Implicit Leadership Theories - Research Paper Example

Implicit Leadership Theories Introduction Leadership can be considered as a significant process of social influence in which an individual supports and guides other individuals, companions, followers or sub-ordinates to a common developed goal or objective. On the other hand, followership can be considered as a significant social process in which people in a group or team actively follow their leaders to meet developed common goals and objectives. Global business environment is becoming highly competitive as several leading organizations around the globe are trying to develop and implement unique strategies in business operation process in order to gain potential competitive advantages over competitors. It is highly difficult for the organizational leaders to manage employee in the organizations in this contemporary era of competitive business environment. Therefore, it is highly important for the organizational leaders to understand the importance of the leadership and followership theories as the implementation of these theories generally help an organization to gain competitive advantages over the competitors. Several organizations are focusing on the effective adoption and implementation of leadership and followership theories in the business operation process as the enhancement of these aspects generally help to maintain an effective workplace culture and effective collaborative workplace performance. Success of an organization effectively depends upon the significant integration of the leadership and followership theory. Inadequate leadership or followership theory generally affects organizational culture and workplace environment of an organization. It is important for the employees of an organization to effectively follow their organizational leaders in order to meet the developed organizational goals and objectives. Organizational goals generally include personal and individual goals of employees as fulfillment of these objectives and goals help the organizational leaders to evaluate the performance of employees. It helps the management of the organization to motivate employees and sub-ordinates to work effectively and meet the developed organizational goals efficiently. Lastly, it is also important for the leaders to take care of the needs and wants of the employees as implementation of appropriate leadership process generally helps the organizations to understand the characteristics of the followers. Therefore, it is also important for the leaders to understand the importance of followership theory in order to enhance effective organizational growth rate. Followership can be considered as an integral part of the leadership studies. This research paper will try to compare and contrast the major principles of these two different theoretical concepts. In addition to this, this study will also evaluate the challenges that are faced by leaders while implementing these theories. Analysis It is clear from the introduction part from the research paper that the followership aspect is an integral part of the leadership studies. Both leadership and followership theories have different significances on workplace performances that need to be considered by the organizations. However, it is true that both the leadership and followership theories are developed basis on some principles. These principles have some similarities as well as some differences. This part will compare and contrast the major principles of these two theoretical concepts. Compare and Contrast In terms of principles, there are some similarities between these two theoretical concepts. Leadership styles can be divided into three aspects, such as autocratic leadership style, democratic leadership style and free-rein or laissez-faire leadership style. All these leadership styles have different individual characteristics, but some similarities are there too. However, leaders should be intelligent, self-reliant, enthusiastic, ambitious, self-manager, committed, courageous and competent while adopting and implementing all these leadership styles. On the other hand, the followers also have certain principles to follow that are quite similar to above mentioned principles. The principles of leadership and followership theories generally depend upon the characteristics, behaviors and approaches of the leaders as well as followers. These two theoretical concepts are significantly related to each other. If leaders failed to motivate the employees or the individuals, then the employees may not follow their leaders. These two aspects may have a serious impact on the business performance of the organization. However, the organizational leaders should try to focus on these similarities and should try to make effective bonding between the employees and top level management of the organization in order to enhance successful leadership development process (Bryman, 2011). Consideration and focusing on these similar principles can help the organizational leaders to enhance positive business growth rate of the organizations. In terms of comparison, these are several aspects that differentiate leadership theories from the followership theories. However, leaders in an organization can be considered as the individuals who develop strategies guidelines and show the pathway to achieve a common goal and objectives. On the other hand, followers are those individuals who used to follow the developed strategies and guidelines. Followers may include managers, employees and other sub-ordinate. Therefore, it is obvious that there are some principles or traits that differentiated leadership theories from the followership theories. According to some basic assumptions, it can be stated that the leaders are born with some traits, such as social traits, intellectual traits, personality traits and physical traits. Adoption and implementation of these different traits generally motivate the followers to follow their leaders in effective way. Example of Ronald Regan, Bill Gates, Nelson Mandela and Collin Powell can be considered who possess different leadership traits that differentiate them from the other individual followers. In addition to this, it is also true that intelligence, integrity; honesty, dominance, self-confidence; energy and ambition are the key aspects of their leadership traits that forced other individuals to follow them (Wiener, 2010). On the other hand, leadership style of an individual is flexible and multiple. It is also true that the leadership style of organizational leaders generally depends upon the ability and motivation of the followers. On the other hand, followership theory does not depend upon the behavior or attitude of the leaders. It depends upon the situations in an organization