Leadership organization in the new economy - Term Paper Example

LEADERSHIP Creating a high performance workforce has become increasingly important and it has forced organizational leaders go beyond their task requirements. As a result, several researchers have published leadership theories that describe qualities that effective leaders show. The most widespread leadership theories include trait theory, behavioral theory, contingency theory, and transactional and transformational theories. Trait Theory: This theory assumes that people inherit certain qualities and traits that make them better suited to becoming leaders. The trait theory identifies the particular personalities that great leaders possess. According to this theory, for someone to become an effective leader, he or she must possess six core traits: ambitious, willing to take charge, possess high levels of integrity, self-confidence, intelligent, and have technical expertise. For a person to be an effective leader, he or she has to possess a majority of these characteristics. Therefore, executives must identify the quality of leaders required for a specific task so that they can be able to come up with a personal style that works for them. Behavioral Theory: This theory is based on the notion that leaders are made and are not born. According to this theory, people can become leaders through learning or observation. Studies by the University of Michigan concluded that leaders possess two groups of behaviors: a job-centered style and an employee-centered leadership style. Employee-centered leaders focus their behavior on satisfying the inners needs of their employees, whereas the job-centered style is more concerned with organizational structure. Therefore, organizations that are interested in building relationships with their employees should consider engaging in an employee-centered leadership style. Path-Goal Theory: This theory argues that effective leadership depends on the degree to which a leader can enhance the performance expectancies of his or her subordinates. Leaders should assign tasks to individuals that they have high valences in. In order for employees to work towards organizational goals, it is important for an effective leader to support their efforts through training, encouragement, and technical support. Managers should know what their employees’ strengths are. Transactional Leadership Theory: This theory is based on the relationship between subordinates and leaders, and is aimed at achieving routine performance goals. It assumes that subordinates are not self-motivated and have to be closely monitored and controlled to get work completed. This involves the exchange of rewards and a promise of rewards for specific performance levels. This leadership style often responds to the interests of subordinates only when they are performing satisfactorily. Transactional leaders, therefore, are quite effective in guiding efficient decisions that are aimed at minimizing costs and increasing productivity. Transformational Leadership Theory: Transformational leaders display charisma and motivate their followers by helping them grow continuously. Also, these types of leaders often place their team’s interests before their own. Organizations that are concerned with pushing their subordinates to problem solve should hire such leaders. These leaders are visionary, inspiring, daring, and critical thinkers. Their leadership style often exhibits the following factors: inspirational motivation, idealized influence, intellectual simulation, and individualized consideration. Followers of such a leadership style demonstrate high levels of job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Therefore, organizations should consider making efforts towards transforming their leadership style. ORGANIZATIONAL DIVERSITY Efforts to increase diversity in corporate America have backfired. It is clear that a more diverse workforce increases organizational morale, brings greater access to new markets, and enhances productivity. Instead, a majority of companies have hired women only to leave them frustrated or stuck in middle level management for years. There are various barriers to the advancement of women that executives need to overcome before they can exploit the benefits of having a diverse workforce. Working mothers are stereotyped as not being capable of taking up managerial positions because their priorities are geared towards raising a family. This undermines a woman’s capacity to lead and also minimizes their chances of career advancement. Therefore, in order to combat gender stereotypes, corporate America should increase transparency processes and also educate managers and executives about stereotyping. The achievements of women leaders should be showcased more often, especially in male-dominated workforce. Additionally, the glass ceiling is the other major barrier that hinders the advancement of women in corporate America. All these barriers prevent women and other minorities from obtaining prestigious and high paying jobs in the workforce, regardless of their qualifications or achievements. Moreover, these barriers often leave women and other minorities feeling like they are not worthy of these high-ranking positions. At the same time, they feel as if their bosses do not seriously consider them as potential candidates. Mentors of minority protégés must ensure that people being considered for promotions and key assignments reflect the diversity of an organization. Furthermore, sexism is also considered to be a major hindrance to the advancement of women in the workplace. When women are expected to stay at home, they are unlikely to receive the necessary education needed to compete with men in the workforce. If, by any chance, they are able to secure a position, women usually earn less than men even though they may have better or similar training or education. In other cases, paternalism also leads to a lack of women’s advancement, especially when executives hinder women from working just because it’s considered unsafe for them to do so. Therefore, executives should end the notion that men should be paid more than women because they are considered to be breadwinners in their family. Executives should consider equal pay for all minorities of the same position and experience as their superior counterparts, especially if they want to compete in the globalized economy, where there are more women graduates. Gender role incongruity also hinders the advancement of women. Leadership roles and gender roles are usually not consistent. If women match their leadership roles, they are perceived to be too masculine, whereas if they conform to their gender role, they are perceived as too feminine. This is causes women to face pressures when they take up leadership roles. The norms associated with male and female gender roles allow people to tolerate harsh and controlling behavior from men more so than women. Another area of concern with the advancement of women is a term known as the glass border. The glass border refers to stereotyped assumptions by senior management about female managers in terms of their interest in and suitability in international work. Despite women participating in today’s workforce, the majority of women find it hard to be considered for international career opportunities through company assignments. In regards to international assignments, whether single or married, the situation for a female to be considered for an international assignment is deemed more problematic than men. It is perceived to be a risk for a female to be assigned to a foreign assignment. Therefore, the unfounded biases against women keep women tied to the same lower level positions. Finally, discrimination is obviously another factor that inhibits the advancement of women. Although there are anti-discrimination laws in America, cases of discrimination against women and minorities are on the rise. For too many women, discrimination is still evident in the lines of promotions, wages, and the nature of jobs they get. In some corporations, women and minorities are pigeon-holed, which makes it difficult from them to advance their way up the career ladder. Executives should allow women and minorities access to equal opportunities in all areas within an organization. SEXUALITY IN