Leadership Innovation and Change - Essay Example

Leadership Innovation and Change Student’s Name Institution Leadership Innovation and Change The performance of an organisation is greatly dependent on the leadership qualities of the personnel it has at the managerial or supervisory level. Good leadership qualities translate to organisational effectiveness, while poor management qualities result in industrial ineffectiveness. Organisational effectiveness is determined by the way an organisation performs. An organisation is said to be effective if it can register good performance over a long period of time. An organisation that is effective records consistent performances and is unlikely to face closure. Consequently, it is upon the managers of organisations to ensure that they remain effective by using their leadership qualities to unite and motivate employees. Good leaders are those individuals who, through their words and actions, motivate their employees to act towards achieving the organisational objectives and strategic goals, which ensure that the organisation remains effective throughout. The leadership qualities that help to enhance organisational effectiveness are motivation, mentoring and team building. This essay ascertains that leaders, through their abilities to motivate, mentor and build productive teams, can greatly influence the effectiveness of the organisations they manage. The essay, by applying the theory of Charismatic Leadership and Expectancy Theory, explains the way leaders can contribute to the effectiveness of their organisations. The essay uses information published in reliable academic sources, such as books and peer-reviewed journal articles, to demonstrate that organisational effectiveness is greatly dependent on leadership. Leadership has different definitions, depending on the context to which the term is applied. In an organisational context, leadership comprises qualities that an individual at a management position is supposed to have for him to enhance effectiveness in the organisation (Abiodun, 2010 p. 23). Nowadays, organisations face stiff competition from other firms and have realised that the only way to overcome such rivalry is hiring individuals with good leadership qualities. Individuals with good leadership qualities should be able to create and implement effective strategies to counter the competition and provide innovative solutions to other challenges facing their organisations (Clawson, 2010 p. 1). A leader should be true to himself, lead others through inspiring words and actions, and be able to motivate his employees to work hard to achieve the goals of the organisation. The role of a leader is not simply defined by a combination of his or her title, position and benefits that come with the position (Abiodun, 2010 p. 37). Leadership involves providing the right direction to the employees of the organisation to achieve its organisational goals. A leader needs to be open, charismatic, and flexible, and should always lead by example. Good leaders display commitment, passion, and dedication to their followers to mentor them to have a positive attitude towards the work and the other duties they do at the organisation (Bertocci, 2009, p. 43). For that reason, leaders should inspire their employees to work together to achieve the goals of their organisations. The effectiveness of an organisation refers to how smooth and productive its processes are. Organisational effectiveness is constituted by how the employees of an organisation perform towards achieving its goals. Although it is difficult to measure organisational effectiveness, it can be inferred from the performance and reputation of an organisation (Yuki, 2008 p. 709). It is undeniable that effective organisations are those that perform well and have a reputation of consistently delivering high-quality products and services to their customers. Such companies attract, recruit, hire and keep talented workers. These organisations have lower employee turn-over rates as they retain their staff for a long time. Organisational effectiveness is seen to be dependent on the vision, mission and goals of an organisation (Kaiser, Hogan, & Craig, 2008 p. 98). The effectiveness, besides being affected by the vision, mission and strategic goals of the organisation, also greatly depend on the kind of leadership the firm has. Motivation and mentoring of staff are some of the major tools that leaders rely on to enhance the effectiveness of their organisations (Leatherman, 2008 p. 3). Leaders are responsible for the creation of the organisation’s vision, mission, and goals; through staff motivation, they inspire employees to achieve the company’s goals (Yuki, 2008 p. 714). It is through these procedures that leadership is said to greatly influence organisational effectiveness. The ability to motivate employees is the first leadership quality that individuals at the management and supervisory levels use to ensure that employees remain determined and performance oriented (Adeiniyi, 2007 p. 150). Good leaders motivate their employees to accomplish their tasks and responsibilities by their actions and through inspirational speeches that explain the visions and missions of their companies. Inspirational speeches are meant to inform employees that a high achievement of the organisation translates into great benefits for them as well; this has a great effect of stimulating the employees to work harder to ensure that the organisation remains effective throughout their employment period (Seyranian & Bligh, 2008 p. 55). Leaders can also motivate their employees by demonstrating how committed they are to hard work and finding innovative solutions to the various problems experienced by the organisation. Such a great commitment of the leaders is likely to inspire employees and make them develop a positive attitude and urge them to work hard for the company to attain a better performance. Another strategy that leaders can rely on to motivate their employees is the issuance of incentives, such as financial rewards, gifts, and bonuses (Adeiniyi, 2007 p. 151). These incentives are good at enhancing production among employees. When employee productivity and performance improve, the organisation certainly becomes more effective. The ability to mentor employees is another quality that leaders can use