LEAD 510- Week Two

LEAD 510 Week 2 1

Southwestern college of kansas /
LEAD 510- Week Two /
Leadership In Organizations “Can Make a Difference”. /
Joyce White /
11/17/2012 /
Leaders and managers can make a difference in organizations. Leaders can add value to or take value away from an organization. Leaders can make or break the success of an organization. /

Leaders and managers can have a very strong impact on an organization. The value that a strong leader can add to an organization and the influence to lead them to success is immeasurable. On the same hand, a bad leader can impact an organization with just as much destructive energy and bring it to the ground. As evidenced over time in our history books, literature demonstrates traits and characteristics that followers admire. When followers have the trust of the leader, they will provide the backing and the support to forge through new ideas, new changes in the culture and accompany the leadership of an organization to success. A leader or manager that demonstrates poor skills and traits will have the same type of dedicated followers, reinforcing the negative “aura” of human kind and driving an organization to potential corruptness and the demise of an organization over time.

Bennis and Nanus (1985) proposed that leaders are people who “do the right thing,” and Bass (1990) used the term transformational leadership to describe inspirational leadership wherein followers are elevated and empowered. Leadership sets the tone for the organization and the daily “attitude” of the environment. Positive role modeling, integrity and trust instilled in a leader, are all ingredients for success. If a leader exemplifies the character traits that followers desire and admire, the leader will soon have the support of a fleet of followers with like characteristics. Followers that do not feel the importance of the leader traits, do not support the journey that the organization has established, and do not feel they are able to impact the company in the direction that the leadership is headed , will choose to leave and establish themselves in a location in which they find a better fit.

Leaders seek followers that exhibit the same character traits as themselves. Leaders will seek followers who are willing to grasp the direction of the journey and follow in the footsteps planned for the course. Followers as well, will seek leadership that they can support and embrace. If a follower sees that the leadership is not the ideal that they choose to embrace, they will often leave to seek that leadership elsewhere. Leaders that are doing a “good thing” will want followers who support them, not a follower that will corrupt the entire mentality of the organizational goal. Leaders that are doing “bad” things will seek followers that will support their mission, and move with them in the direction, as corrupt as it may be, to the ultimate goal/intent of the organization. A leader/manager has great influence over the followers.

GE had a leader that provided the employees with the ultimate dream of an organization. Mr. Welch provided the staff with the opportunity to “work out” and determine processes, systems that did not work well from the point of view of the “doer”. Employees were empowered to get rid of that which did not work, and instill ideas that would work. This is not to say that he allowed every person, every idea, as he maintained the leadership role to make the determination of what was “worthy” of change with the supporting evidence of the staff. Once the staff was empowered with the ability to “work out” the process, they were provided with data and evidence of “best practice”. Research would provide for staff the evidence of ideas and thoughts that were successful in the arena of similar business. Why recreate the wheel if the best practice has been determined, and supported with data? Finally, he provided the direction through a creative process of mapping, so the staff could follow his vision of the plan. With the positive direction that Mr. Welch brought to GE, he also understood that “bad apples” exist in all aspects of business and he did not hesitate to assist in finding a better fit for an employee in his organization that did not uphold his ideals. He was not a “dumping” ground for negative influence.

Queen Elizabeth embraced the same positive “aura” and led her team to many successes. She relied on the experts within her governance to provide the knowledge and she then used herself as the vessel for communicating that with all of those she led. She maintained the integrity that her followers respected and she involved them in her mission from planning to execution. Queen Elizabeth earned her position as a result of birth, and she maintained her success as a result of her own integrity, trust and character. What a successful leader she became.

A leader/manager can make a tremendous difference in an organization. The leader can be the ultimate “success builder” or “demise vessel”. If the leader exhibits the traits that honest followers desire in the organization, the leader will soon find a team of collaborative members, working toward the established goal. If the leader chooses a dishonest route, a learning process that entails negativity, and does not listen to or care about the followers, the leader will ultimately come to realize the consequences of the approach.

References

Pierce, J.L., Newstrom, J.W., Leaders and the Leadership Process. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2011.

Byrne, J.A., How Jack Welch Runs GE. BusinessWeek, 1998, June 8.