Does Leadership Make A Different To The Organizational Performance

DOES LEADERSHIP MAKE A DIFFERENCE TO THE ORGANISATIONAL PERFORMANCE?

“Leadership is a process by which an executive imaginatively directs guides and influences the work of others in choosing and attaining specified goals by mediating between the individuals and the organization in such a manner that both will obtain maximum satisfaction.” -Theo Haimann

Leadership is an extensive subject of research for various organizations. It is sometimes closely related to management. However, management and leadership are very different from each other. Management works IN a system, leadership works ON the system. Organizational performance in its most simple terms means the level of efficiency of employees working in an organization. It is a very broad

Eisenhower. It is a very wide concept and can be broken down into various elements for ease of understanding. Firstly, it is an Influencing process. Influencing means bringing various people under one’s own influence. An effective leader would behave and interact with his followers in such a manner that they fall under his influence automatically. The leader becomes the task setter for the members and they respond by completing the task as told by the leader. Influencing people are the very essence of leadership. Secondly, it is a Behavior-changing process. Leadership has the power of changing the behavior of employees. A successful leader will aim to achieve better performance through his subordinates. Thirdly, it involves Interpersonal relations between the leader and its employees: The main requirement of leadership is the presence of employees. Thinking of leadership without followers or subordinates would make no sense. To make leadership more meaningful, the leader should engage himself with the employees on a constant basis through communication skills, listening skills, motivational skills, social skills etc. Finally, leadership should help in achieving common goals. The leader has to effectively reconcile the organizational goals with that of the individual goals of the

A leader should examine every problem in the right perspective. He should have a logical bent of mind and be free from bias. He should possess the required knowledge and competence. A leader is like a user manual to the team. He should be able to communicate with people in a way that strikes other people as being on the same wavelength. The leader has to develop and create a culture that helps people to be franker. Receiving feedback is very important as this provides a scope of improvement for the leader himself. A leader should be a role model figure and should be able to inspire people. A leader must have the utmost confidence in his own abilities to accomplish tasks and tackle various situations that arise. An effective leader won’t sit idle but look for converting situations into opportunities. He should be willing to take the initiative. A leader should also understand the needs, problems and feelings of the employees to interact and communicate inspire confidence, enthusiasm and motivate