Key Features of an Effective Leader
Introduction
Leadership refers to the process where a certain individual influences either one or more people to work towards the accomplishment of a shared goal (Stogdill, 1974). Gregoire and Arendt (2014) posit that in leadership, the functioning, the type, and the style used have a great influence on the success of an organization. For a long time, leaders determine the economic climate of organizations through the decisions they make. Effective leaders create a vision that inspires the future, inspire and motivate individuals to work towards the formulated vision, manage how the vision is delivered, and build and coach their teams in such a way that they become effective at achieving the set goals and objectives (Gayle et al., 2011). Good leaders bring the above mentioned features together. There are different types of leaders, leadership styles, and leadership theories that generalize different attributes of management. This paper is aimed at explaining four aspects of leadership that contribute towards making leaders highly effective in their endeavours. This essay explains how the perception of leadership is influenced through different aspects in various organizations. The four key effective features of leaders include referent power, ethics, directive leadership, and charismatic leadership. Indeed, leadership within different organizations is achieved through a combination of the four effective features of leaders.
Referent Power
In leadership, referent power refers to the ability a leader of a certain organization to cultivate admiration and respect of his subordinates such that they work hard to become like him/her (Braynion, 2004). According to Lunenburg (2012), leading people by example best describes what referent power means. The leader models his behaviour to demonstrate appropriate a good character and well-informed decision making skills. In such cases, the employees observe the behaviour of managers as well as how they act so that they may also do the same in an improved way. Employees imagine how their managers would do in particular situations and do the same (Braynion, 2004). In other words, the manager becomes the reference point for other employee’s behaviour. The act of employees trying to work as their managers is something subconscious; they do not necessarily do it intentionally.
It is important for leaders to develop the referent power because it is a cheap and effective way of inspiring other people. The leader does not use much effort to convince others because they already respect and admire him or her. Referent power enables leaders to become the best in what they do because they lead by example (Nixon et al., 2012). It leads to improved productivity because each individual feels the urge to work towards the vision of the organization without necessarily being forced to do so.
Referent power relies on the trust that the employees have on their managers. Lunenburg (2012) posits that employee empowerment develops thus allowing employees to make wise decisions in different situations without the help of their managers. Enabling employee empowerment and trust are not easy to develop because they take a lot of time (Braynion 2004). It is also important to note that referent power is not effective in businesses where there is a high turnover rate of employees (Erkutlu and Chafra, 2006). The best thing with this type of power is that its effects are long lasting. Once employees develop trust in their managers, they tend to become obedient to every instruction given to them.
It is quite important for managers to understand the cultural differences of employees when they apply referent power. Different regions have different cultural backgrounds. For instance, some theorists assume that the value of egalitarianism in Americans makes it difficult for managers of organizations to be respected by other American employees (Erkutlu and Chafra, 2006). Apart from seeking to be respected, American managers may make efforts of increasing their likeability to their juniors which seems to work efficiently. American people identify themselves with the type of people they like and who like them in return. If a manager wishes to influence employees to a certain direction, it is easy for him/her to do so if they possess referent power. Once they start working towards a certain goal, developing particular attitudes, and showing concern over certain issues, their employees follow their steps and starting working towards a common goal (Lunenburg, 2012). Such a way of inspiring employees and helping them stay focused keeps them motivated in their workplace leading to improved productivity.
Ethics
Ethics refers to moral values that guide the behaviour and action of people (Yukl, 2012). It plays a major role in leadership because it dictates the atmosphere of the workplace in terms of how people relate with each other. In most incidences, leadership and ethics go hand in hand. The power possessed by leaders can be used for doing both evil and good deeds. Ethics determine what leaders do with the power they possess and how they influence other people (Ciulla, 2014). When we consider the benefits of being in a leadership position, it is important to also assume ethical burdens.
A leader with good morals influences employees positively. According to Pradeep and Prabhu, (2011), employees develop the right attitude towards their work when their leader also demonstrates the same. Leaders who make ethical decisions play a major role in determining how employees relate with each other. Ethical decisions ensure that there is fairness in the workplace. Fairness leads to a good working relationship where each employee works towards the set goals comfortably without necessarily being forced to do certain things (Yukl, 2012). Employees are motivated to treat each other well if that is the tradition of the organization. The manager of an organization plays a major role in passing and determining the culture of an organization.
A good understanding of ethics in organizations starts with making analysis of both organizational and individual values. Effective leaders and managers are supposed to aware of their morals, ethical decision making, system of ethics, and their values (Yukl, 2012). Good integrity and character are attributes that people look for in leaders. Honesty is an important trait of leaders, which plays a major role in determining their ethics. It is important to note that employees choose where they work depending on their ethical preferences and how they connect to the values of the place of work (Ciulla, 2014). For a workplace to have maximized productivity, a connection between the ability of leaders to use ethical values to make decisions and the sound values of the system must be established.
Other values that determine the ethical values of a leader include responsibility, care, respect, citizenship, and fairness. A trust worth leader ensure that there is honesty, reliability, loyalty, integrity, and that promises make to other workers are fulfilled. Such a leader ensures that employees do not deceive each other leading to a good working relationship (Ciulla, 2014). Respectful leaders treat people the way they wish to be treated. The leader also becomes courteous, listening, and accepts other people’s differences. Respectful leaders ensure that there is no discrimination in the workplace because their presence and opinions count (Yukl, 2012). On the same note, fairness of leaders ensures that employees do not take advantage of each other, there is no favouritism, prejudice, and that people do not blame each other (Yukl, 2012).
