The Role Leadership Plays in Shaping an Organization Culture
LEADERSHIP ROLE AND ORGANIZATION CULTURE 2
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Topic-: The role leadership plays in shaping an organizational culture.
To prepare:
- Reflect on leadership and leadership theories. Transformational, Transactional, Situational theories.
- Begin searching for scholarly references about the relationship between leadership and organizational
culture.
- Reflect on the leadership characteristics and skills that are useful in promoting a healthy organizational
culture.
- Consider the leadership styles that promote a healthy organizational culture.
- Think about the impact on organizational culture of how a leader responds to specific situations, such
as crises.
- Reflect on how a leader might use power to promote a healthy organizational culture and how a leader
can promote ethics in a healthy organization.
The �To prepare� is intended to aid in your reflection upon how the various leadership theories and
other topics throughout the organizational leadership course relate to organizational culture.
Leaders are very important in running of any organization. They perform different critical
organization roles that help in giving a sense of direction to enable an organization attains its
long-term goals. Leaders help others in the organization to complete different task amid
motivating each and every member to perform better (Tyssen, Wald & Spieth, 2013). Effective
leaders often provide the vision and motivation to help attain a particular goal and objective.
Many scholars agree with the notion that the definition of leadership is non-trivial in nature and
that it depends on the broader conceptions of leadership (Komives, Dugan & Owen, 2011). On
the other hand, Organization culture can be termed as a system of shared assumptions, beliefs
LEADERSHIP ROLE AND ORGANIZATION CULTURE 3
and values that dictate the way people behave in an organization. The above mentioned shared
beliefs have a strong control of the individuals in the organization and often dictate their mode of
dress, action and how they perform their duties.
This paper discusses the role leadership plays in shaping the culture of an organization.
The paper begins with a reflection on the different leadership and leadership theories, important
leadership characteristics, and skills as well as leadership styles that promote a healthy
organizational culture. It continues to look at the relationship between organization culture and
how a leader responds to specific situations. And finally, how leaders might use the powers
bestowed upon them to culture and promote a healthy organizational culture.
Leadership Theories
There are different approaches to leadership. Understanding the different leadership
theories can help us to understand the different conceptions concerning leadership and the impact
of leadership in an organization. There are quite some leadership theories and conceptions put
forward by different scholars over the years.
Transformational Leadership Theory
Transformational leadership is based on the foundations of creating a vision and inspiring
change to the people under the leader. In a transformational leadership situation, the leader is
held responsible for the role of identifying the needed change (Pless & Maak, 2012). The leader
conceptualizes the vision to provide direction and change through inspiration and implementing
the change in unison with other committed members of the organization. Transformation leaders
help enhance the morale, motivation and job performance of those below him/her by using
LEADERSHIP ROLE AND ORGANIZATION CULTURE 4
different mechanisms. The conception of transformational leadership is founded based on the
following different components;
Inspirational Motivation: transformation leadership promotes a consistent vision, mission,
and goals of the group. Transformational leaders provide direction by coming up with a clear
vision and articulating their ideologies to provide a sense of meaning and challenge to their
followers (Blomme et al., 2015).
Intellectual Stimulation: Transformational leaders motivate and encourage others to be
creative and innovative. Transformational leaders always encourage followers to come up with
new ways of doing things and provide leadership opportunities for members to learn. Such
leaders are often ready to change their ideas if they found them ineffective.
Individualized consideration: Transformational leaders often offer support and
encouragement to individuals. They act as mentors and approve innovation and creativity among
group members.
Idealized influence: Transformational leaders are often trusted and respected by their
followers. Therefore, they idealize these notions bestowed on them because they often serve as
role models. Such leaders often exhibit high standards of moral conduct.
Transactional Leadership Theory
Transactional leadership center of attention is the exchanges between leaders and the
group. Transactional leadership is based on the behavioral approach to leadership founded upon
a system of rewards and punishments (Tyssen et al., 2013). This system provides a way in which
leaders can accomplish organizational goals such as completion of tasks, motivation, supervision
LEADERSHIP ROLE AND ORGANIZATION CULTURE 5
and group performance. Leaders focus on the direct behavior of members and their efforts
towards achievement of organizational goals, they emphasize on rewards and focus on means to
improve organizational efficiency.
Situational Leadership Theory
Situational leadership is founded based on the contingency leadership theoretical
framework. This theory suggests that leader’s effectiveness is based on the leader’s character
traits about the diverse situational factors (Komives et al., 2011). Therefore, each type of task
necessitates different leadership style. Hence, a good leader has to adapt his or her leadership to
the specific goals and objectives to be attained in the situation. According to this theory,
education, aptitude to take responsibility, and goal setting are imperative for a leader to be
successful. The decision made by the leader is based on the leadership style of the leader and the
maturity level of the followers. This decision follows dictates the leadership behavior that may
include:
Telling: characterized by high leadership style and low supportive behavior of the
followers.
