Sample assignment by: SNPRVA Research and Writing solutions
LEADERSHIP AND FOLLOWERSHIP
Student name
MNGT320 Rethinking Leadership
Professor David Collinson
Lancaster University Management School
The City and State where it is located
Date
Leadership and Followership
Leadership is a dynamic process by which a person influences a group of people to achieve a common goal, making the organization more cohesive and coherent (Sharma & Joain 2013). It entails all the leader’s activities that affect the well-being of the followers and the organization at large. Through the aid of leadership skills, traits, style, and theories, the leader is able to achieve the set goals and objectives. The commonly used leadership theories include; situational theory, great-man theory, skills theory, trait theory, contingency theory, participative theory, transformational theory, management theory, and behavioral theory (Amanchukwu, Stanley & Ololube 2015). Leaders achieve the organizational goals through capturing commitment of their followers, attention, energy, expressing and representing the values, needs, and aspirations for the followers, deciding upon objectives and coming up with ways of attaining them, and making others think and act in a desired manner. This paper in details discusses two leadership dynamics; authentic leadership and leadership identity in relation to leadership theories involved in each of the leadership dynamics while giving personal examples.
Authentic Leadership
When I joined high school, I made several friends among them was a lady who was a real basketball player. With time, she became my best friend, and by the time we were approaching the end of the first year, she was named to be the best basketball player, ladies category in school. While in the second year, she was a star in school and as a result, her circle of friends increased. Her behavior and her performance both in class and in the pitch deteriorated. Many people spotted the changes though only one of the senior student representatives approached her and offered to help her out of the situation. He was a student leader who was known to be student friendly and one, who was strict with the values, believes, and convictions he had. After a while, there was a significant improvement in my friend’s overall performance.
According to Dimovski et al. (2013), authenticity is a quality to be genuine; it is faithful to the origin, truthfulness, purpose, commitment, and source. It contrasts being counterfeit or imitation, and it is a root construct that incorporates transformational and ethical leadership. Authentic leaders do not fake their leadership. They neither pretend to be leaders just because of their leadership position nor do they try to create a leader’s persona (Shamir & Eilam 2005). Authentic leaders are deeply aware of their behaviour and thinking about their strengths, knowledge, and their own and foreign values (Dimovski et al. 2013). Authentic leaders have the following characteristic; they take on leadership from conviction, they do not accept leadership positions for rewards, status, or honours instead, they take over the leadership because of their want to accomplish the value-based mission (Christy & Duraisamy 2015). Besides, authentic leaders are of high moral character, hopeful, optimistic, flexible, and confident. The conceptualization of the authentic leadership is multidimensional; it contains elements from a different context, domains, behaviours, traits, and attributions (Dimovski et al. 2013). This type of leadership functions at the individual, team, and organization level.
According to Bishop (2013), authentic leadership has four main elements; self-awareness, self-regulation, positive modelling, and positive psychological capital. Introspectively, authentic leaders observe and analyze their mental state; feelings, thoughts, and intentions. Authentic leaders know and accept their identity, values, motives, and emotions (Dimovski et al. 2013). Through this, the leaders can know themselves through understanding their preferences, beliefs, talents, and desires. A leader's self-awareness marks the beginning of authentic leadership development.
Self-regulation is the control of one's behaviours with his or her personality without interfering with the open attitude towards co-workers and followers (Dimovski et al. 2013). Self-regulation is based on four key pillars; balanced information processing, authentic behaviour, transparent relationships, and internalized processes of control. According to Dimovski et al. (2013), open relationships and stable information processing are the most important for the development of authentic leadership. This is because they result in a balanced evaluation and perception of oneself. In comparison to others, the self-regulation offers substantial independence of the ego-based defence mechanism (Bishop 2013). Self-regulation also acts as the internalization of moral values and standards. This helps the leaders with high levels of self-regulation to control their behaviours so that it matches with the ethical standards that are responsible towards the employees. When the leader can morally incorporate into the leadership the loyalty to herself, to the organization, and the role as a leader, it ensures that there is the sustainability of the organization within and beyond the cooperation (Dimovski et al. 2013). For a better relationship between the leader and the followers and also with the entire community, the leader should adopt the values coinciding with the moral values of the followers and the community.
