According to Bäckström, Ingelsson, and Johansson (2016), the term "leadership" can be used to refer to a variety of things, but most often it refers to the capacity to inspire others to accomplish a specific objective. Many types of leaders can exist and function at different levels. Based on this, this essay will look at the fundamental ideas of leadership in the financial organization where I work. The theories of leadership, the impact of leaders' power and influence on followers, transformational and transactional leadership, attributes and qualities of a leader, vision, mission, and values will all be covered. and strategy in the organization as well as the changes I would make as the organization’s leader.
Application of Leadership Trait Theory to the Organization
Adair (2010) asserts that the standard theory which is practiced by most leaders is the concept of servant leadership. This is based on the fact that a leader is deemed to help his followers for them to progress in future and be successful in whatever they do. The models of servant leadership tend to have similarities to both the authentic and transformational theories of leadership as seen in characteristics such as empowerment, authenticity, and transformation. Alonso-Almeida et al. (2017) asserts that servant leadership is comprehensive and is built on six dimensions such as authentic self, voluntary subordination, responsible morality, covenantal relationship, transforming influence and transcendental spirituality. The theory of servant leadership is based on the fact that the duty of the leader is serving his or her followers. This makes sure that the desire of the leader is to serve other than the desire to lead. It acts as a practical philosophy which gives people the support to serve and then acting as leaders as the way of expanding the service to institutions and individuals. Servant leaders can opt to hold formal leadership positions, or they may opt not to (Alonso-Almeida et al., 2017).This type of theory encourages trust, collaboration, foresight, ethical use of empowerment and power as well as listening among other traits. Leaders are encouraged to learn how to help people in knowing how they are supposed to follow each other also. It requires going beyond acting as the main channel where information and all decisions are supposed to pass through. In this case, leaders are supposed to go out of their way and help the employees find their best partners whom they can collaborate with and work as a team mate to help each other.
Many people believe that a leader is the person who heads a team of followers and is always ready to assume any responsibility and take up various roles. Most of the organizations in today’s world operate with team leaders who are supposed to understand the qualities and nature of leadership (Bäckström et al., 2016). However, Adair (2010) notes that with the changing work environment which is very uncertain, a single person who acts as the leader may not have all the solutions regarding various roles that are in the organization.
Effect of Power and Impact That Leaders Have On Followers in the Organization
According to Blaskovics (2014), the ability to influence others acts as part of defining leadership since leaders are influential in the determination of the organization’s fate. This is achieved through the decisions which they make, the strategies and how they influence others. Influence is defined as the ability of a person to change or affect the behaviors, actions and other people’s opinion as well as that of societies and other companies. In our organization, it is evident that the power of the leaders is positive more so, in my roles and that of other employees.
Bäckström et al. (2016) asserts that the power of leaders on different employees results in different impact by their feelings on the leader as well as how they are treated by the leader. The impact of influence and power on every aspect is not always positive since it is dependent on the circumstances. Some employees feel that they are not treated fairly by certain leaders since they are treated differently from others. For the most part, the followers are receptive since most of them have pride in what they do and want to do it remarkably.
One of my managers in the organization has power and an effect that varies since he favors some of the employees which result in his loss of respect and credibility among the employees and the people below him. The degree of impact a leader has over the subordinates is referred to as position power, and it is comprised of firing, hiring, promotions, discipline, and salaries (Blaskovics, 2014). A leader who has the power to evaluate, direct and discipline or reward subordinates is said to have a high position power. The organization that I am in does not evaluate employees who make it difficult to fire an individual who is not keeping up with the standards. Lack of doing evaluations hinders the power to discipline and reward. My manager has the power to hire since I have seen him hire people by friendship or relationships as opposed to hiring them due to their qualifications. We have raised concerns as employees due to his approach to recruiting new staff although he comes up with a lot of justifications. In my opinion, it is crucial for every leader in any organization to attend training after every three or six months to polish on his or her leadership skills. This is because; most of the leaders lack the appropriate knowledge which may affect their influence and power on their followers (Bäckström et al., 2016).
Effectiveness of Transformational and Transactional Leadership in the Organization
Leadership is essential to achieve organizational performance which is very crucial for the goals and objectives to be met. Recent studies have laid more focus on the perspective of leader-follower and have identified two leadership styles which are very common. They include transformational and transactional leadership styles (Adair, 2010).In this case, it is understood that there are two primary levels of influence which are seen when a leader and the follower interact. One of the influences is as a result of getting to know that the leader leads to the creation of interaction that is beneficial regarding cost. According to Alonso-Almeida et al. (2017), this influence is referred to as transactional leadership which indicates that employees carry out their daily activities according to the wishes of the leaders as they have a belief that such actions will be advantageous to them. Transactional leaders offer rewards to the subordinates when they perform well which results in outcomes which are desired by the leader.
The second influence that the leader has is as a result of excitements which are mostly emotional which Bäckström et al. (2016) called charismatic or transformational leadership. This type of leadership is by the relationship between the subordinates and the leader. The type of relationship is inspirational breaking the subordinates’ basic expectations cycle. Also, a transformational leader is the person who gives his or her subordinates inspiration in adopting the vision of their organization as their own at the same time enhancing their concerns, values and developmental needs (Blaskovics, 2014).
However, there have been some controversies in various studies regarding the impacts of transformational and transactional leadership on the performance of the organization. For instance, Bäckström et al. (2016) indicated that there is a positive impact caused by transformational leadership while on the other hand, transactional leadership results to a negative impact on the performance of the organization. While on the contrary, Blaskovics (2014) carried out a study and found out that transactional leadership does not cause much impact on the way an organization performs although the effect is positive.
