Reflecting On Leadership Complexity And Practice: Analysis And Discussion

Part 1

Introduction

Leadership can be defined as the ability of aperson to stand above the others and create a following among the different people (Northouse, 2015). It is a subjective term. Every leader has a special strategy of his own that differentiates him from the others. The strategies differ from each other by multiple factors like digitalization, changing regulations and financial markets and recruiting new employees in the organization. In this following report, the researcher has discussed leadership theories and has selected a leader who according to him is the ideal leader.

Mr. Charles Edward the managing director of XYZ Private Limited has been selected by the researcher as his ideal leader. The researcher has cited a detailed analysis on his selection of Mr. Charles Edwards as the leader who inspires him the most.

XYZ Private Limited is an exports company that deals in the export of quality electronic products to different places of the world. Mr. Charles Edwards is the operations manager of the company and is in charge of managing the operations of the company.

Leadership Traits and Behaviors

The researcher has identified some of the traits in the leader which makes him the ideal man to lead the operational heads of the mentioned organization. The traits are;

1. Emotional Stability- Charles Edward has been exceptional in creating the brand value of the company and he has the ability to tolerate frustration and stress. It is quite a remarkable achievement as because tolerating frustration and stress is very much difficult for a person of such stature. Mr. Edwards has the psychological capability to deal with pressure situation and handle tense situation in a positive manner.  
2. Social Boldness-The mentioned person has a tendency to take risks. The employees of the organization find him to be a person who is socially aggressive and have a certain quality in them that differentiates him from the others in the organization. The high emotional stamina helps him to achieve the desired results easily.
3. Enthusiasm-The mentioned leader is characterized of being an individual who is very much active, energetic and expressive. He treats every employee in the same way and before taking any major decision he consults the employees as well as the management. Moreover, he is very much optimistic about changes and minutely scrutinizes the training program to adapt to new changes.
4. Dominance-The leader is very much competitive and decisive in nature. He enjoys taking up new challenges and overcoming them. The open mildness and the strength in him segregate him from the others and make him the ideal leader who can lead the way to glory.
5. Communication-Communication is one of the key factors that make a person a successful leader (Nahavandi, 2016). Communication, in general, can be referred to the exchange or the implementation of the goal of the organization by different means like speaking, writing or by using some other medium. However to be successful as a great leader needs effective and well planned communication. The person mentioned here has the skill to effectively communicate with all the concerned persons of the organization as well as people outside the organization. Interacting effectively with different persons both in and out of the business has made Mr. Edward a perfectionist.
6. Self Control-Self Control is the ability of the person to control himself in any tough situations (Goleman, Boyatzis& McKee, 2013). Self-control brings self-confidence in him. Self Control is common among the leaders. Self-control has helped him to avoid the wrong way to achieve success and has always instilled in him a sense of satisfaction.

Apart from the above-mentioned traits, there are also some other traits like maturity, Team work, empathy and some other special characteristics that make him the best in the business(Fairhurst & Connaughton, 2014).

I have noticed some exceptional behavior from Mr. Edwards that has helped him to be at the peak of his work life. Some of his leadership behaviors are as follows;

1. Communicate Effectively-As mentioned earlier Mr. Edwards has a quality in him to effectively communicate with all the employees of the organization. He helps the employees to have a clear understanding of the goals that have been achieved or the goals that are needed to be achieved. There are many leaders who just explain the goals of the organization to the employees and make an abrupt ending to the conversation. But Mr. Edward does not stop here and rather he explains the ways and methods by which the goals are to be achieved. Employees depend on him and consult him at any point of time. As said earlier the operations manager always consults with the stakeholders, management and the employees of the organization before reaching any agreement.
2. Recognize the Developmental Requirements of Team Members-The main work of a leader is to identify the different developmental needs of the organization(Antonakis, 2017).I have personally observed that the manager takes special care to deduce the developmental needs of the employees of the organization.
3. Set Goals and Motivate the Team to Achieve the Result-Before the appointment of the new operations manager the mentioned organization was running in a loss due to some operational failures. The appointment of Mr. Edwards was a boon for the company as it experienced a positive growth in the next financial year. This was possible only because he formulates the goals of the team early in the beginning of the year to make sure that the employees are aware of the goals of the company well in advance. Such an advanced planning helps the employees as well as the organization to plan their works in advance which in turn leads to organizational efficiency (Tourish, 2014).
4. Provide Enthusiastic Encouragement- Edwards encourages creative and innovative approaches to problem-solving. Recognizing the works of the employees and rewarding them on achievements helps the employees to get motivated and increases the organizational efficiency of the company (Lanaj, Johnson & Lee, 2016).

