Leadership and Its Development

Leadership and Its Development

Introduction

The environment in businesses and organization are changing more rapidly and what this means for the enterprises and this organization is that there is a need for leaders in those organization to possess better leadership skills than before. So that leaders can manage the employees and their competitors effectively. A lot of emphasizing have now been put on leadership development than it was traditionally. Leadership development involves activities that improve leaders’ skill ability and confidence. They include mentoring and coaching of leaders. A leader is a person who can manage and administer people, and also move towards bettering of the organizational vision (Jarvis, 2017). There are, therefore, bases to manage leadership development at every level of the organization. Also, there are leadership styles in an organization that wok effectively than others depending on the organization. The effectiveness of the leadership is, therefore determined by how well it’s developed at every level in an organization.

Discussion

            First-line supervisors in organizations are the backbone of success. In most countries, they can solve first-hand problems of the employees’ since the customers’ satisfaction and loyalty is dependent on the experience they get when they come to the organization. It’s, therefore, necessary for an organization to have a well-functioning first-line supervisor since it means having the right intensified customer and organizational relationship. Williams & Jarvis (2017) explains that first-line supervisors in an organization face a lot of barrier and constraints such as strategy implementation, poor communication, balancing customers’ satisfaction and operational efficiency in their role which involves management and leadership. Therefore, the survey done by Williams & Jarvis concluded that the first line supervisor should go through coaching on communicating expectation and learning and development which will consequently make him more effective in solving the consumers’ problem and linking the customers and the organization (2017). The first-line supervisor will, therefore, know what to expect and will address their skills and knowledge gaps to solve the problem more than the senior manager since they run the business in day in out.

Execution of organizational plans which comply with the policies of the company requires management that act as an intermediary between the top and low-level management. Middle managers are the suppliers of information, and they are the first to get the information from the top. Therefore, they are essential in the businesses since they can quickly build the structure of the organization, bring changes and transform knowledge in the hierarchical system. There are programs that organizations tailor to ensure that middle managers have effectively managed leadership development. In the recent past, organizations have been using targeted training which is face to face since it provides communication efficiency and coaching them on their expectations (Kumarasinghe & Hoshino, 2010). The leaders, therefore, have a high level of self-monitoring and awareness, which is good for them and the junior leaders. The middle manager is, therefore, able to lead well and with prior knowledge and in most organization, they train the first-line managers.

Senior managers in the organization do a lot of work with the help of the junior managers to ensure the effectiveness of the production. A senior manager in an organization is responsible for the overall operations and profitability of the company. They ensure that the organization maximize their productivity, performance and oversee employee performance (Kirchner & Akdere, 2014). The senior managers, therefore, have a more significant role to play as compared to the junior managers. They lead, plan, inspire, innovate and develop the employees’ skills and knowledge. Kirchner & Akdere (2014) explains that learning through personal experience, encouraging coaching and teaching from the experience of others helps a senior manager to improve his leading skills. When senior managers learn from the experience of others, either at the same or a higher level, they can know where to improve and what to do in different situations. It is effective since they don’t have to keep consulting when facing a problem but will use the experience to solve the current situation. Therefore, the senior manager will continue to develop leadership skills.

The high ranking executive in a company has the responsibility to make the cooperate decisions as well as manage the overall operation. The Chief Operating Officer (CEO) of every company cannot work without the help of his subordinates since they have to run the organization. CEO needs to have the knowledge and the skills of a leader since they manage other leaders. They have to have an insight on leadership, and therefore, leadership development is necessary for them. Training them might help them, but most of them develop their leadership by talking with other CEOs and mentors (Kirchner &Akdere, 2014). They get motivated when they interact with people who can share their ideas and learn from their mistake. By learning out of other people’s experiences, the CEO can lead his company better and understanding the juniors. Leadership development is essential and necessary in the company and leads to improved knowledge and skills of leadership.

            Most organizations have leaders who have operational skill need to run the business smoothly. However, they don’t have leaders who have the knowledge and the confidence to tackle all the problems in the organization, which is vital since every company faces challenges every day. Operational leadership refers to leaders who ensure that the organizational processes go smoothly daily, monitors performance and addresses employees issues (Rahman et al., 2018). They are the most common in most organizations although; more than operational leaders are necessary and sufficient in an organization. Strategic leadership involves the vision and mission of the organization and also includes the role of an operational leader. Strategic leadership refers to the leaders’ ability to focus, and maintain the flexibility and to empower others to create the strategies’ required in the business both internally and externally (Rahman et al. 2018). Strategic leadership is often complex and involves understanding the relationship between the business and its environment. Rahman et al. (2018) explain that strategic leadership is often preferred by an organization more than the operational since it focuses beyond the business: it aims at multiple areas that usually involve changes.

There’s a relationship between organizational performance and the leadership style that an organization uses. The relationship might be positive or negative, depending on the kind of style a leader decides to implement. Khajeh (2018) studied organizations and the type of leadership style they were using and identified that there is a positive relationship between the leadership style and the effectiveness of the business. There are different types of leadership styles such as charismatic, democratic laissez-faire, autocratic and transformational leadership, and all these are different. Democratic leadership, however, is the most effective type of leadership style since it allows all the employees to exercise authority and participate in decision making (Khajeh, 2018). In democratic leadership, there is the decentralization of decision making. The employees and the employer can share ideas as well as motivate each other. Praises and criticism are the main focus here since that what leads to improvement. Most large businesses use the leadership style since it leads to improved performance which is the aim of the businesses. Thus democratic leadership style is effective for improving the efficiency and performance of an organization.

Conclusion

            Leadership is more than managing an organization. It involves knowing how things should be done differently and ensuring that the employees do it. On the other hand, leaders need to improve their leadership knowledge to ensure the smooth running of the business. They need to go through continuous coaching and monitoring, which will help them get the experience and the skills required for that leader at every level of the businesses. Therefore they need to go through leadership development to ensure that they have the necessary skills and knowledge for every changing global market. There are also different leadership styles that not only help the satisfaction of the employees but improve the performance of the company at large. Democratic kind of leadership, however, is the best for the production of businesses since all the employees take place in decision making. Companies also use strategic leadership as opposed to operational leadership since the strategic leadership focus on the company as well as its environment.

References

Khajeh, E. (2018). Impact of leadership styles on organizational performance. Journal of Human Resources Management Research, 2018, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.5171/2018.687849

Kirchner, M., & Akdere, M. (2014). Leadership development programs: an integrated review of the literature. Journal of the Knowledge Economy and Knowledge Management, 4, 138-146. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/299491963_Leadership_Development_Programs_An_Integrated_Review_of_Literature

Kumarasinghe, S., & Hoshino, Y. (2010). The role and perceptions of middle managers and their influence on business performance: The case of Sri Lanka. International Business Research, 3(4), 3-18. https://doi.org/10.5539/ibr.v3n4p3

Rahman, N. R., Othman, M. Z., Ab Yajid, M. S., Rahman, S. F., Yaakob, A. M., Masri, R., Ramli, S., & Ibrahim, Z. (2018). Impact of strategic leadership on organizational performance, strategic orientation and operational strategy. Management Science Letters, 8, 1387-1398. https://doi.org/10.5267/j.msl.2018.9.006

Williams, I., & Jarvis, J. (2017). A case study exploration of strategies to improve first-line supervisor problem-solving abilities in the retail supermarket industry. International Journal of Applied Management and Technology, 16(1), 86-110. https://doi.org/10.5590/IJAMT.2017.16.1.06