Leadership in Human Resource Development - Essay Example

Leadership within an organization is very important because it ensures that its day-to-day functions are running smoothly and that all the departments within it run as a single, cohesive unit. The matter of change within an organization should therefore be taken very seriously and many things have to be considered before it is done. Among the things which have to be considered is whether the new leader of the organization should come from within the organization’s ranks or be brought from outside. The advantages and disadvantages of bringing in a leader from outside the organization should be weighed before such a decision is made and if the organization is stable enough, then there is really no need for not picking a leader from within its ranks. In this paper, we shall analyze the advantages of getting the leader of an organization from outside the organization, and those of getting one from within the ranks of the organization. There are many reasons why the new leader of the organization can be brought from outside the organization. One of this is the fact that this will be a new face for the organization especially, during the time when the organization is going through some tough times (Bohn and Grafton, 2002). Not only will this newcomer inspire confidence among the employees of the organization probably more than the previous leadership, but this new leader will also bring about a sense of renewal within the organization. This sense of renewal will ensure that all those who work within the organization are inspired to work even harder so that its goals can be achieved. A leader from outside the organization will most likely bring new ideas with him and these ideas will be found to be useful within it. These new ideas might be used to compete better with other organizations with similar objectives and in fact, they may even make it do better than the others may. The experience, which this leader will bring with him from working in other organizations, will be invaluable especially when it comes to predicting how the competition is going to respond to a move from the organization (Avolio, Zhu, Koh and Bhatia, 2004). Not only will the organization be able to preempt any action from its competitors that may hurt it in the market, it will also be able to counter these actions with even better ones and this will ensure its continued dominance in the market. The external leader will have to work very hard to prove that he is the right person for the job and this will ensure that there is more productivity, not only from him, but also from the organization, which he heads. The sense of security, which he would have felt if he were to have been picked from within, the ranks of the organization would not be there, meaning that there will be no laxity in his work. Instead, there is a likelihood that he will be very hardworking to make sure that his job is intact. Moreover, his presence will also make the employees of the organization less secure in their own positions within the organization and this will inspire them to work as hard as their new leader to meet the goals of the organization and to secure themselves in their jobs. The selection of a new leader of the organization from outside will inspire the confidence of investors especially if he has been taken from an organization, which has a history of success. This will ensure the goodwill of all the investors who will be very much inspired to not only keep their investment within the organization, but also to invest more. This inspiration and having the confidence of investors will give the leadership of the organization an easier time when running it because the decision making will be smoother since they will have the confidence that the new leader of the organization knows what he is doing and that he is doing it with their best interests in mind. If the company has been going through tough times, investors will be less hesitant to withdraw their investment because of the belief that the new leader will be able to revive their fortunes and enable them to get reasonable returns. The new leader on the other hand will ensure that he reciprocates the confidence given to him and his administration by the organization’s investors by working towards making it as profitable as possible on their behalf. It is however not always a good thing to bring in a leader from outside the organization when one can be selected from within it ranks to head it. This is because the new leader might not be able to inspire the confidence among the top leadership of the organization that one of them would have been able to do simply because they do not know him well enough to try (Ismail, et al, 2011). The lack of confidence towards a leader who has been externally selected from that high up in the ranks can be disastrous for the organization because there will be a lot of conflict in its management. It is therefore best to select a new leader from among the most capable people within the organization to avoid such situations, which may breed a lack of confidence in the new leader. Not only will the new leader be well known within the top ranks, but he will also be able to inspire the confidence of his colleagues who will end up supporting his administration wholeheartedly. Such support will ensure that he does not have to look over his shoulder every time in fear that his authority is being undermined. A leader selected from within the organization will know exactly how it works and will not need a lot of time to learn. His experience, which is likely to have spanned many years within the organization will work in his favor in its running and it is very likely that he will get work done faster than a leader who would have been brought from outside. The experience gained within the organization by this leader will ensure that he knows what it lacks and what it has, and this will enable him to work to strengthen further the stable parts of the organization and work on smoothing those that he thinks are its weaknesses. The knowledge of the strength and weaknesses of the organization will ensure that he is able to use these effectively in making the organization more successful than its competitors in the market make. This leader will be able to give the other members of the organization a sense of continuity because he is one of them and his experience with them has ensured that he understands how they work and will therefore not be quick to disrupt this (Dunn, Dastoor and Sims, 2012). Furthermore, he will have enough knowledge on how to make smoothly a transition from the previous leadership without having to make any radical changes. He will be able to select those who are the best workers in the organization and put them into positions of authority to make sure that its operations continue to run smoothly. Because of these circumstances, it is best to select a new leader from within the organization than from without it. There are certain circumstances under which it would be best to consider hiring a leader from outside the organization. One of these is when the company is not doing well and needs a change in the face of its leadership to inspire confidence among its investors. In addition, when the organization needs a change in its structure, it would be best to bring in somebody from outside to head it because one from within may be resistant to the change needed to make the organization more productive. An outside leader will come in with a new perspective of what the organization needs and fresh ideas on how to implement his policies. However, if the organization is stable, and doing well under its current administration, then it is not necessary to bring in an outsider to run it and instead the new leader should be chosen from within to ensure that it continues to do well. A change of leadership under these circumstances would not be taken in a negative way and will instead be seen as a continuity of the previous leadership. Moreover, during a time of transition from one leadership to another, a person from within the organization, who is well versed in its day to day running as well as how best to make it work should be made the leader in the interim until such a time as a new leadership, is determined. If the work of this interim leader is seen to be satisfactory, then his position as the head of the organization should be made permanent. This will ensure that the organization keeps one of its best assets within and at the same time reward the good work of this leader. References Avolio, B. J., Zhu, W., Koh, W., & Bhatia, P. (2004). Transformational leadership and organizational commitment: Mediating role of psychological empowerment and moderating role of structural distance. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 25(8), 951-968. Bohn, J. G., & Grafton, D. (2002). The relationship of perceived leadership behaviors to organizational efficacy. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 9(2), 65-79. Dunn, M. W., Dastoor, B., & Sims, R. L. (2012). Transformational leadership and organizational commitment: A cross-cultural perspective. Journal of Multidisciplinary Research, 4(1), 45-60. Ismail, A., Mohamed, H. A., Sulaiman, A. Z., Mohamad, M. H., & Yusuf, M. H. (2011). An empirical study of the relationship between transformational leadership, empowerment and organizational commitment. Business and Economics Research Journal, 2(1), 89-107. Read More