Leadership A Critical Perspective Management Functions

Question: Describe about the Leadership A Critical Perspective for Management Functions. Answer: Introduction Leadership is an important function of management that provides direction to the organization and helps in achieving organizational goals and objectives. The importance of leaders in an organization cannot be debated as it forms the backbone of any organization and all the important decisions are taken by them. Moreover, there are different leadership styles being practices by different leaders that depends on their personality and organizational objectives. However, there are certain qualities or personal traits that are inherent to leaders and distinguish the leaders from any other ordinary person (DuBois et al., 2015). This assignment, therefore, analyses some of the most important qualities that makes a successful leader. Leadership Qualities One of the most important qualities of an effective leader is communication skills. It is the responsibility of the leaders to develop strategies for the organization. However, these strategies need to be communicated to the employees for their incorporation and effective execution. Good communication skills are a perquisite of an effective leader, as they always have to work among and with people within and outside of the organization. Communication skills are important to build one on one relationship with all the stakeholders of the organization. Furthermore, important management functions such as communicating organizational objectives, motivating employees, gaining feedback and the like requires effective communication from the leaders. Therefore, it is important that leaders develop directive and assertative communication style as well as positive body language to express their ideas or perceptive effectively to the target audiences. In addition, the leaders must be able to gen erate the desired responses from the employees through strong and effective communication (Northouse, 2015). Another important characteristic that a leader must possess is the ability to motivate others. Motivation is important for employees in order to enhance job satisfaction and thereby increasing the efficiency of the human resource within the organization. Motivation plays an important role in organizational success and it is the responsibility of leaders to continually motivate and encourage their subordinates (Goethals et al., 2014). An effective leader is considered to be the one who is able to motivate employees at all times and is able to align individual objectives of employees, teams, or departments with organizational objectives. Further, in order to motivate employees leaders must be able to eliminate any job related conflict, must take quick decisions to resolve any conflict situation and treat their employees with due respect. There are many tools made available at the disposal of leaders that can be employed to motivate subordinates. The leaders must be able to identify the gap and reasons in performance and accordingly employ monetary and/or non-monetary means to motivate employees. Leaders must reward employees and gain periodic feedbacks in order to keep them motivated and to better understood their motivation needs (Avolio Yammarino, 2013). Further, honesty and trustworthiness is another important quality that a successful leader possesses. Leaders are seen as a brand ambassador for their organization and employees regard them as individuals of high professional and personal calibre. Therefore, it is important for leaders to exhibit high moral and ethical traits and set an example for the employees to follow. Leaders provide direction to the employees to achieve organizational goals. A leader that indulges in immoral or unethical business practices to achieve success and personal gains is least likely to command respect from sub-ordinates. Therefore, a leader should have superior moral calibre, values, and personal and professional integrity. An effective leader treats their subordinates with adequate respect, integrity and practices the philosophy of equity and fairness. A leader is the role model for their employees and should exude the importance of enterprise, persistence to excel, dedication and high moral standard s in all aspects of life (DuBrin, 2015). Decision making skills is another important aspect that greatly influences leaders effectiveness. Business organizations are highly dynamic and evolving entity; therefore, it is important for the leader to have a holistic view of the current issues as well as future challenges that organization would have to face. In this context, leaders must be pragmatic and analytical in their approach and must be capable enough to make difficult decisions in times of crisis. Further, no organization can succeed if their leaders do not understand the cause and effect of decisions taken by them. Foresightedness, determination and clarity of objectives plays an important role in making effective decisions and a good leader exhibits these qualities while making a decision. It is the responsibility of leaders to provide direction and guidance to the employees; therefore, it is important for leaders to take right decision at the right time. Moreover, leaders effectiveness is judged by their ability to take quick decisions when encountered with challenging problems in adverse conditions (Shapiro Stefkovich, 2016).Therefore, it can be said that decision-making is an important quality that characterizes a leader. Conclusion From the above discussion, it can be concluded that successful leaders have certain qualities and skill sets that distinguishes them from other people. Some of the traits that enable a leader to be successful are communication skills, motivation, honesty and integrity, and decision-making capabilities. A good leader exhibits assertive communication style, is always motivated, follows honesty and integrity in all walks of life and have exceptional decision-making skills. References Avolio, B. J., Yammarino, F. J. (Eds.). (2013).Transformational and charismatic leadership: The road ahead. Emerald Group Publishing. DuBois, M., Hanlon, J., Koch, J., Nyatuga, B., Kerr, N. (2015). 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