and professional or personal needs of followers. Most importantly, leadership theory effectively depends upon behavior of leaders as well as motivation of the followers. This can be considered as the major comparison between the leadership and followership theory. Evaluation of challenges while implementation Organizational leaders generally face several difficulties and challenges while adopting and implementing different leadership and followership theories. It is true that several leading organizations around the globe are trying to develop and implement unique strategies in business operation processes in order to increase their market share in global market places. However, managing collaborative work performance can be considered as major challenges in this present era of globalization. It is true that globalization and technological advancement is forcing the organizations to develop and implement competitive strategies in business operation process using advanced business resources. However, following are the probable strategic challenges that are faced or may be faced by the organizations while implementing the leadership as well as followership theory. Globalization issues Globalization can be considered as an important aspect that needs to be evaluated by the organizational leaders. Globalization can give effective business opportunities. On the other hand, it may also create challenges and difficulties for the organizations. A term called “cultural workplace diversity” has emerged recently in the practice of human resource management activities. Globalization and global business expansions has forced the organizational leaders to outsource employees from different countries. In addition to this, several leading multinational organizational used to expand its business operation practices in large consumer markets where the organization can get availability of low cost human resources. This aspect has increased the challenges for organizations in two different ways (Schyns, 2005). First of all, it is increasing the degree of competition in global business environment as several organizations are trying to focus on single profitable market place to expand business operation practices in activities. This intense market competition can create shortage of effective and skilled employees across the globe. In addition to this, it may create several legal challenges for the management of the organizations. Secondly, the organization can face cultural issues while adopting and implementing leadership and followership theory in business operation process. It is true that the global business environment is getting saturated and competitive. Therefore, the organizational leaders are trying to adopt several strategies to limit the degree of market competition. Cultural workplace diversity can be considered as selecting employees of different socio-cultural background in a single workgroup or a team. It is true that, cultural workplace diversity has several advantages or benefits, such as effective strategy development and efficient knowledge sharing process. But, it has some drawbacks too. The business operation performance of an organization always depends upon the efficiency of group performance or collaborative workplace performance. Globalization is forcing employers to employ different employees from different socio-cultural background as it has become a significant trend in the global human resource management practices. But, on the other hand, it is affecting the adoption and implementation of leadership as well as followership theoretical concepts in business operation process. The leaders have to deal with different views, thought process and socio-cultural approaches of employees of different cultural background. It is difficult for the leaders to convince the employees of different cultural background regarding implementation of any strategy. It ultimately affects the collaborative workplace performance of an organization. Example of Sony Corporation and Apple Inc can be considered as effective examples in which the organizational leaders failed to maintain effective collaborative workplace performance. China can be considered as one of the largest consumer markets across the globe. On the other hand, this specific country is achieving significant economic and social growth rate. Therefore, several leading multinational organizations used to focus on this market place in order to gain potential competitive advantages over other competitors. The culture and language of Chinese people highly differ from other countries. In addition to this, the organizational leaders of Sony Corporation and Apple Inc forced the labors and employees to work according to the adopted and developed strategy. Lack of proficiency in English language affected the communication approach between employees and management of the organization. On the other hand, different workplace cultural also de-motivated employees of Chinese cultural background. It hampered collaborative workplace performance. In addition to this, the organizational leaders were trying to develop and implement autocratic leadership style without realizing the flexibility and demands of employees. These aspects have created several legal as well as social challenges for organizations. Therefore, it is always important for the organizational leaders to understand the cultural aspects of employees before developing and implementing any leadership as well as followership theory. It helps to mitigate implementation challenges and risk factors. Employee recruitment and retention issues The organizational leaders may fail to recruit and retain skilled and effective employees due to inadequate implementation of leadership as well as followership theory in business operation process. Employee poaching can be considered as one of the serious threats for each and every organization in this contemporary era of competitive business environment. It is highly essential for the organizational leaders to understand the professional and personal needs of employees before adopting and implementing any kind of leadership as well as followership theory. Inadequate adoption of leadership and followership theory can affect the self-confidence and motivation aspect of the employees. It can directly impact on the workplace performance of employees. It may lead to employee poaching. Skilled and efficient employees are considered as the real growth drivers for an organization. Therefore, each and every organization should try to recruit and retain skilled employees (Riggio, 2008). Inadequate leadership and followership practices may affect the workplace environment of an organization. Example of Tesco Plc can be considered in this study. The management of Tesco Plc