Effective Leadership in Different Areas - Literature review Example

Effective Leadership in Different Areas Name: Institute: Effective Leadership in Different Areas Introduction Effective leadership is vital for all organization to succeed, and great leaders are at all times significantly examining means wherein they can improve their abilities so as to realize a range of organisational goals (Sperry, 2013). Effectiveness can be described as the ability of generating the needed result, so when something is viewed as effective, it connotes that it has an expected or intended outcome, or generates a profound, stunning impression (Baumüller, 2007). Leadership can be defined as a process through which an individual influences other persons (followers) to achieve a goal and directs the organization coherently and cohesively (Rost, 1993). Furthermore, leadership as per Boonstra (2008) can be defined as a social influence process, which capitalises on others’ efforts, towards achieving a set goal. The key terms utilised in the essay include virtual team, organisation cultures, high performer, and different cultures. A virtual team is a group of persons who work across organizational, time and space boundaries with connections fortified by communication technology networks. Organisation cultures can be defined as behaviours and values that result in the unique organisation’s psychological and social environment (Clayden, 2007). In this case, organizational culture consists of the organization's values, philosophy, experiences, as well as expectations that hold it collectively, and is evinced in its self-worth, future expectations, and inner workings (Schein, 2010). Organisation culture is rooted in shared beliefs, customs, attitudes, as well as rules developed in the fullness of time and are measured applicable. High performers are described as workers who are the main contributors, express high performance, are skilled for a wider role within the similar occupation and have attained the potential to be promoted (Gerson, 2006). Cultures are a combination of so many diverse elements such as language, cuisine, art, history and scores of other tangible as well as non-tangible features. The essay seeks to discuss effective leadership for better management of virtual teams, different cultures, high performers, and for improving organisational culture, so as to establish which leadership style works best, and if there are similarities or only differences. Background studies Virtual teams, even though somewhat new to the landscape of global business, have already been acknowledged as a benefit to global organizations. (Bell & Kozlowski, 2002) Devoid of the costs, time and risks of travel, teams may currently innovate, chat, share information and decide together. Instituting effective virtual teams has attested to be harder than anticipated given that managers cannot just generate high-performance through just creating virtual teams. According to Malhotra et al. (2007), with no cautious structuring, attention and support to processes, virtual teams cannot realise their potential. In this case, as mentioned by Jawadi et al. (2013), effective team leaders must display a diverse roles’ set associated with three main aspects of effective team performance: team cohesion, entity needs of team members, and task achievement. Therefore, there is an up-and-coming inclination in viewing leadership effectiveness with regard to the capability to display numerous roles (like, behavioural repertoires) in multifaceted work environments. In leadership, cultural differences matter a lot and effective leadership can be attributed by embracing them. In a work environment, that is globalised, Lakshman (2013) posits that having a transnational team has turned out to be the norm. Culture influences how leaders interact with their workers, and these differences may be desolate and from time to time exasperating. Introversion may be considered offensive in a number of cultures while hostility can appear devastating to others even if it is similar for the course where they originate from. According to Mendenhall et al. (2013), leading a globalised team, still, is based on embracing cultural differences and hauling the correct levers promptly to achieve best results from the team. Leaders must create a setting that promotes high performance, and for an organisation to generate organisational value, the brainpower in the work team that will bring about innovative services, products as well as markets have to be unleashed (Cocks, 2009). Partakers under a leader will gain knowledge of and practice a six-step collaboration paradigm used by high performers to support the streaming of ideas as well as for problem solving. In so doing, the leader will help partakers learn the needed behaviours for accelerating or suppressing high performance, how to well balance the valuable characteristics of the work setting, as well as methods for developing performance drivers (Snow, 2010). With regard to organisation culture, Dorfman (2012) posits that realigning roles and processes to fit an innovative organizational certainty is a day after day tasks for leaders. Strategising and executing organisational changes is an essential set of skills upon which every leader have to do extremely well in making certain their functions and teams are set up to perform great work (Rook & Kessler, 2013). Basically improving the success of the organisation through culture alignment turned out to be popular work focus in the 80s when, scores of behavioural science researchers accredited the significance and power of organizational culture. In the last two decades, organization culture as per Dorfman (2012) has turn out to be a common subject of discussion amongst a wide audience of leaders. Literature Review Earlier investigations of