Defining Leadership Issues - Essay Example

? Defining Leadership Topic Defining Leadership The concept of leadership, despite being one of the most researched issues in the contemporary world, has no single agreed upon definition. The definition of leadership has been a thorny issue for several years, with each writer and researcher using a different approach and perspective to define leadership (Schultz, and Schultz, 2010). This however does not imply that the available definitions of leadership are either right or wrong, but rather each of the definitions attempts to expose a different facet on the meaning of leadership and how different leaders express their leadership traits. This essay will attempt to define the concept of leadership and try to examine whether it is necessary to have a universal definition of leadership. The essay will study one of the respected leaders of the world and their leadership qualities and styles and use this as a basis for defining leadership. One the most respected leader in the world today is Mr. Barack Hussein Obama. He is the 44th and current president of the United States of America. He is also the first African American to be elected in to the office. Before becoming the president of the US in 2008, Barack Obama had other leadership positions before. While at Harvard Law School, he was the president of the Harvard Law Review. He also worked as a community organizer in Chicago before he completed his law degree. After his legal studies at Harvard, he practiced law as a Civil Rights Attorney and thereafter taught Constitutional law at the law School of the University of Chicago between 1992 and 2004. From 1997 to 2004, he served for three consecutive terms as representative of the 13th District in the Illinois Senate. He however rose to prominence when he was elected as a Senator for Illinois in the US Senate. His leadership qualities gained national and international attention during his address to the Democratic Party national Congress in July of 2004, before being elected as a Senator in November in the same year. He successfully campaigned for the presidency in 2008 and won a reelection in 2012. Barack Obama is highly regarded across the world as one of the best leaders. Among the leadership traits that make him one of the most influential and inspirational leader include his eloquence, decisiveness, integrity, courage, enthusiasm, ambition, and vision. He is a transformational and cross cultural leader who uses his skills and knowledge to transform the society. His charismatic nature has drive multitudes of people toward him to rally with him on his main ideologies such as the ideology of change that enabled him to win his first term in office. His ability to give memorable an inspirational speeches has made won him admiration across the globe. In 2009, he was awarded the Nobel Peace laureate for his leadership. Based on Mr. Barack Obama’s leadership, leadership can be defined as the process of exerting influencing others to think and act in the way that a certain leader wishes them to. It is the ability of one to build relationships with others and influence other people’s behavior in order to achieve intended objectives and goals. Mr. Barack Obama has been able to influence a lot of people across the world. There are different types of leaders in the world. Some are political leaders, while others may be religious, professionals or student leaders. Each of these types of requires different skills, qualities and visions. It is therefore insignificant to have a universal definition of leadership as it would be very difficult to have a single definition that captures all the elements in leadership (Montana, and Bruce, 2008). Topic 2: Critical issues in organizations Organizations encounter a lot of challenges as they grow and expand in their respective industries. Some of the challenges may be industry or organization specific while others apply across all organizations. These challenges require great managerial leadership and direction that will see the organization overcome the emerging threats (Miner, 2005).. Organizational challenges can be defined as threats that inhibit an organization from achieving its objectives. Organizational threats can originate internally or from external factors. It is much easier to deal with internal organizational challenges than it is dealing with external threats to the organization. One of the most difficult challenges that organizations encounter in the contemporary business environment is planning and managing organizational change, both technological and cultural. Organizational change refers to the alterations in the business environment of the organization (Lussier, & Achua, 2010). Organizations have to be responsive enough in change management in order be able to compete with other similar organizations, keep attracting more clients and make more profits. Cultural change refers to the changes in the organizational culture as a result of new legal requirements that require the organization to work in a more particular way. Technological changes refers to the in science and technology brought about by development of new systems of managing information and communication in organizations. The main challenge brought from organizational change is the preparedness for organizations to respond to the changes in the environment. The more prepared an organization is, the better it is placed to deal with the challenge (Remnick, 2010).. Preparedness refers to the specific plans and measures put in place to address organizational change as and when it arises. If there are no elaborate plans and structures to deal with the change, the organization will encounter problems in addressing the change. One such problem is resistance to change from employees and other stakeholders. Lack of preparedness to meet organizational change inhibits the