Abstract
Leadership is one of the important factors in any organization. Whenever there is a group of individuals in a place, there is always a need to have a leadership structure that would guide the team towards the desired destination. Scholars have given leadership a lot of attention due to its relevance in the current society. As a result of this, there has been a lot of theories put forth to help explain and enhance understanding of this topic.
Max Weber is one of the scholars who have come up with theories of leadership in the contemporary world. Transformational leadership and charismatic leaders are some of the most popular styles of leadership that have become very relevant today. Charisma has been defined as a gift that is divinely inspired.
Charismatic leaders are therefore, those with the capacity to inspire followers through their actions and speech to act in a way that they believed was beyond their capacity. Transformational leadership was put forth by James McGregor. This leadership style appeals to the self-interest of the employees in order to influence their behavior in a specific way. The former chief executive of Apple Inc.
Steve Jobs was a leader who exhibited both the characteristics of charismatic leadership and transformational leadership. This explained the success of this firm in the electronic industry. Richard Branson is another such leader in the current business world.
Key Theories of the Nature and Exercise of Leadership in Organizations
Leadership has attracted massive attention of various scholars around the world. According to Huy (2002, p. 77), a number of theories of leadership have been put forth by various scholars. Leadership is one of the most important factors that always dictate success or failure of an organization in the world today. Leadership has been in existence for as long as the history of humankind can be traced. As Hong and Faedda (1996, p. 505) put it, a leadership goes beyond providing direction to followers.
It entails going into details to discover the potential of the followers. It involves engaging the followers in a way that would make them discover themselves.
It involves helping followers develop the urge to achieve. It is the art of making people realize that they have a potential to achieve beyond their current capacity. Leadership requires a leader to challenge the followers positively in a way that would make them feel that they need to rediscover themselves.
According to Kouzes and Posner (2002, p. 89), the current corporate world has become very challenging. New firms are coming into existence with new strategies that never existed before. Technology is changing the face of the earth. This poses serious challenge to firms operating in the current market. Firms are currently facing challenges from various corners.
The customer in the contemporary market has access to vast information, thanks to the advanced means of communication through the mass and social media. These consumers know that they have an array of options to choose from when they want to make any purchase. They are therefore, very demanding. They are willing to pay less for a product whose quality has been improved.
Huczynsky and Buchanan (2007, p. 67) say that customers are currently asking for more, but are willing to pay less. This reduces profitability of firms. On the other hand, suppliers are now demanding for more for the supplies they make to such organization. Such suppliers cite increased standards of living, inflation among other factors as a reason for increasing the prices of their supplies (Adair 1973, p. 78).
The cost of maintaining a business is very high. Various input factors have increased in price. The environmental conditions for conducting business have also been subjected to various other bottlenecks making the entire process very complicated. All these challenges are always presented to the leaders of various organizations to deal with.
A firm has to come up with means through which it can wade off these challenges and deliver quality products in the market in the best way possible (Drake & Salter2007, p. 1980). This way, a firm would be able to come out as a successful business unit that can withstand market pressures. Firms share external environmental factors.
Emerging technologies, good government policies, a promising market are factors that a firm cannot consider as a competitive advantage. They are factors that are shared by all the firms in that particular industry (Burns1978, p. 57). A firm must therefore develop its policies that will give it a competitive edge in the market.
A firm should develop mechanisms through which it can challenge the existing market threats in the best way possible. It should be able to stand out among the rest, as a firm that understands the market and is able to provide it with what it needs.
A firm must appear positively special. All this depends on the leadership of the firm and as Northouse (2010, p. 68) says, it is through leadership that a firm can appear unique in a market where various factors are shared by the competitors.
This requires proper management of the workforce. According to Rollinson (2005, p. 117), this current delicate market conditions requires a strategy that will help it have the best workforce that can drive the changes required within the firm. This is what most firms have realized and are determined to achieve.
They need to go beyond simple management of the workforce. In the management, we need leaders (Goleman, Boyatzis & McKee 2002, p. 75). This is because the current world has gotten increasingly democratic. Many organizations today have their employees being members of trade unions. They want to enjoy maximum benefits that their employer can afford to give them, and hate restrictions.
They resent strict rules and prefer working without strict supervision. This new crop of employees may not be able to be managed using the conventional management approaches. They have to be managed from a different approach (Tannenbaum& Schmidt1973, p. 87).
