Perspective                                                 

Changing Role of Leadership

by Syeedun Nisha Warsi
Lecturer (Management Sudies)
Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi

Traditionally we think of leaders as being the one top person in the organization, but leadership is everybody’s business - Michael McKinney

In Leadership Without Easy Answers, Heifetz (1994) says leadership is a change or adaptive process "to address conflicts in the values people hold, or to diminish the gap between the values people stand for and the reality they face" (p. 22). In The Elements of Leadership, Noonan (2003) defines leadership as "developing potential and building community" (p. 3). In Developing the Leader Within You , Maxwell (2000) defines leadership as simply "influence”. There are different definitions of leadership that is given by different authors. But one thing in common among all the leaders is their ability to influence and mould the behaviour of others. However, there are different ways of achieving this goal. Some leaders in order to influence the behaviour of others use power while some do not believe in using power they believe in team building and participative leadership.

Types of leaders:

Here, we are taking two parameters to define different types of leadership. These two parameters are: task orientation and relationship orientation. The following matrix shows with these two combinations, four types of leadership style emerge:

                          

Autocratic Leader - high goal & low behavior oriented- People here are very much goal oriented and are hard on their workers (autocratic). There is little or no allowance for cooperation or collaboration and they do not allow others to give advice or suggestion. Heavily goal oriented people display these characteristics: they are very strong on schedules; they expect people to do what they are told without question or debate; they have a habit of giving orders; so it is difficult for their subordinates to give any advice or take part in any decision.

Participative leader - high goal, high behavior oriented - This type of leader leads by positive example. They endeavor to foster a team environment in which all team members can reach their highest potential, both as team members and as people. They allow the team members to take part in decision-making process.

Country Club Leader - low goal, high behavior oriented – here, the leader uses predominantly reward power to maintain discipline and to encourage the team to accomplish its goals. They are more towards building relationship with their group members. Conversely, they are almost incapable of employing the more punitive coercive and legitimate powers.

Impoverished Leader - low goal, low behavior oriented- such leaders use a "delegate and disappear" management style. Since they are not committed to either task accomplishment or maintenance; they essentially allow the team to do what ever it wishes and prefers.

The most desirable place for a leader to be along the two axis at most times would be high on goal and high on relationship, the Team Leader. However, do not entirely dismiss the other three. Certain situations might call for one of the other three to be used at times.

Traditional to modern leadership style: A paradigm shift

Traditionally, leadership style is more towards how you relate to your subordinates. It deals with top down or formal relationship only that means subordinates never dare to question their bosses. They are not concerned about whether that particular decision is right or wrong. Even the most empowered employees feel it is up to management to pat them on the shoulders and offer them a new position. Career frustration is as much due to a felt powerlessness to influence their career progress as the actual lack of advancement itself. Because they see management as holding all the strings, frustration leads the more vocal to complain while the rest simmer in silent resentment. Possible outcomes include demotivation, negative attitudes, lowered productivity, passive resistance to change and premature departure for greener pastures. The key problem is that employees make the mistake of focusing on their own needs – what the organisation can do for them rather than the other way round.

Need of an hour: change the behavior

   

What is required in present scenario is that employees should change their perspective and attitude as well bosses should come out with traditional image of giving orders and commands. They should act as one of the team member who is leading the time not by giving directions but by taking the help of others. Leadership style is not about how leader makes decision for his team? But it refers to influencing style –how leaders influence the behaviour of team member. Unlike conventional notions of leadership, using authority is not a leadership style. The leader should guide the team members by identifying their roles and responsibilities. In addition, he should inspire the team members to successfully complete the tasks. They have vision, they motivate, they bring people together, and, most of all, they accomplish great things" (Verzuh, 1999, p.25). Therefore, the new type of leadership that is emerging in today’s scenario is participative leadership style. However, some people believe that its not always participative leadership that works in the entire situations however a leader should follow the practice that is most acceptable in a particular situation that he / she is facing. We should move a step ahead a participative leadership and make it more a situational based leadership.

Conclusion:

As we are moving from traditional economies towards modern economies there is change in all the aspects of life. Traditional image of leaders as a commander or boss is now changing; organizations are now realizing that controlling and commanding the behaviour of employees is not good for the organization. It does not motivate the employees. Instead of giving command, if employees are allowed to take part in decision-making and policy implementation than they will feel more committed and more responsible towards the goal of the organization and they will work towards it. But apart from giving flexibility to the employees and allowing them to participate in the management, a leader should also understand that he should act according to the situation. Some situations demand immediate actions and in such situations they should not wait for all the employees to come up with the suggestions and consensus is drawn and then some action is taken.

WWW www.mba.iiita.ac.in