Leadership Management in the 21st Century - Assignment Example

LEADING IN THE 21ST CENTURY NAME COURSE TUTOR Leadership is the act of guiding or leading a particular group of individuals. It is also the ability to lead a group of people. Leadership involves bringing in a vision, sharing it with others so that they accept the vision willingly, giving knowhow on how to realize the vision and controlling and balancing the conflicting interests of all participants and stakeholders. On the other hand, a leader is that person who influences other people in order to achieve that vision. He or She works first so that they motivate others to follow them. In the 21st century, various leaders have exhibited different kinds of leadership from all over the world depending on either their personal attributes or influence from factors surrounding them. Question One. Richard Branson, the CEO of Virgin Group of Companies displays the attributes of Supportive leadership. In this kind of leadership, the leader emphasizes of team harmony, puts support and cares for employee values so as to create a positive working environment in the organization. In this kind of leadership, employees are given the free will to bring in ideas and to some extend make decisions concerning the organization. Creativity is encouraged and well performing workers are rewarded as per efforts to achieve a certain goal members are encouraged to share thoughts and find more creative solutions to problems and hence they feel more engaged in their jobs positively (Evans, 1970). Failure is accepted and valued so as to boost employee morale and participation in creation of ideas. From the first case, we find that Richard distances himself from his work place not only to have fun and enjoy himself, but also to give his employees space to think and develop ideas by themselves rather than under influence of their boss. We also learn that, Branson encourages all his employees to think and make their own decisions rather than to tell them and he implores them by telling them that they are paid to think and lead themselves not to follow. Supportive leaders allow their workers to engage in philanthropic activities through volunteering like provision of in-house meals so that they can come together and exchange an idea which is a way of facilitating harmony (House & Mitchell, 1974). Supportive leaders also create work policies that favor the flexibility of their workers and also provide support for their employees. They also give their employees options and choices for them to decide of what kind of activities they wish to engage in. Also, they provide with support to employees by encouraging them to develop their own personal fun activities which they wish to participate thus they don’t create the fun activities but rather they facilitate them. It is evident, from the case story, that Branson has a non-policy on holidays such that they take holidays whenever they want and holds belief that this will increase their productivity. He respects them by giving them support and on occasion’s steps back and delegates. He believes that employee satisfaction is the key goal to high production. Terry Gou, the owner of Foxconn Factories, employs authoritative form of leadership to run his factories. This style most of the successful leaders employ to get work done. It involves exerting pressure on employees so as to get processes moving (House & Mitchell, 1974). Leaders using this kind of approach to leadership are usually focused on what is essential, right and on the favor of the business and are usually on the search for effort not being induced into the business to achieve this ideas. They use their state and position to issue out demands that should happen in a limited span of time. Terry, is focused on work being done in time despite the kind of torture his workers have to pass through. From the second case we see that employees have sometimes been required to work for a continuous 2 hours and sometimes been required to go to work as early as 4am so as to meet a required deadline. This shows that the employer is not concerned in anyway on the employees welfare but on the welfare of the business. Pressure to work harder is high aimed at increasing efficiency despite the environment being non conducive and stressful with dangerous health hazards. The management at Terry’s factories is focused on increasing output through the exploitation of workers. Workers in some cases are subjected to mental blackmail through indirect signs like being asked to work hard or they will work hard in future while finding a job. This results to employees working under pressure and hence some end up committing suicides. Authoritative leaders give orders and step aside for those below them to implement them; thus those implementing them end up being accountable for their actions. Terry does not consult with his workers he rather chooses to keep his own ideas to himself. He also expects them to keep work talk at work and not to inform on the factories thus they remain tightly controlled. Terry believes that keeping employees focused on work is the key way to production. Question Two The Path Goal Leadership Theory argues focuses on identifying a leader’s behavior or conduct that fits the worker or the employee and work surroundings so as to achieve a certain goal (House and Mitchell, 1974). The purpose is to increase the employees’ motivation, satisfaction and empowerment so that they increase production in the organization. It is a process where leaders choose specific behaviors that favor the employees’ needs and help them in achieving their daily activities at work. This theory touches on four leadership behaviors. Directive leadership is a kind of leadership that describes a leaders who directs his or her followers instructions on their work, outlines what is required of them, how the work is to be done and the deadline of the work given (House & Mitchell, 1974). A directive leader puts forward expectations in terms of performance and puts work policy clear to followers. Supportive leadership inculcates a leader who is approachable and cares for the welfare and human wants of his followers (House & Mitchell, 1974). This kind of leaders defy protocol so as to create an environment friendly zone for their followers. They treat all their