Effective Leadership Style for Individual Motivation, Harnessing Group Cohesiveness and Commitment - Literature review Example

Effective Style of Leadership Influencing Individual Motivation, Harnessing Group Cohesiveness and Commitment

Introduction

Leadership is an essential process that affects the relationship and determines group success, the style of leadership applied influences and shapes an organization. Leadership skills applied are important since they influence and motivate individual hence promote cohesiveness and group commitment. Transformational leadership is one of the leadership's styles that are more effective because it drives members to achieve the set goal (Goleman, Boyatzis & McKee 2013). Since leaders are the ones who influence and motivate people around them and harness group cohesiveness and commitment, their knowledge and skills play an important part in group development. Even though various styles of leadership are effective, transformative leadership is the most effective leadership because it engages it followers in such a way that it raises group members to higher levels of motivation (Goleman, Boyatzis & McKee 2013). Transformational leadership has since gained popularity and attracted much attention due to it is supportive and innovative styles that promote group cohesiveness and commitment (Wang, Tsai & Tsai 2014). This essay will present the importance of leadership and also support transformative leadership as the most effective leadership style that can motivate and also harness group cohesiveness and commitment.

Leadership and Leaders Skills

Leadership is the process where an individual being the leader influence other group's members toward the realization of the shared goals. Effective leadership is determined by the style of the leadership that a leader adopts. Styles of leadership make leadership an essential criterion that influences the interaction between the leader and other group members to achieve the set common goals (Ruggieri & Abbate 2013). Leadership is about having the ability to direct the group toward its future aspirations by aligning its members towards achieving these goals. Leadership is also defined as a dynamic, interactive process that involves different extent of direction. Transformational leadership is the most effective leadership style because leaders seek to change the attitude of their followers not by force but using their personality to persuade its followers according to (Ruggieri & Abbate 2013).

They use knowledge and the group's vision to change the attitudes of its followers in a way that group members feel deeply entrenched and remain committed even when the leader is not around making transformational leadership and effective style of guiding group members. Leadership that promotes group commitment makes transformative leadership as a preferable form of leadership because group members are given the opportunity to transform and become contributors to the realization of the set goals. Leaders have been given the opportunity to lead other members. However, their roles and leadership styles play a major role in influencing change among its members (Clarke 2013).

Transformational Leadership

Transformational leadership is one of the leadership approaches that bring about change among individual group members and the group as a whole. Transformational leadership creates positive changes among its followers with the aim of empowering members to be future leaders. Transformational leadership style also enhances motivation and individual performance using various mechanisms by helping the group members have the sense of identity and also developing a collective identity. In transformational leadership, the leaders act as a role model to its members. Being a role model inspires its members and promotes cohesiveness hence challenging members to take ownership of the group (Choudhary, Akhtar & Zaheer 2013).

Element of Transformational Leadership

Individualized attention

Transformational leadership is about individualized attention; this requires a leader to attend to each and every group members' needs and also adopt several roles including being a mentor or a coach .this involves listening to member needs and concerns. Transformation leadership style requires not just listening but also offers empathy and support to its members (Choudhary, Akhtar & Zaheer 2013).

Intellectual stimulation

Unlike other leadership styles, transformational leadership stimulates and encourages creativity among its members; leaders often seek for member's ideas to have a clear picture of its member's priorities. Applying this type of leadership requires leaders to nurture and encourage members to think and act independently. Leaders need to accommodate certain unexpected occurrences or situation and review them as part of learning opportunities for the group. Transformational leadership strategy requires leaders to permit members to ask questions, think and analyze situations before executing the tasks (Choudhary, Akhtar & Zaheer 2013).

Motivation and inspiration

If leaders need to transform its followers, the leader needs to articulate an appealing vision to inspire its members. Setting high standards and communicating optimism about the expected future goals of the group motivates members to find meaning in the group. Clear purpose and meaning give group members the energy they need to move forward. When inspired and motivated, group members are willing to invest more efforts towards group activities since they feel valued (Choudhary, Akhtar & Zaheer 2013). For any group to achieve its intended objective, the leader needs to motivate its follower by establishing high levels morality and engaging all members. An effective leader needs to ensure that its members in understanding the expected target to be achieved and also empower these members to increase their efforts. Using transformative leadership style, leaders need to set goals, acknowledge and reward its members as a motivation for good performance (Choudhary, Akhtar & Zaheer 2013).

Morality is an important element of transformational leadership; group's members are motivated to work hard when their leaders display high standards of morals. Good morals enable members to work beyond their self-interest hence leaders needs to be aware of the link between morality and how it can influence members. According to (Ruggieri & Abbate 2013), transformational leadership enhances performance because members develop more trust in the leader who actions are appropriate. This type of leadership enhances good relationship among members creating a free environment. Therefore, successful leadership's style is one that changes the values, needs and ambition of its members from personal interest to a common interest using their personality.

Charisma

Charisma is another important element for transformative leadership, a leader with a clear vision for the group and clearly articulates this vision is likely to inspire the members to visualize how the groups future. Meaning that a charismatic leader needs to have the ability to detect what other group members value and act confidently to inspire these members to be aware that the leader understands what they value hence building cohesiveness among the team members. Being respectful as a leader inspires individual to be aware that they are valued (Choudhary, Akhtar & Zaheer 2013). Transformational leadership is about expressing praises to individuals and the group as a whole, using encouraging statement makes members develop a sense of belonging. Leaders who adopt these elements of transformative leadership achieve the best leadership outcomes since they develop people. This explains why transformative leadership is suited for the current fast paced world because transformative leaders elevate its followers to higher levels through inspiration (Choudhary, Akhtar & Zaheer 2013).

