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- Subject Name : Leadership
Effective Leader-Member Exchange
Introduction to Effective Leadership in An Organization
For the success of any organization or business and its efficient working requires a collaborative efforts between all the function of the organization along with management. Management in simple terms can be explained as a process which makes the efficient use of all the resources of an organization or businesses to achieve the corporate goal (Franco and Seth, 2018). Efficient management consists of five core functions i.e. planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling. Each of these functions are mostly referred to separate departments in organizations, and are headed by the functional heads. These functional heads or leaders are responsible for the efficient working of these departments in collaboration with other departments in order to achieve the organizational role. Thus, effective management and leadership are the key elements for the success of any business and are inter-related.
Social-Change Model of Leadership
The presented model is a model of Social- exchange framework, from the journal with the title ‘safety outcomes for engineering asset management organizations: old problem with new solutions’ (Novak et. al., 2017). This article elaborately explains about the concept of leadership in organizations and the model focuses on explaining the relationship of the leaders its employees and other members of the organization with the help of leader-member exchange theory (Novak et. al., 2017). It also explains the commitment of employees to the organizations safety practices, and the impact of work and maintenance culture upon this commitment of employees’ to safety and the related outcomes (Novak et. al., 2017).
The Social exchange theory is a based on the principle that an effective relationship between two individuals can be created through a process of cost-benefit analysis (Hai & Rabenu, 2018). Social exchange theory is a model that examines the social behaviour by the interaction between the two parties that implement a cost-benefit analysis to determine risks and benefits (Novak et. al., 2017). This model tries to explain the relationship between are the leaders-member exchange theory, the employee commitments to an organization, and it impacts and outcomes of employee experiences. Another principle of this this social exchange process is the need of the employee to be treated equally by its leaders. The leader-member exchange theory is also referred to as vertical dyad linkage theory, is a significant part of this social-exchange theory (Lee et. al., 2019). This theory tries to explain how leaders and managers develop relationships with team members. It also explains how those relationships can contribute to employee growth and performance in an organization (Lee et. al., 2019). In the organizational context, this theory tries to explain that the leaders are an important element for the success of the organization, and the important link between the achievement of organizational goals and employee relations.
Effective Leadership
Every organization whether big or small, cannot be function or be successful without having a front-line leader in place, who leads the company and is responsible to achieve the goals of the company. An effective leader is one of the primary and significant drivers for the growth, development of any organization (Franco and Seth, 2018). Leadership in the most basic sense can be described as a function to head or lead a group of people. In the organizational context it can be described as a function of leading or heading a company, business, or an organizational. Leadership can also be described as the function of effectively executing a firm’s vision, mission, and providing direction to the organization and its employees in order to accomplish the goals and objectives of the that organization (Western, 2019). The leaders of the organization are responsible to create, plan, secure resources, make efficient use of those resources, monitor processes, look out for errors, and also improve it. Leaders are also play a key role in taking strategic decisions for the company, formulation of strategies and various policies, improving the existing policies and strategies and also are accountable for the efficient and effective implementation of those strategies and decisions for the growth of the organization (Franco and Seth, 2018). Effective leadership also ensures motivating its employee to achieve a common goal, setting the culture of the organization, and maximizing the efforts of the workforce in order to achieve the best results.
