Effective Leadership - Essay Example

Topic: Leadership Morals/ Ethics Name: Course: Instructor’s Name: Date: Introduction Leadership is a major element of successful business currently, whether big or small. Kouzes and Posner (2006) define leadership as a progression that allows a leader to influence the employees in the way of achieving the organization’s goals and objectives. In addition, they denote that there exists a range of leadership styles. These variable descriptions indisputably agree that leadership is a progression. Leadership involves authority, the realization of laid out goals and it takes place in a faction setting. Individual leadership styles vary depending on personality traits. Some leaders are predominantly compelling and transformational, and boast of individual influence through which they connect workforce, while others exercise the individual, justifiable authority. Leaders are distinguished through their diverse morals, approaches, viewpoints, and behavior; and at some point, depending on the managerial, expert or institutional background. An organization’s performance, especially in an unpredictable and uncertain business atmosphere, is largely determined by the effectiveness of its leadership system. Thus, effective leadership is critical and imperative in presenting a bearing to facilitate the business in attaining its mission and vision and achieving affirmed objectives. Effective leadership is believed to be a major aspect of the administration of an organization’s repute as well as a benchmark in its assessment among its competitors and the outside environment. Therefore, the main rationale of this literature review is to illustrate the impact of effective leadership on the perceived reputation of an organization and the empowerment of the employees. Literature Review There are still numerous indeterminate gray areas that subsist within ethical and effective leadership, and fresh studies are desired to advance these areas. Distress about leadership and ethics have dominated the news bulletin and have stunned public buoyancy in several businesses. The study of ethical leadership is growing in relevance. In Kouzes and Posner (2002) summary article reviewed five paradigms that are major elements in leadership. The authors having carried a research on managers and non-managers, they discovered that leaders could mimic these principles so as to boost their leadership skills. Some of the principles are: modeling the approach, inspiring a common idea, challenging the course of action, allowing others to act as well as cheering the heart (Kouzes & Posner 2002). The authors present practical ideas for being an ethical and effective leader. Based on the several interviews they conducted, they concluded that love makes up the soul of ethical leadership. They also describe the leadership attributes and behavior. A leader who is truthful and trustworthy with himself and with others motivates trust that pushes his employees to take responsibility. If a leader continually changes his behavior, employees distinguish him as impulsive, undependable, and dishonest. This attribute contributes to the extent to which persons are committed to their jobs. Thus, the personal attributes of the manager as the ethical and effective leader are related to the perceived approach towards work and job involvement. One aspect of leadership involves the leaders advocating for their employees to continually pursue their dreams, aspirations, and building their common understanding. Consequentially, this kind of leadership is competent in presenting vibrant distinctiveness which acts as an opportunity for the innovative and new changes that take place in the organization. These categories of leaders are known to inspire their employees to surpass their personal wellbeing for the mutual benefit of the company as well as themselves as illustrated by Bellman (2001). This results in greater employee satisfaction and as a result, better performance of the business. Brown, Trevino, and Harrison (2005) study on effective and ethical leadership found that a leader is a role model to his or her employees. On the other hand, the authors developed and refined the understanding and the control a manager has on the moral decision made by his or her workforce. Employees do gain knowledge of the principles by studying leaders in the course of business. The further the leader conforms to the shared values of the organization by executing the principles into achievable goals, the more the level of trust and respect generated from his employees. This directly influences the behavior and morale of junior employees. At a point where leaders are ready for making individual forfeiture for employees on the account of acting in agreement with the standards, the employees will be more enthusiastic to return the favor thus, illustrating the impact of effective leadership on the perceived reputation of an organization and the empowerment of the employees. Experimental learning is one major aspect of establishing leadership capability. Nonetheless, this principle is not usually put into practice. In an article review made by McCall (2010), he denotes that experimental learning should be properly integrated into the daily business processes. The author states that effective leadership emanates from how well a leader tackles a situation and how well he influences his employees or followers. This, in turn, improves on employee satisfaction as well as cultivating proper behavior among the employees, thus, empowering them. It is evident that the accomplishment or malfunction of an organization in its operational processes and financial exclusively depends on their