Confidential Agreement: Leadership Behaviors Stimulating Positivity - Dissertation Example

Introduction

Peter Senge, one of the top management guru in the world, on teaching about leadership, used an exercise where he asked people to imagine that the organization they worked for was an ocean liner, and that they were tasked with leading and successfully navigating the ocean liner. Senge asked, "What is your role?" (Senge, 1990, p. 341). According to Senge, most people will say that the navigator, who is responsible for setting the direction of the ship, is the leader. Other people will say that the helmsman is the leader since he controls the ship's direction, or the engineer since he stokes the fire, or the social director who ensures that everyone on board is involved in the ship's activities, and the flow of communication remains uninterrupted. Senge points out that although all the aforementioned roles are crucial and are all leadership roles, there is one role that is rarely mentioned but it is the most important- the designer of the ship.

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According to Senge, the leader of a poorly designed organization is bound to fail (Senge, 1990). While using the ocean liner example, Senge points out that supposing the ship's helm was unable to turn the ship to the right, it would be pointless for the navigator to instruct the helmsman to turn the ship right. The ship has to be designed in such a way that all crew members can run it and be effective. Senge points out that although leaders are mostly considered as 'heroes', an organization would not need a 'hero' if it is designed correctly. Senge concludes by saying that applying this logic in a boardroom, "Designing policies and strategies that no one can implement because they don't understand or agree with the thinking behind them has little effect" (p. 342).

For anything to work, all parts of the system have to be designed properly, otherwise they will not work together. It can therefore be seen that the designer is crucial to the functionality of any system or an organization. According to Streitwieser and Beecher (2017), the current business environment is highly competitive, and as such, leadership at all levels should include all regular workers and managers if it wants to have long-term success. According to most organizations, leadership, and leadership development, are core competencies for companies that want to remain competitive locally and globally. The relationship between a leader and team members can be based on respect, trust and love, or fear. All of these types of relationships can be observed in nature among social animals, especially among primates, and each style of leadership can work under certain conditions. During an emergency or a period of uncertainty, a strong and unwavering leader is needed. In the face of war, a political crisis or a weak economy, this leader takes command and takes responsibility, which gives confidence to others, who are willing to obey without raising objections. This style of leadership is effective in the military, in prison, or within a criminal organization. However, in the company, this management style can cause employees to leave their positions and shareholders to sell their shares and invest in other companies. When things are going well and the economy is healthy, leadership must be governed by other principles. Building a high performance team in a company today means, above all, developing a new perspective of leadership, more innovative and transformational. A team's satisfaction, productivity, engagement and commitment are strongly linked to the leadership's behavior.

This dissertation investigates the ways that leaders' behaviour in international organizations affects team member behavior. Team members in organizations around the globe will be surveyed through this quantitative project, and leadership behaviors that employees report are most likely to affect team behaviors will be evaluated. Survey Monkey will be used to administer a survey to determine the leadership behaviors that stimulate positive team behaviors. Understanding leadership behaviors that enhance positive teamwork among employees will make it easier to teach managers effective management techniques and guide the organization to success.

Problem Definition

There are several leadership models currently used in the world. However, not all leadership models or leadership behaviors are effective especially in an international business setting. Thus, it is important to establish the leadership models and the leadership models that most affect team behaviors internationally. Although the main goal is to establish the leadership behaviors that promote positive team behaviors, it is also important to establish leadership behaviors that negatively affect team behaviors. The results of the current dissertation will help organizations establish a baseline of leadership behaviors upon which to build behaviors that result in positive effects for the organization and its growth and profitability.

Background: Leadership versus Management According to Nayar (2013), one of the most frequently asked questions by people in the business world is what the difference between being a manager and a leader. Nayar (2013) believes that managers count value but leaders create it. He also states that while leaders lead, influence people to accomplish their tasks and create value, and motivate, managers ensure that work gets done and have circles of power. According to Bargau (2015), management can be described as the process of making activities complete efficiently and effectively with and through other people. Bargau (2015) adds that the manager focuses his management on the formal power and authority that his position within the organization gives him, which he exercises within an environment of control and defined structures previously designed and which he has inherited from previous schemes. It limits its actions to the fulfilment of previously established goals and objectives. In an environment of success, it can be said that a manager always does his work effectively and efficiently, accepting his current situation and with little capacity for a futuristic vision. On the other hand, Bargau (2015) explains that the Leader is one who leads by inspiring individuals, empowering them to make decisions and making them a significant difference in the organization. They usually manage options instead of plans, the possible as opposed to the perfect or desired and commitment instead of obedience. His authority is exercised in support of the struggle he has carried out to demonstrate that he deserves it. He is the one who has followers, without them he does not exist and they do what is due. His activity makes him so visible that he must set examples and must become a role model. The leader personally delegates and performs what he believes should be remembered.

Abraham Zaleznik, a Harvard professor, wrote a fundamental article in 1977 detailing the differences between a manager and a leader. He first points out the existing differences in their personalities. Since the managerial culture calls for rationality and control, a manager is a person who solves problems, for which he needs many people to operate efficiently at their different hierarchical levels (Zaleznik, 2004). Therefore, being a manager requires intelligence, perseverance, hard work, determination, analytical capacity, tolerance and good will. On the other hand, a leader is a bright and lonely person who must manage to control himself in order to control others. Given the above, leaders generate relative disorder, more related to genius and heroism than to rationality and control.

According to Zaleznik (2004), the second difference lies in their attitude towards their goals. Managers' attitude toward goals tends to be impersonal or even passive. Management goals stem from needs rather than wants, rooted in the culture and history of the organization. Leaders are active rather than reactive, forging ideas rather than responding to them. They adopt a personal and active attitude towards their goals. The third difference lies in the conceptions of work. Zaleznik (2004) states that managers tend to conceive of work as a process that enables the interaction between people and ideas to establish strategies and make sound decisions. Therefore, they evaluate conflicting interests, anticipate the emergence of controversial issues and reduce tensions. Given the above, he proposes that managers use flexible tactics: they negotiate, haggle, use rewards and punishments, and other forms of coercion. Leaders act in the opposite direction, they come up with new approaches to long-standing problems, and are open to new alternatives. He says that leaders "encourage and mobilize expectations with the danger of frustration that comes with exalting desire" otherwise new thoughts and new options will never come to light.

Stephen R. Covey in his famous, "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" states that management is the degree of effectiveness needed to move up the ladder of success faster (Covey, 2011). The leadership determines whether the ladder to be climbed is supported on the correct wall. While management is essential to provide the material necessary to achieve the objectives, with its measurable controls and techniques, it is the exercise of leadership that will build the characteristic of a team, the recognition of itself by each individual as a member of that team, strengthening delivery to the collective.

According to Liphadzi, Aigbavboa, and Thwala (2017), management is the act or ability to direct, control, cope, decide and supervise. Thus, managers are the people who plan, organize and coordinate the activities of a company or department. In other words, managers are methodical and are always reevaluating their process to ensure that they are progressing according to plan based on metrics and indicators. In this way, efficient managers have the following characteristics: Ability to plan and execute a vision; Ability to organize daily efforts; Ability to analyze the necessary resources; Ability to establish operational processes and procedures ; Ability to guide and coordinate people; Ability to measure pr...