Parul 2 copy

Leadership and its Influence

Selected Article:
Erkutulu, H. 2008. The impact of transformationalleadership on organizational
andleadership effectiveness.Journal of Management Development.27 (7), pp.708-726.
Introduction
The role and importance of effective leadership in an organization can be examined
through various aspects of employee performance. These aspects mainly include competency,
trust, motivation, conflict management, etc (Irgens1995.). Leadership is highly necessary for
effective management of an organizations human resource as it can help to understand the
needs and sources of satisfaction of an organizations most productive employees.
Major Aspects of Leadership
This paper represents the comprehensive explanation of some of the major aspects of
leadership which are:
Leadership and motivation
Motivation can best be described as an inner spirit that encourages an individual to be
more enthusiastic towards achievement of goals by being more attentive and enhancing his/
her performance level (Fairholmand Fairholm2008). The concept of motivation includes
various dimensions in itself such as intensity, goal, direction, efforts, etc. An individuals
level of performance is highly influenced by variations in these dimensions and this is the
reason level of motivation plays an important role in the determination of overall outcome
(Naoum2001). There are numerous aspects of an individuals needs that considered for
increasing his/ her level of motivation.
There exists very close association between and the motivation level of followers
(House and Aditya 2001). It is the duty of a leader to identify that how he stimulates its

employees to work more efficiently. As a leader, it is his work to take work from his
subordinates by motivating them time to time. He needs to use the unique tactics to motivate
its employees so that they do not feel inferior among each other (Hogg2001). Motivation is a
key factor for an effective leadership as employees cant work up to their fullest without a
perfect motivation.
Motivational factor also depends on the attitude of the leaders. For instance, if the
leader is too strict then, then the employees will hesitate to share their problems and doubts
with their leaders which will result into inefficiency of work. Therefore, a leader should
neither be too strict nor be too lenient but a mixture of both so that its employees can their
share their problems and doubts with their leaders to work more efficiently (Daft2008.).
Apart from this, a leader must be aware of the needs and requirements of its employees to
motivate them to work more efficiently. Therefore, it can be said that the role of a leader as a
motivator is very important in the success or failure of its group in the organization.
Leadership and competency
This section of the research paper describes the relationship between leadership and
competency of an organization and the organizational competence is the summation of
internal as well as external competencies of an organization. The analysis of the actual
significance of effective leadership in the present business environment is very necessary and
the following research paper is focused towards serving this particular purpose (Erkutulu,
2008). It has become highly essential for an organization to have a leader with sufficient
competencies so as to be sustainable in this complex and dynamic business environment.
The domestic business environment has become more complex and competitive due
to which an organization has to maintain the exact level of competencies as it is maintained
by its competitors. The overall results of the efforts of an individual or a group can be

considerably affected by the level of competencies possessed by that particular individual or

group (Erkutulu, 2008). In most of the cases, the competency of an individual or a group is
affected by the leadership characteristics such as skills, leadership style, personal experience,
etc. An effective leader needs to possess three major qualities within him which are problem
solving capability, knowledge and social judgment power (LussierandAchua 2009).
Leadership and trust
This particular section of the research paper is focused towards identification and
evaluation of association between leadership and trust. The concept of trust can be
understood as the positive expectation that another one would not act in an opposite manner
through his/her words or actions. Trust is one of those dimensions of leadership that need
furthermost attention to get positive outcome from an individual (Bass and Riggio 2006).
The aspects of leadership such as loyalty and integrity are required to be given
increased priorities so as to achieve goals and objectives in a successful manner. A successful
leader needs to be aware of this related attribute of his followers and should be more
concentrated towards it effective management (Erkutulu, 2008). Once the trust is broken, it
may give rise to serious consequences which could sometimes affect the overall
organizational performance in an adverse manner. If the leader can build trust and make his
followers work voluntarily, the followers automatically start contribution their knowledge
and cooperation while following the decisions of their leader.
In contrast to this, if a leader is not found trustworthy, people in the organization are
less interested in following him and they will not even be interested in sharing their
competencies for the achievement of common organizational goal. In context to an
organization, the relationship between a leader and highly affected by the intensity of trust
they share among themselves (Dueningand Ivancevich2006). The nature of trust basically

determines the level of commitment towards a leader and his decision making power,
although the level of trust sometimes vary sue to the cultural contexts. A leader should
always try to ensure higher degree of trust with the members in his team and with the overall
organization as the degree of trust is the only factor that determines the outcome of a
particular task (Erkutulu, 2008). The degree of trust can be improved by enhancing the
transparency and communicating openly with the subordinates at various levels within the
organization. A leader, to enjoy high degree of trust, needs to maintain high level of
consistency between his words and actions.
Conclusion
From the above discussion, it can be concluded that an effective leadership is a
kingpin of a successful organization and an effective leadership includes these major aspects
in effective management of the organization such as leadership with motivation, leadership
with competency and leadership with trust as described briefly in the above section.
Therefore, an effective leadership can act as a stepping stone in the success of an
organization.