leaders’ disposition. These leaders can only be well thought-out to be effective in the business if they are viewed as imperative in their positions. The execution of effective leadership and proper management styles will assure an organization in achieving its goals. Ofori (2009) illustrates the difference between ethical and transactional leadership styles and in an attempt to showcase the relationship between organizational culture and leadership ethics. His study affirms that there is a positive correlation between leaders and the employees in an organization. This kind of relationship attempts to connect positive employee outcome and organization culture and foster leadership ethics in the work environment. In achieving this, Ofori employed a quantitative perspective, which involved the collection of data from the construction industry in Singapore. According to Ofori (2009), these are leaders and managers that have the capacity to bring forth a feeling of belonging to the organization. They are also capable of motivating and directing employees in achieving its aims and objectives, thus, illustrating the impact of effective leadership on the perceived reputation of an organization and the empowerment of the employees. Hackman (2002) focused on coaching as a component of leadership responsibility. His study focused on developing and training employees instead of training leaders who consequentially train their employees. His study centered on three kinds of leadership coaching which include, coaching as an effort that builds on motivation and shared commitment. The second being coaching brings about performance strategies and thirdly, coaching that presents knowledge and skill to the employees. As a result, this kind of coaching influence employee empowerment and aids in building leadership at all levels of an organization. There are major actions that are essential in strengthening employees and transforming them into leaders of tomorrow. According to Kouzes and Posner (2006) study, growing employees is an important process of turning employees into leaders who are capable of working independently. The authors identified three significant attributes of attaining this aspect. Increasing of individual accountability by delegation of authority and offering of visible assistance by leaders to their subordinate staff, lastly carrying out monthly coaching. This results in improved employee performance, job involvement, job satisfaction, and employee morale and behavior. Craig (2011) in his study covers a wide scope of theories and research on many organizations. His study provides a deep analysis of literature, and most of his work revolves around the character of the leader, the employee and the situation. His study comprises of five principles namely: the characteristics, conduct, power and influence, situational and integrative. His study illustrates the correlation among the leaders’ alleged ethical behavior and work involvement of the employees. His study lays emphasis on the leadership roles taken by those in the managerial positions. Leadership is a major element that drives an organization’s competitive advantage and strategic precedence (Kouzes & Posner, 2006). An organization’s performance, especially in an unpredictable and uncertain business atmosphere, is largely determined by the effectiveness of its leadership system Discussion There is a lot that has been evaluated in regards to leadership and ethics. In addition, much emphasis has been laid on the significance of effective leadership. However, the area of study has established diminutive logical academic consideration. However, no experimental research has been executed to institute how alleged characteristics of the ethical behavior of the manager or leader influence work involvement. Company ethics background originates from the economic setting of the business organizations. For that reason, examination of the disparity in the opinion of effective leadership in the diverse economic settings allows authentication of the conjectured outcome of the economic environment on the effective leadership in organizations. The prevailing market economies and developed financial systems are conventionally distinguished as diverse from the perspective of ethical attitude in company transactions. It is rational to speculate that the correlation among the leaders’ alleged ethical behavior and work involvement is conflicting in the perspective of rising markets and developed economies. In addition, the above studies generally add to the research objective and it can be assumed that there are several factors that contribute to effective leadership. There are several benefits of carrying out an effective leadership study. It is notable that there is an improvement in harmony and delegation of duties and authority. This results from working with experts in areas where one is challenged thus; it’s an indication of strength. By adopting this kind of style in leadership greatly contributes to the effectiveness of the leadership system in an organization. Consequently, this brings about work involvement by employees and employee empowerment. Another benefit for carrying out this study is the improved work engagement by employees. As stated by Bellman (2001), advocating for employees to continually pursue their dreams, aspirations, and building their common understanding leads to employee enjoyment and work engagement. Consequentially, this kind of leadership is competent in presenting vibrant distinctiveness which acts as an opportunity for the innovative and new changes that take place in the organization. These categories of leaders are known to inspire their employees to surpass their