Leadership Theories and Possible Changes to Police Leadership - Essay Example

?Leadership Genuinely talented or proficient business leaders have become a rarity in recent times. This may be due to the fact that leaders are expected to have so many positive characteristics and talents and hardly any faults. Most leaders have some skills but seek to hide their flaws in order to be accepted and respected by their workers and organisations. Moreover, it is critical for business or management to reveal their standards in places of work. If leaders do not identify their true principles in their workplaces, workers are left unaware of what the expectations of the administration are. When directors share their values, visibility generates confidence. After the managers of companies expose what values they believe in, they will become objects of derision if they fail to live up to their own expectations. However, when they lead by example, they effectively influence the activities of others. Competence is highly associated with wisdom in making tough decisions when executing an activity to achieve set objectives (Conyers, 2010). Competent leaders are imaginative people who use their practical knowledge to oversee the execution of guidelines and policies. Inspirational leaders are those who believe that their workers have as many talents as themselves. Companies can only achieve their objectives if they allow their employees to have a turn at participating in decision making policies. This means that all workers in companies have to be judged fairly and given the same opportunities to participate in fulfilling organizational objectives as are extended to the company leaders. A good leader will refrain from showing that he has favourites among his company’s personnel; even if he does (Hybels, 2008). A good leader will use personal character and the ability to complete tasks to determine the workers who should be promoted. Intelligence and Communication A person has to exhibit self-discipline as well as self-awareness in order to be perceived as being intelligent. A good worker will also portray a calm attitude when faced with considerable challenges and show a readiness to cooperate with others in order to accomplish organizational objectives even when there are other personal issues that he or she is dealing with (Conyers, 2010). A good worker, and, therefore, potential leader, should also be in possession of good communication skills that allow him to be able to communicate successfully with high ranking managers as well as subordinates. For communication to transpire there has to be a message, channel, sender, and receiver. Any interpretations of the messages and feedback given depend largely on how the receiver understands the message. The receiver can also be the sender at some point (Yan and Hunt, 2005). There are essential qualities that every leader should have. Some of these include personal integrity, inspiration or motivation and good communication skills. Understanding the acknowledged and unacknowledged regulations and boundaries aids leaders in perceiving the expectations of their societies. Keeping an open mind permits the consideration of the diverse viewpoints that are presented. The importance of honouring one’s commitments cannot be understated. This will enhance one’s associations with other people. People who will be attracted to following any one leader will want to trust that he has the skills they yearn to emulate. The Role of Personal Integrity Personal integrity is, of necessity, one of the traits that make a good leader. This trait, however, is rarely found in today’s business setting. There have been many recent reports on how moral failings have resulted in the resignation of more than one corporate leader. Many times, men and women who are elected into positions of business leadership believe that they can be able to withstand all temptations. However, in making such assumptions, they blind themselves to the possibility that they are deceiving themselves. Most business leaders never set out to intentionally commit fraud or sexually harass their subordinates. However, their exaggerated belief in their own greatness can actually stop them from installing systems that will keep them in check. A good leader has to be able to understand that he has human failings. He or she will put systems in check to ensure that the limits of his or her authority are not breached. This is one of the hardest things to do. Of necessity, people praise leaders and refrain from pointing out their shortcomings to them even if they exist. It is unlikely that any workers will volunteer to inform a leader of his or her failures, for fear of losing a job. Therefore, leaders ought to be held unaccountable by bodies that are not in any way connected with the leader’s company. Servant Leadership Robert Greenleaf, in his model of servant leadership, believed that leaders could excel in their leading abilities by portraying humility and serving their own workers. Greenleaf was of the opinion that leaders actually inspire their workers to act responsibly by first learning how to cater to their workers’ needs. He felt that leadership is much more than creating a lot of profit, and that this can only be communicated to workers by an understanding leader who seeks to put the workers’ needs before his own. Servant leadership has many parallels with transformational leadership but differs in the area of the focus of the leadership. Robert Greenleaf believed that servant leadership is started when a leader voluntarily becomes a servant in his or her interactions with employees or office personnel. True