Paper Example on Leadership Performance

Leadership performance is very instrumental in driving positive results of any institution. An example of where leadership performance is essential for a proper outcome is when a manager transferred to a new firm. This new manager comes to this new company that has been making steady losses, and the new manager is given the task to revive the business.

Leaders are responsible the turn that their organization takes. Whitmore (2010) argues that for any manager to be a great leader, they should know that ensuring the success of a team means they are also providing their personal development. A leaders beliefs and values determine the culture of an organization and the culture is an essential tool in determining an organizations performance.

Managers in a firm or industry must ensure they are good leaders. According to Whitmore (2010), leaders should realize that the most successful organization cultures are vision-guided, values-driven, and show the values of continuous renewal and adaptability. These business cultures make sure they protect and take care of the stakeholders needs.

Leaders of a firm with a thriving culture recognize that the organization culture reflects their consciousness. The leaders transformation spearheads the transformation of an organization. The leaders also appreciate that the culture of an organization is a crucial indicator of the organizations performance and that it is of importance to assess the business culture at least once in every year for follow up (Wang, Law, Hackett, Wang and Chen 2005). It is also important to note that the development of leadership is an essential task and that the evolution of culture is a personal endeavor.

In many firms which are profit-making organizations, the success of the company regarding profit depends on the culture of the business organization. According to Wang et al. (2005), leaders must ensure that their organizations culture is value driven as it leads to the fulfillment of the firms employees. When the employees are content and comfortable with the culture, they serve customers with utmost good faith. Helping the customers well ensures there is customer satisfaction which fuels the success of the firm.

The Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) theory is an approach to leadership that concentrates on the relationships between leaders and their subordinates. According to LMX theory, the leaders make an exchange with each of their followers and the quality of these leader-member relations determine the responsibilities of these workers, the subordinates access to resources, their decisions and their performance (Srivastava, Bartol, and Locke 2006). Leader-member exchange could augment organizational effectiveness and promote positive employment experiences.

The LMX theory explains the consequences of leadership on the members, teams, and organizations. Srivastava, Bartol, and Locke (2006) argue that the leaders form respect-based relationships and strong trust with some team members and not others. Leaders do not treat all subordinates the same and work-related behaviors and attitudes of the assistants depend on how these leaders treat them.

The LMX relationship depends on the characteristics of the followers, the aspects of the leader and the interpersonal relationships. We evaluate followers by their agreeableness, competence, extraversion, conscientiousness, and openness, the locus of control, positive affectivity, and negative affectivity (Srivastava, Bartol, and Locke 2006). Leaders, however, are evaluated based on contingent reward behavior, supervisors expectation of followers, agreeableness, extraversion, and transformational leadership.

Leaders play a dominant part in making an LMX relationship, but the followers also play an essential role in the creation of the relation. Interpersonal relationship variables that affect LMX relationships are self-promotion, liking integration, perceived similarity, leaders trust and assertiveness (Bass, Avolio, Jung and Berson, 2003). These personal traits determine whether the LMX relationship will be successful or unsuccessful.

We evaluate the successfulness of LMX by a myriad of consequences. According to Bass, Avolio, Jung and Berson (2003), these outcomes include overall organizational citizenship behavior, actual turnover and turnover intentions. Others include normative commitment, affective commitment, general job satisfaction, satisfaction with pay, satisfaction with supervisor, distributive justice, procedural justice, perceptions of politics, empowerment, role conflict and role ambiguity.

Some of the measurable favorable consequences of LMX include higher performance ratings, higher overall satisfaction, and better actual performance, more satisfaction with supervisor, more positive role perceptions and stronger organizational commitment. There has been a positive correlation between the perception of LMX by the members and the rating of the members job performance by the leaders. (Bass, Avolio, Jung and Berson 2003).

The exchange between a leader and their follower is the construct of leadership. The leader can determine if this relationship will be high-quality or low-quality. The high-quality relationships are indisputable in that the followers get more support and extensive relationships. The leaders in exchange will expect trustworthiness, commitment and loyalty. These good leader-follower relationships positively influence career development and working climate. (Srivastava, Bartol, and Locke 2006). These relations also increase subordinate turnover and reduce the stress by the manager adding value to the firm through benefits by productive employees

The managers in the new organization must ensure they create a good impression on the workers on the first encounter. According to Srivastava, Bartol, and Locke (2006), the relationship between a subordinate and the leader develop when the leader assigns tasks to the subordinates through proposals of exchange and interaction. The performance of the worker at this level is the most important thing to their leader. When the manager delegates tasks to the subordinates, it is a sign of trust, and it helps with the professional relationship.

