Can Non-individualistic Conceptualizations Save Leadership - Case Study Example

Essay on ‘Can non-individualistic conceptualizations save leadership?’ Name Instructor’s Name Course Number Date Introduction In the modern society, there is need for leadership and leaders (Ford and Harding, 2011). Leadership has been described by Van Fleet as a process of shaping the behaviour of others through influence. Therefore, according to Van Fleet, a leader is a person who influences and shapes other people’s behaviour through influence. In order to solve most of the problems facing organizations, leaders are always called in to act as a remedy (Ford and Harding, 2011). Problem solving ranges from solving problems in business, families and politics. However, in most organizations, there are people who won’t be happy and satisfied with the kind of leadership in place. Leadership has been growing at a fast rate from the start of the 21st century (Ford and Harding, 2011). In every management theory, leadership has a great role to play in ensuring that employees are motivated and communicated to well. It is through effective leadership that an organization is able to achieve its objectives. However, there are different conceptualizations regarding how leadership should be carried out. Others belief that leadership should be carried out from an individualistic perspective, whereas others belief that effective leadership entails collaboration from followers. Individualistic conceptualizations about leadership assume that leaders should lead by their own, without any input from the followers. In contrast, non-individualistic conceptualizations about leadership comprehend the fact that leadership is collaborative and that the views of the followers should be considered in decision making. This essay therefore focuses on discussing whether non-individualistic conceptualizations can safe leadership. Collective leadership Collective leadership involves putting the needs of others first and incorporating views of others in decision making. It involves considering that team members are important and play a crucial role in an organization (Contractor et al., 2012).Collective leadership involves incorporating the views of team players and relevant stakeholders in decision making. Non-individualistic conceptualizations entail collective leadership in the way organizations are run and managed. Listening involves giving employees the attention they deserve. This conceptualization is important in ensuring that employees feel loved cared for and respected. Listening is a virtue that must be developed by leaders, if effective leadership is to be achieved (Contractor et al., 2012). Listening acts as a source of motivation for employees because it creates a sense of belong-lines and cultivates a culture of understanding. Effective leaders are good listeners (Contractor et al., 2012). Charismatic leaders seek to ensure that other people’s perspectives are valued and taken care of therefore compelling some form of devotion in followers. It seeks to understand other people’s intentions, perspectives and motives (Contractor et al., 2012). Being a leader of empathy indicates an aspect of non-individualism. Leaders should put other peoples view into consideration, especially when making key decisions. Adopting a non-individualistic concept or perception helps in viewing a problem from a broad perspective and with an open mind. There are a lot of things or factors that influence organizational success in an organization. However, some of these factors are way beyond the reach and control of the organization. To ensure that all these factors are taken care of, non-individualistic traits of leadership should be portrayed. Additionally, incorporating the views of others within and without the organization is paroumount in taking an organization to a different level. Success will be achieved if an organization achieves its set objectives. Therefore, empathy, which is a collective and not an individualistic perspective or concept is key in ensuring effective leadership A good leader should be mindful of his followers (Driver, 2012). Being mindful entails ensuring that followers are in good health, and emotionally and physically fit. It involves ensuring that followers have all the necessary resources that will make them productive in the work place. An organization should ensure that it puts adequate safety measure in place, to ensure that employees are safe in the workplace. Additionally, managers should ensure that they create a conducive working environment. The healing concept of leadership entails ensuring that an organization creates and maintains a positive and right impact on its followers, including its customers (Driver, 2012). An individualistic leader ensures that his followers remain safe, mentally, physically and emotionally. This ensures increased productivity in the organization because followers will feel loved, and cared for. A good leader will closely scrutinize and control his emotions and behaviour to check how his behaviour or emotions affects other people (Gordon, 2010). This is a very important key in leadership because it ensures that a leader considers how his behaviour and emotions affects his followers. Leaders are entitled with a responsibility to lead, and therefore, since they are human, at times their actions, behaviours and emotions too might in a way negatively affect their followers. It is important therefore that perceptions and feeling of followers are considered by a leader, when exercising his leadership style. Good leadership traits involve a leaders understanding his weaknesses and strengths, and capitalizing on his strengths to convince and totally win his followers (Gordon, 2010). When leaders become mindful of how their behaviour affects others, is a non-individualistic conceptualization that ensures other people’s feelings are considered in leadership Framing Framing involves making others belief in you as a leader. It makes people belief or accepts something over another (Gardner and Avolio, 1998). A persuasive leader will make his followers belief in him (Gronn, 2002). A good leader will be persuasive and ensure that his followers are encouraged to act. Persuasive leadership helps in creating and maintaining consensus, especially in groups, to ensure that every individual is incorporated in decision making. A non-individualistic conceptualization on leadership entails persuading others to believe in you as a leader, and exercise exert power. Expert power involves exercising expertise and making followers belief in a leader (Gronn, 2002). When followers perceive or see a leader as an expert, there will be increased chances of the leader being believed in, and creates a room for followers to be convinced and persuaded. A good leader will ensure that his followers’ belief in him and will always want to ensure that their actions are safe. A good leader will scan the environment and undertake proper forecasting Forecasting involves predicting what is possibly likely to happen in the future, using past experience. Additionally, it involves identifying and understanding what is currently happening and the effects of current decisions in the future. All these are undertaken by a leader because he is a servant and knows that there are people who depend on him. A good leader will make sure that before acting, a consideration is made on how his actions will affect the organization and the followers in future (Tourish, Craig, and