They have to be managed in a way that would make them comfortable while at the workplace. This is what many firms are looking for in their management. This is what leadership offers to the management. This research is focused on understanding the essence of leadership in the current competitive world.
Blake and Mouton’s Managerial Grid
Black and Mouton’s managerial grid is one of the most important leadership theories in the contemporary world. The grid is as shown below.As evidenced from the above grid, the theory gives emphasis on concern for people and concern for production.
As a leader, there is always a concern to ensure that the organization functions effectively. This can be measured by increased productivity of the firm. Thistheory says that productivity should not be overemphasized at the expense of employees.
Employees are very valuable to any organization, and their interest should be taken care of. The need for productivity should be balanced with the need to protect the employees. At (1, 1) is impoverished management where employees concern is not taken care of, and production is poor.
At (9, 1), emphasis is laid on task, while taking middle ground (5, 5) would help the firm achieve its objectives moderately with moderately satisfied employees. At (1, 9), emphasis is given on concern for employees. The best grid is at (9, 9) always referred to as team management. Employees concern is emphasized while ensuring that production is put at maximum levels possible.
House’s Path Goal Theory
According to this theory, four leadership styles are important in ensuring success within an organization. The four include directive nature of the leader, supportive leadership, participative leadership and result-oriented leadership. These behavioral leadership characteristics will influence employee behavior, and manage environmental factors in order to achieve leadership effectiveness.
Great Man Theory of Leadership
There has been an argument that some leaders are just born great. Great man theory of leadership holds that some people are born with leadership characteristics that are exhibited even before ascending to power. Yukl and Lepsinger (2004, p. 78) say that such individuals would have an aura of influence whenever they are. Such leaders would have the ability to influence people who are around them.
Such leaders as Alexander the Great, Abraham Lincoln, Julius Caesar, and Queen Elizabeth I are some of the leaders who have been viewed to have exhibited natural leadership characteristics. In the contemporary world, leaders such as Barrack Obama and Bill Clinton have also been thought to have such leadership characteristics that make them be seen as people naturally born leaders.
Transformational leadership in Organizations
Transformational leadership is defined by Yukl (2010, p. 117) as a type of leadership that uses motivation to enhance the performance of employees. Pielstick (1998, p. 75) defines leadership as a process where an individual (a leader) offers guidance to a group of individuals (followers) in an organizational structure. Leadership is one of the most important factors in any organization.
Leadership and management share a number of attributes, but they differ in various fronts. Transformational leadership, as the name suggest, provides a completely new path to approaching various issues in an organization. It provides an insight the employees. One of the main aims of a transformational leader is to create a completely new approach in managing various issues within the organization.
This is what the current world demands of a firm. Emerging technologies are changing various approaches of management. The emerging trends need new approaches that can be used to provide a way in which they can be managed differently.
Transformational leadership attempts to make employees discover themselves. According to Hacker and Tammy (2004, p. 46), a transformational leader will always make followers realize that they have untapped capacity which they can exploit to get better results in every activity they are doing. Unlike management, leadership takes the front line in bringing change that is needed.
It involves making the followers realize that they are part of the change. It makes employees own the whole process. They feel that some changes that are proposed are part of them and are meant to make their work easier.
This way, they develop the responsibility to ensure that these changes are accomplished successfully and within the specified time. Such leadership will evoke desires on the followers to see to it that specific desires are achieved within the specified time. It is an art of tying the objectives of a firm to that of employees.
Nature and Relevance of Transformational leadership in Organizations
Transformational leadership has some characteristics that make it unique from other forms of leadership. Transformational leadership cherishes authenticity. It encourages followers to act as natural as possible. People who act naturally always tend to give their best. Passion is another major characteristic of transformational leadership. A transformational leader must be passionate about every action they take.
This way, it becomes possible for the followers to take this characteristic from the leaders. Followers will develop passion when they realize that their leader has passion in his or her actions.
Transformational leadership should also embrace creativity. Creativity is very crucial in the contemporary world. A leader must be able to solve problems in a creative manner. They have to encourage the culture of creativity in their employees. This way, such an organization will be able to be creative in the market.
