Impact of leadership on the functioning of an organization Assignment

Impact of leadership on the functioning of an organization - Assignment Example Impact of leadership on the functioning of an organization The term leadership simply means the method of influencing a group of people & guiding them towards the accomplishment of a common objective. Presently it is required to discuss the impact of leadership on the functioning of an organization where I have worked. Generally the organizations get highly benefitted by the implementation of proper leadership approaches as it effects in improved quality of the goods & services produced by the organization. The organization where I used to work had a business of Herbal Products. The company mainly dealt with ointments for joint pains & muscle aches, syrups for immunity building, moisturizer & body-oil for soft & supple skin & many such products for the day-to-day use by the consumers. The organization followed a combination of centralized & decentralized structure. The various departments worked on a decentralized manner where there was no specialization & everyone knew the task of the other person. Job Rotation was being practiced on a regular basis. However at the end of the month, all the departments were accountable to present their whole month’s report to the top management. The overall functioning of the organization was based on the framework of situational leadership style. This style is based on the attitude of people towards the work delegated to them & their response towards the act of being led by a leader. (Clark, n.d.). The concept of situational leadership is depen dent on the key elements of relationship behavior & task behavior. The relationship behavior refers to the amount of emotional & social support provided by the leader. It indicates the communication flow between the leader & his followers. Task behavior refers to the direction & guidance provided by the leader. It is highly work- centered & focuses on the efficient accomplishment of the objectives. In the situational style of leadership, four basic situations have been identified by the leadership experts that are based on task behavior on one axis & relationship behavior on the other axis of the graph. The following illustration exhibits the diagram of a situational leadership framework- The four styles as shown in the diagram are- Style 1 (S1 or Directing): High task/low relationship This leader is considered to be very strict who only focuses on the accomplishment of the task & maintains very low level of relationship with the followers. Style 2 (S2 or Coaching): High task/high r elationship This leader is highly committed towards the task as well as towards maintaining a healthy relationship with the employees. Style 3 (S3 or Supporting): High relationship/low task This leader puts more emphasis on dealing with the followers & maintaining better relations with them. Style 4 (S4 or Delegating): Low relationship/low task This leader puts lesser stress on both the task & relationship behavior. These styles represent the leadership approach that entirely depends on the situation faced by the organization. In case of the organization where I