanagh, M. and Ashkanasy, N. 2006. The Impact of Leadership and Change Management Strategy on Organizational Culture and Individual Acceptance of Change during a Merger. British Journal of Management. 17(1). pp. 31-33. Kerr, R., Garvin, J., Heaton, N., and Boyle, E., 2006. Emotional intelligence and leadership. Leadership and organizational development journal, 27(4), pp. 90-95. Leithwood, K. and Jantzi, D. 2007. A Review of Transformational School Leadership Research 1996–2005. Leadership and Policy in Schools. 4(3). pp. 24-26. Lussier, R., and Achua, C., 2004. Leadership: theory, application & skill development. UK: Thompson. McColl-Kennedy, J. and Anderson, R., 2002. Impact of leadership style and emotions on subordinate performance. The Leadership Quarterly. 13 (5). pp. 26-29. Nirenberg, J., 2005. Global leadership. New York: Capstone/Wiley. Northouse, P., 2004. Leadership: Theory and practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Phillips, J., Phillips, P. and Ray, R., 2012. Measuring leadership development: Quantify your programs impact and ROI on organizational performance. New York: McGraw Hill Professional. Robinson, V., Lloyd, C., and Rowe, K. 2008. The Impact of Leadership on Student Outcomes: An Analysis of the Differential Effects of Leadership Types. Australian Council for Educational Research. 1(1). pp. 14-18. Read More