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What are the implications of employee engagement for management
What are the implications of employee engagement for management
What are the implications of employee engagement for management
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Practices of Leadership contribute to managing sustainability (ethics and corporate social responsibility) in the post-bureaucratic era.
In this essay, I am going to argue that by its innate nature, post-bureaucratic leadership contributes to managing sustainability through the adoption of corporate social responsibility, by considering employees as well as other stakeholders in the decision making process, which shifts the focus from merely maximising profits, to achieving the higher purpose of creating value for society. In Section 1, by drawing on Johnston, Gabirel, Mackey Schawrtz, and Buckingham, and discusses how the two concepts of leadership and corporate social responsibility are linked. In Section 2, through the analysis of Browining, Cameron et al, Staw and Barsade, and Dutton et al, one is presented with the benefits of adopting corporate social responsibility as a part of their leadership style, as it puts the higher purpose of creating value for society at it’s core.
Post-bureaucratic leadership differs from Max Weber’s and Henry Ford’s models of bureaucratic leadership as their form is focused on maximising production, through a formal hierarchical structure, and impersonal relationships with employees (Johnston, 2004). While bureaucratic leadership ultimately causes alienation, Post-bureaucratic leadership aims to remove this alienation and bridge the gulf between the “supreme leaders” and “lowly subordinates” (Gabriel,1997). Post-bureaucratic leadership not only aims for financial betterment, but also the betterment of employees, and society as a whole. This is referred to as Corporate Social Responsibility, which consists of environmental and social dimensions.
Corporate Social Responsibility fundamentall...
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...ations, Vol 50 No 4, pp 322,323,325,328,329,331,332,333,334.
Johnston. 2004. Busting Bureaucracy. [ONLINE]
Available at: http://www.bustingbureaucracy.com/excerpts/whatis.html. [Accessed 25 March 14].
Johnston. 2004. Busting Bureaucracy. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.bustingbureaucracy.com/excerpts/management.html). [Accessed 26 March 14].
Mackey, J.M, 2011. What Conscious Capitalism Really Is - A RESPONSE TO JAMES O’TOOLE AND DAVID VOGEL’S “TWO AND A HALF CHEERS FOR CONSCIOUS CAPITALISM”. California Management Review, Vol 53, No. 3, pp 83-90.
Schwartz, M.S, 2000. Why Ethical Codes Constitute an Unconscionable Regression. Journal of Business Ethics, pp 173-182
Staw & Barsade, B.M.S & S.G.B, 1993. Affect and managerial performance: A test of the sadder- but-wiser and happier-and-smarter hypotheses. Berkeley: University of California, Berkeley.
Leaders who treat their employees with fairness, honesty, and provide frequent, accurate information are seen as more effective. According to Robbins and Judge (2014), “trust is a primary attribute associated with leadership and followers who trust a leader are confident their rights and interest will not be abused” (p.193). The old General Motor Corporation had eleven different CEO’s from 1923 until 2009 each with their own unique leadership style, which directed employees toward the organization goals. Unfortunately, many of the top level managers under the CEO’s had the tendency of filtering out information that did not match up with their pre-conceived notions about a particular issue and they lacked upward communication. One consumer goal of General Motors was to build trust in the company so people would be repeat customers, but building trust between employees and establishing an ethical culture was not a top priority of the organization. Goal directed leadership alone is important, but differs from a structure of leadership based on ethics. It is important to note, that effective leadership may not be the same as leadership founded on ethical principles. Business competence must exist, along with personal leadership accountability in ethical decisions. Within the General Motors organization, ethics and leadership did not interconnect; there were misalignment between the
“Leadership is an influence relationship among leaders and followers who intend real changes that reflect their mutual purposes” (Rost, 1931). But in today’s time, the styles of leadership are changed every time a new technology is invented or discovered so there is lack of persistency. The only thing which manages to stay constant is the principles of carrying out business activities. There are philosophies and ideologies on leadership which can be used in any time period as they are mostly a reflection of the principles of leadership. Theorists and authors like Hobbes (1679), Lewin (1947) and Aristotle (384–322 B.C.), in their time have produced enough material which can be put into use by modern day leaders and managers. Philosophers like Aristotle, who was known to be one of the most business-oriented and practical philosopher of his time, his work is still used by businesses today because of their relevance as he is interested in defining principles in terms of the ethics of leadership (Santa Clara University). In the essay I have tried to show how leadership has adapted to the changes around them and compared to the past and what circumstances caused need to change it. As a layman, anyone would think that the principles centuries ago will be very different to what we follow now but after studying on Hobbes, Lewin and Aristotle it has made a big impact on my way of thinking because the work produced by them still has more relevance compared to some of the work produced now. I have tried to explain the evolvement of leadership through three aspects which are psychology, sociology and philosophy.
Carter, L., Ulrich, D., & Goldsmith, M. (2005). Best Practices in Leadership Development and Organization Change: How the Best Companies Ensure Meaningful Change and Sustainable Leadership. San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer.
