How Leaders Can Maintain High-Quality Performance - Term Paper Example

Introduction Leadership is an important practice, which can build or destroy the future of a business or organization, depending on its effectiveness towards the achievement of the organization’s goals (Morrisson, 2004). As such, it is important to ensure that leaders are subjected to an extensive and detailed hiring process, so as to ensure that only those with the necessary qualifications are given the opportunity to hold this position. In this context, hiring should be totally based on merit and not other factors such as nepotism and corruption, which may compromise the leader’s interest to promote integrity and performance, as a result of having the feeling that they are privileged such that they cannot lose their jobs and also to the extent of misusing their powers to serve their master’s interests (Morrisson, 2004). However, if this is conducted properly, the leader would be in a position to serve the sole interests of the organization, which are based on quality and sustainable performance and development in all the departments under him or her. This paper is a critical evaluation of ways through which an effective leader can improve performance in his or her place of work. How Leaders Can Maintain High Quality Performance A leader is a person who, to a greater extent, represents the true image of an organization. This means that he is supposed to be a person of high integrity and unquestionable character (Macarthur, 2004). This earns him respect throughout the corporate world such that he would be occasionally cited as a good role model to young people as well as those employees who are under him. For example, it would be wrong for a leader to have the habit of coming to work while under the influence of alcohol or other drugs as this would taken to mean that doing so is acceptable in the work place. Such a leader would set a bad example to his or her juniors, who may go to the extent of doing the same just because their boss is doing it. Similarly, it would be unprofessional for leaders to involve themselves in sexual relationships or harassment of their employees as this may promote indiscipline in the context that these employees may be motivated to do the same, which is unethical in a working environment. If anything, leaders should be the first people to observe all the rules and regulations of an organization, in an effort to maintain professionalism and concentration on service delivery. Otherwise, a lot of time would be constantly wasted trying to discipline those who go against the set standards thereby lowering the out put hence low performance. In addition, leaders should be able to control their tempers whenever they are dealing with their employees as a way of maintaining their integrity. In this context, it is important to realize that shouting at workers or reprimanding them in public for simple mistakes committed makes the employees feel hatred and unnecessary fear, which may restrict them from asking for assistance whenever they are faced with difficulties. Furthermore, doing so may result to more harm as these employees may get angry and since they may not be in a position to defend their selves, they may decide to hold the anger, which may trigger conflicts with their fellow employees. Maintaining your calm as a leader makes you earn respect and trust from the subjects thereby promoting the smooth running of businesses (Macarthur, 2004). In order to be able to improve quality of performance in an organization, it is highly important for a leader to have excellent communication skills (Morrison, 2004). Communication in any setting is important as it facilitates the exchange and sharing of information, which assists in decision making. A leader for example should avoid making vague statements whenever he is addressing his subjects. He should always be specific on what he wants, which is a way of reducing chances of confusion. For example, if he wants a certain task to be done, he should make it clear who is supposed to do it and the amount of time to be spent on that task. He should therefore refrain fro making statements such as; I want someone to represent the organization in the upcoming business forum. Instead, he should say; I am assigning John, Judy and James the responsibility of representing this organization in the upcoming business forums, which will run from April 7, 2011 to May 17, 2011. In this context, he will have solved the possibility of time wastage as the employees try to agree on who is to take the responsibility. This will also give the delegates enough time to prepare for the event. As such, the leader should always avoid using a language that would leave his listeners with the responsibility of interpreting the meaning based on the fact that there is diversity of knowledge in the work place, which makes it possible to have dynamic interpretations which may be way off the intended meaning (Macarthur, 2004). One major role of leaders in an organization is to introduce change. However, this is a process which is usually faced with challenges to the extent of creating conflicts between the employees and their leaders (Macarthur, 2004). This is due to the fact that change is inevitable but in most circumstances, it is welcomed with hostility culminating from fear of change. For example, if an organization decided to automate its activities in various departments, it is always thought that this would result to loss of jobs as technology is perceived as a major threat to the human workforce as it is considered to be more efficient and free from fatigue. Others fear that their services would become obsolete thereby requiring them to either acquire more skills on how to use the new technology or be replaced altogether by new employees. Despite these fears, a leader, through effective communication, can reduce the resistance especially if he is able to use a convincing language. He should be able to calm these employees by neutralizing the doubts in their minds and installing trust, which is essential in creating a harmonious working environment (Pynes, 2009). For example, introducing robots in the organization to replace humans may be an economical way of having tasks done. However, the leader should ensure timely communication of such a decision to the affected employees otherwise he may have to deal with unnecessary resistance which may be in form of sabotage or strikes. In this process, he should try to encourage dialog, which would help him to understand the mood of the employees and also encourage a positive attitude towards the change he is intending to introduce. An effective leader utilizes his motivational and encouraging skills to improve the performance of their employees. Human beings are much more productive in an environment which makes them have the feeling that their efforts and achievements are appreciated (Pynes, 