Term Paper on "Leadership Theory Every Organization Goes"

Term Paper 8 pages (2680 words) Sources: 5

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Leadership

Theory

Every organization goes through a period in which they initiate and manage change within the company. In order for change to go smoothly the leaders in a company must be effectual and ethical in nature. They must know how to lead change in a way that gets everyone one board and the end goal is ultimately reached. This is not always an easy process but is one that can be done if the right people are leading the way.

Leadership is a social influence procedure that is essential for the achievement of societal and organizational goals. Leadership is both obvious in its absence and inexplicable in its presence. It is often recognizable but yet hard to define. Leadership takes place within the power and authority structures of organizations. Leadership is a vital part of the accomplishment of social and organizational goals. The need for effective leadership permeates our social process from the election of political representatives to the education of our children. People anticipate leadership from our presidents, our principals and our preachers. It is contradictory; consequently, that leadership is both frequently understood and yet hard to define (Sheard & Kakabadse, 2007).

Effective leaders have a vision and share that vision with members of the organization. A vision is not something exact. Rather, it supplies the person who assumes a high-level position with the occasion to share his or her ideas about what the organization should become, what it should do, how it should perform, and, perhaps most significant, what the role and responsibilities of members of the organization should be. A vision is conceptual; it is broader than objectives and it is more extensive than just a mission statement (Straussman, n.d.).

When trying to make a decision as to which of multiple alternatives is the right thing to get done, a leader faces the collective challenges of initially gathering, and then interpreting data on which to base a decision. Leaders frequently develop a network of relationships within an organization, and then draw upon that network when making decisions about how organizational resources will be used. Networks of relationships are measured from the perspective of group working, and also groups working with other groups. There are a lot of implications for a leader and their network of relationships, as they operate in a connected and dependent organizational system. There are a lot of issues that are linked with managing oneself when trying to build work-based relationships and engage positively in the organizational decision making procedure (Sheard & Kakabadse, 2007).

In order for a person to be a successful leader they must know the difference between power and influence and how to apply these concepts effectively in the workplace. Having power and using power are two different notions. Power is merely the capability to get things done the way one wants them to be done. Power distribution is usually visible within organizations. Leaders often have the power to reward or punish workers. When a leader makes a request, he or she will almost certainly be obeyed even though the manager does not in fact reward the worker. The fact that the manager has the capability to give rewards and punishments will be enough for workers to follow the request. Researchers have identified six sources of power, which include legitimate, reward, coercive, expert, information, and referent. One might earn power from one source or all six depending on the circumstances (Bauer, n.d.).

At its most basic level, leadership is a social influence process. Leadership researchers have found that leaders employ a diversity of strategies to influence the behavior of others. The use of these devices is a function of several conditions, including sources of power, lines of authority, nature of the task and desired outcome. Power and authority are closely related but theoretically distinct constructs. The exercise of power is legitimated by way of authority. Authority is derived from real or implied observations of the leader's position in the organization or from the leader's knowledge and expertise. As particular beliefs, perceptions and positions become accepted within a group or organization, those within that group are united in a common perspective and come to expect and value certain patterns of influence (Faeth, 2004).

Authority may be either formal or informal. Formal authority is derived from a recognized organizational structure with delineated lines of responsibility and influence. Informal authority may exist outside of discernible organizational role definitions. Authority is granted by subordinates and noted the conditions that increased or decreased subordinates' compliance. Followers will comply with authority if the orders are understood, are consistent with the objectives of the organization, are compatible with the interests of the subordinate and are within the physical and mental capabilities of the subordinate. Under these criteria, authority may be granted to those whose knowledge or experience equips them for leadership, even if they are not formally designated within the organizational structure (Faeth, 2004).

Authority is power that has been legitimated by the consent of followers, not by coercion or force. Tradition, religion and social contracts are often the sources of legitimate authority. In formal organizations, the degree of authority granted to a leader coincides with their legitimate power. Research in the field of legitimization theory demonstrates that power and prestige are initially conveyed through cultural expectations but must be reinforced through the consensual validation of followers (Faeth, 2004).

High performing organizations need both effective managers and effective leaders. If both leadership and management are nonexistent, labors to change will go nowhere. When leadership is strong but not backed up by effective management arrangements, efforts to undergo major change may show some early progress, but will soon be thwarted by the lack of core management functions that must support the change. When management is strong but leadership is lacking, short-term affirmative results are probable to occur, but significant organizational change will not take place. When management and leadership are both strong, the organization is likely to be victorious in undergoing large size change. The last combination is not only wanted but also achievable (Straussman, n.d.).

In addition to power and influence a good leader must also be ethical in order to be successful. Leaders today face the challenge of earning the trust and commitment of staff members if they want to steer their companies to success in a highly aggressive international framework. Interpersonal trustworthiness is a personal evaluation of the probability that another person can be trusted to respect responsibilities intrinsic within an apparent social contract. The connection amid leader behavior and leader trustworthiness becomes a function of each person's theoretical thinking as followers infer the understood and explicit elements of the social contract and the values that social contracts include. More and more, scholars have recognized the leader -- follower connection as a chain of psychological contracts that increase to the level of a binding association (Caldwell, Hayes & Long, 2010).

Leaders earn the trust and followership of people by being trustworthy and responsible. By honoring the promises owed to incorporate goals and values, both instrumental and normative, trustworthy leaders display an ethically good commitment that others are willing to follow. By way of honoring their duties to others, leaders exhibit their dedication to the binding nature of the association between people. Corporate governance has conventionally concerned the responsibilities of those who own a company and those who serve as its chosen managerial leaders and agents (Caldwell, Hayes & Long, 2010). Therefore, corporate governance imposes on businesses and their leaders an influential obligation to make the most of long-term wealth creation to benefit all of the stakeholders involved. This long-term importance means that leaders will keep away from self-defeating short-term choices that increase market value but that damage the company's basic mission. At the normative level, ethical stewardship is also dedicated to the well-being, expansion, and completeness of stakeholders, increasing to the level of honoring transformational compulsions that create new occasions and reframe conventional authority and control ideas of leadership (Caldwell & Hansen, (2010).

According to Tanner, Brugger, van Schie, & Lebherz, (2010), given that leadership is unavoidably value loaded, leadership scholars have highlighted the role of moral development and values for the materialization of ethical leadership and have called for research to look at such issues. Consequently, discussions in many arenas have centered on values and on the questions of which personal values are significant and how they affect actions. Ethical values fundamentally involve devotion to standards of morally right or good behaviors, as opposed to morally wrong or bad behaviors. Nevertheless, leaders' values only matter to organizations and followers if they express those beliefs and values by way of their actions. At times leaders can be seen having a lack of capability or moral bravery to act on what they know is right.

Ethical leadership entails promoting suitable behavior through role modeling and interpersonal associations. Ethical leaders are seen as trustworthy, fair, and concerned about others, that they set obvious ethical standards and use rewards and punishments to encourage ethical behavior (Tanner, Brugger, van… READ MORE

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