The Power of Leadership: Impacting Followers and Organizations - Essay Sample

Introduction

Leadership and followership are some of the major concepts that I have grown to love and embrace. Throughout my life, I have been able to learn that the success of an organization depends on many factors. One of these factors is the leadership style used by the people at the managerial position within the organization. The leadership style is a factor that has enormous impacts on the subordinates and the followers. Good leadership styles entail those that are meant to integrate aspects such as motivation as well as the development of appropriate culture, ethics, code of conduct, and the norms. In this way, therefore, the leaders need to adopt those leadership styles that help achieve the objective of the organization as well as the personal accomplishment of the subordinates or followers (The Internet Classics Archive | The Art of War by Sun Tzu. 2020). For an organization to succeed, employees must be treated in a manner that makes them feel valued. In most cases, managers’ efforts are depicted through their leadership styles.

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Problematic Scenario as a Leader

The ability of the manager to lead will be determined and assessed by their skills to earn followership from the people they lead. Thus, I realized that the use of a participative leadership style was critical in enabling the employees to work towards achieving the objectives of the organization. Broadly, participative leadership involves the inclusion of the employees and the subordinates in the decision-making process within the organization. While it is evident that this kind of leadership style is effective, I have been able to realize that challenges form an integral part of issues that leaders face day by day. These challenges may affect the relationship between leaders and employees or even influence the organization’s ability to achieve its goals. However, I have also come to realize that problems in leadership are vital and helps one identify possible areas of weaknesses and ultimately find ways of addressing them.

One major issue that I would extremely problematic for me as a leader in working with individuals of different cultural backgrounds from mine. Working in a multicultural work environment comes with its challenges. Not only is this an impediment to me but also other employees. As such, I anticipate numerous problems when working with people from diverse backgrounds and cultures. Culture forms one of the important elements of our societies today. Without culture, then people are likely to lose directions and engage in activities that may be against the will of that society. Thus, culture helps to shape our thoughts, behavior, and beliefs.

This kind of difference, however, has its impacts, such as the difficulties in respecting and accepting the differences of others. Many issues may arise in workplaces, and which are directly linked to social and cultural differences. The lack of understanding and respect among employees themselves may act as a stumbling block for me as a leader to exercise my skills effectively. In some cases, I feel that dealing with employees who have different beliefs from mine may greatly jeopardize our effective communication. For example, these scenarios may include refusal to permit employees to observe their faith by taking time off for any faith-related holidays. I also believe in the casual lifestyle, and therefore handling employees who go against the conventional norms concerning human sexuality and perception to life may pose a great challenge.

Although leaders are known as people who have the responsibility of holding people accountable for their action s, it may not be possible within a multicultural workplace. The non-compliance with any diversity policies by the employees needs to be addressed efficiently and quickly. Some of the perpetrators may, however, hide under the umbrellas of their culture and beliefs to justify their actions. An attempt to provide the potential victims with solutions may be observed from the angle pf being prejudiced or discriminated by their leaders because of their cultural backgrounds. Not only does this likely to impose tremendous challenges on my leadership responsibility but also my ability to work collaboratively with other employees for a common goal.

Application of Decision-Making Paradigms

Decision-making is an integral part of the wider subject of problem-solving. However, the management science technique can be utilized to establish a mathematical approach. Leaders must, therefore, take time to reflect and introspect to acquire the important abilities, confidence and tolerance, and objectivity. The leadership paradigms that I learned in this course included Plato’s Theory of Leadership, Aristotle’s Theory of Leadership and Sun Tzu Leadership Theory. However, Sun Tzu and Aristotle Theories of Leadership are applied in this case.

