To what Extent is Leadership Important and Significant in the Essay

To what Extent is Leadership Important and Significant in the Aftermath of the Recent Earthquake in Christchurch or Japan - Essay Example Leaders need the support and help of their subordinates. Success of an activity depends on the collaborative efforts of the leader and the subordinates. In the discussion that follows, we start our hypothesis by emphasizing on the need for unity in a team to make the leadership effective. The question is: what about the characteristics and behaviour of the leader? Does it matter to have a charismatic and transformational leader? Many organizations of today have given much importance on leadership because good leadership enhances quality and improvement. We theorized that the style of leadership truly affects the effectiveness of the leadership and the success of the organization. This is demonstrated in the aftermaths of the two natural disasters. 2. Leadership Theories a. Visionary Leadership and Strategic Management (Westley & Mintzberg, 1989) Westley and Mintzberg (1989) attempted to define leadership and management in the era of the eighties when organizations were becoming more complex and globalization was beginning to take root within organizations. Strategic vision emerged and the authors described it as one that came out from the concepts of strategy and leadership. Managers have to have vision for their organizations and their products. A leader must have a strategic vision – vision for a product, service, or his/her organization. This is known as visionary leadership which is a part of strategic management. Visionary leaders vary according to the type of vision they have for an organization or product. For example, Steve Jobs had a vision for Apple Computer. In the 1980s, Jobs saw a kind of revolution in his mind and imagination. He wanted to figure this out and so worked with all his efforts to materialize his vision. This was cut short when he was ousted as CEO of the company he founded. When he was re-hired in the 1990s, he worked again on his vision for Apple until the company and the products he had envisioned materialized. Today, there i s what we call strategic management in the context of HRM and total quality management (TQM). This kind of management must have evolved from the strategic vision concept of Westley and Minztberg (1989). b. Transcendental Leadership (Cardona, 2000) There have been various definitions of leadership but Cardona quoted Rost (1991) in defining it as focusing on â€Å"exchange relationship†. The concept emphasizes relationship between leader and followers or subordinates, rather than on the qualities of the leader. But a transformational leadership emphasizes on the qualities and behaviour of the leader since subordinates trust their leaders because of their qualities and behaviour. Relational leadership has two types. Economic relationship focuses on the relationship of the chief of the office or organization and his/her subordinates. But their relationship is limited to the contents of the employer-employee agreement where both have explicit rights and privileges. The other type – social relationship – covers a relationship which is not bound by the obligations of a contract. Inside the business organization, the relationship of the boss and the employee concerns meeting the needs of the latter, for example the needs of the employee’s family at the same time his obligation to please his/her employer. This is not covered by legal provisions of a contract although there is a hidden obligation on the part of the subordinate to please his/her boss. Transformational