Transformational leaders always have self-awareness. They understand what they stand for and are able to express this feeling to the followers. This way, it would be easy to avoid cases where a leader issues instruction, which he or she can change abruptly without a clear explanation for the same.
Transformational leaders always have interpersonal intelligence. This is important to help bring people of different social backgrounds together. Organization brings together individuals from different backgrounds. It would require interpersonal intelligence to make these people reason in the same line and work as a unit towards achieving specific objectives.
In managing organizations today, Conger (2006, p. 39) says that integrity is of utmost importance. A transformational leader always has integrity. It is important to note that transformational leadership aims at bringing a completely new approach of doing various activities in a better way. Integrity will be one of the main ingredients in that leadership.
It will be possible to tell others to maintain integrity only if the leaders show the same in their actions. A transformational leader must also develop clarity of purpose. The leader must be sure of what he or she wants from the followers and from the leaders. According to Biswas (2011, p. 27), having a clear sense of purpose on what one does makes it possible to measure the level of success of an individual.
This way, it becomes easy for such a leader to determine the rate at which objectives of the firm is being achieved. Finally, such a leader always has a global awareness of various factors in the environment. When the leader is managing a large multinational organization, understanding factors in the immediate environment may not make one formulate policies that can benefit all the branches of the firm.
Such a leader must have global awareness of various environmental factors in order to transform employees and the firm in general towards desired direction. Besides the above characteristics, transformational leadership has four main elements that help in making it unique in the market. The four are discussed below.
Intellectual Stimulation
According to Bustin (2004, p. 28), a leader should be able to stimulate creativity in employee. This trait makes transformational leaders be able to challenge the current capacity of the followers with a view of making them achieve the best from them. Care should be taken to avoid scenarios where the standards set on employees are beyond their capacity.
As a result, employees tend to strain in order to achieve these objectives. In this case, the challenge will come in the form of soliciting new ideas from the followers (Gill 2011, p. 67).
This way, the leader will be telling followers that they are also important in developing policies that can help transform the organization. It involves engaging employees in coming up with creative solution to the challenges that they face in their daily routines.
Individualized Consideration
A leader handles various individuals from different backgrounds. Although these individuals may share a number of characteristics, Halel (2000, p. 56) says that some differences make an individual unique. Individual A will have different needs from individual B, however much they may share some characteristic. Individualized consideration is the level at which a leader attends to individual follower’s needs.
A transformational leader must be able to give personalized attention to the employees. They should try to make followers feel that they have a personal relationship with the leader. Such a leader is a coach and a mentor of the followers. He or she should therefore be able to talk to these people on an individual capacity. This trait is also important in charismatic leadership (Kotter 1990, p. 37).
Inspirational Motivation
As Pardey (2007, p. 46) says, in the current society, management requires some form of inspiration on the employees. Vision of an organization is always very important in achieving organizational goals. Vision helps members of an organization see where the organization is headed. It helps in marking followers be sure of what the organization expects of them.
A leader must be able to pass the organization’s vision in an inspiring and appealing manner. The vision must make sense to the followers and it should develop an urge to achieve specific results within a stipulated period. Followers should feel inspired (Conger 2006, p. 78). They should develop an urge to surge ahead and achieve some objectives within the confines of their ability.
They should be motivated to go a step further in achieving specific goals within the organization. Followers should be made to be optimistic in their activities, and made to appreciate that they can achieve when they decides to delimit themselves (Goleman, Boyatzis & McKee 2002, 98).
Idealized Influence
According to Kotter(1990, p. 78), a leader is always a role model. A leader always guides others towards achieving a common goal of the organization. A leader must therefore, be ethical in actions, and avoid cases that would lower his status among the followers. He or she should try to lead an ideal life, where preventable mistakes are avoided at all costs, especially in the face of the followers.
Such a leader should instill pride in the followers. He or she should make followers be proud of him or her in their actions. Such a leader should gain respect of the followers. Above all, followers should develop strong trust of the leader. They should be convinced that the path taken by the firm is the right path that would lead everyone towards a common success.
McGregor’s Theory X and Y
The current society needs self-motivated employees. This would help in ensuring that they are able to work with minimal supervision. This can best be elaborated usingMcGregor’s theory X and Y. According to this theory, employees can either be viewed as lazy people who need heavy supervision to work appropriately, which is theory X.
