Can an Organisation Perform without Effective Leadership - Case Study Example

Can an Organisation Perform without Effective Leadership? Name Institution Lecturer Course Date Can an Organisation Perform without Effective Leadership? Leadership is one of the areas in organisational behaviour which have attracted extensive study with numerous theories having been developed. In particular, researchers, scholars and practitioners on organisational behaviour, growth and development have sought to understand the relationship between organisational leadership and organisational performance. Can organisation function without effective leadership? This has arguably been the guiding question behind the studies on the relationship between leadership and organisational performance. This essay seeks to add to the literature on organisational leadership by trying to provide answers to the above question. The essay bases its arguments on leadership theories, concepts and research findings from current literature in the area as well as examples to argue that an organisation cannot function without effective leadership because leadership is the backbone of every organisation. The essay begins with a description of leadership roles in any organisation as a framework for the argument. Roles of Leadership in an Organisation In order to enhance the understanding of why an organisation cannot function without effective leadership, it is worth beginning by highlighting leadership roles in any organisation. In its most succinct definition, a leader is an influencer and a director. According to Anderson (2014) leadership is the process of influencing others to work in a certain desirable way or follow a given direction by exerting more influence to a group than any other person in the group. A person may be a leader because of the possession of hard power (legitimate, reward and/or coercive power) or soft power (expert or referent) power (Lussier & Achua, 2009). An effective leader is defined as a person who people do not just follow because they have to but because they believe, trust and respect him (Regent University, 2007). Based on this definition, an effective leader does not depend on hard power but maximises on soft power to influence, direct and lead others. Effective leaders play extremely crucial roles in any organisation. In an article in the East Tennessee State University (2009), effective leadership is described as playing a fundamental role in the transformation of the organisation’s potential into reality. In other words, effective leadership helps any organisation to achieve its objectives and vision because effective leaders give direction and then lead towards reaching the desired destination. Another role of effective leadership is that it is the source of new paradigms that replace old ones which loose effectiveness (East Tennessee State University, 2009). Effective leaders have desired long-term goals which they strive to achieve. Accordingly, when developed strategies fail along the way, they develop new ones with the aim of achieving the desired goals. The other role of organisational leadership is that leaders integrate the efforts of their followers (Mustafa, 2013). In so doing, leaders direct and coordinate their followers to work towards achieving the goal. One would imagine a situation whereby every person in an organisation works as he/she may desire. What would happen is the workplace would be chaotic because of numerous conflicts. Leaders bring about harmony by coordinating teamwork to ensure that everybody works towards the desired goal. The development of the goal or vision is another role of effective organisational leadership. An effective leader is one who sees what others cannot see (being visionary) and then shares the vision with his/her followers (Lussier & Achua, 2009). Afterwards, the leader motivates his/her followers to achieve the vision even if some of them (or all of them) may believe that the vision or goal is unachievable. According to Schein, this is called inspiration, which involves sharing the vision with followers and then providing necessary support to help the team achieve the vision (2010). Haneberg (2008), on the issue of employee motivation, claims that average employees are always intrinsically motivated. However, underperformance occurs when the working environment is in such a way that it kills this intrinsic motivation (Haneberg, 2008). On this note, organisational leaders play a fundamental role in improving intrinsic motivation by creating workplaces which optimise on the employees’ intrinsic motivation. For example, instead of treating employees as mere workers who are supposed to complete their assigned tasks, effective leaders treat employees as business associates. As such, they involve employees in major decision making, which in turns improves employees’ intrinsic motivation and hence their motivation. In other words, effective leaders know how best to treat employees to optimise performance and productivity. Good relations within and outside an organisation is crucial for the success of any organisation. Within the organisation, good relations supports collaboration and teamwork, and this in turn increase productivity and performance. Outside the organisation, good relations between the business and external stakeholders such as customers and suppliers are important for the success of the organisation. For instance, poor relations with suppliers and customers will chase them away resulting to total business failure. According to Lussier and Achua (2009), effective leaders understand the importance of good relations at every area of the organisation. As such, effective leaders create good relations through the creation of organisational cultures and structures that support collaboration and teamwork. So, Can an Organisation Perform without Effective Leadership? Based on the roles of leadership in an organisation as outlined above, it is extremely clear that an organisation cannot perform without effective leadership. Mustafa (2013) argues that the success or failure of any organisation is fundamentally determined by the effectiveness of its leadership. Of course, effective leadership drives the organisation towards successful performance. As Mustafa argues, effective leadership drives organisational performance through optimal utilisation of organisational resources including human and non-human resources (2013). Punnett (2013) also notes that “organisations cannot function well without