The Individual and Leadership

Introduction In organizations, effective leadership is important in ensuring that achievement of objectives is realized. Leadership facilitates the attainment of a explicit goal or objective. The goal is common among all the people. To be an effective leader, it is imperative that all objectives are clear and every member understands his or her role.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on The Individual and Leadership specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Various theoretical frameworks and explanations provide insights on various ways that objectives become achievable through effective leadership. Besides, ways of exercising leadership differ across the board. This expository essay illuminates on the broader concept of organizational leadership. The paper will utilize various standpoints held by critical thinkers who have been pivotal throughout this course. Theoretical Frameworks of Leadership There are various the ories that explore the concept of leadership especially in organizational context. Ciulla (2003) explicates that leaders ought to adopt a style that suits their situation. While that is so, leaders have to exhibit specific traits that make them stand out in a group. Trait theories articulate that leaders have intrinsic ability to influence others. This implies that leaders are inborn and not everyone in the society is able to assume a position of leadership. Another theory that explains the concept of leadership involves cognition and learning. The theorists assert that people acquire leadership traits through experience and being in a position of followership. Thus, everyone can assume a position of leadership as long as they have acquired enough experience to lead a group towards its goals and objectives. These are among many theories that explain leadership in the context of organization. Further, it is important to notice that exercise of leadership is dependent on the strategy that a leader assumes. Ellis Harper (1997) says that transformative leaders will employ a style that is convincing to people and use their charisma to enhance the achievement of organizational goals. This is contrary to dictatorial and authoritative leaders who not only use their authority to decide the course that a group takes but also dismiss teamwork. Situational leaders on the other hand will always attempt to handle every matter as it arises (Yukl, 2006). They are also synonymous to contingent leaders who respond to different situation as they crop up. Indeed, they do not have any prior plans that anticipate situations.Advertising Looking for research paper on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In the contemporary world, the need for supportive leaders is increasing. This is in lieu of the fact that leaders will be the focal point of every organization in ensuring that members achieve their goals as pl anned. They support and encourage their members without any form of discrimination. In addition, they allow members to participate meaningfully when working towards a common goal. This way, members are able to contribute important insights that lead to improvement of the organization. Ciulla (2003) says that organizations should be able to ensure that all members are able to give their opinions. She further says that effective communication where information flows from the staff members to the management is the best way to enhance ethical and effective leadership (Ciulla, 2003). This way, a leader is able to understand the emotional intelligence of all members and make sure that they do not cross the line when issuing instructions (Ellis Harper, 1997). To this end, members become committed to the organization making it easy for the leaders to achieve effectiveness. Nonetheless, it is upon the leader to adopt a leadership style that he or she feels will be able to motivate the group towards the objectives. Individual and Organizational Leadership Spence et al. (2004) articulate that organizations are composed of different individuals who fulfill their roles and responsibilities to achieve its objectives. As such, various individuals perform their duties at different capacities. Of particular interest are leaders of departments and other functions of the organization. As a leader, it is important to ensure that the members are able to comprehend their roles in a clear manner (Ellis Harper, 1997). This is possible through effective communication and support. The leaders should be in a position to form a team through which various abilities, talents and skills become apparent. In addition, the leader should be able to inculcate an element of trust among his followers. This way, members will open up and give the leader a chance to understand their emotional intelligence.