Introduction
This essay is going to outline the different academic perspectives to support the argument that heroic leadership in a business context, which emerged towards the end of the 19th century, has led to unfair successor announcements and an unhealthy biased decision-making - outcome attribution ratio resulting in unfair, unnatural and useless business leadership environments in today’s society. Nonetheless, today’s leadership delivers a foundation to eventually transition to a more natural, inclusive and useful form of it. In chapter 1 the focus is on the unnatural aspects regarding attribution of business outcomes and the negative impact this has on the leadership style of a manager. While chapter 2 explains the incentivizing of leaders
…show more content…
Chapter 1 shows that, although the intention of attributing complex situation outcomes to the simplest reason is natural it is leading to unnatural and useless behaviours from managers by pressuring them into making decisions based on the consistency of their past decisions and not on the optimal decision for each scenario. Furthermore, it outlines why the hierarchy heroic leadership concept is harming followers and subordinates on an individual level. Managerial behaviour is the focus of chapter 2 with the conclusion, that personal career protection is incentivizing managers to avoid decisions while claiming and high jacking credit of successful choices which overall harms the company’s position and is useless for society. Furthermore, it is shown that managers are unfairly selecting successors based on their similarity which discriminates women and harms diversity in leadership since heroic leadership traits are mostly associated with masculinity. Towards the end of chapter 3, the problems of transitioning to the more natural, fair and useful post-heroic leadership are discussed pointing to the fact that due to the enormous transition necessary from heroic to post-heroic leadership implementation at the moment is
Heroes and leaders have long had a popular following in literature and in our own imaginations. From Odysseus in ancient Grecian times to May Parker in Spider-man Two, who states, “We need a hero, courageous sacrificing people, setting examples for all of us. I believe there’s a hero in all of us, that keeps us honest, gives us strength, makes us noble” (Raimi, 2004). Organizations need heroes, too. We call them organizational leaders. The study of organizational leadership, then, is really the study of what makes a person a successful hero. Or, what processes, constructs, traits, and dynamics embody the image of a successful leader.
“There is a certain enthusiasm, in liberty, that makes human nature rise above itself, in acts of bravery and heroism.” In order to be a hero, you have to be brave enough to face challenges and tough situations. Heroes don’t always have to be a boy with a cape and that’s really muscular or somebody who only saves people from bad guys, heros can be anything. Although they look like ordinary people, but they are fearless, strong and caring. They never quit or doubt themselves, if they fail a challenge they would try harder to succeed it. Even when the odds are against them, heroism means taking action, showing dedication to your quest and not giving up. For example, the movie Wreck-it Ralph the main character Ralph, the arcade-game
Bass, 1990, explains that the word ‘‘leadership’’ was initially used to explain political influence and control of the British Parliament in the 1800s. He further elaborates that leadership was based on heritage and appointment and used to take place often in Anglo-Saxon countries (Bass, 1990, p. 11). Katz and Kahn, 1966, p.334 expands that leadership is to acknowledge the skill to influence others on organisational relevance. Michener et al. (1990) described leadership ‘‘as a process that takes place in groups in which one member influences and controls the behaviour of the other members towards some common goal’’ (cited in Denmark, 1993, p. 343), signifying that the control of employees was a required aspect of effective leadership. The assumption therefore is that if someone is to lead, he should extend beyond influence. This comprises motivation and helping others to accomplish the goals of the organisation.
Leadership at times can be a complex topic to delve into and may appear to be a simple and graspable concept for a certain few. Leadership skills are not simply acquired through position, seniority, pay scale, or the amount of titles an individual holds but is a characteristic acquired or is an innate trait for the fortunate few who possess it. Leadership can be misconstrued with management; a manager “manages” the daily operations of a company’s work while a leader envisions, influences, and empowers the individuals around them.
The style of leadership is very task orientated. Therefore, it would be easy to establish goals and quotas for followers to target in order to achieve higher levels of pay, promotions, or incentives. For example, a restaurant manager may design a contest in his or her restaurant that can reward the highest seller a bonus. This type of leadership has many avenues to inspire employees by rewarding them. Equally, with rewards however, they can come with punishment. Leaders are able to have measurable result that can also have consequences.