Bureaucracy has been the main form of organisation for over a century and can be characterised by the following: functional specialisation, employees carrying out one function of activity as their primary role; hierarchy of authority, those in superior positions having authority based solely on the virtue of the position itself; a system of rules, the tasks of the organisation following a formal set of procedures and practices; and impersonality, individuals being treated on the basis of the rules rather than emotions and personality (Knights & Willmott, 2012). The mainstream perspective states that a bureaucratic organisation’s central aim is to maximise efficiency, objectivity and fairness and can be thought of as a ‘machine’ with the people making up the components (Knights & Willmott, 2012). This view attributes three problems to this rule-centred organisation: poor motivation, poor customer service and a resistance to innovation and change (Knights & Willmott, 2012). Employees in bureaucratic organisations tend not to be committed to their
...itive and negative affectivity in job performance: A meta-analytic investigation. Journal of Applied Psychology, 94(1), 162-176. doi:10.1037/a0013115
Yet, there are drawbacks to autocratic leadership style. During his experiments, Lewin also noted the autocratic style to be demoralising at times. In his experiments, which asked a team to perform tasks under specific leadership models, the group under autocratic leadership showed enhanced productivity, yet were joyless and showcased high levels of dependence and frustration.
Robertson, J. L., & Barling, J. (2013). Greening organizations through leaders’ influence on employees’ pro-environmental behaviors. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 34(2), 176–194. doi:10.1002/job.1820
Currently, leadership is generally understood as a person with insight and wisdom of guidance, which expected to be efficient in management responsibilities like planning organizing, and monitoring performance (Kandola, 2004, p. 144). In addition, making ethical decision is important to individuals who value and take seriously institutional...
Corporate responsibility can best be described as the specification of all the collective systems that are needed to support a business’s functionality, environmental and shareholders activity (Best practices guide, 2014) Most importantly, however is that it can dictate how a business will actually co-operate (Jan Marchant, 2013) within their industry or law boundaries. Quite simply it can be summed up as aligning moral integrity with new management styles of the 21st century (Bill George, 2010).
Carter, L., Ulrich, D., & Goldsmith, M. (2005). Best practices in leadership development and organization change: how the best companies ensure meaningful change and sustainable leadership. San Francisco, CA: John Wiley and Sons.
Ethical leadership organizational ethics and socially responsibility are inseparable (Johnson). Leadership is not a inherited gift or family heritage; it is not a degree from an ivy league graduate school. Becoming a leader is an intentional process of growth that must be lived out experientially (Mullane). Ethical leaders demonstrate three distinctive characteristics, knowledge, action and character. Leaders have to have the ability to say “yes” or even “no” to a never ending series of challenges. A leader needs to be able to define their values, character and leadership style. When accepting the role of leadership you become encumbered by ethical issues and concerns. .
Milton Friedman is known in the business world for not having patience, he believes that companies are not truly concerned with making a profit but they are also promoting social conscience and need to take care of the employees, abolishing discrimination and pollution (Friedman, 1970, p. 3). In this article Friedman that the social responsibility of any company is to increase profits year over year (Friedman, 1970). Friedman believes if you give your employees the right to use their social responsibility, this would make an employee responsible for their action and ideas. The idea behind this theory is that it will make it very difficult for anyone to try taking advantage of co-workers for advancement in the company (Friedman, 1970, p. 3).
Communicating effectively with others is a difficult task, when practices of leadership are not considered. This is especially seen when considering how leadership has evolved from bureaucratic to more post-bureaucratic approaches. Previous styles of leadership lacked communication between those managing and those being managed. The advance of post-bureaucratic leadership, which involves a deeper form of communication between the managing and the managed, has shown how each is a key element of each other. It is believed that leaders should direct, motivate and empower their employees so as to reach maximum potential in the workplace. However, bureaucratic leadership has shown a lack of effective communication between managers and employees,
Leadership is one of the most important facets in organizations. In most cases, leaders act with respect to organizational culture as well as the codes of conduct that determine the manner in which leaders relate with subordinates. Leadership entails the use of effective communication skills to get activities done in the workplace and to ensure that employees shelve their individual interests for the sake of their organizations’ shared targets. It is the role of leaders to ensure that consumers attain high quality products and services by making certain that members of their firms’ workforce are fully motivated to work effectively and utilize resources in an efficient manner (Bass, 22). With the increasingly sophisticated nature of the corporate world, leadership should not be based solely on the desire to control and coordinate affairs within the workplace, but leaders should also exhibit positive examples and continually monitor the changing trends in corporate governance to initiate the most relevant guidelines. Competitiveness can only be attained when leaders are in a position to set the right standards in their firms and coordinate affairs appropriately by understanding consumer and employee needs.
This essay deals with the question what Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is and how it influences various industries around the world. As well as with the strategies organisations have to promote to generate a sustainable company structure.