organization from being innovative and responsive to the demanding business environment that is constantly being impacted by technological changes. Managing organizational change is very critical to organizations today for various reasons. Technological change for instance is set to improve the operations of organizations by helping them save on time and other resources involved in production of goods and services. This gives the organizations a competitive edge over the others, thereby managing to attract more clients and stabilizing itself as the market leader in its industry and markets. Technological aspects such as the internet and management information systems are becoming a necessity for organizations today. Organizations have to be with the latest systems in place. Cultural changes on the other hand seek to improve the working conditions in the organization so as to make the organization more responsive to the contemporary needs. The discipline of organizational psychology can contribute to a great extent in solving this problem. By learning organizational psychology, individuals gain appropriate leadership skills that can enable them take their organizations to greater heights. Organizational psychology empowers individuals to be at the forefront of organizational change by being initiative and practical in their approach to change. Organizational psychology also enables individuals to understand how organizations work. This can inform people on how to plan for future events that will improve how organizations work. Organizational leaders who have a background in organizational psychology will be better placed to deal with organizational change and other challenges that may pose threats to the existence of the organizations. Topic 3: Leaders and Managers Leadership and management are two complementary concepts that have for a long time been used interchangeable. Contemporary research however reveals that the two concepts are different but out to work together for the benefit if organizations. Good leadership qualities must go hand in hand with great managerial qualities in order to help organizations meet their goals and objectives. Leader and managers have different roles and responsibilities and have different impacts on the organizations and people that work with. A leader can be defined as an individual whose job is to motivate and inspire his subjects to achieve certain predetermined objectives while a manager is an individual whose main role is to organize, plan and coordinate the activities of his organizations and followers in order to achieve certain objectives. Given their different roles, managers and leaders use different approaches to achieve their objectives. There are a lot of similarities between both leaders and managers. The first main similarity is the fact that they are both concerned in helping their subjects and organizations to meet their desired objectives. Both of them are concerned with the future of their subjects and organizations and are therefore determined to drive them in to the future by ensuring they meet their goals, both in the short term and in the long term. Another similarity between managers and leaders is the fact that both of them are seen as the focal points of their subjects and organizations. The people and organizations seek directions from the leaders and managers for various matters. The leaders and managers often have the final words in most cases whenever there are disagreements. Another similarity is the fact that both managers and leaders have power and authority over their subjects and organizations. The respect that individuals have for managers and leaders comes from their power and authority. Finally both the managers and leaders are regarded and great influencers of their followers and subjects. The decisions that managers and leaders make have a great impact on the lives of their followers and subjects. Apart from being very similar, managers and leaders are very different and have a lot of differences. One key difference is the fact that whereas leaders focus on developing principles and ideas, managers focus on administrative duties. Managers do not have to be aligned to specific ideologies provided they can plan for their work and manage the activities of their organizations. The other difference is that whereas leaders are empathetic and respond to the wishes of the people, managers on the other hand are responsive to trends and events in their respective areas. Leaders also inspire their followers to achieve objectives while managers on the other hand are only driven by the desire to get results as opposed to the means. Finally, the leaders are able to have a lot of followers while managers only focus on having subordinates but have very few devotees. Given the differences and similarities that exist between managers and leaders, it is clear that some people can be great managers but poor leader and vice versa. An example of a case where one can be a good leader but a poor manager is when one is able to influence a lot of people to fall for their ideas but in the end, they fall apart due to poor management (Robinson, 2011). This is evidenced by leadership in most Non Governmental Organizations where leaders rally the community behind certain causes which fail to kick off or maintain their zeal once the kick off. There can also be a case of great managers being poor leaders. This can be evidenced when great managers in the corporate world move in to politics and fail to inspire people to follow them to their political causes. Topic 4: Jobs have transformed due to advances in technology Advances in technology have had a great impact t on jobs in different industries. One of the most affected industries is journalism. The main role of journalism is to disseminate information to the society to make people aware of whatever is happening around