Parul 3 copy

Organizational Learning

Selected Article
Fiol, C. M. and Lyles, M. A. 2012.Organizational Learning.The Academy of
Management Review 10 (4), pp. 803-813.
Introduction
The article has revealed many aspects of Organizational Behaviour and it has been
given that how it contributes to the organizational learning where organizational learning is
the process of creating, maintaining and exchange of knowledge and information within the
organization (Thomas2010). The following article has also highlighted the distinction
between organizational learning and organizational adaptation and shows that it is not
mandatory that any change imply learning (Fiol, and Lyles, 2012). Apart from this, it has
been given in the following article that there are different levels of learning and each level
has an important and unique impact on the strategic planning and the management of the
organization.Apart from this, organizational environment is highly responsible for the
organizational learning as a healthy environment provides a healthy workforce and the
learning process acts an x factor in the development of the organization (Lopez et.al. 2004).
Factors Affecting Learning Process
On the other hand, the following article has also highlighted the comparison between
the individual and organizational learning and have focused mainly on team learning as it is
the part of organizational learning. Though individual learning is also important to
organizations but organizational learning is the kingpin of the success of the organizations
and individual learning helps to create a peaceful environment among the employees in the
organization (Marrelli 2010). Besides this, four contextual factors have been given in the
article that affects the process of learning in the organization and they are: corporate culture

conductive to learning, strategic management, an organizational structure that allows

innovations time to time and the working environment (Argote, 2012).
These four factors affects the learning process directly or indirectly as organizational
culture of a company is full of diverse backgrounds as employees are hired from different
cultures and religions and they always learn something new and innovative from each other
(Macey, Schneider, Barbera, and Young 2011). Apart from this, strategic management is
responsible to achieve goals and objectives of the organization and therefore, strategy
influences the learning process by providing a boundary to take decisions to achieve the
decided missions of the organization.
On the other hand, Structure provides a hierarchy for the effective learning process
and therefore, organizational structure plays a significance role in carrying out effective
organizational learning while the Environment consists of relationship among the employees
which can be formal as well as informal groups and therefore, it can be said thatenvironment
is the key factor in the concept of learning (Miner 2007). The concept of organizational
learning depends on the following two factors and they are: change and adaptation which
simply means an organization needs to change its policies time to time according to the
trends of the market for the betterment of the organization but it is also very important that all
the employees of the organisation as well as customers adapt these changes otherwise these
changes can hamper the growth of the organizationwithout its adaptation (Greve, 2003).
For instance, if an organization is working with out-dated traditional techniques and
equipmentthen it will not stand out against its competitors and therefore it needs to change its
working styles and needs to adapt new techniques and equipment and employees should be
given proper training to use these new techniques and equipment so that they can adapt these
changes in the organization.

Levels of Learning
The articles contains the deep description about organizational learning under which
organizational learning has been divided into three levels by Schein in the following article in
which the first level is Artifacts and symbols which mark the surface of the organisation and
its elements are not only visible to its employees but also visible to the external parties such
as companys logo, architecture and its structure (Argote, 2012). The next level is exposed
values which mainly concerns standards and rules of conduct and its main task is to assist the
organization while deciding the goals and objectives and the last level is assumptions and this
level is also known as behavioural level of organizational culture which mainly works on
assumptions based on the past experiences (Frank, Finnegan, and Taylor 2004).
Additional to this, organisational learning depends on three Ms which are meaning,
management and measurement in which the meaning means to understand the organisational
learning properly so that it can be implemented for the betterment of the organisation. The
second M is the management in which it is important to manage the activities and changes
that have been implemented in the organisation to make sure that these changes work
effectively. The last M is measurement in which it is really important to measure the resulted
elements with the standard elements in order to find the flaws in which the organisation is
lacking so that it can take corrective measures on time (Greve, 2003). It has also been given
in the article that the levels are also categorized on the basis of hierarchy in the organization
which are higher level and the lower level where lower level learning occurs through
repetition while higher level learning occurs through the utilization of insights.
Besides this, lower level learning occurs at all the levels of the organization where as
higher level learning occurs at only higher level of the organization. Examplesof lower level
learning are formal rules and problem solving skills and the examples of higher level learning

are development of organizational culture, agenda setting and problem defining skills. In
nutshell, it can be concluded that learning and adaptation are two different phenomenon
where learning is the development of insights, knowledge through past experiences and its
implementation in the future operations (Argote, 2012). On the other hand, adaptation is the
potential to make adjustments in the workforce as a result of internal and external
environmental changes. Therefore, it is important to know the difference between learning
and adaptation in order to ensure effective organisational learning in the organisation.
Summary
An organization learns many things from its past experiences which can be good as
well as bad experiences but they help the organization in many ways. Besides this, an
organization has to deal with several changes in its day to day activities and a change is the
only constant according to the strategic management of the organization (Lin 2005).
Therefore, it is very essential for its employees to adapt these changes in the organization
otherwise it may limit the chances of their professional development at the workplace.

Parul 4 copy

Social Exchange Theory: An Interdisciplinary Review

Selected Article:

Cropanzano, R., and Mitchell, M.S. 2005. Social Exchange Theory: An Interdisciplinary
Review. Journal of Management 31(6), pp. 874-900.