Impact of Transformational Leadership on Group Motivation

Transformative leadership approach is about empowering individual and increasing their commitment. Therefore, transformational leadership engages individual to contribute to the groups more. By motivating members to transcend their self-interest for the sake of the shared interest changes the member's attitude towards the group enabling the group to achieve its desired goals. Since transformative leadership is about adopting the four elements needed in leadership which are an inspiration, motivation, intellectual stimulation, charisma and individual consideration, all these combinations are aimed at influencing members for the benefit of the group (Wells and Welty 2010). Intellectual stimulation raises awareness of member to challenge their thoughts and view problem from a different perspective. Transformational leadership actively engages members resulting to increased motivation to perform and actively contribute to the group's tasks.

Unlike other leadership styles, transformational leadership impacts positively on members because leader's motivation encourages a strong sense of purposes (Clarke 2013). By challenging the status quo, leaders enable embers to re-examine their behaviors that support the status quo enabling them to develop a more focused vision. Members are urged to widen their abilities by cultivating creativity; leaders act as mentors and listeners by focusing on individual members. This transforms individual behavior enabling members to develop a collective goal hence promoting group cohesiveness according to (Clarke 2013). Transformative leadership style creates awareness of the importance of the group objective and the goals to be achieved. As a result, members become enlighten and actively participate in achieving this objective. Therefore, transformative leadership style empowers members to participate in decision-making process resulting in group commitment. Being active participants in every decision of the group members become motivated and more committed to the group (Wang, Tsai & Tsai2 014).

Furthermore, influencing individual behavior in a group through transformational leadership creates a sense of responsibility whereby members become more committed to the group's activities. Individual consideration and offering supportive attitude portrayed in transformational leadership styles decreases the number of individual leaving the group since most members will be satisfied with the leadership (Wang, Tsai & Tsai2 014). In summary, the main purpose of transformational leadership is to increase member's performance and enable members to become more committed to the group. These can be achieved when the leadership articulates the groups' vision and direct members to focus their attention and contribute more to the group. Transformational leadership provides support and builds individual confidence as well as enhancing members' self–efficacy (Wells and Welty 2010).

Impact of Transformational Leadership on Group Motivation

A cohesive group is more effective than a disjointed group; cohesion is reflected in a group whereby members stick together and remain committed in pursuit of its objective. Transformational leaders motivate members by listening to their needs and addressing their concerns, using this style of leadership members are contended and also increase their effort hence resulting to a more cohesive group. Several research findings indicate that group cohesion impacts positively on the group member's performance. Cohesion leads to increased perception of accountability of the group. Therefore, members strive to work to the best of their abilities and become more responsible (Wells and Welty 2010).

In a cohesive group, members feel empowered to take the group ownership; members will be attracted to the group and work towards accomplishing the group tasks. According to ( Wells and Welty 2010), there is a positive relationship between cohesion and individual performance and engagement. Therefore transformational leadership promotes cohesiveness as members develop positive views of the group (Wells and Welty 2010). In a cohesive group, members develop a sense of belonging hence increasing their levels of participation. Leadership styles that allow members voices to be heard and their suggestions are taken into consideration make members feel valued by their leaders. Therefore the ability of a leader to view members as part of the group has proved to be an important aspect that affects the overall group cohesion (Goleman, Boyatzis & McKee 2013).

According to(Wang, Tsai & Tsai 2014), groups, where members are unwilling to endorse a leader despite the leaders displaying good behavior, is because the leader does not view members as part of the group. On the other hand, groups where leaders receive strong approval is when members view the leader as a fair person. To enhance cohesiveness, former leaders need to remain as a member of a group during a change of leadership to increase group commitment and cohesion. In summary, the group can achieve cohesiveness when the leader acts in the best interest of its members. However, critics argue that transformative leadership style encourages group members to become dependent on their leaders. Most members perceive their leaders an exceptional and extraordinary and end up relying on these leaders for decision making and guidance instead of contributing to the group's decision-making process. Leadership experts argue that transformative leadership style can also affect group development whereby the charismatic interaction between the leader and the group members may increase dependence on the leader (Clarke 2013).

Even though various criticisms have been raised about transformational leadership style, compared to other leadership styles transformational leadership enhances group motivation and cohesion. Through charisma, intellectual stimulation, inspiration and individualized consideration, transformative leadership has a greater potential to increase group performance beyond expectation hence effect positive changes within individuals and the organization. Transformative leadership style is a well-suited leadership style that is applicable in many settings because people contribute more when they feel valued, and this enhances the general output of a team (Clarke 2013).

Conclusion

Leadership is an important process whereby leaders can impact positively impact on the group using his personality. Since leaders apply skills to influence and motivate individual members leaders role are important in promoting cohesiveness and members commitment. Transformational leadership facilitate changes because it contributes to groups improvement and effectiveness such that it is one of the effective leadership styles in an environment of where disorder and change are likely to affect groups progress. In conclusion, transformational leadership is one of the leadership's styles to achieve the set goal since it can influence and motivate people and harness group cohesiveness and commitment. Even though people might prefer other leadership styles but transformational leadership is the most effective leadership because it engages it followers in such a way that it raises to higher levels of motivation.