Theory Y holds that employees are self motivated and can deliver good work with very minimal supervision. Human resource management should always think positively of the employees, therefore should take theory Y in managing then.
A leader should embrace theory Y. In the current society, leaders cannot afford to have a situation wherethey follow every action done by their followers. The best way to manage employees is to motivate them and make them feel responsible for every action they undertake.
Evaluation of the Behavior of Leaders in Selected Organization
Various organizations have had different leaders that have seen them excel in the market, or perform dismally. One of the firms that have attracted attention of many within the past one decade is Apple Inc. Apple had a troubled management in the mid 1980s and 1990s. Its market performance was considered average as it struggled to manage market competition in the electronics industry.
The firm realized that it needed a leader who would steer the firm from registering looses, to a profit making firm. When Jobs was brought back to the firm in late 1996, he realized that the firm needed a radical shift from what it was practicing then (Rollinson 2005, p. 121). The leadership style of Steve Jobs brings both charisma and traits of transformational leadership.
He realized that the firm was engaged in contracts that were hindering its performance in the market. He terminated the contracts, and signed new deals that would help generate the much needed change within the firm.
This move surprised many employees within the firm, but after less than three months, the firm had started making profits. He won the trust of the employees, and then used this trust to transform their attitude while at work.
According to Yukl (2010, p. 27), attitude is always very important in defining actions of employees. The difference between industrious and creative employee and a lazy one who lacks focus is the attitude. This is what Jobs was aware of when he joined this firm. Attitude always dictates the way an individual would approach certain issues within the firm.
When dealing with employees, one of the most important factors that one has to consider is developing a positive attitude that would help every member of the organization have the urge to move forward. As state above, attitude of employees is always determined by the actions of the management team.
Instilling a positive attitude on employees towards what they do remains one of the key functions of leaders in the current society (Northouse 2010, p. 47). This is what Steve Jobs used to ensure that the firm achieves its objectives in the market. It is the same strategy he used to make Apple the most valuable brand in the world in 2010, and one of the most profitable companies.
Steve Jobs has been keen on nurturing talents within the firm. In order to maintain creativity and innovativeness of this firm, Jobs has been keen on maintaining skilled employees within the firm. This is because of the clear understanding this manager has over the level of competition in the market.
Jobs knew that the level of competition in this industry was very stiff, but it had to find a way of maintaining its lead in this industry. In had to increase its innovativeness, and this would only be achieved from its employees. He knew that he had to develop a pool of skills that will be involved in undertaking various innovative duties within the firm.
These employees had to be made to realize that they had a special talent that could help transform this firm positively. To achieve this, Jobs applied charisma in motivating these employees. He would always insist that every employee had its worth, and the worth would only be made useful when it was exposed by doing something that was beyond the expectation of others.
According to Rollinson(2005, p. 117), in an organization, there is always a pool of talents brought together to achieve a common goal. In this pool, skills vary from one individual to another depending on experience, level of educations, and individual capability. In many cases, firms fail to realize the existence of such variety of skills if it lacks leadership that can identify it in the employees.
It is therefore, common to see a manager treating employees in a given departments as individuals with similar experience. This makes it impossible for the employees themselves to realize that they have some special characteristics that can make them achieve specific objectives within the firm.
By appreciating the existence of this variation, it becomes easy to enhance creativity and innovation, because each employee would realize the extraordinary skill that he or she possesses and can use to create a differential change in the firm. The skills should be improved to match with the needs of the organization (Drake & Salter 2007, p. 1985).
Burns(1978, p. 49) says that leadership should understand followers and identify their skills that can make them create a difference within the organization. Skill variety refers to diversification of employees in terms of knowledge and understanding of responsibilities. In an organization, a number of skills are needed to assist in triangulation.
This means that solutions to problems are easily crafted because employees are drawn from various professions. Skills play a critical role in the development of the organization because employees are the key asset of any firm. Having a variety of skills in an organization is important because employees are able to work in teams, with diversified dexterities.The leadership style of Jobs enabled him realize this.
Richard Branson is another manager who has demonstrated capacity of a leader in his Virgin Foundation. A brilliant entrepreneur, Branson has managed to grow the Virgin Empire to capture various industries around the world. Despite his entrepreneurial, he has demonstrated leadership capacity that is beyond reproach.