In today's rapidly changing world, leadership is necessary to keep up with the competition. In the extract from the film “Braveheart”, William Wallace demonstrated many leadership techniques that helped his army prevail as an underdog. Many of the techniques Wallace used are prevalent in modern day business leaders as well. By stepping up in a leadership role, Wallace gained the respect of the entire army even though he was not the man that was put in charge. One of the main things that Wallace did was lead through his actions. By stepping up to the front line, it showed his troops that he was not scared and this attitude was imitated by the rest of the troops. In the present day business world, an effective leader hears what others have to say and helps them with their issues. This is just what Wallace did.
There are several ways to define leadership, but what sets effective leaders apart from commonplace managers are their extraordinary actions and the successes that result. In The Leadership Challenge, James Kouzes and Barry Posner claim leaders that employ The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership are much more effective than those who do not (2012, p. 25). This paper will be reviewing my assessment findings, exploring my strengths and weaknesses, examining my personal-best leadership story, and detailing a specific area of development.
The most valuable commodity of any great organization is the quality of good people. Almost everyone has good intentions but leaders acknowledge what needs to be done and has the ability to inspire others to respond. Nonetheless the author conveys the differences between leadership of past generation versus this generation. As society loses confidence in leadership techniques of the past, it begins to look for management wit...
The role of leadership can impact an organization performance in many ways. Excellent leadership can propel a company to the fortune five hundred list. For Example, Harpo Incorporated Oprah Winfrey’s company is a successful business that has made billions of dollars over the years. The business consists of several different entities such as the Oprah Show, Oprah Winfrey Network, and The Dr. Phil Show to name a few. This could not have been accomplished with a weak or uneducated leader. Many years ago I heard her give advice to the Williams Sisters. The a...
This leadership paper will explore the Servant leadership role and connect it with the Agile Development Scrum Master methodology. It will demonstrate the leader that exists today through assessments and describe my leadership aspirations as a Scrum Master, future adjunct faculty and project manager. In addition, the paper will communicate the history of Medical Mutual as well as outline the company’s current organizational expectations and future objectives for leaders. I will also explain my 10-year leadership development plan which involves developing an agile team, being g...
He will be there for you when you have problems with your family and spouse, because he wants employees to be focused when they are working and not thinking about family problems.
My biggest personal leadership failure occurred earlier this year when I worked at Einstein Bros Bagels at Coffman Union. I stayed there from January until April making and serving bagels to customers. However, I had the morning shift, the busiest period of the day. Long lines would form every time I was there, and sometimes I couldn’t catch up. One day in April, my co-worker, a veteran making bagels, was absent, and someone who didn’t have as much experience replaced her. What followed was a mess. My team chemistry with the replacement was dreadful, and a ton of people had to wait a while for their orders. My manager saw the incident, and after my shift was over, he gave me the option of leaving my job. I accepted, but my self-confidence was in a state that was beyond repair. It was one of the first times that I felt I let others down with my work performance. I learned that I shouldn’t expect to be great at everything and that I should analyze my weaknesses before taking on something challenging.
Leadership, without doubt, is a significantly important function of management. It helps to aggrandize efficiency and to fulfil an organization’s goals. Leadership is the ability of a manager to induce the subordinates to work with confidence, determination, courage and zeal. It is also defined as ability to influence a group towards the realization of a goal. Leaders should have the capability of developing future visions, and to drive the organizational members to want to attain the visions. This paper states my points in which I duly believe, justifies the importance of an outstanding leader in any organization.
Leaders come in all forms, whether they are a boss or a coach of some sort. Leaders are expected to motivate their followers. The failure of the company typically divulges on the non-achievement of the leader and the goals of the followers, (Giessner & Knippenberg, 2008). The theoretical approach of this article is essentially processed on the social identity approach. Social identity focuses primarily on how and what type of credit a leader achieves by their followers when success is a factor and vice versa. Giessner and Knippenberg(2008) argue that most leaders whom are less desirable and trustworthy should not be compared as deeply as those who are more desirable and trustworthy. The theory of “license to fail” is discussed by Giessner and Knippenberg(2008). Generally in an organization, a leaders’ prototypicality determines the amount of support they have in an organization. This is generally determined by how often the follower follows the leaders’ instructions and obeys their
More often organizations are getting into bigger risks in the market with their leaders in nowadays economy. The resistance to change is a reason why organizations trying harder to keep earlier recognized reputation within clients and community. The theme of leadership is relevant for each person as it occurs almost to everyone during the lifetime or to those who at least were a part of a team.