How to Identify and Create Effective Leaders - Essay Example

? Critically evaluate how theories of leadership define and explain how to identify and create effective leaders? Table of Contents Introduction 3 Critical Analysis 3 Leadership Defined 4 Theories of Leadership 5 Conclusion 11 Reference 13 Introduction Taking a review of leadership literature reveals a series of trait theories, schools of thought, and even transformational leadership. While the earlier theories tended to emphasize more on the behaviours and characteristics of the successful leaders; the theories generated later on focussed more on the followers roles and the contexts in which leadership prevailed. Majority of the theories are based on the individualistic perspective of the leaders. However, recently there has been increasing emphasis or recognition of dispersed leadership. This approach, having its foundation in psychology, sociology and politics rather than the management sciences considers leadership to be a process which is diffused through the organization instead of lying with the designated leader. The present project seeks to make a critical evaluation of the various definitions of leadership. It then goes on to explain how to identify and create effective leaders in the organization. It focuses on the traditional and individualistic views of leadership as these are considered to have the greatest relevance to the field of management development and leadership standards in organizations. Critical Analysis Leadership is an extremely high valued and highly sought after commodity. It is a common question for people to ask what make for the good leaders. Moreover leadership has attracted attention of the researchers all across the world and a review of the scholarly articles on the subject reveals that there are numerous theoretical approaches for explaining the complexities of the process of leadership (Northouse, 2009, p.1). Some researchers have considered leadership as behaviour or trait while others have viewed the same from a relational standpoint or an information processing perspective (Northouse, 2009, p.1). Leadership Defined Stogdill (1974) brought forth through a series of research that there are as many different definitions of leadership as there are people trying to define it. Although each one knows intuitively about the meaning of the term, it appears mean differently to different individuals. The mere attempt to give a definition to leadership creates the discovery that it has numerous different meanings (Northouse, 2009, p.2). Certain components have been identified as being central to the conceptualization of leadership. Firstly leadership is considered to be a process; it includes a certain amount of influence; it occurs in groups and finally it involves common goals. Considering the above components the most common definition of leadership has evolved. Leadership has been defined as a process in which a single individual has influence over a group of individuals in order to attain a common goal (Northouse, 2009, p.2). The definition of leadership as a process means that it is neither a characteristic nor a trait residing in the leader; it is rather a transactional event occurring between the leaders and the followers. The term process implies that it is not a one way event; both leaders and followers get affected in the process. They need each other mutually. According to the views of Burns (1978), although there is a close link between the leaders and the followers, generally leaders are more associated with the initiation of the relationship, the creation of communication linkages and carrying the responsibility or burden of maintaining the relationship (Northouse, 2009, p.4). Theories of Leadership Researchers are of the opinion that a difference exists between the trait and process theory of leadership. It is common for people to think that people are born to be leaders or that people make leaders naturally. These are some statements which are generally expressed by people who consider the trait perspective towards leadership. The perspective suggests that there are certain individuals who are born with leadership characteristics which distinguishes them from others or from the non leaders. The unique qualities or characteristics which are identified with leaders are physical factors, features and personalities and other characteristics such as intelligence, fluency etc. However describing leadership as a process is different from defining it as a trait. The following figure reflects the same (Northouse, 2009, p.4). Figure 1: Different views on leadership (Source: Northouse, 2009, p.5) According to the trait theory, leadership is viewed as a property or a set of properties which are possessed by individuals in varying degrees. According to Jago (1982) the process viewpoints considers leadership to be a phenomenon residing in the process of interaction between the leaders and followers. According to his perspective, leadership is a quality which can be observed in the behaviour of others and learnt (Northouse, 2009, p.5). According to the views of researchers leadership can also be emergent or aligned. Some people can be leaders because of the position they hold in the organization; whereas others can be the same because of the way people of the group respond to him. The two different forms of leadership have been named as assigned and emergent respectively. Some of the examples of assigned leadership can be plant managers, team leaders, department heads, administrators, directors etc. In this context the concept of positional power and personal power comes into play. In the context of leadership, leaders can be described as being wielders of power, or as people who dominates over others. In this regard, power is seen as a tool which leaders use for meeting their own ends. However, Burns (1978) has a completely different opinion. His focus is on power from a relationship perspective. He considers the fact that power occurs normally in relationships and is used collectively by followers and leaders to attain common objectives (Northouse, 2009, p.8). Two of the key studies under behavioural theory worth mentioning are the Michigan Studies and the Ohio State Studies. The Michigan studies which originated in the 1950s identified three main characteristics of leaders. These are task oriented behaviour, relationship oriented behaviours and participative leadership. On the other hand the Ohio State Studies concentrated their search on leaders’ orientation between people and tasks. Task oriented behaviour of leaders were perceived as irritating structure while the people oriented behaviours were perceived as consideration. The extension of the Ohio State Studies is the works of Blake and Mouton, who has charted down the leadership styles according to his preference for task or people. The result has been termed by researchers as the Managerial Grid (Bradley, n.d., p.17). This is provided in the following figure. Figure 2: The Leadership Grid (Source: Bradley, n.d., p.17) According to this theory the four major styles of leadership which has come up are country club management, middle of the road management, authority and compliance management, impoverished management and team management. This particular leadership theory has led to further research on the usage of power by a leader as compared to influence for accomplishing tasks and obtaining results. Moving forth from this foundation, researchers have laid the foundation for numerous other models of leadership. Among them are transactional leadership, transformational leadership, situational or contingency leadership (Bradley, n.d., p.18). In the 1970s and 1980s, researchers like B. M. Bass and J. M. Burns came up with transformational theories of leadership. According to their views transformational styles of leadership emerges