Leadership, Organizational Culture and Change (Essay Sample)

Leadership, Organizational Culture and Change
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Abstract
Organizational culture entails retailing procedures that are to be followed by a particular organization that revolves around believes values and assumptions. The issue also brings into the bigger picture leadership and management that ranges from transactional to transformational not forgetting such informal positions such as motivation, coaching and encouragement. The culture brings the identity into play and the foreword aspect of change. The stakeholders involved take privilege in being part of the organization as well as change when the right time comes. A three-step model by Kurt Lewin that elevated the industry in renovating principles involved in changes. Advancement was then made by John Kotter, which sought to cover up the loopholes that emerged because of Lewin’s work as well as the unaddressed issues. In addition, an individual has been covered about approving the statement made by Schein.
Keywords
Transactional
Management
Leadership
Transformational
Organizational culture
Introduction
Leadership and management are different but complimentary roles undertaking by different people in an organization in the day-to-day running of the organization. These two roles could be performed by one or two different people. The difference between leadership is not in whom performs but rather what they entail (Schein, 2004). A manager is naturally a leader because there are people under his/her command but a leader could be someone who is not a manager (Sharpe, 2000). However, when it comes to command and power when it comes to leadership and management, it brings a very different concept, as there are leaders and managers without power (Sharpe, 2000). Nevertheless, leadership, power and management border closely when it comes to organizational structure/ hierarchy and management. In an organization, there are different levels of leadership and management along the hierarchy starting from the top management down to the subordinate staff.
In terms of roles and responsibility, managers are supposed to prop up stability within the organization while leaders are hypothetical supposed to champion positive change. There leaders are entitled with the responsibility of coming up with organizations’ vision (Sharpe, 2000), objectives and strategy (Schein, 2004). The mangers on the other hand are assigned the duty of ensuring that these objectives and strategies are implemented and the preferred objective or goal is realized. The managers convene their roles by coordinating, planning, controlling and organizing the staff and all other factors within the organization that are required to achieve the organizations’ mission and objectives.
Leadership and management are different roles and therefore require different character traits or attributes. There are theories that define different types of leadership with this respect. The theories suggest that different types of leadership are influenced by various factors such as attributes or traits (Schein, 2004), situation and behaviors. This research seeks to analyze different types of leadership, management and organizational structure in relation to realizing organizational vision.
According to Sharpe (2010), the book, “Sharing the Organizational Vision:” defines leadership and management in relation to Organizational operation by looking at various different styles of leaders and organizational structures and their suitability to sustainable running of organizations (Sharpe, 2000). The book distinctively defines and differentiates leadership and management by outlining the roles and responsibility of each as well as giving out the character traits that are require for each role.
The three major areas types of leadership brought about by theories of leadership; supervision leadership, inspirational leadership and contemporary leaders have been discussed at length and where they are applicable. The book also provides research and survey reports that have been carried by different bodies in relation to various types of leadership (Schein, 1993); exploring contemporary issues in management and leadership such as gender and so on. The theories of leadership define leadership by focusing on personal characters and qualities that distinguish leaders from non-leaders. The major attributes of leadership traits that are passed across all the theories of leadership is that a leader needs to be fascinating, spirited and passionate.
The Concept of Management and Leadership
Leadership and management are two concepts that have been mistaken used inter changeably by people who mistake them to mean the same thing. However, John Kotter of Harvard University School of Business Studies states that the two are different force as mangers promote stability leaders thrive for change. He continues by noting that only organizations that embrace the two contradicting angles of these two characters have the chance of surviving hard economic times. According to Professor Rabindra Kanungo of McGill University (Sharpe, 2000), there are two distinctive differences between leadership and management in terms of the roles the play in an organization. The Leadership is entitled with the responsibility of coming up with the direction that the organization is to go, it establishes the vision of the team that it needs to achieve in future (Schein, 2004). The role leadership does not end there, the leadership needs to communicate this vision to the staff and inspire the team towards achieving these goals. The management on the other hand is entrusted with the role of ensuring the strategy set by the leadership is implemented by organizing and organizing the staff towards realizing the goals and vision already set by the leaders.
Comparison between Leadership and Management
Management
They age in day-to-day superintendent activities.
They allocate and monitor the usage resources.
They exhibit supervisory traits.
They ensure that there is order and standard in terms of performance and general behavior of every employee under their leadership.
Administrates sub-systems inside the organization
Leadership
Develop long term and short-term goals for reforming the organization.
They develop the tactics and strategies to be adopted by the organization
They exhibit leadership traits.
They act to inspire others in the team with long-term objectives that are beneficial to the company.
They innovate for the whole of the organization administrates sub-systems inside the organization
Roles of leadership
Liaison Role; - leaders act as ambassadors of the given organization. They are the image of that organization to the outside world. They are also expected to promote the organization by portraying a positive image and acting on behalf of the organization.
Organizing Roles; - leaders are expected to lay out structures and systems to be used by the organization. Organizational roles include setting up strategies and tactics to be used by the organization.
Communication Roles; - leaders act as the link between their team or department and the others. Communication roles involve the leaders explain to the subordinate staff or team the objectives and plans of the organization other than just setting up the strategies.
Types of Leadership
There two major types of leadership; transformational leadership and transactional leadership.
Transformational leadership
Transformational leaders are those who inspire their followers or subordinates to go beyond their own ambitions and interest for the good of the organization. They normally possess extra ordinary traits that enable them to motivate and empower others.
Transactional leadership
Transactional leadership on other side simple guide and motivate their followers towards achieving already set goals and objectives by explaining to them the requirements of their tasks and ensuring that they understand their roles and individual set goals.
Theories of Leadership
Situational or Contingency theory of leadership
This theory normally tries to isolate situational factors that have effect on the effectiveness on a particular leadership. The theory looks at the overall structure and arrangement of the task to be undertaken, the nature of the relationship between the leader and his or team members, the position and powers of the leader, the team norms, the availability and flow of information within the team, (Schein, 1993). The influence of the leader on his/her team members in terms of decision-making, the employee’s level of maturity and experience and the structures that clearly outline the roles of each team member. Situational leadership theory has various models such as; - Fielder Situational Model and Path-goal theory models.
Fielder Contingency Model
The fielder replica suggests that for there to be an effective group performance, there is need for a suitable match between the leaders style and the extent at which the state of affairs shifts gainful power towards the leadership. The main pillars of this theory are as follows;-
Leader–member relationship ;- this is mainly about the degree of respect , confidence and trust that them have on their leader
Task Structure ;- this is the manner in which the job at hand is procedure ( that is , is it well-structured or unstructured)
Power Position ;- this is the level of influence that the leader enjoys on various power variables such as the ability to promote, fire , reward, discipline and increases salary etc.
Behavioral leadership theory
This theory suggests that there are certain behaviors that differentiate leaders from people who are not leaders. The Ohio state study for instance, came up with two dimensions of describing the behaviora...