Management project - Admission/Application Essay Example

Submitted by: XXXXXXXX Number: XXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXX of XXXXXX Number of Words: 569 XX – XX – 2010Management ProjectLeadership Approach:Leadership plays a very essential role in every organization. Leaders act as change agents within organizations. They motivate as well as build the trust and confidence of the people within the organization. There have been a number of different theories and approaches that have been developed in the past by various authors and experts in the field. Daniel Goleman’s approach consists of six major styles of leadership.

In his book Primal Leadership, he has highlighted that good leaders are effective because they create resonance. Based on this he explained resonance can be done in six ways, which in turn lead to the leadership styles. These styles included visionary leadership, coaching leadership, affiliative leadership, democratic leadership, pacesetting leadership and commanding leadership (Goleman, 2006). Leaders require to be very careful with the decisions they make because every decision they make in a small way or another affects the lives of the employees.

Thus he argues that true leaders are a product of the decisions that they take and thus a true leader is one who thinks through all the factors before taking a decision and after considering every possibility. Mintzberg’s argument that the decisions of leaders are diluted by the half truths is a very positive and right argument.Effective Leadership:In a situation where decisions need to be taken very fast and with accuracy, the most effective leader would be the charismatic leader. Charismatic leaders mainly refer to people with an elusive and also an indefinable personality trait which in a number of terms seems unnatural and is considered to be supernatural.

These traits have been expressed to be traits like ability to lead, charm, persuade, influence and inspire others (Beer, Lawrence, Quinn Mills and Walton, 1985). Every leader irrespective of whether a charismatic, authoritative or even a transformational requires to have a team and followers to be able to lead them. Hence it is clear that a leader only leads the way and helps the others to follow him and meet the goals of the organization. In situations where the leaders require having complete support of the followers, the most effective form of leadership again is the charismatic leadership.

A few of the best examples include Fidel Castro, Winston Churchill, Bill Clinton, Mahatma Gandhi, Adolf Hitler, Sathya Sai Baba, Joseph Smith and Werner Erhard. All of these leaders have been able to contribute in their own way to their organizations. As has been understood from the above discussion, Charismatic leaders are known for their approach to every big and small problem. The actions of the leaders have a cumulative effect on the changes that they tend to bring about in the people. There are several similarities between the charismatic leaders and transformational leaders.

The most essential and basic difference is their focus. The transformational leaders focus on transforming the organisation and in some cases the followers as well, while the charismatic leaders prefer to let things remain the same and do not want to change things. In the case of charismatic leaders it is quite easy for the followers to get carried away while talking to the person because of the strong aura that they have. The charismatic leaders are a combination of both ‘people’ as well as ‘organisation oriented’.

Hence the charismatic leaders to a great extent are great leaders and provide a lot of results to the organisation as a whole. Works CitedBeer, M., Lawrence, P.R., Quinn Mills, D., and Walton, R.E., 1985, ‘Human Resource Management: A General Manager’s Perspective’, Free Press, Glencoe, ILGoleman, D., 2006, ‘Emotional intelligence: 10th Anniversary Edition: Why it can matter more than IQ’, 26 September 2006, 10 Anv edition, Bantam