Organizational Culture and Leadership, Essay Example

Leadership Styles

Leadership styles have been found to inherently affect the performance of an organization as well as the work environment. Business performance can be analyzed from the level of the leadership styles that has been adopted. Leadership has a direct bearing on the performance of employees by virtue of influencing the manner in which they execute specific business processes. Each leadership style is associated with its own advantages and disadvantages that has an impact on the performance of employees. There are a number of leadership frameworks that define different leadership styles that are currently practiced, with the most common being Kurt Lewin’s Leadership Styles. In the 1930s Kurt Lewin, a psychologist, developed the foundation of the analysis of leadership styles. Lewin approaches leadership styles from the decision-making perspective. He postulated three styles of leadership. Namely; 1) Democratic, 2) Autocratic and 3) Laissez-faire leadership styles (Yang, 2008). The measurement of leadership styles usually employ qualitative methods. In this technique, the five elements of exemplary leadership can be measured using a questionnaire that collects the general opinions and perceptions of both leadership and employees.

Good Performance in Leadership

Good performance in leadership is defined by five major concepts that guide best practice within management in the modern-day business world. These concepts include; 1) model the way, 2) inspire a shared vision, 3) challenge the process, 4) enable others to act and 5) encourage the heart.

Model the Way

The concept behind this practice is that leaders are essentially figures who set the tone for the rest of the organization. Effective leadership is realized when leaders back their words through action, even better yet, lead through action while reducing the amount of time consumed in discourse.

Inspire a Shared Vision

This practice is founded on the notion that leaders are meant to give forward direction to where the organization is heading. Leaders should be able to develop an image of the potential that the organization holds and where it can be (Vinken, Soesters, & Ester, 2004). Through this foresight, they can use their influence and persuasion, they can help others see this perceived image and get them to believe in it, inherently affecting performance.

Challenge the Process

This practice is founded on the perception that effective and successful leaders are willing to take risks and instigate change so as to take on the challenge of improving the organization. Any organization realizes improvement if, and only if, they instigate change. Successful leaders take on challenges. A leader that is responsive to and instigates change tends to evolve with the changing environment in order to ensure survival, growth and success.

Enable Others to Act

This practice is founded on the notion of teamwork. Any leader cannot accomplish success undertaking all responsibilities. Leaders are only efficient when they have a capable team to execute the required functions and processes. Empowering other team members allows for the delegation of duties and responsibilities, reducing lead times and increasing efficiency.

Encourage the Heart

This practice if founded on the idea that the process to realizing a vision and a mission are a long and times frustrating process. It is easy to lose momentum over time when such a process becomes demanding (Schein, 2010). As such, the leader has the responsibility of rallying his troops by keeping them motivate through genuine acts of caring. Motivation has a direct impact on the levels of productivity and the ability to sustain it over extended periods.

Effect of National, Organizational and Team Culture

Each type of leadership style has its own impact on the environment within which employees operate on a daily-basis, as well as the culture and behavior of employees within the organization. The ability to model the way, Inspire a shared vision, challenge the process, enable others to act, and encourage the heart is directly affected by national, organizational and team culture. National culture affects and influences the fundamental ideology and world view adopted by individuals in community. As such, a largely innovative society may have leaders who model the way and question the process. Organizational culture influences the way processes are executed, affecting the norms of the organization and setting the work environment. These directly affect how leaders can carry out their strategies. Similarly. Team culture influences the manner in which team members interact, inherently influencing the leadership styles they can adopt.  The leadership style is essentially an individual behavior that guides a group of individuals, in this case employees, to achieve a common desired goal or objective. The leadership style facilitate the improvement of performance in the event where the organization encounters challenges.

Effect of Inter-cultural Interaction

Intercultural interactions are an evident part of the modern-day business world. As globalization continues to dominate global economic and business agenda, so do the impacts of inter-cultural interactions. The ability to model the way, Inspire a shared vision, challenge the process, enable others to act, and encourage the heart can be significantly affected by inter-cultural interactions. Inter-cultural interactions tend to bring together varying leadership styles and approaches used in different cultures. While each leadership style, as pertains to the highlighted elements, may be effective within intercultural contexts, each competency may be altered with inter-cultural interactions. New models that take are culturally sensitive will integrate different elements of culture to achieve a successful leadership style.

References

Schein, E. H. (2010). Organizational Culture and Leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Thomas, D. C., & Peterson, M. F. (2015). Cross-cultural Management (3rd ed.). Thousnd Paks: SAGE.

Vinken, H., Soesters, J., & Ester, P. (2004). Comparing cultures: Dimensions of culture in a comparative perspective. Leiden: Brill.

Yang, C.-W. (2008, September). The Relationships Among Leadership Styles, Entrepreneurial Orientation, and Business Performance. Managing Global Transitions, 6(3), 257–275. Retrieved May 25, 2016, from http://www.fm-kp.si/zalozba/ISSN/1581-6311/6_257-275.pdf