Discuss about the Impact of Perception on Leadership Effectiveness.
Perception is defined as the way something is understood, interpreted or regarded. In corporations, perception of managers, employees and leaders influence the effectiveness and culture of the working environment (Witt, 2011). The perception of leaders is the way they interpret their experience and take business decisions. Perception is a difficult part of human behaviour, and it is necessary that managers understand that different people have different perceptions. Perception of a leader matter because it directly influences his/her leadership style and it also influences the business decisions taken by him. In a logical and rational world, everyone will analyse different leadership traits and arrive at a balanced and fair judgement. However, in reality, people live in a subjective and emotional world in which one or two traits stand out than others (Johnson & Covello, 2012). These traits influence overall effectiveness of leaders and their decisions. The purpose of this essay is to analyse how perception influences leadership effective. Further, the essay will discuss what actions can be taken by a leader to improve the perceived leadership effectiveness.
The personality of a leader plays a crucial role in the effectiveness of his/her leadership approach. The way a leader think, sense, believe and communicate with others directly influence his/her perception. The personality of a leader influences his/her controls, attitudes, and behaviour, and it influences his/her perception as well (Kaiser, LeBreton & Hogan, 2015). Both attitude and perception of a leader matters because they play an imperative role in forming leadership style. A leader assesses his/her leadership effective by analysing his/her intentions. However, others judge leadership effectiveness by evaluating the behaviour of a leader. Socrates, a Greek philosopher, guiding rule was “know thyself” which means a person should know himself. Knowing oneself is essential of a leader; however, the ability to understand and assess how others perceive a leader’s approach is a more powerful tool for improving leadership effectiveness (Tinney, 2011). The positive perception of employees regarding leaders is a vital element because studies have shown that stereotypes of leaders and how they influence others directly affect the perception of employees regarding such leader. For example, if a leader is seemed charismatic by its followers, the actions taken by such leaders are more likely to be interpreted as a sign of charisma. Based on this approach, the behaviour of a leader is less important than the perception of employees towards the leader because it directly influences the effectiveness of his/her leadership.
Employees’ perception towards a leader is important since it directly affects his/her leadership style. For example, if employees think that behaviour of a manager is not “leader like” than they are less likely to follow his/her directions. On the other hand, if the perception of a leader is positive and employees believe in his judgement than it positively influences his leadership effectiveness (Otara, 2011). Therefore, it shows that perception plays a crucial role in the perceived effectiveness of leadership. Similarly, perception of a leader towards his employees also influences his/her decisions. Generally, there are three major skills of effective leaders which include interpersonal skills, technical skill, and vision of the future. However, skill of perception is another crucial factor for improving the effectiveness of a leadership approach. For a leader, having the right perception is a significant skill for the effectiveness of leadership style. Leaders have to understand that perception is often portrayed through communication in any corporation either small or big which makes it is a vital tool for managers (Agote, Aramburu & Lines, 2016). A manager can have honest concerns and best intentions towards his/her workers, but lack of communication of such intentions can result in negatively affecting the perception of employees regarding the leader (De Vries, Bakker-Pieper & Oostenveld, 2010). A leader has to carefully communication his/her positive intentions towards employees through communication or actions in order to ensure that workers understand his/her vision, and they maintain a positive perception regarding his/her leadership effectiveness.
Cohen (2015) stated that perception is reality for leaders and it has a substantial influence on their leadership styles. Often, it is not the effectiveness of a leader’s decisions that influence his/her subordinate, but the way leader is perceived has a substantial influence on the followers. There is a general tendency of relating leaders to the success and failure of an organisation; therefore, it also influences the perception of subordinated towards a leader and his/her leadership style. Generally, the leaders in successful organisations are perceived as effective as well and vice versa. On the other hand, a leader’s perception of its employees also affects his/her decision in the everyday operations. Stereotyping plays a crucial role in the perception of a leader, and it influences his/her decisions as well. Many times, leaders use stereotypes while interacting with employees in order to fill the gap between information to create a positive relationship between them. However, stereotyping can negatively affect employees’ perception towards a leader because he/she can be perceived as a racist or sexist that negatively affects his/her leadership style (Lord & Dinh, 2014). Therefore, leaders should not completely rely on their perception towards employees since it affects their management approach. Effective managers take calculative decisions rather than relying on perception or stereotypes.
Communication is a significant tool for a manger that is sensitive to the perception of employees. He/she can change a negative perception or reinforce a positive perception by using effective communication. A positive perception assists in making leaders more competent, productive and polyvalent along with nurturing diversity and establishing a positive culture in the enterprise (Vogelgesang, Leroy & Avolio, 2013). Following are different factors which are necessary to be evaluated by leaders in order to assess perception of employees regarding their leadership approach. Creating a positive objective perception is difficult because employees select, interprets and organise information directly from their internal awareness and senses. Leaders have to understand that workers create a perception regarding leadership effectiveness by a given managerial decision or action. Managers also require understanding that each has a different framework of reference which includes both internal and external factors (Joo, 2010). Therefore, interpretation of their behaviour depends upon a number of factors which are not related to the immediate situation. While analysing the perception of employees, recognition of beliefs, attitudes, and values of employees are also necessary since they are crucial factors which affects perception of people. Managers can use this information to assess employees’ perception towards the effectiveness of leadership and take corrective actions for positively influencing the perception.