Power and Influence tactics of a leader involves the people moving from one area to the other (Daft, 2014). A leader must have the capability to use hard or soft tactics and influences to determine how well the employees accept the changes. The leaders use harder or softer tactics depending on the situation in the workplace (DuBrin, 2015). Harder tactics directly imply an order which must be followed by the people on which they are implied whereas the use of softer tactics in crisis situations can lead to delayed behavior within the employees (Gaddis&Foster, 2015). Some of the influence tactics used by The person have been carefully observed and noted by me;

1. Legitimating-The leader mentioned here tries to persuade others that the request made by them is something the employees must accept and comply with.
2. The coalition-The mentioned Operations Manager sometimes influences the others in the business unit to persuade the people on whom the laws are to be applied and also uses their support to make sure that they agree with the decision of the management.
3. Exchange- Edwards tries to influence the others by promising them of healthy rewards to make sure that the policies formulated by the management of the organization are accepted by the organization.
4. Inspirational Appeals- Edwards makes inspirational appeals to the employees of the organization to motivate them and make them dedicate them to the organization.
5. Consultation-As said earlier Mr. Edwards always consults all the concerned members of the organization including the employees before taking any decisions related to the organization. Consulting different persons helps to make the decision perfect and flawless in nature.

Leaders always need to change their strategy to make sure that they are ready for drastic changes in the workplace (Avolio &Yammarino, 2013). A leader must have the capability and fluidity to adapt to new changes as because failure to adapt to changes will spell doom for the organization. My personal experience has revealed a number of strategic changes made by Mr. Edwards while managing the operations of the mentioned organization. Some of the strategic changes that help to adapt new changes are;

1. Creating Fresh Mindset-Creation of a new mindset is one of the best strategic changes that have been undertaken by the operations manager(Dumdum, Lowe & Avolio, 2013). Giving away traditional changes and accepting new changes is the best way to make an organization efficient and updated. Mr. Edwards is never overconfident in his decisions and is always open to changes that are better for the improvement of the business.
2. Converting the insight into Action-Conversion of the insights of the company to original action requires a huge effort and consumes a lot of time (Breevaart et al. 2014). The extended time period is the result of the long decision-making process that involves the consultation with the different stakeholders, management and the employees of the organization (Zhu, Avolio & Walumbwa, 2016).
3. Sustaining the Change-The change made by the leader is termed as successful when the change is sustainable in nature and its effects do not fade away easily. Achieving the sustainability helps the organization to make it one of the best in the industry(Kark& Shamir, 2013).

Interview

I conducted a personal interview of Mr. Charles Edwards to get a more clear picture of what makes him an ideal leader and assessing whether my personification of Mr. Edwards was correct or not.

Date: 6/8/2017

Time-12 PM

Observation

Place- XYZ Corporate Office

It was a nice sunny summer day and I was excited on the prospect of interviewing my ideal leader Mr. Charles Edward. Both of us arrived at the pre decided time in the conference room and exchanged pleasantries among ourselves. After some preliminary formal exchanges, I began with the interview.

I went on asking him one question after the other on different things and issues on which his answers were clear and simple.  In the beginning I asked him about the values he share on which he described that the biggest value he possesses is his integrity. Honesty and trust form the pillars to his success as a leader. He believes his actions to be justified and transparent and believes that he takes no wrong approach in any of his actions as an operations manager. These qualities help him to highlight the right path to the employees and lead them to the road to success. Next I asked about whether he gains any commitment from the team. He replied that he gains commitment from his teams by persuading them to set up different personalities as well as team based objectives that help in both their personal and team improvements. Teamwork and setting up of goals makes the employees of the organization efficient enough to make them future leaders. Achieving the results of the organization helps to attain profits and gain a competitive advantage in the market.

