The Nature and Importance of Leadership - Essay Example

Number] Management The main concept learnt in this is the leadership, its importance, its parameters, and its nature. Leadership is the most important skill of a manager which helps a manager to lead and run a business successfully. There are several approaches to leadership which have been outlined in regard to the management styles and needs but these approaches have also transformed as the needs, demands, and environments of businesses have changed. Hence, contemporary leadership approaches are learnt in this course with emphasis on interpersonal skills and importance of leadership roles. There are many factors associated with leadership approaches such as management, motivation, roles, and empowerment which are learnt in this course. We learnt about the nature and importance of leadership. Leadership comes as a challenge for leaders as they have to avail every opportunity and do their best to create a successful future for the business. Every person is a different kind of leader and every leader has a different approach towards the organization. Moreover, as there is a new generation emerging with different values, transformed ideas, and advanced ways of business, the leaders are also changing their approaches and adopting more dynamic roles to serve as effective leaders in organizations. Leadership styles and approaches decide the future of organizations (Kouzes & Posner 32). We learnt in The Leadership Challenge that leadership isn’t an achievement; it is something, a charisma, a notion that is already present in individuals naturally. Anyone can be a leader regardless of their social level, economic status, or professional maturity, leaders are everywhere. Every leader has specific skills and qualities that make him a leader. Leaders cannot be trained or created; they are natural as they have the charisma and the personality that make them a leader. It is also examined that every person has certain qualities that make him a leader but a successful leader is the one who uses his interpersonal skills to become an effective leader (Kouzes & Posner 12). However, it was also learnt that an important part of leadership is that leadership is a relationship; it is a relationship formed with many people. The nature of leadership is that the leader has to mobilize and interact with others in the business and form a team that works together under his leadership. This relationship enables the leader to work successfully along with a team and thus the accomplishments never belong to the leader alone, they belong to his team. As leadership is all about motivating, innovating, building, guiding, leading, and inspiring, a leader must create a positive and productive relationship with mutual respect and understanding to grow and be valuable. The models and approaches of leadership is a dynamic agenda as leadership models keep transforming as there is increasing complexity and diversity in organizations today. A leader must have the skills to be able to cope with diversity and changes that occur in organization on daily or monthly basis. Leaders must know how to cope with changing circumstances as it is very important that the leader has the emotional, professional, and moral capabilities to train, equip, and deal with people in every situation for the good of the organization. Leadership is all about using the skills at the right place in the right time to achieve the objectives and goals of the organization (Kouzes & Posner 18). Since leadership is all about fulfilling the goals and objectives of an organization, the models and approaches to leadership may vary according to the organizational values. Approaches to leadership are important according to the organization and hence they change over time. Some traditional approaches to leadership models included trait leadership and behavioural leadership. Trait leadership focused on the successful leadership based on the leaders’ personality and personal characteristics while behavioural leadership focused on how the leader behaved in different situations. Behavioural leadership includes autocratic style in which leaders dictate their members, democratic in which they listen to suggestions and involve members in decision-making, and laissez-faire. In this course, we learnt that the contemporary approaches to leadership are more important and relevant today as businesses have changed and modified the way they operate and this means that leadership approaches have also changed. Approaches of leadership transform as an organization grows and as situations change. Contemporary leadership is the one in which leaders have the cognitive abilities to recognize and respond effectively to contradictions, complexity, and diversity in their business environments. Transactional leadership approach is one of the contemporary leadership styles in which the leader motivates his team using rewards and incentives that would motivate them to follow the orders. This approach requires understanding and identifying the different motivational factors of the team members and then working on them to achieve the goals (Kouzes & Posner 86). We learnt that transformational leadership approach is another contemporary approach in which the leader inspires and motivates the members to be a part of the collective action and empowers them. The members are inspired and they transform their visions and goals and restructure their values to achieve the goals. Another important leadership approach is the charismatic leadership in which the leaders have a charisma in their personalities as they are loyal, honest, inspiring, and influencing. Their personality is the reason why they come in position and they influence their members to work together and achieve their goals (Kouzes & Posner 84). In the contemporary era, we learnt that organizations are becoming more fast, technologically advanced, and diversified. This requires a different approach towards leadership. In traditional models, the organization depended upon one leader entirely and he was supposed to do all the jobs. However, in contemporary models, there is an understood need for more than one leader for different departments or levels of activity. Operations have become faster and more complex hence leaders must form their separate teams and work together in order to achieve faster production and more growth. Leadership has become more flexible now as the leader does not only lead but also guides, follows, and manages his team. In this course, we also learnt how leaders are supposed to motivate the team effectively using Daniel Pink’s analysis on motivation. It is an important aspect of leadership to motivate people to work together and fulfil the goals and objectives. However, we learnt that there are many ways of motivating people and they are also divided into some traditional methods and some contemporary. As work has changed, organizations have changed, societies have evolved, so the way that people think have also changed. It is no longer the time when money, rewards, or bonuses were motivators for people. Today it is much different. Pink highlighted the importance of motivation in business and how it is perceived in the 21st century. Three important element of motivation that is found in today’s business leaders and employees are autonomy, mastery, and purpose. Autonomy is the desire to direct one’s own life. Good performance and satisfaction in work comes when an individual feels he is independent and he can direct his own life. It makes a positive impact on the motivation levels. Second is mastery where an individual wants to be appreciated so he can do better until he doesn’t get perfect. The third element is purpose where the individual works or performs in order to gain something or in exchange of something worth the performance. We also studied from The Servant in which we learnt about the true leadership through the story of a businessman. This is very important for our practical understanding and developing the essence of leadership in ourselves. We were taught the essence of true leadership not only in the business field but in all walks of life. We learnt that effective leadership is not only important in business, but also in personal life and everyday situations. A good leader is the one who is able to manage all his relationships well and understand the people around him with emotional understanding, mutual respect, and responsibility. Leadership isn’t only about dominating or being in power, it is about understanding the people around and acting as a guide to transform their values and thinking, and motivate them to work towards the goal that has to be achieved. A good leader is not only created with authority, but with compromise, love, care, and sacrifice. Every leader has certain qualities and skills that must be put to good use in order to make effective leadership. Leaders must use their communication and interpersonal skills to identify the needs of the team members or to motivate them towards their work (Kouzes & Posner 54). Conclusively, this course has been very helpful to help us understand the different approaches to leadership and the important aspects of leadership. This course gave us an insight into the understanding of the models, styles, and qualities that a leader must have and how a leader must use his interpersonal skills to be an effective and successful leader. This course taught us about the nature and dynamics of leaderships as it changes at every stage of life. Work Cited Kouzes James & Posner Barry. The Leadership Challenge. USA: John Wiley & Sons, 2012 Read More