Organizations Culture and Values on Leadership - Coursework Example

Organizational Culture and Leadership Name Institution Date TASK 1 1.1. Organization’s Culture and Values on Leadership Organizational culture is undisputedly the central viewpoint in determining the position of an organization to work coherently in achievement organizational success. Ashkenas et al. (2015), states that organizational culture is the values and behaviors that depict the uniqueness of a particular organization. Further, organizational culture plays a fundamental role in shaping the psychological and social environment of a specific organization. Guadalupe & Wulf (2013), determines that business enterprises are just but artificial type of a person and therefore must demonstrate unique behaviours, attitudes and beliefs that which shapes the perceptions, ideas, operations and performance of the person at the long run. In understanding organizational culture, it is crucial to note that an organization is a conglomeration of different people from different cultural backgrounds and hence devising a common cultural ground where people can easily and openly share ideas and communicate in necessary (Wagner et al 2014). The culture of an organization therefore, attempts to assist the organization determine and outline its organizational expectations, experience, philosophy, and values which hold the workplace together. Leadership on the other hand is the ability to impose personal influence and importance on other people. It is the art of using personal power to influence other people to undertake a particular activity or duty (Voet, 2014). For effective leadership, a leader must be in a position to set realistic goals and visions, which are aspects of organizational culture, and letting the followers or other members of the team work towards achievement of the set goals and visions. Leading a team of six people might sound easy but without a precise cultural outline the leadership process might be of high complexity. Factors such as the actions and behavior of the leaders, what the leader pays attention to, what he rewards and what he punishes and resources allocation procedures are as well vital in determining a leader’s capacity to create a culturally effective work environment (Lloyd-Walker & Walker, 2011). 1.2. Legal, Regulatory and Ethical Requirements on Leadership Demands Leadership is about understanding the work environment and making perfect decisions appertaining specific problems emanating from the organization or team. The capability of the leader to make rational decisions is undoubtedly dependent on his attitudes and ability to generate unique and acceptable opinions. The leader has the ethical responsibility of setting the work standards, setting examples by walking their talk and letting the followers assist him strategically in the achievement of set goals (Voet, 2014). The leader’s attitude is as well vital in determining his capability to lead efficiently by making the right choices and imposing the right will on followers. In essence, effective leadership begins by winning other people’s trust so that they might work willingly, determinedly and unboundedly under the prevailing leadership hence a person yearning to be a leader must be in a position to take responsibility and work with credibility (Luna, 2015). The leader must be outcome oriented and must consistently realign the workforce towards achievement of set goals by working on ways to increase individual team member performance and general results. A leader must be in a position to recognize that the contemporary workplace consists of numerous distinct regulations demands that tend to govern business operations and leadership processes (Healy, 2012). Such regulations act as boundaries or constrains to the decision making processes since the leader must just conform to them in each and every decision made. Such regulations are usually in form of agencies, directives, reviews, inspections and coded regulations. As time goes by, business operations and management become more complex and as a result, various rules and regulations are cropping up in the effect of business control hence, a strategic leader must be highly flexible and ethically upright to meet such emanating challenges (Wagner et al., 2014). 1.3. Current and Emerging Social Concerns It is vital for organizations and teams’ leaders to determine that in addition to profit maximization strategies and legal compliance scopes, the leaders must determine the emerging social needs of the employees, team members as well as the stakeholders’ fraternity in general. Most of the modern theories purport that human resources should be the core aspect of the organizational structure in which they should be part of decision making processes unlike the old models like the mechanistic theory which argues that human resource is just but like any other organizational machine. In as such, most modern organizational structures are placing Stakeholders at the epicenter of their management structures (Zhang, Hoque, & Isa, 2015). Additionally, previously, employees’ welfare had of no significance value or relevance to organizational performance. Modern management theories purports that effective management begins by noticing and working towards meeting employees’ needs as this shall act as motivation to them resulting into increased performance. An effective leader must therefore be in a position to recognize his followers’ needs and endeavor meeting them fully (Lawter, Kopelman, & Prottas, 2015). The workplace is becoming more globally dynamic because of diversified inclusion of people from different backgrounds in the workplace. Therefore, there is need to devise a more diversified behavioral and psychological approach to dealing with the workforce. Strategic Leadership is hence necessary in changing the workplace dynamics. It substantiates the importance of stakeholders over profit maximization strategies and provides an explicit link between internal organizational variables and globalization, a model necessary for organizational realignment (Latham, 2014). TASK 2 2.1. Relationship between Management and Leadership In most cases, leadership and management are used interchangeably which, to some extent, should not be the case. Management is mostly regarded as the aspect of getting