A leader is after all a normal human being and every human being fails one time or the other was his first answer when I asked him whether he has been unsuccessful to complete a task or has failed in his attempt to complete the task. Leaders can fail anytime given the tremendous pressure taken by them. Factors that are outside the control of the leaders can also be the causes of failure. He cited an example where he was just appointed as the senior operations manager and was given the task to supervise the products that were to be transported out from the company. He failed to manage the work successfully and the company suffered a small loss. Though he was new to the system he took the full responsibility and decided to rectify his mistake in the future tasks. He consulted the senior managers and also the employees related to the operations. On asking him about his greatest strength he cited out that the greatest strength is the employees’ belief and his ability to inspire the team. The strength helps him to effectively achieve the goals of the organization. He always tries to complete the objective through relationship building, being passionate about his goals and many more such related factors. On the other hand according to him his greatest weakness was to provide tasks to the employees which can be done by him efficiently. But he says that he is helpless as because being the operations manager he is already stuffed with huge work. Allocating more work for him will certainly be a huge burden. But gradually he is trying to limit such weakness by taking different courses on pressure management.

Power and Influence Tactics

When I asked him about his acceptance to the employees he said that “I have just mentioned to you in an earlier question that belief of the employees is one of my biggest strength. Thus I think that answers all about by acceptance to the employees of the organization. Rewarding the employees is one of the top agendas of Mr. Edward. He always rewards the employees of his department with benefits and recognitions. He believes such initiatives help to motivate both the employees who receive the rewards as well as the employees who do not get any reward. Communication forms an essential element to ensure a positive performance from the organization. He meets with the management officials of the organization as well as the employees of the organization every week to discuss about the goals, objectives, achievements, strategies of the organization. He also discuss the problems that the employees face in the workplace and try to find a solution to their problems.

After this I also asked him on how he deals in conflict situations as Conflict situation often arises in different circumstances. There are problems when any decision is taken or there are problems with different laws and policies of the organization. Primarily he always tend to take a soft approach while dealing with such situations but sometimes when the situation goes out of hand he does not think twice of applying a stoic approach to the unjust demands of the employees. Motivating a team is one of the greatest challenges that he faces in his work life. He said that he finds out the factors that may act as individual motivation for the employees and then makes them understand about the benefits of performing the tasks. Having a constructive mindset helps him to perform the following work easily and effectively.  

I ended my interview after all these questions and thanked a lot to the interviewee to compromise his precious time and help me to conduct the interview. The interview took 45 minutes to complete and gained an extensive knowledge about the person. My knowledge about my leader was overall correct as because the qualities that I observed in him were confirmed by the man himself.

Critical Analysis

The complexity leadership Theory was introduced by Marion and Uhl- Bien (2001). The following theory is based upon the study and practice of organizational behavior(McCleskey, 2014). The researcher has used the complexity theory to analyze the interview process as well as the observation process.

 The theory is based on the study of the complex interacting systems. The theory is more complex than it actually seems(Van Knippenberg&Sitkin, 2013). It can be best defined as the large collection of simple, interacting units, endowed with the potential to evolve with time.

After analyzing the whole report I have recommended some measures for the person whom I think as the ideal leader of the organization to further sharpen his leadership skills. The recommendations are;

1. Following the procedures and adhering to the policies of the company-The person has a tendency to mix too much with the employees and share trade secrets with them to motivate them. This is a major weakness for them as because it is against the policies of the company. The policies of the company must be followed strictly which will make him one of the best leaders.
2. Submit to the authority of others-As said earlier the mentioned person is under the authority of the management and should make sure that he does not take any decisions without the prior consultation of the management. He must ensure to follow the rules and policies of the organization to keep his position stable.
3. Risk Reduction-The operations manager has the tendency to take unnecessary risks while undertaking the operations of the organization. The operations manager must not take such risks as such risks can hamper the future of the organization.
4. Commitment-Commitment is one of the main elements that must be kept at any cost by the mentioned operations manager of XYZ Company as because the leader is the person must be able to lead the other employees from the front. This will help the organization to achieve the goals of the organization.
5. Being Proactive-Edward needs to be proactive as because being the operations manager he has to ensure that he is always active and can accept challenging situations.
6. Resolving Conflict- Resolving the conflict situation is one of the main challenges of the organization as because the conflict in the workplace creates a disruption to the smooth flow of work.
7. Being hard in Challenging Situation-The operations manager of XYZ Ltd. is sometimes soft in dealing with the employees and implementing the policies of the organization. Being the operations manager of the mentioned organization he has to take a tough stance. The employees may take undue advantage of his soft nature which will cause serious problems to the organization.

Conclusions

The report prepared by the researcher has been able to meet the aims and objectives of the researcher to assess the goals of the organization. After a thorough analysis of the report, the readers will have a clear idea about leadership and the traits and behaviors of a leader. The interview taken by the researcher will help the future researcher to get an idea of how to conduct an interview with an eminent business personality. The report has also helped the researcher to formulate his own set of individual leadership characteristics and judge himself on different parameters.

