Leadership Theories, Research Paper Example

Introduction

The definition of leadership is influence. A leader is a person who has the qualities to influence the behavior of others or the group working under him/her. A leader enables the junior members to follow a certain path of action so as to achieve the organizational goals (Taylor, 2008).

Leadership style is the comportment and advance of providing course, realizing plans and motivating people. The leadership theories obtainable in this research are courier of four different eras. These four viewpoints grant the basis for a broad review of leadership hypothesis within the milieu of their similarities and differences and a concluding discussion on how they might address contemporary leadership issues and challenges.

This paper is not an attempt to discuss the four theories from a historical perspective; rather it purposes to give some thoughts for reflection on how theories of leadership influence practices in today’s organizations.

Contingency Theory

Is classified as behavioral theory asserting that there is no best way of leading and the effective style at some point may not be successful to others. This gives the management a broader view of the situations and capabilities in dealing with problem that concern leadership. This is effective when given leadership whose demands are imposed by situations.

Path-Goal Theory

This assumes that the most successful leaders encourages and supports subordinate motivations by increasing rewards and eliminating the impediments and obstacles that prevent them from achieving their goals and objectives. The leader is always concerned on the welfare of the staff and creates a friendly working environment. They set challenging goals both in work and self -improvement of high standards which they expects to be demonstrated to the core (Bill, 2007).

Leadership Traits

Leaders are people who should always ignore arguments and concentrate on to becoming better leaders. The following are some of the many traits of leadership observed in the work place:

Competency – there is a demonstration of competency in the administrative center through expertise in the whole organization. The involvement of decision making on the top management is very fascinating hence it boosts the leadership competency. This maximizes the contribution of others and takes credit of their actions. Thus celebrating and bringing achievements to the team members. This is achieved by employing qualified and experienced staff members for the betterments of goods and service delivery to the customers.

Inspiration – Many people around the world have been inspired by someone in their quest for success. The communication from the top management is clearly passed to the team members without hiccups. This inspires employees by informing them how new technology is going to change the world around them. For example when a new product is about to be introduced, it gives the management time to enable the employees to get the idea about the new product being introduced.  It means showing people the big picture and helping them see beyond a constricted spotlight and understand how their part fits into the immense picture. This does not only provide inspiration to would-be innovators, but also reveal success to virtually any company, which uses these management traits. The competence to deal with transformation and transition, both in the marketplace and in one’s career, makes it possible for a company/ business success today.

For one to practice good leadership qualities, should possess an inborn ability to see into the future. Thus the team is therefore guaranteed straight victory as they creates new pattern that the industry follow.

Managing and Leading

With the accordance to the contemporary knowledge, managers are principally administrators in that they write business plans, set budgets and monitor progress while on the other hand leaders get the organization and people to change. Management is a function that must be exercised in any business environment. Leadership is the correlation between the leader and the follower that can rejuvenate an organization.

Problem solving and meeting facilitation are part of management function in addition to habitual technical tasks. Leadership without management sets a direction that others follow without putting into consideration how the new direction is going to be achieved. It leads to lag behind of the process as other people have to work extra hard to cover up the left behind workers to be at par with others. On the other hand, organizations lacking direction controls the assets to ensure things happen according to already stipulated plans.

Nevertheless, leadership involves setting up new direction for a group, management on the hand deals with directing and controlling according to the recognized doctrine. At times one can be emblematic leader if they materialize as organize of a direction the group sets for itself.

Task Oriented Leadership

Task oriented leadership trait is only focused on the completion of the job by ensuring that the task is done. Thus, this trait could be quite autocratic. The leader leads by issuing instructions. This means that the leaders defines the work to be done through his or her planning by stipulating the roles that are required, structures the work, organize, plans well and supervises the work to be done. What is unique about a task-oriented leader is that they do not concern themselves with the well-being of the team members. This is the main reason why it is regarded to be ineffective leadership since it makes it difficult to maintain the staff in terms of incentives. The strength of this mode of leadership is that it benefits much from the consideration of the Blake Mouton Managerial Grid, which facilitates leaders to specify certain areas for more development that is aimed at involving the team members. It has been observed that this form of leadership makes the people to be satisfied at their workplace since they have the feeling that their purpose has been utilized at work since the task that they have been assigned reflect their purpose.

Participative Leadership

Participative leadership is a trait of leadership skills that requires that the leader involve every member in identifying crucial goals and objectives by developing strategies that will facilitate achieving these goals. The leader involves the team members in goal setting, problem solving and team building. Therefore, the gist of this leadership trait relies on the assumption that the leader is a facilitator. He or she is not viewed as one who issues instructions on assignments. A good application of this leadership trait is in volunteer organizations, business so as to achieve the end results. Hence as a leader, I would emphasize on encouraging group values, share the organizations vision and equip the team in strengthening their abilities to perform to their fullest. This form of leadership style is fascinating since it takes an individual through challenging working situations in the organization (Akhil, 2008).

