Impact of leadership on the functioning of an organization - Assignment Example

of the paper and number submitted Contents Introduction 3 Question 3 Style S1 or Directing): High task/low relationship 5 Style 2 (S2 or Coaching): High task/high relationship 5 Style 3 (S3 or Supporting): High relationship/low task 5 Style 4 (S4 or Delegating): Low relationship/low task 5 Question 2 6 Question 3 8 Question 4 9 Question 5 9 Question 6 10 Reference 12 Introduction In every phase of life we come across a situation where we require the guidance of an experienced person. That person is known by several names at different context but they perform the same tasks. We know them as teachers in school, as coach in the playground, as mentor in office & as a leader in the political background. The common factor among all of them is that they are responsible for guiding, supporting, motivating, instructing, teaching, organizing a group of people. In general these people are called or considered as leaders within their particular field of operation. The term leadership simply means the method of influencing a group of people & guiding them towards the accomplishment of a common objective. Presently it is required to discuss the impact of leadership on the functioning of an organization where I have worked. Generally the organizations get highly benefitted by the implementation of proper leadership approaches as it effects in improved quality of the goods & services produced by the organization (Maslanka, 2004). Question 1 The organization where I used to work had a business of Herbal Products. The company mainly dealt with ointments for joint pains & muscle aches, syrups for immunity building, moisturizer & body-oil for soft & supple skin & many such products for the day-to-day use by the consumers. The organization followed a combination of centralized & decentralized structure. The various departments worked on a decentralized manner where there was no specialization & everyone knew the task of the other person. Job Rotation was being practiced on a regular basis. However at the end of the month, all the departments were accountable to present their whole month’s report to the top management. The overall functioning of the organization was based on the framework of situational leadership style. This style is based on the attitude of people towards the work delegated to them & their response towards the act of being led by a leader (Clark, n.d.). The concept of situational leadership is dependent on the key elements of relationship behavior & task behavior. The relationship behavior refers to the amount of emotional & social support provided by the leader. It indicates the communication flow between the leader & his followers. Task behavior refers to the direction & guidance provided by the leader. It is highly work- centered & focuses on the efficient accomplishment of the objectives. In the situational style of leadership, four basic situations have been identified by the leadership experts that are based on task behavior on one axis & relationship behavior on the other axis of the graph. The following illustration exhibits the diagram of a situational leadership framework- The four styles as shown in the diagram are- Style 1 (S1 or Directing): High task/low relationship This leader is considered to be very strict who only focuses on the accomplishment of the task & maintains very low level of relationship with the followers. Style 2 (S2 or Coaching): High task/high relationship This leader is highly committed towards the task as well as towards maintaining a healthy relationship with the employees. Style 3 (S3 or Supporting): High relationship/low task This leader puts more emphasis on dealing with the followers & maintaining better relations with them. Style 4 (S4 or Delegating): Low relationship/low task This leader puts lesser stress on both the task & relationship behavior. These styles represent the leadership approach that entirely depends on the situation faced by the organization. In case of the organization where I worked, the leaders/managers kept on supporting the employees throughout their tasks & always maintained a good relationship with them. Hence it can be said that most of the time the departmental managers followed the S2 style while the organizational heads followed the S1 style. The co-existence of the conflicting styles within the domain of the organization often lead to miscommunication between the management & the organizational heads, misunderstanding between the employee & employer, bitterness & grievances among employees & ultimately employee turnover. Question 2 The exercise of leadership control within an organization is only achievable when power & authority is applied in a combined form. John Kotter explained “power is the ability to influence others to get things done, while authority is the formal rights that come to a person who occupies a particular position, since power does not necessarily accompany a position” (Goncalves, 2013) It is often found that a person is quite powerful among his colleagues or friends but has got no authority & the opposite also happens when the person holding a position of authority actually possesses no power. The field of management presents seven types of power which are- 1. Legitimate Power- This concept is based on ownership rights. This power refers to the authority of a formal designation. Power & influence are common ingredients to this kind of leadership. 2. Expert Power- This type of power is manly based on the skill & expertise of a person. This power has nothing to do with formal positions. In this situation, the people who excel in their performance are offered higher positions. These positions need the exertion of both power & influence. Therefore, only possessing expertise is not enough for this category of power. 3. Coercive power- This refers to a negative structure of power intended to influence others by the application of threat or punishment. It tends to be omnipresent in several organizations, especially the military. Coercive power does not motivate preferred performance, but it prevents the happening of undesired occurrences. 4. Reward power- Here the exertion of power & influence impacts the performance of the workers. Workers get highly motivated when they are offered with rewards for achieving a desired outcome. These rewards can include both monetary & non-monetary offering like incentive, certificate, award, holiday trip etc. It is the capability of the leader to provide his followers what they would like while at the same time asking them to do the things required by him. A win- win situation takes place in this case. However, the reward power is also used sometimes to punish the employees by withholding the rewards in response to failure in meeting the desired performance. 5. Referent power- It is achieved by connection between the individual actually exercising power and some personality that is accepted widely by the field where the leader is operative. 6. Charisma power- In this approach the followers get influenced by the leader through the force of the character & personality. Film actors & sportspersons are ideal example of this domain as they are used in the campaigning of several social causes & it is expected that people will listen to their advice. 