According to Bustin (2004, p. 67), Branson believes that the strength of the firm is bestowed in the employees. He has therefore maintained a cordial relationship with the employees, always making them feel that they are appreciated within the organization. One of the most important cultures he has developed within the organization is trust in peers.
Employees spend much of their time with fellow employees. They interact with their peers when doing different activities geared towards achieving specific goals for the firm. Employees should therefore develop positive attitude towards their peers in order to ensure that the internal working environment is peaceful. They should trust on one another, and believe that their problems can be solved when they work as a team.
They should share innovative ideas amongst themselves and develop a working environment where each team member is a protector of others.Trust in peers refers to the extent at which workers in similar job positions would be willing to cooperate amongst themselves to accomplish certain tasks. In the organization, it is understood that peers interact with their work mates as far as accomplishment of tasks is concerned.
An employee would be tempted to work hard after realizing that his colleague is committed to realizing certain goals (Kouzes & Posner 2002, p. 56). For instance, peers choose certain models of performance once they notice that they have similar objectives. Therefore, trust in peers refers to choosing appropriate models meant for realizing high results. This has helped Branson build a very strong Virgin Atlantic Empire.
Branson has also been keen on encouraging participation at work amongst all the employees. The workplace requires participation of all members of the organization. Employees should develop an attitude of collective participation at work. Bransonhas ensured that all cases of individualism are eliminated, and its place is a team spirit (Northouse 2010, p. 67).
All the members of the organization havebeen made to realize that they have a responsibility to participate in every activity that the organization undertakes. To achieve this, Bransonhas ensured that there is a clear separation of duties among various groups within the organization. Divisional of labor is important because it creates a sense of responsibility (Pielstick 1998, p. 120).
Employees will feel that they have a role specifically meant for them. They will realize that failure of them to achieve the goals set for them would lead to a loss to the entire firm. Employees would feel guilty of carrying the blame for a possible failure of the entire firm. They will make an effort to accomplish their tasks to avoid blames coming of their side.
Participation at work refers to the input that employees place while in their relevant stations in the organization. The level of participation differs from one employee to the other. Some employees are known to be active participators while others are dormant. This affects the productivity of the organization in a number of ways.
Branson has come out strongly to motivate dormant employees and turn them into industrious employees within the firm. Participation is also defined as the level at which the organization involves junior employees in making decisions.
This has a direct outcome to the performance of the organization in the market. An organization that involves employees in making decisions would have high employee participation at work while an organization that does not consider the views of employees would definitely have minimal participation of employees at work.
Richard Branson has been keen on guiding the behavior of individuals, groups and teams within this organization. According to a report by Conger (2006, p. 59), Branson has been keen on determining the behavior of every single employee and teams within the organization. This scholar says that there is always need to shape the behavior of employees in order to ensure that they act within the expectations of the leader.
To achieve this, Branson has created an organizational culture that is unique to this firm. Creating an organizational culture within the firm helps ensure that the behavior of individuals or teams formed within the organization can be predicted by the leader (Burns 1978, p. 113).
A leader should be not be caught unawares by an action of an individual follower or a group of them because the leader is always expected to be on top of every situation within the organization. Being able to predict the behavior of the employees or teams gives the manager an upper hand in control it as would be desirable. At Virgin Group, Branson has been very keen on ensuring that employees embrace change.
According to Rollinson (2005, p. 89), Branson is one of the contemporary managers who cherish change within their organization. He has been keen on influencing employees’ readiness for change by making change part of the organizational culture of this organization.
According to Northouse (2010, p. 79), an organization always faces various instances that require it to change its strategies in one way or the other in order to remain competitive. An organizational willingness to change always depends heavily on the leadership strategies of the management of the firm. Age plays an important role in determining the willingness to change. According to Pardey (2007, p. 118), the elderly do not resent change.
They find it difficult to adapt to radical changes that have characterized the current business environment. They like gradual changes that they can comprehend and benefit from before a new one can be introduced. However, the current changes taking place in the business environment are very radical.
They happen so suddenly, and it requires people, who are flexible enough to adapt to them. This is a fact that Branson has realized in many of the industries in which, it operates. Readiness to change always depends on the perspective with which, leadership and the followers view change.