is committed to provide significant customer services. In addition to this, the organizational management also develops strategies based on the customers’ expectation. While considering this aspect, the organizational leaders always include change management process and introduce extra hour of work for the employees. It actually increases the stress level of employees. Therefore, the skilled employees always try to gain better employment opportunities against the effort, work performance and hard-work. The management of Tesco Plc has recently faced several difficulties as these issues have affected the brand image of the organization among the job seekers. Too much centralization and inadequate strategy development process made it difficult for the skilled employees to continue with the organization. Therefore, the organizational leaders of Tesco Plc have faced several challenges in recruitment and retention activities due to inadequate leadership and followership strategy implementation process. Change management issues Global business environment is changing constantly due to emerging changes in business traditions and approaches. Now-a-days, it is highly important for the organizational leaders to understand the nature of global market competition and implement change management strategies in order to reduce overall business challenges. As it is discussed earlier, the organizational leaders need to understand the behavior and demands of employees before initiating strategy implementation process. The organizational leaders initiate the implementation of change management process in order to overcome ongoing challenges and issues. It is true that several organizations faced challenges while implementing leadership and well as followership theory in business operation process during adoption and application of change management process. Example of Wal-Mart can be considered in this case. The management of the organization has adopted and implemented cultural diversity in workplaces. In addition to this, the organization has installed advanced technological applications in business operation process in order to bring efficiency in overall business process. However, the organization has failed to notify its employees regarding the decided change management. In addition to this, the organization also has failed to provide effective training and development programs to employees to enhance effective change management (Howell, 2007). Inadequate evaluation of leadership and followership theories in business process affected the initiation of change management process within the organization. Most importantly, it has de-motivated and demoralized the employees. Inadequate impact of emergence of advanced technology and social media Emergence of advanced technology and social media platforms is forcing the organizational leaders to adopt and implement new and unique technological applications in business operation process. Recently, the social media platforms are forcing the employees to share several confidential issues with the other sub-ordinates or colleagues within the workplace. It is affecting collaborative workplace performance of an organization. Most importantly, it affects the strategy development and performance appraisal process. Recently, Home Depot restricted the use of social media networking sites in the workplaces. It is true that Home Depot is one of the leading retail chains in this world. The organization has adopted and implemented decentralization in the workplace place environment in order to enhance effective collaborative workplace performance. However, too much liberty has affected the workplace performance of the employees. Lack of discipline and values affected the organizational workplace performance (Kellerman, 2008). Constant chatting through social media networking websites affected the performance management aspect. Therefore, this issue has directly impacted the leadership and followership strategy development and implementation process. Long-term and Short-term strategy development and implementation issues Several leading organizations are focusing on long-term as well as short term strategy development and implementation process due to mitigate several possible internal as well as external issues and challenges. It is true that effective communication process among employees and top level management is highly required in order to enhance effective strategy development process. Top down communication approach and centralized decision making process generally affect the leadership and followership strategy development and implementation process. In long-term process the organizational leaders generally focus on following the developed organizational vision and values. On the other hand, the organizational leaders generally focus on short-term strategy development process to follow the developed mission and objectives. The short term strategies are developed based on recent organizational performance. On the other hand, long-term strategy development process is based on overall market growth rate and market demand aspect. The organizational leaders sometimes fail to develop effective communication approach among management and employees due to inadequate implementation of leadership and followership aspect. Example of the Coca Cola Company can be considered in this part of the essay. The organization has failed to develop effective communication approach between management and employees due to top-down communication approach and centralized decision making process. Effective strategy development process always requires significant stakeholder engagement aspect. But, the Coca Cola Company has failed to consider this aspect. Lack of social recognition and motivation aspect has made it difficult for the employees to perform effectively according to the developed strategies. This aspect has affected the long-term and short-term strategy development process of the Coca Cola Company. Therefore, the organization is facing several types of issues in last decade. Discussion It is clear from above analysis that there are several similarities as well as differences between the principles of leadership and followership theories. The principles of leadership theory and followership theory used to differ from each other due to available leadership traits. It is true that effective leadership strategy depends upon the leadership skills of individuals and motivation of the followers. Each and every leader within the organization needs to determine the needs of employees effectively in order to implement leadership and followership theory effectively. Followership theory does not depend upon the nature and behavior of leaders. It is the personality or leadership traits of individuals