The Skill Approach to Leadership - Essay Example

Style and skills approaches to leadership Introduction Leadership de s all the abilities involved in influencing the perception of others in accordance with your opinion and maintaining their efforts towards achieving your plan. The skills approach to leadership is one that is centered on the leader and focuses on his skills and abilities. The skills and abilities expected of a leader can be learned, and eventually developed. They suggest what a leader can achieve. The skills approach stipulates that a leader requires skills, abilities, and knowledge so as to be effective in running a team. The leadership skills approach is majorly based on three skills. These skills include; technical skills, human skills, and conceptual skills. The three skills are discussed at length below. Human skills Human skills are also known as interpersonal skills. Interpersonal skills involve the proficiency in working with people, and how to relate with them, just as the name suggests. Proficiency is based on one’s knowledge about people around him/ her. The knowledge of people is based on the following: knowledge on how people behave; knowledge on how people operate in groups, knowledge on how to communicate with the said persons, knowledge of people’s motives, knowledge of people’s attitudes, and knowledge of people’s feelings and emotions (Northouse 2010). The skills are needed to influence the organizations fraternity to work towards achieving organizational goals. The fraternity may include; subordinate and superiors. The skills enable a leader to influence teamwork within the organization. The teamwork and group works influence the realization of the organizational objectives. Proficiency in human skills enables a leader to know the thoughts of the employees in the organization on different perspectives. A leader becomes cognizant about the teams thoughts. Human skills also enable top-level leaders be able to consider both sides of ideas. Other people or the leader him/herself may contribute the ideas. The top leaders are very sensitive to the following: what motivates the other people, atmosphere of trust for the other people, other people needs. The factors are put into account when the leader is making decisions on what needs to be done for the organization to achieve its objectives. Contrary to technical skills, human skills are required in all levels of management. The three levels of management include; senior management, supervisory management, and middle management (Northouse 2010). Adoption of human skills by all the managers in the branch will ensure that there is an interrelationship among the staff. The unity of the staff determines, in a great deal, the success of the branch. Interpersonal skills will enable the leader to lead the team in harmony and as a unit. Technical skills These are skills based on proficiency on a particular field of work. The ability of one to have technical skills implies that one is competent on issues that base the field. The competence is measured based on the following: knowledge of the organizations products, knowledge of activities that are specific to a particular organization, knowledge based on organizations rules and the standards of operating procedures (Kok-Yee, Van Dyne, & Soon 2009). The knowledge on all the components of the firm and all the activities enables a manager run the firm like a kitchen. Technical skills are most in the higher levels of management, supervisory levels in particular. The skills are less important to top managers i.e. CEOs and middle managers. Technical skills are based on proficiency and understanding. The technical skills will be used to decide whom to hire on a certain field in the branch. The goal is to make the branch look like the mother organization but function independently. The functionality of the mother-firm must be technically incorporated into the new branch. The environment is different in Lagos and UK. Environment may influence in a major way the process of the firm and reference to the mother-firm. These factors are external to the firm. The factors affect individual attributes, leader competencies and may affect overall leadership. Despite the case, environment may not be used as an excuse of poor performance. The environment will be used with great caution. The leader must know fully the flow of events and transactions within the firm (Kok-Yee etal 2009). The knowledge enables the leader take part in all the decision-making processes in the firm. Conceptual skills Conceptual skills are the skills that enable a leader to work with ideas. The skills enable a leader to think through ideas. Leaders proficient in conceptual skills are good thinkers. These leaders think through the organizational ideas on which the vision is stipulated. The skills can be expressed in either written or verbal form. The leaders express ideas used to support the organizational economic principles. The economic principles describe the organizational effectiveness. The leaders proficient with the conceptual skills are good in performing the ‘what-if-analysis’. The analysis is used to exhaustively identify the client’s needs in all scenarios. The scenarios include the ‘worst-case-scenario’. The leader evaluates hypothetical questions to work with abstracted ideas. Conceptual skills enable a leader to give meaning to abstracted ideas. The meaning in the abstract ideas enables the subordinates, superiors