personal wellbeing for the mutual benefit of the company as well as themselves. If managers tend to focus on the strengths of the employees, very few of them become disengaged or vice versa if all felt ignored. Effective hiring by the leaders in an organization is an additional beneficial factor. The significance of effective leadership leads to the progression of a good team that runs the organization. This attribute of effective leadership leads to the inclusion of employees based on their character strength (Conchie & Rath, 2013). Thus, there is a development of a diverse workforce with a variety of skills, strengths, cultural values and viewpoints that build on the perceived reputation of an organization and the empowerment of the employees. According to Kouzes and Posner (2006) study, growing employees is an important process of turning employees into leaders who are capable of working independently. This results in increased creativity since most of the leaders are confident in their team members hence delegating responsibility among them. Thus, building on the perceived reputation of the organization as well as empowering the employees. Regardless of several benefits of this study, there exist some potential limitations of the study. Typecasting is a big drawback that may be as a result of this study. For an organization to be successful, there should be a motivated staff. It has been noted that effective leadership rides on strengths of employees as well as managers. Thus, this might result in typecasting whereby if an employee with fewer qualifications and strengths may feel resentful, frustrated that his or her team members are moving up and developing new skills while they are not. Too much consensus may result in the misdirection of the company’s objectives. As illustrated by Conchie and Rath (2013), most of the effective leaders tend to focus on the strengths and skills of the employees as well as their shared values and views. In addition, Kumaraswamy, Opoku, Ahmed, and Cruickshank (2015) defined an organization’s culture is the common and shared values, beliefs and views held by staff within an organization and is a tool that evaluates the effectiveness of leadership. Hence, it influences the attitude and behavior of employees. This result in employees focusing on their own areas of expertise and this will bring difficulties in determining the organization’s overall direction as well as decision making. Most of the case studies on effective leadership focus on the strengths of employees and little emphasis are laid on the weaknesses. Most of the leaders build on the talents and fail to address the performance weaknesses and the knowledge gap. Most of the team members and their leaders are less likely to improve on weak points, and this may be detrimental to the perceived image of the organization as well as employee empowerment (Jasper & Jumaa, 2005). Research Methodology It can be noted that a leadership culture survey is a comprehensive assessment method that evaluates the overall effectiveness of leadership in an organization. Alleged individual attributes of leaders or managers as the effective leader are optimistically correlated to the approach towards work.The research will involve the use of a quantitative technique. This technique will quantify the issues and problems by generating data that can be altered into usable statistics. It is appropriate since it quantifies the attitudes, views, behaviors, and other defined variables that the research stipulates. Quantitative research employs quantifiable data that put together data and discover trends in the research. Some of the quantitative data compilation techniques include online assessments, questionnaires, in-person interviews, and online surveys just to name a few. This research will administer a questionnaire to the respective participants for the sole purpose of collecting data and evaluating the impact of effective leadership on the perceived reputation of an organization and the empowerment of the employees. The results of this research will provide the evidence for the legality of the relationship between the leaders’ alleged effective leadership and job attachment as its consequential outcome. Alleged individual attributes of leaders or managers as the ethical leader are optimistically correlated to the approach towards work. Rigorous, methodical research on effective leadership is required now more than ever. Sampling Design and Sampling Technique Simple random sampling is a technique whereby a random sample is chosen from a large population. As stated by Davis and Pecar (2013), every individual is chosen at random, such that, they have an equal chance of being chosen at any point throughout the sampling process. This survey technique is known to be unbiased. The sampling frame for this research comprises of four organizations. The population will be grouped into two, managers and non-managers. The sampling within the two groups will be at 50% of the organization stated. This method is beneficial for comparison purposes in relations to the effectiveness of the leadership systems in every organization in regards to the organizational culture. Informed consent This is a consent agreement in the form of a document that is signed by participants conveying the pertinent information in relation to the research (Seidman, 2015). It includes dangers and advantages of taking part in the research. Thus, a participant can make an informed decision concerning participation. Consequently, it presents the participant with an opportunity to pull out from the research or join in at any time and that the process is voluntary. It is a permissible and ethical principle by which every single research ought to stand for.  