Unit 7 Discussion Forum, University of the People
Great leaders attract a great following. Whether in business, politics, religion, or even in communities, leadership summons people to the challenge. In organizations, the leader-follower dynamic is evident in processes, policies, and programs. Positionally, leaders not only achieve the desired results; more so, they motivate those around them to perform better. Personally, leaders gain the trust, respect, and admiration of many.
Research the leadership traits, behaviors, and skills from the literature that contemporary leaders demonstrate. Then answer the following questions:
- Identify three leadership traits, styles, behaviors, or skills that you believe are important for organizational success.
- Why is leadership considered an art form?
- Name a leader you admire. What qualities attract you to him/her?
- Is your manager a leader or a boss? Explain.
Grade: 9/10 (618 words)
Leadership is defined as the process of influencing others and facilitating individual and collective efforts to accomplish shared goals. (Hunt et al., 2010)
- Identify three leadership traits, styles, behaviors, or skills that you believe are important for organizational success.
Numerous research results show the traits, styles, behavior, or skills necessary for effective leadership for organizational success. For example, as Hao & Yazdanifard, good leaders usually have a clear vision to easily point out the problems to accomplish the goal and vision. (Hao & Yazdanifard, 2015) Some researchers describe leadership's key traits: openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, self-esteem, integrity, and intelligence. (Bauer & Erdogan, 2012) Path–goal theory developed by Robert House suggests the effective leader's job is to clarify followers' work goals with information, support, or other resources necessary to make their work easier by reducing obstacles. (Breward et al.,2016). Also, emotional intelligence is one of the important leadership competencies. The core elements in emotional intelligence are self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skill. (Hunt et al., 2010)
From these traits or behaviors, I think having a vision, integrity, and social skill is essential for organizational success. I am working in a Japanese University as a staff member. Most of our work has to be done as a team, so I think social skill is necessary for a leader. Also, most staff members' character is earnest, so a leader should be integrity. Our staff members are good at doing routine work accurately, however not good at thinking creatively and improving regular job. Therefore, leaders should have a vision and share it with other staff members to improve their work and make our organization successful.
- Why is leadership considered an art form?
Leadership and art form have many things in common. Ladkin and Taylor had researched six articles regarding 'leadership and art' and found three common characteristics of leadership and art form.
- It is about creating new ways of understanding the complex world. Leadership and art can hold paradoxes, tensions, and outright contradictions at the same time.
- It requires the capacity to enact balance, discernment, and sensitivity, both to the call of the future and the present's needs.
- It calls for the capacity to follow one's inner vision even when it may not be palatable to significant numbers of followers. (Ladkin & Taylor, 2016)
According to Küpers (2004), business leaders have much more in common with artists than managers. Therefore, leadership can be interpreted as an art form.
- Name a leader you admire. What qualities attract you to him/her?
I admire Mr. Masaki Matsunaga as a leader. He was a lecturer in a business leadership course when I was an undergraduate student. I enrolled in his course, and it was a project-based course. He had a passion for motivating students to research, and he had copious knowledge about the course. Although the project-based course was one of the most challenging times for undergraduate students, we could do our research as much as possible and have a good presentation in front of the client corporation. We could overcome the hard work owe to his leadership.
- Is your manager a leader or a boss? Explain.
My manager is a boss rather than a leader. A leader is a person who leads his followers, inspires, motivates, and guides them in complicated matters. On the other hand, a boss is someone who is in charge of the workplace. (Surbhi, 2017) My manager is kind to every employee. He listens to employees' opinions well, so he looks like a leader on the surface. However, he does not improve the work environments or works for employees by himself, and he does not inspire us with his vision or idea. He is a good boss.
References
Bauer, T. & Erdogan, B. (2012)An Introduction to Organizational Behavior. (n.p.). Retrieved from https://2012books.lardbucket.org/books/an-introduction-to-organizational-behavior-v1.1/s09-theories-of-motivation.html
Breward, K. E., Judge, T., & Robbins, S., (2016). Essentials of Organizational Behavior, 13e, 2016, Ontario: Pearson Canada Retrieved from
https://www.pdfdrive.com/essentials-of-organizational-behaviour-d176364014.html
Hao, M. J., & Yazdanifard, R. (2015) How effective leadership can facilitate change in organizations through improvement and innovation. Global Journal of Management and Business Research, 15(9), 1-5. Retrieved from https://globaljournals.org/GJMBR_Volume15/1-How-Effective-Leadership.pdf
Hunt, J., Osborn, R., Schermerhorn, J. & Uhl-Bien, M (2010) Organizational Behavior, 11th Edition. New York: John Wiley and Sons.
Ladkin, D. & Taylor, S. S.,(2016) Leadership as art: Variations on a theme. Leadership, 6(3) 235–241. Retrieved from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.834.1177&rep=rep1&type=pdf
Surbhi, S. (2017) Difference Between Boss and Leader. Key Differences. Retrived from https://keydifferences.com/difference-between-boss-and-leader.html