leadership viewed leaders as entities gifted with particular individuality traits which formed their abilities to lead. These studies analysed entity traits like socioeconomic status, birth order, intelligence, as well as practices of child-rearing (SEDL, 2013). Some of the categories of individual factors related to leadership: capacity however such a narrow classification of leadership traits was unsatisfactory considering that a person does not grow to be a leader by virtue of having a number of amalgamations of traits. The endeavours to separate certain individual traits resulted in the conclusion that one attribute cannot differentiate leaders from non-leaders. Other endeavours to analyse leadership have produced information concerning the types of behaviours demonstrated by leaders so as to establish what makes effective leadership effective. Such behaviours have been grouped along two general dimensions: initiating structures and consideration (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2010). In this case, initiating structures consist of activities like organizing, planning, as well as defining the duties as well as people’s work: that is how work is carried out in the organization (SEDL, 2013). On the other hand, consideration deals with the emotional, social needs of persons; specifically their acknowledgment, self-esteem and work satisfaction having an effect on their performance. A number of researchers have conceptualized the aforementioned dimensions as person- or system- oriented behaviours, expressive and instrumental needs, group maintenance and goal achievement and efficiency and effectiveness. Supposition concerning which dimension, consideration or initiating structures was more imperative for different situations resulted in leadership skills assessment along above-mentioned dimensions (Lussier & Achua, 2012). Amongst assessment tools created for measuring leadership skills includes the Leader Behaviour Description Questionnaire (LBDQ), which is still widely utilised. According to Northouse (2010), one of the key findings brought about by the data from LBDQ was that behaviour for effective leadership tends to be more related to high performance on both consideration and initiating structures dimensions (Northouse, 2010). In brief, the situation approach to leadership backed the argument that effective leaders can handle both the human aspects and tasks of their organizations. Furthermore, the literature about leadership of 70s and 80s, with its concentration on effective leaders, pointed out that leadership abilities are determined by personal traits. This literature above all led to the knowledge that the impact of individual attributes as well as person behaviours of effective leaders in addition to their responsibility bringing about success to the organisation (SEDL, 2013). These studies also distinguished between managers and leaders and brought new vision as new leadership attribute and analysed its significance. Together with having vision, SEDL (2013) posited that effective leaders ease the development of a collective vision and value their organisation’s workers. Other than these leadership insights, transformational leadership emerged as a new theory. OB in Practice Organizational Behaviour (OB) can be defined as the application and study of knowledge concerning how groups, individuals, and people conduct themselves in organizations (Appelbaum et al., 1994). It achieves this through a system approach; specifically, it interprets organization-people associations based on the whole social system, organisation, groups, or person. Evidently, there have been numerous theories and approaches concerning leadership. Early theories concentrated on leaders’ attributes, while later theories concentrated on leaders’ behaviour, as well as circumstances under which persons may be effective. A number of leadership theories as well as approaches rooted in organisation behaviour include: Leader-member exchange theory which concentrates on the relationship that develops between managers and their teams’ members (Scandura & Pellegrini, 2010). Theoretically, the theory states that all relationships between subordinates and managers go through three stages; role-taking, role-making, and routinization. Another theory is contingency theory which states that that good leadership relies on attributes of the leader as well as the situation (Lussier & Achua, 2012). Contingency theory is a behavioural theory class that holds the view that there is no best method of organizing an organization, leading a company, or making decisions. Rather, the most favourable strategy is dependent (contingent) upon the external and internal situation; therefore, a contingent leader successfully uses their individual leadership style to the right situation. Organization behaviour is as well influenced by dimensions of consideration and initiating structure as discussed above. Another theory is path-goal theory, and is a contingency theory connecting suitable style of leadership to subordinate personality and organizational conditions (Schriesheim et al., 2006). According to this theory, leader's behaviour is dependent to the performance, motivation and satisfaction of his/hers subordinates. The path-goal theory as well argues that the leader takes part in behaviours that match abilities of the subordinate as well as compensate for shortages. The last theory with regard to organisation behaviour is transformational leadership theory and is concerned with the behaviours leaders do that motivates workers to high performance and motivation levels (Rolfe, 2011). Discussion and Implications for Practicing Managers Used in the virtual team milieu, behavioural complexity theory point out that effective leader in the virtual team must demonstrate a much more complex and varied