things done though other people. The managers set strategic goals and source for people who would be responsible for meeting the various duties aiming towards achievement of the one unitary set goal. Management takes more interest in maintaining business conditions so as to avoid chances of losses and as such, managers have short-term view to organizational problems and rejoice in accepting the status quo (Girma, 2016). Leaders however, emphasize on interpersonal behaviour in a broader sense. It assesses and responds to people’s behaviour, attributes and approach to tasks. Leaders takes more interest in altering the status quo and coming up with new ideas and as such looks much into long-term implication of problems on organizational performance rather than short-term. Practically, contemporary leadership is just but an aspect of a high-quality management system. Lead-Managers are setting long-term goals and take more interest in challenging status quo. They believe people form a crucial part in organizational management and in enhancing performance just like a leader would do, hence invests more in employee development and in meeting employees’ needs (Luna, 2015).. 2.1. Leadership Styles 2.1.1. Lewin’s Leadership Styles Lewin in his leadership framework purports that the type of leadership to be used is contingent to the prevailing situation or occasion. He argues that there are three types of leadership styles applicable to respective situations including autocratic leadership, democratic leadership and laissez-faire leadership (Avolio & Yammarino, 2013). In Autocratic leadership, a leader makes decisions without making consultations with the team members. This type of leadership style is highly applicable when decisions need to be made quickly and further consultations would lead to inconveniences. Democratic leadership is where the leader makes serious consultations from the team members before coming up with the final resolution (Latham, 2014). Every team member is given equal opportunity to contribute to the concern after which best suggestions are picked. It is applicable especially when there is need to encourage creativity amongst members. Laissez-Faire gives much freedom to members on how they do their work and rarely work on deadlines. It is believed that any rational individual should be set free to work on his deadlines without constrains. 2.1.2. The Blake-Mouton Managerial Grid The approach purports that leadership is a grid illustrating the correlation amongst various leadership components. The leadership style emphasizes on balancing leadership aspects such as people-orientation, concentration in directing, organizing, controlling, supporting and developing team members. This approach of leadership assists a great deal in enhancing participation, collaboration and creativity amongst members (Chu, 2013). Leaders should be interested in getting the job done which required outstanding skills to manage the team members concerns as well as tasks. 2.1.3. Flamholtz and Randle's Leadership Style Matrix The style focuses on how autonomous people can work with respect to a pre-programmed task. The leadership theory is based on the ideology that some class of people works best when granted the free will to do so and another class of people which works best when under instruction and directions (Latham, 2014). It uses a matrix divided into four quadrants with each quadrant showing two possible styles applicable at specific situations stretching from "autocratic/benevolent autocratic" to "consensus/laissez-faire." 2.1.4. Transactional Leadership The leadership approach states that team members must show commitment and agreement to the leader. It applies the ideology that organizations utilize their resources in compensating team members for their work and hence the members must give value to such a transaction by ensuring compliance with set standards and expectations (Avolio & Yammarino, 2013). Failure to do so, the organization shall have no otherwise but to “punish” those who fail to meet standards. The style is necessary in role and responsibility determination and in getting work done. 2.2. Why Leadership Styles Need To Be Adapted In Different Situations As discussed, leadership takes more interests on people more than any other corporate resource. In an ideal scenario, it is deductible that people are the key drivers to organizational success and as such, they need to be granted a paramount priority if success is to be achieved. Most researchers explain that employees’ motivation has a significant direct correlation to organizational performance (Avolio, Walumbwa & Weber, 2011). Douglas McGregor in his X theory suggests that “human beings have inherent dislike for work and would avoid it if they can.” He explains that because of the dislike, people must always be coerced and intimidated for their full potential to be utilized in the tasks and to an average man, responsibility is an ambiguous and hence he must be directed at all points (Lawter, Kopelman & Prottas, 2015). This approach is highly used in “hard” management where it is believed that compensation and punishment are the only rewards to performance. Theory X managers believes in setting standards and having other people work within the set standards without question. Such theory is seldom in use when it comes to leadership, which deems Theory Y friendlier, but however is applied at some instances. These two theories play a critical role in determining the leadership style to use (Girma, 2016). It is crucial to note that leadership style used should be dependent on the prevailing situation. Some, such as autocratic, assists in responding to urgent situations as some, like Leadership Style Matrix, assists in determining strengths and weaknesses of team members. TASK 3 3.1. A culture of professionalism, mutual trust, respect and support One of the main necessity for creating a strong culture in an organization is a leader’s responsibility in leading people is conveying the importance of professionalism and development of an environment that is conducive for trust respect and support among the employees. Some of the mentioned steps below are essential while developing a professional, trustworthy and respectful culture in the company. The first step is creating an evironment that is conducive. On of the