Leadership In Contemporary Organisations Management Essay

Leadership In Contemporary Organisations Management Essay Leadership is considered to be the key enabler of organisational performance and competitive advantage by the organisations these days (Burgoyne, 2008). The job of a leader is to lead his/her team to achieve the goal set by the organisation. James MacGregor Burns argues that leadership is one phenomenon on earth that is most observed and least understood (Paul, 2002). The views about a leader and the definition of leadership vary among different people. Daniel Goleman (2000) says that an effective leader sets strategy, creates a mission, motivates his followers and finally builds a culture in the organisation. Ken Wilber argues that an integral leader is a man or woman who supports people aspiring to move forward. They have to make their own integral map that covers all the area that humans have to deal with (Volckmann, 2005). The concepts of leadership have been developed years ago though the word is reported to have appeared in English language recently. An effective business leader is one who is well informed of the latest research which impacts upon leadership and who is also capable of applying this to their own organisation with in an ethical framework. I personally agree with this statement as it is important for the leader to move along with the changing organisational conditions. He should be updated with the latest trends in the organisation in order to effectively lead his followers. Further part of the essay will explore the research that supports my argument. PHASES OF RESEARCH ON LEADERSHIP As mentioned, the concepts of leadership, leader and the follower has emerged years and years ago. Even Greek philosophers like Plato and Aristofle have written about leadership in the period between 400 and 300 B.C. As years progressed, the focus on leadership research has undergone a dramatic change. In the earlier years, leadership research focussed on differentiating leaders and non-leaders by identifying their traits. It then focussed on the behaviour of the leaders and in the later phase focus was on the importance of situational factors, thus giving birth to the contingency approach (Paul, Costley, Howell Dorfman, 2002). The contingency approach, when compared to the previous two phases of research, is more theoretical and hence denies the notion of effective leadership traits and behaviour. Today, in modern leadership, Charisma has become a major underlining concept and the term has different meanings that overlap. The word charisma has been used to represent different conce pts through out the phases of leadership. In a business leader perspective, it is the personal quality of a leader to gain the attention of a group of individuals. EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP AND LEADERSHIP RESEARCHES An effective leadership requires a combination of cognitive, behavioural and personality factors (Kets De Vries, 2002) and it is necessary for him or her to keep learning. It is important to see the relationship between the leadership style of a leader and the context in which they operate. The range of behaviours of a leader is categorised as goal oriented, involving and engaging. The goal oriented leader sets a direction and plays a significant role in directing the followers to achieve the goal. The next two categories, involving and engaging are less leader-centric. From a study conducted in ten organisations, it is reported that, a leader-centric and directive style is found to be inappropriate in a changing organisation context but are common and dominant in a straight forward context. Many behaviourists stated that the leader can change his style according to the organisational strategy but Fiedler (1964) came up with the contingency theory and disagreed to it. There can be le aders who are task motivated while others are relationship motivated. There is even socio-independent leaders who are neither task nor relationship motivated (Dulewicz Higgs, 2005). This implies that the leader should choose the situation that better match his/her leadership style and avoid situation that is against their style. After a few years, House developed the path goal theory and argues that leaders behaviour can be adjusted to adapt to contingencies and thus find a suitable style for a particular situation (House, 1999). The basic idea of this theory is to support the subordinates and help them to achieve their own goals as well as the goals of the organisation. Four kind of leadership styles have been proposed in this theory: Directive, Supportive, Participative, Achievement-Oriented leadership. An effective leader is the one who knows which style is to be adopted and when (Silverthorne, 2001). Directive leaders tell their subordinates, what is expected from them and give the guidance by enforcing certain rules to fulfil those expectations. Supportive leaders would be friendlier and gives attention to the needs of their subordinates. The participative leaders lead their subordinates by involving them in making decisions and finally the achievement-oriented leaders set high standards and will be con fident on their subordinates in achieving these standards. According to the path goal theory, it depends on the nature of task for the