Authentic leadership theory.

Authentic leadership theory.

The setting of success-oriented strategies in an organization depends on the values of the leadership style employed by the management (Taleghani, Salmani & Taatian, 2010). There have been several discussions regarding the leadership style that should be applied to promote the ethics and the desired authenticity in the organization. The discussions mainly involve situations that are most bound by scandals, and it is the role of the management to print a new image of the scenario. Authentic leadership comes in the context of promoting authenticity in then organization. Authentic leadership is the concept of applying the legitimacy and honesty of the leaders in the relationship with followers of the organization.  Thus, authentic leaders deem to be positive and truthful when dealing with matters regarding the organization. This paper aims to evaluate the concept of authentic leadership. It will include an understanding of its relevance at work and a critique of the evidence of outcomes.

The concept of authentic leadership arose from Kernis’ studies. Kernis put it that authenticity as a critical self-esteem a key to self-confidence built through the combination of the various aspects of ethical concerns and positive organizational behaviour. Thus, authentic leadership arises from the desire to develop value in the organization. Though it is an internal commitment, authentic leadership requires regular training and knowledge of business and how well to sustain the needs of the customers and other followers. Authentic leadership entails the ability to take responsibility for the ethical and social concerns in the organization (Ehrhart & Klein, 2001). Several theories have tried to explain authentic leadership.  However, in all the theories, it has been made clear that the leaders themselves stimulate authentic leadership.

They must develop self-awareness and self-acceptance to couple the regular business training. As such, they can employ their self-knowledge to account for their actions to ensure transparency. Safe to say, authentic leadership cannot be effective without dire trust, high moral standards, and ultimate integrity. Authentic leadership must be true to themselves, and they must get convinced that whatever they are doing has been delivered through positive psychology (Gardner, Avolio, Luthans & Walumbwa, 2005). Each of their actions must embrace a personal experience with the willingness to incorporate the effect of their actions. They must eliminate emotions, negative thoughts, wills, and be ready to serve the customers for the interest of the organization. They must eliminate their personal beliefs and preferences and employ the right knowledge to dealing with the people.

Evidence of the application of authentic leadership.

Firstly, authentic leadership gets assessed based on four primary concepts that include:

1. a) Self-awareness of personal strengths, weaknesses, emotions, and values.
2. b) Objective acceptance of attributes or fair sharing of the relevant characteristics of the available information.
3. c) Authentic behaviour or being true to yourself.
4. d) Relational authenticity that entails striving to be honest and building intimate relationships.

Today’s organizations are increasingly embracing the challenge of introducing the concept of authentic leadership. The experience of the loss of control in leadership has to lead to the need for the change amid the heightened uncertainties in the process of leadership. According to Tibbs et al. (2016), the constructs of authentic leadership got borrowed from the personal authenticity traits developed by the Greek Philosophers. They developed a concept that became achieved a significant role in the business world spanning over many years of creating lasting value in the process of leadership. A study by George (2010) states that the notion of authentic leadership entails the notion of making leaders comfortable developing their leadership style that they feel they will be true to themselves. In developing their unique leadership style, they must involve the in-depth knowledge of introspective reasoning through a practice of development and practice. They must include their needs, emotions, values and personality as the characteristics that embody their authenticity.

Quality in leadership provides an opportunity for the organization to compete. Today’s business environment has become dynamic, and the uncertainty requires the organization to ensure continuous improvement, which can only get into effect by having the right leadership styles. According to Gardiner (2011), authentic leadership is especially crucial due to the decreases in ethics which have got seen in high-profile cases. Gardiner identified that authentic leadership eliminates the cases of corruption as it demonstrates a more citizen-oriented behaviour. The more an organization has authentic leaders, the more the employees get engaged in their roles as they feel more psychologically empowered. The model of authentic leadership stresses on the need for integrity, moral, honesty and ethical development in professional development. Leaders in the 21^st century have had the daunting task of making decisions in an organizational environment that is characterized by politics, distrust and scandals (Datta, 2015). As such, authentic leadership will create a panacea for greater long-term outcomes for the organization. Authenticity is a psychological concept that draws from transparency, organizational context, and focusing on doing the right thing that is perceived by others as appropriate.

Comparison of authentic leadership to other leadership styles.

Authentic leadership is essential for the growth of the organization, including every stakeholder. Thus, individuals operating in a condition that supports authentic leadership can build on their progress and become more successful. Thus, the ease of progress creates the differences between authentic leadership and other leadership styles. Therefore, authentic leadership has unwavering values compared to other leadership styles. It has proved to be more effective compared to other leadership styles. There are many positive outcomes associated with authenticity.

To begin with, authentic leaders have the self-knowledge and commitment to change the organizational climate for the better. They can build a work environment that promotes job satisfaction. In return, they can build productivity by increasing the performance of the organization.  They make every stakeholder in the organization to feel inspired and remain optimistic about the success of the organization.

The most prominent role of authentic leadership comes into play when there is emotional turbulence in the organization (Anderson, 2017). In such cases, they can calm down the situation and restore the cognitive belief of everyone. It is because authentic leaders have developed the art to restrain emotional bias and incorporate everyone’s ideas for the smooth running of the organization.  It enables them to maintain then objectivity through indulging personal experiences. Easier to say, there is no other better way of eliminating disagreements through the conviction of decisions based on an unbiased approach.  Thus, the core value of authentic leadership over different leadership styles is the ability to maintain transparency in times of tumult.