2009). In this context, it is always necessary for leaders to give feedback whether positive or negative regarding the projects delivered by their subjects. This means that employees require to know the quality of their services; whether poor or good and your thoughts about it. If the work is good, it is always important to mention it and congratulate the person who did it as this encourages him or her to continue improving his performance so as to be recognized more and more. Similarly, if the employees deliver poor quality results, they should be made to know especially why their work has been categorized as poor, but without necessarily condemning them. This encourages them to look into their mistakes with the hope of correcting them thus improving the quality of their work. Otherwise, if feedback is not given on regular basis, the employees may lack the need to improve on what they are doing as they may think that they are perfect with regard to the projects they have already delivered. This form of encouragement is essential in building intrinsic motivation, whereby employees are determined to produce quality results without necessarily having to consider personal benefits (Pepitone, 2007). No one would want to be a failure to the extent that everything he or she does attracts a negative feedback. However, it is observable that human beings react more positively to extrinsic motivation, which may be in form of reward or punishment. Leaders should therefore come up with a plan to reward employees either based on performance or as a general measure to maintain their workforce and reduce employee turnover and absenteeism (Pepitone, 2007). There are various ways through which this can be achieved. For example, the plan may involve giving some amounts of money or gifts to the best performing employees either at the individual level or at departmental level, depending on the nature of the business. This in itself promotes and facilitates competition and teamwork to the benefit of the organization as each and every employee would be motivated to work extra hard so as to be the one to acquire the reward. On the other hand, the organization through its leadership may see it fit to provide medical coverage for its employees and their immediate families. This is due to the fact that these employees may lack the funds to acquire frequent medical checkups even when they feel that their bodies are not functioning properly. Some may ignore the necessity of acquiring the services of a health professional and decide to depend on self medication. Others may decide to remain at home or to visit the hospital when their illnesses have become chronic. If this happens, it means that they would not have sufficient time to request for permission to be absent from their posts thereby making it difficult to find temporary replacements to act on their behalf, which is a disadvantage to the business (Pepitone, 2007). Similarly, the importance of extending medical coverage to include the immediate families is due to the fact that an employee may find it difficult to concentrate on his duties for example when his wife or child is lying sick at home without someone to take them to hospital, or at hospital but without the finances to take care of the expenses. Other forms of motivation also include accessing the need to promote junior officers to higher rankings, based on the fact that this would assist in reducing the chances of employees quitting and finding jobs in other organizations. It is stressful to find that you have worked for an organization for more than ten years but whenever there is an opportunity in a higher office in the organization, the leadership decides to hire someone from outside instead of hiring from within. An effective leader should facilitate his employees with the capacity to work at higher levels for example by supporting them financially to acquire more education and skills. Delegation of duties should also be used to prepare these employees so as to allow them the opportunity to show their worth and also to give them a chance to acquire experience, which is one of the key requirements that employers look for whenever they are hiring new employees (Pepitone, 2007). On the other hand, poor employee performance and gross misconduct should not be tolerated and therefore should be rewarded through punishment. This is due to the fact that such realizations are a recipe for business closure as they may lead to heavy losses thereby the loss of investor confidence. Every employee has the responsibility of ensuring that he does his best to prove his worth and to account for the salary he is receiving. One way of doing this is to show uncompromised loyalty to the organization and timely delivery of high quality results as per his job description. For example, if a business is involved in the construction business, timeliness and quality are some of the resources, which can destroy or build the future of the business. If a contract states that the buildings should be completed within a certain deadline, this should be made so as failure to observe the time limits would mean extra expenditure and a breach of the contract. A leader should be keen to punish those responsible of the delay either by firing them completely or fining them in order to prevent the business from incurring losses. This is due to the fact that employees are categorized into two major groups; lazy ones, who cannot perform unless under pressure and hard workers, who will always maintain high performance regardless of whether they are being watched or not (Pynes, 2009). However, the leader should possess the quality of deep understanding especially of social issues whenever he is dealing with his subjects (Macarthur, 2004). Human beings are vulnerable to making errors, some of which may seem careless to the person in charge. As a leader, you should be able to evaluate critically explanations offered in such circumstances so as to be able to make not necessarily the right decision, but one that would be best suited. As such, employees should be given a chance to defend their actions. For example, an employee may report to work late, a factor which may lead to delay of service delivery, which may not be taken lightly by the clients. In such a circumstance, the leader may get angry considering the pressure he may be getting from the clients such that he may result to dismissing the employee indefinitely. In such a case, he will have lacked the important quality of emotional intelligence, for first of all failing to control his temper and failing to show empathy (Macarthur, 2004). By listening to the employee, he may find that may be the employee had an emergency to take care of such as taking his wife or child to hospital or he is for example a religious person such that he may be compelled to leave his work station immediately after official working hours in order to attend mass. In