effective leaders” based on the definition of effective leaders as leaders “who appears not to lead in any active sense” (p. 170). Therefore, effective leadership is seen as the backbone of any organisation, which implies that no organisation can function without effective leadership. There are numerous results of effective leadership. One of the fruits of having effective leadership in an organisation is improved job satisfaction, which in turn leads to improved employee productivity and low staff turnover rate. Effective leadership has been found to positively correlate with employee job satisfaction. For instance, in a study conducted by Celik, Dedeoglu and Inanir (2015) using 371 participants in the hotel industry in Antalya, the use of ethical leadership was found to positively affect organisational commitment and job satisfaction. In a similar study, Chughtai, Byrne and Flood (2015) found that ethical leadership among supervisors significantly affected the wellbeing of employees as measured by two indicators: emotional exhaustion and work engagement. Similar findings have been found by Karakas and Sarigollu (2013). In a more comprehensive study, Breevaart and colleagues (2014) used 61 naval cadets to compare the effects of transformational leadership, contingent reward and management-by-exception (MBE active) leadership styles on the work engagement of the cadets. The research study spanning 34 days found that when leaders used transformational or contingent reward styles, the cadets were happy, which resulted to high work engagement because the working environment was favourable. On the contrary, the use of MBE active style resulted to an unfavourable work environment, which in turn resulted to low work engagement. Low work engagement implies reduced employee productivity and hence low organisational performance and vice versa. Low work engagement is a result of job satisfaction, which may result to high staff turnover and consequent reduction in the performance, competitiveness and sustainability of the organisation. An Organisation Cannot Perform without Effective Leadership: Examples Practically every successful organisation has a story of effective leadership behind them. In some organisations, the employment of effective leaders turned them around from being poor performers to becoming successful organisations. In this last section, the essay presents an organisation whose success is because of effective leadership. Apple is a perfect example of an organisation where poor leadership almost resulted to the fall of a company but the employment of effective leadership saved the company from total collapse. During its first years of operation, Apple’s presence was greatly felt because it was forcing industry giants such as International Business Machines (IBM) to rethink their strategies (Roosevelt Institute 2015). However, in 1983, Steve Jobs, one of the co-founders of the company, brought on board John Sculley to work as a professional manager of Apple. Sculley came in with a different idea for the company resulting to conflicts with Steve Jobs, which in turn forced Steve Jobs to resign and start a new company, NeXT (Roosevelt Institute 2015). Between 1986 (when Steve Jobs left Apple) and 1997 (after Steve Jobs rejoined Apple), the company was making huge losses because of the ineffective leadership that Sculley was using. For instance, he came up with a new strategy contrary to the original company’s strategy. In addition, he was not inspiring innovation at the company. Job’s return in 1997 reenergised Apple because under his control, the company developed a clear innovation strategy, which in turn helped the company to launch innovation products and services (Roosevelt Institute 2015). The short story of Steve Jobs shows that he developed an organisational structure and culture which inspired (and continues to inspire) innovation and entrepreneurial activities. Steve Jobs brought onboard an effective leadership approach enshrined in the new strategy he developed, which helped the company regain its footing. Since then, Apple has continued to show excellent performance that has enabled it to become one of the most innovative companies in the world as well as one of the most successful companies worldwide. Conclusion Can an organisation perform without effective leadership? After an in-depth exploration of this question using theories and examples, this essay concludes that an organisation cannot perform without effective leadership. Effective leadership, and not just leadership, is the backbone of any organisation because it plays fundamental roles in the functioning and performance of any organisation. Accordingly, this essay recommends that poor performing organisations should critically analyse their leadership and consequently make necessary changes to turn the organisations around. Why would a company pay a CEO so handsomely? The answer is because such a company clearly understand the importance of having an effective leader. References Anderson, J. (2014). Principle-Based Leadership: Driving your Success as a Leader. Bloomington, IN: iUniverse LLC. Breevaart, K., Bakker, A., Hetland, J., Demerouti, E., Olsen, O. K. & Espevik, R. (2013). Daily Transactional and Transformational Leadership and Daily Employee Engagement. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 87, 138-157. Celik, S., Dedeoglu, B. B. & Inanir, A. (2015). Relationship between Ethical Leadership, Organizational Commitment and Job Satisfaction at Hotel Organizations. Ege Academic Review, 15(1), 53-63. Chughtai, A., Byrne, M. & Flood, B. (2015). Linking Ethical Leadership to Employee Well-Being: the Role of Trust in Supervisor. Journal of Business Ethics, 128, 653-663. East Tennessee State University (April 28, 2009). Leadership Theories and Styles. IAAP 2009 Administrative Professional Week Event. Retrieved from https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=8&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CE8QFjAHahUKEwjG5OjU7PDHAhWkaNsKHReGDpU&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.etsu.edu%2Fahsc%2Fdocuments%2FLeadership_Theories.pdf&usg=AFQjCNG14Vrk-cuLuWS5qodOKNeOGg4d7g&sig2=P_sNSmlMClEQqp-t1fz9-Q&bvm=bv.102537793,d.ZGU Haneberg, L. (2008). High Impact Middle Management. Haneberg. Karaks, F. & Sarigollu, E. (2012). The Role of Leadership in Creating Virtuous and Compassionate Organizations: Narratives of Benevolent Leadership in an Anatolian Tiger. 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