Role of Leadership in Driving Organizational Change
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Role of Leadership in Driving Organizational Change
Carter and Greer (2013), describe leaders as visionary individuals who create enabling environments where vision meets purpose. Leaders play a crucial role in guiding organizations on a success path as they have the ability to influence subordinates to put the interests of the organization above their needs. There exists three applicable forms of leadership namely, democratic, autocratic, and laissez-faire styles of leadership.
These forms of leadership are applied differently based on the activities and the structure of organizations. It is noteworthy that leaders play an influential role in driving organizational change programs thus it remains imperative that they adopt a favorable style in order to facilitate the changes they desire. It equally worth noting that the style of leadership can also hinder changes within the organization for various reason. It is, therefore, the objective of this paper to highlight the various forms of leadership and their influence in driving organizational change.
Democratic Style of Leadership
According to Derakhshandeh and Gholami (2012) a democratic style of leadership is one which gives consideration for the views of all stakeholders thus its implementation is deeply rooted in maintaining a harmonious environment. Anwar and Ahmad (2012) argue that this leadership style encourages participation amongst key stakeholders leading to an exchange of transformative ideas. A democratic management style has also been proved to influence a tremendous amount of effectiveness within an organization (Derakhshandeh & Gholami, 2012). Perhaps the reason why this is the case can be attributed to the fact that workers reported increased job satisfaction as they were more involved in the decision making process.
There are numerous benefits that can be gotten from this form of leadership. Some of these include the fact that democratic organizations attract highly talented and skilled workers. They do also retain more workers (Carter & Greer, 2013). Various studies have also proved this style of leadership to be cost efficient as organizations cut back on supervisory costs. In addition, this form of leadership has been proved to aid in reducing conflicts amongst workers and their managers as they are all conversant with their assigned roles.
Laissez-Faire Leadership Style
Bhatti et al. (2012) describe this style of leadership as one which leaves the organization’s employees to their own innovative ways to achieve the overall objectives of the firm. Derakhshandeh and Gholami (2012) argue that laissez-faire leaders are not fully involved in the running of their organization in comparison with authoritarian and democratic leaders. It is noteworthy that these leaders give their subordinates the freedom they need to make their own policies and decisions without being supervised.
Laissez-faire leaders are not consulted in decision making hence their input in the management of the organization is virtually nonexistent (Khan et al. 2012). Anwar and Ahmad (2012) argue that this style of leadership is less preferred in organizations as it makes it harder for them to achieve change. Laissez Faire style of leadership is usually associated with unproductiveness, dissatisfaction, and ineffectiveness within organizations (Khan et al. 2012). Its application in organizations may, therefore, prove counterproductive.
Autocratic Style of Leadership
Mishra (2013), describes this style of leadership as one which is authoritarian. This form of leadership style works based on issuing rewards and punishment liberally. However, while some might argue that it proves quite effective at getting the job done, some might add that it is demeaning to workers as it is oppressive in nature. Authoritarian leaders run the risk of coming off as self-centered individuals who make decisions without consulting other stakeholders. In a survey conducted by Wong and Heather (2013), over 65% of all managers interviewed during the study stated that they did not prefer this style of leadership as it did not improve the success of their organizations.
Jowah (2013), argues that a dictatorial style of leadership does not have any place in the modern society thus he referred to it as outdated. He argued that leaders who practiced this form of leadership did not have any leadership skill hence they relied on an iron fist to stamp their authority. However, Mishra (2013), did argue that despite its drawbacks, this type of leadership could be of help to organizations which intend to implement its objectives much faster. In fact, Bhatti et al., (2012) added to the debate by arguing that this style of leadership may prove the best for ensuring continuous productivity within the organization.
Leadership and Organizational Change
It is apparent that there exists various forms of leadership styles that produce different results when applied in an organization. It is imperative, therefore, that leaders apply the right style of leadership if they aspire organizational change. It is not in doubt, however, that not all styles of leadership are equal thus, democratic style of leadership produces the best results in driving organizational change. Perhaps the reason why this is the case can be attributed to the fact that subordinates are considered stakeholders within the organization thus their input is valued. Other styles of leadership such as autocratic form of leadership and Laissez-Faire can prove to be either too demeaning to stakeholders or less authoritative. Therefore, both of these styles can provide less than optimal results. From this analysis, therefore, it is apparent that a democratic form of leadership remains the only style of leadership that can drive positive organizational change.
References
Anwar, F. and Ahmad, U. (2012). Mediating role of organizational commitment among leadership style and employee outcome: an empirical evidence from telecom sector of Pakistan. International Journal of Research in Economics and Social Sciences, 2, 116-151
Bhatti, N., Maitlo, G. M., Shaikh, N., Hashmi, M. A., & Shaikh, F. (2012). The Impact of Autocratic and Democratic Leadership Style on Job Satisfaction. International Business Research, 5(2), 192-201.
Carter, S., & Greer, C. (2013). Strategic Leadership: Values, Styles, and Organizational Performance. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 20(4), 375-393.
Derakhshandeh, A., & Gholami, R. (2012). A relationship between leadership style and perceived organizational effectiveness by directors. Growing Science, 6, 1
Jowah, L. (2013). Followership: The forgotten kingmaker for effective leadership. Journal of US-China Public Administration, 10(7).
Khan, M., Aslam, N., & Riaz, M. (2012). Leadership styles as predictors of innovative work behavior. Pakistan Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 9(2), 17-22.
Mishra, S. (2013). Motivational and Managerial Styles in Organizations: A comparative anaylsis. Social Science International, 29(2), 227-246.
Saeed, T., Almas, S., Anis-ul-Haq, M., & Niazi, G. (2014). Leadership styles: relationship with conflict management styles. International Journal of Conflict Management, 25(3), 214-225.
Wong, C.A., Heather, K.S. (2013). Authentic leadership, performance, and job satisfaction: the mediating role of empowerment. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 69, (4)