Introduction
Leadership is crucial in business and society. From political leaders to corporate managers and chief executives, leadership plays a crucial role in the management and development of society. Leaders occupy crucial positions where they influence the issues and actions that have far-reaching impacting in the business and society. This means that the conduct and behavior of the leaders or the leadership style that these leaders adopt are important.They are crucial to the success of the business in question or the political unit in society (Lussier & Achua, 2015).
The conduct or behavior of a leader of a company or a corporation can inspire confidence or cause wide-spread panic. This then leads to a devaluation of the company’s equity as panic spreads and confidence plummets. There is a theoretical framework that advances the thought and theories of the researchers and scholars in the field of leadership and leader behaviors (Lussier & Achua, 2015). These are explained below.
Critical Analysis
Crucial Leadership Concepts
There are different types of leaders in business or society. The crucial role of a leader in an organization means that the type of leaders that an individual has to fit the business model of that organization. Incompatibility between the two can lead to failure of the organization. This is because the leaders might fail to inspire the confidence and support of the employees. The support of the employees and support staff is crucial. Human resources of an organization are the driving force of its success (Northouse, 2015). As such, the leader has to win the favor and support of the employees and support staff. This way, the leaders can articulate his/her agenda and help realize the aims and an objective of the organization. Teamwork is crucial for a leader. A leader should have the ability to bring people together and inspire them to work and deliver collectively. Here, the employees work for each other and establish a camaraderie that fosters morale within the group and allows the workers to enjoy their work (Northouse, 2015).
Leaders should be accommodating, have a compromise, consultative, and open to change. The international markets are dynamic. This means they can change at any time. A good leader should have the flexibility to allow for change and thus enable an organization to adapt to the changing external environment. Globalization has led to an increase in human mobility and immigration. This means that working with a multicultural staff is commonplace. Good and effective leaders should harness this diversity and embrace it rather than bulk at such traits. This can be observed in the success story of the Korean electronics market giant Samsung. The company is constantly adapting its marking mix and constantly innovating on its products. It also has multicultural and background diversity in its employees (Zhang et al., 2015). This has been a major strength in terms of market familiarity and diversity of thought and ideas within the organization.
Theories of Leadership
Researchers have explored the subject of leadership and analyzed how successful leaders deliver and how they are created. They have come up with four theories that help explain leaders and their behaviors.
Trait Theory
This theory advances the thought that the capabilities of leaders and the style of leadership they adopt are rooted in the characteristics that the individual possesses. Personality traits such as extroversion, intelligence, self-efficacy, conscientiousness and openness to experience have been determined to have a positive relationship with good leadership. The theory also states that there are different situations and tasks that can lead to the emergence of leaders (Zhang et al., 2015).
Contingency Theory
This theory offers a thought that a leader that has leadership skills and is adept at handling a specific situation might not be effective at handling a different situation. This means that despite an even spread of characteristics, situations or circumstances can determine whether a person is a good and effective leader or not. This theory focuses on how the style of leadership interacts with a situation. This is referred to as situational control. The situation here is defined by the structure of the leader’s tasks, how the leader relates to other as well as the size of formal authority the leader wields (Fiedler, 2015).
Behavioral Theory
This theory was coined as a result of critical views aired against the trait approach. This theory was premised on researching leadership as a set of behavioral attributes. The theory states that there is a taxonomy of actions and a pattern of behavior and actions that distinguished leadership styles. The theory also incorporates the aspects of reward and punishment into the spectrum of leadership and behavior (Lussier & Achua, 2015).
Full-Range Theory
This theory puts the employee at the center stage. It focuses on the transformational aspect of leadership. This lays emphasis on the morale and motivation of the employees and how this helps forge the identity of the employee and the organization for which they work. The major components of this theory include the intellectual stimulation, inspirational motivation, idealized influence and individualized consideration (Lussier & Achua, 2015).
Conclusion
Leadership is crucial to the management and growth of businesses and society. The behavior of the individual in leadership plays a role in determining the style of leadership that is adopted. The external environment surrounding the leader and the organization he/she heads plays a defining role in the leadership style. The theories of leadership help explain the various characteristics and behaviors that influence leadership styles. They explain the correlation between behavior, traits and leadership style.
References
Fiedler, F. (2015). Contingency theory of leadership. chair in human resources at the State University of New York–Buffalo and was faculty director of the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership there. Previously he was Research Professor of Management at Georgia State University. He has written over fifty books and over 135 other publications., 232.
Lussier, R., & Achua, C. (2015). Leadership: Theory, application, & skill development. Cengage Learning.
Northouse, P. G. (2015). Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage publications.
Zhang, Y., Waldman, D. A., Han, Y. L., & Li, X. B. (2015). Paradoxical leader behaviors in people management: Antecedents and consequences. Academy of Management Journal, 58(2), 538-566.
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