Leadership ethics also involves different aspects of care. A caring leader shows compassion, altruism, and kindness to other employees (Ciulla, 2014). Ethical employees help other employees whenever they need help and also do the best they can to minimize hardships. Also, such leaders have an element of citizenship. The leaders ensure that they protect their environment, improve the local community, ensure that the business operates according to the law, and that the democratic institutions work (Popescu, 2013). Indeed, ethics in leadership enables an organization to become sustainable in the long run.
Directive Leadership
Directive leadership refers to setting distinct rules and objectives for subordinates in addition to ensuring that the directions and expectations are well understood and defined (Colbert et al., 2012). Directive leadership is quite appropriate when the subordinate staff is either inexperienced or unskilled in carrying out complex tasks. The strategy may not work if it is imposed on experienced and highly skilled employees who are competent in performing different tasks (Kalaluhi, 2013). Such competent employees do not like being strictly directed because they feel that they know what is expected from them.
Leaders should initiate projects, ideas, and ideas in addition to giving responsibility of various tasks to subordinate staff. In such cases, a directive leader tells other employees how to do a certain job, specifies parameters, standards, and deadlines. The leader in this case exercises strict rules and expects the subordinate staff to work according to the organization’s boundaries (Yilmaz and Altinkurt, 2012). This type of leaders may be found in long standing and traditional organizations in countries that have respect for experience and seniority.
This type of leadership trait cannot be exercised by all leaders. The trait leadership theory may be used to explain this leadership quality. Leaders who mostly apply this quality are born with unique qualities that enable them to excel in their roles. For instance, qualities such as creativity and intelligence are necessary when directing employees. If a leader is not able to find creative ways of directing subordinate staff without offending them, the strategy may not be effective (Colbert et al., 2012). Intelligence enables the leader to determine the best ways of dealing with certain situations that the employees encounter.
According to the trait theory of leadership, a lot of emphasis is laid on analysing physical, mental, and social characteristics to understand the character traits of leaders (Colbert et al., 2012). Colbert et al. (2012) note that directive leadership entails mental, social and physical characteristics to ensure that other employees follow the directions given to them accordingly. A leader should have good social skills that can enable him/her to direct and interact subordinate staff without having conflicts with them. Mental characteristics are important to leaders because they enable them to come up with different effective strategies of conducting certain tasks.
A leader should have a deep understanding of the path-goal theory to apply directive leadership. The theory holds that managers are supposed to set the work goals of their employees and establish different paths that they can use to ensure that the set goals are achieved. Several managerial tasks are described by the path-goal theory (Polston-Murdoch, 2013). A good leader, in this case, is supposed to clarify the responsibilities and roles of employees, clarify the tasks assigned to employees, provide coaching and guidance, removes possible barriers, award subordinates whenever appropriate, and provide psychological support to all employees. For maximized productivity, a good leader should apply different leadership skills and styles depending on the situation (Polston-Murdoch, 2013). Some of the important leadership styles include being participative, supportive, directive, and achievement oriented.
Charismatic Leadership
Charismatic leadership refers to encouraging particular behaviours in other people through persuasion, personality, and eloquent communication (Avolio et al., 2013). Leaders who are charismatic inspire their subordinates to do things in a certain way or to perform various operations in an improved way. Through such strategies, the leader develops enthusiasm for stated goals or vision. Charismatic leadership is mainly based on the behavioural and personal characteristics of a leader. Charismatic leaders are able to create enthusiasm and to inspire their junior workers through the way they articulate the vision of the organization (Avolio et al., 2013). Junior employees identify the vision of the same organization and accept to follow the values of the leaders. Subordinate staff attributes charisma to leaders based on the way they perceive the behaviour of their leader (Avolio et al., 2013).
Charismatic leaders motivate subordinates to perform well without necessarily using power to direct them. In most incidences, charisma is referred to as a personal character trait of a leader which is not acquired easily from the environment. The fact that charisma is a personal characteristic, the use of charismatic leadership is viewed as revival of the feature to leadership (Graham and Folkes, 2014). Charismatic leadership romanticized because it is reflective of employee’s emotional responses. The emotional responses of a follower greatly determine the charismatic quality of his/her leader. If subordinates have high levels of arousal, there are high chances that they will refer to their leaders as charismatic. The characteristics of subordinate influence how their leaders develop effectiveness in their charismatic leadership (Graham and Folkes, 2014). Different external factors such as growth and downsizing prompt organisations to choose charismatic leaders.
The charismatic leadership trait relies on the persuasiveness and the charm of the organisation’s leader. Such leaders are mainly driven by their commitment and conviction to achieve their goals as well as those of the organization. Avolio et al. (2013) opine that charismatic leaders are also referred to as transformational leaders due to the fact that they possess multiple similarities. Audience and focus are the main differences between charismatic leaders. It is worth noting that charismatic leaders strive hard to improve their status quo while the main focus of transformational leaders is to work towards achieving the leader’s vision. In most cases, charismatic leaders are recognized in hardships because they possess exceptional expertise and devotion in their area of specialization (Graham and Folkes, 2014).
Charismatic leaders have a clear vision in their area of work. They also have the ability to engage other people to work towards a certain vision. Charismatic leadership inspires individuals to work towards a common goal, to enable people to stay focused to a central vision, to prioritize learning from the mistakes made, and to bring all subordinates together because they have a clear purpose (Graham and Folkes, 2014). Leaders who are charismatic are important to organizations because they work hard to improve the organization they work for and to improve the quality of life of other employees (Vlachos et al., 2013). Such leaders are courageous because they are always ready to fight for the rights of all employees.
Conclusion
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