The Authentic Leadership Style - Assignment Example

AUTHENTIC LEARDERSHIP The Authentic leadership style In the face of today’s ever changing business environment and the day to day business challenges that the business face, there is a growing demand for a far more genuine and unique leadership style.The Authentic leadership style is a way to relate originally to oneself and others. The authentic leadership is meant to create a meaning, art of trust and much-needed confidence among the many followers in an organization (Auerbach, 2012). The today business world is in need of a more human method of relating to one another which in turn will automatically create individual and organizational purpose. The today business world faces numerous challenges; the economic world is actually characterized by the never unknown transformations of new technologies, ever growing and changing market demands and the global competition (Gardner & Schermerhorn Jr, 2004). There is a high level of uncertainties and complexities facing the workers in their various workplaces, and the job roles are becoming very ambiguous and the originations have found a new companion called change. The leaders who look at company matters for their personal gains instead of considering the organizational well-being usually because deep resignation, general mistrust amongst the employees and the citizens, in general. In this unpredictable business environment, demand for new original leadership is rising very fast. The lack of the public trust in the business world always has some consequences which are very dangerous to the many who enjoy the market system and that is why the development of unique set of business leaders who treat the very people who work for them as the backbone of their business and the key to success rather than some capital incentives for doing business is actually very essential (Dent, Higgins, & Wharff, 2005). Many people are going round looking for the actual meaning of their working life, looking for the leaders who can restore the much-needed trust, the ever needed confidence, optimism and the much-envied resilience. The society in the today’s world is in the constant need of innovative and sustained performance which is based on the much needed ethical values that usually go beyond the daily financial gains. The secret of leading the ever growing leading business organizations firmly lies in the slow development and some adoption and integration of authentic leaders who can actually give their employees the much needed guidance and together march on for a shared vision, and the authentic leaders who are competent enough to always facilitate their follower’s authentic self- expression (Gardner, Cogliser, Kelly, & Dickens, 2011). Transformation in any organization always begins with trust since it is always the essential link between a leader and the ones they lead. The innovation cannot survive in any organization without trust but at times it needs more than trust it actually needs confidence. The key to creating the trustworthy atmospheres in business organization is authentic leadership since the leaders are distinguished not only by their unique techniques or styles but also by their integrity and savvy. Integrity is a basic consistency between very personal beliefs, organizational aims and the working behavior (Gardner, Lowe, Moss, Mahoney, & Cogliser, 2010). It is very clear that that leadership always rests on values, that commitment among employees can only be mobilized by leaders who themselves have strong commitments and who preach what they believe and actually practice what they believe but the should actually know what they are doing. A Savvy leader automatically makes authentic leader, a credible resource that inspires trust and confidence among the people he is leading, someone worth following into the uncertainties of change. Characteristics of Authentic Leaders Authenticity is actually a concept that has been used for a very long time and it was mostly used in the Greek philosophy and as well in the work of the famous Heidegger and Sartre where the original development of self and others in a place of work was actually central. Growth to Authentic leadership is described in the recent research as a transformative and it includes the following characteristic: the authentic leader has the unique ability to view issues from a unique perspective, grasp the rules involved and decide the best methods of action for all. Authentic leaders always participate in the day to day activities of the organization and wait for the employees to act on decisions that the leaders themselves cannot handle, the leaders should always lead by the much needed example, the authentic leaders always exude the unique influence, they act fast on whatever small lead that they have and always have ways and means to make their troops share their unique vision and values, this ability enables them to have a compact and trusted workforce and also easily move them to action (Cooper, Scandura, & Schreisheim, 2005). Authentic leaders always have the unique ability to some real and long lasting changes that are always felt around the world, the impact that they create makes it very easy for someone to separate the real leaders from some actual imposters impact, the authentic leaders have the rare ability to manifest someIntegrity to their troops, the famous and unique leaders such as Adolf Hitler. Kant’s Categorical Imperative The European Philosopher Immanuel Kant argued that we as people should always do what is right morally despite the consequences thereafter. The Authentic Leader should use Kant’s philosophy when making ethical decision. An Authentic Leader should be able to reveal the defect of a product to any potential customer, even though, the act will automatically cost him the sale, but it will be the best ethical course of action (Craig, 1953). Through this action, the act of trust will have been created by the organization and the customers since the customers will have the confidence that they will get the best of services from that organization. The act of saying the truth no matter the effect on sales will make the workers believe that the leader means very well for them, and he is very honest. One of the most common characteristic of Authentic leaders is one who can win the trust of the people he is leading and once he becomes very honest with them and treats them equally then he will automatically have both the trust and belief of the people he leads and the potential customers that he serves. By a leader actually using Kant’s categorical imperative philosophy in his business activities he will have implemented the basic character of a authentic leaders since the Authentic leadership actually bases it foundation in creating meaning, trust and confidence among the many followers. The Authentic leaders live in the heart of people around them for a very long time. They can contribute and to leave a mark on the people around them, they are constantly building their legacies and adding a deep value to everyone that they deal with and hence the steps they take them normally leave the world a better place in the process of sharing their beliefs. References Auerbach, S. (2012). School Leadership for Authentic Family and Community Partnerships. New York: Routledge. . Cooper, C. D., Scandura, T. A., & Schreisheim, C. A. (2005). Scholarly leadership of the study of leadership: A review of The Leadership Quarterlys second decade, 2000–2009. The Leadership Quartely , 473-493. Craig, J. E. (1953). Meeting the Ethical Challenges of Leadership: Casting Light Or Shadow. United States Of America: SAGE. Dent, E. B., Higgins, M. E., & Wharff, D. M. (2005). Spirituality and leadership: An empirical review of definitions, distinctions, and embedded assumptions. The Leardership Quality , 625-653. Gardner, W. L., & Schermerhorn Jr, J. R. (2004). Unleashing Individual Potential:: Performance Gains Through Positive Organizational Behavior and Authentic Leadership. Organizationa Dynamics , 270-281. Gardner, W. L., Cogliser, C. C., Kelly, D. M., & Dickens, M. P. (2011). Authentic leadership: A review of the literature and research agenda. The Leardership Quaterly , 1120-1145. Gardner, W. L., Lowe, K. B., Moss, T. W., Mahoney, K. T., & Cogliser, C. C. (2010). Scholarly leadership of the study of leadership: A review of The Leadership Quarterlys second decade, 2000–2009. The Leardership Quartely , 922-958. Read More