Human Behavior in Organizations - Literature review Example

Human Behavior in Organizations Introduction The report is based on the discussion about different leadership behavior and style in organization.Leadership can be described as the capability of any individual to guide and motivate a team to work together to achieve a common goal. Leadership activity involves the creation of clear goal for a team, sharing of that vision with the team members, achieving targets and balancing and coordinating all the different interests of the team members and stakeholders (Northouse, 2012). Proper leadership capability is an important trait for management to improve the efficiency of workforce to achieve organizational goal (Moyles, 2006). 2.1 Transactional and transformational leadership Different leaders demonstrate different types of leadership style under the work environment of any organization. The goals and culture of any organization is the major determinant factors for the success of any leadership style. Different style of leadership includes autocratic, participative, transactional and transformational leadership (Judge and Piccolo 2004, 755-768). Transactional leadership is mainly focused on the maintenance of the regular flow of all the operations in any organization. A successful transactional style depends on the proper exchange of resources and rewards by the leaders against the performance, task accomplishment and productivity of team workers. This leadership style emphasizes on the achievement on their regular Targets. Leaders following this style are not involved in strategically guiding the organization to achieve their market leadership. Transactional leadership assists organization to quickly address the minute details of operations (Judge and Piccolo 2004, 755-768). On the other hand, the manager following transformational leadership skills goes beyond the traditional procedures of performing the traditional organizational operations and focuses on creating new strategies to bring a new level in the performance of their team, department and organization. The transformational leadership skills assist the team members to look for constructive changes in the general operations of the organization to achieve a competitive position in the market. This leadership style is crucial for the strategic development of organizations. Transformational leaders help organizations to focus on their ambitious goals (Lowe, Kroeck and Sivasubramaniam 1996, 385-425). 2.2 Comparison between transaction and transformational leadership The transformational leadership style can be beneficial to any organization in comparison to the transactional leadership. Transformational leadership is essential to create an emotional bond between the worker and leader which motivate them to provide their best performance. On the contrary, transactional leadership is only involved in extracting the average performance of the team members. Transactional leadership procedure does not influence the team workers to think out of the box. Transformational leadership style is focused in influencing the intellectual capacity of the employees to solve different challenges of organizational functions (Lowe, Kroeck and Sivasubramaniam 1996, 385-425). From the comparison of these leadership styles it can be analyzed that the transformational leadership style is more superior to the transactional leadership style. 3.1 Leadership trait theory Trait theory of leadership provides assistance to understand the inherent leadership characteristics which help individual to lead team and business activities. This theory generally emphasizes on the idea that leaders are born with certain characteristic traits which assist them in successfully handling of team members and organizational goals. According to this theory, if any management can properly identify the correct traits of an individual they can also identify their leadership potential in the work environment of the organization (Zaccaro 2007, 6-22). Different researches on trait theory have also recommended that the trait can also be learned by individuals to enhance their leadership capabilities. The inherent traits of a successful leader includes self-confidence, intelligence, self-motivation, enthusiasm, desire to lead, ambition, organizational knowledge, openness to experiment and adjustment (Zaccaro 2007, 6-22). There are a number of arguments upon the theory that leadership traits are inherent and unchangeable. Though it has been established that many of the leadership actions are influences by the personality and innate characteristics of individuals, a number of people has also recognized that there is a possibility to change and accrue essential traits with the help of adequate training and learning procedure (Zaccaro 2007, 6-22). 3.2 Analysis of my organizational position as per leadership trait theory Leadership activities in my present organization have demonstrated the effective utilization of various innate traits of the management. As a marketing manager of a team of ten members, I need to meticulously use my inherent characteristics traits to efficiently guide my subordinates. The most essential traits to manage a marketing team are good communication skill, self-confidence, enthusiasm and ambition. All of these traits are accrued by birth and sharpened through rigorous practices. I also require to posses few other traits such as critical thinking, technical and analytical skill. Though these skills are not inherited but they are developed over a period of time through different learning and training procedures and continuous monitoring. 