Positive psychological capital reinforces the crucial role in self-awareness and self-regulation (Luthans &Avolion 2003). During the authentic leadership development process, positive emotions are a vital concept. Positive psychological capital has the following element; optimism, hope, self-confidence, and resilience. The positive feelings are the foundation of positive behaviour in the organization and positive human relation. This leads to increased performance, satisfaction, and loyalty. According to Dimovski et al. (2013), positive modelling is the process of personal identification of the employees with their leaders.
Authentic followership refers to followers who follow the leader for genuine reasons. They share the same values, convictions and beliefs as the leader not because of normative, coercion, or reward expectation but because of the leader's definition of the situation (Yasir et al. 2016). The follower's authentication of a leader reinforces the leader's authenticity. Authentic followership and authentic leadership share similar values and convictions because of the leader’s definition of the situation rather than the expectations of a reward, coercion, or normative. For the success of the organization, the authentic leaders and followers need to work together with a common goal in mind.
The transformational leadership theory is also known as relationship leadership theory. According to this theory, a leader is a person who engages with others and can create a connection (Amanchukwu, Stanley & Ololube 2015). This theory focuses on the relationship between a leader and the followers. It aids the leader to inspire, and motivate people by helping the followers see the benefits of the tasks they are undertaking. The idea of connecting the leaders and the followers makes the transformational theory and authentic leadership and followership suit each other (Mango 2018). For authentic leadership and followership, the leader creates a peaceful and healthy environment for their followers through their clear and decisive leadership. This, in turn, leads to increased follower's productivity. On the other hand, transformational leadership theory equips the leaders with the skills to inspire their followers to perform their work diligently by showing them the importance of the tasks they are performing (Mango 2018).
Leadership and Identity
During my third year in high school, having been motivated by the senior student leader’s attributes and dedication, I was motivated to vie for a student leader position so that I could use the position and power bestowed on me to positively impact on other student’s life in school and outside the school premises. My friend’s celebrity in school greatly helped me in securing the student’s secretary general position in the school. This was the third highest ranked position in the student leadership positions. Having not been in such a top ranked leadership position initially, I was at first terrified and confused on how to accomplish my objectives that drove me to contest for the position. After struggling for a while as I tried to copy other leaders, I realized that its only through been my own self that I would be able to accomplish the objectives. The self realization though took some time to fully impact on my leadership, I managed to comprehensively accomplish most of the objectives I had set by the time I was retiring from active student leadership in the school while I was in my fourth year.
For the past few decades, identity has been of concern to the social theorizing and has made appearances in the social psychologist, and cultural theorist (Sinclair 2011, p. 508). However, little focused has been given to the relationship between leadership and identity (Eubanks, Brown & Ybema 2012). According to Eubanks, Brown, and Ybema (2012), leaders who have high levels of self-identity places a high value on the relationships formed with their followers (p. 1). This is because self-worth of these individuals is dependent on the successful attainment of the goals and objectives set by their followers. Commonly, the followers meet the established goals and objectives because of the firm and supportive relationship they have with their leader. Once the leaders have attained the self-identity they had initially set, they tend to move away from them and set future identities where they heavily invest until they accomplish the objectives. With each accomplishment, their self-worth increases (Eubank, Brown & Ybema 2012). Through the setting of future identities, the leaders embrace nostalgic notions such as mission, vision, planning, and forecasting of the organization.
