Organisational Leadership and Performance Essay

Organisational Leadership and Performance - Essay Example Leadership is essential for any organisation to become successful. In today’s knowledge based global economic environment, the topic of leadership has become more important and debated. Leadership has emerged as a subject almost inseparable from the basic concepts of organisational behaviour at the various levels of an establishment. Characteristics of a Leader What does a leader need to have? In other words, what does an individual need to emerge as a leader? Robbins et al (1998: 395) think that the following traits are important for an individual to become a leader: †¢ â€Å"long term vision; †¢ people and team-building skills; †¢ decisiveness; and †¢ self-confidence† In today’s dynamic world, the factor of long term vision has become more important since resources are limited and demands are increasing. Soft skills are important for people management and essential team building. Decisiveness and self-confidence helps the leader to decide his/her course of action. These leadership traits are necessary at the management level of a given organisation so that it can remain dynamic to stay competitive and survive. Leadership Development Leadership development must begin at the level of staff development and the related realm of education management is utterly concerned with the behaviour and training of the human resources of the organisation.... and team-building skills; decisiveness; and self-confidence† In today’s dynamic world, the factor of long term vision has become more important since resources are limited and demands are increasing. Soft skills are important for people management and essential team building. Decisiveness and self-confidence helps the leader to decide his/her course of action. These leadership traits are necessary at the management level of a given organisation so that it can remain dynamic to stay competitive and survive (Brown and Eisenhardt, 1995). Leadership Development Leadership development must begin at the level of staff development and the related realm of education management is utterly concerned with the behaviour and training of the human resources of the organisation (Bhindi, 1996). Thus education management becomes an integral part of the operations. Prospective staff members should be educated in the direction of becoming leaders at their levels. Definitely, the policy of leadership development, if implemented in a right way, can make a big difference to the organisation. Both the intra-organisational and inter-organisational behaviouristic patterns can be maintained, tuned and improved if leadership development programmes are initiated within the organisation (Boaden, 2006). According to Robbins et al (1998), leadership development has the phases of conceptual understanding, skill building and coaching. A feedback process and a development centre are also required. Conceptual understanding of leadership should be imparted to as many staff members as possible, especially those who belong from the young generation so that they can correlate their personal growth plan to the leadership practices that are productive, sensible and sustainable. (Robbins et al, 1998)