leaders to decide upon which style to adopt and hence according to the requirement, the leader should be task oriented or relationship oriented (Silverthorne, 2001). If the nature of work is unclear, then the leader should be task oriented by giving proper direction and guidance. As the knowledge and practice of leadership change with time, many researches mention about the transformation of leadership. Earlier, the businesses tried to keep up with their rivals in the competition but today, the intentions have changed and they try to blast their competitors out. As far as business leaders are concerned, they would be left behind if they dont accommodate themselves to these changes. John Ralph, the deputy chairman of a leading Australian management company has expressed his views on transformation in leadership style while speaking about the changing culture of the organisation as, leaders should encourage their followers instead of commanding and should act as a coach rather than bosses. Ray Smith, Chief Executive Officer of Bell Atlantic expressed his vision of new leadership style emerging in the United States as a moral commitment where the leaders and employees should work as partners in achieving the goals of their organisations (Sarros Santora, 2001). Trust on the employees is most important in this. Lot of researches establish the validity of the concept, transformational leadership which brings change and movement in the organisation. Many researchers define transformational leadership as one that motivates people to create change, by distinguishing it with transactional leadership that uses the power and authority that exists in the organisation. Transformational style is denoted as leader of innovation and transactional style as manager of planning and policy (King, 1994). Transactional style depends on the current structure in the organisation while transformational style creates new pathways (Mink, 1992). An effective transformational leader should have a clear sense of goals to guide their organisation in to new directions (Burns, 1978). They should have the capability to foresee the change to a long term. The interaction among the people in an organisation and the flow of information gives rise to the need for change in the organisation. A fresh look at trends and feedbac k from frontline people becomes the catalyst for change (Herrington, Bonem Furr, 2000). Transformational leadership also influences the culture of the organisation. If the culture of the organisation itself is cultural, then the growth of individual and the organisation becomes more effective (Bass Avolio, 1993). The cultures of people in and beyond the organisation are also influenced by this. However, transformational leadership have potential dangers associated with it if the leader doesnt rely on a strong ethical and moral foundation as the danger lies in the leader-follower interactions. Such kind of behaviour is defined as pseudo-transformational leadership. From the year 1999 to 2004, there has been a considerable increase in the research on servant leadership as a result of emergence of certain servant leadership models developed by several researchers. Trust is a common factor in all the research conducted on servant leadership. Servant leaders generate and sustain trust through their communicative and supportive behaviour (Tschannen-Moran Hoy, 1998). Servant leadership begins with a natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first and then conscious choice brings them to aspire to lead, who is sharply different from one who is leader right from the beginning. Listening and understanding, imagination, acceptance and empathy, intuition, foresight, the ability to persuade, healing and serving, the ability to build community etc are some of the other attributes of a servant leader (Greenleaf,1997). It not only builds the trust between the leaders and the followers but also among the followers themselves and is thus established as an important variable in the development and maintenance of organisational trust (Joseph Winston, 2005). Studies indicate that servant leadership has the potential to improve the organisational satisfaction, productivity, safety practices and financial performance. There are numerous researches being conducted on job satisfaction and organisational commitment. Both are at times linked to each other as the employees become less committed to the organisation if they are dissatisfied with their job. Many researchers came up with a suggestion that leadership and organisational culture has great impact on both job satisfaction and commitment. Employees job performance, behaviour and expectations vary with the nation they belong to, and the way organisations are managed reflects the national culture. There are significant differences between the way firms in east and west are managed as a result of difference in national culture. Goal setting, performing the task and decision making are directly influenced by the culture of the organisation. The researchers on organisational culture has come up with different types of organisational culture but the people working in an organisation have their own values, beliefs and attitudes which are part of their national culture. Depending on those values and beliefs the organisation can have a