Leadership and Management Change - Essay Example

Student’s Name: Professor’s Name: Subject: Leadership and Management Change Date: The meaning of leadership and the evaluation of styles and characteristics of leadership needed in the Fire Service Introduction Leadership refers to the process by which others are influenced to agree or understand a thing that should be done and the process of doing it. It also involves facilitating collective and individual efforts in accomplishing shared objectives (Yukl 2006). According to Peter Northouse (2010), leadership is the process whereby a person influences groups of people so as to achieve common goals. The two definitions, therefore, make suggestions of many components that are central to the leadership phenomenon. The pertinent things to note about leadership are that: leadership involves a process, leadership focuses on the influence of others by individuals, and the context of leadership is a group. Others include leadership is about attainments of goals and the leaders and followers all share the goals. Leadership is an event that is transactional between the followers and their leaders, and that is why it is being referred to as a process. The fact that leadership is a process justifies that a leader can be affected by his or her follower either negatively or positively. Good leadership should not be a one-way or linear path. A good leadership is an interactive two-way event between a leader and his or her follower. Leadership lacks restrictions to specific persons, but it is open to everyone. Leaders have the ability to influence their peers, subordinates, and their bosses within an organization or work context. It is not possible to lead others without influence. To have an influence insinuates that there is an essential necessity for leaders to practice ethically upright influences (Northouse 2010). This article offers a discussion on leadership indicating the characteristics and styles of leadership that are required at a fire service. Leadership Leadership best happens within groups. Meaning, it is entirely all about influencing people bonded together with common goals and purposes. Goals achievements are the requirements of leadership. The most basic purpose of leadership should, therefore, the entire process of offering groups of people direction towards reaching an end point or accomplishing a particular task. The processes are through means that are ethically based. It is the responsibility of leaders to direct their energies as well as the energies of their subordinates towards the achievement of something as a team. For instance, a football coach working with his or her players to win a title. Leadership is therefore seen to happening in a context where persons move towards goals direction. There are common objectives that a leader shares with his or her followers. It is, however, difficult to establish the objectives that a leader and his follower coalesce around, however, the effort of coming up with the objectives is worth the efforts (Yukl 2006). This implies that a leader who is willing to expend efforts and time in establishing goals that are appropriate will achieve the goals easily and efficiently if there is teamwork. Goals that are leader-imposed are less effective and harder than the goals developed by the entire team. According to the research work done by Leadership South West, currently, leadership in among the issues that are most talked about. It is getting hard contemporary to have a newspaper, television or a conference that does not talk about leadership at any given moment. For instance, 2003, the website, Amazon.com made a revelation of 11, 686 search results for the word leadership. Leadership as a topic, therefore, has interested a lot of people over the years. As much as it has been recognized by a good number of people that leadership is fundamental, there has been a time memorial mystery about what the definition of leadership really is. Stogdill (1974), in his review of research on leadership, indicated that the definitions of leadership are as many as the people who have tried defining the concept. Leadership reflects a construct that is complex and which is open to interpretations that are subjective. The definitions of leadership, however, vary because each person has his or her personal life experience that in one way or the other shape their understanding and perception of leadership. A good leader, however, should be a servant leader. A servant leader refers to the kind of leaders who opt to serve their followers or rather their subordinates. Servant leaders lead by examples. They do not depend on their minors to everything that should have done. A servant leader understands that his or obligations are geared towards offering services to the followers and not the vice-versa. The definition of leadership also to a great extent depends on the theoretical stance of an individual. Researchers at Tavistock Institute indicated that there are the psychological factors that give encouragements to people motivating them to be followers or leaders. They referred to the model as the psychological approach. Leadership and being a follower is also cognitively motivated. The cognitive being offers a big influence on the stance people takes in line with leadership. The cognitive refers to the inner self of an individual. The psychological bases its bait on the need to know and understand others as well as the self. Through such understandings, an individual may be in a position of understanding the leadership transactional nature between the followers and their leaders. (Stech 2004). In a nut shell, therefore, it’s worth indicating that leaders fulfill a lot of roles. The roles include sense making, follower purpose and security offering. Those benefits or reasons hence make followers want to remain followers, and leaders hence remain leading. According to Northousse (2004), there are four fundamental themes in the perception of leadership. The four identified themes are as follows: first, leadership is, to start with, a process. Second, there is influence involved in leadership, second, there must be a group context involved in leadership and finally, there must be the attainment of goals. Leadership is precisely a phenomenon that is complex, and that