Reflective Journal On Leadership For Emerald Group

Importance of leadership in an organization

Discuss about the Reflective Journal on Leadership for Emerald Group.

Leadership is one of the main vital functions of management as it helps in maximizing efficiency of the employees in an organization and thereby helps to achieve different organizational goals. I have realized that by effective leadership, an individual in the managerial position can provide direction and at the same time guide and manipulate different behavior and work of the team members of the employees (Renz 2016)These would help them to accomplish specific goals in a given situation. I have also understood that leadership is the ability of a manger to induce the employees under him to work with zeal and with confidence. By proper leadership, the managers can influence the behaviors of the others. It can be defined as the capacity to persuade the employees to recognize and acknowledge the company’s goals and objectives and help them to develop future visions so that they remain motivated and achieve the goals (Nahavandi 2016). According to Keith Davis, “Leadership is the ability to persuade others to seek defined objectives enthusiastically. It is the human factor which binds a group together and motivates it towards goals.”

In order to discuss the importance of leadership in a concern, the following actions can be discussed which if conducted properly by the managers will help in overall betterment of the organization. A leader is an individual who should start the work by the means of  communicating the policies a well as the plans to the subordinates from the work is initiated. Moreover the best action taken by a managerial leader according to me is to motivate the employees (Grohar-Murray 2016). I have found that motivation of the workers by economic as well as non economic rewards help the leader to get the best work from the subordinates. Moreover the guidance provided by the leaders help the subordinates to achieve their goals effectively and also help them strategically adapt to techniques which help them to accomplish the work faster. Moreover building a proper work environment by the managers by keeping human relationships in mind will help in achieving sound and stable growth of the organization. Moreover he should establish personal contact with the employees and hear their voices and concerns so that they feel respected and cared by the organization. I believe that coordination should be achieved by managers with the help of merging personal interests with organizational aims. This harmonization can be achieved with the help of proper and efficient coordination which should be the key motive of a leader (Finkelman 2015). I should also try to keep these points in my mind so that I get the chance to serve in the position; I can utilize this characteristics to engage my managerial and leadership skills and give the best production to the organization.

Actions to be taken by a manager for betterment of organization

I have understood the fact that in order to be effective, a managerial leader has to honor certain skills which will help them to master the actions mentioned in the previous paragraph. The important skills that I need to portray to be an effective leader is that I should be inspirational and continuously motivate others. At the same time, I will make sure that I should display high integrity as well as honesty as honesty which are the very important foundations for being a good human being (Goestch and Davis 2014). I will take every initiative to solve any problems or barriers faced by the employees so that they feel that there is someone who is guiding them and do not feel alone in the organization. This will develop their job satisfaction and will prevent development of stress. I will also take an extra initiative to develop proper communication skills to handle the important mediums of communication so that transparency in working procedures are maintained and there remain very little scope of miscommunications and mistrust among each other, one to one conversation, team meetings, email messages, blog post, Skype call should also e mastered by me. Another very important skill is building of relationships between the workers as this is very important for a smooth uninterrupted workplace (Hayton 2015). Developing mutual trust among the employees is extremely important as coordination and collaboration results in high productivity and makes the workplace friendly and harmonious. This will prevent ob stress and increase satisfaction. Other important kills that also need to be mastered by me are developing technical as well as professional practices  such as selling or accounting or designing software so that I can become experts in the field and thereby guide employees successfully. I should also master the skill of developing a strategic perspective and help in developing employees with enhancement of their skills and knowledge so that they can become the organizations’ next generation leaders.

Some of the important theories which have influenced my view and have helped me to develop a strategic approach to prepare myself are the trait theory, Behavioral theory, Likert theory and others. According to trait theory, individuals are born with different characteristics and some of the trait is appropriate to engage in leadership (Avolio and Yanmariono 2013). An efficient leader would be that individual who would have the right combination of traits. Some of the traits according to the skills which I need to develop in myself would be adaptable to situations, show alertness to social environment, being decisive, assertive, dependable, energetic, determined, self confident, understanding to tress and willing to assume responsibility. However the trait mentioned here which is dominant is not accepted by me as I believe that being dominant will have negative impact of the work and mentality of the employees (Fischer et al. 2016). According to the trait theory important skills that need to be developed are being clever, diplomatic and tactful, conceptually skilled, creative, persuasive, socially skilled and many others. It also stated that four important criteria that should be present are emotional stability and composure, intellectual breadth, admitting error and also developing good interpersonal skills.