to enhance the productivity of their employees. An efficient manager or supervisor mentors the employees who work under him to help them become good leaders and effective judges, which secures the future of the organisation (Armstrong, 2013 p. 34). Leaders can mentor their employees through asking challenging questions and providing encouragement and guidance to them as they seek to find solutions to the various problems affecting the organisation (Babcock-Roberson & Strickland, 2010 p. 314). Mentoring allows employees to find solutions to problems and confidently explore new techniques and ideas. Mentoring also helps employees to develop a high self-esteem and have confidence in themselves. Leaders can rely on mentoring to improve team relations, staff retention, promote innovative ideas, and enhance employee performance and productivity. Mentoring employees can also include good project management, presentation, and business penetration skills. These skills help to prepare employees to also become good leaders to enable them to assume leadership positions in the future (Armstrong, 2013 p. 38). Consequently, good mentorship assists leaders to enhance the effectiveness of their organisations through succession planning and helping employees to become confident and more innovative. The abilities of leaders to enhance organisational effectiveness by mentoring and motivating their employees are explained in by theory of charismatic leadership. The theory of charismatic leadership explains the way leaders transform their employees into confident, innovative, and performance-oriented individuals, who are determined to work hard to achieve organisational goals and visions (Seyranian & Bligh, 2008 p. 58). The theory explains that good leaders identify the visions and missions of their organisations and then relay them to their employees. Charismatic leaders guide their employees on how to take calculated risks as they look for ways to improve the performance of their organisation. Charismatic leaders are also good at creating good relations with their employees, by motivating and mentoring them on how they can remain performance-oriented (Babcock-Roberson & Strickland, 2010 p. 318). Consequently, charismatic leadership is the ability to mentor and motivate other individuals to perform well, among other things. The last quality that leaders use to improve the effectiveness of their organisations is their team building ability. Efficient leaders appreciate the importance of teamwork and the need for members of a group to work collaboratively (Parker, 2008 p. 71). Leaders, who want their organisations to become effective group their employees into teams and motivate the members of the teams to work together efficiently within their respective teams. The leaders carry out team-building exercises and implement ways of ensuring that each member of the team feels comfortable and makes a significant contribution (Rosenhauer, 2009 p. 8). Teamwork has several benefits to employees and organisations with regard to organisational effectiveness. Firstly, through teamwork, leaders only assign specific duties to employees who can perform them well. Secondly, teamwork encourages innovation as each team member is given a chance to give their own suggestions. Lastly, teamwork leads to collaborative work in which each individual employee is assisted to accomplish their part of work (Parker, 2008 p. 73). All these processes are meant to enhance employee productivity, which in turn, improves organisational effectiveness. The team-building ability of leaders is outlined in the Expectancy Theory. The Expectancy Theory enables leaders to understand the reasons why people and their followers make decisions in relation to various behavioural alternatives. The theory asserts that leaders choose to act in a particular way as a result of the expectations they have for selecting a particular behaviour in place of others (Clawson, 2011). For instance, leaders choose team-building as a way of improving the productivity of their organizations. With reference to the expectancy theory, leaders rely on team-building to encourage creativity and innovation among their employees. Creative and innovative employees are very productive, as they can explore and implement new and effective ways of carrying out specific tasks. Leaders also choose to provide encouragement and support to their employees by grouping them into various teams (Rosenhauer, 2009 p. 12). Such kinds of leaders encourage their employees to share ideas and directly recognise the unique contributions made by each member of the team. Lastly, based on the theory, leaders choose to promote teamwork among their employees through inspirational motivation. These leaders also have the ability to inspire their employees to experience and develop a passion or urge to achieve the goals of the organisations they work for (Zhang, Cao, & Tjosvold, 2010 p. 1601). Leaders with all these transformational abilities are known to promote good performance in their organisations. In conclusion, this essay, by using various academic materials and by making reference to leadership qualities, demonstrates that leaders significantly influence organisational effectiveness. Firstly, the essay defines the meaning of a leader and organisational effectiveness. A leader is any person, at a managerial or supervisory position, who is expected to provide guidance to junior employees as they work towards achieving the organisation’s vision, mission, and goals. This essay shows that leaders, through team building, mentoring and motivation of employees, are able to influence the effectiveness of the organisations that they manage in a significant manner. The three qualities, team building, motivation, and mentoring, are intended to enhance employee productivity, which in turn, helps leaders to improve the effectiveness of their organisations. The essay delves into leadership qualities in detail by referencing two major leadership theories: charismatic leadership and expectancy theories. Works Cited Abiodun, R. (2010). Leadership behaviour & employee perception of the organisation. Bloomington, IN: Author House. Adeiniyi, M. (2007). Effective leadership management: An integration of styles, skill & character for today’s CEOs. 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