touches on several fundamental social, organizational and personal processes. It is based on the influencing process, and people are hence motivated to work targeting the goals of the group. The motivation is not coerced but rather, it is a personal motivation (Northousse 2004). The meaning and definition of leadership that an individual steaks to should hence be a matter dependent on the individual’s choice regarding initial predispositions, beliefs, and organizational situations. Leadership and management are intertwined but closely interrelated. In fact, most people fail to completely indicate the differences between leadership and management. Some people have decided to marry them completely together. A good leader is a good manager; however, there are several managers who fail in leadership. Leadership is a process and hence handling it as a management is not correct. Zalenznik (1997) attempted to make contrasts between management and leadership. He did so by making a presentation of the leaders as artists who use intrusion and creativity in navigating their chaos. A manager, on the other hand, was, according to perception, a problem solver that was entirely dependent on control and rational. There have been a lot of contrasts as a result about management and leadership since then. For instance, Bennis & Nanus (1985), indicated that a manager “does things right” whilst a leader “does the right things”. Leaders are people who select, equip, train and influence followers with skill, gifts and skills that are diverse (Barach, 1996). Leaders, therefore, make use the influence they have to focus their followers to the objectives and missions of the organization. Leaders make followers to enthusiastically and willingly expect spiritual physical, and emotional energy in a mission of coordinately and concertedly achieving the objectives of the organization. One must be able to humbly and prophetically convey a future vision that seems clear and resonating with the beliefs of the followers. Leaders must be in a position of clearly recognizing the followers’ diversity and hence establish directions and values that are common without demolishing the person’s uniqueness. To achieve all that, leaders have come up with flexible and innovative means of training, support, support, and education and in the process providing every follower with whatever or she needs. The provisions are made within the scope and reason of the accommodations and resources of the organization. All the activities are hence about the accomplishment of the growth and objectives of the organizational value (Wiston & Patterson, 2002). The styles and characteristics of leadership needed in a Fire Service Fire Service refers to the organization that takes charge of the fighting and prevention of fires (Schriesheim, 1982). In the US and Canada, the Fire Service is referred to as the Fire Department. The Commonwealth and the United Kingdom refer to the department as the fire brigade. The department can either be private or public. It provides services urgently and predominantly. It also offers rescue services. The department is therefore very sensitive baiting on the kind of responsibilities it is expected to execute. Hundreds of lives in many circumstances usually depend on their efforts at one given moment. It is therefore very crucial for the department to offer their services promptly because a waste of a single minute could lead to massive destruction of essential properties as well as loss of life. For everything to happen efficiently, there department must have a leader who is very effective and competent. The leader is expected to trigger responses and encourage his followers to do their best when executing a fire fighting mission. There are therefore several characteristics and leadership styles expected of such a leader. Leadership style refers to the manner in which a leader provides directions, implements his plans and motivates his followers. The styles include the total implicit and explicit patterns of action performed by a leader (Newstrom & Davis (1993). Kurt Lewin is purported to have performed the first great study of leadership back in 1939 hence leading researchers to the establishment of the different leadership styles (Lewin et al., 1939). There were, therefore, three main styles of leadership that came along as a result of the researches. The leadership styles include: 1. Autocratic or authoritarian- here, leaders tell their followers what they should do and how it should be done. The leaders don’t seek advice from their followers. 2. Democratic and participative- here the leaders include followers in the process of making decisions; however, the leaders make the verdict. 3. Laissez-fair or delegative- leaders allow the followers to decide however the leaders remain responsible for any decision made. The behavior of a leader within an organization has been established to be accounting for the overall performance of the organization. Fire services, therefore, require more skills of leadership from the executive fire officers. There is an urgent need for possible emergency responses brought about by natural or manmade disasters. According to researches done by Jadwinski (2006), for instance, the Saint Paul and Safety Services has a problem in the Command Office because there lack set styles of leadership. Fire Chiefs for a long time have not been following the norm like managers. They manage several roles putting into practice different styles of leadership in their departments. A Fire Chief is different from the other managers because of the fact that he or she manages incidents of emergency (Knabe, 1999). According to Vera & Crossan (2004), it is hence essential for the Fire Service leader to use leadership styles that are very appropriate for him to have a fire ground incident that is successful. Transformational leadership I the most common style of leadership within a fire service (Arlene, 2001). Like most workers, it is easier for the firefighters to follow a leader who is transformational. Transformational leadership has its focus on four key leadership behavior areas. The areas include charisma (idealized influence), intellectual stimulation, individual consideration and inspirational motivation. The idealized influence focuses to provide an example