7. Information power- This type of power is the consequence of information & knowledge possessed by the leader. The organization where I used to work had various kinds of leader. Expert Power, Information power, Reward power & Coercive power were exerted in every department. While coercive power was used rarely, most of the managers followed the reward power system accompanied by the expert power & information power. The top level managers however exercised the negative reward power & the coercive power to get things done. This resulted in a scared group of employees who started leaving the organization one after another. Also the exertion of coercive power resulted in lack of motivation, lack of learning urge & increased rate of absenteeism among the employees. It is recommendable that the organization hires an external consultant for providing training & boosting the morale of the employees. This consultant should be associated with a reputed brand name so that it can successfully exert the Referent Power. Again the consultant should have a good personality which will draw the employee’s attention towards them. Question 3 The two styles of leadership that is Transformational Style & Transactional Style are discussed in details as follows- Transformational Style - in this style the leader guides and transforms the staff. The leader makes continuous efforts to address the grievances of the employees and motivate them for improved performance. Here open communication between the staff and the leader is always encouraged and the leader follows participative style of management. The staff gets highly influenced by the leader in Transformational Leadership Style. Transactional Style- Here the main focus of the leader is on management’s objectives. In this style the leader constantly motivate his followers by offering rewards for completed tasks. These leaders are mostly work oriented; they usually follow a particular structure and practice directive style of management. In this style of management, innovativeness and creativity are ignored and people are often motivated by the use of extrinsic motivational factors like incentives and gifts. The different departments of my organization followed a transformational style as the managers talked freely with the employees & discussed their problems. There was always a free flow of information between the management & the employees. This resulted in exchange of thoughts & ideas & innovative ideas were always encouraged. However these ideas were considered as irrelevant & irrational by the top management that followed transactional style of management. The top management always focused on the achievement of objectives & used to put constant pressures on the workforce by setting impossible targets. This gave rise to conflicts & dispute between the top management & the lower level employees where the middle management acted as a middleman & tried to sort out the problems but the final impact proved to be really destructive for the firm’s image & structure when at a time more than 17 employees decided to resign. Question 4 .A team leader’s effectiveness can be evaluated by the various characteristics preset within them which are- 1. The team leader should be capable to communicate efficiently as handling a team requires quick & effective flow of information. 2. The team should have empathetic mindset so that he or she can understand the issues faced by the team. 3. The team leader should constantly motivate the team. 4. He or she should be patient & calm to avoid any kind of conflict or dispute. 5. The person should be energetic otherwise his team will lose enthusiasm to perform efficiently. 6. He or she should have problem solving capacity as a team includes people from different backgrounds & with different issues. Question 5 The Mission Statement is a written document where the ideas & thoughts of the company are communicated & the purpose of the firm is clearly defined to the internal & the external stakeholders. This statement helps the managers in the decision of resource allocation. The Vision Statement is a kind of future planning document which states where the company wants to reach in future. These statements are very useful in the strategy making decision of the firm. If the leaders or managers in this case, successfully leads their team in following the strategy formulated by the management then the achievement of the mission & vision becomes easier. A leader must know who can perform what & should delegate those employees with such activities which they will be able to execute. In the strategy formulation part also, the manager requires the feedback of the employees as they are the ones who regularly communicate with the market & they possess the best knowledge about the customers. Therefore, including the employees in decision making process is also a part of leadership activity. Thus in this way the management can arrive at best strategies to compete with their rivals. Question 6 If I was the leader at the organization mentioned here, I would have divided the whole organization into small units & would have selected a manager for handling those units. These managers would be responsible for the day to day activities of the ground level staff performing under them. A daily reporting system would have been introduced within the management & a meeting at the end of every week would have reaped much benefit. The whole organization would have undergone a change from transactional to transformational leadership style where every leader would know the employees by their name. An informal culture would have been introduced within the operations of the organization so that the employees would not feel scared or threatened to share their thoughts. Every mistake done by employees would have been taken care of without harassing them, but by discussing it with them personally. A culture of team work would have been introduced within the functions of the management which would help the employees in innovation & complex tasks would have been easier to solve. It can be concluded from the discussion that for a leader to be successful in handling a group of people, it is necessary for the leaders to communicate with the employees on a regular basis. Lack of communication is the main cause for a disturbed & confused group of employees. Also the emerging era of management desires for leaders who can focus efficiently on the issues of employees. It should be always kept in mind that the human resource is not a cost but it is the primary means of achieving the organizational objectives. Hence the employees should be treated with care just like a family person. Only then the organization will grow into a family & not into a mere business. Reference Maslanka, A.M. (2004) Evolution of leadership theories. (Ashford University ed.) United States: ProQuest, UMI Dissertations Publishing Clark, M. (n.d.) SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP. Retrieved from http://www.mc.edu Goncalves, M. (2013) Leadership Styles: The Power to Influence Others. Retrieved from http://www.ijbssnet.com Read More