that force some individuals to follow a leader with the capability of great leadership skills. In addition to this, followership theory also depends upon workplace environment, current workplace situations and motivation of employees or followers. Leaders generally born with some unique traits that drive other individuals towards developed goal or objective. A manager can be considered as a follower including other sub-ordinates. But, they cannot be considered as the leaders due to lack of effectively leadership skills. On the other hand, leaders have the quality to lead and manage an entire team. This particular quality helps them to motivate other individuals in a team to follow his or her developed pathways and guidelines. There are also some similarities between the principles of leadership and followership theory. It is true that leaders must be visionary, enthusiastic, approachable and self-confident. On the other hand, effective followers also should have these principles to meet the developed goals. The similarities as well as differences need to be considered by the organizational leaders in order to develop effective business operation strategies. Effective realization of these theories generally helps the leaders to mitigate the risk of several internal as well as external issues. Inadequate strategy development process may create several difficulties for the leaders which may impact on the organizational workplace performance. In an addition to this, it is also important to know about the consequences of the implementation of these theories. It is true that organizational leaders may face several difficulties during the adoption and implementation of leadership and followership theories due to some issues. It is clear from the above analysis part that several organizations in this world are trying to gain potential opportunities in business operation processes that are developed due to globalization and technological advancement. Globalization is forcing the organizations to adopt and implement new competitive strategies. Workplace diversity can be considered as one of the emerging approaches that have been considered by several organizations in this contemporary era of globalizations. Organizational leaders face difficulties to manage and lead a culturally diverse team. Inadequate collaborative workplace performance, cultural barriers and language barriers are the major negative consequences of this workplace diversity. This inadequacy creates difficulties for the organizational leaders to develop effective strategy including implementation of leadership as well as followership theories. Retention of effective employees also has become a huge problem for the organizational leaders. The example of Tesco Plc has clarifies that the organizational leaders need to give value to the needs and demand of employees against their effort, hard-work and effective workplace performance. Inadequate leadership and followership strategy development and implementation process can hamper overall business performance as it can force the effective employees to find for better job opportunities. Effective training and development process is also required by the organizational leaders before developing followership theory. Effective training and development process enhances motivation and self-confidence level of the employees. It is clear from the example of Wal-Mart that poor training and development process can affect the self-confidence level and level of competency. It is highly important for the organizations to train employees effectively before lead them towards a developed a goal and objective. It will help to enhance effective workplace performance level as well as significant employee performance level. The organizational leaders should also focus on effective implementation of change management strategies in business operation process. It is true that the global business environment is changing constantly. Therefore, it is also important for the organizational leaders to motivate the followers such a way so that the followers can get habituated with the implemented change management process. In an addition, it is also important for the organizational leaders maintain an effective communication process between the top level management of the organization and employees as it will enhance effective change within organization according to the market demand. On the other hand, it will also help the organizations to maintain effective workplace environment. Conclusion It is clear from above discussion and analysis that effective leadership quality includes the ability to implement both leadership and followership theory quite significantly. Followership can be considered as an integral part of leadership. Effective leadership guides and motivates a group of individuals to move forwards towards a developed goal or objective. There are several principles of these two theories. But, some leadership traits of individuals differentiate the leadership theory from the followership theory. However, it is highly important for the organizational leaders to understand the significance of both these theories in order to maintain an effective relationship between the employees and management of the organizations. It is also true that the organizational leaders face several difficulties and challenges while adopting and implementing leadership and followership theories. Several issues due to globalization, technological advancement, change management implication and cultural differences can create difficulties for the organizational leaders while implementing these two theories. It is highly important for the leaders to understand the nature and behavior of the employees. Then only they can motivate the employees to perform effectively. The leaders of an organization always should focus on personal and professional needs of employees. It will help the organizations to mitigate the risks and challenges that may be created during the leadership and followership strategy implementation process. Most importantly, these approaches will help the organizations to reduce several critical external as well as internal challenges. Both these theories have significance in business operation process and the organizational leaders should try to realize this aspect. References Bryman, A. (2011). The Sage handbook of leadership. London: Sage. Howell, J. (2007). Case study on leadership and followership. New York: Springer. Kellerman, B. (2008). Followership. London: Sage. Riggio, R. (2008). The art of followership. New Jersey: Pearson. Schyns, B. (2005). Implicit leadership theories. New York: McGraw-Hill. Wiener, E. (2010). Leadership management. London: Routledge. 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