Evaluation of Leadership Approach to Improve HR Department Essay

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Leadership Styles to improve HR Department

The goal of any business organization is not only to survive, however, to excel in a marketplace and enhance competitive market advantages. Excelling in a highly competitive market environment requires organizations to improve their performances continually through effective talents management to develop an innovative product. The leadership styles adopted within an organization can affect the organizational performances. An effective leader is able to create an atmosphere of trust and engagement that will enhance staff performance. Despite the benefits that organizations can derive from the application of leadership style, a new human resources director who intends to achieve the best from her subordinates ought to implement an effective leadership style to deliver superior performances from employees.

Having being appointed to the post of HR (human resources) Director, Janet ought to adopt the best leadership style to improve performances of the entire staff. However, choosing the right leadership style is still challenging for Janet since she is tasked to lead a team of 30 strong HR officers, administrators, and trainers. However, Janet did not want to adopt her predecessors' leadership styles because she believed that HR department was underperforming when Margaret and Paul were HR directors.

The objective of this paper provides a critical analysis leadership styles adopted by Paul and Margaret and recommend an effective style that will motivate the entire employees for Janet.

Analysis of leadership styles adopted by Paul and Margaret

Giltinane, (2013) defines leadership as a leading strategy used to motivate and providing support for the subordinates to achieve organizational goal. A critical role of a leader is to elicit as well as drawing efficient performances from the subordinates. Traditionally, leaders should possess personality traits that include ethical ability, confidence, courage, fitness, and purpose. Although some leaders are naturally talented to lead, while others have acquired leadership traits through skills, education, and knowledge. Analysis of Margaret leadership style revealed that she did not acquire her leadership style through formal education, rather, her style was through an accumulated of experience. This coursework categorizes Margaret leadership style as informal, charismatic, and positive in her approach.

Spahr, (2016) believes that charismatic leaders lead by their personal convictions, which was the style that Margaret had adopted when she when leading the company. Spahr, (2016) further claims that charismatic leaders rely on charm to lead driven by their commitment and conviction to their cause. Unlike other leadership styles such as transformational leadership that lead through visionary inspiration and motivation, charismatic leaders use a strong emotional level to win the support of the subordinates. It was essential to realize that Margaret demonstrated these emotional traits when Janet first child felt sick. During this challenging time, Margaret had been very understanding and was helpful in easing Janet to return to work quickly after the difficult time. Margret also used her strong personality and sense of humor to dispense tension using pragmatic and no-nonsense approach. Essentially, a quality of a strong personality is the trait of a charismatic leader. Moreover, charismatic leaders are often effective to manage crisis and exhibit a strong personality to dispense crisis.

Both charismatic leaders and autocratic leaders have some traits in common. For example, the autocratic leaders inspire employees through authority. Couple with the charismatic leadership traits that Margret had adopted, she also had the trait of autocratic leadership. However, she possessed more charismatic leadership styles than the autocratic styles using the charismatic styles to structure her organization based on her beliefs and as she saw fit. "As HR Director, Margaret had always taken difficult issues in her stride, using her strong personality and wicked sense of humor to dispel tension." (Extract from the Case Study, 2015 p 1).

Max Weber argues that charismatic leadership uses the norms and authority to lead subordinates. Moreover, charismatic leaders set rules for other to follow. Despite the benefits associated with the charismatic leadership style, charismatic leaders lack clarity and vision compared to the transformational leadership. For example, the confidence that charismatic leaders use in leading a company may not be definite. Moreover, charismatic leaders lack visionary compared to transformational leaders. The majority of the charismatic leaders are able to maintain office because they believe in themselves and enjoy controlling orders believing that nobody is able to handle the duties better than they do. This shortcoming was identified in the Margaret style. For example, she always challenged the subordinates who suggested the new way of doing things.

"Her approach was no-nonsense and pragmatic, having no time for theories or fashionable ideas.

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Always brimming with ideas herself, Margaret challenged her team continually to think about new ways of doing things." (Extract from the Case Study, 2015 p 1).

This style will not influence innovation within the organization. It is essential to realize that by disallowing employee to have a freedom to make a decision, the vision of the company is limited. This type of business environment may not encourage creativity.

Paul Leadership Style

Paul leadership trait is similar to the trait of the transactional leadership style. The case study reveals that Paul was an introvert, and quiet person, prefer to maintain distance from workers. Moreover, Paul was formal in his approach avoid engaging in social activities. Paul tends to be formal in his approach, used email or memo to communicate with employees. The major quality of Paul was the strategy he employed when making a decision. Paul always collected as much evidence as possible before making decisions, which assisted him making a good policy for the benefit of the organization. The transactional leaders use rewards and punishment to achieve expected work performances. Paul demonstrated the same style by making everybody in the company understanding what is expected of them. . The extract from case study reveals:

"Paul had a command of detail and always worked long hours. Everyone always knew what was expected of them because he set them objectives and targets, which he expected them to meet. If they failed to do this, they would be in no doubt that, he was unhappy with their performance. He could be very critical at times and was hard to please, but he took pleasure in the achievements of his department and always took care to thank people formally for a job well done." (Extract from the Case Study, 2015 p 1).

Sarros, & Joseph, Santora, (2001) argue that contingent rewards are the strategy that transactional leaders use to achieve results because people appreciate material and tangible rewards for their efforts. Unlike transformational leaders who recognize individual talents, building enthusiasm through belief, values, and emotions, transactional leaders promote compliance by appealing to want and needs of individuals. Despite the benefits associated to reward system employed by transactional leadership, the negative aspect of this strategy is that management views performances in dollars term, which will not inspire an organization as a place that breeds social and mutual relationships among workers. Thus, transactional leadership style may not achieve the synergistic outcomes from employees.

2. Reasons neither Paul nor Margaret was able to lead a highly Motivated and United Team

Analysis of Paul and Margaret leadership styles revealed that both leaders did not have qualities that can make the employee become a highly motivated and united team and reaching the highest level of performances. Typically, both Paul and Margaret did not possess the visionary quality to motivate followers to face challenges. In a contemporary business environment, leaders are required to use their intellectual stimulation to solve problems by treating each follower as an individual using mentoring, coaching and growth opportunities. (Bass, and Steidlmeier 1998). However, both Margaret, and Paul lacked these qualities because they believe in their ideas, and not the ideas of the subordinates. Although both leaders cherished subordinates to be hard working, nevertheless, they did not believe in taking suggestive ideas from them. Thus, both leaders did not have a vivid vision that can assist organizations to achieve a bright future. Organizational changes are very essential, and before a substantial change can occur, which can bring a substantial development, an intervention of a visionary leader is very essential, a leader who has the ability to input essential elements that can enhance effective changes. In essence, leaders having ability to motivate employees should possess the intellectual motivation to assist employees to overcome challenges.

"A leader intellectual stimulation helps followers to question assumptions and to generate more creative solutions to the problem. Its individualized consideration treats each follower as an individual and provides coaching, mentoring and growth opportunities" (Bass and Steidlmeier, 1998 p.3 Bass, 1995).

In the competitive business environment, organizations are now putting more emphasize on innovation, and product improvement to achieve market advantages while reducing costs of operations and increase the quality of products and services. Thus, businesses are seeking for leaders who have the ability to make them achieving records of accomplishment of competitive market advantages. However, both Paul and Margaret did not have the qualities that can inspire employees' motivation.

Charbonneau (2004) argues that.....

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