THE WORK PLACE There is a misunderstanding in the corporate world about the debate of office romance, even though there are incidents, such as that of David Letterman’s recent revelations, of office romances with subordinates. Organizations that do not have policies that manage office romances put themselves at risk, especially if relationships involve supervisors and subordinates. In most cases, this comes with consequences that are either good or bad. Managers should be particularly concerned when a romantic relationship between a supervisor and a subordinate causes resentment about rewards and fairness. If employees detect favoritism, it may affect their morale, which in turn hampers productivity. The effects may be messy, especially when an agitated worker files for hostile work environment. According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), an employer may be liable for hostile work environment when unlawful discrimination takes place in the workplace. This is especially so when a third-party employee was qualified for a benefit but he or she was denied; yet, someone in a relationship with the supervisor was awarded the same benefit. Therefore, before getting involved in a romantic relationship at work, it is best to weigh up the potential costs and benefits involved. Indeed, some experts believe that workplace romance leads to marriage between partners. But, the elements of office romance may lead to divorce or a break up with the current partner. The early stages of a romantic relationship are always full of excitement and joy until there is a break up. In 2007, the wife of Dr. Richard Nelson, a pediatrician from Iowa University, died from a stub wound to the heart. He was charged with first degree murder. The doctor‘s wife had just filed for divorce after finding out that her husband was having an affair with his secretary. It is very important to weigh up the potential costs associated with engaging in an office romance against the potential benefits before getting involved. Workplace romances are associated with high job satisfaction. Workplace members that are involved in office romance and are satisfied with the relationship may experience increased motivation and job involvement, especially during the early stages of the relationship. Individuals in love want to impress their partners through high productivity. POLITICAL SKILLS IN ORGANIZATIONS Political skills stand for the ability to understand one’s environment and to use that information to achieve the company’s goals. Managers influence people around them in a number of ways. Politically-skilled individuals use skills such as social astuteness, apparent sincerity, networking ability, and interpersonal influence. Social Astuteness: Individuals that possess this political skill are astute observers of others and are keenly attuned to diverse social situations. They comprehend social interactions and accurately interpret their behavior, as well as that of others, in social settings. Leaders that are socially astute are capable of quickly assessing a situation, determine alternative methods of addressing the situation, and consistently making the right choices. Networking Ability: Individuals with strong networking skills are capable of using the socially constructed nature of the organization to create and take advantage of a situation. People with this kind of political skill easily develop friendships and are capable of building strong beneficial alliances. This is applicable whereby employees can use networking inside and outside the organization and be able to accumulate social capital that they can eventually use to receive promotions and a higher salary. Apparent Sincerity: Politically-skilled leaders possess high levels of authenticity and genuineness. They appear to be honest, open, and inspire trust and confidence in their subordinates. A leader’s success depends upon followers trusting that the leader has their best interests at heart. Interpersonal influence: This stands for the ability to change behavior in order to receive cooperation from others for the purpose of obtaining personal and organizational goals. Individuals with this behavior build stronger interpersonal relationship with others and also have a good rapport for others. This can be applied where a manager needs to get corporation from others. In this case, organizations should use these leaders to play the role of negotiator in business dealings with counterparts. TEAMS The word team often gets discussed loosely, and many managers are ignorant of its real potential. In order for managers to make better decisions about teams, they must first understand what a team is. A team is a small number of individuals with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, set performance goals, and are mutually accountable. Managers have to understand that in order make effective teams, team members must do more than listen and respond constructively. In addition to sharing team building values, they must provide support to one another. Most of all, they must share an essential discipline. Therefore, before a team can concentrate on its challenges, the team members have to agree on the essential discipline. Another trait of a team is a meaningful common purpose that the team has helped to shape. In most cases, teams respond to an initial mandate or opportunity put in their path from outside, usually by higher management. This helps teams by broadly framing the company’s performance expectations. Management is responsible for presenting and clarifying the challenges for the team, but at the same time, management should leave enough room for the team to develop commitment around its own purpose, timing, and approach. No team arises without a performance challenge that is meaningful to those involved. Effective teams also transform their common purpose into specific performance goals. Specific goals, such as responding to all customers within 24 hours, gives the team a sense of urgency and inspires members to forget about their status and focus on collective efforts. If a team fails to establish specific performance goals that relate to its overall purpose, team members become confused and resort to shady performances. Specific goals help facilitate clear communication within the team, maintain a team’s focus on getting results, and also help to define a set of work products that are different from the organizational mission and from an individual’s objectives. Successful teams possess a mix of complementary skills, such as technical, problem solving, decision-making, and interpersonal skills. Sometimes, effective teams may not have all these skills at their disposal, but they eventually develop them as they learn what a challenge requires of them. Indeed, it is practical for managers to consider members that possess certain skill sets that are required for a given challenge; otherwise, the team’s performance goals are in jeopardy. Team members should have a strong commitment to how the work gets completed. Members must agree on who does what, how schedules will be established, and how decisions will be made. Successful teams lay out a set of rules and spell out the amount of work for each member of the team. Failure to assign work for each member leads to confusion and conflict among group members. In order to make effective teams, managers have to ensure that each member in the team bears accountability and responsibility for their own actions. This means that organizations have to ensure that the functional roles and responsibilities of the team are well-defined. The process of defining and agreeing upon appropriate roles and responsibilities serves as a turning point on which members are held accountable not just to their leaders, but also to each other. Therefore, when mutual accountability is practiced within a team, there is a high commitment and trust among team members. Thereafter, members become empowered. This enables higher levels of productivity and achievement of organizational goals. Finally, teams have become primary units of productivity in high performing organizations. Therefore, organizations that follow the essential team discipline and help their team members challenge one another’s thinking ultimately become better at decision making. Read More