As Rollinson (2005, p. 117) says, changes cannot be ignored.However, change can be destructive if not well taken care of by the concerned authorities. The management has the responsibility to create an environment that cherishes change. This way, organizational willingness for change will be enhanced. For change to take place, an organization must have put in place mechanisms that would help in facilitating change.
Organizational readiness for change refers to the level at which the organization is prepared to embrace change (Yukl 2010, p. 113). Some organizations are never ready to accept change due to the presence of change resistors. Therefore, change cannot be proposed without putting in place measures that would facilitate the new ways of doing things. This is what Branson has put in place in its leadership style in this country.
Analysis of How Two Leaders Perceive Their Roles
In the contemporary world, there are various leaders who have been viewed as great leader in the contemporary world. Adolf Hitler is one such leader. Born in humble family, Adolf Hitler believed that his country had potential to perform better than it was doing. According to Yukl (2010, p. 139), Hitler was one of the most inspiring leaders that ever lived. As a child, Hitler wanted to be a prominent painter.
However, he realized that this ambition was misplaced. During the First World War, he actively participated in the war and in politics. He remains one of the greatest propagandists ever to live. After the First World War, he came up with Nazi party.
He maintained that Germans did not deserve the fine imposed on it after the First World War. This leader came up with the propaganda that the Germans were the best race on earth. He viewed himself as a redeemer of the Germans, a leader who came to remind the Germans of their rightful position in the word.
His propaganda worked magic, as people came to believe in him. Through him, Germans saw a redeemer who would rescue the country from all the suffering. Once in position, he asserted himself and became an absolute leader who did not tolerate opposition. Though elected to the office democratically, he became the greatest dictator that this country ever had.
His influence on his country, and other world leaders brought the world into the Second World War. German soldiers and their allies performed well in their war due to his motivation. He was finally defeated not because of leadership skills, but because of the enemy which was stronger, larger, and included nations such as US that had refrained from the war, and therefore were stronger when they latter joined it.
Another leader who has been considered as a great personality in the field of leadership is Barrack Obama. Born of an African (Kenyan) father and an American mother, president Barrack Obama started exhibiting leadership qualities while in school. While at Harvard Law School, he became the president of Harvard Law Review. He entered politics in 1997 as a representative of 13th District in Illinois.
Obama finally won the senatorial seat in November 2004 to represent Illinois. During his campaigns, Obama amazed many people, both the civilians and leaders alike, with his oratory capacity.
He would give speeches that would not only convince listeners, but inspire them to achieve success as individuals and as citizens of this country. He was a leader with the capacity to make the electorates believe that there was more to be done in this society.
In 2007, he announced his intention to run for the presidency of this country. Many thought that the ambition was misplaced because no Black American had every ascended to that position. For many years, the United States had been known for its segregationpolicies, and not many people thought that this country was ready for a black president.
Obama would prove them wrong when he trounced a powerful Hillary Clinton in the primaries. Other critics still held that his victory was because of the fact that he was opposed by a woman and that the country was not ready for a woman presidency.
They held that in the elections, he would be trounced by his opponent, senator McCain. He would prove them wrong again when he defeated McCain to become the first Black President of the United States. He beat Mitt Romney to win his reelection to the office. He has proven to be a transformational leader.
Summary
Leadership is very important in the current society. In the discussion above, it has been demonstrated that organizations can only succeed if they have leaders with the capacity to influence followers to act in a specific desirable way. As an aspiring leader, I clearly understand the fact that followers performance will always depend on the influence that they get from their leader.
Leaders who use fear to make followers behave in a specific manner may not succeed in the contemporary world. In the current society, inspirational leaders have the capacity to influence the performance and the general behavior of employees to suite a given condition. Employee’s performance will be influenced by the ability of the leader to convince them that they have a capacity to perform beyond their current levels.
I have come to appreciate that management in the contemporary society needs some elements of leadership. Employees should develop trust in their leader, and believe that through the leader, they are capable of achieving their best performance. This would help a firm achieve its vision within the desirable time. As demonstrated above, motivated employees tend to work as a unit.
They would want to see success achieved through teamwork because that is what transformational leadership demonstrates. Also important is the ability of the leaders to consider balancing between organizational goals and employees concern. Goals of the firm should not be prioritized at the expense of the well being of the employees. This will help create an environment of mutual respect.
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