(Institution Name)
Introduction:
In the recent modern day business environment, there has emerged a very strong need for the organizations to make leaders that can steer the way of the organization through the competitive market. With a very specific reference to performance oriented organization, the concept of organizational leadership is dual focused.
This means that the organizational leadership is meant for two purposes; one is to ensure that the organizational members of the lower rank i.e. workers and employees get protected in their rights and get empowered to perform their jobs more effectively. Second is to ensure that the expectations of the organizational owners and managers are met (Yukl, 2013).
The most recent approaches take on board all the three layers of the organization i.e. the tip, middle and bottom of the organization in respect of making decisions. In the 21st century, the importance of leadership strategies has amplified greatly. In order to improve the performance of the workforce, to take the best out of them and to ensure a promising reduction in turnover; leaders have to perform the key role.
Discussion:
The participative leadership and empowerment can be rendered as the essential leadership quality in the modern day business environment. In this mode of leadership style, the leader ensures that not only does he or she takes part in the activities of the organization but also makes sure that the employees and subordinates are empowered to perform their respective tasks in ways that they in their professional capacity consider being the best and most efficient. In this style of leadership, rather than snubbing and ignoring the voice of the employees, a leader encourages input in the matters of decision making (Huang, Iun, Liu & Gong, 2010).
Employee motivation is an essential element when it comes to organizational performance. Employees tend to feel motivated in the presence of a certain degree of autonomy over their job-related tasks (Huang, Shi, Zhang & Cheung, 2006). When they are realized as not only working units of the organization but also decision makers, then they tend to own the organization even more and hence this reflects on the organizational performance.
If the leaders of the organization merely confine the employees to performing certain job tasks, then the employees tend to feel de-motivated. However, it is an understandable thing that such kind of a leadership style that advocates the involvement of employees in decision-making processes is possible only in the decentralized organizational settings.
In centralized organizational structures, it is virtually impossible for the employees to have any say in the decision-making processes. In such organization, only unanimous decisions are made at the top level, and the bottom and middle-level employees are only expected to follow.
In decentralized structures, however, employees are encouraged to participate in the decision-making processes and to provide inputs regarding their observations at the ground level and operations level. The leadership styles that encourage involvement are only possible in the decentralized organizational environments.
It is believed in the decentralized organizational structures that no input is invaluable, and the organization can use any kind of addition to the stock of knowledge. Learning organizations opt for using participative leadership styles more because they are always concerned about getting ahead of the competition.
The extent to which an organization is supportive of participative leadership also depends on whether the organization can afford to share information of all sorts with the employees. For example, in the case of finance involving organizations like banks and insurance companies where there is observed a great deal of secrecy, it might not be possible for the management to empower their employees on the decision-making level.
The participative leadership style is essential for organizational risk aversion as the employees who operate on the ground level may have useful information about possible threats emerging from inside or outside the organization in both environmental and corporate domain. The distance between the top level management and executive level can be immense despite the fact that the offices are closely bound and very accessible to each other.
The red tape and chains of command can be very negatively effectors on the organizational well being. Participative leadership in an organization breaks down any kind of barriers that exists between the executive level and the managerial level, hence enabling the free flow of information from one end to another.
Participative leadership is very essential in the existing business environment and management prospects mainly because this leadership style increases the sense of ownership in the hearts and minds of the employees. The employees who are enabled to help in the decision-making processes of the organization tend to feel of the organization as their own.
The participative leadership style can be a slow way of making decisions as it can take a lot of time to take the stakeholders that in this case are employees onboard. But, while time can be a cost, effectiveness can be greatly achieved through this leadership style (Kahai, Sosik & Avolio, 1997).
One of the greatest benefits that participative leadership styles has for the managers is that the subordinates are more accepting towards the decisions made by a participative leadership. The employees are aware of the fact that their say has been considered and that they have actively participated in the process of decision making, this makes them believe that the decision made are in their favor.
The policies of such an organization begin to appear friendlier rather than a mere burden for employees. Even if the policies keep on changing continuously, the employees still tend to comprehend and cooperate with the policy changes,
Employees, when given a voice in the organization develops a sense of esteem in the organization. This means that when the employees are empowered that they can sit at the big table and talk their minds out to advise how improvements can be brought in the organizational processes, their morale is increased tremendously.
This ensures that the employees will be able to play a more active role in their services. The employees can make use of this opportunity in their favor. Also, they can demand changes to be brought about their work conditions and can ask for improvements in their compensation plans and then negotiate these terms with the management. The employees when empowered to communicate with the higher levels of the hierarchy develop a sense that their concerns are not blocked, and that lifts their morale.
Employees in the 21st century are being more and more competitive and specialized in their fields of work. Now that the concept of division of labor is being practiced very strictly, the employees are getting trained and educated in the educational institutes in a rather specialized manner.
This also means that the employee that has been chosen to perform a certain job is assumed to be the best person for performing that job. This serves in the favor of advocacy of participative leadership style and employee empowerment that the employee is made to believe that he or she is the expert at what they are doing and that their opinion counts for the management. This also takes out the creativity hidden in the employees as they are given a free hand to use whatever means that they would want.
On top of everything, some of the biggest advantages that the participative leadership style and employee empowerment has for the organization are the fact that retention is increased manifold for the organization (Kleinman, 2004). Finding proficient employees can be a challenge for recruiters and despite the fact that there is a decent amount of supply on the market, many times it becomes very difficult for the organizations to hire well-suited employees. Once lost, it takes a large amount of money and time to recruit a replacement.
What is even more damaging is that the organizational activities concerned with that certain position get stopped for the time being. In high activity and quick response organizations, it is very dangerous for the organization to lose a bunch of employees all of a sudden and to lose the ability to operate.
The cost of turnover is hence overcome to a large extent. This makes the participative leadership style an essential leadership style in the 21st century and a great way to ensure organizational success. Furthermore, the continuous changes in the workforce cause a disturbance on the operations level.
Additionally, the organizations that do not encourage empowerment are considered as poor employers in the industry. This means that should an employee leave the organization because it was too centralized and had no empowerment, it gives a very bad image of the former employing organization.
References:
Huang, X., Iun, J., Liu, A., & Gong, Y. (2010). Does participative leadership enhance work performance by inducing empowerment or trust? The differential effects on managerial and non‐managerial subordinates. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 31(1), 122-143.
Huang, X., Shi, K., Zhang, Z., & Cheung, Y. L. (2006). The impact of participative leadership behavior on psychological empowerment and organizational commitment in Chinese state-owned enterprises: the moderating role of organizational tenure. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 23(3), 345-367.
Kahai, S. S., Sosik, J. J., & Avolio, B. J. (1997). Effects of leadership style and problem structure on work group process and outcomes in an electronic meeting system environment. Personnel Psychology, 50(1), 121-146.
Kleinman, C. S. (2004). Leadership and retention: Research needed. Journal of Nursing Administration, 34(3), 111-113.
Yukl, G. A. (2013). Leadership in organizations. 8th ed. Pearson Education India, Chapter 5, p.106.
