Concepts About Leadership (Essay Sample)

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Concepts about leadership
Leadership is becoming a very challenging process. This is largely because of the dynamic nature reminiscent in most organizations. As such for one to be considered an astute leader within such an organization, he or she must be able to evaluate the current situations and offer adaptive solutions that will enhance the organization’s productivity. As such this call for a person who is keen on keeping abreast with the development of their leadership skills with an intention of attaining better service delivery. Of course a leader is one who is ready to learn from circumstances and adapt effectively to attain organizational success. While transformational leadership is not entirely an inborn thing, there is a lot that most aspiring leaders can learn from to help them become successful.
According to Mary Watts and Sarah Corrie transformational leadership is about developing the self and team and will require a "learning and growth process" (Watts and Corrie 86). Having been developed as a concept in one of the annual conferences about leadership coaching, the lead, learn and grow model was considered a practical and useful framework to accomplish transformational leadership. The lead, learn and grow model (LLG) was inspired by the need to have transformational leaders who according to Watts and Corrie are those "who inspire their followers to shape their motives, aspirations values and goals so that personal aspirations become aligned with the identity and vision of the organization”(Watts and Corrie 87). Transformational leadership as well as followers’ attitudes, performances and behaviors are closely related. This has particular connection with a number of factors that are carefully highlighted within the LLG model. These factors include leader- member exchange, trust and fairness, empowerment and relational identification. The leader- member exchange has been a solid concept that can help us to understand how transformational leadership is attained. In this arrangement the organization’s effectiveness can be enhanced whenever positive interpersonal relationship between the leader and the followers is created. Hence Watts and Corrie identify the "leader- member exchange concept as an important part of the LLG model" (Watts and Corrie 87). The I and We stools are specific to the LLG model and cover the leader as a self entity and the followers who are an important determinant of the establishing of transformational leadership. The core processes within the LLG model are surrounded by tracking, hindsight and evaluation that form the basis of the transformational leadership process.
The value of transformational leadership within this writing cannot be understated and more emphasis is highlighted through additional leadership model comparison. Even though Chao-Chien, Chen identifies that transformational leadership depends on two leadership models, "the transformational leadership model is based on the notion that all leadership can be broken down into contrasting approaches”(Chao-Chien 1367). A direct application of the leader – member exchange model of leadership can apply within the sporting context where the coach plays a transformational leadership role in ensuring that the team’s performance is enhanced. Hence Chao-Chien opines that leader-member exchange models "can be used to examine the connection between leadership styles and team work / team cohesion" (Chao-Chien 1373).
One of the most challenging times in the life of a leader is when a conflict arises within his or her team. Certainly the value of transformational leadership is to consolidate the team’s vision into the organization in order to optimize productivity. That does not just come smoothly because the group dynamic demands may also result in conflicts. In fact the degree of conflict and how well it is handled will determine if the team will exist or die. According to Ana Shetach "conflicts within working teams- often stemming from differences of opinions or incongruent interests – are fairly common" (Shetach 25). In the face of a conflict leadership can become a very daunting task and often requires skill and tact to resolve. Of course there will be situations when the fall out adversely affects the team or organization. Hence while this may be expected as one of the repercussions, the transformational leader is one who will strive to keep the team intact and promote a ‘winner all notion’ among the team members. Team management that in essence is a leadership process can be looked at as the ability to efficiently handle emerging conflicts. In this respect it is easy to draw out a model that consists of conflict management on one hand and team leadership on the other. Basing on this model it can be inferred that the model will highlight decision implementation that focuses on resolving conflicts that are the result of power struggles or interpersonal differences. In addition decision making is also considered whereby the creativity in teams is tapped basing on the richness of the diversities among the team members. These diversities can be based on interpersonal and professional experience and conflicting points of views. Hence Shetach opines that "successful team management, regardless of the content or professional occupation involved, is about extracting and maximizing the potential essence of conflicts and of conflict situations within teams "(Shetach 30).
An aspect of the organization that is constantly under threat relates to the productivity of the teams within the organization. Special consideration can be made as far as a medical environment like the psychiatric ward is concerned. Certainly dealing with psychiatric patients is a very stressful process and yet it requires the highest levels of professionalism. Len Bowers, Henk Nijman, Alan Simpson and Julia Jones point out that the "difficult behaviors of patients on acute inpatient psychiatric wards represent a challenge to staff who have to strive to keep the patients and others safe while they receive appropriate assessment and treatment for their psychiatric condition”(Bowers et al 143). Within the highly stressful environment like the psychiatric wards staff often content with patients who are prone to generating conflict and practical methods of containment becomes a very important accomplishment by the teams and their leaders. What emerges from such scenes will always weigh down on the productivity of staff causing burnout and even job desertion. This can adversely affect the teams and the organization’s productivity. Leading such teams means that the leader should exhibit high relational skills and be able to inspire his or her team by transformational leadership. This will lead to change in attitude towards acute psychiatric patients and a general reduction in burnout incidences among staff. Accordingly Bowers suggests that leadership impacts on teamwork, teamwork impacts on structure, structures influences burnout and burnout influences attitude towards difficult patients" (Bowers et al 147). Considering a high stress environment like the case with psychiatric wards and how staff performance is affected through leadership (team management) offers some practical insight into the importance of sound leadership practice. Wh...