when people follows a leader who motivates them and inspires them too. The leader does this by creating a compelling vision, selling the same vision, and trying to make a relationship with followers as a mentor, coach or teacher. A valuable and majority of the time of the leaders is spent on building trust, and demonstrating substantial levels of personal integrity. In transformational leadership the main focus of the leaders is to transform the follower’s vision, mission and goals and directing them into forming a cohesive team (Bradley, n.d., p.18). Researchers have identified various criticisms against the transformational style of leadership. Tracey and Hinkin (1998) has particularly shown a substantial degree of overlap between the four ‘Is’ in this leadership style, namely, inspirational motivation, idealized influence, individual consideration and intellectual stimulation. They are of the opinion that the dimensions are not completely or clearly delimited. In addition to this, the parameters in transformational leadership are often found to overlap with some of the similar conceptualizations of leadership. For example, Bryman (1992) has pointed out that charismatic and transformational leadership are treated synonymously often although in some of the leadership models charisma is seen to make only one component of the transformational style of leadership (Northouse, 2009, p.188). Another criticisms levelled against transformation style of leadership is its measurement. Researchers use certain parameters for measuring leadership but some of them have challenged the validity of the parameters. In this the four aspects or ‘Is’ of transformational leadership highly correlate with each other which do not distinguish them at all as distinct factors (Northouse, 2009, p.188). Another category of leadership has been described by Burns (1978) as transactional leadership. According to his views transactional leadership occurs when someone takes the initiative to contact with others to share pr exchange valued things. This exchange can be psychological, political or economic. However, Burns thinks that this exchange does not bind the leader and the follower in a mutual and continuing pursuit of higher purpose. Rather the relationship on which is based this transactional leadership can be fleeting, thin and superficial. In this sense it can be said that transactional leadership fails to make any contribution to the most meaningful or richest purpose of human experience (Couto, 2007, p.78). Extensive research has been conducted in the field of identification and creation of effective leadership in the organization. A review of the present leadership practise shows that leadership studies in earlier days was that which is known as effective management. Change had to be more systematic and fundamental. Moreover it also had to produce results which satisfied not only the top management but also the expectations of the increasingly demanding and sophisticated shareholders. In order to retain competitive advantage in the market firms needed to a lot more than merely tighten control and increase efficiencies (Conger & Benjamin, n.d., p.1). They fundamentally needed to change the way they perceived the world and conducted their business. This needed transforming the systems which had continued to take place for years. It was evident to most researchers that the establishment of goals and structuring incentives made only a small part of the entire role of leadership. Today’s leadership is more about making a complete understanding of the competitive environment of the firm, identifying the capabilities of the organization and finally taking appropriate steps for transforming the environment of the organization (Conger & Benjamin, n.d., p.1). According to Harvard Business School Kotter (1996) said that organization’s need to handle growing bureaucracy requires it to focus on management and monitoring of internal operations instead of adapting itself to the external demands. The processes which exist in the prevailing systems in the organization along with adapting the organization towards significant changes keep ingrained in the very fabric of culture of the organization. The new role of developing leadership that has emerged in the organization is aimed at strategic intervention. They are objected towards facilitating the collective and unified understanding of the strategic vision of the firm; towards expediting large scale changes; towards ensuring the immediate application of effective and useful knowledge; towards the building of in-depth leadership talent and finally towards achieving measurable results for meeting the bottom line (Conger & Benjamin, n.d., p.11). The development of leadership seeking to facilitate strategic change has certain common design elements. These include well articulated strategic framework, refined assessment processes and content which are customized to meet the strategic objectives of the organization, learning which are organized around executive cohorts, trained facilitators and an active feedback system. It is only through a strong leader’s cadre who are interpersonally skilled and strategically adept can major transformation within the organization be possible and complete (Conger & Benjamin, n.d., p.11). Conclusion Taking a review of the literature on leadership reflects that there are numerous perspectives of researchers on the subject of leadership. The different perspectives are the causes of emergence of a wide variety of theories of leadership. Some researchers consider the subject to be a trait while others view it from a relational standpoint and the perspective of information processing. With regards to the definition on leadership also a wide variety of definition has emerged. However, the common elements which have been identified by almost all researchers are that it is a process in which a single individual has influence over all members of the group and that the group works collectively towards attainment of objectives of the organization. Researchers are also of the common consensus that both the leaders and the followers get mutually affected in the process. According to the trait theory of leadership, individuals are said to have been born with characteristics of leaders. However, according to the process definition of leadership, it is a phenomenon which resides in the process of interaction taking place between leaders and followers. Leaders can also be aligned or emergent. People can be leaders because of the positional power they have in the organization or the response that he gets from people because of the same. On the other had emergent leadership happens when people develop the power out of mutual interaction between followers and themselves. Researchers have simultaneously understood the need for identifying and creating effective leadership in the organization. The most important element which has been identified by researchers is that today's organizations need leadership qualities which are aimed towards meeting the strategic and long term objectives of the firms. It must take into account the external environment in which organizations operate, identify the factors it need to inculcate and then strive towards developing leadership which helps to meet those objectives. Reference Bradley, O. (No Date). Leadership traits and behaviors. [Pdf]. Available at: http://www.uc.edu/armyrotc/ms2text/MSL_201_L10a_Leadership_Traits_&_Behaviors.pdf. [Accessed on December 02, 2011]. Conger, J. A. & Benjamin, B. (No Date). Building Leaders. How Successful Companies Develop The Next Generation. [Pdf]. Available at: http://www.altfeldinc.com/pdfs/building.pdf. [Accessed on December 03, 2011]. Couto, R. A. (2007). Reflections on Leadership. University Press of America. Northouse, P. G. (2009). Leadership: Theory and Practice. SAGE. Read More