Relevance of Different Leadership Approaches in Todays Organization - Essay Example

Business Organization - Relevance of Different Leadership Approaches in Today’s Organization - Introduction Having an outstanding leadership skill is important on the part of the managers because of the tight competition that exists within the domestic and international markets. A good managerial leadership is important since it contributes to the success and profitability of the company. Basically, leadership skill is an essential characteristic of a manager necessary in making the operation flow of a business organization work efficiently. For this reason, a company is able to reduce the unnecessary internal conflicts among the stakeholders which may result to organizational mismanagement and operational errors due to miscommunication and lack of a structured operational system. At the end of the day, the savings that comes from establishing good leadership skills could result to increasing revenue generation on the part of the company. In general, there is simply no ground or rules behind choosing the best leadership style. To become an effective leader, a manager should be able to search for the type of leadership approach that works best for them. Often times, choosing the best leadership style depends on the manager’s personality, working environment and the members of the team. To avoid wasting time, money, and effort associated with the need to go through the consequences of mismanagement, this study will discuss and elaborate the different leadership techniques used in today’s business organization. In the process of discussing each type of leadership approach, situational examples will be provided to give the readers a better understanding of each leadership techniques that will be discussed in the study. Transformational Leadership Approach Transformational leadership style is unique in the sense that this approach has four components known as: (1) charisma or idealized influence; (2) inspirational motivation; (3) intellectual stimulation; (4) and individual consideration. (Bass, 1998; Bass et al., 1996; Bass, 1985) Personal charisma is a significant characteristic of a good leader since it is a form of referrent power which could enable a manager to effectively attract his/her subordinates to seriously cooperate with the leader in order to make the organizational goal attainable. (Palmer et al., 2001; Posakoff & Schriesheim, 1985) Considering that transformational leaders are intellectually inclined, this type of leaders tend to go beyond what is happening around his environment since they have the ability to implement new ideas whenever necessary (Johannsen, 2004) aside from being flexible with organizational changes that may occur within the organization. These type of leaders are also capable of easily adapting with the implementation of new strategic plan. Since employees under transformational leadership approach are working with a clear and accurate vision, they are often expected to provide a better work performance. (Kirkpatrick & Locke, 1996) Leaders that are classified as transformational leaders are the ones who do not practice positional authority. This trait makes transformational leaders able to commit themselves in training their subordinates to become a leader in their own way. As a result, each member of the team is able to work under less supervision and express themselves freely within the business organization. (Salovey & Mayer, 1990) In other words, leaders and followers under this type of leadership are equal except for the fact that each of them has a different set of activities played within the organizational group. (Kelley, 1995) In line with this type of leadership, the team works interdependently with each other as they remain focus towards achieving a unified goal – the business organizational goal. Eventually, subordinates of transformational leaders become capable of self-management with a strong commitment and courage to meet the organizational goal. (Homig, 2001) Authentic Leadership Approach Since 2000s, authentic leadership approach has been considered a positive leadership option since this approach is practiced based on genuine, trustworthy, reliable and believes in the capabilities of each individual. (Shirley, 2006; Luthans & Avolio, 2003; George, 2003) For this reason, authentic leaders are able to recognize and value the personality, purpose, and potential of each employee (George, 2004). Similar to transformational leaders, authentic leaders also have the ability to communicate their recognition in such a way that his/her subordinates would feel valued as a unique and special part of the group. Authentic leaders make their subordinates feel special by constantly inspiring, motivating, valuing, and allowing them to grow intellectually. (Luthans & Avolio, 2003) Authentic leaders are often the ones that practice self-discipline in terms of being able to balance their personal and professional lives. They also know how to value relationship building or human connections by establishing a good inter-connection with other people around them. For this reason, it is easy for them to share their life stories and develop trust and intimacy with their subordinates since these people lead the group with care for themselves as well as with their subordinates. (Strarrat, 2004: p. 71) Discussion The application of transformational leadership approach is good in the sense that transformational leaders are able to internalize a sense of commitment with regards to achieving the organizational goal and effectively persuade the leader’s subordinates to actively participate and commit themselves with the organizational plan. (Burns, 1978: p. 4) The strong commitment coming from both parties strengthens the organizational ethics in a way that the entire team avoids doing what is ethically unacceptable within the organization. Since transformational leaders are focused on terminal values such as integrity and fairness, the leaders becomes directly involve and are responsible in the development of the organization and its impact on the society. (Homig, 2001) Likewise, the application of authentic type of leadership is also beneficial on the part of the managers since this type of leadership empowers the whole team within a business organization. The fact that this type of leadership enables each individual to go through the process of self-reflection and self-awareness, each team members will be able to learn to express themselves and inspires other people along the process. (Covey, 2004) Similar to transformational leadership, authentic leaders demonstrate ethical behaviours despite living and practicing in a society full of negative media interventions about the lapses in ethical leadership. These leaders demonstrate transparency and speak not only but the truth. Given that authentic leaders are able to lead the entire team with the use of heart and compassion, the close personal relationship between the leaders and his/her subordinates improves the outcome of their collective performance since this type of relationship could lessen chronic stress and burnout in the workplace. (Maslach, Schaufeli, & Letter, 2001) Several studies show that male and female workers have different qualities that are both needed in the success of the organizational goals. (Rosener, 1990; Ruble, 1983) Because of the personality differences between male and female, they also have their own preferred leadership style such that most male leaders tend to use the transactional leadership strategy since men are more inclined to think rationally as compared to women (Eagly & Johnson, 1990) whereas female leaders adopt more of the transactional leadership qualities since they are more charismatic and have the ability to communicate well by nature as compared to men (Bass, Avolio, & Atwater, 1996; Davidson & Ferrario, 1992; Rosener, 1990). Aside from gender differences, emotional intelligence is seen to be more relevant to transformational leadership than the autocratic leadership paradigm. Basically, emotional intelligence is referring to a person’s ability to appraise, regulate and express their own emotions as a way to achieve their personal and professional goals. (Salovey & Mayer, 1990) Even though both transformational and authentic leadership approach has benefits when applied in organizational management, both leadership style has its limitations when it comes to managing people. Basically, the transformational leadership style is applicable to limited organizational situations since this type of leadership approach is not effective within a business environment that needs a strict authority to get the subordinates to follow the leader(s). In some cases, it is best to use transactional style of leadership when punishing any of the team members for work undone or not meeting the pre-determined standard a certain project. On the other hand, the practice of pure authentic leadership approach may not be able effective when there is a need to control all employees within the business or other organization. In other words, there is always the possibility that other type of leadership could work better and more effective just like in the case of the military, army, or navy. A poor leadership development program does not only affect the company’s profitability but also decreases the working attitude and morale of the leaders as well as his or her subordinates. For this reason, it is still best to mixed the use of other leadership style such as the transactional leadership in order to achieve the best result. Conclusion Both Transactional and Authentic style of leadership has its own benefits to the organization. The similarity between the two types of leadership lies behind the fact that both do not practice strict authoritarian type of leadership. Since both type of leadership enables the leaders’ subordinates to become independent in their working profession, it is likely for us to expect that the adaptation of these practices could contribute a lot in enabling a business organization to experience a more positive working environment which could contribute to the success of the organization’s business performance. In general, there is simply no rule that applies with the type of leadership that will provide the best outcome for the business organization. In fact, leaders are expected to find the type of leadership skills that works best for them since choosing the best leadership style highly depends on one’s own personality, working environment and the members of the team as well as one’s personal choice. Considering the benefits and limitations of both transformational and authentic leadership approach, it is highly recommended to use a combination of both since today’s business organization is very competitive. 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