Custom «Selection and Development» Essay Paper Sample

Leadership entails the process in which individuals influence others in an objective and purposeful manner to direct the organization in a coherent and cohesive design. For an organization to achieve its set objective, it needs to impart diverse knowledge and skills on its leaders. A detailed analysis presents leadership as either process or trait leadership. Process leadership refers to the leadership design where an individual gains knowledge and skills on leadership as he or she is exposed to leadership. Depending on the organization’s policies and procedures for selecting appropriate leaders, they could be chosen for the skills they exhibit or by their values of leadership based on talent. Critically evaluating the effectiveness of leaders assists the organization to realize suitable leaders for the various tasks. In this regard, it enhances convenience for the followers and helps them in their pursuit of the organization’s vision (McShane, 2010). Organizations embrace the understanding of organization behavior to determine the appropriate persons for leadership positions. Nevertheless, the process of identification of such individuals is arduous and requires utmost skills and experience.

Organizations perceive leadership as a learning process through which the exact and dynamic skills and knowledge are acquired. Often, the leadership traits of an individual are influenced by his or her beliefs, values, ethics, past experience and character. This implies that skills, knowledge and character are the main aspects, which model a leader. Effective identification of leaders involves the use of trait and process theory to determine the best leaders. This theory perceives leadership as residing in people and identifiable in terms of intelligence, extroversion, fluency and other traits. On the other hand, the individual portrays the traits of leadership, which are observable over a certain set duration. Considering both theories, effective leaders can be identified to help the organization in the realization of its objectives. At the same time, followers gain trust and confidence in such leaders.

Selection of leaders

 In deliberating on the leadership appropriate for an organization, four factors are significantly critical. These include the leader, followers, communication and situation. The leader should be honest and have a great understanding regarding who he is, what he knows and his capabilities. This knowledge enables one to understand that it is the followers who rate him or her as being successful. This implies that the leader must fully convince the followers regarding his leadership capabilities unlike his or competitors in the event of an opposition. Different followers demand different forms of leadership a consideration that leaders needs to understand. In this regard, a leader should realize that the new and old followers need different leadership approaches (Mullins, 2010). New workers or employees need firm supervision unlike the old ones who embrace democratic leadership style.

Another important factor is the communication capability of the leader. In consideration of an effective leader, the organization should look for a leader with the ability to demonstrate the appropriate example in either a verbal or a non-verbal manner. This implies that such leaders have the capability to request their followers to perform any task. This builds a good relationship between the leader and the followers. Similarly, the leader should understand that all situations are unique and demand different approaches according to the context. Leaders should use their judgmental skills to decide on the best course of action and appropriate leadership style for each context. By being able to demonstrate varied skills on different situations, leaders illustrate their effects on actions rather than just the impressive stability of their traits. Despite the leadership skills exhibited by an individual, various forces significantly influence the capacity of its  implementation. These forces include the relationship between the seniors, knowledge of followers, informal leaders and the organization structure of the organization (Moorhead, 2006).

The identification of effective leaders could be a confusing task since there are bosses and leaders. Being in a leadership position either as a manager or a supervisor enables one to use his or her authority to accomplish the organization’s task and objectives in an ideal way.  A boss uses power to influence others in an authoritative manner to accomplish the expected tasks. Notably, bosses usually receive opposition from their followers and thus may contribute to the followers deviating from the set organization’s objectives. On the contrary, leadership entails the ability to influence others to have the urge to work for the organization and achieve high goals. In analyzing the appropriate leader for the organization, this consideration is very significant and the choice made determines the success of the organization.

The understanding and acquisition of effective leadership demand two critical values of the person. In order to regard an individual as an effective leader, his rating regarding communication and trust should be satisfactory. Trust creates confidence in the leader, which in turn influence the followers’ satisfaction and reliability on him or her. On the other hand, effective communication assists in winning organizational confidence and trust. It helps a leader to present the organization’s business strategies in a precise and convenient way. Furthermore, effective leaders help followers understand the means in which they can contribute to the overall business objectives of the organization. Similarly, leaders use this trait to share information with their followers regarding the organization’s performance and their contribution with respect to strategic business objectives.

Developing of effective leaders

The process of developing effective leaders entails a tough task of identifying the individuals suitable for the training and the training process they should undergo. Initially, the individuals identified for training should have personal traits that are suitable for the task before being imparted with the relevant knowledge and skills. These individuals should be technically proficient persons who understand themselves and seek self-improvement. Training enables them to understand the need to seek and take responsibility for any action. In realizing the task at hands, they search for ways in which to steer the organization into new heights. The acquisition of such skills enables one to analyze situations and take corrective measures before moving on to the next challenging tasks (Phillips, 2012). In this regard, leaders can avoid the blame game and rather become tactful problem-solvers in all dimensions.

Leadership skills and knowledge are significant for individuals with the understanding that they are the role model in the organization they represent. In this regard, followers must not only realize what is expected of them, but should also see their leader doing it. To achieve this objective, leaders need to understand their followers and indentify their well-being. This perception demands the consideration of the human nature in every task that followers undertake. Additionally, it portrays a sense of responsibility for the followers by the leader. In this regard, followers become motivated and their preference of working under the leadership of a certain person increases boosting his or her practice. Learning the human behavior enhances leaders’ service delivery in the organization concerning the effectiveness in various operations.  

In the leaders training process, an organization should enhance the collective contribution of its varied segments. This enhances teamwork among the organization’s workers thus improving the level of coordination among the sections. In this regard, leaders get the importance of participation in groups and at times the need to compromise reasonable ideas, which could be contrary to theirs despite them being the leaders. At this point, leaders become knowledgeable on how to make sound and timely decisions concerning any problem that might arise. They become enlightened on problem solving skills, decision making and various planning tools. When an opportunity presents itself, leaders would be able to demonstrate the skills that depict their prowess (Northouse, 2009).  In the event that they are faced with new challenges, using their creativity and the available problem-solving tools, they can tackle the challenges in a skillful manner. Additionally, any skill learnt through group work enables effective leaders to realize the means in which they could relate with other seniors and the overall relationship that should exist between them. Lastly, teamwork enables leaders to engage the organization’s departments and sections to their full capabilities.

Noting how significant it is to develop effective leaders in an organization, diverse knowledge and skills should be imparted to them to become all-rounded. As the organization puts effort in providing additional training to their leaders, they should also take personal initiatives in venturing into varied zones of knowledge to discover new concepts. In this regard, leaders get first hand information, which gives them an advantage regarding their respect from their followers. Nonetheless, diverse knowledge in other areas like time management, visioning, mentoring, and organizational behavior is very critical in the enhancement of effectiveness in the organization (Robbins, 2007). Finally, an organization should realize the need to continually update its leaders on the dynamism of leadership and inculcate their willingness to learn. The adoption of these efforts by an organization will significantly enhance the successful realization of its set objectives.