Organizational Behaviour and Styles of Leaderships - Essay Example

Companies nowadays, invest a hefty amount in selecting and recruiting the most suitable candidate for their company so that the training and development cost can be reduced to a certain extent. Many companies also give opportunities to their employees in selecting the position which is most suitable to them. This not only facilitates the decision-making process of management but also helps the employee to give his fullest efforts. Lately, the same case has happened to me. While our company was heading towards restructuring, I was asked by my employers about the position that would suit me the best. A detailed analysis of that job position is mentioned in subsequent paragraphs.  

Perfect Position

I was working at the position of Assistant HR Manager at a local company. When our company has undergone restructuring and expansion, I was asked by my employers if I would like to change my job position. They had seen my performance for the past 4 years and therefore provided me with this opportunity of selecting my desired position. It was a chance that comes once in a lifetime and I never wanted to waste it. Therefore, I asked a time period of 24 hours in order to brainstorm and think carefully about what my skills, abilities, strengths and weakness and then answer them about their question.

The very next day, I met my Senior HR Manager, with whom I have been working very closely for the past 6 months. He listened and acknowledged my position as ‘HR Specialist’. The job is, indeed, of greater responsibilities covering all the disciplines of HR including hiring, recruiting, postings, employee relations, employee referral programs, training, monitoring special developmental programs when needed, etc. This job not only required me to assist the subordinates but also required a substantial amount of responsibility. In order to assist the subordinates, it is essential to analyze the leadership skills of a person. My employers would also have considered this point before finalizing me for this job. The way I have analyzed my leadership style and skills are mentioned below in a detailed manner.       

Strengths and Weaknesses of Leadership Style

HR Specialist requires to be independent and must be self-motivated and experienced. Some strengths and weaknesses associated with different positions of HR include:

Strengths

Some of the strengths demonstrating the leadership style of HR Specialist are:

• Effective Communication Skills; without effective communication skills, it can be difficult to convey one’s own point of view.
• Learning Agility; HR Specialist needs to be very adaptive to the changing situation because they also have to lead the change to their subordinates. If they, themselves won’t be able to accept the change then communicating this message to employees at a lower level of the hierarchy can be difficult.
• Determined and Self-motivated; HR Specialists need not be guided or directed by someone, instead they must be determined, committed and self-motivated.
• Team Player; In order to involve others in group work, first the leader has to step into it. Therefore, HR Specialist needs to be a very active participant in team works.
• Natural Leader and Success Oriented; “Leaders are born, not made” is a common phrase. The person must exhibit the natural qualities of being a leader and must be driven to achieve success.

Weaknesses

• Getting nervous by being surrounded by people; Many people have this inevitable habit of getting nervous whenever they are surrounded by people. This weakness is hard to eradicate therefore, a leader must be chosen by examining this quality. The required person needs to be motivated, high, and in tune with the situations where there is a number of people.
• Debating unnecessary; Instead of arguing or debating with someone over a certain issue, a leader must have the ability to convince others. Arguing and debating will ultimately make others feel worthless and they will not pay attention to the advice of leaders in the future.   
• Lack of some other required skills; many leaders lack some core skills such as handling conflicts, convincing others, listening to the inputs of subordinates, etc.

Compare and Contrast Leadership Theories

Many management experts and practitioners have developed certain leadership theories so as to identify different types of leadership. These leadership theories essentially depict the different styles of leadership. Some of the most prominent styles of leadership include:

• Trait Leadership; Trait leadership states that every leader has a certain set of traits, characteristics, and qualities that differentiate them from non-leaders.
• Behavioral Leadership; in this style of leadership, the leader exhibits that behavior that its subordinates are required to follow.   
• Charismatic Leadership; under this theory, the leader possesses some heroic attributes and extraordinary qualities while portraying certain behaviors.   
• Transformational Leadership; is the most inspirational style of leadership. In this style, the subordinates get inspired by the way their leader acts, behaves, works, and leads. By being inspired by the style of their leaders, subordinates usually wish to transcend themselves.
• Authentic Leadership; those leaders who know who they actually are, who believe in their values and act as per their beliefs and values candidly and openly are called Authentic Leaders (Robbins, 2011).

Out of all these styles of leadership, I prefer to follow the behavioral style of leadership as it is very easy to be adopted by any leader. A leader just has to make himself/ herself the role model in the eyes of his followers. There is a very thin line between behavioral and charismatic leadership. Behavioral refers to the apparent way of responding to a certain issue whereas charismatic refers to inspiring the followers to transcend their performances.