4.1 Important attributes of leaders Effective leadership capabilities should posses a number of attribute which ensures the success of their leadership activities. This attributes includes effective communication, confidence, intuition, positive attitude, creativity, capability to inspire the team and commitment towards the achievement of goals. These attributes provide help to the leaders of any organization to manage their team members, improve their skill sets, motivate them to perform and achieve the ultimate departmental and organizational goals (Tait 1996, 27-31). 4.2 Analysis of my experience to support these attributes My leadership experience as the marketing manager has introduced me with the required attributes of a successful leader. The constant advancement of the product market and the increased challenges influence me to develop different attributes such as market intuition, creativity and team inspiration to achieve the goal. To understand the different skills and capabilities of the team members I need to develop assessment skills. The in-depth knowledge about the operations and organizational structure assist me to guide my team members towards the easy achievements of the organizational missions. 4.3 Implication of these attributes on leadership development Effective communication helps a leader to communicate the vision, mission and operational strategies to the team members. It assists them to clarify all the confusions of the team workers about their assigned jobs. This activity will further assist them to extract the best performance from the employees (Tait 1996, 27-31). Confidence and positive attitude helps the management to lead their respective team in an effective manner. These attributes assist in the management to maintain the team moral during difficult and challenging jobs. Creativity attribute helps leaders to utilize innovative methods to maintain group motivation and positive outcomes. It also assists them to influence the team to think out of the box. Another important attribute of leadership development is the intuition capacity which is beneficial to analyze the future challenges and outcomes of any organizational strategies (Moyles, 2006). 5.1 Advantages of selecting member of similar image Few leaders tend to choose employees with same skills, capabilities and attributes during the selection procedure of team members. Most of the times these leaders tend to gather team player of their own image. This attitude helps them to gather team members whom they are comfortable to work with (Bowers, Pharmer and Salas 2000, 305-327). This kind of selection procedure has a number of advantages. The major advantage of a team set up with members of same personality is their ability to eliminate conflict from the group. Disagreement and conflict between team members occur due to the difference in the point of view of those members. Selecting members with almost similar nature and personality minimizes the chances of these conflicts in the team and ensures healthy relationship within the workers. Availability of employees with similar nature can increase the comfort level of the leader with the team members. These teams generally demonstrate proper unity and good interpersonal skills. This situation helps them to effectively communicate their plans and programs within the team (Bowers, Pharmer and Salas 2000, 305-327). 5.2 Limitations of selecting member of similar image This selection procedure also has demonstrated few limitations. The unavailability of team members of different personality and skill sets creates skill gaps within the group. This kind of team generally becomes very unbalanced due to the availability of too many similarly skilled employees (Ginsberg 1990, 514-535). Absence of diversified ideas reduces the creative capability of the team. Availability of employees with different skills and personality in a team is essential to generate competition within the team. It also assists the team members to share their knowledge with each others to introduce innovative ways to solve problems (Ginsberg 1990, 514-535). The members of a diverse group tend to have different approaches towards solving a certain problem. This tendency influences the team to apply different innovative techniques to solve challenges into work place (Ginsberg 1990, 514-535). Therefore, it assists them to complete their assigned task effectively and within the time limit. 6.1 Importance of Effective leadership Effective leadership has a number of importances on the performance of any organization and its employees. Effective leadership assists organization to promote team building and team performance in an organization. Team performances help companies to effectively achieve their competitive goals with a limited time frame (Moyles, 2006). Effective leadership helps in assessing the level of readiness of the organization to handle the development of cultural competency. It assists the organization to improve the productivity of all the employees (Ammeter and Dukerich 2002, 3-10). Effectiveness in leadership procedure helps the management to inspire and motivate the employees to improve their performances to achieve the competitive targets of the organization. It also results in the financial development of the organization (Moyles, 2006). 