Different Leadership Styles in Culturally Diverse Workplaces

Introduction

Leaders must always uphold dignity and quality control over an organization to make it a success and beneficial. Leaders have to ensure that the work required can be able to deliver the organization's visions more effectively and timely. This can be achieved by the managers or by the workers as dictated by the managers. The delivery of the organization's vision is of importance and the main focus for a successful working environment (Neumann & Neumann, 2013). Overall goals of a company should be the basis to formulate the performance goals which will basically be linked to having successful organizational vision. Respectable leaders have the obligation of managing the change effectively.

Question 1

Leaders have been identified to perform their duties in every way possible in order to improve the output of an organization. Some of these leadership skills have an adverse effect on the employees and generally on the organizational output. Some employees are regarded as special and treated in a different way that the others by the leaders in an organization (Guillaume, Dawson, Otaye‐Ebede, Woods & West, 2015). This kind of leadership will influence some employees to even boycott doing their duties and eventually, the organizational output will be reduced.

Authoritative leadership style is also very common in some organizations where the leaders are so authoritative and show no concern for the employees (Guillaume et al., 2015). When this kind of leadership strategy is applied on some employees, this will create employee fear against those particular individuals who will be viewed as an opponent among the other employees. Work effectively will not be achieved as the employees will start developing hatred and lack of interest in this organization which seems to recognize others in regards to others.

Employee morale will be driven off once there are signs of leaders taking advantage of others. Use of the commanding style of leadership will always establish a rather clear distinction between the employees and the subordinates (Chuang, 2013). The commanding type of leadership allows the leaders to make the crucial decisions on their own without the help of the followers. This basically leads to low employee morale which will affect the employees in their workplace and a reduction in output in the organization. There are a lot of employee absenteeism and also a decrease in employee retention as they will be unsure of what next they can expect from the company. Leaders use this kind of a management strategy during the time of disasters and this generally affects the long-term goals of an organization (Neumann & Neumann, 2013). When leaders change their strategies and use a coaching style of leadership, the long-term goals of an organization will be realized and this will create the employee morale and satisfaction and eventually employee retention.

Leaders in an organization can also apply the use of being participative in an organization. Leaders who are participative in their organizations show concern for the general employees and this influences the effectiveness of an organization (Rosemann & vom Brocke, 2015). To certain followers, the leader can be much of a helper than a leader since they can be free with them. This act influences a big portion of leadership where the employees will be dedicated and focused in their daily routines and this will increase the productivity. Participative type of leaders show a significant improvement in the teams they lead since they learn team building which is a good strategy for an organization. Democratic type of leadership is the best as this will allow the employees to speak up their minds and be productive in their various fields (Chuang, 2013). Democratic type of leaders always encourages the employees and their followers with allowing for feedback and any other suggestions which might bring success to an organization. This ensures that all the employees can be on board if one is willing. Some leaders are fond of giving directions to their preferred members which are seen as discrimination by the others. A good leader will always couch his or her followers to the right direction. Leaders who show concern over others help them identify with almost every other member. In this kind of a leader-follower relationship, the organization can be a success and in an improved state since there is harmony.

   Question 2

In every organization, good leadership is paramount and very essential since it allows for success and more productivity. Successful leaders are always optimistic of how well they can improve the productiveness of the employees by improving on their goals and vision (Rosemann & vom Brocke, 2015). Every person has the capability to lead but it all depends on personal dedication to positive change.

Good leaders always apply transparency in order to lead effectively. This can be achieved through the use of communication, debates, share decisions making and consensus. Leaders who are transparent in their duties allows for the development of the required morale in their followers (Du, Swaen, Lindgreen, & Sen, 2013). This in return allows for the increase in output as the followers will be motivated to be more productive. Sharing information with the diverse cultures among co-workers can help improve the level of transparency within an organization since this will create trust and respect. Leaders who are dictators do not allow for transparency in an organization since they do not share their views for development during decision making (Girma, 2016). This can be improved by allowing discussion during decision making which will involve the different cultures among coworkers. Allowing opinions and new ideas from various followers in the organization during decision-making process will enhance effective co-existence among coworkers and other leaders.

Good leaders must have integrity in order to lead in an effective manner. This allows for a leader to be fair in his or her actions as this will boost follower’s morale and also prevent being termed as a dishonest leader who favors a particular culture. A leader who does not apply integrity faces disrespect from fellow peers and followers. Effective leaders within an organization who upholds integrity will always assist the employees to aim higher thereby improving the status of the workplace due to diversification in cultures (Chuang, 2013). Lack of integrity hinders an organization from being successful as followers will not be motivated to work to their level best.

Favoring a certain cultural group within an organization can reduce the effectively of working since the segmented part of the group will develop resistance towards the organization and the general management. Having an internal competition in an organization is a disadvantage since this creates unwanted tension among the particular group which feels it is being left out (Rosemann & vom Brocke, 2015). Leaders who encourage competition should base it in terms of organizational goals and not in regards to the cultural backgrounds. Focusing on improving the current state of an organization through developing followers’ togetherness can assist in the growth of the organization and follower satisfaction.

Great leaders ensure effective and continuous communication among followers. Effective communication can be achieved through casual talks, rewarding employee’s performance and motivational talks. Effective communication can be achieved through utilizing existing communication tools as well as frequently developing innovative communication channels. Effective communication will help reduce absenteeism cases among co-workers who feel neglected in terms of workplace communication (Guillaume et al., 2015). Good communication within an organization creates awareness among workers, therefore, improving the level of output. Good leaders use communication to enhance the level of understanding among the employees which basically improves the diversification in relation to the different cultural groups. Treating other members with respect and being honest will assist in the creation of new ideas and in this way the organization will be successful. Quality leadership which is not biased with regards to the cultural backgrounds can help improve the organization's goals (Girma, 2016).

Conclusion

Good leadership in an organization increases the morale of the members or the followers and this helps in the realization of the organizational dreams more effectively and timely. In many cases, organizations which are mostly governed by democracy have a lot to celebrate as the cases of layoffs, employee absenteeism, and workplace rivals are less. Certain cultural groups in an organization which is basically a threat to others can have the advantage of control but due to the organization being free and democratic, such cases cannot be experienced. In order to realize the organizational goals, member retention can be regarded since the more the number of the workforce the more the productivity. Basing any particular organizational goals on some members and living out some can influence the lack of productivity.

 

References

Chuang, S. F. (2013). Essential skills for leadership effectiveness in diverse workplace development. Online Journal for Workforce Education and Development, 6(1), 5.

Du, S., Swaen, V., Lindgreen, A., & Sen, S. (2013). The roles of leadership styles in corporate social responsibility. Journal of business ethics, 114(1), 155-169.

Girma, S. (2016). The relationship between leadership style, job satisfaction and culture of the organization. IJAR, 2(4), 35-45.

Guillaume, Y. R., Dawson, J. F., Otaye‐Ebede, L., Woods, S. A., & West, M. A. (2015). Harnessing demographic differences in organizations: What moderates the effects of workplace diversity?. Journal of Organizational Behavior.

Neumann, Y., & Neumann, E. F. (2013). The president and the college bottom line: The role of strategic leadership styles. Library Consortium Management: An International Journal.

Rosemann, M., & vom Brocke, J. (2015). The six core elements of business process management. In Handbook on business process management 1 (pp. 105-122). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.