Theory and Practice of Leadership - Assignment Example

1 Introduction In defining leadership on the inception of this report, Penny (2008) states that the inter-personal five bases of power suggests that the capability of manipulating other people’s behaviours is referred to as power, where the attempts of an individual to affect the behaviour of a group without applying the coercive form of power. And Prosser (2010) posits that leadership is the attempt to influence the activity of followers through the communication process and towards the attainment of some goals. One of the most vital leadership roles that have emerged in the modern workplace is the role of facilitation. The managers are successfully responding to these changes since the roles of mastering the facilitation duties has helped the managers and leaders and the workplace is also rapidly changing as never before. In the face of such kinds of changes, the groups, individuals or even the whole organisation can get their work done by the help of effective and efficient facilitators. The current workplace has evolved, and the organisations are being forced to reconfigure themselves so that they can remain competitive and vibrant by the rapid technological deployment and the unprecedented global competition. One of the numerous ways that organisations have been deploying to meet these kinds of challenges is by practising restructuring (Fox 2006). The frequency and the extent at which these restructuring have been happening is new, even though the restructuring in itself is not a new trend. Almost everyone who works in either the private or even the public sector has been affected by the organisational restructuring or of its variations such as downsizing, right-sizing, reengineering etc. Leaders have got fewer resources to get the job done and more responsibilities to tackle. They also deal with numerous amount of information while the work place is more furious and even faster. Despite all these challenges, managers who do more than surviving in the environment understands the science and art of facilitation and hence thrive. They assist their groups to get their jobs accomplished in innovative and new ways by applying their facilitation skills. The leaders who are getting buried are the ones who have failed to learn the facilitation skills. Moreover, when there is so little or so much in carrying out their responsibilities, the managers’ traditional “direct and control” approach to managing just does not work. Additional products and services are being marketed at the global markets by many companies. Therefore the way the process of these companies are operating are being changed by the increasing demand of their customers since the leaders have got increasing demands and more customers to satisfy in the global market place. Moreover, the organisations that are performing well in the global marketplace are the ones with managers who are very skilled facilitators. 2 Why ‘leadership’ is such a major issue in modern workplaces Te ability to work with other people, especially in the leadership and motivational capacity is conceivably the most significant element of the modern leaders (Saiyadain 2003). Mounting strong interpersonal relationship is at a first-rate. Murray & Grant (2006) argues that ‘the approach, cheerfulness, manner and personality of the service provider are important parts of the service. He further adds that modern organizations are in the service sector that places a strong emphasis on meeting and identifying the requirements of the customers in face-to-face situations. In order to have an effective organisation, the current managers must know how to manage and lead. In references to our instruction that leadership is about controlling, planning, organizing etc. (Mullins 2007), are some of the management functions, the three represents the distinctions between management and leadership as explained below: Leadership is a force of change that compels a group to innovate and depart from routine while management focuses on the status quo’s continuous improvement. Leadership needs teamwork and elicit corporation from a large network of people and using every manner of persuasion and motivation so as to keep key people in that particular network. It also engrosses a vision of what an organisation can become. Management is a set of unequivocal techniques and tools based on testing and reasoning that can be applied in various circumstances. Management mostly relies on universal skills such as controlling, planning and budgeting thus makes it more scientific and formal than leadership. In the current modern workplace, both effective management and leadership are needed. One has to be an effective manager for him or her to be a good leader. Leaders must be good managers, whereas managers also must be leaders. Workers require assistance in deploying a smoothly functioning workplace and therefore they must be persuaded and inspired. Henry Mintzberg as cited by Ranganayakulu, (2005) asks, “How can you be led by someone who does not lead?...Well then why would you want to be led by someone who doesn’t lead?” it is not easy to know what is going on the operations for a leader who does not know how to carry out managerial duties. A good example of such kind of a leader and a manager is the former president of Windows platform and service division at Microsoft (McLaughlin 2008). The later was described as a hard-headed operator with the personal skills of Oprah Winfrey and the shrewdness of Bill Gates. “I love people, I love business, I love customers, and I love technology.” He says. Leaders enforce numerous kinds of powers for the purpose of influencing others. These powers though varies by subordinates or group of members and act as a constraint on how many powers can be exercised by leaders (Rogger, G 2011). People are influenced by leaders to do things through the use of authority and power. The potential ability to control resources or influence decisions is known as power. This is only exercised by powerful people who frequently exercise it (George, Jens & Kathrin 2010). Schilling (2011) further explains that being manager does not necessarily means that one can automatically be a leader, but any given manager may or may not be a leader. Correspondingly, a leadership position can be informal, (Murray 2007; Brown, Bryson & Forth 2009; Frank 2010; Champoux 2011) as when a leader emerges from the ranks of the group according to a consensus of the members, or formal, as when someone is appointed to lead a group and has got leadership qualities. For organisations to be effective, they will require both leadership and management. For example, management will be necessary for the achievement of systematic and coordination results and also in the handling of administrative activities during the times of predictability and stability, while leadership is essential in