Discuss About The Competences Of Sustainable Construction?
Leadership encompasses a research area that involves practical skill regarding the individual’s ability to lead other individuals or an entire organization. There are various viewpoints regarding leadership- Eastern and Western approach. The academic environments in US put down the definition of leadership as social influence where a person can help other people in achieving a particular task. From a European perspective, it is held that a leader cannot be moved with the help of any communitarian goal but by the use of personal power. The idea of leadership is based on individual quality and can be termed as “trait theory of leadership”. Talent, skills and physical characteristics are the three attributes that propel a person to the position of power (Bavik et al. 2017). A good leader is integral to the success of an organization and their main objective is to ensure stability in a ever-changing world. The best leaders knows that change is inevitable and they are flexible in their way of working.
Once upon a time leaders used to believe that strict control was necessary for the effective running of an organization. A rigid organizational hierarchy makes some people feel empowered whereas it makes the people who are at the bottom feel weak and unprivileged. Old assumptions regarding power is not valid in today’s world. Control and rigidity does not produce good results and only creates an atmosphere of fear. An effective leader shares power with other people and searches ways that would increase the brainpower of an organization and keeps everyone engaged in an organization (Carnes, Houghton and Ellison 2015). He sees to it that everyone is committed within the organizational structure. An ideal leader is not a controller but will act as a facilitator who would help other people to do their best and remove the obstacles and giving people what they need. It will also provide learning opportunity and help in providing feedback. The financial basis relevant to today’s economy lays more stress on information as compared to the asset of land and building (Daft 2014). Human capital in today’s world is becoming more important and it increases the power in regard to the employees. According to Israeli president Shimon Peres idea is becoming more important as compared to the materials. In yesteryears when a worker used to work for eight hours within a day then the traditional system of control used to work but in today’s world success relies to a large extent on the intellectual capacity of the workers. The role of a leader is to enable people so that they carry out their power in the effective manner. Vineet Nayar who is the CEO of HCL Technologies has said that they shifted the policy of the company and used to give more importance to the employees instead of the customers (Finkelstein, Costanza and Goodwin 2017). He made these relevant changes when the company was losing some of their best employees in the hands of their competitors. It proved to be highly effective and paved the path for the empowerment of employees.
Social media has blurred boundaries within an organization and created a hyperconnected world. Collaboration takes the lead in this kind of world instead of competition. Those leaders who are successful makes use of ideas and talent from different kinds of boundaries. Some companies provides encouragement to internal competition however those leaders who are successful put more emphasis on teamwork and co-operation. Those teams that are self-directed are instrumental in spreading knowledge within an organization. Effective leaders also collaborate with suppliers, customers and universities (Fleming and Spicer 2014). A trend is gradually growing that companies conceive of themselves as a team together and create value jointly instead of thinking of themselves as autonomous entities that is engaging itself in a competition with that of others. Collaboration creates the path for great challenges in the area of leadership as compared to the old concept that revolved around the concept of competition. Leaders should be able to develop their collaborative mindset and they should create an environment that facilitates teamwork and fosters the elements of mutual support. Leaders know how to open the lines of communication and they use their influence instead of that of authority. They take such steps that would stop harmful politics and know how to surge things in the forward direction.
Most of the organizations in today’s world is built on the assumption of uniformity and specialization. People who think along the same lines are grouped together into a particular department. Homogenous groups find it a lot easier to communicate and understand the needs of one another. However, uniform thinking can prove to be a disaster in rapidly growing world that is becoming more diverse everyday. Diversity in an organization can attract human talent and help in developing the mindset of an organization. The significance of diversity within the workforce is immense and proves to be an important contributing factor for the growth of firm. (Galanaki and Papalexandris 2017). Employees of different age and ethnic background can bring their distinctive perspective to the workforce and the different experiences helps the firm to work in a better manner. Another shift in the workplace can be seen in the shift of the position of leader from that of hero to that of the hardworking leader who works behind the scene and plays a crucial role in building a strong company. An ideal leader supports others instead of boasting about his own abilities and success (Tremblay 2017).
Management organizes a structure in order to achieve a plan and fills up the structure with a lot of employees. It develops policies and procedures that would help in directing the employees and monitor different implementation tools (Hollander 2013). Leadership on the other hand is concerned with the communication of vision and in helping to develop a shared culture and core values that would be able to lead the future state. The vision lays bare the destination and the values prove to be of great help in defining the journey so that everyone moves along the same direction. Leadership should provide such learning ability that will help people to broaden their minds and so that people can take up responsibility for their deeds (Garcia et al. 2014). An ideal leader will always encourage and inspire people so that they get motivated to pursue the right path. The employees in turn find new ways that would help them to meet their goal. The difference brings to light a logical management against that of a leadership approach. Management lays emphasis on getting the best results out of the people in order to achieve the production goals. Services are given to customers taking into consideration the time factor. Leadership lays stress in investing in people so that they become energized to achieve their target. Management is based on formal authority but leadership is rather dependent on trust along with that of personal influence (Rupprecht et al. 2016). In case of an authority relationship both the person in the commanding position and that of the subordinate agree to the fact that the higher authority can instruct the employee to start working from 7.30 am otherwise his wages will be deducted. Leadership will not use force but it will rely on influence. Leadership would attract people and motivate them with the help of purpose (Tabassi et al. 2016).