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on The Individual and Leadership specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More While some members respond to a specific situation in a calm way, others may react in an opposite way. As such, emotional intelligence is the key to unraveling the character that every member possesses. Ciulla (2003) explains that an individual who occupies leadership position in an organization ought to understand the aforementioned aspects of group members. According to Hobbes, a leader has power. Power within an organization is positional. It ought to propel an individual to ensuring that the organization achieves its mandate, which to large extents, involves influencing others. To this end, a leader should be able to comprehend the aspects of power that could impede the achievement of goals. Effect of Ethical Leadership in Organizations In the modern business environment, the concept of ethical leadership has become a norm. Corporations are seeking to control their activities and limit them to onl y those that yield benefits for all stakeholders. Ethics are guidelines of acting in a way that does not injure humanness of people in the pretext of increasing profit margins. While it is true that many organizations have entrenched ethical frameworks in their decision-making processes, sometimes they experience ethical dilemmas. This is when the interests of the organization are at stake for taking ethical standpoints. For instance, McDonald’s fast food company embarks on an aggressive social responsibility regardless of its financial performance. The company has suffered immensely from health practitioners’ articulations that junk food is unhealthy for people. Nonetheless, the fast food giant continues to make substantial amounts of revenues notwithstanding the health issues raised regarding fries and junk. Should a company bear the social obligation to meet the demands of the society despite making profits from hazardous goods to consumers? Apparently, the major ob jective of any corporate organization is to maximize on profits and increase the wealth of the shareholders. This case presents two moral dilemmas for an organization. First, despite profiting from unhealthy products, the company continues to direct substantial proportion for the revenues to corporate social responsibility. Is it worthwhile? Second, to what extents are companies morally obligated to assume moral standpoints yet the main objective of a company is to increase its profit margin and increase the value for its shareholders.Advertising Looking for research paper on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Corporate social responsibility reflects reward power to the society where the company reaps benefits from sales and rewards the society through the initiative (Spence et al., 2004). The use of reward power by McDonald’s has helped the organization to meet its objectives amidst calls for a paradigm shifts in eating habits. Yukl (2006) explicates that the most important aspect of an organization that the leaders ought to understand entails dealing with stakeholders in a manner that does not lower their value. According to Yukl, does the company have the moral obligation of helping the society? Leaders ought to be the representatives of organizations and as such, they act in line with the organization’s objectives (Yukl, 2006). By embarking on the aggressive social responsibility strategy, the leaders are just acting in line with the objective of making unprecedented profits and the strategy reflects use power influence. Further, the concept of power and self-interests e lucidated by Plato could infer that McDonald’s has centralized power of influencing both the employees as well as the society. Plato sees no rationale for embarking on such strategy since it would imply that people have power. He distances himself from ‘people power’ and argues that the company, which in this case represents the ‘Republic’, should not bear any moral obligation for the society (Bostock, 2000). In essence, the society has no mandate to demand any source of help from the company. The wielder of power, in this case, McDonalds bear the mandate of distributing power in any manner it feels best address the interests of the people without coercion. Due to the power of self-interests, McDonald’s should focus on its objectives, which is to increase the wealth of its owners rather than distributing its revenues to people (Annas, 1981). The self-interests of the shareholders should prevail as opposed to the need to address society’ s issues, which is in itself contradicts the essence of the ‘Republic’. Annas (1981) points out that leaders of the organization who are the shareholders and management should concentrate power for the sake of achieving individually motivated goals and objectives. Contrary to the views of