Another great way through which authentic leadership acts superior to other leadership styles if the ability to influence the emotions and feelings of the followers (Nasab & Afshari, 2019). As stated in the earlier literature, an authentic leader can apply the best of cognitive understanding to eliminate bias and include the views of everyone. That way, they can make the whole group believe in the right direction. The positive influence has an enormous implication on the overall operations of the organization. It changes the way that the other stakeholders associated with authentic leadership. From then, then, everyone is eager to replicate the actions of the leaders as they get convinced that it will replicate the more excellent value and consistency. Another outstanding value of authentic leadership is that it builds the resilience in the followers to enable them to overcome the instances of frustration, lack of energy, and resistance. The development of inner strength enables the people to regain power and a firm conviction to deal with matters relating to the organization and themselves.

Critique of authentic leadership.

There is a myriad of researches aimed at explaining the concept of authentic leadership. In this case, there is the specific hallmark used to describe authentic leadership concerning the inner self and the relationship with other people. The literature is mainly focused on the energy to elicit positive emotions in other people. It improves the motivation of the members, and the authentic leader can build a committed group. Below is the critique of the literature conducted on authentic leadership.

Undoubtedly, the concept of authentic leadership is a new emergence, and the researches have faced the disadvantage of insufficient literature to support the concept of the theory.  Thus, it has been difficult to perform a more in-depth look at authentic leadership. One of the bold studies was conducted by Luthans et al. (2006) on positive organizational behaviour. The study by Luthan et al. developed an overall measure of psychological capital where optimism, hope, and resilience were positively related to authentic leadership. In the study, the author incorporated a real-life situation of the efforts of the Gardner group to develop authentic leadership. The research contributed to the significance of this theory of leadership, as they identified that it increased organizational commitment.

According to Gardiner (2011), the followers of the senior leaders made it clear that they developed more job satisfaction compared to a situation where the top leaders applied other leadership styles. In that case, the followers were able to operate in a more controlled work environment.  Theoretically, having the ability to make independent decisions on a matter relating to the organization is the most exceptional condition that every organization would want to have. As such, Luthans et al., 2006 identified that the idea of self-awareness that gets fostered through authentic leadership contributes to the development process of the organization. Authentic leaders can develop an important decision making value in the mind of the followers. In return, everyone can effectively identify the things that stand for the success of the organization versus those who clearly articulate the lack of a developing mind.

An aspect of authentic leadership that is less accepted is demonstrated by Avolio and Gardner (2005) is balanced processing. They identified that authentic leadership develops an environment where people consider the situation by themselves before they can make any decision. However, George (2003) identifies that it is less likely that authentic leadership can exhibit the moral component of the individuals unless they get presented with an environment that allows them to do so independently. As the concept suggests, everyone is keen on analyzing the relevant data to seek input and to find the ideas of others non-defensively. Thus, everyone is left to deal with their self-awareness and personal value in making decisions. The researchers identified that having the line of thinking builds onto the balanced processing that enhances acceptance but increases subjectivity in matters that require deep intervention. While it creates an avenue through which insights an opinions can get pooled together to arrive at the most favourable decision, it creates more room for bias and incompetence. Such is because there is no consensus on the kind of environment that would make the employees and the subordinate leaders elicit their emotions and thinking.

Relational transparency is the other aspect of authentic leadership that been identified by Goffee & Jones (2005). It entails the ability to openly share feelings, knowledge, and information in the most appropriate way to elevate the occurrence of a situation. Through that way, people can effectively perceive a sense of authenticity throughout the organization. There is a big difference in trying to handle the setbacks alone and attempting to relate the views of the audience and insinuating their experiences to eliminate the inadequacies. According to Roche (2010), the attribute of sharing information and feelings gives everyone a personal exposure that can effectively eliminate the devastating consequences that would have followed. Authentic leadership enables individuals to avoid blindly, executing efforts on weaknesses, and incompetence. Walubwa et al. (2008) indicated that learning the personal experiences of others serves as a cover-up of the traits that would have resulted in tom disappointments. Lastly, according to Qureshi & Hassan (2019), authentic leadership enables the individuals to determine the personality that they should reveal for every situation. Therein, they can increase the potential to manipulate the situation. Technically, the conclusions made by the researches discussed in this literature have improved to the attributes of authentic leadership. It is because the individuals get presented with the essential characteristics of leadership.  A leader who can include the aspects discussed in this literature can foster success and originality in the organization (Cummings et al., 2010). Thus, the leaders must be true to themselves for them to be deemed authentic in their words and actions.

Conclusion.

The importance of authentic leadership has exemplified over the past years due to the continuous development of high-profile societies, especially in big corporations. Thus, the current setting requires the leaders to be more authentic for them to develop greater psychological empowerment in the organization. As can be seen from many reports, authentic leadership has offered a new avenue through which the leaders can eliminate corruption and greed and build an ethical behaviour of group success.  It is because it enhances integrity, morality, and honesty among the individuals. Moreover, the application of authentic leadership in the workplace promotes professional development.

Contrary to the earlier periods when leaders saw the process of decision making as daunting, the time has changed. Authentic leadership has created a focus on leadership and, more so, the positivity in the outcomes of the leadership behaviours.  Authentic leaders have become the new phenomenon needed in the elimination of destructing and scandals in organizations, as it has created an emphasis on morality. The positivity starts from the inner self, as everyone should be true to themselves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References.

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