Leadership as One of the Critical Skills - Essay Sample

Introduction

Project management refers to the application of knowledge and skills to any project activities and these skills should meet the requirements of the project as stated by Tannenbaum and Schmidt (2017). According to Burch, Swails and Mills (2015), leadership and skills, on the other hand, refer to the action of leading a group of people towards a specific direction while skills are the ability to carry out various tasks within a given period and should have narrow results. Leadership is one of the traits practiced in multiple organizations; a leader is an individual who has the power to influence others to move towards a direction that will assist in achieving the company's set objectives. Thus this dissertation seeks to discuss leadership skills in various organizations.

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However, in the contingency theory more focus was placed on the personality of the leader and his or her psychological tendency towards the situation in the company. These two characteristics of a leader in contingency theory determine the ability of how he or she will lead. Consequently, the other three principles factors involved in this theory for the assurance of good leadership are; how the leader will be received by the group, the task in question and whether the leader can have a control over the group he or she is supposed to lead, determine the success of the leader leadership in the stated group. Therefore, the values collected from (LPC) least preffered co-worker are added and averaged in order to give the needed score. However, a higher (LPC) can be attained if the leader exhibits positive behaviors towards the employees as well as maintaining good relations with his or her team members, if he or she is getting along well with the rest of the team members. The nature of the task becomes less important while the compensation with good human relations is being focused on. For instance, when the surrounding environment gives a view that each member of the team is independent, in scientific setting for example, the tasks assigned to the team may not be well defined thus a leader in this situation must depend more on his or her personality to accomplish the team objectives. There are the internal contingencies such as goals, task, people and structure. External contingencies on the other hand include; social-cultural, economic, political and technological forces and institutions.

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In contemporary society, leadership is one of the critical skills that are important for the growth and development of an organization as stated by Munns and Bjeirmi (2015). Leadership is an essential function of management because it assists companies and businesses in achieving their goals efficiently. The personality of a leader is different from the rest because a leader is one that has a magnetic personality and quality communication skills that can easily lure people into following his idea as stated by Cleland and King (2018).Various organizations require good leadership to run their business because of good leadership comes with good decision making. According to Kerzner (2017), a leader with leadership qualities, making hasty decisions is not their taste but listening to people's opinions and advice then proceed to make wise decisions after undergoing critical thinking on the decision.

According to Renz (2016) good leadership is vital for any business to prosper. Therefore, a good leader should be intelligent and accommodate other people's ideas and opinions thus reaching a sound decision. Furthermore, a good leader should have a pleasant personality and ambition thus foregrounds the rest of the employees in the company as stated by Dewan and Myatt (2018).The success of the company should be among the objectives of the leader because good leadership yields good profits and management. A good leader should be willing to take risks for the sake of the company's success. Additionally, a good leader needs to be innovative, creative and ready to take responsibility for his actions. For instance, in a situation where the business fails due to poor decision making by the leader, the leader should not blame others but take responsibility for his actions.

Leadership is significant in every organization because it is a source of motivation as stated by Shanafelt, Gorringe and Menaker et.al (2015). Nonetheless, according to Adair and Adair (2017), a good leader will motivate his/her group for higher productivity. Leadership also creates confidence because the employees are sure of the advice and directions are given as stipulated by Plowman, Solansky and Beck et.al (2018). Leadership is also essential for providing useful direction to attain the objectives of the organization. According to Meredith and Mantel (2016), good leadership is also crucial in developing team spirit and teamwork which is vital for the success of a company.

According to Silverman, Kurtz and Draper (2016) leaders are playing essential roles in an organization; hence the success and productivity of the company depend on leadership management. Perhaps, the leader plays a fundamental role in building as well as maintaining a high performing team. According to Schwaber (2017), a leader with excellent interpersonal and communication skills has more influence on the employees. From my point of view, this topic on leadership is closely related to leadership and project management which is part of my subject area.

Conclusion

In conclusion, leaders need adequate training and patience to carry out their duties because every employee has their personality which must be dealt with to fit into the organization. Consequently, success equals more power; thus leaders should focus on emerging winners and successful.

Reference

Adair, J., & Adair, J. E. (2017). Effective leadership: A self-development manual. Aldershot: Gower.15(4), 87-100

Bryant, P., & Goswami, U. (2016). Phonological skills and learning to read. Routledge. 25(6), 89-112

Burch, M. J., Swails, P., & Mills, R. (2015). Perceptions of administrators' servant leadership qualities at a Christian university: A descriptive study. Education, 135(4), 399-404.

Cleland, D. I., & King, W. R. (Eds.). (2018). Project management handbook (Vol. 997). New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold. 56(3), 78-95

Dewan, T., & Myatt, D. P. (2018). The qualities of leadership: Direction, communication, and obfuscation. American Political science review, 102(3), 351-368.

Gopee, N., & Galloway, J. (2017). Leadership and management in healthcare. 76(5),112-189

Kerzner, H., & Kerzner, H. R. (2017). Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. 59(3), 167-178

Meredith, J. R., & Mantel Jr, S. J. (2016). Project management: a managerial approach.

Munns, A. K., & Bjeirmi, B. F. (2015). The role of project management in achieving project success. International journal of project management, 14(2), 81-87.

Plowman, D. A., Solansky, S., Beck, T. E., Baker, L., Kulkarni, M., & Travis, D. V. (2018). The role of leadership in emergent, self-organization. The leadership quarterly, 18(4), 341-356.

Renz, D. O. (2016). The Jossey-Bass handbook of nonprofit leadership and management.

Schwaber, K. (2017). Agile project management with Scrum. Microsoft press. 98(6), 125-187

Shanafelt, T. D., Gorringe, G., Menaker, R., Storz, K. A., Reeves, D., Buskirk, S. J., ... & Swensen, S. J. (2015, April). Impact of organizational leadership on physician burnout and satisfaction. In Mayo Clinic Proceedings (Vol. 90, No. 4, pp. 432-440). Elsevier.

Silverman, J., Kurtz, S., & Draper, J. (2016). Teaching and learning communication skills in medicine. CRC press. 234(6), 324-367

Tannenbaum, R., & Schmidt, W. H. (2017). How to choose a leadership pattern. In Leadership Perspectives (pp. 75-84). Routledge.