directing and creating change and also assisting the organisation in surviving during the tough times. Robert (2012) concurs that a planned orderly change as well as keeping the organisation properly aligned with the environment can be achieved in the organisation through the juxtaposition of leadership and management. The determinations of the culture and ethics roles as well as establishing the moral climate of the organisation can be established by the leaders and managers in their various organisational roles. The primary concern of leaders is always an efficient completion of tasks (Griffin & Gregory 2012). The Leaders who exhibits job-centered leadership behaviour concentrations on subordinates, are mainly interested in performance, and explains work procedures. The leaders who engage in employee-centered leader behaviour endevours to build effective work groups with high performance goals. Don & Slocum (2009) alleged that the two roles of leadership behaviours were at the contradictory ends of a single aspect. And thus the researchers recommended that any given leaders could exhibit either employee-centered leader behaviour or job-centered behaviour, but not both of them in tandem. They even added that job-centered leader behaviour was less likely to result in group performance in than the employee-centered leader behaviour (Don & Slocum 2009). 3 The factors contributing to leadership challenges: Some of the major factors posing challenges to leaders include: Decision making – the ability to make decisions Communication – ability to effectively communicate a message, and Conflict – dealing with conflict 3.1 Decision making – the ability to make decisions: It is a management saying that the road to hell is paved with good intentions and the road to organisational ruin and management is paved with decisions which have been implemented half-way. Wise leaders will acknowledge that what they have decided may not automatically happen. So many at times we have heard of staff members criticize their leaders because they could or would not take a decision so that the staff often felt unclear, unsafe, and without guidance. It would be more interesting that staff would be more supportive of a leader who makes wrong decisions than one who shirks heir responsibility for making decisions and carrying them through (Lathalavanya & Thenmozhi 2011; Washington 2007). Aggressive people try and force other people’s hands, and some staff members are more demanding than others and they don’t become satisfied until something is done. Some are also contract officers ringing p and demanding quick actions. Some of the decisions we make all day are routine, complex, some can wait and others are urgent. At times, the best action is to take is to ask for additional time to weigh the matter and wait and watch. But as described by Frank (2010) it, this kind of decision making is important tool for the purpose of reviewing the current process and whether the organisation can achieve the effective outcomes out of the decisions made. 3.2 Communication – ability to effectively communicate a message, and Communication has an unequal significance to leaders when they don’t seem to achieve it. Leaders who effectively created and encouraged communication among their staff were found to be more in imparting their vision that led to the betterment of their vision and consequently embedded more consistently by staff in the entire practice areas of organisation by Svennevig (2008). The judgment of wise leaders is based on their ability to communicate at all levels as a head of a service, individual, organisation or a team. Leaders are often faced with the pressure of expectation that they should be good listeners, great orators and be able to communicate and write through presentations (Brown, Bryson & Forth 2009), this has proved to be a difficult task and many leaders require help to succeed. Conventional leadership principles has at times been criticized and known not to work (Washington 2007), and that the issues does not lie with the leadership, but with the fact that professionals drawn from a diverse disciplines do not usually want to be managed. These are the professionals who are proud of their professionalism as well as their education, wanting too much freedom to practice their noble art and independent in their thinking. Many professionals have been trained to be skeptical and they will in most cases challenge any new ideas in a critical way, bringing to bear their analytical gifts (Brown Bryson & Forth 2009; Champoux 2011 Murray 2007). Certain professional characteristics that permit them to effectively perform their jobs sometimes create barriers to them in their bid of group success creation. And solving small issues or even coming to an agreement can sometimes be difficult. 3.3 Conflict – dealing with conflict Conflict can be defined as the disagreement between two or more groups, members arising from the fact that they share work activities, scarce resources or/and from the fact that they have different perceptions, goals, status, or values. Conflict is a reality for leaders as well as a universal phenomenon in the society. It was the idea of traditional management that conflict is harmful and must be nipped in the bud, but the current view which Ming-yi (2006) has called the integrationist view is that conflict is inevitable in organisations, no matter how they are formed and run. The task of management is to accept conflict as a fact of organisational life and manage it so as to maximise its beneficial impacts and minimize its bad effects. Conflict is even considered necessary as it not all that bad. Its absence in organization might be considered as suppressed conflict (Washington 2007). 4 How managers can use theories/models to inform their ‘leadership’ in a modern organisation? The act of influencing groups in a particular circumstance by a leader is known as style of leadership. These normally depends on the three significant elements namely situation, follower, and leader. Leaders exercise different leadership style in different times and situations. These numerous styles of leadership suggest that suitable single best styles are not achievable ( Dion 2012). Positive leadership: these are leaders who create an environment that satisfy their followers. They identify what their subordinate wants and needs and satisfy them making the work effectively and happily in the organisation. These leaders have the opinion that organisational goals can only be achieved when individual needs are met. Negative leadership: This kind of leadership is perpetuated by leaders who use force and fear in influencing their followers. They think it is possible to realise goals by using and controlling formal authority. A leader can chose the most appropriate leadership style based on the situational factors as described below: Dictatorial: Orders are given by the leader after which he/she rigidly follows-up in the accomplishment of organisational goals. Feudal: The subordinates are compensated by the leader in performing their tasks since the leader considers them the necessary part of organisation. Contributory: The people’s participation in decision making is seeked by the leader and hence giving them satisfaction in their contribution of their views. Developmental: The leaders use the potentialities of the subordinates to offer them employment. Leadership styles can be classified in many ways that have been divided into five broad partitions (Bruce, Fred & Weber 2009), i.e. 1) Paternalistic This is the situation where the leader adopts a parental attitude between himself and the followers as the right leadership style for him/her. The leader cultivate good working environment and wishes to keep them happy as family members with the aspiration of being good with them. With this kind of leadership, the philosophy of the leader is that ‘happy employees work harder’. 