Plato, Hobbes could judge the dilemma from different perspectives. His perspective of power, which in this case is wielded by McDonalds, should be in relation to other people. In his masterpiece, The Leviathan, Hobbes says that power is relational to other people without whom there would be no any phenomenon referred to as power (Ellis Harper, 1997). Hence, McDonalds has wielded relative power given that the consumers continue to have faith in the company. To that end, the exercise of power should be with the aim of ensuring that the organization’s stakeholders have the satisfaction with the organization. This way, the company will continue making profits and achieve it financi al and organizational goal. This raises the next question, to what extents are companies obligated to have a social responsibility initiative? Hobbes argues that there is a minimum standard power that people should possess. In what he referred to as ceding power, McDonalds’ aggressive corporate social responsibility should be seen as a way of showing that people hold this type of power. It is therefore important for the company to act devoid of self-interests and provide healthy foods to the consumer as a show of ceding power (Zaccaro et al., 2001). Niccollo Machiavelli would argue in line with his premise that human nature is typical of endless competition. In fact, the essence of life is to ensure that every person gets an edge over others. Applying this argument to the context of an organization, McDonalds should not relent on its current strategy whether or not the food they serve are healthy. Antonakis et al. (2009) assert that the company should focus on ensuring that i t maximizes on profits without considering the consequences of its operations on the society or consumer. This is in lieu of the fact that an organization should aim at posing the increased competition with other food industry despite the means it uses. Owing to this nature of human beings, the revenues of the company should not fund corporate social responsibility since it negates human nature (Ciulla, 2003). Machiavelli infers that an organization should act selfishly and amass wealth for the stakeholders who ultimately should understand that life is short, nasty and brutal (Davis Blomstrom, 1975). Despite such radical standpoint held by Machiavelli, all organizations are selfish because competition is a reality in business environment. As such, all companies aim at having an edge over others in order to increase their earnings and enrich the stockholders as opposed to the stakeholders. To the contrary, Rand conceptualizes the concept of power by elucidating that practical power is important and inherent aspect of human beings (Carroll Buchholtz, 2006). Therefore, McDonald’s consumers should be able to question the motives of the organization and demand the company to give back to the society through corporate social responsibility. Conclusion In essence, leadership is an important aspect of organizations. Various theories attempt to explain leadership from different standpoints. They include cognition, behavioral and traits among many others. These theories attempt to unravel the reasons behind successful leaders in organizations and amplify the role of individuals in an organization. Further, it is important to emphasize the importance of ethical leadership and dilemmas. The aforementioned case of McDonald’s gives an illustration of various ways that an organization can face ethical dilemmas despite adopting ethical decisions. References Annas, J. (1981). An introduction to Plato’s Republic. Oxford: Clarendon Press Antonakis, J., Ash kanasy, N. Dasborough, M. (2009). Does leadership need emotional intelligence? The Leadership Quarterly, 20 (2), 247–261. Bostock, D. (2000). Aristotle’s Ethics. New York: Oxford University Press. Carroll, A. Buchholtz, A. (2006). Business and Society: Ethics and Stakeholder Management. Mason, Ohio: Thomson/South-Western. Ciulla, B. (2003).The Ethics of Leadership. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Thompson-Wadsworth Publishers. Davis, K. Blomstrom, R. (1975). Business and Society: Environment and Responsibility. New York: McGraw-Hill. Ellis, A. Harper, R. (1997). A Guide to Rational Living. Hollywood, California: Wilshire. Spence, L., Habisch, A. Schmidpeter, R. (2004). Responsibility and Social Capital. The World of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises. New York: Palgrave. Yukl, G. (2006). Leadership in Organizations. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Zaccaro, J., Rittman, L., Marks, A. (2001). Team leadership. Leadership Quarterly, 12(4), 451-483. This research paper on The Individual and Leadership was written and submitted by user Elsie Chase to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Be sensitive; get the details right - Emphasis

