Characteristics of Organizational Leadership - Research Paper Example

Organizational leadership Leadership is a process of taking charge, controlling and guiding a group of people for the accomplishment of a common task. Leadership has many forms and it functions differently at different places. Leading country and leading an organization are entirely different things. It is possible that every become leaders, but it is difficult that everybody becomes effective leaders. Leadership is considered as an art since it is difficult for all the people to lead a group of people.

Same way many people consider management as a science because of the scientific elements involved in managing people in the current organizations. In short, organizational leadership is the careful blend of art and science which gives direction to the growth of an organization. Even though there are many concepts and principles prevailing about organizational leadership, it is difficult to standardize a universal organizational leadership. Organizations operating in different countries a different and their policies, culture, mission, target etc would be different.

Because of the huge differences between different organizations organizational leadership among different organizations in the same country may also be different. This paper briefly explains the characteristics of organizational leadership. Characteristics of Organizational leadership Situational leadership is prominent in most of the organizations at present. In this model of leadership, the leaders lead the people based on the situational requirements. In other words, same leader may adopt different approaches while dealing with different situations.

For example, employees working in an organization are different in their attitude towards their work. Some of them may have positive attitudes (X type people) and some others may have dislike towards their jobs (Y type people). It is difficult for a leader to adopt same strategies for these two types of employees. For the X type people he may adopt autocratic approach whereas for the Y type employees he may adopt democratic style of functioning. In short, based on the situations or based on the type of employees, organizational leaders need to change their leadership approaches.

Some employees perform better while working as part of a team whereas some others may perform well individually. The leader should be able to identify these characteristics of the employees while implementing strategies in the organization. There are passive leaders and active leaders in organizations. Passive leader may not bring any good to the organization whereas active leaders always work for the betterment of the organization. As mentioned earlier, leadership is an art which requires lot of skills like temperament, patience and preparation.

It is not possible that a short tempered person or a person with lack of control over his emotion may become an effective organizational leader. Emotional intelligence is the core of effective organizational leadership. The organizational leader may face lot of problems from different corners of the organization. Quick and logical decision making abilities are essential for an organizational leader. “Momentum is the leaders’ best friend” (Maxwell, p.XII). Quick actions are the order of the current organizational world.

It is not possible for an organizational leader to adopt a wait and watch approach. Opportunities will come and go and quick decisions are essential for exploiting the opportunities. “Effective leaders are alike in crucial way: they all have high degree of emotional intelligence” (Goleman & Maccoby, 2005, p.3) Emotional intelligence is an essential quality required for an organizational leader. The employees of an organization may consist of different people with different personality and behavioural traits and hence problems can occur any time.

Only a leader with emotional intelligence can segregate the employees based on their personality traits and manage them effectively. Emotional intelligence helps a leader to increase the productivity of the organization which he leads. The personality of the leader is important in shaping the behaviour of an organizational leader. A leader without a power can be termed as an ineffective leader. Such ineffective leaders are often referred as leaders by position. In any case, the success of an organizational leader often measured on the basis of the performances of the organization.

“Leadership has an extra ordinary power. It can make the difference between success and failure in anything you do for yourself or for any group to which you belong” (Cohen, 2000, p.1). The success of organizational leadership is often measured on the basis of the performances of the organization. Effective organizational leaders would be able to convert a failure situation into a successful one. For example, recent recession has destroyed the back bones of many of the organizations in the world.

On the other hand, many organizations seized the opportunity and exploited the market condition well. For example, Indian automobile manufacturer TATA group recently acquired the British automobile companies Jaguar and Land Rover. In other words the TATA leadership was able to capitalize on the weak performances of Jaguar and Land Rover. “The amount of time and effort put into work is important in determining the success of leadership. The more time you put in, the more successful you will be.

Don’t work harder-Work smarter”(Blanchard et al, 1999, p.15). It is necessary for an organizational leader to put more time and effort into his work. At the same time putting more time doesn’t mean that the leader should physically work harder to obtain better results. He should be able to formulate better strategies to lead the organization towards prosperity. An organizational leader who does all the things independently without seeking assistance from others cannot be considered as an effective leader.

An effective organizational leader always gets the things done through others. He will only guide the subordinates towards the targets. Conclusions Organizational leadership is the mixture of art and science. Scientific management principles are necessary for an organizational leader to lead the organization towards prosperity. At the same time an organizational leader should be able to formulate different strategies with respect to the situations rather than opting for same strategies for all situations.

Flexibility in functioning makes an organizational leader, a successful one. References 1. Blanchard K. 2. Ken Blanchard (Author) 3. › Visit Amazon's Ken Blanchard Page 4. Find all the books, read about the author, and more. 5. See search results for this author 6. Are you an author? Learn about Author Central 7. Zigarmi P & Zigarmi Patricia Zigarmi (Author) › Visit Amazon's Patricia Zigarmi PageFind all the books, read about the author, and more.See search results for this author 8.

Are you an author? Learn about Author Central 9. D (1999). Leadership and the One Minute Manager: Increasing Effectiveness Through Situational Leadership, Publisher: William Morrow; 1 edition (October 20, 1999) 2. Cohen W.A. (2000). The New Art Of The Leader Revised, Publisher: Prentice Hall Press (October 3, 2000) 3. Goleman D & Maccoby M.(2005). Harvard Business Review on What Makes a Leader, Publisher: Harvard Business Press; 1st edition (October 15, 2001) 4. Maxwell, J.C. (1998). The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You.

Publisher: Thomas Nelson; 1st edition (September 18, 1998)