Amernic, 2010). It involves undertaking a SWOT analysis, analyzing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats facing an organization. Further, foresight entails undertaking a PESTEL analysis, which basically focuses on factors affecting the organization, which are beyond the control of the organization. A non-individualistic leader will learn from past experiences in making future decisions. Additionally, developing a non-individualistic approach to leadership helps the leader have a consideration of how his decisions affect the organization and the followers. Forming teams in an organization is one of the ways of creating a culture of inclusivity and togetherness (Wray-Bliss, 2012). Good leadership therefore entails taking responsibility for the actions of your team. Additionally, it involves taking accountability for the specific roles team members play in an organizational setup. A leader, whether formal or not, should take accountability for what is happening in the organization (Wray-Bliss, 2012). A good leader should lead by example, by making a demonstration of actions and behaviours that he/she wants in orders. Therefore, it is a non-individualistic conceptualization and helps in leadership. Leaders and followers Developing an interest in the growth of others is it itself a non-individualistic virtue. A good leader will develop commitment not in his own growth, but also in the growth of his followers (Ford and Harding, 2011). Developing other people involves first understanding their needs and tailoring leadership actions to meeting the identified needs. Understanding follower needs helps leaders develop techniques of how to help their followers do or perform their jobs effectively (Ford and Harding, 2011). An organization has goals and objectives to meet and effective achievement of these goals involves identifying employees’ specific goals and helping them achieve these goals (Tourish, 2005). Therefore, leaders being committed to other people is it itself non-individualistic or collective, and ensures sound leadership in the organization by creating a good culture in the organization. In an organizational setup, developing a good culture within an organization is important. This is because the idea encourages togetherness and creates a culture of belong-lines. In an organization where people are a family, people share the same views and are committed to the success of the organization (Contractor et al., 2012). A good leader will cultivate an environment where each and every individual feels at home and becomes committed to working towards the success of the organization. Leaders should always remind there followers about their duty to work towards a common goal (Contractor et al., 2012). Therefore, building a community within an organization is a collective and not an individualistic conception, and helps in successful leadership in an organization. Developing an individualistic conceptualization involves making decisions without necessarily consulting others. Leadership involves leading while others follow (Contractor et al., 2012). Therefore, making decisions without involving the followers is not right. When leaders become individualistic, it means that they don’t care whether their actions affect their followers or not. However, developing an individualistic approach to leadership is to some extend beneficial. Firstly, it acts as a source of motivation to the leader. The leader will feel motivated and rewarded. Secondly, in speeds up decision making process because the people involved in decision making process are reduced. An individualistic approach to leadership means that decisions are solely made, without incorporating the ideas of others. This therefore makes decision making easy because players have been reduced. Thirdly, when an individualistic conceptualization is developed by leaders, a strong command chain is developed. However, developing an individualistic and centered conceptualization in leadership has a number of limitations. Firstly, this conceptualization is a great source of demotivation for employees and the followers. Employees or followers feel they are being dictated. This conceptualization kills a feeling of belong-lines in the organization. Secondly, this conceptualization in an organizational setup creates only one way channel of communication which is a great source of misunderstanding. For effective operation of an organization, there must be a two –way channel of communication which allows leaders to communicate to their followers and followers to their leaders. This irons out any form of misunderstanding. Thirdly, developing an individualistic approach to leadership proofs to be suicidal in this era of technological advancement. This is because; it will lead a leader to making wrong decisions. Fourthly, developing an individualistic approach to leadership fails to develop followers’ or employees’ commitment to working towards achievement of organizational objectives. Individualistic and non-individualistic conceptions to leadership compared Whereas individualistic conceptualization to leadership assumes that leadership should be undertaken from an individualistic perspective, non-individualistic conceptualization perceives leadership as a collaborative or collaborative thing (Contractor et al., 2012). Individualistic leadership is dictatorial in nature, and requires that decisions are made by a single individual. Non-individualistic leadership on the other hand believes that leadership is collaborative, and involves involvement of followers. Effective leadership is a kind of leadership that is mindful of the followers. A collaborative leader will always consider the effects of his or her actions on the followers (Gordon, 2010). This conceptualization creates a sense of belonging for the followers and cultivates an environment where everyone plays a role in decision making. This will boost employee morale and in the long run, will lead to increased productivity and achievement of organizational goals. Non-individualistic conceptualizations to leadership entail also incorporating the effects of the external environment in organizational decisions. Individualistic leadership ignores analysis of the environment in decision making. Therefore, non-individualistic conceptualizations play a great role in shaping leadership. Conclusion In conclusion, non-individualistic conceptualizations regarding leadership play a very important role in shaping leadership. A good style of leadership is that leadership style that incorporates participation from the followers, and doesn’t dictate. A good leader should ensure that he considers his followers whenever he or she makes a decision regarding a certain problem. Whenever employees or followers are incorporated in decision making, they feel motivated and make them work towards achieving organizational objectives. A non-individualistic conceptualization to leadership ensures that followers are considered whenever any decision is made, in terms of how a certain decision, when implemented, will affect them. Therefore, developing a non-individualistic conceptualization will to a great extent safe and shape leadership. Bibliography Collinson, D. 2006. ‘Rethinking followership: A post-structuralist analysis of follower identities’, The Leadership Quarterly, 17(2), pp. 179–189. Contractor et al. 2012. ‘The topology of collective leadership’, The Leadership Quarterly, 23(6), pp. 994–1011. 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