Be sensitive; get the details right Be sensitive; get the details right Its always important to check over and authenticate the key details in anything you write before you send it out. But if theres ever a time when its absolutely vital, its when addressing sensitive matters. Gordon Brown knows this now better than anyone. At a time of year when everyone is particularly conscious of the lives and lot of soldiers, it is especially mortifying that he apparently sent out a handwritten condolence note with misspellings, including of the late young mans name. Whether its your unfortunate duty to be penning a letter denying a loan, rejecting a proposal or giving someone their notice, you must remember that the recipient will probably already be on the defensive. Any typos or unchecked errors will just seem like insult piled on top of injury. So, be it in the spirit of not burning bridges, of good press, or merely the milk of human kindness get the details right.

How are proffessional and managerial careers gendered and racialist Essay

How are proffessional and managerial careers gendered and racialist - Essay Example From this research it is clear that globalization and advancements in technology have led to the career advancement of women and fading of the cultural and feminist beliefs which have made women to increasingly participate in managerial and professional roles which were traditionally male dominated. Every individual despite his race is guaranteed by law a chance to develop in his career without any discrimination. This has however not always been the case since people from minority groups still face discrimination. Evidence from surveys conducted by Equality campaigner groups have shown that job applicants from minority races stood a higher of not being shortlisted for job interviews compared with white counterparts with similar qualifications. People from minority groups have been found to shy away from some professions due to perceived racial prejudice. Researchers have also shown that the racial background of an individual may determine their chances of getting into managerial job s. The government has however worked towards equality at job place by introducing stringent laws to guarantee equal opportunities for all. In professional careers, the role of gender is demonstrated by the perception of the society on the role of women in work activities. Some working environments such as construction and engineering work are considered to be hostile for women. According to Arditi and Balci, the perceptions and beliefs on gender and work continue to persist despite the fact that women have demonstrated the ability of performing duties which were considered to be meant for men.... Watts (2009, p. 23) illustrates that high profile organizations have been reported to show bias against women in the promotion into managerial positions. For example civil lawsuits have been staged by women against large organizations and companies such as Wal-Mart for allegation of gender bias in the appointment, promotion and compensation of female employees as compared to the male counterparts. Fisher, Gushue and Cerrone (2011, p. 447) assert that women in the UK’s construction industry who work as engineers face challenges in balancing the professional and domestic life because of the obligations they are expected to meet at home and the pressure at work. The cultural context and belief of the society on the participation of women in construction work show that men are considered to be most suited for the construction work. According to Watts (2009, p. 37), women face prejudice when working in a male dominated career because some roles and work activities are considered to be meant for men. The number of women within the construction industry is increasing despite the challenges and the prejudice associated with this career. The ability of women to survive in the male dominated career shows that they are qualified to be part of the team and it is contributing to the reduction of the discrimination in hiring female engineers. Therefore the professional identity of women in some managerial and professional careers is facing conflicts and challenges but they are decreasing with the growing civilization within world societies. It is notable that gender discrimination in managerial and professional careers is not always apparently

Advertisement and marketing communication Essay

Advertisement and marketing communication - Essay Example The new economy has brought success to e-bay and other organizations that use technology to apply marketing concepts like customer focus, good value, quality service and efficient exchange mechanisms for satisfying customer needs and wants. Basically marketing deals with identifying and meeting human and social needs. One of the shortest definitions of marketing is "meeting needs profitably (Kotler, 2003). Whether the marketer is Procter & Gamble, which created crest white strips in response to people's desire for whiter teeth; or Monster.com, which developed an online resume databank so job-hunters and employers can find each other more efficiently; or CarMax which invented a new way to sell used cars because people want more certainly when buying such vehicles, all illustrate a drive to turn a private or social need into a profitable business opportunity. Companies must carefully monitor their customers and competitors, continuously improve their value offerings, carefully define t he target market and value proposition, and take a long term view to satisfy customers, stockholders, employees, suppliers and channel partners. Modern marketing calls for more than developing a good product, pricing it attractively, and making it accessible. Companies must also communicate with present and potential stakeholders as well as general public. For companies it is not important to communicate but rather what to say, to whom and how often. The marketing communication mix consists of advertising, sales promotion, public relations and publicity, personal selling and direct marketing (Kolter, 1997). Advertising is any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, good or service by an identified sponsor. Ads are a cost effective way to disseminate message, whether to build brand preference. In developing an advertisement programme, marketing mangers start by identifying the target market and buyer motives. Then they make 5 critical decisions known as five M's i.e. Mission (objectives) Money, Message, Media & Measurement. An advertising objective is a specifics communication task and achievement level to the accomplished with a specific audience in a specific period. Advertising objectives can be classified according to whether their aim is to inform, persuade, remind or reinforce. The international charity recruiting business school playing the major role through providing students who are voluntarily help small business to grow in the developing market. We are required to show in the advertisement that it conveys goodwill and image of the organization. So this advertisement could be categorized as institutional advertisements, which advocates its act and show its pioneer work. To develop an effective advertisement one has to identify the target audience. Here we have an organization, which has some genuine motives. Our target audience is the people, who are young, willing to be the part of society and work for the betterment of the society, people and organizations. So seeing the target audience of the advertisement we selected red color, which, depicts vibrant, energetic and highly self-motivated nature of youth and this color attracts people immediately. Here picture is showing the two basic domain of people or society that is haves and have-nots. There is a path, which is very difficult, but it can take the people from the category of have-nots towards who have. In between the path there are lots of roadblocks and potholes, which makes journey very difficult but our business school graduates have the capacity to make the transition mu ch easier and he/she is right there to help voluntarily. Specifying the objective of the message plays a crucial role in deciding the nature. Simple and humorous massages which could be able to convey the message effectively will play the trick. It's an advertisement about voluntary service so it must contain some motivating message, which could easily attract