followers equally and attribute respect to all. Participative leadership involves a leader who involves his followers when making decisions. He values their opinions, gets their ideas and frames them to make a realistic decision on how the group or the organization will operate (House & Mitchell, 1974). There is also achievement-oriented leadership. In this form of leadership, a leader motivates or implores his followers to perform their level best. He or she introduces high level standards of performance and works towards their improvement. They confide in their followers and believe that the followers can achieve challenging goals. Leaders can show any or all of the above mentioned styles of leadership with different followers under various situations (House & Mitchell, 1974). In case story one, Richard Branson displays both supportive and participative leadership styles. He is supportive in that he enables a good working environment for his followers; he also lets his employees choose their own leisure activities that they wish to participate. Branson is participative in that he encourages his employees to come up with their own decisions arguing that they are paid to think and self-lead. On the other hand, Terry Geu employs directive leadership while running his factories. He makes his workers strain hard so as to achieve a certain work demand. He cares very little on his employees’ welfare and puts more concern onto the performance of the business. Question Three Having discussed path-goal leadership theory, it can be assumed that part of it was derived from the motivation theory of ‘expectancy’. The motivation theory of expectancy assumes that behavior is got from the choices made from options whose intend is to increase pleasure and reduce pain (Vroom, 1964). The theory argues that people can be motivated towards achieving if they have faith in that: there is a positive relation between efforts and performance, the result of a favorable performance will end up in a desirable reward, a reward from a good performance will contend an important need or the result satisfies their need so as to make the effort worthy. According to Vroom, the requirements of Expectancy theory are: Expectancy, which is the belief that one’s effort will result to performance; instrumentality, which the belief that one’s effort will lead to outcomes and finally valence, which is the amount of value that one places on an outcome. Considering Richard Branson, his behavior towards his employees has great impact on worker motivation. By initiating a good working environment, Branson helps his worker feel accepted at their work place and hence they perform more; listening to them helps him understand them more so that he knows how to treat them and socialize with them at the workplace hence increasing their productivity. He encourages them to think on their own, this gives them freewill to initiate their own ideas into their work activities hence production is increased. He gives his workers holidays at their own time of choice; this helps them recreate themselves and hence their morale is boosted thus increasing production at work. Terry Geu poses a difficult challenge to his employees. Despite his belief in hard work to achieve goals, his employees perceive his motives as ill intentions. It is said that suicides have been committed at his factories due to workers being overstressed at their workplace. Workers at his factories work for the sake of their salaries rather than towards increasing production. By not consulting with his workers about their welfare, their concerns about work and their views on how to operate on daily basis, he lowers the morale of his workers hence their performance is out of strain and not out of their intended effort. Question Four Today, if Foxconn was to seek consultations with me on how to improve leadership at their premises; I would propose a number of changes to be effected. The employees need to operate at the normal working hours so as to keep them healthy and also to give them time to plan for their own activities. Recreational activities and team building should be introduced at Foxconn so that employees can get to relate with one another positively and also to ‘clear the mist’ between junior workers and senior workers. The working environment need to be made safe for the workers so that they work in comfort rather than in fear, which would help increase their productivity. There should be a good rapport between the employer and his employees; working under constant threat of being fired is similar to working under pressure which leads to reduce productivity of workers. The company also, should be accountable to any accidents or injuries that occur at the work place and be ready to take full responsibility of the situations. Instead of Terry giving dictatorial quotes on his views about work, he should instead give motivational ideas and talks on how to increase production and thus his workers will end up liking him. In conclusion, there are various approaches to leadership as it has been discussed. The choice of leadership depend on the various situations and circumstances required. Whether perceived as an entity or as a management function, leaders plays a key role in the daily activities carried out in the 21st century (Northouse, 2013). It is a vital requirement for human existence. Leaders create change, create followers and implement a solid system for their followers and thus the society today is run through the laws of leadership. References Evans, M.G. (1970). The effects of supervisory behaviour on the path-goal relationship. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance. 5: 277–298. House, R.J. (1971). A Path-Goal Theory of Leader Effectiveness. Administrative Science Quarterly. 16, 321-328. House, R.J., Mitchell, T.R. (1974). Path-goal theory of leadership. Journal of Contemporary Business. 3: l–97. House, R.J. (1996). Path-goal theory of leadership: Lessons, legacy, and a reformulated theory. Leadership Quarterly. 7 (3): 323–352. Northouse, P. (2013). Leadership Theory and Practice. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, Inc. Ridley, M. (2003). Nature Via Nurture. New York: Harper Collins. Stogdill, R.M. (1974). Handbook of Leadership: A Survey of Theory and and Research. New York: Free Press. Read More