Charismatic and Servant Leadership - Assignment Example

LEADERSHIP Student’s name Code & Course Professor’s Name University City Date Leadership Part B Question 3 In the contemporary business world, the future is often very uncertain. As one’s environment continues to change, leaders attribute their reactions to the change, and, therefore, the subsequent successes or failures either to themselves or forces outside their frame of influence. The direction chosen is the locus of control and has an influence on the long-term success prospects of the manager. It describes the inclination of individuals to perceive outcomes as a result of their behavior or as a result of forces they cannot control. External locus of control refers to those who perceive things as beyond their control while the internal locus of control refers those who view outcomes to be within their control. The best leaders have an internal locus of control, which enables them to engage in activities that improve their situation. When things go wrong, they tend to be inquisitive and investigate why they turned out so, thereby gathering information to improve situations in the future. Question 5 The major appeal of the traits theory is the fact that it is one of the most widely researched and written about. Various research papers and articles exist that explain the influence of traits of the leadership experience. This is attributed to the increased focus on charismatic leadership in the past few decades. Interest in charismatic leadership reached the peak with the election in 2008 of the first African American President in the US, Barrack Obama. The traits theory also theorizes the idea of leadership. Unlike the other theories that are somewhat complex, this is a straightforward theory that breaks down leadership into important characteristics that one either needs to have or can work towards. It simplifies the subject of leadership. Many people believe that leaders are and should be special. The basis of the traits theory is the fact that leaders are born with specific traits. The traits theory speaks to this need. Question 6 Charismatic leadership refers to leadership by charm and personality, rather than through authority or power. Charismatic leadership involves creating a persona that people understand and, therefore, follow. Charismatic leaders are often a huge inspiration. They inspire such loyalty that it is easy to convert the people they lead to their points of view. This makes them the easiest agents to effect change in an organization. Charismatic leaders are extremely confident, and the image of admiration makes the confidence spread all through the company. The charismatic leadership style also has several disadvantages. The excessive confidence that charismatic leaders have in themselves and their points of view might sometimes blind them to the glaring dangers of their thinking and decisions. Charismatic leadership might also sometimes creates a leadership crisis. This is because people often depend on charismatic leaders for a lot. This means there is almost never any development of capable successors. Question 7 This leadership style involves the leader helping people achieve their goals. There is no single blanket effective leadership style. However, the path-goal theory takes into account various situations in attempting to motivate employees to better themselves. Depending on the situation, the leader can take one of the following approaches; They can practice supportive leadership, focusing on building a relationship and offering their support to the individual members of their team. Supportive leadership involves the creation of a friendly atmosphere to work. This is especially important of the tasks involved repetitive and stressful. When the team members are inexperienced, directive leadership is required. Here, the leader gives direct goals and assigns clear tasks to their followers. In a situation where the job is challenging, the leader should approach it using participative leadership. In cases where the team lacks motivation, an achievement oriented approach is appropriate as it sets challenging goals that the team members will then work at fulfilling. Question 8 Servant leadership is one of the oldest theories and concepts of leadership. The basis of servant leadership is that the major role of every leader is to serve their employees or their followers. Although it is one of the traditionally accepted theories and points of view, it is not too prevalent today. However, there still are many instances where servant leadership is appropriate. In establishing the authority and influence of a leader, in today’s contemporary organizations it is important to have them participate in the day to day operations. Servant leadership is important in leading one’s followers during a project. A leader’s role has chnaged from the traditionally thought perspective to a more transformational role. Leaders must engage with the people involved with the actual implementation of the project on the ground. It is especially important in a new organization or when the leader has just taken over. Part A Introduction Leaders are in most cases faced with the dilemma of embracing the unavoidable workplace politics when gaining and exercising their power. Evidently, leadership requires power. However, leadership cannot be purely an ethical experience. Leaders must understand the importance of the two aspects, and their existing interrelationship. A good leader must learn how to balance these two aspects of leadership; politics and power, which, as this paper shows, are influential factors in leadership. Ethics and politics in leadership The issue of leadership and power has been the subject of many studies in the past. Scholars have identified two important bases of power that are important to the contemporary organization; personal and positional power. Personal power comes from the authority that leaders have due to their expertise in the workplace. Positional power refers to the power they hold as a result of their position. Transformational leadership requires the leader to command the respect and admiration of the people that follow them. Leaders today strive towards transformational leadership, with traits such as charisma, intellectuality and consideration of individuals. Transformational leaders often possess expert and referent power. These traits are important for effective performance as a leader and success in one’s career. They are, however, insufficient by themselves. The acquisition of power is a political process, and one must learn to navigate the politics in their organization if they are to advance. The mention of organizational politics is almost always in a negative light. Organizational politics and ethics, therefore, for many people at least stand on opposite ends of the spectrum. However, for one to lead, they have to understand and influence others and get past the notion that all politics in the organization is unethical. In the subject of politics and ethics in an organization, the understanding of organizational politics by a leader is important for their career advancement. Organizations are political arenas, and one must develop their political skills in an organization in order to succeed. Political skill requires the ability to read people and understand their reasons for doing things. Without understanding what motivates them to act the way they do, there is no controlling or having the influence the leader should have. It is easy to control willing subjects, but the leader will be required to get the willing and unwilling members of the organization to the same end. Political skill comes from the leader’s ability to join social networks in the organization. The more networks they join, the higher the power of their influence. Finally, the leader must have the integrity and sincerity of heart to assure people that their intentions are pure. Leadership requires power, and there is no escaping the fact that power requires politics. The organization, therefore, cannot be a purely ethical actor. The leader must embrace politics because the end justifies the means. The leader must be socially astute. They must be in tune with what everyone in the organization thinks and does. The leader must understand their followers and the different faces they present in different situations. Knowing how they come across to others is important in matching the leadership style to their interaction and perceived reaction to the situation. Political skill requires a strong sense of interpersonal influence. Leaders can get their way by threatening their followers, but it takes a true leader to wield such interpersonal influence that people will want to do things for them as if it were their idea. To achieve this, the leader must know what the people want, and the things they love to hear. The leader must know how to adjust their behavior to suit the needs of their followers. Political skill requires good networking ability. Networks thrive on coalitions, friendships and collaborations. These attributes are important when influencing others. The larger the network, the more the influence. Friendships and connections, also referred to as social capital, allow the leader to use these attributes to benefit the organization. Such leaders use the political influence of these networks to bring in more resources for the organization and get rewarded for it. From the influence and benefits of these networks, the leader will improve their reputation. Team members also benefit from the strong reputation. Political power also involves cultivating apparent sincerity. In the organizational, political arena, apparent sincerity is important. This might sound unethical, but it is true. In any organization, the perception that others have of one’s intentions is more important than the intentions themselves. It is impossible for individuals to understand a leader’s plan. They can only make perceptions of the intentions through educated guesses and judgments. In the case when they perceive honesty and lack of ulterior motive in the job they are given, then it is likely that the influencing process will succeed. Leaders who appear sincere with their intentions will appear manipulative. Politics requires the leader to be able to influence the perception of their intentions to achieve the influence they require. Conclusion More often than not organizations are compelled to embrace political dynamisms in achieving intended results. Whereas, leadership requires power, and power often needs politics, organizational politics must not be regarded as an unwarranted approach to organizational leadership. The organization can leverage politics to sustain itself, using it to command the collective will of followers and ultimately to conform to ethical practices. Read More