Introduction

Social Exchange Theory (SET) has been termed as one of the most investigated and
influential conceptual paradigm in order to understand workplace behaviour. This conceptual
paradigm has been studied under a number of disciplines including social psychology,
anthropology, and sociology, and the root of this theory can be traced back around a century
ago, in 1920, when the concept was first introduced in anthropology (Sheth 1996). Despite its
long history of investigation and debates along with a consensus on its usefulness, it has also
experienced a widespread ambiguity. In this regard, SET becomes an important conceptual
paradigm to be investigated and learnt by a management student so that s/he can have an
adequate knowledge regarding difference in individual behaviour as a part of social exchange
relationship (Coadyand Lehmann 2008). The concept largely covers six different resources
that may be exchanged between individuals and they are love, status, information, money,
goods and services (Cropanzano and Mitchell2005).

Social Exchange Theory (SET) and its Explanatory Power

Cropanzano and Mitchell (2005) have made a critical analysis of SET and have
attempted to explain rules and norms of exchange, the resources that are exchanged at the
workplace, and emergence of relationship as a result of resource exchange. The authors have
helped in developing an understanding regarding rule and norms of exchange, and have
argued that relationship evolve over the period of time with respect to variables of trust,
loyalty and mutual commitment. Hence, the rule of exchange can be seen as one of the

primary bases of developing a relationship at the workplace and this creates a need
understanding the principles of reciprocity (Cropanzano and Mitchell2005).

In the special context of organisational behaviour, reciprocity within exchange can be

broadly classified into three major categories including reciprocity as an element of
transactional pattern and an element of interdependent and interrelated exchange, (b)
reciprocity as an element of folk belief and (c) reciprocity as an element of moral norms. It
has been argued in this article that interdependence reciprocity allows an individual to go for
contingent interpersonal transactions, like if one party in the organisation is supplying benefit
to other party; it is expected for another to responds with positive outcomes (Shafir
andLeBoeuf2002). It implies that the cooperation between and among individuals in an
organisation can be studied with respect to interdependent reciprocity, which in turn reduces
risks and increases cooperation among team members and different departments (Bottomore
andNisbet1978).

In the context of SET, reciprocity as an element of social belief involves the cultural
expectations of people from their workplaces. A new member at the workplace starts
responding positively out of perception that all exchange reaches a fair equilibrium over the
period of time (Wayne, Shore, andLiden 1997). Besides this, reciprocity of social belief also
inspires an individual to be helpful as the principle of Social Exchange Theory implies that
the individuals who are not helpful may be punished in long run (Early1992). On the contrary
to this, individual who are supportive, are more likely to receive help in future. Many of the
organisational researches have endorsed the principle of just world in this context and have
argued that many of the destructive behaviour at workplace are restricted by this norms
(Coadyand Lehmann 2008). This is because; an individual believes in implications of his/her
action on his/her results.

Another element of reciprocity can be studied in the context of reciprocity as an

individual orientation and this is seen in the context of cultural mandate. The presence of
oughtattributecan be identified as the primary difference between reciprocity as a belief and
as an individual orientation (Wellsand Singer 1985). Therefore, as a matter of individual
differences, reciprocity as an individual orientation tends to be differing. The article also
states that the people, who are low in exchange orientation, may not be equally attentive and
caring about the degree of reciprocity (Pujol, Flache, Delgado andSangesa 2005). However,
those who are high on this parameter are more like to show concern and may exhibit high
degree of sensitivity to organizational politics. In a research conducted by Last, Witt and
Wilson (1999), it was found that ideology of exchange tend to strengthen the relationship
between income sufficiency and employees attitude. In addition to reciprocity of exchange,
it is also important to understand the rule of negotiation, so that a relationship between and
individuals behaviour and his/her orientation could be made more logical and rational (Last,
Witt and Wilson 1999).

The paper has made a critical analysis in order to understand and explain the nature of
relationship and their possibilities to match with organisational practices. Many of the
research works have shed light on Social Exchange Theory with a focus on negotiated rules
and reciprocal exchange (Turner 1996). In this regard, a large numbers of finding indicate

that reciprocity is by far beneficial that negotiated rules. This is because; in reciprocity, an
individual is more likely to adopt the situation or any particular behaviour and becomes more
trustworthy and committed (Last, Witt and Wilson 1999). On the other hand, negotiated rules
have a natural orientation towards creation of power for one group or may result into
inequality.

It is worth pointing here that negotiation is considered to be as one of the most

important aspect of organisation behaviour and the role of Social Exchange Theory at the
workplace can be seen and studied with regard to different models including; leader-follower
exchange, support or commitment to organisation, adding and extending team support to
organisational support, adding supervisory support and trust(Wayne, Shore, andLiden1997).

Conclusion

On the basis of above study and discussion, it can be stated that exchange are not only
limited to material or tangible goods, as they also include symbolic values such as status and
prestige. From organisational point of view, this theory has great implications as it does not
only determine the behaviour of an employee at workplace; but also influences his/her intent
in team building and other expected activities. Therefore, it can be stated the knowledge of
this theory is more likely to enhance an individuals understanding with regard to ones act
and behaviour as a part of social exchange theory.