them (Dickens, 2000). Over the last 20 years, journalism has undergone massive transformation in the way news is delivered to the masses and the way journalists operate in their day to day activities of gathering information. The internet is one aspect of technology that has transformed journalism. With the internet available, social media journalism arose. This led to creation of a new medium of reporting through social media sites such as facebook, twitter and YouTube. This has led in creation of new jobs in the industry. The internet has also led to growth of blogs and websites where individuals can update various news items for the masses to read. Another aspect of technology that has had a huge impact on journalism is the mobile phone. Modern mobile phones come with inbuilt cameras for recording events as well as voice recording and sharing capabilities. Journalists can therefore gather their news and information using very simplified gadgets such as cell phones (Kirton, and Greene, 2005). This has also led to a new field of citizen journalism where ordinary individuals can record eye witness news and share it with journalists for dissemination to the masses. Technology has also revolutionized the way both print and television media are managed. There exist modern technologies to record, store and retrieve news items. Topic 5: Theoretical approaches to understanding diversity Diversity in the workforce refers to the policies and practices that aim at including people with certain qualities in the workforce, which the current staff does not have. This could either be on the basis of age, disability, experience, gender or special talents. Businesses and companies are being encouraged to adopt more inclusive approaches in their employment strategies so as to accommodate everybody and help do away with the negative effects of discrimination and marginalization of certain groups and individuals. One theoretical perspective that can be used to manage diversity is the affirmative action theory. The affirmative action theory calls for organizations to enact policies and strategies for inclusion of less advantaged groups in the population in to their workforce. Te organizations ought to create an environment that accommodates all persons regardless of their race, gender, age, ethnicity or religion. The government is also called upon to enact rules and laws that compel organizations to embrace diversity in their workforce through inclusion of less disadvantaged or marginalized groups such as the disabled, women and minority races. Employment should only be based on merit and no one should be denied employment opportunities because of their race, gender or physical appearance. This theoretical perspective is very effective in ensuring organizations have a diverse workforce and that less disadvantaged individuals are incorporated in to the available jobs. The theory is also very effective in regulating employee behavior in the workplace in that it fosters harmony and creates an environment where co-workers do not look at the differences among them but focus on what they have in common, which is contributing to the goals of the organizations. It does not therefore matter one’s race, religion or ethnicity in the workplace but what matters is their output. Topic 6: Technology and Cultural differences Technology has had a huge impact on cultural differences among individuals in the workplace. Developments in technology have led to people mixing freely, sharing a lot of information despite their cultural differences (Kim, 2001). Technological advancements have also been at the heart of diversity management strategies as it ensures that individuals are able to interact freely despite coming from very diverse backgrounds. This however has had both negative and positive impacts on organizations and their general organizational culture. One way in which technology ameliorates cultural differences in the workplace is through paying little attention and value to one’s culture. Technology and diversity in organizations tends to focus on the general picture where the attention is placed on the general organizational culture at the expense of the individuals’ cultures. This makes individuals feel unappreciated at their places of work as they have very limited options on expressing their cultural attitudes and ideas. The other way in which technology negatively impacts on culture is through cultural diffusion where different cultures come together and exchange and share different perspectives (Wolfram, 2002). This often leads to misunderstandings in the workplace as some workers may be forced to abandon some good aspects of their culture and adopt bad aspects of other cultures especially when the culture is perceived as being superior or has the majority of the employees in the organization. Among the positive impacts of technology on culture include the fact that it makes communication much easier in a more diverse environment and also fosters harmony and inclusion of very diverse individuals in the workplace (Harcup, 2009). References Dickens, L. (2000). 'Promoting gender equity at work: A potential role for trade union action, Human Resource Interdisciplinary Gender Studies, 5 (2). Harcup, T. (2009). Journalism: Principles and Practice, Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications. Kim, U. (2001). "Culture, science and indigenous psychologies: An integrated analysis." In D. Matsumoto (Ed.), Handbook of culture and psychology. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Kirton, G. and Greene, A. (2005). The Dynamics of Managing Diversity: A Critical Approach, 2nd edition, Elsevier, Amsterdam. Kristina B. (ed.). (2002). Into the Buzzsaw. Leading Journalists expose The Myth of a Free Press, New York: Prometheus Books. Lussier, R.N., & Achua, C.F. (2010). 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