Organizational culture in the workplace involves the interaction of employees while at work. It can be defined by the experiences in life, weaknesses, strengths, upbringing, and education of the employees. Organizational culture in my organization takes in the notion that corporate culture is the determining factor in the success or failure of the company. We have developed a strong culture that seeks to build a strong foundation of the stability of humanity which is composed of many set of changeless and timeless notions of ideas and principles. This has proven to facilitate guiding decisions as well as guiding in ideas for the organization. We do not at any time take our organizations culture for granted. Positive cultural change is always welcome. Our culture is viable, positive and has the means and mechanism of dealing with change.

According to Jerry Haney, “Great organizational cultures don’t just happen. They are created by leaders who understand the critical elements of organizational culture change in high performance organizations.”  This has helped us to adapt well with external environment. Hence it is crucial for our organization to cling on strong cultural base which allows change readily hence is very reliable to cope with challenging issues in time of crisis. Therefore is it important for the leaders and the employees to incorporate themselves in their actions since they highly contribute to the organizational culture, which facilitate the production of outstanding results, as well as attract and retain top talent and readily adapt to new changes

In a leadership conversation with Steve Jobs a leader and the CEO of the Apple computer company, various aspects of leadership were established. For one to be a leader, one should have an inborn ability to see into the future. The team is therefore guided straight into victory. Steve Jobs is a leader of the fanatics group of people. The charismatic CEO has created cults of sorts because his leadership trait has made people all over the world to be associated with him (David, 2004).

Among the major themes that arose, Steve Jobs applies various forms of leadership skills in his organization. He is a creative, inspiring and confident leader. He has developed inspiration to many people and organizations around the world. He communicates clearly with passion to his team members. He inspires people by informing them how his new technology is going to change the world around them. For example, Job once said, “Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life, or do you want to change the world?” Steve is an inspiration to would-be innovators around the world. Besides his work at Apple, has constantly revealed that he can fetch success to virtually any company he manages. His competence to deal with transformation and transition, both in the marketplace and in his career, makes him a model of business success today.

Another leadership theme that was established is his competence.  He demonstrates competency through expertise in the whole organization. His actions in the Apple company in terms of making decision is very fascinating one hence it boosts his leadership competency. He maximizes the contribution of others and takes credit of their actions. He celebrates and brings to the team members their achievements. Hence, Steve Jobs is an inspiration to our organization and has enabled us to focus more on our set objectives and goals (David, 2004).

Therefore, according to my insight, great leadership takes in boldness, self-confidence, and mutual respect. Our organization has been inspired by Dr. Jamie Williams who says that “Leadership is like gravity. You know it’s there, you know it exists, but how do you define it?” You have to take calculated risks, innovation and confidence in your decisions to do so. Leaders realize that that being timid will not get you where you want to go. What will trickle down the ability of the team members to behave is this confidence and boldness. Therefore, it is true that the quality and effectiveness of a leader often shows itself by way of the team’s effort in general.

Consequently, managers are principally administrators. They write business plans, set budgets and monitor progress while on the other hand leaders get the organization and people to change. An effective leader will therefore focus on strategies that are able to achieve the organizations goal, able to retain top-performers by appreciating their efforts. It is also very important for the leader to be task oriented, participative and quite authoritative in duty. This leadership styles among others are objective oriented.

Leading from within means that leadership is a task that is people-oriented, not position-oriented. Leadership is guided by principles, which are applied to conditions that involve working with and influencing others. Such principles require leaders to have the ability and skills of persuading people with the power of certainty. One needs to be participative hence share with other your vision, and inspire them to also be visionaries. Leading from within also requires a leader to take his/her duty and tasks as a service to the others since there is power in humility. It is good to take healthy risks hence one is able to take responsibility of success and failures of the organization by leading from within. The other aspect of leading from within is the ability of being task-oriented; Make sure that the job is done. Be able to keep the big picture in mind.

Conclusion

Leadership is a challenging obligation and noble in the development of an organization. As a leader, it is important to understand that in order to lead people, know very well that people have different perspective of ideas. How to synchronize them into action depends on the leader. Always be a good listener, be flexible in decision-making.

References

Daft, R. L. (2008). The Leadership Experience” (4^th ed.). Cincinnati, OH: South-Western.

Akhil S. (2008). The how and why of participative Leadership retrieved from www.articlebase.com (Accessed 14 Sept 2009).

Mark H. (2007). Leading From Within-a transformational Experience. New York: Sage Publishers.

David B. (2004). Leadership Principles. SF: Domina Pizza.