Introduction
Successful organizations have well-structured plans that set a clear direction into the envisioned future and provide means of achieving it. The leadership of such organizations set goals that ensure success at both individual and corporate levels. Participation of employees in the goal setting process motivates them leading to easy achievement of the set target. Motivation and support of staff is thus a necessary ingredient in achieving a higher level of success of employees.
Goal setting also ensures profitability of the business as it leads to improvement in service delivery and product quality. A clear organizational vision is important in attaining organizational success. The vision defines the values of the company and guides the employees towards attainment of organizational objectives. Leaders of business organizations should understand the importance of having a strong, shared vision within an organization as well as having goal setting in an organization.
Importance of Goal setting in Organizations
Organizational goals structured with the involvement of all employees help in staff motivation and teamwork. In addition, goal setting involving the input from the employees helps in problem solving since solutions to problems are addressed during the goal setting exercise. Goal setting should not only involve the goals for the entire company but also goals at the departmental level. Goal setting at departmental level leads to improvement in employee performance as the employees strive to comply with the goals set.
The goal setting process is the prerogative of the leadership of the organization with inputs from the other employees. The goals set should take into account the capabilities and the competences of the human capital as well as the resources available to the company.
To improve employee performance, the goals should be more specific and in line with the organization’s mission. The goal setting exercise should also incorporate the views and responses from all the parties or departments involved. This ensures that the goals set are all-inclusive, which motivates the employees to put more efforts towards attaining them.
The goal setting process involves first the formulation of a clear and effective vision of the organization, which provides an idealized picture of the organization in the future. A vision is important to an organization as it acts as a guiding principle for the organization’s strategic plans. An effective vision should be specific to provide direction and inspire employee commitment towards the achievement of common goals.
A clear vision that is all-inclusive facilitates employees to set individual goals to drive the organization forward. In addition to the goals, objectives offer a more descriptive way on how the vision of the organization will be achieved. Once the objectives have been set, various tasks are assigned to departments or employees to help achieve the objectives. Priority must be given to important tasks accompanied with monitoring and evaluation to provide a progressive way of achieving the set objectives within a specific period.
The Role of Leadership in Organizations
Good business leadership provides important direction to an organization that result to business success. The business leaders supervise the subordinate staff to ensure proper implementation of the strategic plan of the organization. Supervision should involve evaluation of workers performance and motivating the workers to improve performance (Rudolph, 2003, p.148). In addition, showing passion and allowing the participation of employees in decision-making inspires them to put more efforts in their work.
The leadership of a business should also be keen on expanding the knowledge and skills of the employees through training and coaching. Training employees allows them to acquire new knowledge and skills, which increases their performance while coaching employees ensures a more efficient work force. Training and coaching of new employees is important as it provides the necessary skills that allow them to fit into the organization’s work force.
Business leaders must possess effective leadership power, which allows them to influence and guide the other employees to be more productive. In addition, the leadership power enables business leaders to exercise authority over the employees. Business leaders can exercise leadership power in five different ways.
The employee can be made to comply through coercive power that is by use of force. However, this impact negatively on employee performance as employees becomes less committed to their tasks. The subordinate staff usually complies with orders issued by senior managers who exercise legitimate power. Clark (2010) sees managers who give rewards in form of incentives or compensation to employees exercise the reward power.
Referent power is founded on the desire of the employees to emulate their manager and consequently accord him/her respect. Highly skilled and experienced managers exercise expert power as the employees consider their knowledge and leadership necessary for the organization. Besides, the leadership power, other factors such as the skills and personality of the individual employees, the personal attributes of the business leader as well as the task to be done influence the productivity of the work force.
Conclusion
A business leader facilitates the creation of an effective vision for an organization, which obligates the employees to strive towards the achievement of organizational goals. A business leader also helps in the goal setting process of organizational goals, which provide a framework for the implementation of organizational policies and strategic plan. Leadership power exercised by business leaders influences and inspires employees to work effectively.
Reference List
Clark, D.R. (2010). Leading and Leadership. Retrieved from <http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/leadled.html>
Rudolph, G. (2003). Good Business Leadership: Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning. New York: Penguin Group.