Positive perception helps managers while interacting with a team or dealing with their issues. A team can be effectively handled if team members have a positive perception towards the leader. Success of leaders is based on the perception of their followers towards them and their leader approach (Trichas, Schyns, Lord & Hall, 2017). A leader can change the negative perception or reinforce the positive reinforcement by improving its leadership style which results in positively influencing perceived leadership effectiveness. Authentic communication is a key factor that can be used by managers to improve the perception of employees towards the leader. It is necessary that perception between employees and managers is proper and effective and both the parties understand the needs and issues of each other (Men & Stacks, 2013). It is observed in many organisations that a negative perception towards managers is a result of improper communication. In case the manager is unable to communicate with workers, they also face difficult in sharing their opinions and issues with managers. The subordinates are unable to comprehend the instructions provided by the leader due to incorrect perception (Hamdi & Rajablu, 2012). In either case, it becomes difficult for managers to handle employees properly that negatively affects their perceived leadership effectiveness. While communication with subordinates, managers have to pay attention to how their behaviour affects others. They are requiring paying attention to employees’ body language, speech, and behaviour in order to understand their perception.
Being empathetic is another crucial factor which improves the perception of employees towards a leader. Many studies have shown that managers are required to be empathetic in their approach while dealing with employees that enable them to understand and handle their issues (Ronay & Carney, 2013). Moreover, excellent listening skills help managers in shape up their perception towards employees as well. While interacting with subordinates, managers should ask for their feedback in order to understand their views about the issue. While including feedback and opinion of employees in the decision making, managers make them feel like a part of the process which improves their perception towards to the leader. Managers should keep a positive attitude in the workplace and while dealing with issues of employees since negative behaviour leads to creating a negative perception. For example, if an employee is not working up to expectations, managers can keep a positive attitude and take effective control of the situation the positive affects the employee perception towards the manager (Felfe & Schyns, 2010). However, in order to positively influence perception of employees, leaders should not accept each of their opinion and feedback. They should not just focus on making them happy by agreeing to each of their demands. They should carefully assess their opinions and use them if they are suitable for the organisation. In case a manager agrees to whatever workers demand than it creates a negative perception of him because employees started doubting his/her leadership skills (Klofstad, Anderson & Peters, 2012).
Managers should make changes to their behaviour after realising that employees have a negative perception towards their leadership style. They should take small steps towards changing their behaviour in order to transform employees’ perception regarding their leadership style (Alfes, Truss, Soane, Rees & Gatenby, 2013). For example, if a leader knows that having a strict behaviour is negatively affecting employees, and they are considering his/her actions as rude behaviour than he/she should use a polite leadership approach. The manager should take small steps by having small polite interactions with employees. In case an employee made a mistake, instead of shouting at him, the manager should interact with him to find a solution to the problem. These behavioural changes can transform the perception of workers towards the leadership approach of the manager. Cultural factors have a major impact on perception of employees, and a leader should analyse these cultural factors while dealing with them (Tsai, 2011). Managers should determine that each has different cultural factors. While interacting with them, the manager should be political and considerable regarding cultural changes and ensure that he/she is not insensitive towards an employee’s culture. These factors can be implemented by managers to assess the perception of subordinates and transforming the negative perception or reinforcing the positive perception toward their leadership approach. By carefully following these procedures, managers can improve the perceived leadership effectiveness.
In conclusion, perception plays a crucial role in influencing the effectiveness of leadership approach of a manager. The perception of employees has a substantial impact on the success of leadership approach of managers. There are a number of factors while negatively affects the perception of employees towards a leader such as insensitive behaviour, empathy, cultural knowledge, positive attitude, self-knowledge, lack of communication and others. The success of a leader depends upon the perception of his/her subordinates towards his/her leadership style. Therefore, it can be stated that perception has a significant impact on the effectiveness of a manager’s leadership approach. Leaders can take various steps in order to positively influence the perception of employees, such as improving communication with employees and showing empathy while interacting with them positively affect their perception. The manager should also remain positive, and he/she should behave appropriately with employees in case they make a mistake. A manager should also incorporate opinions and feedback from employees into decision-making process which makes them feel like a part of the company. However, complying with each demand of the workers also negatively affect the perception of them towards the leader. A leader can take these steps to improve perceived leadership effectiveness and overall success of his/her leadership approach.
References
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