Based on Ford (2006), developing one’s leadership identity is a multistage process; it begins with increasing one’s awareness, transition as the leadership identity moves hierarchically, leader-centric view to a shared leadership view which views leadership as a relational and collaborative process (Komives et al., 2006). An equally critical and common to each of the stages is increasing one’s self-awareness. Self-awareness connection with intentional strategies to strengthen self-efficacy for leadership is important in developing leadership identity. Leadership identity process involves learning how to relate with others, developing social networks, building commitments, and using my improved self. Leadership identity pressure accrues through several academic and popular discourses. Through the social identity theory, leaders are advised on how they can craft and moderate their identity so that they can match the follower' identities. This helps in creating a stable ground for both the leaders and the followers; thus they can create a conducive work environment. According to Sinclair (2011), leaders are advised to create an individual brand transcending their organization and feed the romantic myths that underpin contemporary appetite for leadership.
The poststructuralist strand offers insight into the problematic of cultural and identity difference and the theoretical deconstruction of identity, notably the significance of power in the construction of identity through difference. This takes the social theory constructivist position into a deconstructionist direction (Ford 2006). Identities are constructed within discourse; thus the need to understand identities as produced in specific institutional and historical sites within specific formations and practices, by specific enunciative strategies. Because of positioning ourselves as the social subjects of particular discourses, identities can be termed as the meeting point in practices and discourses. Discourses offer subject positions for individuals to take up identities, and behaviors in terms of the power they offer the individuals.
According to Karp (2008), communication in an organization is of importance as it helps the people to couple up their practical activities in the organization to those surrounding them in an aim of creating meaning and identity. From such communications a diverse identities in which each participant is recognized and recognizes others amidst the differences with the role of a leader being among them. As a result of this, Karp (2008) states that leadership is better understood as a dynamic that occurs between people rather than from an individual's perspective. The configuration of power is only recognized in the leader-follower relationship. The power balance is tilted towards the leader’s identity. Leadership is the action after the leaders have acted. Thus, leadership is constructed from the identities of a leader (Karp 2008). Self is the individual core and substance that endures through different times; thus the different moments and times may pertain to the same person. Identity development is based on the same self. Intentions of an individual can only be inferred indirectly from something emanating from the individual and identity is the only characteristic of self-determination.
Key-Roberts, Halpin and Brunner (2012) states that Self-development is a process that individuals undertake to gain knowledge or strengthen a skill-set. Self-development is a pillar of leader development. Self-development increases the leader’s readiness and potential for greater responsibilities. According to Van, Velsor, and McCauley (2004), self-development expands an individual’s capacity, enabling leaders to handle more complex situations and increased information flow and as a result, it leads to increased effectiveness in leadership roles and processes (p. 2). As a consequence, there is enhanced leadership identity because of the increased leadership effectiveness.
Leadership and identity use the transformational leadership theory. Transformational leadership theory is the process where the leader engages with the followers, creates a connection with them resulting in motivation between the leaders and the followers (Greenwald 2007). Concerning leadership and identity, there exists a relationship between the leader, the followers, and the attainment of the organizational goals and objectives. Once the leader has created a healthy working environment, the followers can meet the set goals and objectives (Key-Roberts, Halpin & Brunner 2012). As a result of the attainment of the goals and objectives, the leader’s identity becomes more.
Leader’s Identity vs. Authentic Leadership
The authentic leadership and the leader’s identity concepts share some similarities though they have some striking differences. To begin with, the two concepts embrace the fact that with an increased healthy leader-followers relationship, the set organizational goals and objectives are easily achieved. Besides, both concepts concur that once the set goals are achieved, both the leader and the follower benefits. In the identity concept, the leader gains more self-identity while in the authentic leadership, the leader and the followers gain more experience from the attainment of the objectives. Both concepts use transformational leadership theory. Finally, both concepts rely on previous experiences (Amanchukwu, Stanley & Ololube 2015).
Besides the similarities, the two concepts have striking differences that are used to differentiate the two. They include; the authentic leaders are less focused on the leadership power and position while in the leader and identity concept, the leaders are concerned about their leadership position and power. Secondly, the identity concept is more centered on the leader’s success and progress other than the follower’s success (Van, Velsor & McCauley, 2004). In the authentic leadership, the leader is more focused on using the experience he or she has to improve the relationship with the follower so that they can both make significant progress.