essential elements of creating this kind of environment is having a clear vision. A proactive leader is required to have and a maintain a clear vision for the organizations future and present. Proactive leaders also ensure that their visions are aligned with the ethics and organizations directions (Leape et al., 2012). The next step requires the defination of a culture that is characterised by minimal discrepancy and which revolves around people. In addition to this culture is also characterised by its defination of the sync within the environment where it emphasises on professionalism, support, mutual trust and respect. Communication is the third step, this is the process where the culture is defined by the leader. Thus, essential communication is passed through to the individuals within the organization for further push of this process (Chu, 2013). Since these other individuals within the organization play a major role in the organization it is ideal for them to be communicated to. The next step is to instill values in the individuals in the organization inorder to to streghthen cultural development within the organization. The leaders need to take time to ensure smooth transition of the culture within the organization,also effective teaching needs to be adopted in order to make this culture of profesionalism, mutual trust and respect part of reality. The last step is living the culture, this is achived through the directions and words of leaders. The organization’s leaders need to follow the organizational culture.This will ensure that they instil essential values such as; mutual trust, support, professionalism and respect on the whole organization. Therefore, through their actions they are able to reflect on the organization culture and values. 3.2. A leader’s clear focus It is evident that leaders have immense influence on their followers, since thy can set new directions to be followed and also could at times change the organization directions. However, for this to be possible these leaders need to be focused on the internal and external factors that have a direct impact on the organization. Leaders are also required to have clear focus in order for them to analyze organization, business environment and employee needs (Girma, 2016). On the other hand, having clear focus help leaders initialize strategies and tactics that help change the organization. Moreover, clear focus is also essential in leaders especially in the efforts of making strategic decisions and carrying out their implementation. It fosters the positive impact of the leaders in the achievement of goals that drive the organization’s success (Alimo‐Metcalfe, & Alban‐Metcalfe, 2012). For instance, the confidence of a focused leader tends to rub on the organization’s workers. This helps earn this leader some fair amount of respect and trust from other employees. Clear focus among the organization leaders helps them to adjust, in caseof changes in the business. In this case, these leaders are able to stay alert, also clear focus enables these leaders to poses passion and commitment which fosters their efforts in fulfilling the organizational objectives. 3.3. Leader supports and develops understanding of the organization’s direction The organization benefits greatly from their leader’s passion, this attribute help the organization grow exponential, having that leadership is central to organization management. One of the main responsibility of leaders is to communicate and develop the organization’s direction which enables them influence people on the direction the organization is taking and why they should follow it (Lloyd-Walker & Walker, 2011). The organizations leaders’ responsibility is also to ensure that these set directions are followed by individuals within the organization. Moreover a leader in this case, also ensures that individuals within the organization are aware of the significance of the organization’s direction. In this case, the leader is responsible for providing them with a clear picture of the organization’s direction. Effective leaders should also adopt strategic approaches in their leadership styles for instance charisma in order to influence the individuals within the organization to abide by the organizations directions (Avolio, Walumbwa, & Weber, 2011). Additionally, organizational success can only be achieved if the organization’s direction is felt by these individuals within the organization. 3.4. Leadership styles are adapted to meet changing needs To come up with leadership styles which can be adapted for purposes of achieving team development and commitment through change, the leadership, therefore, should embrace different leadership styles in varying situations. In this case, a blend of multiple leadership styles will enable an organization’s leadership to come up with the best balance that is suitable for the individuals within the organization (Lloyd-Walker, & Walker, 2011). However, analyzing of the situation should be of top priority in the management cycle. Thus, the preferred style of leadership should be considerate of the employees in the organization, the nature of their work and competences in their work. Moreover, In order to come up with leadership styles which are instrumental in meeting the changing needs that are crucial in team development and commitment the leadership styles should be decided per task (Luna, 2015). This will enable the organization to know the best blend of leadership styles for the organization as well as know which leadership style to embrace in different areas within its workforce. References Alimo‐Metcalfe, B., & Alban‐Metcalfe, J. (2012). More (good) leaders for the public sector. International Journal Of Public Sector Management, 19(4), 293-315. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/09513550610669167 Ashkenas, R., Ulrich, D., Jick, T., & Kerr, S. (2015). The boundaryless organization: Breaking the chains of organizational structure. John Wiley & Sons. http://www.esm.rochester.edu/iml/prjc/poly/wpcontent/uploads/2012/02/Book_Review_Judy1.pdf Avolio, B. J., & Yammarino, F. J. (Eds.). (2013). Introduction to, and overview of, transformational and charismatic leadership. In Transformational and Charismatic Leadership: The Road Ahead 10th Anniversary Edition (pp. xxvii-xxxiii). 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