Concept of leadership has undergone evolution over time. Leadership is a reflection of larger society and different theories act as attitudes and help in understanding the larger world. (Gleditsch, Cederman and Wucherpfennig 2017). There are six approaches that are that of the Great Man Theory, Trait Theory, Behaviour Theory, Contingency Theory, Influence Theory and Relational Theories. The earliest times had a notion that admired the concept of heroic leadership along with the natural abilities that spoke of power. In the words of the trait theory, an ideal leader should have energy that would separate them from that of non-leaders. It was held that if the traits were identified then the action of the leaders could be predicted along such a line. In the 1950’s emphasis was laid on the actions of leader as compared to who he was. It emphasized what the leaders did while being on the job like that of management activities. The study focused on how the effective leaders could be set apart from the ones who were ineffective. The Contingency theory considered the situational variables that had a great influence on leadership behaviours (Hollander 2013). Contingency theory held that leaders could analyse a situation and change their behavior in order to improve the effectiveness of leadership. Influence theories laid focus on charismatic leadership that relies to a great extent on the unique personality of leader. The relational theories focused on how leader and follower interacted with each other. An important aspect of leadership revolves around that of interpersonal relationship. Emotional intelligence is an important quality that a leader should have and takes into consideration one’s personal courage (Mao et al.2017).
Leadership influence and change and takes account of personal responsibility so that things happen. Leadership can be defined as a relationship between that of leaders and followers who want to bring about real changes that will reflect their shared purpose. The changing world wants a new concept of leadership. New reality wants the shift from that of stability to that of change and from that of control to that of empowerment (Long et al. 2016). The leadership “soft skills” complement that of the “hard skills” in relation to that of management. Both leadership and management is integral for the successful running of an organization. Leadership and management depict two different process. Management tries in maintaining of stability within an organization, leadership on the other hand is instrumental in creating a vision for coming future. It designs the social architecture that can shape the culture (Morrison 2014). A research has pointed out that that a positive outlook is an extremely important trait in a leader and cheerful attitude is integral in case of effective leadership.
I have deduced from the pioneering work of Daft on “The Leadership Experience” that an ideal leader in today’s world would not depend on control and rigidity. He knows how important sharing power is and he will act as the facilitator within the workforce. Idea is held to be more important as compared to that of material in the complex world of today. I learnt that within an organization how important it is to conceive the employees as being more important as compared to that of the customers. It is the employees who accounts to a great deal for the profit of an organization and proves to be crucial for the annual turnover of a company. I learnt the significance of collaboration and that a leader will be more effective if he is hard working instead of being held as the hero who just carries an aura about him. His actions will set an example within the organization and his subordinates will be able to follow in his footsteps and work for the organization. He should be able to support others and not boast about his achievements. He should not be vainglorious but rather set a noble example in the organization that will inspire others to emulate him. By achieving these yardstick, a leader will be truly successful and will be able to create such changes in the company that will surely prove to be crucial for the company in the long run. A great leader knows how to invest in people and will follow the relational theory. I learnt that an ideal leader would be able to steer the company toward change rather than stability. He will not try to control but will try to empower other people. The soft skills in relation to leadership should be able to complement the hard skills of management. I think that the most important trait of leadership would be to create such a vision that would inspire others to perform in a better manner.
References:
Bavik, Y.L., Tang, P.M., Shao, R. and Lam, L.W., 2017. Ethical leadership and employee knowledge sharing: Exploring dual-mediation paths. The Leadership Quarterly.
Carnes, A., Houghton, J.D. and Ellison, C.N., 2015. What matters most in leader selection? The role of personality and implicit leadership theories. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 36(4), pp.360-379.
Daft, R.L., 2014. The leadership experience. Cengage Learning.
Finkelstein, L.M., Costanza, D.P. and Goodwin, G.F., 2017. Do your high potentials have potential? The impact of individual differences and designation on leader success. Personnel Psychology.
Fleming, P. and Spicer, A., 2014. Power in management and organization science. Academy of Management Annals, 8(1), pp.237-298.
Galanaki, E. and Papalexandris, N., 2017. Demographic Challenges for the Future Business Leader: Evidence from a Greek Survey.
Garcia, M., Duncan, P., Carmody-Bubb, M. and Ree, M.J., 2014. You have what? Personality! Traits that predict leadership styles for elementary principals. Psychology, 5(3), p.204.
Gleditsch, K.S., Cederman, L.E. and Wucherpfennig, J., 2017. The Diffusion of Inclusion: An Open Polity Model of Ethnic Power Sharing. Comparative Political Studies.
Hollander, E.P., 2013. Organizational leadership and followership. Social Psychology at Work (Psychology Revivals): Essays in Honour of Michael Argyle, p.69.
Long, S., Ng, E.H., Downing, C. and Nepal, B., 2016. THE EFFECT OF IMPEDED INFORMATION SHARING AND TRANSPARENCY ON POWER DIFFERENTIALS AND ORGANIZATIONAL DYSFUNCTION.
Mao, J.Y., Chiang, J.T.J., Zhang, Y. and Gao, M., 2017. Humor as a Relationship Lubricant: The Implications of Leader Humor on Transformational Leadership Perceptions and Team Performance. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, p.1548051817707518.
Morrison, J.L., 2014. Daft, Richard L. The Leadership Experience . Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning Press.(2014). 507 pp. ISBN: 978-1-4354-6285-4. Paperback 246.99,eBook 142.49.
Rupprecht, E.A., Kueny, C.R., Shoss, M.K. and Metzger, A.J., 2016. Getting What You Want: How Fit Between Desired and Received Leader Sensitivity Influences Emotion and Counterproductive Work Behavior. Journal of occupational health psychology, 21(4), p.443.
Tabassi, A.A., Roufechaei, K.M., Ramli, M., Bakar, A.H.A., Ismail, R. and Pakir, A.H.K., 2016. Leadership competences of sustainable construction project managers. Journal of Cleaner Production, 124, pp.339-349.
Tremblay, M., 2017. Sharing power: women, parliament, democracy. Routledge.
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