leadership, Greenleaf believed, will only result from a deep-seated desire to be of assistance to people other than one’s self. In his book, Greenleaf observed “...this straightforward fact is the thing that determines the greatness of a true leader ...” (Greenleaf, 2002). The servant leader's main purpose and objective is to inspire other people to yearn for greatness. Organisational success or handsome profits are really a by-product of such idealistic aims on the part of a leader and his or her followers. In addition, the servant leadership theory contends holds work exists for the individual as much as the individual exists to work. It challenges business establishments to reconsider the connections between organisations, workers, and the larger society. The theory also supports the premise that states that workers should be able to thrive in a personal as well as professional capacity without either of these suffering because of the other. The Great Man Theory of Leadership The ‘great man leadership theory’ is a yet another leadership model. This theory became popular during the course of the 19th century, due to the prevailing idea that extraordinary leaders are not made but are born that way. Alexander the great, the great ancient King whose deeds are even quoted by separate respected religious writings, is an example that was used to prove the theory of ‘born’ generals. This inference to some people being born with innate leadership skills that are lacking in others, however, is not entirely accurate. It can be said that Alexander was the victim of his circumstances. Any other man who might have been born to royalty, and in the same settings into which he was born, might have accomplished just as much as he did. For instance, any person would have been able to change the course of history if he was born to Alexander’s parents who had already created policies that guided Greece into military success, and also had the wisdom of Aristotle at his disposal. (Freeman, 2011). The ‘Great Man Theory’ also seeks to exclude the fact that it is well-organized societies that tend to produce leaders of great worth. This is because the said leaders do not have to deal with problems such as the lack of monetary resources, the absence of good role models, or emotional problems due to absent parents which plague some citizens living in chaotic and disorganized societies. Inspiration and Motivation It is vital that a leader be able to inspire his or her employees. An effective leader does not have to create policies without discussing them with workers, and then compel the workers to observe them. That type of autocratic leadership, though common, only produces disgruntled workers. A capable leader will influence his workers through his enthusiasm for his ideas and inspire them to want to realize their own objectives in their different tasks (Erskne, 2010). Inspirational leaders actually appeal directly to the emotions of their workers. For a leader to be able to wield this type of influence, his workers have to believe that he has their best interests at heart. Few employers are able to achieve this effect because different employees have different needs and an employer has to sense and then cater to these different needs to the best of his ability. Most of the time, workers will react favourably to a leader who institutes policies that allow them to feel like the company is actually a kind of family. The leader has to ensure that his workers are given adequate salaries and are not compelled to work seven days per week. The leader can also institute regular meetings in which workers are allowed to express their misgivings or voice complaints without fear of intimidation. Mentoring programs will also go a long way in convincing employees that they have the chance to advance or receive promotions. Such guidelines will actually promote a leader’s cause among workers even without him mentioning any policy about extra working hours or introducing organizational changes. Conclusion A place of work with highly motivated employees is lively and flexible. A workplace whose employees are not in tune with their leadership will exhibit characteristics of apathy, frequent absenteeism of the workers and many sources of disagreement among the employees. It is thus a point of major importance that employers provide their employees with a stable, working environment. When workers feel respected and cared for by their employers, they are sure to apply dexterity when performing their allotted tasks. References Conyers, R. (2010) “A Review of Leadership Theories and Possible Changes to Police Leadership”, Leadership Theories and Practice. Thesis, University of Central Florida Erskne, L. (2010) ‘Defining relational distance for today’s leaders’, International Journal of Leadership Studies, vol. 7, pp. 96-113. https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:3JrLpbNKW_kJ:www.regent.edu/acad/global/publications/ijls/new/vol7iss1/IJLS_Vol7Iss1_Erskine_pp96-113.pdf+&hl=en&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEEShgTXjVmmhSyvR6qc2uR3VNNk4XDNiANgXGs6bRGQgBLALiKz97YuLx8W6shryeassXtKYw7jZWwNpwDT7QFJlg-BXqeXDcBOqXDxQIB90OCulJ2-3g5nVPE4R33WyA8-XeEOH6&sig=AHIEtbRhZYRPRqQDxc9rziuUnyzH8dwzjA Freeman, P. (2011) Alexander the great, Simon & Schuster, New York. Greenleaf, R. (2002) Servant leadership: a journey into the nature of legitimate power and greatness, Paulist Press, Mahwah. Hybels, B. (2008) Courageous leadership, Zondervan, Grand Rapids. Yan, J. & Hunt, J. (2005) ‘A cross cultural perspective on perceived leadership effectiveness’, International Journal of Cross Cultural Management, vol. 5, pp. 49-66. Read More