Own Leadership Behaviours

My leadership skills learned from high school as school captain there are traits that each leader ought to have. A leader must have emotional stability meaning that these leaders should tolerate stress and frustrations. They should have the psychological maturity and well-adjusted to deal with anything they face in the face of the operation.

As a leader, dominance is an essential quality as most of the times these leaders are decisive and competitive, and they usually enjoy overcoming challenges. As a leader, one should be confident in their attitude in dealing with others as well as in their thinking styles. Enthusiasm is another quality of importance for any aspiring leader. Leaders are usually expressive, energetic and active all times and are often open to change and very optimistic. These leaders are in overall tend to be uninhibited, quick, and alert (Ellemers, De Gilder, and Haslam 2004)

Leaders tend to have a complicated character and are usually domineered by a sense of integrity. According to Ellemers, De Gilder, and Haslam (2004), these leaders should have an innate want to do their best and have a standard of excellence that is high. Leaders are usually very self-disciplined and have an overwhelming need for order. This discipline translates to another essential quality of leaders called conscientiousness.

Great leaders should have social boldness. Ellemers, De Gilder, and Haslam (2004) argue that the worlds greatest leaders are usually independent risk-takers. These leaders are the thick-skinned, and they are socially aggressive. These leaders should also be high in emotional stamina and should be responsive to other people. Another value that leaders should embrace is tough-mindedness meaning they are logical, practical and to the point. The leaders should be comfortable with critique have a deep sentimental attachment.

Compulsiveness is another crucial aspect of being a leader. The leaders are very precise and controlled in their social interactions. These leaders tend to be socially careful and aware, and consequently protective of their reputation and integrity, are very careful when determining specific actions or making decisions and are abundant in their foresight. Self-assurance is a leadership trait that entails resiliency and self-confidence. Good leaders should not depend on the need for approval and should also distance themselves from guilt. They are not affected by prior failures or mistakes and are usually safe and free from guilt (Lord and Maher 2002).

Most of the traits mentioned above help leaders to be who they are. According to Lord and Maher (2002), Leaders must possess other qualities which lead others in new directions and motivate other people. These leaders must have a vision of the future and convince others their idea is worth following. Some of these personal traits leaders should have include empathy. It is essential that leaders should look at things from other persons perspective so that they learn not to be biased and to avoid prejudice. It is almost impossible to build trust without empathy and leaders can never get maximum effort from their employees.

The best leaders should have high energy. Long hour travels most of which are exhausting are a prerequisite for these leadership positions, especially in growing companies. The most significant obstacles facing leaders are staying focused and remaining alert in these long hour operations. Maturity is another quality that leaders ought to have. Personal power and recognition in a leader are very crucial in the development of other employees (Bass and Stogdill 1990). Maturity is means realizing that one can accomplish more by empowering others than by ruling them.

Bass and Stogdill (1990) argue that charisma is an essential virtue that leaders should develop in them. Subordinates usually have a very high opinion of the leaders and see them as larger than life. How charismatic a leader is, plays a great deal in this perception. Leaders with charisma can arouse even stronger emotions in the employees by defining a vision that captivates and unites them. With this view, leaders encourage to work toward a future objective by relating this ambition to high values and personal rewards.

Another necessary trait any leader should ensure to have is intuitiveness. The overload of information coupled with the quick changes in the world leads to a state where no one knows everything. However, reasoning and logic can get one through any situation irrespective of its magnitude. Leaders should learn the value of trusting their gut and using their intuition when making important decisions. Team orientation is another vital leadership trait that leaders should embrace. Most leaders, especially in profit-making businesses must emphasize the importance of working together (Dvir, Eden, Avolio, and Shamir 2002). Team-work forms an adult-adult relationship instead of an adult-child relationship between a leader and the subordinates which enhances team cohesiveness.

Changing Future Behavior

A firm constantly making loses means that it is failing in management and needs to change the managerial tactics. As the leader of the organization, the first step should be to determine what is happening wrong in the firm that causes losses instead of profits.

One of the ways to make sure the firm is doing better is by effective communication. A leader must be in a position to succinctly explain everything from specific tasks to the organizational goals to the employees. As a leader, listening is the most vital aspect of commun...