Analyzing Leadership in a Turbulent Business Environment: A Report

This report critically evaluates the approaches and guiding principles used by managers to lead and motivate their workforce in a turbulent business environment. It begins with an introduction that highlights the shift from stable to turbulent business environments and the need for managers to build trust and motivate employees amidst constant change. The report then delves into the traits and characteristics of effective managers, emphasizing the importance of ethical behavior, team building, and cultural diversity. It explores various leadership theories, including Blake and Mouton's Managerial Grid, House's Path-Goal Theory, Great Man theory, Trait theory, Leadership-member exchange theory (LMX), Transformational leadership, and Transactional leadership, as well as the Continuum of leadership behavior and Likert’s management system. The report also addresses the challenges managers face in leading and motivating employees, such as adapting to new technologies, managing employee resistance to change, and promoting ethical conduct. The conclusion summarizes the key findings and emphasizes the importance of continuous adaptation and employee engagement in achieving high organizational performance.

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Table of Contents
S.No. Topic Page No.
Part A: Leading Workforce in Turbulent Business Environment
1. Introduction 2
2. The need for the managers to lead and
motivate its workforce in this turbulent
business environment
2-3
3. Approaches and principles used by
managers to lead and motivate the
employees
3-7
4. Challenges faced by managers in leading
and continuously motivating their employees
towards high-performance work practices in
the new workplace
7-8
5. Conclusion 8-9
6. References 10
7. Part B: Reflective Journal 11
8. References 12
No. of Pages- 12
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Part A: Leading Workforce in Turbulent Business Environment
Introduction
Traditionally, the organizations used to be much more stable and internally consistent.
The external environment provided a lot of opportunities to the business to succeed,
and the level of competition in the market was also low. But, with globalization and
several other developments taking place worldwide, things have changed. Now, the
business environment has become turbulent. It has become very challenging for the
managers to handle things within the organization and they continuously need to revise
the strategy of the company so that it works in line with the changing business
environment. In this process, the managers have to focus on building trust with the
employees of the company so that they remain committed to the organization and adapt
to the changes with minimal résistance. Also, the people have to be motivated so that
the creativity and enthusiasm of the people stay intact and they continue to contribute
efforts towards the development of the company.
The purpose of this report is to critically evaluate the approaches and guiding principles
used by managers to lead and motivate its workforce in this turbulent business
environment and adapt to the complex environmental shifts to achieve high
organizational performance and corporate effectiveness.
The need for the managers to lead and motivate its workforce in this turbulent
business environment
In the modern world, the competition is very fierce, and as a result, the employees,
teams, and managers are working to their full potential and producing top results. So it's
the duty of the managers to lead their team and organization to get maximum
productivity for which they need to motivate them. Leading and motivating is a pre-
requisite to be a manager. The entire organization, team, and employees rely on the
decisions taken by the managers at difficult times which includes making necessary
changes and adapting to changing time, making tough decisions that require ethics and
leadership skills and qualities, building enthusiasm and confidence among employees
and being an agent for change. There are certain traits and characteristics of any
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manager that helps them to make effective decisions and possess clear vision with a
problem-solving capability. These traits are surgency- a prospect of emotional activity
which leads to positive affect, conscientiousness- which considers parameters like
agility, carefulness, the managers possessing this trait are highly organized and
effective, agreeableness- it includes innate quality and parameters like kindness,
persuasiveness, considerate nature, cooperative and helpful, adjustment- self-motivated
and easily adopts to various situations and intelligence- capability to foresight tough
situations, critical thinking. These personality traits are all together referred to as the Big
Five personality traits that define the qualities of a good and competent manager (Jones
et al. 2005). These personality traits can be developed by hard work and can also be
part of innate qualities. Effective and competent managers often exhibit qualities like
adaption to stress environment, self-motivation, possess high energy levels and spark,
enthusiasm, emotional stability and maturity, and integrity. It is very essential for
managers to handle adverse situations arising due to incompatibility, ethical misconduct
or any social or corporate dilemma with maturity as, if not handled may lead to distrust
of the stakeholders and consumers that will affect the company's growth and profits.