2) Democratic Decision making is encouraged by the leader through encouraging people participation and also encouraging and persuading them. This leadership style was labeled under Y theory by Duglas McGregor (Sun 2009), and stated that subordinates assumes responsibility and are also involved in decision making. Leaders emphasizes on the followers participation in decision making instead of taking their own decisions. Potentialities and energies can be better utilized for the sake of organisation by the subordinates. 3) Laissez-faire or Free-rein Here, leaders do not give directions and do not exercise control over people. The leader provides his subordinates with a lot of freedom by leading them with loose rein. He also passes the responsibilities to them. He surrenders the powers to his followers. The powers are completely delegated to the subordinates by the leader when the subordinates control, motive, and plans themselves or else they will be held accountable from their own actions (Vallett 2010). This kind of free style rein will be accorded under the following circumstance: When the followers are ready and acknowledge their responsibilities. When the organisational goals are acceptable to the subordinates and have well been communicated. Subordinated have a good training experience The leader has an interested of fully delegating powers 4) Authoritarian or Autocratic The meaning of Authoritarian or Autocratic as broken down by Sun 2009), is where decision making power is centralised by the manager. The employees take directive from the manager while he designs the work. Followers feel insecure and afraid of their superiors. The leader insists of getting his way by using threats and fear while at the same time making subordinates follows his directives. 5 How managers can work to overcome their ‘leadership’ challenges Leaders are tasked with shaping organisational culture, set priorities and influence what is considered valuable by staff members. Leaders such as the senior managers and CEOs can influence the behaviours and interest of the staff towards performance measurement by demonstrating an interest in performance measurement (Jiang & Qingye 2011). This attitude will help surmount disparagement and passivity in the ranks that may have developed as a result of the recent or past failures. Upon receiving new directions to measure, staff may react with an attitude of “Here we go again, but wait a while and it will pass.” Committed leaders know the benefits of measurement from experience (Vallett 2010), and they communicate excitement to staff about what to look forward to. Likewise, measurement can benefit the organisation because when you can predict, you can control and prevent. Failure by leaders to emphasize the importance of measuring, improving and assessing organisation performance, whether it is focused of financial quality, or safety issues, it sends a message that other goals are more significant. Indeed, leaders are the critical link between the performance improvement concept and its implementation through employee participation. Creating a culture that values performance measurement is an important leadership responsibility that contributes the favourable atmosphere that satisfies the needs of the clients (Jiang & Qingye 2011; Hatice & Tugba 2011). Performance literature emphasizes the importance of leaders in creating a setting that demands and supports continuous improvement, which requires measurement. Although individual leadership styles vary, all organisations need leaders to lead for improvement. Leaders can as well overcome leadership related challenges by breaking performance measurement barriers that might possibly require evolution in strategy. Leaders must create an environment favourable for the development of organizational performance methods and implementations. For example, by arranging specific performance measurement training sessions for both staff and managers, the principles and tools are in place to perform the work, and leadership has shown that this is now a priority. Leaders should nurture their organisations capacity to measure and hence improve – that would be the core of the mission of every organisation. 6 Why is the information you have found important to know, especially for people who are managing in organisations? The leadership importance is commonly judged in terms of its impact on the effectiveness of an entity that is led. According to Duncan (2006) the ultimate measurement of leadership effectiveness for leaders is the ability to sustain superior results over an extended time period. Moreover, leadership is a more broadly insidious experience that it seems. Some researchers such as Robbins & Judge (2007) suggests that it is not economic, rather it is its significance in stemming the loss of meaning associated with modernity, i.e. the moral collapse of the firms. Darren & Cho (2010) also concurs that the roles of leadership is best seen in terms of its shaping of the organizational context such a culture and incentives, membership, and goals, and not in terms of its economic impacts. There is also a need to develop and increase the organisational commitments of all sizes in both public and private sectors so as to produce better leaders and managers. Walonick (2011) also states that leadership is an important issue when a company is falling and has reached its survival stake. Withholding information from the public and employees tantamount to strategic or financial mess, and even covering up can be a fatal mistake. It matters most in respect of an openness and honesty in dialogue, initiative encouragement, collaborative problem solving, and mutual respect. When there is a presence of leadership, it makes the entire advantages possible and therefore a poor leadership can convert the available advantages to be problematic. 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