Leadership is the process of exercising power and influence in the social environment with the aim of achieving the objectives of a given organization. Each organization should have a leader to exercise control and organization in the performance of duties. Usually, a leader gives direction to the people under him. The leader should be in a position to gain the trust of his followers in order to have proper coordination (Kouzer & Posner 2006). A leader should also be supported by other people in order to carry out his duties effectively. He cannot work alone. This is the major reason why he communicates with various people in the organization to ease his work load.
A person cannot become a leader without certain leadership traits. These are behaviors that should be exercised by a leader in the course of organizing other people. In order to lead effectively, these traits must be seen by the followers in order for them to acknowledge that there is effective leadership. One of the leadership traits is intelligence. Without intelligence, a leader will not be in a position to make rational decisions during hard situations. Intelligence helps a leader to take prompt decisions in situations where employees are in a dilemma. The reasoning of a leader should enable him to solve difficult problems. This is usually done using the knowledge gathered over the years. “In many organizations, a leader is expected to have a strong education background that guarantees adequate knowledge” (Kouzer & Posner 2006).
The other leadership trait that is important for effective leadership is social nature. A leader should have good interactive characteristics that enable him to relate well with the rest of the members of the organization. A leader should also have charisma. This is a personal trait that is unique and that should involve some element of devotion. Leaders should be courageous in their activities. They should not fear to make decisions in situations of dilemma. They should exercise confidence in order to create trust among the employees (Jacobs 2007).
A good leader should have respect for all the people under him. In fact, he should be in a position to show self-respect. If one exercises self-respect, the other people will also respect him. Self-esteem is also an important trait that should be exercised by leaders. Self-esteem helps a leader to listen to the problems of his followers. A good leader should also be in a position to motivate all his employees. “According to Maslow’s theory of motivation, motivation and performance have a positive relation” (Kouzes & Posner 2006). Increasing the level of motivation among employees will help in improving performance in the organization.
Effective communication is important in every organization since it enhances effective flow of information among the employees. Managers should ensure that there is fast communication within the organization in order to keep the workers up to date. Leaders should be loyal to the organization in which they are working. He should be geared towards achieving the objectives of the working place. He should exercise leadership in a way that safeguards the interests of the shareholders (Zaccaro 2009). In this regard, the leaders should also practice honesty. Leaders should ensure that the assets of the company are in safe custody. That is the major reason why they should be responsible both at the personal and organization level.
Leadership does not always yield positive results. This is one reason why we have heard cases of leaders who resign from large managerial positions. Other leaders are sacked by the top level management due to scandals. Before one accepts to become a leader, he should be ready for any challenges that are associated with working in that organization. Some of the challenges faced by leaders happen against their expectations. Leaders should therefore develop mechanisms of solving problems that may be encountered in the course of conducting their duties. This will help in preventing any negative implications on the leader.
One of the global organizations that have been faced by leadership problems is Barclays Bank. This is a banking institution that has many branches in various countries in the world. Its background information indicates that the bank came into existence in 1690 (Carrington 2012). According to Carrington, “it was among the first banks that were formed in the world”. This institution has gained reputation due to its ability to attract many customers from all corners of the globe. Some of the services offered by this institution include professional advice, accepting deposits, withdrawals and lending money to its customers.
Barclays bank is also known in the global business environment due to its listings that are made in London and New York (Carrington 2012). The listings of this company have been fluctuating due to uncertainty in the banking sector. This raised issues among the shareholders, who directed the blame to the management. The management argued that it was doing its best to provide the best possible results by the end of the financial period. This is one quality that must be exercised by all leaders. All leaders should be in a position to convince their followers that they will bring positive results at the end of the financial period.
The leaders of Barclays Bank have been working under pressure to increase the revenue of the organization by the end of each financial period (Timmons 2012). The management has been involved in making strong decisions that are very technical. The major challenge here is that in case there are negative results, all fingers would be pointing at the management. Many shareholders fail to understand that managers work in the interest of the company. There are fewer cases of positive response from shareholders when positive results are realized by the company. However, if things are not falling into place, shareholders find the chance to blame the leadership of the organization.
Another leadership challenge that is faced by Barclays Bank is lack of support from the shareholders (Carrington 2012). During the annual general meeting, the shareholders should vote for the decisions that are made by the management of the organization. However, some of the decisions made by the management are turned down by the shareholders. This usually lowers their morale, which induces the fear of making difficult decisions. Some of the leaders fear that if they make certain decisions, they may be voted out of office by the shareholders.