Thus, it is crucial for each individual taking part in the research study to comprehend the information relayed in the informed consent document. The informed consent form should stipulate the anonymity of participants by ensuring that the questionnaire does not collect recognizable information such as names, home address or email address. The organizational culture survey will be administered in the form of a questionnaire. The feedback form will be divided into two parts that detail the organizational culture. The first section will be completed as a way of evaluating the work environment in the organization. In the analysis, a weaker score in this section will indicate a weak organizational culture. The details in this part will direct interest to those features of the job that will be imperative to the inclusion of an employee in an organization. Thus, this part may be utilized in a job search, looking for work situations with an elevated overall potential for growth that fits the detailed essentials that equal to the job seeker’s social style and preferences. Hence, this part outlines and evaluates the organization’s reputation as a whole. The second section will be completed as a way of evaluating employee inclusion in the workplace and performance. This analysis evaluates the expectations of an employee and how well he or she fits into the organizational culture. The score in this section will outline the association and the differences between the answers obtained from the two sections. As a result, the general score may be used in evaluating the quality of services the employee delivers. Managers can use the information obtained from the specific inconsistencies to plan for discussions, on the job training, or job modification so as to augment the performance of employees and the organization as a whole (McCall 2010). As a result, this builds on the effective leadership and consequentially, the reputation of the organization. Organizational culture is the key attribute that evaluates the effectiveness of leadership system in place, and this research methodology seeks to evaluate the interrelation existing between the two variables. Conclusion Leaders are distinguished by diverse morals, approaches, viewpoints, and behavior, and at some point dependent upon the managerial, professional or institutional culture. There are still numerous indeterminate gray areas that subsist within ethical and effective leadership, and fresh studies are desired to advance these areas. Distress about leadership and ethics have dominated the news bulletin and have stunned public buoyancy in several businesses. Effective leadership is said to outperform unsuccessful leadership. Thus, leadership is a major element that drives an organization’s competitive advantage and strategic precedence (Kouzes & Posner, 2006). An organization’s performance, especially in an unpredictable and uncertain business atmosphere, is largely determined by the effectiveness of its leadership system. Organizational culture is the key attribute that evaluates the effectiveness of leadership system in place. As illustrated by Kumaraswamy, Opoku, Ahmed, and Cruickshank (2015) an organization’s culture is the common and shared values, beliefs and views held by staff within an organization. Hence, it influences the attitude and behavior of employees and on many occasions, prevents internal conflicts. It can be noted that a leadership culture survey is a comprehensive assessment method that evaluates the overall effectiveness of leadership in an organization. The results of this literature review provide the evidence for the legality of the relationship between the leaders’ alleged effective leadership and job attachment as its consequential outcome. Alleged individual attributes of leaders or managers as the effective leader are optimistically correlated to the approach towards work. References Bellman, G. (2001). Getting things done when you are not in charge. Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Brown, M. E., Treviño, L. K., & Harrison, D. A. (2005). Ethical leadership: A social learning perspective for construct development and testing. Organizational behavior and human decision processes, 97 (2), 117-134. Business Press. Conchie, B. & Rath, T. (2013). Strengths based leadership: great leaders, teams, and why people follow. Gallup Press. Craig, S. (2011). Leadership in Organizations (7th edition) by Gary Yukl. Personnel Psychology, 64(4), 1056-1059 Davis, G., & Pecar, B. (2013). Business statistics using Excel. Oxford: Oxford University Press Hackman, J. R. (2002). Leading teams: Setting the stage for great performances. Harvard Jasper, M. & Jumaa, M. (2005). Effective healthcare leadership. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Pub. Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2002). The leadership challenge. 3rd. San Francisco: Jossey Bass Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2006). The leadership challenge (Vol. 3). John Wiley & Sons. Kumaraswamy, M., Opoku, A., Ahmed, V., & Cruickshank, H. (2015). Leadership, Culture and Sustainable Built Environment. Bradford: Emerald Group Publishing Limited. McCall, M. W. (2010). Recasting leadership development. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 3 (1), 3-19. Ofori, G. (2009). Ethical leadership: Examining the relationships with full range leadership model, employee outcomes, and organizational culture. Journal of Business Ethics, 90(4), 533-547. Seidman, I. (2015). Interviewing as Qualitative Research: A Guide for Researchers in Education and the Social Sciences (4th ed.). New York: Teachers College Press. Read More