Ethical behavior and conduct can never be learned; they are a part of innate
characteristic that is refined over the course of time by implementing and gaining
knowledge (Boundless, 2017). Another important role of the manager is to build an
effective team, which can handle any adverse situation with a high problem-solving
skills. It's the role of manager to determine the true potential of the employees and
team, which can be exploited channelized to a positive side that can increase the
company's growth, profit, and consumer satisfaction by several folds. By knowing the
qualities of the employees, the manager can assign tasks relevant to their capabilities
so that each member of the company can know their importance and feel proud as a
part of the company. The conduct associated with the powers and trust bestowed on
managers does not demand an comply the use of powers and resources to any extent
for solving any matter, but rather its the effective use of these resources (Brown,
2006).cultural and social diversity should be an integral part of any organization as it
depicts a positive work culture and ethics, where every person is treated equally
disregard of his/her position (Yukl 2002). Managers are always exhibited as perfect
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persons that have and possess a high moral values, a wide array of capabilities, ethical
thinking and conduct and critical analysis and thinking that play an important role in
managing integrity, complexity to the work environment (Cable, 2003). Gaining public
interest is an imperative measure for any manager to be successful. This will help him
gain trust, removing the confidence gap and let its employees follow his decisions for
the betterment of organization and society. The manager must be a role model that
depicts a person of higher standards, ethical thinker and follower. Manager or a leader
should be competent enough and must have an intuitive approach that can help them to
resolve any conflicted and complicated situation. The manager must put forward values
before interest and must set an example for all to simplify any issue or dilemma with the
same passion and observance (Treviño 2006). The manager must be a hallmark and
should have a capacity to tolerate ambiguity, uncertainty, and complexity.
Approaches and principles used by managers to lead and motivate the
employees The leadership exhibited by managers are a diverse content, and there are
several leadership theories that authenticate the role of managers in any organization
(Leadership theories, 2017): - Blake and Mouton’s Managerial Grid (Blake, 1962): - this
approach helps the managers to assess their performance and leadership styles, which
are referred to as grid training. The ideal score and aim of the manager are to reach (9,
9).
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o
This is done and validated by answering a questionnaire, which gives an insight from
the company’s perception and their influence in motivating their employees and concern
for maintaining organizations effective production. However, this model exhibits more
drawbacks as they lack the importance and need of internal and external limits, matter
and scenario and no major aspects of leadership qualities are considered and
discussed. House's Path-Goal Theory (House, 1975): - it is based on the factor that the
employee’s effort and performance is based on the leadership quality and behavior
exhibited by the manager. The leaders are looked upon as a role model and employees
tend to adapt their qualities and attitude towards work culture.
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The different leadership styles associated with this theory are that the leaders must be
directive which provides guidelines and set performance standards for them and
incorporates incentives and reward system to maximize productivity, the leader must be
supportive and should display a friendly behavior towards employees, the manager
must be participative and should lead the team or organization in difficulties, should also
be open to conversations and helping any colleague and lastly, the leader should be
achievement oriented as the primary aim and objective of any organization is to meet
the targets set. This theory helps in increasing the employee satisfaction and
performance. Great Man theory (Organ, 1996): - this theory emphasizes on the innate
qualities of the leader that are inherited by them as they are based on studying the
qualities and traits of effective leaders like Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, etc. Trait
theory (Pervin, 1994): - this is based on the characteristics of both successful and non-
successful leaders. The qualities are then subjected to a comparison with that of
potential leaders to predict leadership effectiveness that will assess their probability of
success or failure. There are several traits that are accounted and considered for
comparison that includes efforts, ambition, energy, taking initiative, leadership
motivation, possessing honesty, integrity, ethical conduct, self-confidence, exemplary
cognitive ability, knowledge, emotional maturity, charisma, creativity, flexibility, etc. This
theory relies on comparison which may vary from organization to organization and
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situation to situation. There is no benchmark to assess and compare as the qualities
cannot be defined and subjective. Leadership-member exchange theory (LMX)
(Bernerth, 2008): - it considers the relation of leaders with different subordinates as they
are reflected by the degree of mutual trust shown and imparted, the extent of support
provided, respect and obligation. The relation between leaders and subordinates are
structured by two stages i.e. role taking and role making. LMX is a widely accepted
theory as its focuses on individual relationships which are accompanied by trust,
obligation, and respect. Transformational leadership (Judge, 2004): - this leadership is
gaining popularity as it influences business leader to motivate their employees beyond
their task requirements. These leadership qualities are associated with all levels and
have a charismatic appeal. The four factors are exhibited by transformational leaders
Inspirational motivation consists of setting vision, mission and set of values to the
members. Intellectual stimulation focuses on subordinates being more innovative and
creative. However, this parameter is associated with open criticism. Idealized influence
emphasizes on the qualities of a leader, as they are adapted and practiced by the
employees. Individualized consideration includes giving incentives, bonuses, and
rewards to maximize productivity and efficiency. Transactional leadership (Judge,
2004): - it involves motivating and guiding the subordinates mainly through appealing
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and indicating their self-interest. Continuum of leadership behavior: - it can be
summarized as depicted in the figure below
Likert’s management system: - it has validated four different management models viz.
exploitative authoritative, benevolent authoritative, consultative and participative. It
focuses on the long-term relation of an employ and management and motivates them to
be associated with the organization. Hershey Blanchard model: - it focusses on the
readiness of the subordinates i.e. to what extent they are influenced by the leader. The
leader exhibits motivation to the employees by telling, selling, participating and
delegating.