Leadership Strategy Change

References

Antonakis, J. (2017). The nature of leadership. Sage publications.

Avolio, B. J., &Yammarino, F. J. (Eds.). (2013). Introduction to, and overview of, transformational and charismatic leadership. In Transformational and Charismatic Leadership: The Road Ahead 10th Anniversary Edition (pp. xxvii-xxxiii). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Braun, S., Peus, C., Weisweiler, S., & Frey, D. (2013). Transformational leadership, job satisfaction, and team performance: A multilevel mediation model of trust. The Leadership Quarterly, 24(1), 270-283.

Breevaart, K., Bakker, A., Hetland, J., Demerouti, E., Olsen, O. K., &Espevik, R. (2014). Daily transactional and transformational leadership and daily employee engagement. Journal of occupational and organizational psychology, 87(1), 138-157.

Brown, M. M. (2016). Reflective Supervision.

Carver, C. L., & Klein, C. S. (2016). Variations in Form and Skill: Supporting Multiple Orientations to Reflective Thinking in Leadership Preparation. International Journal of Educational Leadership Preparation, 11(2), 21-39.

Christensen, L. J., Mackey, A., & Whetten, D. (2014). Taking responsibility for corporate social responsibility: The role of leaders in creating, implementing, sustaining, or avoiding socially responsible firm behaviors. The Academy of Management Perspectives, 28(2), 164-178.

Daft, R. L. (2014). The leadership experience. Cengage Learning.

DuBrin, A. J. (2015). Leadership: Research findings, practice, and skills. Nelson Education.

Dumdum, U. R., Lowe, K. B., & Avolio, B. J. (2013). A meta-analysis of transformational and transactional leadership correlates of effectiveness and satisfaction: An update and extension. In Transformational and Charismatic Leadership: The Road Ahead 10th Anniversary Edition (pp. 39-70). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Fairhurst, G. T., & Connaughton, S. L. (2014). Leadership: A communicative perspective. Leadership, 10(1), 7-35.

Gaddis, B. H., & Foster, J. L. (2015). Meta?analysis of dark side personality characteristics and critical work behaviors among leaders across the globe: Findings and implications for leadership development and executive coaching. Applied Psychology, 64(1), 25-54.

Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R. E., & McKee, A. (2013). Primal leadership: Unleashing the power of emotional intelligence. Harvard Business Press.

Kark, R., & Shamir, B. (2013). The dual effect of transformational leadership: Priming relational and collective selves and further effects on followers. In Transformational and Charismatic Leadership: The Road Ahead 10th Anniversary Edition (pp. 77-101). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Kim, D., Jang, S., & Adler, H. (2015). What drives café customers to spread eWOM? Examining self-relevant value, quality value, and opinion leadership. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 27(2), 261-282.

Lanaj, K., Johnson, R. E., & Lee, S. M. (2016). Benefits of transformational behaviors for leaders: A daily investigation of leader behaviors and need fulfillment. Journal of Applied Psychology, 101(2), 237.

McCleskey, J. A. (2014). Situational, transformational, and transactional leadership and leadership development. Journal of Business Studies Quarterly, 5(4), 117.

Nahavandi, A. (2016). The Art and Science of Leadership -Global Edition. Pearson.

Northouse, P. G. (2015). Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage publications.

Oude Groote Beverborg, A., Sleegers, P. J., Endedijk, M. D., & van Veen, K. (2015). Towards sustaining levels of reflective learning: how do transformational leadership, task interdependence, and self-efficacy shape teacher learning in schools?. Societies, 5(1), 187-219.

Tourish, D. (2013). The dark side of transformational leadership: A critical perspective. Development and Learning in Organizations, 28(1).

Tourish, D. (2014). Leadership, more or less? A processual, communication perspective on the role of agency in leadership theory. Leadership, 10(1), 79-98.

Van Knippenberg, D., &Sitkin, S. B. (2013). A critical assessment of charismatic—Transformational leadership research: Back to the drawing board?. Academy of Management Annals, 7(1), 1-60.

Zhu, W., Avolio, B. J., & Walumbwa, F. O. (2016). ” Moderating role of follower characteristics with transformational leadership and follower work engagement”: Corrigendum. Group & Organization Management.