ASSIGNMENT COVERSHEET

Name: Md. Farhad Ahmed

Student Number: 17121019

Course: Fundamentals of Public Administration Couse Code: BDS-1209

Department: Department of Development Studies

Lecturer: Manila Khisa

Type of Assignment: Individual Term Paper

Topic Title: Organizational Leadership: Is it necessary?

Due Date: 22nd October, 2017

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 Organizational Leadership: Is it necessary?

Introduction

The word “Leader” brings a face in our mind who lead a group of people. He/she is the guardian
of people. Every one of the group is following the leader. The word leader came from the word
lead. The meaning of the word ‘Lead’ is ‘to guide, conduct, direct and precede.’ That’s mean a
leader shows the right path, direct his/her follower, order the followers. So the leader is the person
who direct a group of people to achieve a specific goal. And the process what leader follows to
achieve the goal is called leadership. So the word leadership refers the techniques used by a leader
to direct or command his/her people. According to Nicholas Henry, “Leadership is an influence
relationship among leaders and followers who intend real change that reflect their mutual purpose”
(Henry, 2007) . In Bangladesh, the image of a leader among common people is any political leader.
But not only politics or lead a country is requiring a leader even a small group has necessary of its
leader. Who lead them right way to their goal. Leadership in a huge discussion. Leadership has not
any specific definition. Leadership is more situational. Every situation demand different decisions
and different method to handle the situation. Every organization consist with a numerous number
of people. Where a group shared a common goal to achieve. So does an organization lead any
leader to maintain its flow of working? This paper will discuss about the importance of
organizational leadership.

Organizational Leadership

The modern civilized society is characterized a large number of organization. Our society in the
way is an organizational society. We not only live in, belong to and through organizations satisfy
most of our desires and fulfill our aspirations through organizations. According to Chester Barnand
“An Organization is a system of consciously coordinated activities or efforts of two or more
persons”. organizations, in this sense, are implementing and implemented programs of action that
involve a substantial dose of comprehensive and rational planning. (Bittner, 1965). Organizational
leadership is about management skill. What method and the process help the organization to get
the efficiency level is main aspect of the organizational leadership. Generally, if we think about a
good leader we draw of image of an honest, well behaved, trusted one person. Organization
leadership is also something like that. To being a good leader of an organization he/she must
manipulate the followers to make them work effectively. Organizational leadership is a dual
focused management approach that works towards what is best for individuals and what is best for
a group as a whole simultaneously. (Khator, 2012). Leadership is an attitude and work ethic that
empower the workers from any level of an organization. Organization may have face the new
challenges every time. A leader must have potential to face the challenges and give a fight with
the team.

Manager or Leader?

Organizations contains with different level decision making units. Basically organizations
structured with the power division of Top to Bottom. The persons belong to the upper level of an
organization is identified as the executives. To define the lead role of an organization two concepts
come forward. Management and Leadership. Manager and Leader both are delegated with the
responsibilities over many individuals. Then why both are not the same. It is considered that
management and leadership are practically overlapping concepts. Leader are those who can
influence the follower towards a project implementation. Some theorist believed that leadership is
the manipulation and nothing different from the social influences. It is a charismatic characteristic
to make the people following. There are lots of debate about leadership can be taught or it is by
born. The answer would be differing by the personal opinion but it is not easy to lead any
organization. leaders should have some essential attributes such as vision, integrity, trust,
selflessness, commitment, creative ability, toughness, communication ability, risk taking and
visibility (Capowski, 1994). On the other hand, some theorists considered management as an art
and some prefer management as a science. A manager also holds the chair of decision making of
an organization. Management is the task of assigned all the elements of an organization to achieve
the goal of organization. Management is a process to accomplish the goal the organization want to
achieve. A person can be both leader and manager. In my opinion a leader can be a good manager
but a manager always cannot be the good leader. Managers are the people to whom this
management task is assigned, and it is generally thought that they achieve the desired goals through
the key functions of planning and budgeting, organizing and staffing, problem solving and
controlling. Leaders on the other hand set a direction, align people, motivate and inspire
(Kotter,2001). Managers works more by his/her brain while a leader uses heart more. Other
researchers consider that a leader has soul, the passion and the creativity while a manager has the
mind, the rational and the persistence. A leader is flexible, innovative, inspiring, courageous and
independent and at the same time a manager is consulting, analytical, deliberate, authoritative and
stabilizing (Capowski, 1994). So in my opinion leaders and managers are both necessary in an
organization. But I believe leadership has greater influence on an organization. An organization
can be run by the manager only but I think managers are robotic. A leader will concern about the
followers as well as the organization but a manager set their mind to the maximize the desire of
the organization. Leadership has not always positive impact on organization. Only good leadership
is necessary to an organization not the leadership. The rest of the paper will discuss about the
feature of effective leadership and the characteristic of a good leader which make the leaders a
vital element of an organization.