Identify and assess the significance of three factors that contributed to American westward movement Essay Example for Free

Identify and assess the significance of three factors that contributed to American westward movement Essay This could be dismissed as ‘the grass is always greener’. There were however a number of factors involved. These included the search for precious metal, the possibility of obtaining land and the expansion of the railways. Although usually described as a move west, it was to some extent also a move south as in the case of those seeking gold and silver in Californian mines as a result of the accidental finding of gold by James Marshall in 1848 as described by Steve Weigand on the web page ‘The California Gold Rush, an era remembered. Land was seen as a form of wealth and the majority of those who migrated to America did so in the hope of obtaining land to farm. Under British rule Europeans had been restricted in their settlement to the area east of the Appalachians, but after the Revolutionary War this inhibition was removed and so people streamed south and west. Later, with the coming of the railways, markets in the north could be served from further west. This allowed the great expansion of cities such as New York and Chicago. see more:which was a factor that led to the scientific revolution In the years immediately before the American Civil War in the 1860’s the railways had built up into quite a network serving the eastern states, but afterwards they gradually spread over the rest of the country. This meant that people no longer had to spend many weeks of hardship in order to reach their destination and so the tiny townships already established by earlier settlers were quickly expanded new comers seeking for themselves and their families a better life. The Irish potato famine of the 1840’s as described on the History Place web page, ‘The Blight Begins’ led to many immigrants from that country, the majority would not have been city folk, so it is perhaps natural that some migrated to the western states where they saw at least some hope for their future, just like all the other migrants.

Covers of the High and Low: Attractions and Reflections Essay -- Book

Covers of the High and Low: Attractions and Reflections When preparing a book for publishing, companies surely convene to agree upon a suitable cover - its design, size, color, texture, print size and design, and so on. Not one of these ingredients would be arbitrary, but each seems to perform two functions - attracting the appropriate reading audience, and reflecting the text's content in an intriguing manner. In short, the bestseller cover seems to work to create a certain "aura" which acts as a stylized extension, and/or abbreviated summary of the atmosphere produced by the words within. Often a picture appears centralized on the cover - an image to catch the eye more quickly than mere printed words would. At a moment's glance, the passer-by has already noticed an image, and then continues to process its meaning, aided by the ensuing title and perhaps author's name. Certain expectations and questions are inspired, as techniques of the cover take effect in the mind of the potential reader. The meaning derived from the cover's collaborat ing external signifiers is often fulfilled within the internal text. Because the cover is reflective of the novel's internal workings, and often its "high/low" cultural classification, the first reader/cover encounter could both determine a reader's initial acceptance or rejection of the book, and be somewhat prophetic of his/her subsequent reading experience. In this way, the bestseller cover is effective in reflecting the inner substance of the writing (including "high" or "low" cultural quality) in an intriguing manner which attracts appropriate readers. Danielle Steele's Vanished portrays a small picture - an almost outlined (rather iconic) suggestion really - of a young boy in what ... ...s traits of the "low cultural" bestseller converge together in the compact, physical realm of the cover to reflect the content's most "popular" strengths in a way that is provoking, and often enigmatic. The use of image and other signifiers of the cover is handled differently by "high cultural" bestsellers, as their literary self-perceptions are different. Hence, although both "high" and "low cultural" bestsellers use similar methods of content reflection, their covers are remarkably dissimilar, owing to 1.The difference in the publishers' perception of the book's strengths (such as "art", or "entertainment"), and 2.The target audience the publisher wishes to attract, based upon these perceptions. All bestsellers are popular, and their charismatic covers, when channeled to the appropriate audience, must be imperative in their achievement of such immense popularity.