Traits and Characteristics of an Effective Team Leader within the Organization
Adair (2010) asserts that a team leader should possess various features and traits which are essential for proper leadership within the organization. They include: communication skills, interpersonal skills, competency and having a strong team among others. In the case of effective communication skills, it entails making sure that the leader can relate well with his or her followers through the conversations that they make. The leader must frequently communicate with the employees through emails, face to face communication and through social media platforms which have recently become a favorite mode of communication (Alonso-Almeida et al., 2017).
Interpersonal skills entail the connection of the leaders with other individuals in additions to the subordinates. The leader should be pleasant, open minded and calm in the role which they play. These abilities encourage the staff to have a good relationship with their leaders at the same time wanting to work with them. These skills possessed by a leader enable the employees always to want to do remarkable work through the support of their leaders (Bäckström et al., 2016).The relationship of the employees with their team leader makes believe that their leader is concerned about their performance as well as their efficiency at work. Moreover, they are confident that they can consult their team leader if faced with difficulties without being afraid of being penalized for failing to know how some of the issues are resolved (Blaskovics, 2014).
A team leader should be someone who is inspirational since employees need someone who is capable of guiding them in the right direction. Employees need an individual who can motivate them through various actions and communication as well as a person whom they can look up to and follow. In the case of any issues in the organization, a leader should be in a position to step in so as to offer reassurance or recommendation in ensuring that employees accomplish their jobs optimally (Bäckström et al., 2016). Blaskovics (2014) adds that a leader should be competent by possessing incredible skills which are acquired during the leadership process as well as those attained through education. Eventually, among other traits and characteristics, a leader should form a strong team by working with a group of people who are credentialed, experienced as well as personalities who have adequate skills.
How the Leadership Supports Mission, Vision, and Strategy in the Organization
The examination of the organization’s strategy is the focus of the vital tasks undertaken by a leader in the formation as well as the execution of strategy. Vision is at the heart of strategy and acts as the core of leadership. The duty of a leader in a company is creating the vision of the organization in such a way that the energies and imagination of people are engaged. The vision must be connected to the values of the company, and a leader must enhance the connection is such a way that the organization can support, grasp and understand (Bäckström et al., 2016).The vision that is established by the leader should be able to stabilize the organization.
Leaders always set measurable objectives, and goals for the organization since an objective or goal whose ability cannot be measured is deemed worthless. Measurable goals are attained by leaders coming up with incentives which are attainable as they discourage the different, reward goal attaining behavior and enhance the happening of the strategy through self-enforcement power (Blaskovics, 2014).After establishing the objectives and goals of the organization, a leader is deemed to determine how the organization is going to employ the resources to achieve the goals. If a leader takes a position which is strategic, it interprets that trade-offs entailing other positions are going to occur. The leader should ensure that all the personnel is involved including those who are new in the organization since they are the ones who are confident about most of the revolutionary ideas of the company. They can be in a point of challenging the assumptions made by senior managers.
Once the leaders have set the strategy, they have the responsibility of making sure that the chosen strategy has been implemented. The organization capability and culture is built through strategy execution (Alonso-Almeida et al., 2017). This is achieved by having an excellent team that can be in a position of making strategic moves for the benefit of the organization. In this case, having the right people to work with makes it easy to it easy for the organization to adapt to the modern world which is changing at a high rate and is very competitive.
What I Would Change If I Were a Leader in the Organization and Why
Changing the culture of the organization if I were a leader would be very crucial especially when it comes to recruiting employees. All the representatives of all levels of staff would be involved in the process of hiring so as to avoid cases of some individuals being favored over others. I would make sure that leaders attend training quarterly or half a year so as to enhance their skills, for instance, skills on ethics, communication and the organizational culture so that leadership can motivate the rest of the staff at the same time being effective. As a manager of the organization, I would try to set an appropriate example that can be followed by the subordinates. This can be achieved by accepting the responsibilities of my decisions and actions at the same time teaching the employees and other leaders to do the same. I would make sure that all the employees had clear information on the leaders they are supposed to report to and how they could work as a team instead of relying on leaders only. This would be the best way to mentor them so they could at some become leaders also. I would encourage a chain of command within the organization by coming up with a clear structure on how things are supposed to be done. This would be the best way of avoiding confusion within the workplace thus meeting the goals of the organization.
Conclusion
It is right to conclude that the overall goal of an organization should be based on people who act as the customers. Leadership is a very crucial aspect in any organization for it to meet its mission and vision. The organization contains many departments which come up with a structure by using the vision and mission of the organization. Through this, all the departments will be able to focus on the traits of leadership that every leader is supposed to possess. All the roles of the various departments will be aligned by the goals of the organization. Some of the organizations practice both transactional and transformational leadership while others focus on either transactional or transformational leadership. Lack of proper skills and training for the leaders makes it is difficult for the future and new leaders to be equipped with proper skills and training. The leaders of the organization could have more effect on power to influence the followers if the organization could incorporate refresher training for leaders. Every leader needs to lead with honor and integrity since no leadership is perfect.
References
Adair, J. (2010). Leadership for Innovation: How to Organize Team Creativity and Harvest Ideas. Human Resource Management International Digest, 18(6).
Alonso-Almeida, M., Perramon, J. and Bagur-Femenias, L. (2017). Leadership styles and corporate social responsibility management: Analysis from a gender perspective. Business Ethics: A European Review, 26(2), pp.147-161.
Bäckström, I., Ingelsson, P. and Johansson, C. (2016). How communicative leadership influences co-workers’ health – a quality management perspective. International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences, 8(2), pp.143-158.
Blaskovics, B. (2014). Impact of Leadership Styles on Project Success – The Case of a Multinational Company. Dynamic Relationships Management Journal, 3(2), pp.21-36.