of a role model regarding charisma. Such a leader is normally considered to have very high ethical, standards. Such a leader strives to do whatever the best interest of the follower is. Such leaders in most cases have been also described as competent, honest positive, humble and loyal. Individual consideration, on the other hand, is concerned with supporting and identifying the followers’ needs. Such a leader helps the followers to meet their personal goals in addition to the goals of the organizations. The leaders’ priorities are to develop followers via training, coaching and mentorship (Tannenbaum, 1973, Arnot, 1999). This is very common in fire service. The process of intellectual stimulation encourages the followers by making them challenge the status quo and processes. Followers are equipped by leaders with tools and training needed to boost creativity in the processes of solving problems. Lastly inspirational motivation involves leaders that articulate inspiring, engaging and clear vision to followers. A leader who embraces transformational leadership promotes the share value and share vision concepts. Many researchers have asserted that the commitment of any organization is directly affected by the leadership style. Alyn (2011), conducted a research on the style of leadership in Fire Services. He found that the style of leadership impacts positively on organizational commitment. His research involved 1919 participants who were fire fighters. They all observed that organizational performance in the Fire Service improved when there was a transformational kind of leadership. Each year, fire services respond to at least twenty-five thousand cases. Leadership style is hence the heart of the command system of incidents within the fire service. Low fire departments morale is to a great extent attributed to the deployed leadership styles (U.S. Army, 1983). Other characteristics of a Fire Service Leader There are several characteristics that a leader in the fire service should possess for their rescue missions to be effective. Modesty- here, a leader is supposed to give a particular kind of credit where it is due. It is important to recognize the efforts of your followers and appreciate their efforts honorably. One should not be given the credit meant for another different person (Argyris, 1993). Dedication- a fire service leader must be dedicated to his or her followers. The dedication should hence be extended to the goal and mission of the fire service (Argyris, 1993). Assertiveness and effective communication- a leader, must be in a position to always necessary when to sit down and listen from the followers and also when to stand and talk to them. He or she must be in a position of showing displeasure or pleasure by the voice tone as well as the words uttered (Argyris, 1993). Humble- a good leader must learn to be humbled. Arrogance demoralizes the followers, and they may tend to start rebelling in the long run (Argyris, 1993). Good listener- the ability to listen to others is important. Failure to listen to others makes the leader miss very crucial information. In fire service terms, one should not be a prick and hence throwing away their position (Argyris, 1993). The sense of humor- a good fire office should possess some sense of humor. As much as it is important, humor can either anchor or break a team. A leader should always know how to balance (Alimo-Metcalfe, 2001). Conclusion In conclusion, leadership is about attainments of goals and the leaders and followers all share the common goals. Leadership should be an event that is transactional between the followers and their leaders, and that is why it is being referred to as a process. The fact that leadership is a process justifies that a leader can be affected by his or her follower either negatively or positively. Good leadership should not be a one-way or linear path. A good leadership is an interactive two-way event between a leader and his or her follower. Leadership lacks restrictions to specific persons, but it is open to everyone. Most people, however, abuse leadership. They do so by using their followers regardless of their feelings and opinions. They deprive their followers off the rights to be led. Some even deprived their followers economically. List of references Alimo-Metcalfe, B., & Alban-Metcalfe, R. J., 2001, ‘The development of a new transformational leadership,’ Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, Vol.74, No.1, pp.1-27. Arlene, H., 2001, ‘A dramaturgical analysis of charismatic leader discourse, Journal of Organizational Change Management,’ Vol.14, No.3, pp.253-265. Argyris, C., 1993, ‘Education for leading-learning, Organizational Dynamics,’ Vol.2, No.3, pp.5-17. Arnot, D., 1999, Corporate cults:The insidious lure of the all-consuming organization, New York: Amacom. Barach, J. A., & Eckhardt, D. R., 1996, Leadership and the job of the executive, Westport, CT: Quorum Books. Benniis, W. & Nanus, T., 1985, Leaders: The Strategies for Taking Charge, New York: Harper and Row. Lewin, K., Lippit, R., White, R.K., 1939, ‘Patterns of aggressive behavior in experimentally created social climates,’ Journal of Social Psychology, Vol.10, pp.271-301. Northouse, P. G., 2010, Leadership (pp. 2-32), Boston, Harvard Business School Press. Stech, E. L., 2004, Psychodynamic approach. In P.G. Northouse (Eds), Leadership: Theory and Practice, 3rd Edition, London: Sage. Schriesheim, C.A., 1982, The Great High Consideration: High Initiating Structure Leadership Myth: Evidence on its Generalizability, The Journal of Social Psychology, April 1982, 116, 221-228. Tannenbaum, A.S., Schmidt, W.H., 1973, How to Choose a Leadership Pattern. Harvard Business Review Reprint, 36, May-June, 4-12. U.S. Army, 1983, Military Leadership. Field Manual 22-100, Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. Winston & Patterson, 2006, ‘An Integrative Definition of Leadership,’ International Journal of Leadership, Vol.1, pp. 6-66. Yukl, G., 2006, Leadership in organizations (6th ed.), Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson-Prentice Hall. Zaleznik, A., 1977, Managers and leaders: Are they different? Harvard Business Review, May-June, pp. 67-78. Reproduced in Jeffrey Sonnenfeld (1995) Concepts of Leadership, Aldershot: Dartmouth Publishing Co. Ltd. Read More