set of repertoires or behaviours more than those considered less effective. In addition, considering the intrinsic intricacy of virtual team settings, it is argued that effective virtual team leaders could demonstrate higher behavioural complexity levels as compared to their counterparts in the traditional team (Jawadi et al., 2013). In this case, transformational and democratic style of leadership works best in virtual teams considering that conflicts in such teams ate cannot be avoided. In consequence of the diverse team members’ background, the issues resulting into conflicts vary and conflict resolution modes also differ. In this case, it is apparent that developing an improved knowledge of processes of conflict in virtual teams is very important. Managing culture differences is the key to development in modern intensely competitive international marketplace (Baumüller, 2007).  America’s companies can n more hide behind their insufficient cultural intelligence considering that organizations seeking relevancy inn global market have to embrace diversity based on how they innovate, act, and think.  Basically, diversity is no more concerned with making the numbers, but instead how a company treats its workers genuinely down to its business paradigm roots.   In modern novel workplace, managing culture differences is imperative and so effective leaders must know that selecting the correct style of leadership for the present circumstances tends to advance the chances of success (Lakshman, 2013). On average, however, the majority of leaders make use of the main leadership style in managing culture differences. Basically, cultures differ with regard to the use of power and so situational leader style of leadership is the most appropriate in this case (Mendenhall et al., 2013). Situational leadership style requires the leader or manager to adjust his style of leadership so as to fit the level of development he is endeavouring to achieve. Perceptibly, leaders’ maintaining high performing workers within the organization easily convey benefits. According to Cocks (2009), high performers are the key to success of the organisation and facilitate in setting up future successes through correct decisions, punctually, that focus on organisational goals. Nevertheless, since high performing workers do extremely well in their tasks, they have a range of employment alternatives, and this is particularly factual for younger workers. Generation Ys know that there are scores of opportunities that they can access, and so they leave the company much faster as compared to past generations. In this case, people-oriented style of leadership is best suited for managing high performers since it considers people’s talents as well as strengths. Leaders making use of this style place workers in positions that make use of their positive attributes and talents. In this case, the leader concentrates on supporting organizing, as well as developing entity team members, in addition to improving the wellbeing of team members; thus, resulting in high performance.  Organisation culture is at the moment a normal consideration, and changes that defy the work culture or which are instigated devoid of considering the organisation culture will obviously fail. In this case effective leaders must ensure that culture-consistent changes bring about better results whilst supporting the most imperative workplace beliefs as well as values (Rook & Kessler, 2013). Research has established that the only significant factor of positive leadership in organisations is rooted in wether the leader exhibits authentic concern for their employees according to Dorfman (2012) this is a leadership factor that most related to employees satisfaction, commitment, and motivation, as well as lessened stress. Consequently, such results have been exhibited as being associated with considerably heightened organisational performance as well as productivity. In practice, this portrays a leader exhibiting individual-focused attitudes and behaviours like displaying authentic concern in employees as entities, as well as having positive anticipations of what their employees may realise (Dorfman, 2012). To improve organisational culture, transformational leadership considering that it has surfaced as the most well-liked approach in explaining leaders influence on performance of the organisation. Transformational leadership has exhibited reliable relationship with a range of performance indicators across various organisational cultures (Rolfe, 2011). Basically, effective organizational cultures attributed by consistency, involvement, adaptability, as well as mission are the major organization performance predictors across various cultures. What’s more, job satisfaction and organizational commitment are two attitudes that are associated with different work results like worker performance as well as intentions of turnover. Conclusion and limitation of the study In conclusion, it has been argued that even though leadership can be defined as a role of the person’s individual inclinations, the leader’s function is a conscious as well as unconscious behavioural periphery, which is profiled by a force field of other individual’s reactions as well as actions, both aware and unaware. Theories of charismatic and transformational leadership result in the comprehension of effective leadership, but their contribution and exclusivity have been exaggerated. The new theories that have been overvalued have made the past theories and research on leadership behaviour to be ignored or. A number of new leadership behaviours (such as active monitoring and personalised consideration) have already been highlighted in previous research and theory; others (such as idealized influence and intellectual stimulation) are unclear concerning leader’s actual role. Suitable