STUDENT RESPONSES

LDR 804

Original Question- Does culture exert the stronger influence on a leader’s power, influence, or authority? Support your view.

 

STUDENT RESPONSES

 

Student One- Justin

Culture does exert a strong influence on a leader’s power, influence, and authority. This influence is reciprocal based, where a leader can strongly influence a culture and a culture can strongly influence a leader. Kuknor and Bhattacharya (2020) expressed that leaders play a crucial role in creating and framing various initiatives to facilitate inclusion in the workplace. If the example of inclusive leadership, it is vital for leaders to create an inclusive culture by executing leadership practices that encourage inclusion. While the development and cultivation of inclusion may not be receptive to some, the ones that are receptive could encourage better organizational outcomes. Randel et al. (2018) found that member perceptions of inclusion in a workgroup led to positive outcomes that benefit the work group and organization. Now, if that leader who practices inclusion left for unforeseen circumstances and the culture still thrived in an environment of inclusion, the new leader that comes in may adapt to fit the culture of the organization. Therefore, for the new leader, the inclusive culture of the organization can change the influence and authority of the new leader. Generally, leaders to utilize inclusive leadership practices must create an inclusive working environment where individuals feel organizationally inclusive for positive organizational outcomes. Moreover, if the culture of an inclusive environment is secure as a stronghold, a new incoming leader will not have the authority to change the positive organizational outcomes and therefore that leader’s influence and will must adapt to the culture.

References:

Kuknor, S. C., & Bhattacharya, S. (2020). Inclusive leadership: New age leadership to foster organizational inclusion. European Journal of Training and Development, ahead-of-print(ahead-of-print).  https://doi.org/10.1108/EJTD-07-2019-0132

Student Two – Sylvia

I agree that the tone set in any organization is come down form the top (Leadership), and there is no greater or stronger influence within an organization and that of the Leadership…

According to Choi et al. (2015) leadership is an important factor that affects work engagement because leadership behavior is not only a source of employee motivation and satisfaction, but also creates a healthy environment that supports employee engagement. However, few studies, especially empirical studies, have examined the effects of specific leadership styles, such as transformational, authentic, and ethical leadership styles, on employee engagement. Few studies have also been conducted to examine the effects of participatory management. In addition, Choi et al. (2015) suggest that the positive effects of transformational leadership have been confirmed by empirical studies of leadership and commitment, where the leader emphasizes motivating employees to achieve organizational goals. However, different job characteristics mean that different groups of employees prefer different management styles. Choi et al. (2015) also argued that a level of work engagement can be achieved by practicing a certain leadership style. In addition, it was argued that a leader’s implicit focus on meeting employee needs is critical to creating an engaged workforce. In this study, it was argued that when a leader uses a participative style, it can have a significant impact on work engagement because the leader focuses on meeting the needs of employees. In addition, it was examined that the effects of participative leadership on employee commitment to work life and the possible facilitative effects of affective organizational responsibility, employee creativity and this relationship stems from the perspective of the social exchange theory (Choi et al., 2015).

Choi, S. B., Tran, T. B. H., & Park, B. I. (2015). Inclusive leadership and work engagement: Mediating roles of affective organizational commitment and creativity. Social Behavior and Personality: an international journal, 43(6), 931-943

 

 

 

 

 

 

Student Three- Erin

I believe culture exerts a stronger influence on a leader’s power, influence, or authority. While it is the leader’s responsibility to guide organizational members to accomplish the company’s mission and vision, it is important to remember that while organizational members are individuals, they also make up an organization’s culture and dynamic, which can heavily influence a lot of aspects including productivity and job satisfaction (Sabuhari et al., 2020). The most effective leaders are the ones who listen and understand rather than the ones who simply strong-arm employees to get their way. Because of that fact, it stands to reason that leaders would need to consider culture when making decisions. Transformational leadership is one such leadership style that takes not only employees’ well-being into account but can also rely on observations and understanding of organizational culture as the basis of making their decisions. When an organizational culture changes, as they all do with a changing of employees and their values, backgrounds, and ideas, strong leaders will adapt to those changes. Adapting to those changes does not mean the leader is weak, but it demonstrates that the leader is letting their authority be influenced by a culture that represents the beliefs of their members which will go far in creating a more positive culture where the organization thrives (Hallinger, 2018). Culture exerts a strong influence on leaders whether the leader is accepting of the influence or not. In most cases, strong leaders will become stronger by being influenced by organizational culture and their employees more satisfied and productive.

 

References

Hallinger, P. (2018). Bringing context out of the shadows of leadership. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 46(1), 5-24.  https://10.1177/1741143216670652