and peers understand the ideas better. The conceptual skills are very important to top managers (Safi & Burrell 2007). Contrary, the conceptual skills are less important to middle manager and even least important to supervisory level managers. Conceptual skill is a skill that can be learned over time. The conceptual skills enable a leader to identify the crucial objective of the branch that will be pivotal to the other goals. The objectives of the new branch will be different but based on the objectives of the mother-firm. The objectives will be identified in accordance to the economical essence of the branch. The leader must use the conceptual skills to think through the objectives and suggestions that may be presented by the other member of the firm. A concrete suggestion is one that is a combination of all possible suggestions. Style approach The approach emphasizes on behavior. The behavior of the leader is emphasized. The approach is focused on what leaders can do in certain situations. The style approach also focuses on how leaders act under certain situations. The actions of a leader are scrutinized then eventually emphasized. The style approach is composed by two general kinds of behaviors. The behaviors include; relationship behavior and task behavior. The task behaviors are inclined to goal accomplishment. This is the kind of behavior to be adhered, to accomplish the organizational goals and objectives. The task behavior helps teams achieve the stipulated goals (Kok-Yee etal 2009). The effect moves up the hierarchy until the organizational goals are realized eventually. The task behaviors are products Relationship behaviors focus on the interrelationships among the subordinates. The relationships enable the peers in the organization feel comfortable within and without the presence of others. The behaviors enable the subordinates to feel comfortable with themselves. The process enables the subordinate staff to feel comfortable with the situation that they may find themselves in. the relationship behaviors are processes. The style approach emphasizes on how a leader will use the two behaviors, task and relationship, to enhance the productiveness and success of a group (Safi & Burrell 2007). The approach is fully applied through the separation of the two behaviors. The behaviors are not tied to one another. The behaviors are interdependent. A leader may be low or high in task behavior and still be a good leader. The same leader may also be low or high on relationship behaviors and still be a good leader. The proficiency in one behavior does not dictate the automatic proficiency in the other. The success of the branch is determined by the concern for production. The productivity of the staff and the whole team in the branch will determine the time frame that will be used to overcome milestones (Safi & Burrell 2007). The concern focuses on achieving the organizational tasks. The policy of the branch must be clearly stated and adhered to fully. The process issues encountered in the activities of the branch must be clearly stipulated. Concern for people bases the success of the branch. A firm is not an island since it is made up of different people. Each person has a specific task to carry within the organization. Each task is crucial to the running of the branch. The leader must show concern to the people and processes. A way will be stipulated on how the leader attends to staff. The concern is expressed in the following ways: good working conditions, group work, teamwork, and communication. The actions of a leader towards the other members of staff occur on either a task level or a relationship level. The success of the branch will require the leader to be concerned by both the task and the relationship. The balance between the two determines whether a leader is a good one or not (Safi & Burrell 2007). The style approach enables a leader to examine the objectives and goals of the company and then eventually subdivide the behaviors accordingly. The triumph of the organization is based on the above factors. The skill approach and the style approach are both crucial in the aspects of leadership. Effective leadership requires a leader to fully understand the people he or she leads as described by human skills and relational skill. References Northouse, P.G. 2010, Leadership: theory and practice. 5th ed. Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Publications, Inc. Kok-Yee, N., Van Dyne, L. & Soon, A 2009, ‘From experience to experiential learning: cultural intelligence as a learning capability for a global leader development’, Academy of Management Learning & Education, 8 (4), pp.511-526, Business Source Premier [Online]. Available from: http://sfxhosted.exlibrisgroup.com.ezproxy.liv.ac.uk/lpu?title=academy+of+management+learning+%26+education&volume=8&issue=4&spage=511&date=2009 Safi, A. & Burrell, D 2007, ‘Developing advanced decision-making skills in international leaders and managers’, Vikalpa: The Journal for Decision Makers, 32 (3), pp.1-8, Vikalpa [Online]. Available from: http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.liv.ac.uk/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=27536111&site=ehost-live&scope=site Fifty Lessons, Ltd. (Producer). 2010, Effective leadership styles. Video [Online]. Click here to access media Fifty Lessons, Ltd. (Producer). 2010, Find your personal communication style. Video [Online]. Click here to access media Read More