Importance of Leadership in Organisations
Leadership plays an important role in all organizations, both big and small. To date there is not a single working definition of the term. Considering the importance of leadership in all business decisions there needs to me a more solid understanding of what the term truly means. This paper will explore different meaning of leadership and attempt to find the best universal definition.
In order to best understand the topic of leadership and how it applies to organizations it is important to come up with a working definition of the term. Many definitions of the term leadership center around key terms and which groups of people the apply to. However, many of these definitions discuss what makes a good leader rather than defining what leadership is.
One of the more common definition of leadership is a “dual focused management approach that works towards what is best for individuals as well as the group as a whole simultaneously” (TDK 2019). This definition says that leadership must focus on the organization and the individual at the same time. This is not necessarily true. It is not necessary for a leader to focus on maximizing the abilities of the organization in order to achieve the goals. A good leader should be able to maximize the abilities of individuals within the organization in order to achieve the overall goal. Beyond just capitalizing the strengths of an individual, a good leader needs to be able to manage around the weaknesses of those individuals. A leader of an organization cannot simply ignore weaknesses and hope to cover them with more strengths, they must take those weaknesses and learn how to manage them. Of course, each individual will have certain weaknesses, what is important is to work on them enough so that they do not affect the strengths of an individual. Rather than focusing on maximizing the output of the organization of a whole, a good leader is able to maximize each individual in order to facilitate the achievement of the organizational goals.
Another common definition of leadership, in terms of management, is “a field of business management that specifically relates to meeting the challenges and goals brought by both the individual employees and the organization as a whole” (SouthEastern University 2018). Once again, this definition focuses on too many moving parts within an organization. The definition continues to discuss the need to understand the strength and weaknesses of the organization as a whole, rather than the strength and weaknesses of the individuals within that organization. This article continues to examine how a leader can strengthen an organization. Implementing change, confronting problems and creating a positive and productive workplace are referenced as productive ways a leader can use their skills/ knowledge to strengthen the organization as a whole. This makes sense. In order for a leader to be successful in strengthening an entire organization they must focus