leadership style for better managing virtual teams is democratic and transformational, improving organizational culture is transformational, managing different cultures is situational, and high performance is people-oriented leadership style. There are few studies with regard to effective leadership for better managing virtual teams; thus, creating the need for further studies. References Appelbaum, S. H., Ritchie, S., & Shapiro, B. T. (1994). Mentoring Revisited: An Organizational Behaviour Construct. International Journal of Career Management, 6(3), 3 - 10 . Baumüller, M. (2007). Managing Cultural Diversity: An Empirical Examination of Cultural Networks and Organizational Structures as Governance Mechanisms in Multinational Corporations. New York, NY: Peter Lang. Bell, B. S., & Kozlowski, S. W. (2002). A Typology of Virtual Teams: Implications for Effective Leadership. Group & Organization Management, 27(1), 14 - 49 . Boonstra, J. (2008). Dynamics of Organizational Change and Learning. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Clayden, S. J. (2007). The Development of Trust in Virtual Teams: An Exploratory Examination of Communication Technologies. Baltimore, Maryland: ProQuest. Cocks, G. (2009). High performers down under: lessons from Australia's winning companies. Journal of business strategy, 30(4), 17 - 22 . Dorfman, P. W. (2012). Servant leadership across cultures. Journal of world business, 47(4), 555 - 570 . Gerson, R. F. (2006). Achieving High Performance: A Research-based Practical Approach. Amherst, Massachusetts: Human Resource Development. Hellriegel, D., & Slocum, J. (2010). Organizational Behavior. New York: Cengage Learning. Jawadi, N., Daassi, M., Favier, M., & Kalika, M. (2013). Relationship building in virtual teams: a leadership behavioral complexity perspective. Human systems management, 32(3), 199 - 211 . Lakshman, C. (2013). Biculturalism and attributional complexity: cross-cultural leadership effectiveness. Journal of international business studies, 44(9), 922 - 940 . Lussier, R., & Achua, C. (2012). Leadership: Theory, Application, & Skill Development. New York: Cengage Learning. Malhotra, A., Majchrzak, A., & Rosen, B. (2007). Leading Virtual Teams. Academy of Management Perspectives, 21(1), 60 - 70 . Mendenhall, M. E., Osland, J., Bird, A., Oddou, G. R., Maznevski, M. L., Stevens, M., & Stahl, G. K. (2013). Global Leadership 2e: Research, Practice, and Development. New York: Routledge. Northouse, P. G. (2010). Leadership: Theory and Practice. London: SAGE. Rolfe, P. (2011). Transformational Leadership Theory: What Every Leader Needs to Know. Nurse Leader, 9(2), 54 - 57 . Rook, C., & Kessler, B. (2013). How Different Cultures Perceive Effective Leadership. INSEAD Articles. Rost, J. C. (1993). Leadership for the Twenty-first Century. Santa Barbara, California: Greenwood Publishing Group. Scandura, T. A., & Pellegrini, E. K. (2010). Cross-cultural generalizability of paternalistic leadership: an expansion of leader-member exchange theory. Group & organization management, 35(1), 391 - 420 . Schein, E. H. (2010). Organizational Culture and Leadership. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Schriesheim, C. A., Castro, S. L., Zhou, X. (., & DeChurch, L. A. (2006). An investigation of path-goal and transformational leadership theory predictions at the individual level of analysis. The Leadership Quarterly, 17(1), 21 - 38 . SEDL. (2013). History of Leadership Research. Retrieved from SEDL: http://www.sedl.org/change/leadership/history_of_leadership_research.html Snow, E. (2010). Leading High Performers: The Ultimate Guide to Being a Fast, Fluid, and Flexible Leader. Bloomington, Indiana: Wordclay. Sperry, L. (2013). Effective Leadership: Strategies for Maximizing Executive Productivity and Health. New York: Routledge. Appendix Part A Define the Theory Style/Type of Leadership Theory Define the Theory Trait Theory The measurement of consistent habit patterns in a person's behaviour, emotions, and thoughts. Behavioural Theory Presumes that the leaders’ success is rooted exclusively on how they conduct themselves. Contingency Theory Is a behavioural theory class that holds the view that there is no best method of organizing an organization, leading a company, or making decisions Leader-Member Exchange Theory the theory states that all relationships between subordinates and managers go through three stages; role-taking, role-making, and routinization Charismatic and Transformational Theory Shine the light on commendable leaders who have unique influence on their followers and eventually on whole, political, cultural, social, economic, and systems. Authentic Leadership; Ethics and Trust Is a leadership approach that stresses on building the legitimacy of leadership through truthful associations with followers that is built on an ethical base Leading for the Future: Mentoring is to encourage and support persons to deal with their own learning so that they may capitalise on their potential, improve their ability and develop their skills Global Leadership Is the interdisciplinary study of the main attributes that future leaders will have Part B - Match the Theory to the Essay Topics Essay Topics Style/Type of Leadership Theory Better manage Personality Type A’ and ‘Personality Type B’ Behavioural Theory Better manage ‘staff (at the same time) Charismatic and Transformational Theory Better manage crisis (i.e., financial, environmental crisis, etc.) Leading for the Future: Mentoring Better manage virtual teams Behavioural Theory Better manage different cultures Trait Theory Better manage high performers Charismatic and Transformational Theory Better manage underperformers and deviant behaviour Trait Theory and Contingency Theory Improve organisational culture Charismatic and Transformational Theory and Authentic Leadership Read More