bureaucratic, innovative or a supportive culture. Most eastern organisations have a bureaucratic culture while western organisations have innovative and supportive culture. Leadership plays a major role in the success and failure of an organisation. The relations between leadership and performance of an employee have been explored in various researches. The attributes of transformational leadership such as empowerment and clear vision can bring greater satisfaction to the employees in their job and this leadership style works well with western organisations. The leadership in eastern organisations are based on seniority, position and authority and the leader can gain commitment of the employ by their personal relationship. There have been only a few researches done on the leadership in organisations having two or more cultures also called as multicultural organisations. In a study conducted in an organisation with Australian and non Australian workforce, it was indicated that both the work groups wanted different transactional and transformational behaviours from their Australian supervisors. Hofstede came up with four dimensions of cultural values in h is research. They are power distance, individualism/collectivism, uncertainty avoidance and masculinity/feminity. Out of the four dimensions, Hofstede states that power distance and individualism/ collectivism are the most relevant ones and these dimensions were applied in the organisation where the study was conducted (Lok Crawford, 2003). An effective business leader has to be aware of the researches on the organisational culture as he is directly linked to the success of organisation and if unaware, the whole organisation can fail due to his/her actions. Team building is an activity that a leader must concentrate on to continue to be effective in his/her operations. The leaders will have to modify their leadership style according to the changing needs of employees and also the organisational change. All the books and research papers on team building clearly differentiate groups and teams. Managers seem content with group performance while leaders always lead teams which are more productive and bring improved profit to the company. Team centred leaders are visionary and they inspire team work and mutual support. Effective leaders should have the ability to get their team members involved and committed. They communicate openly and mediate conflicts before it turns destructive (Maddux Wingfield, 2003). EFFECTIVE LEADERS ACT IN ETHICAL FRAMEWORK It is the nature of most human being to enter corruption when they gain power and control, or in other sense people tend to misuse the power they have. This possibly becomes the negative side or unethical side of leadership. In transformational leadership, charismatic leaders may develop lot of enthusiastic and honest followers who will even fail to notice the negative traits of their leader (Stone, Russell Patterson, 2003). Power with in a leader even tends to create politics in the organisation which can be called as the darker side of leadership and can weaken the leader member relationship. Organisational politics leads people to become reluctant in assisting their co-workers and hence there will be a decline in the organisational commitment. These are the times when personal interest of the leader gets dominant and they may even manipulate conflicts in order to achieve self goals instead of organisational goals (McGinley, 2009). As viewed by Rost, ethical framework of leadershi p must make individual leaders and followers accountable to their ethical responsibilities as human beings (Rost, 1993). An effective leader is the one who is aware of how and where to use the power of his/her position or personal power. Using positional or personal power in the organisation with out hampering the organisational ethics and thus maintaining a strong relationship with followers is the quality that leaders should possess to make their organisation more productive. CONCLUSION The essay has described about the evolution of leadership and the various researches conducted on it. The role of an effective leader in most of the leadership approaches have also been explored in the essay. Its been argued that learning latest studies on leadership keep leaders away from work due to information overload. But considering the changing organisational culture and change in the needs of people, it can be suggested that the leader should always keep in track with the researches. Leaders face challenge in applying the latest studies among their followers in the organisation. Effective leaders explore these studies only by following the organisational ethics, morals and leadership principles. The outcomes of unethical approach to leadership studies have also been described in the essay. It is said that negative traits of charismatic leaders are overlooked by their followers and hence they are utilised by the leaders to achieve personal goals. But this always results in wea k leader member relations and reduced organisational commitment. From this essay, it can be concluded that leaders should keep themselves updated about the researches and also should act according to the ethics and principles to make their operations more effective and thus improve the productivity of their organisation.