6.2 Profile of a high performance team The profile of high performing team consists of good communication procedure, contribution, interaction and group process (Ammeter and Dukerich 2002, 3-10). The good communication procedure of a highly performing team ensures the participation of all team members towards a common goal. It also ensures open communication within team members and involvement of all members in all the activities and interactions. Group process of a high performance team confirms their attention to the minute details of processes. It further influences the creative thought and group decision making capabilities. Interaction characteristic of a group ensures mutual trust, effective conflict resolution and respect for different thought processes. The contribution characteristic of team members assists the group to maintain their self-esteem. It also helps them to design the personal growth plan and flexible leadership (Ammeter and Dukerich 2002, 3-10). 7. Personal factors leads to female derailment from senior leadership position In the last few years gender discrimination has been recognized as one of the main reasons of leadership problems within organizations. Underrepresentation of female employees has been noticed in different power positions of organizations. A per recent statistics, the overall count of female employees in the position of senior management has remained inequitable across the world. Only 16% female directors in European Union, 20% of senior directors in the US corporate houses have secured a strong place in the board of their organization (Eagly, Makhijani, and Klonsky 1992, 3-22). One of the major reasons behind these statistics is the misjudgment of the differences of the capabilities of male and female employees. Characteristic of men and women vary in many ways due to various differences in their cultural training. Most of the cases the different style of communication, work approach, leadership values, energy and decision making procedure of female employees has been undermined by organizations (Eagly, Makhijani, and Klonsky 1992, 3-22). Authorities need to focus on multicultural training procedure to evaluate the differences of the characteristic of men and women to utilize their individual capabilities. Women are mostly responsible for their child care and domestic works. This causes priority clash between work and family life. Due to the doubts on their capacity of efficiently balancing the work responsibility and family life leads to the derailment from senior leadership positions. Extreme demand for rigorous work in the corporate environment creates an impasse for a number of female employees who need to balance their work and personal life. Marginalizing of female employees is a very common practice in various organizations. Absence of proper personal accountability within the female employees is also prohibiting their success in the senior leadership track (Eagly, Makhijani, and Klonsky 1992, 3-22). 8. Conclusion The study of different leadership style and capabilities has provided a detailed view about the different characteristics of a successful leader in any organization. It has discussed the advantages and limitation of different leadership styles to handle the challenges of the corporate world. The discussion has further evaluated the importance of effective leadership and high performing team to attain the ultimate organizational goals. It has also conveyed the different discrimination procedure in the selection of the leadership position. The report has assisted to understand the required traits and capabilities of a successful leader in any organization. Reference List Ammeter, Anthony P., and Janet M. Dukerich. "Leadership, team building, and team member characteristics in high performance project teams." Engineering management journal 14, no. 4 (2002): 3-10. Bowers, Clint A., James A. Pharmer, and Eduardo Salas. "When member homogeneity is needed in work teams a meta-analysis." Small group research 31, no. 3 (2000): 305-327. Eagly, Alice H., Mona G. Makhijani, and Bruce G. Klonsky. "Gender and the evaluation of leaders: A meta-analysis." Psychological bulletin 111, no. 1 (1992): 3-22. Ginsberg, Ari. "Connecting diversification to performance: A sociocognitive approach." Academy of Management Review 15, no. 3 (1990): 514-535. Judge, Timothy A., and Ronald F. Piccolo. "Transformational and transactional leadership: a meta-analytic test of their relative validity." Journal of applied psychology 89, no. 5 (2004): 755-768. Lowe, Kevin B., K. Galen Kroeck, and Nagaraj Sivasubramaniam. "Effectiveness correlates of transformational and transactional leadership: A meta-analytic review of the MLQ literature." The Leadership Quarterly 7, no. 3 (1996): 385-425. Moyles, Janet. Effective leadership and management in the early years. New York: McGraw-Hill International, 2006. Northouse, Peter. Leadership: Theory and Practice. Berlin: SAGE, 2012. Tait, Ruth. "The attributes of leadership." Leadership & Organization Development Journal 17, no. 1 (1996): 27-31. Zaccaro, Stephen J. "Trait-based perspectives of leadership." American Psychologist 62, no. 1 (2007): 6-22. Read More