this context, it means that the leader should be able to let some issues go without necessarily taking action but taking notes and also know when to issue stern warnings as well as when to punish. Also, the leader should be a person who understands the role of diversity in the work place so as to be more knowledgeable on how to deal with issues. Making wrong judgments on employees is a way of lowering their self motivation, which would definitely have a negative impact on their productivity (Morrison, 2004). In addition, the leader should have deep understanding on the processes which take place in his organization. This is due to the fact that he may be brought to task by his subjects, be it the employees or the investors, who may have problems that may require him to offer immediate solutions or explanations. Failing to do so may compromise the progress and completion of tasks, which may be bad for the business. For example, change is inevitable and it is difficult for an organization to compete with others for market, if the leader does not understand the market trends and technological advancements in the field of his operation. He is the agent of change and as such, he needs to be conversant with the systems in his organization, so that he can move with speed to replace them whenever there is an opportunity to do so. He should also be able to evaluate proposals brought to him by his technical staff so as to be able to examine their credibility and admissibility. This is due to the fact that he may be the one required to authorize such projects and based on his knowledge, he should be able to know when there is intention to defraud the business for example through over quoting of prices for raw materials. As earlier stated, he should be critical in all decisions that he makes and only a person with deep understanding and knowledge, would be able to protect the business from white collar crimes (Pynes, 2009). In a multicultural setup, the leader should be able to promote friendliness, which is a recipe for harmonious working environment (Macarthur, 2004). This means that he should set himself as an example by trying hard not to show his personal feelings towards members of a certain community or religion as this would portray him in good light thereby encouraging others to emulate him. Otherwise, it would be difficult for the minority group in the workplace to utilize their full potential as they would be compelled to believe that they are subordinates to the majority groups, who may not even have the necessary knowledge to complete highly demanding tasks. In this context, divisive statements, such as constant reference to racial or religious stereotypes, should be avoided at all cost. Teamwork is essential and for it to be successful, each and every member must feel comfortable and wanted so as to be able to contribute healthily towards problem solving. Bias towards certain individuals or groups of employees is also a mistake that a leader should refrain from committing, if he or she wants to maintain or to improve the quality of performance. This is due to the fact that doing so is unprofessional as it builds mistrust among the subjects, who may feel as if they are being oppressed once they find out what is going on. A leader may be tempted, for example, to reward non deserving employees at the expense of those who worked hard to achieve the best. Such an action has the potential to trigger rebellion and low productivity especially since it would have disregarded the value of competition. All employees should be treated equally and accorded the respect their positions in the organization deserve (Pepitone, 2007). An organization is doomed to fail if the leadership does not clarify its expectations. The employees cannot produce results if they are not made aware of what they are expected to achieve within what timeline (Macarthur, 2004). In this context, they should be told for example if it is a manufacturing company, the number of units they are supposed to produce per day. The marketing and sales departments should be informed on the number of units of these products they are supposed to dispatch per day so as to make them vibrant. With regard to this, high but reasonable targets should be set so as to ensure that there is maximum utilization of resources thereby reducing their under exploitation. Consequences should be put for those who do not produce as expected so as to serve as an example to other lazy employees. In the education sector for example, school principals should be directed on the amount of time that their staff should take to complete covering the syllabus but to prevent poor performance as a result of teachers rushing to beat the deadline, maximum scores should be targeted to allow more students to join higher institutions of learning. This would motivate teachers to spend more time planning and preparing for their lessons, which would make it easy to reach the set goals and targets Leaders should be democratic in the sense that they are not supposed to be too much authoritative and bureaucratic. Democracy in the workplace entails promoting horizontal communication whereby any employee can access the leader’s office without having to follow a strict hierarchy of information transfer, which acts as a block to effective communication. Even though protocol should be observed, leaders should make themselves available through formal and informal meetings with employees, where questions and interactive discussions regarding the organization can be held. He should not therefore wait for employees to hold demonstrations and strikes so that they can be heard. He should realize that some of the managers between him and his subjects may be irresponsible enough to withhold vital complaints made by the employees and then deciding to solve the issues by firing them or through intimidation (Pynes, 2009). Conclusion Leadership is an important role which determines the success or failure of a business organization. However, effective leadership exhibits qualities such as integrity, good communication skills, motivational skills, deep understanding, promotion of equality in the work place, clarity on what he or she expects, able to command with flexibility, being goal oriented among others, which are important in increasing productivity. Failure to possess these means that the leader is possibly depending on fate to control the destiny of the organization and that is why they should be hired strictly on the basis of their achievements and experience in addition to high academic performance, which prove that they are knowledgeable. References Macarthur, J. (2004). The Book on Leadership, Thomas Nelson Morrison, E. (2004). Leadership Skills, Da Capo Press Pepitone, J. (2007). Motivating Employees, McGraw-Hill Pynes, J. (2009). Human Resources Management for Public and Nonprofit Organizations: A Strategic Approach, Jossey-Bass Read More