Customer Service Essay

Introduction: â€Å"The customer is always right† is a famous business slogan. The underlying truth behind this statement is recognizing that customers are the life blood for any business. Understanding the importance of good customer service is essential for a healthy business in creating new customers, keeping loyal customers, and developing referrals for future customers Important of Customer Service: Customer service is important because customer service does more than simply provide a means to drive sales. It is also said that when companies have a commitment to a customer service this raises the bar of competition. There are following tip for good customer services.  Excellent customer service begins at the initial greeting. In this situations, using good people skills will increase the chances for a positive first impression. For example, saying hello with a smile to a customer who just walked in the door will invite that person in and make them feel welcome. Acknowledge the customer within a minute of them entering the premises, no matter how busy you are. This immediately helps make the customer feel welcome and at ease. Make eye contact with the customer. This makes both you and the customer feel more comfortable with each other. Finally, In terms of the general ambience, make sure premises are kept at an adequate temperature. Make sure don’t skimp on heating in th e winter, and in the summer if it’s too hot install cooling systems. This doesn’t have to cost a fortune but can make a big difference to the environment your customers enter. Too hot or too cold, and your customers will turn straight round and leave. Key point to Friendly Service:- Smile Talk to customer whenever possible Show to regular customers that you recognise them Use the steps below as guide but, above all, be yourself 1.Promptly welcome the Guest 2.Take the order clearly 3.Collect the payment accurately 4.Assemble the order completely 5.Deliver the order politely. Conclusion: You need to give support and guidance to your team to encourage them to improve their customer service delivery. It is about having a passion for customer service and sharing this enthusiasm with your colleagues and staff team. It is about leading by example. Lead a team to improve customer service 1.Be able to plan and organise the work of a team 2.Be able to provide support for team members 3.Be able to review performance of team members 4.Understand how to lead a team to improve customer service Be able to plan and organise the work of a team 1.Treat team members with respect at all times 2.Agree with team members your role in delivering effective customer service 3.Involve team members in planning and organising your customer service work 4.Motivate team members to work together to raise their customer service performance Be able to provide support for team members. 1.Check that team members understand what they have to do to improve their work with customers and why that is important 2.Check with team members what support they feel they may need throughout this process 3.Provide team members with support and direction when they need help 4.Encourage team members to work together to improve customer service

Esr Class Presentation †Week V

ESR Class Presentation – Week V ( September 12& 13 2011) 1. Cases for Discussion (David J. Fritzsche): * It’s Your Turn (page 109) * Kader Industrial (Thailand) Company- Case 10 (page 182) * Muebles Fino Buenos- Case 11 (page 184) 2. â€Å"It’s Your Turn† – Please answer the question in the last line using the following ethical frameworks: (a) Categorical Imperative; (b) Rule Utilitarian; (c) Veil of Ignorance; and (d) Act Utilitarianism. * Categorical Imperative: If you have a contract with another party, fulfill this contract. No matter what.Especially if the other party is counting on you, because they should go bankrupt. Humanity: Fulfill your contract, moral duty. * Rule Utilitarianism: Follow through with your contract. Don’t abandon people/companies with who you have agreed to help/work with. * Veil of Ignorance: You have limited amount of resources, so you have to make the choice for one of the 2 clients. Keep producing for the old cl ient, but use the rest of your capacity to start producing for the new big one. What if The domestic customer only signs the contract if you can produce everything in the first month. hose for domestic one, 2 happy vs. 1 bad * Act Utilitarianism: More positives vs. best negatives. Ok you make one party really unhappy, but still this is the most good for the most peoples. 3. Case 10: Only Questions 4, 5, 7 & 8. * 4: Lock the doors, no safety regulations or fire escapes. Cloth close to electrical transformer. No alarms. If you lock doors, make sure that you can open them really fast at all times. Building disintegrated quickly (poor construction, steel beams) * 7: Business aimed, only profit matters†¦. Don’t look at the people as humans, but use them as machines.They even asked their workers to keep working while there was a small fire. Maybe even hostile, locking doors etc. * 5: Legal: Board, managers†¦ should have safety regulations. Government, Safety and health or ganization in Thailand (from government). Moral: * 8: Only sign contract if you know that the working conditions are ok, that there are safety regulations etc. company should at least follow the country regulations for safety codes, building rules etc. , if you ask more of the company, they won’t be able to give you the cheap labor. ut point in the middle Class†¦ where would you put the line, what are the moral/social obligations for the customers before signing any contracts? 