Conclusion
For an organization to attain its goals and objectives there must have a healthy leader-follower relationship. Attainment of organizational goals is of utmost importance not only to the organization but also to the leaders and the followers. The different leadership dynamics have advantages and disadvantages to the organization, followers, and the leaders themselves. The leadership dynamics can either be acquired during the leadership period, or they can have been acquired during past experiences, leader’s believes, and values. Authentic leaders always believe in their past experiences and the values and believe they hold on to. Self-identity is an important aspect of the leader’s success because it helps the leaders to unleash their unknown abilities and strengths.
References
Amanchukwu, R, Stanley, G & Ololube, N 2015, ‘A Review of Leadership Theories, Principles and Styles and Their Relevance to Educational Management,' Management, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 6 – 14.doi: 10.5923/j.mm.20150501.02
Bishop, W 2013, ‘Defining the Authenticity in Authentic Leadership,’ The Journal of Values-Based Leadership, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 1 – 9.
Christy, V & Duraisamy, S 2016, ‘Authentic Leadership Style,' Intercontinental Journal of Human Resource Research Review, vol. 3, no. 10, pp. 24 – 32.
Dimovski, V, et al. 2012, ‘Authentic Leadership to the Future,’ pp. 1 – 12. doi: 10.5937/skolbiz1201001D
Eubank, D & Brown, A 2012, ‘Leadership, Identity, and Ethics,' Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 107, no. 1, pp. 1 – 3. doi 10.1007/s10551-012-1295-5
Ford, J 2006, ‘Discourses of Leadership: Gender, Identity, and Contradiction in a UK Public Sector Organization,' SAGE Publication, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 77 – 99. doi: 10.1177/1742715006060654
Greenwald 2007, ‘Leadership and Followership,' pp. 223 – 259.
Karp, T 2009, ‘Leadership as Identity Construction: The Act of Leading People in Organisations: A Perspective From the Complexity Sciences,’ Journal of Management Development, vol. 28, no. 10, pp. 880 – 894. DOI: 10.1108/02621710911000659
Key-Roberts, M & Halpin, S 2012, ‘Leader Identity, Individual Differences, and Leader Self-development,’ U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences, pp. 1 – 12.
Komives, R, Mainella, F, Longerbeam, S, Osteen, L & Owen, J 2006, ‘A leadership identity development model,' Journal of College Student Development, vol.47, no. 4, pp. 401-418. <https://search-proquestcom.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/docview/195180277?accountid=13158>
Luthans F & Avolio B 2003, ‘Authentic leadership: A positive developmental approach.’ In: K. S. Cameron, J. E. Dutton & R. E. Quinn (eds.): Positive organizational scholarship, San Francisco, Barrett-Koehle
Mango, E 2018, ‘Rethinking Leadership Theories,’ Open Journal of Leadership, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 57 – 88. doi: 10.4236/ojl.2018.71005
Sayani, A 2011, ‘Transformative Leadership and Identity,' JSTOR, vol. 409, pp. 70 – 86.
Shamir, B & Eliam, G 2005, ‘What’s your Story? QA Life-stories Approach to Authentic Leadership Development’, The Leadership Quarterly, vol. 16, pp. 395 – 417. doi:10.1016/j.leaqua.2005.03.005
Sharma, M & Jain, S 2013, ‘Leadership Management: Principles, Models and Theories,' Global Journal of Management and Business Studies, vol. 3, no. 3, pp. 309 – 318.
Sinclair, A 2011, ‘Being leaders: Identities and Identity Work in Leadership,' The SAGE Handbook of Leadership.
Van, V & McCauley, C 2004, ‘Our View of Leadership Development.’ The Center for Creative Leadership handbook of leadership development, vol. 1. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Yasir, M, Qureshi, M, Rasli, A & Khan, H 2016, ‘Authentic Leadership Development Process,' Abasyn Journal of Social Sciences.