The leadership scope varies greatly between roles based on a number of factors like the number of employees that are managed, the nature and type of the work that is being performed, and the extend of collaboration required between the different departments in an organization and its team members (Western, 2019). Thus, the leaders and leadership function entails a number of roles and functions at workplace, out of which some key functions of the leaders are described as follows (Western, 2019):
- The leader establishes and works towards achieving the goals and values of the group or the company
- Leadership tries to make the maximum of the employees abilities to maximize the performance
- Leaders also play an important role in resolving the work-related concern and employee-related conflicts
- Leadership aims to integrate the unique styles and personalities of individual employees into a cohesive unit
Leadership and Management Practices for Employees
Thus, as explained above leaders play an important part of the organization and they aim to achieve the organizational goals by maximizing employee performance. For the business to grow and be successful, one of the most important trait that a leader should possess is building strong and effective business relations with the employees. Employees are the assets of an organization, and the leaders should also focus on employee development. As these employees are ultimately, responsible for the growth of any company, their growth and development will in turn increase the productivity of the company. Thus, the leaders are implement a number of management practices to build effective relations with these employees. These management practices greatly enhance the performance of the employees. Some of the practices that the leaders can implement for it employees are as follows (Bakotic & Rogosic, 2016):
- Creating a culture and work environment of belonging
The leaders should strive to create a working environment for its employee with a sense of belonging. The leaders should be able to align the organizational goals with the individual employee goals. Employees tend to be much more sensitive towards their roles and will be much more engaged in it (Bakotic & Rogosic, 2016). This helps to yield a positive employee experience.
- Foster and focus on employee engagement
Employ engagement is necessary for an organization. It is important for the leaders to always encourage its employees to participate in discussions and hear out their views and suggestions (Bakotic & Rogosic, 2016). Such employee engagement by leaders in the organizations enables to foster individual and team growth. It helps to provide new opportunities and collaboration that give a better employee experience.
- Building trust, collaboration and transparent communication
The leaders should always strive to build a trust relation with it employees. Employees wish for and prefer leaders who are approachable. The leaders should be able to adopt an open-door approach for its employees, giving employees the message that they are always available for their employee (Western, 2019). The leaders should provide and communicate all the relevant information to its employees related to the organization or their job roles and try to build healthy relationships their employees. The leaders should prioritize an employee-centric and one team culture.
- Recognising the employee
It is essential for all the leaders to make the employees feel valued. Leaders should appreciate their employees for their work and good performance on a regular basis. Leaders ensure to appraise their employee on regular basis for all the efforts they have put in and reward them for their good work (Western, 2019). With this kind of employee recognition the employees experience high motivation towards work, and try to perform even better.
Thus, by employing such types of employee management practices the leaders can ensure to create a positive work culture for the employees where they can experience a feeling of belonging and trust, and high motivation towards work.
Conclusion on Effective Leadership in An Organization
Effective leadership is the driving force for an organizations growth. Good and efficient leaders are essential to improve productivity and the increase the morale and motivate the employees and members of an organization. The leaders are accountable to attain the objectives of the company with the most efficient use of resources. Along with focusing on the achievement of organizational goals, the leaderships also have the important function of focusing on the development of employees and thus being employee centric. The best leadership practice focuses on building the relationships with the employees. By encouraging and supporting them, the leader hopes to make them more qualified, confident, and productive. Various models and theories have also been used by experts to explain the importance of this relationship between the leaders and the employee for effective performance of the company. Leadership tries to motivate its workforce to a greater level of performance with their help of strong human relations. Leadership thus is a significant function of management which helps to maximize the efficiency.
References for Effective Leadership in An Organization
Bakotic, D. & Rogosic, A. (2016). Employee involvement as a key determinant of core quality management practices. Journal of Total Quality Management and Business Excellence, 28(2), 1209- 1226.
Franco, G. and Seth, S. (2018). Leadership, leadership styles, and servant leadership. Journal of Management Research, 18(4), 261-269.
Hai, L. & Rabenu, E. (2018). The New Era Workplace Relationships: Is Social Exchange Theory Still Relevant. Industrial and Organizational Psychology Journal, 11(3), 456-481.
Lee, A. et.al. (2019). Beyond relationship quality: The role of leader–member exchange importance in leader–follower dyads. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 92(4), 736-763.
Novak, J. et.al. (2017). Safety outcomes for engineering asset management organizations: Old problem with new solutions. Reliability Engineering and System Safety Journal, 160, 67–73.
Western, S. (2019). Leadership: a critical text. London: Sage publications
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