Skills required to be an effective leader

Another theory which opposes the mentioned trait theory is the behavioral their which says that leaders are made but not born. Leadership capability is learned with development of proper behaviors and actions rather than being inherent. This theory says that successful leadership is dependent on definable and learnable behavior. I also believe that no man is born with all good traits but need to develop them with experiences and theoretical knowledge.

According to Lewin’s theory, there are three types of leadership styles like the autocratic, democratic and Laissez Faire. Autocratic leaders take decisions without consulting with others which often leads t high level of discontents, dissatisfaction and turnovers. Employees are not allowed in decision making and their suggestions are not welcomed. Democratic leadership involve the workers in decision making although the process for the final decisions vary on the leaders as he would have the final say (Fernandez et al. 2014). However, such suggestion when taken from workers make them feels happy and content as they feel appreciated and respected in the organization. This increases their zeal to work towards achieving the best outcomes. The next style is the Laissez-Faire style which reduces the leader’s contribution in decision making as they allow the workers to take their personal decisions. This is helpful only when workers are capable of making their own; decisions and there is no need for inner coordination. However I have found that it has a negative effect. It may not develop coordination among people working together and many may take decisions which may become harmful for their career or affect the organization as all may not have the capability of effective leadership. This will also delay the working pace. I will be mainly following the democratic leadership styles as evidences show it to be most effective.

Likert on the other hand has also proposed a theory called the Likert’s leadership styles. This involve exploitive leadership where the leader shows low concern for the people and also uses methods such as intimidation and fear based procedures to achieve conformance. Communication in such style is mainly seen to be downwards and mental distant concerns of the employees are also ignored. I believe that this kind of leadership will make the employees develop negative feelings and they will not be able to out in their best efforts. These would feel disrespected and as a result it would increase turnover and increased job dissatisfaction. A tensed environment can never bring in the best skills of workers (Fernandez et al. 2014). Another leadership style mentioned by him is the benevolent authoritative styles where the leaders shows concerns to people and also utilizes a reward system to encourage appropriate performance.  However although communication take place effectively, but the feedback and suggestions are rose tinted that is their communication I limited to the topic or decisions which the leaders wants to hear. Although delegation of decisions may occur, in most cases decisions are ultimately made by leaders centrally (Shattock  2013). I personally do not like this leadership style as the suggestions are sugar coated by the employees to make their boss happy and does not reflect their own concern. This affects the transparency and open mindedness in the workplace. In consultative leadership, upward flow of information occurs but they employees are still cautious and rose tinted to some degree. Leaders make genuine efforts but decisions are largely centrally made. Participants are the best style of leadership as this involves all the members in decision making procedure (Schumann et al. 2014). I thereby like the method as it helps in adopting innovative ideas for achieving goals.

Bass’ Transformational Leadership Theory praises a transformational leader follow idealized include on the workers with inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and individualize consideration in the teams (Tourish 2013). They have ethical values which make the workers happy and committed towards organization’s vision and mission.

 Therefore reflecting in my knowledge, I feel that I need to develop proper skills of leadership and develop leadership style like democratic or transformational leadership styles. This would help me as manger to effectively maintain a workforce who will not only be productive but would be happy, satisfied and committed towards organizations goals and objectives.

References:

Avolio, B.J. and 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.

Fernández-Muñiz, B., Montes-Peón, J.M. and Vázquez-Ordás, C.J., 2014. Safety leadership, risk management and safety performance in Spanish firms. Safety science, 70, pp.295-307.

Finkelman, A., 2015. Leadership and Management in Nursing: Core Competencies for Quality Care. Pearson.

Fischer, M.D., Dopson, S., Fitzgerald, L., Bennett, C., Ferlie, E., Ledger, J. and McGivern, G., 2016. Knowledge leadership: mobilizing management research by becoming the knowledge object. human relations, 69(7), pp.1563-1585.

Goetsch, D.L. and Davis, S.B., 2014. Quality management for organizational excellence. Upper Saddle River, NJ: pearson.

Grohar-Murray, M.E., DiCroce, H.R. and Langan, J.C., 2016. Leadership and management in nursing. Pearson.

Hayton, J., 2015. Leadership and Management Skills in SMEs. Warwick Business School.

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

Renz, D.O., 2016. The Jossey-Bass handbook of nonprofit leadership and management. John Wiley & Sons.

Schuhmann, R.J., Magarian, J.N. and Huttner-Loan, E., 2014. A method for assessing engineering leadership content in the engineering curriculum: A first look at civil engineering project management courses. In 2014 ASEE Conference, June.

Shattock, M., 2013. University governance, leadership and management in a decade of diversification and uncertainty. Higher Education Quarterly, 67(3), pp.217-233.

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