An organization has the greatest chance of being successful when all of the employees work toward achieving its goals. Since leadership involves the exercise of influence by one person over others, the quality of leadership exhibited by supervisors is a critical determinant of organizational success.
Supervisors can learn about leadership through research. Leadership studies can be classified as trait, behavioral, contingency, and transformational. Earliest theories assumed that the primary source of leadership effectiveness lay in the personal traits of the leaders themselves. Yet, traits alone cannot explain leadership effectiveness. Thus, later research focused on what the leader actually did when dealing with employees. These behavioral theories of leadership sought to explain the relationship between what the leader did and how the employees reacted, both emotionally and behaviorally. Yet, behavior can't always account for leadership in different situations. Thus, contingency theories of leadership studied leadership style in different environments. Transactional leaders, such as those identified in contingency theories, clarify role and task requirements for employees. Yet, contingency can't account for the inspiration and innovation that leaders need to compete in today's global marketplace. Newer transformational leadership studies have shown that
leaders, who are charismatic and visionary, can inspire followers to transcend their own self-interest for the good of the organization.
Leading involves the following functions:
1. Team-building
Rigid department boundaries and fixed teams are giving way to ad hoc squads whose membership changes with every project. Flexible networks of team based structures are occurring within and between companies, as well as across national borders. Competitive arenas require quick decisions by knowledgeable employees who work close to the source of problems. Teams enable knowledge-based and innovative decision making. This collaboration is a revolution in the workplace.
2. Consensus Building
Top performance demands the joint effort of many people, working together toward a common goal. When an individual works together with others, effectiveness grows, creating greater productivity for all involved. Together, employees can do more than the collective efforts of each individual working
alone.
3. Selecting
Selecting competent, high performing employees capable of sustaining their performance over the long run is a competitive advantage. The selection process consists of forecasting employment needs, recruiting candidates, interviewing applicants, and hiring employees.
4. Training
After employees are selected, they enter an orientation program to be formally introduced to their jobs. Orientation sets a tone for new employees' work by describing job-related expectations and reporting relationships. Employees are informed about benefits, policies, and procedures. Specific duties and responsibilities and performance evaluation are clarified. During orientation, the supervisor has the opportunity to resolve any unrealistic expectations held by the employee. Training refers to improving an employee's knowledge, skills, and attitudes so that he or she can do the job.
All new employees (or current employees in new jobs) should be trained. Cross training prepares an employee for a job normally handled by someone else. Also, training is advisable when new processes, equipment or procedures are introduced into the workplace. Training starts with an organization analysis. By focusing on strategy and examining sales forecasts and expected changes in production, distribution and support systems, employers can determine which skills will be needed and to what degree. A comparison with current skill levels is used to estimate staff and training needs. Task analysis identifies the elements of current or future tasks to be done. Personal needs analysis involves asking employees and managers, either in an interview or in a self-administered questionnaire, to analyze their training needs. In general, agreement between managers and employees tends to be low, so it is important that both parties agree to decisions about the training of employees.