Challenges faced by managers in leading and continuously motivating their
employees towards high-performance work practices in the new workplace
There are various challenges faced by the managers in leading and motivating their
employees as the entire management chain requires a substantial amount of amount
while dissipating information. As the technology are changing at a very fast pace, and
so the company needs to implement change management. The primary concern is the
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rejection of employees to adapt to new technology as it is often associated with the
social, environmental change, the employees are already working on their full potential
and pushing them beyond their limits may result in loss of workforce and resources,
conducting meetings with the higher authorities to get an insight to problems faced by
employees also result in major challenge as the agendas of discussion may be biased,
based on self-interest, can defame employees role and position, target set by the
company often leads to change in behavior of the manager, making the workplace an
ideal working environment, imparting justice to all individually, implementing ethics
related to social, corporate and legal domain, to identify the potential of all the
employees so that the work can be assigned to get maximum potential, competition
among employees to improve their status in company, eliminating politics, etc. All these
challenges faced by managers can be overcome and sorted in an effective manner by
involving more with the employees. Implementing ethical conduct and treating everyone
on the same platform, disregard of their position in the organization will boost the
morale of the employees, helping them in any possible way and having open-ended
conversations will help to reduce gaps within the organization. It is essential for
managers to look after the benefits of their employees as the entire productivity and
efficiency of the company is dependent on them.
Conclusion
Due to increasing responsibilities and targets, the employees are feeling pressurized in
the work environment. For this, the managers have to play a crucial role in removing
these hurdles and making a positive work culture without compromising any results. It’s
the responsibility of an effective and ideal manager to follow and implement certain
approaches that define their role in any organization. It is an essential duty and role of
manager to identify the needs of the company, setting targets, and welfare of its
employees to make working a positive and enjoyable area. These qualities and concern
towards employees help to remove ethical paradoxes and must be evaluated and
sorted through by using ethical theories and approaches. Managers play an integral and
crucial role in any organization and exhibit the Big Five personality traits. Ethical
dilemma arising should be handled with proper concern and the rights of employees
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should be presented at all costs. The conflicts should be handled very carefully and
must be removed by flowing ethics. Conflicts are bound to arise in any work
environment, but it's the approach that depends that how a manager can tackle them.
The role of the manager is not only to conduct meetings and to survey the reports but
it’s to analyze the situation at ground level and having open-ended discussion with the
employees to get a clear vision and solve the problem as per the demand and situation.
Ideal leaders tend to preserve the confidentiality of its employees and minimize the
exploitation of vulnerabilities off the employees. The Leaders emphasize on imparting
justice to everyone at a single platform and their actions should ensure productive work,
boosts motivation level, separating the judgments and decision from day to day
business, keeping negative thinking and personal grudges aside while taking any ethical
decision, thinking and evaluating situation beyond ethical reasoning as there may be
influence from superiors and unbiased decision.
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References
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(2008). The influence of personality differences between subordinates and
supervisors on perceptions of LMX: An empirical investigation. Group &
Organization Management, 33(2), 216-240.
2. Blake, R. R., Mouton, J. S., & Bidwell, A. C. (1962). Managerial grid. Advanced
Management-Office Executive.
3. Brown, M. E., & Treviño, L. K. (2006). Ethical leadership: A review and future
directions. The leadership quarterly, 17(6), 595-616.
4. Cable, D. M., & Judge, T. A. (2003). Managers' upward influence tactic
strategies: The role of manager personality and supervisor leadership
style. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 24(2), 197-214.
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6. Judge, T. A., & Piccolo, R. F. (2004). Transformational and transactional
leadership: a meta-analytic test of their relative validity. Journal of applied
psychology, 89(5), 755.
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(2017). Managementstudyguide.com. Retrieved 16 February 2017, from
https://managementstudyguide.com/leadership-theories.htm.
8. Organ, D. W. (1996). Leadership: The great man theory revisited.
9. Pervin, L. A. (1994). A critical analysis of current trait theory. Psychological
Inquiry, 5(2), 103-113.
10. The Big Five Personality Traits. (2017). Boundless. Retrieved 17 February 2017,
from https://www.boundless.com/management/textbooks/boundless-
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