Salient features of Leadership

There will be numerous number of components about organizational leadership. As I told before,
leadership is not something which has a specific method. Leadership is not a science it is an art.
An art to influence people by attitude. Leadership requires some qualification. To be followed by
a group of people there should be some extra feature in the leader. I will discuss about five key
component about leadership.

Worldview

Organizational leadership requires the development of own worldview as well as the worldview
of others. Worldview is a created image through various kind of lens to define how an individual
see the world. Worldview is not same as religious viewpoint, political support, cultural but in
worldview these elements are important. Worldview influence everything how a person believes
about the world. Worldview define individuals through his/her attitude, locality, beliefs and the
other factors which allow someone to influence them. Worldview is the “operating instructions”
for how the individual interfaces with the world. (Khator, 2012). if the worldview is not considered
to define how individuals interface with the world is in the weak position to lead the individuals
as well as organization. Organization may face the diverse worldview and sometime there will be
conflicts between worldviews within the organization. Organizational leadership requires a vast
knowledge about world view to control the individuals of an organization. The knowledge of
worldview helps to know the basic characteristics of a human. It also helps to know the desires of
the individuals. So this is one the most salient components of organizational leadership.
Strengths

Strengths is the skill of capitalizing the strong side of the organization and the managing around
the weakness. Leadership make the individuals to perform their marginal level of working ability.
An individual only can work as per their working ability they can gain satisfaction from the
working process, policy, direction. “Happy employees are productive employees.” (Saari & Judge,
2004). Strength and ability is not the same thing. Ability become strength when an individual
performs the same work repeatedly, happily and successfully. So the responsibility of leadership
is to convert the ability into strength. In my opinion strength also refers to the perfect combination
of Talents, Knowledge and Skills. It gears up the organization performance.

Ethics

Ethics is one of the most salient feature of organizational leadership. Ethics is needed for balancing
the truth and loyalty, individuals and community, short term vs long term and justice vs mercy.
Ethics refers to the approaches during the several situations. Ethics is to keep the hidden alternative
and which is to be applied. The meaning of ethics is not to compromise anything. It’s all about
choosing the right alternative. Ethics is not always choosing between right vs wrong, sometimes
situation demands to choose between right vs right.

Communication

Communication is the tool to connect with the individuals, with the group and also with the whole
world. Communication is not the email, text, phone call or the fax. These are the medium of
communication. Organization leadership requires the effective communication with the
individuals. Effective communication requires an understanding of the VABEs (Values,
Assumptions, Beliefs, and Expectations) of those whom with we communicate. (Blackman, 2015).
Understanding someone’s worldview and VABEs enables leaders to acknowledge but look past
differences, focus on areas of agreement, and to effectively listen for and hear the messages of
others. Leaders are able to move beyond communication barriers (appearance, vocabulary, stutter,
lisp, accent, etc.) and focus on the message of the speaker.
Championship

Leadership should be beyond the rejection. Leaders should not contain with natural fear. Leader
and managers are not the same. Leader possess strategic thinking, understanding the vision of
organization. Not only understanding leader should have ability to carry out those vision of
organization. Telling the truth, keeping the promise, respecting the individuals and being fair
should be the character of a leader.

These are some feature which separate the leadership from the management. In my opinion, though
management and managers are very important for smooth running of an organization but I think
leadership is more effective for an organization.

Some characteristic of a good leader

Previously we knew about some key components of good leadership. To ensure good leadership
an organization need a good leader Who has the ability to lead an organization. From the beginning
I am mentioning about manager and leadership. They are not same. There are lots of debate that
an organization does not need the leader. Managers have the potential to bear an organization. It
is not deniable. But leaders have some characters which can make a manager leader. Some
character of leaders is given below at the same time we will realize how effective these characters
are in the organization.