The issue of leadership in Barclays Bank can also be looked at by analyzing the agency relationships in the organization. One agency relationship is the one that exists between the management and the shareholders. There are certain conflicts that affect this relationship. These conflicts create leadership challenges in the organization. One of the conflicts is that the management may choose less risky investments that yield lower returns (Foti 2010). This is against the wishes of the shareholders, who require highly risky investments that yield high returns. The management is aware that if the investment is highly risky, the company may lose a lot in terms of profits and this may compromise their job security.
Despite the challenges encountered by the leaders of this bank, there is acknowledgement that the existing leaders have somehow followed the five practices of good management that have been outlined by Posner. This has been done in the book ‘The Leadership Challenge.’ The other author of this book is Kouzes. According to this book, “the first practice of effective management is the process of modeling”. The authors argue that a good leader should act as an example to the rest of the organization. This will induce the employees to follow the direction of the management (Kouzes & Posner 2007). The management of this organization has been known to be very hard working. The hard work of the leaders has been seen by their punctuality and effective performance in the offices. The employees of the organization have also followed this process since the leaders have shown good example.
In this book, the authors have also shown certain commitments that should be made by leaders in the course of their duties. One commitment connected with the first practice is clarity (Kouzes & Posner 2007). The various values required in the organization should be clarified by the management. This will create awareness to the employees. This has been done by the management of Barclays Bank. The major challenge that has been faced in this regard is that there are some branches that do not follow this phenomenon strictly. This creates a problem of inconsistency in all the branches of the organization.
According to the book, the second practice involves the use of inspiration. Leaders should have a vision for the organization. They should also inspire the employees towards achieving such visions. It is important for the management to form prospects about the future performance of the company (George 2009). This would help an organization to prevent any future incontegency. Forming prospects for Barclays Bank has been difficult since the banking sector is known to be very uncertain.
The third practice involves ensuring that the process is challenged. The leaders should be committed to making the leadership process a success (Zaccaro 2009). It is here that the leader is required to exercise leadership traits like confidence and courage. They should not fear to make tough decisions in issues that involve strong judgment. The management should search for all the available opportunities necessary to steer the organization. One commitment that is connected to this practice is the ability to take risks. A leader should evaluate the risks involved in every opportunity. Using his knowledge, he should come up with ways of countering the expected risks. In Barclays Bank, leaders fear to make decisions that are risky in nature. This is mainly due to the fact that they fear creating financial losses for the company.
The fourth practice involves enhancing other people to act. This will act as a motivation to the employees. This can also be done by performing delegation in the organization. Delegation is a process where a manager passes some of his duties to his lower staff. The major objective of delegation is to reduce the work load of the manager. In addition, delegation helps the manager to get ample time to carry out other duties. In Barclays Bank, delegation of duties is usually done to the lower level employees. “The major challenge in delegation is that there are technical duties that cannot be delegated to the lower staff” (Carrington 2012). This is simply because they don’t have the required expertise to perform these duties.
There are certain commitments that are connected to the fourth practice. One of these is the enhancement of collaboration. A good leader should ensure that all employees collaborate with each other. This will foster effective coordination of activities in the organization. However, the employees should not collaborate with external parties to commit fraud or manipulation of accounts. The second commitment attached to this practice is the ability to strengthen the people under the management. This should act as an encouragement to them since the leader will be able to convince them of expected positive results.
The last practice is an encouragement for the heart. The leader should create feedback programs that are important in evaluating the performance of employees in the organization. Leaders should learn to appreciate any good work done by their employees. This will make the employees feel appreciated. It will also act as a motivation to them. If there is any mistake done by an employee, it should be corrected in a polite manner. This will prevent bad feelings from the employees. In addition, it will create good relationships between the manager and the employees. There is good worker-employer relationship in Barclays Bank (Timmons 2012). However, there are a few cases of employees working under the pressure of managers. This pressure usually comes from the shareholders. The shareholders require the management to prepare clear and in-depth financial statements that are timely. The managers are therefore forced to pile pressure on the employees to speed up the preparation of these statements.
One of the commitments that are attached to the last practice is celebration. This indicates that leaders should celebrate any positive results realized by the company (Kouzes & Posner 2007). They should ensure that the hardest working employees are rewarded. These rewards may come in the form of promotion, increased salary or monetary awards. During periods of excellent performance, the management may organize for parties that will help in motivating all the employees of the organization.
Leadership in Barclays Bank has been challenged partly due to lack of effective communication among some of the branch leaders. These leaders fail to communicate all the problems that are faced in the branch. This poses a problem for the top management. There should be effective communication among all the managers of the bank in order to come up with clear and effective solutions for any problems arising. Some of the leaders of this bank have been criticized for failure to provide effective feedback.