As discussed, working in a multicultural environment present greater challenges for leaders. Such challenges include the differences in cultural norms and traditions, differences in beliefs, and perception towards things and differences in language. However, the use of the Plato Theory of Leadership will help me navigate through these challenges as a leader. The fundamental core concepts of the Aristotle leadership paradigm is based on the fact that a key to effective leadership is the combination of ethics and action to instill happiness and healthy living (The Internet Classics Archive | Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle, 2020). The activities that make humans human get connected to reasoning and choices. A good leader uses prudence to feel the right thing, at the right time, on the right event, towards the right people, for the right purpose, and in the right manner. During difficult situations, leaders apply their experience and understanding of the consequences to organize and develop an effective decision-making process. Relating these to my case, I believe that adopting effective strategies such as the inclusion of the employees and the subordinates in the decision-making process within the organization will be important. A closer look at this method would reveal that it has both positive on the followers. For example, the employees who are highly experienced will feel motivated and use their skills to embrace motivation to impress me as their leader. Ideally, the approach will allow them to participate and engage in valuable innovative processes that could be further integrated into the decision-making process, regardless of their cultural background and affiliations. In reality, the adoption of Aristotle’s leadership style. This approach will further instill a sense of being valued, common, and unity towards a given issue. It, therefore, removes the stress, fosters a high level of job satisfaction among the employees, and opportunities for growth and confidence development among the followers.

The use of the Sun Tzu leadership approach will also help me address any problems that are likely to occur as a result of working within a multicultural and diverse environment. The fundamental aspects of Sun Tzu’s leadership are based on the fact that leaders can influence the success of initiatives and other factors due to their ability to comprehend, appreciate the situation, and create, control, and adjust to the environment (The Internet Classics Archive | The Art of War by Sun Tzu, 2020). They use five characters to inform their decisions and effectively influence the success of their decisions despite the situation. In difficult situations, leaders create a positive position through their team. Through his decision, the team trusts the leader to create effective field strategies, organizational structure, and morale. As a leader, I will create favorable situations to influence success through strategic thinking, foreknowledge, and proactivity. I believe that the use of these concepts will enable me to effectively navigate through challenges that emanate as a result of working in a multicultural environment. During difficult decisions, I will be able to utilize their courage to mobilize people to take advantage of the opportunities they get. As part of the process, I will get the opportunity to adapt to the multicultural environment to influence future decisions based on the challenges faced.

The Course of Action Prescribed

The important thing for me to embrace as a course of action in my role as a leader would be to keep in mind that a leader’s responsibility is to influence, engage and encourage individuals to actions around a common goal. Ideally, this implies that leaders must exert a given level of authority in all the decisions they undertake to influence their workforce. It is critical to note that both the Aristotle and Sun Tzu advocate for the adoption and implementation of effective leadership skills that positively influence the decision and ultimately the success of any organization.

In order to succeed, there are several course of action that I intend to implement. Firstly, communicating a clear vision and objectives of the organization will be integral for me to succeed. My vision is a vivid and aspirational leadership approach that will play a big role in painting a picture of my future organization. Broadly, having a clear vision and communicating it with other people is critical as it enhances the understanding of its fundamental requirements. When employees or subordinates are informed about what is expected of them, they are likely to work hard towards achieving the set objectives. Together, listening to their ideas and perception about the leadership approach problem-solving mechanism and providing them with the resources they need is a valuable asset towards achieving my goals as a leader.

I also believe that the best way to succeed as a leader is by empowering them through delegation of greater responsibilities. Employees value whenever they are trusted with certain responsibilities. In this sense, I will embrace delegation to make employees have a sense of self-worth. I will determine some of the essential areas to give my followers the responsibility and most importantly the authority to make things done on a timely manner and fashion.

Conclusion

I also believe that two paradigms chosen for this assignment agree with one another. Ideally, both of them advocate for the application of the leadership knowledge, skills and attitudes to adopt effective strategies that helps influence leadership decision. The paradigms hold the idea that leaders have that duty to boosts the working spirit of employees to realize the targets set by the corporation in short-term and long-term visions. This motivation of workers informs of gifts in case an employee goes beyond the expected targets for him or her. Ultimately, workers achieve self-satisfaction, especially in companies that involves them in their decision-making processes. Also, managers should understand employees differ and get motivated differently hence the need to try to determine the exact thing that motivates them as it will lead to a better performance and outcome. Motivation most times is not always based on rewards, but other method can be used to get the best out of an employee. Although everyone has an expectation, I believe it is the leadership’s responsibility to develop and align with the theory that is suitable in bringing understanding, teamwork and job satisfaction to the employees

Reference

Idph.net. (2020). Retrieved 18 July 2020, from
http://www.idph.net/conteudos/ebooks/republic.pdf.

The Internet Classics Archive | Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle. (2020). Retrieved 18 July 2020, from http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/nicomachaen.html

The Internet Classics Archive | The Art of War by Sun Tzu. (2020). Retrieved 18 July.