1. Membership
To being an effective leader, he/she should be the lead character of an organization.
Generally, the senior members got the priority to being a leader. They have pocketed
enough knowledge about the organization and the life time experience. Senior members
lead the organization as their gathered experiences.
2. Education and Training
Education level of a leader should higher than his/her follower. This quality made him/her
superior than other members. And to lead a leader must be trained with specific field. As
we saw in Bangladesh, the public leader from the ministry mess up everything just because
of lack of knowledge.
3. Energy, Ability and Capability of Facing Risk
A leader must be containing with the energy and ability to solve any uncertain problem.
Leader must be confident during the crisis period of organization. A leader can motivate
his/her follower so he/she should not weak to face crisis.
4. Specialized Knowledge about Policy and Procedure
A leader must know the organizational policy of the government. Beyond the government
policy, the organization will not be the legal organization.
5. Originality
A leader should have a creative mind. As I mentioned before that a leader fixes the vision
of organization.
6. Idea About the Function of Related Department
A leader must have proper knowledge about the responsibilities of the department under
him/her. It will help a leader to imply the vision of organization.
7. Foresightedness
A leader must have a third eye to estimate the future. This quality preserves a leader to
avoid uncertainty.
8. Administrative and Organizing efficiency
A leader need to be a good administrator or manager also. Administrative knowledge will
help the leader to organize the administration.
9. Courage and Self reliance
Courage is one of the vital character of a leader. Leader has to take many new and unproven
decision within the organization. But in taking those decisions leaders should aware about
his steps.
10. Sense of Responsibilities
A leader has the full responsibilities of his/her department or organization. It is possible to
avoid the responsibilities of lower leveled individuals but a leader cannot avoid the
responsibilities.
11. Morally Right and Good
No one follows a dishonest person. A leader should be the honest and aware of moral values
to gain respect from the followers.
12. Personality
A leader must have magnetic and strong personality. A person with strong personality
always get much respect than the others. It helps leader to influence the followers.
13. Personality Development
Organization is a dynamic process. So leader should have updated with the time.
Traditional method is not always effective to problem solving.
14. General Knowledge and Intelligence
Leaders should have proper knowledge about the world and the contemporary matters. It
helps to find out the problem. And also a leader has to meet new people every day so the
general knowledge will create effective communication.
15. Ability to Training
A leader should have teaching power. If a leader teaches his/her follower it may increase
the efficiency of the followers.
16. Co-operation Attitude and Capacity of Establishing Relation
A leader must a strong connection with the followers. Individual relationship with the
workers make them feeling good with the organization.
17. Ability to Counseling
The qualification of a leader is determined by how he/she can counsel his/her upper level
officials. The counselling has very important impact on decision making/
18. Capacity of understanding others
If a leader cannot understand the people he/she will be at the risk of making wrong
decisions. The strength, weakness, need of the workers should be in mind of a leader.
19. Patience
Patience is not only needed for the effective leadership it is also an important human
behavior. Lack of patient tends to the wrong decision. A leader must be cool during the
emergency decision taking moment.
20. Maturity of Mentality
A leader should the beyond of emotions. The decision taken by emotion often proved
wrong. And also a leader should not be the biased for any individuals.
 21. Ability to take quick Decisions.
A leader may face many critical situations in which he/she will not have enough time to
discuss with others. He/she has to take decision by their own. A leader should have ability
to face this type of challenges.
22. Dependable Judgement
A leader should have good judgmental power to ensure the justice for all of his/her
followers within the organization.
23. Power of Innovation
A leader Should innovative. To mobilize the organizational efficiency a leader should
impose new rule or new vision.
24. Communication Skill
A leader always has to give instruction to his/her followers. A good and effective
communication skill provide better understanding of instruction.
25. Time Awareness
Time management skill is another important aspect of leadership. A leader should have
the quality to manage the work within the time.
26. Creating Group Morality
Team work is more effective in an organization than the individual performance. A leader
must keep the team spirit among the members of organization.
27. Analytical Power
It is said that founding the problem is the half solution. So a leader must have strong
analytical power to find out the exact solution of the problems.

Conclusion

Based on upon, there is a strong request for leadership in organization. Can we imagine an
organization without a leader? The symphony created by a leader is very necessary to an
organization. Leader is the guardian of an organization as well as the members of organizations.
The characteristic of a leader separates him/her than a manger. A manage is only concern about
the goal of the organization. But leader has the vision. A leader thinks beyond the goal of
organization. Managers of all levels play an important role in the development of a self-assessment
project through the known Business Excellence/ Performance Evaluation Models and have a high
impact on the organizations’ journey to Excellence. (Bohoris & Vorria, n.d.). A leader is not only
focused on the managerial duty. He/she has the responsibilities to all the elements of an
organization to be satisfied. There is a strong connection between good leadership and the
performance of the society. It is proved that most of business circle are willing to do business
which has stable leadership. Because leadership is more effective than the management.
Managerial tasks can be done by a leader but a manager will not always a leader. So in my opinion
leadership is not only necessary for an organization but also a vital key feature to an organization.
I want to finish my discussion with a quote- “If you think you’re leading, but no one is following,
then you are only taking a walk.” - John Maxwell
 References

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Bittner, E. (1965). The Concept of Organization. Social Research, 175.
Blackman, D. (2015). Levels of Leadership: Getting Deeper. Dave Blackman, Ph. D. Retrieved
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Capowski, G., (1994), “Anatomy of a leader: where are the leader of tomorrow?”, Management
Review, 83(3), 10-18

Capowski, G., (1994), “Anatomy of a leader: where are the leader of tomorrow?”, Management
Review, 83(3), 24

Henry, N. (2007). Public Administration and Public Affiars . New Jersy: Prentice Hall.
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