Many global customers of this bank have cited poor leadership as one of the leadership issues affecting the organization. For instance, the organization was involved in a scandal where it was accused of violating the law (Timmons 2012). This bank, according to media sources, had been involved in the laundering of money. This scandal was in 2009. Critics arose after it was found out that Barclays Bank was holding the account of the son of Equatorial Guinea’s head of state. According to sources, the holder of this account had been involved in siphoning money from the state funds. The act of Barclays Bank was termed as a violation of international laws relating to laundering.
There are several sources of the media that have criticized the action of the management in the third month of 2009. During this time, the bank had the intention of avoiding tax through the use of loans (Foti 2010). According to financial studies, if one takes a loan from a financial institution, he is entitled to get tax benefits. However, the action of Barclays Bank did not yield much positive results. This is because in 2010, the institution was forced to repay huge sums of money. Many people argued that the management should be blamed since it is the one that makes decisions regarding tax practices. This issue also raised questions on the integrity of the leaders of this organization. The tax scandal made some of the competitors of Barclays Bank to play safe in the banking sector.
The leadership of this organization has been blamed due to the occurrence of the Libor scandal. In this scandal, the bank was accused of being involved in the manipulation of accounts of Libor (Carrington 2012). One media source said, “The manipulation of such accounts was done through the alteration of interest rates”. According to media sources, the manipulation of such accounts requires the knowledge of the top management. This put the top management on the blame. The bank lost $290 million in form of fine. As a result of this scandal, the then boss resigned from office. Bob Diamond was the top leader at the time of this scandal. According to him, he resigned due to pressure from external parties.
After the Libor Scandal, a new boss was appointed. Antony Jenkins replaced Bob as the chief executive officer of the group. According to the appointing committee, Jenkins had all the experience and competence to run the bank (Timmons 2012). From the past scandals facing the company, the top management came up with strategies to restore the reputation of the company. One of the strategies was to improve the leadership of the company. The company was also geared towards ensuring that the leadership of this organization enhanced good reputation for the company. By doing this, the company was taking into consideration the various legal aspects that may be dealt with in the course of the new leadership.
The leadership of Barclays Bank was also put on the helm when money was stolen from a woman who held a bank account with the organization (Carrington 2012). The woman said, “I had informed the bank of the lost money”. However, the bank argued that she was negligent and that’s the reason why the money was stolen. She argued that she had never revealed her personal identification number to anybody else. The bank did not want to accept any liability. That is the main reason why it pointed the blame on the woman. Many argue that the management should be blamed for failure to prevent the occurrence of frauds.
The other leadership problem that is likely to be faced by the new boss is uncertainty. The provision of similar services by many organizations creates uncertainty about the expected profits (Foti 2010). The complaints made about this organization can make some of its customers to buy products from other related institutions. This would affect the overall earnings of the bank. The boss has a responsibility to build customer satisfaction from its global customers. The head of this bank should come up with creative ways of producing unique products that are unmatched by its global competitors.
The business environment is changing over the years. This has been cited as a challenge to the existing leaders in the banking sector. There are questions as to whether Jenkins has the ability to equip managers with roles that deal with such changes. Jenkins should also come up with ways of avoiding future incontinences brought about by unexpected changes in the social and economic environment. Most importantly, he should instill effective training on all the managers of the company to ensure excellent performance. He should also ensure that the company appoints managers that bring good reputation to the organization in order to attract more customers.
In conclusion, Barclays Bank should maintain the five practices discussed in order to realize excellent leadership in the organization. The performance of the various leaders in the organization should be reviewed and evaluated in order to induce transparency and accountability. This will prevent managers in the top level from being involved in the manipulation of accounts. Finally, Barclays Bank should practice proper leadership styles in order to realize improved performance. This will eventually lead to an increase in revenue that will translate into higher profits for the company.
References
Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2007). The Leadership Challenge (4th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2006). A Leader’s Legacy. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Jacobs, T. (2007). Leadership Skills in a Changing Environment. London. Palgrave Macmillan.
Zaccaro, S. (2009). Personality and Leadership. Oxford. Oxford University Press.
Foti, H. (2010). Leadership Emergence and Effectiveness. New York. Mc-Grady.
George, M. (2009). Leadership Performance. London. Palgrave Macmillan.
Carrington, L. (2012). Leadership in Barclays Bank. New York. Mc-Grady.
Timmons, H. (2012). Barclays Bank: Profile and Current Issues. London. Palgrave.