4. Case 11: Only Questions 3, 4, 6, and 7. * 3: They didn’t follow all the environmental rules of the state. Unhealthy for the employees to work there. Just switching countries because they didn’t want to invest in the machines/other processing methods and to evade the fines. So fire a lot of people to get new employees at 1/8 of the costs. Is this even outsourcing? Or really moving your whole company somewhere else. * 4: Pollution vs. working conditions.A lot of pollution vs. good pa id jobs. As long as there are good safety regulations and compensations for health. * 6: Egoism view: YES 😉 because you make more profits and you don’t care about the pollution. But†¦ you pay your employees less than in California, so you can invest a bit more in environmental issues. Deontology (don’t do to anybody else what you don’t want them to do to you): Stay in America and fix your pollution problems, because you don’t want to get fined and you don’t want your employees to get ill. * 7: Make sure they follow the standards and make sure that you have quit high environmental standards.But a lot of corruption in Mexico so make sure the companies follow your standards by controlling them yourself. Because a lot of American companies will go to Mexico (because of rising environmental standards in US) build some parks and green zones to help the people who live there to be able to live healthy, outside all the pollution. 5. Assume tha t stung by charges re the happenings of Foxcon in China, Apple Inc. has asked you to draft a memo on the subject of an ISO standard to be applied to high-tech contract manufacturers of high-end electronic items.Restrict yourself to 6 standards and explain your choice. 6. The Medical Council of Singapore has asked you to draft 3 ethics principles relating to the outsourcing of medical work to India. Please identify what, in your opinion, are the three most important principles and explain the purpose behind your choice and the specific content of such principles. Firms Find a Haven From U. S. Environmental Rules : Commerce: Hundreds of companies set up shop in Mexico, where regulation is less strict and wages are low. THE FREE-TRADE DILEMMA: The environmental costs of a U. S. Mexico pact. Third in a four-part series. Next: How will free trade affect El Paso's smoggy skies? November 19, 1991|JUDY PASTERNAK  |  TIMES STAFF WRITER â€Å"We are rewriting history here. It was only re cently that anyone here started to care about the environment. It will take time. † The backlog troubles EPA officials who deal regularly with SEDUE. Said one, who spoke on the condition of anonymity: â€Å"This is a situation where the economic activity has gotten way ahead of the regulatory activity. † * http://articles. latimes. com/1991-11-19/news/mn-70_1_environmental-rules/4

Barbie the Teenage Fashion Doll Essay examples - 1212 Words

The idea of Barbie came about when a woman named Ruth Handler was watching her daughter play with dolls. In the 1950’s, girls of all ages only had paper or cardboard dolls to play with and preferred to play with cut outs of teenagers and adult dolls. So, Ruth Handler thought to make The Teenage Fashion Doll for older girls, as a three dimensional doll, called Barbie, named after her daughter Barbara (Heppermann 2010). However, Mrs. Handler met resistance when she went to her husband with the idea, and he didn’t think her idea would work out. When they travelled to Germany, she found a doll called Bild Lilli. This doll was a strong-minded individual that would use all at her disposal to get what she wanted. Bild Lilli was†¦show more content†¦Young girls usually use the dolls to play house or dress-up. Sometimes when there is an accompanying set, there are simple instructions given for example, if the Barbie doll came with the Glam Fashion Jet, it would b e accompanied with instructions of how to use each part of the jet. Moreover, Barbies are very durable and depending on how well they are maintained, they can become family heirlooms and be passed on from generation to generation. Often, depending on the age of the child, the Barbie may be altered either by the cutting of her hair or the changing of her clothes. Yet, due to the fact that Barbie is a lifestyle toy, children are encouraged to continue these alterations to promote creative thought. Therefore overall, Barbies can last indefinitely with proper care or be short-lived if they are not well taken care of. Barbie’s popularity spread like wildfire, leading to her being used as a platform to immortalize popular figures by way of making special editions figures of them. For instance, America’s First Lady in the 60s, Jackie Kennedy was one of the first muses and hence set precedence for future icons. This also extends to many designers such as Christian Louboutin, Vera Wang, and Alexander McQueen who have collaborated with Mattel to celebrate Barbie’s 50TH anniversary, in 2009 (Parker, 2008). This form of branding provides notoriety for both the inspirational figure and his work and for the toy as well. This is no small feat forShow MoreRelatedBarbie Dolls On Young Children Essay1479 Words   |  6 PagesMattel: Influences of Barbie dolls on young children Mattel is considered one of the most leading industry when it comes to the invention of toys and video games. Mattel is also a leading brand company that researches and develops new toys and then buys or license them from inventors. But what exactly are they doing to convince us consumers to buy their products? 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