It is, however, difficult to establish the objectives that a leader and his follower coalesce around, however, the effort of coming up with the objectives is worth the efforts (Yukl 2006). This implies that a leader who is willing to expend efforts and time in establishing goals that are appropriate will achieve the goals easily and efficiently if there is teamwork. Goals that are leader-imposed are less effective and harder than the goals developed by the entire team. According to the research work done by Leadership South West, currently, leadership in among the issues that are most talked about.

It is getting hard contemporary to have a newspaper, television or a conference that does not talk about leadership at any given moment. For instance, 2003, the website, Amazon.com made a revelation of 11, 686 search results for the word leadership. Leadership as a topic, therefore, has interested a lot of people over the years. As much as it has been recognized by a good number of people that leadership is fundamental, there has been a time memorial mystery about what the definition of leadership really is.

Stogdill (1974), in his review of research on leadership, indicated that the definitions of leadership are as many as the people who have tried defining the concept. Leadership reflects a construct that is complex and which is open to interpretations that are subjective. The definitions of leadership, however, vary because each person has his or her personal life experience that in one way or the other shape their understanding and perception of leadership. A good leader, however, should be a servant leader.

A servant leader refers to the kind of leaders who opt to serve their followers or rather their subordinates. Servant leaders lead by examples. They do not depend on their minors to everything that should have done. A servant leader understands that his or obligations are geared towards offering services to the followers and not the vice-versa. The definition of leadership also to a great extent depends on the theoretical stance of an individual. Researchers at Tavistock Institute indicated that there are the psychological factors that give encouragements to people motivating them to be followers or leaders.

They referred to the model as the psychological approach. Leadership and being a follower is also cognitively motivated. The cognitive being offers a big influence on the stance people takes in line with leadership. The cognitive refers to the inner self of an individual. The psychological bases its bait on the need to know and understand others as well as the self. Through such understandings, an individual may be in a position of understanding the leadership transactional nature between the followers and their leaders.

(Stech 2004). In a nut shell, therefore, it’s worth indicating that leaders fulfill a lot of roles. The roles include sense making, follower purpose and security offering. Those benefits or reasons hence make followers want to remain followers, and leaders hence remain leading. According to Northousse (2004), there are four fundamental themes in the perception of leadership. The four identified themes are as follows: first, leadership is, to start with, a process. Second, there is influence involved in leadership, second, there must be a group context involved in leadership and finally, there must be the attainment of goals.

Leadership is precisely a phenomenon that is complex, and that touches on several fundamental social, organizational and personal processes. It is based on the influencing process, and people are hence motivated to work targeting the goals of the group. The motivation is not coerced but rather, it is a personal motivation (Northousse 2004). The meaning and definition of leadership that an individual steaks to should hence be a matter dependent on the individual’s choice regarding initial predispositions, beliefs, and organizational situations.

Leadership and management are intertwined but closely interrelated.

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