Jewish beliefs on life after death and Jewish Funerals Essay

Describe the Jewish beliefs about what happens to evil people after death. Death as a general concept is a very difficult concept to come to grips with; it is one of the very few events that occur in modern life where we do not have primary sources to inform us. The torah talks about â€Å"Every Jew having a portion in the world to come†. So we have already established that even the most evil person amongst our ranks will live beside us in the world to come. The problem in the above paragraph which is talked about a lot in Jewish teachings and literature is weather the evil people will live beside us or weather just like a class divide on the trains in England’s past they will be mere peasants in the back carriages. All sources at hand concur that for those possessed with good that have devoted their lives to mitzvoth the after life will only bring pleasure and the most desirable dreams. Back to the original question the problem and arguments occur when talking about evil people. During torah times we were told of a place designed for these sinners referred to as â€Å"Sheol†. When comparing this ideology to the idea of â€Å"Hell† believed by followers of the Christian belief, it was agreed that this is not the case and in fact Judaism does not believe in Hell. – Which is believed to be a mans worst nightmare and often depicted as a fiery underworld. The most well known description of Sheol is a place where the soul is made to stand naked, with no shelter to hide and to have to explain and come to terms with all the sins it has committed. AO2 – Explain how a Jewish funeral service might comfort someone whose close friend has died. The most visually explicit seen which would comfort a friend is the first part of a Jewish funeral, in Hebrew called the leveya translated into the accompaniment. This brings respect to the body and shows the onlookers including the friend how much this body is being respected in its current state and therefore how much it was loved. The (Chevra Kadisha) The most holy people, are the ones responsible for caring for the body after its death and before it is returned to the dust it was made from. It would make anybody feel comforted knowing that their loved was in the hands of these very people, they perform their tasks with the utmost respect. A Eulogy is delivered after the burial; this reminds the friend of the accomplishments that the man has achieved and that his time on the Earth will be remembered. During the second part of the funeral, a hole is dug and the body is put in, the mourner is made to cover the grave himself, this stimulates the mourners body physically and emotionally, and combined the realisation process will begin and he will start understanding that his friend is no longer with us in this world. After he has buried his friend he is in a period of mourning. During this crucial period of a Jewish death, he has certain mitzvoth he must observe, these include not shaving and not preparing your own food. Even non – Jewish therapists have agreed that this method is very good and helps an individual to accept the passing away in a gradual process. Kadish is a prayer said by a mourner and is important because it is said to elevate the soul of the relative and also allows the mourner to feel as if he is still helping even as his relative lies in his coffin. All of these tasks are specifically designed to help the mourner to understand this natural process and to help respect the dead. AO3 – â€Å"It cannot be true that there is life after death because there is no evidence for it. As afore mentioned it is difficult to find proof of the afterlife because we do not have primary sources to agree or disagree with its existence. The torah does specifically mention the afterlife in the form of â€Å"Sheol† and for Jews which follow the torah, this is the most textual proof they need in order to believe this. Just like most of the Jewish religion, Belief plays a huge part, and to believe in the after life is to have beliefs about Jewish ideology. The Mishna and the Gemara, Jewish book of learning do bring textual proof of their being an afterlife. In my opinion the after life does exist, because I am a believer of Jewish principles which tell you that your good deeds will be rewarded and your bad ones deducted from you, I can only believe that my actions in this world, will all be linked to the world to come and I shall receive my just deserves.