Does Ineffective Leadership Affect the Functioning of an Organization?

Introduction:

Leaders are considered an integral resource in an organization and it is often said that the leader’s personality and caliber affect the manner in which an organization is managed and the organization’s overall performance. The main role of leaders is to guide, supervise, and manage the employees of an organization and make integral and critical decisions related to the organization’s operations. Thus, it is highly important for leaders to possess a variety of essential skills. Some of the skills that leaders must possess include problem-solving techniques, critical thinking, quick and efficient decision making, patience and human resource management techniques, amongst other expertise. Leaders hold major responsibility for the way they manage their decisions and the manner in which they guide the employees of an organization. Mistakes or obliviousness to vital information can lead to disastrous affects for organizations or a major loss in revenues (Northouse, 2012).
Accordingly, it is important for leaders to have a proper plan for managing a firm and leaders usually possess a certain leadership style. There are various leadership styles that leaders adopt when managing an organization and these leadership styles include the autocratic leadership style, charismatic leadership style, and situational leadership style amongst many others. Some leaders prefer to deal with an iron hand and are highly autocratic in their leadership style. Such leaders are highly authoritative and prefer to give commands rather than attain the opinion of their subordinates. However, some leaders are highly informal and involved in their leadership role and adopt a charismatic style of leadership. Such leaders prefer to involve their employees in the decision making process, prefer an informal environment, and reduce barriers to communication (Carmelli et al, 2010). However, the appropriate leadership style may vary from organization to organization and from situation to situation. It is the leader’s duty to understand the type of leadership necessary for a particular situation and implement it effectively (Brown & Mitchell, 2010).

This research paper will seek to explore how ineffective leadership affects the functioning of an organization and whether it has a highly adverse affect upon the organization’s performance. The paper will seek to explore topics such as different management styles, responsibilities of managers/leaders, examples of ineffective leadership, and their consecutive effects on the functioning of the organization. This outline will commence with a brief literature review, formation of research questions, research methodology, and a conclusion.
Literature Review:
Many scholars believe that ineffective leadership leads to disastrous consequences for an organization. In the same manner, effective leadership can also lead to highly beneficial results for an organization and its employees. There are various examples of highly successful leaders who have brought their organization’s numerous benefits such as Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and many others. These leaders were able to effectively make decisions in times of crisis, keep their workforce motivated and efficient, and form effective marketing strategies for the promotion of their organization (Hind et al, 2009).
Leaders often possess certain leadership styles and it is regarded that ineffective leadership occurs because of the adoption of the inappropriate leadership style. Thus, leaders who adopt the wrong leadership style or who possess a personality which is not able to adapt to certain situations are likely to cause severe disruptions or inefficiency in the functioning of their organization. Leaders who adopt inappropriate leadership styles or who are ineffective leaders may cause problems such as increasing communication barriers, disrupt the proper dissemination of information, be oblivious to vital information concerning the organization, and lead to the de-motivation of employees. Examples are found in organizations where leaders are highly authoritative, consider their opinion to be correct, and remain distant from subordinates and employees and consequently, employees are unable to disseminate vital information to the leader and fail to help the leader make better decisions (King, 2013).
However, there are also examples of organizations where the authoritative nature of leaders is working for the organization’s benefit rather than causing the organization losses. Hence, it is obvious that the leadership style that must be adopted by a leader must vary according to the organization’s situation and the manner in which the leader implements and conveys his/her message (Becker, 2009). This concept and other concepts related to the effects of ineffective leadership on the organization will be analyzed in this research paper.

Research Questions:

Does ineffective leadership affect the functioning of an organization?
What leadership styles are appropriate for various organizational situations?
How can ineffective leadership be defined and what are its consequences?
Research Data:
The research data that will be used will be both primary and secondary in nature. The data and information that will be gathered will be qualitative in nature and will be of exploratory in order to explore the topic in depth.
Data Sources:
Primary data will be gathered from the interview while secondary data will be obtained from journal articles, books, online sources, online databases, websites, newspapers, and other academic sources of information
Data Collection Method:
After obtaining permission from a specific organization (yet to be chosen), the manager or leader of that organization will be interviewed. Other information for the study will be derived from secondary sources for which library access and access to online databases is essential.
Data Analysis Method:
As the data is qualitative in nature, the data gathered through secondary sources and the data gathered from the interview will be analyzed through the method of content analysis. The content of the literature reviewed will be compared to the content of the interview and then will be analyzed for relevancy a the key points are extracted from both sources to conduct the analysis

Conclusion:

Leadership is one of the most important topics in the study of management and through the analysis of the data obtained, this research paper aims to recognize, analyze, and evaluate the effects of ineffective leadership on an organization.

References

Becker, G. (2009) “Moral leadership in Business.” Journal of International Business Ethics. Vol. 2:1 pp. 7-19
Brown, M. & Mitchell, M. (2010) “Ethical and Unethical Leadership: Exploring New Avenues for Future Research. Business Ethics Quarterly. Vol. 20:4 pp. 583-616
Carmeli, A., Gelbard, R. & Gefen, D. (2010) “The importance of innovation leadership in cultivating strategic fit and enhancing firm performance”. The Leadership Quarterly. Vol. 21:3 pp. 339-349
Hind, P., Wilson, A., & Lenssen, G. (2009) “Developing Leaders for Sustainable Business.” Corporate Governance. Vol. 9:1 pp.7-20
King, C. (2013) “The Importance of Leadership and Management in Process Safety”. Process Safety Progress.
Northouse, PG. (2012) Leadership: Theory and Practice. Sage Publications.