Selling: The leader exhibits high leadership style and the follower’s exhibit high,
supportive behavior.
Participating: the leader exhibits low leadership style, and the followers have high,
supportive behavior.
LEADERSHIP ROLE AND ORGANIZATION CULTURE 6
Delegating: both the leader and followers exhibit low directive and supportive behavior
respectively.
Theoretical Concept of the Relationship between Leadership and Organization
Culture
Culture is the medium by which an organization expresses its personality to the
employees. The key concept of culture is founded based on the values that are not visible but are
shared by individuals even when membership of the organization changes (Tsai, 2011). These
shared values and norms enable the employees to channel energy on organizational priorities and
provide a backbone for behavior and decision-making. An organization requires visionary
leadership to drive change and improve organization performance. Some of the core values that
define effective leadership include initiation, consideration and charismatic nature of the leader.
There are quite some scholars who researched on the relationship between leadership and
organization culture. According to Moynihan et al (2012), leadership and organization, culture is
strongly connected and shares a symbiotic relationship. Leaders play an imperative responsibility
in shaping and upholding of the organization culture. Leaders mobilize attention towards the new
vision. However, it is the organization culture that bestows authenticity on that vision.
According to Norhtouse (2015), great leaders often adjust their leadership behavior to be
geared towards accomplishing the mission of the group resulting in motivation and employee
satisfaction. A good relationship between leadership and employee result in a greater
contribution to organization communication and teamwork. Therefore, motivating and
encouraging each of the group members to work towards accomplishing the mission and
objective assigned by the organization resulting in job satisfaction.
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The functionality of organization culture is also indispensable for business success and
development. Management role is also important to organization culture as it determines the
leadership style depending on managerial decisions and orientation to internal policies or market
policies (Stone, 2012). Leadership styles help influence on managerial decisions and determine
employee reactions to such decisions. Leaders are also the communicators of change, they
conceptualize vision and oversee the change process towards new and better organization and
corporate culture.
Leadership Characteristics and Skills that Promote a Healthy Organization Culture
For leaders to be effective in their role in promoting a healthy organization culture, they
should possess certain characteristics that help foster motivation, promote shared values and
team spirit and teamwork (Dubrin, 2015). Some of the leadership qualities and skills include;
Passion for their work: Good leaders are often passionate about their work and take it to
be their responsibility because of the importance attached. Such leaders motivate the employee to
develop into a more productive human resource by sharing the passion and enthusiasm towards
work. Appreciating employee’s performance often results in motivation and a healthy
organization culture.
Good communication skills: Management ought to utilize open communication channels
to create and maintain a positive corporate culture. Leaders ought to communicate effectively
with staff at both higher and lower levels in the company. Leaders should be able to explain
clearly tasks and project to the staff. On the other hand, they should communicate the importance
of the projects to administrators serving as a bridge between different dimensions in the
organization (Cummings & Worley, 2014).
LEADERSHIP ROLE AND ORGANIZATION CULTURE 8
Integrity: Leaders must be worthy of trust from their followers. Therefore, leaders should
be honest and always striving towards making the right decisions for the company. Integrity in
leaders creates an air of trust and help to promote a healthy corporate culture.
Flexible and Adaptable: Leaders should be flexible and adaptable to adapt to changes and
situations within the workplace. They should always be ready for change and be able to help
his/her followers accept and adapt change.
Decisive: Leaders are always relied upon in organizations to make a decision that are
logical, correct and in a quick manner. Leaders should, therefore, understand the different
dimension, scope of work, financial constraint and any other important factors that will enable
them to make quickly committed and analytical decision.
Leaders Impact to Situations such as crises and Organization Culture
In a situation where an organization is facing serious crises, leadership is essential to help
in providing direction through this phase to help attain organizational sustainability. It is
paramount that leaders cannot simply repeat practices that have been accepted to be good
leadership as this may have led to failures that resulted in crisis or inadequate respond to the
crisis (Northouse, 2015). Therefore, leaders should conceptualize the situation and use leadership
skills to steer the organization out of the crisis. That is the leader should utilize their cognitive
power, available resources and precise strategies to help solve the crisis. It is imperative to note
that crises often attract the attention of each and every individual in the organization. Therefore,
a leader’s reaction in such a situation communicates much about the organization’s norms,
values, and culture (Blomme et al., 2015). Thus, crises situations tend to bring out the core
values of the organization and reflect the organization personality. The way in which leaders and
LEADERSHIP ROLE AND ORGANIZATION CULTURE 9
other people in the organization respond to crises create new norms, values, and way of working,
and reflects on the organization shared values. Crises generate attention and emotional
involvement during the entire process. Because of these notions, crises expose deeper values of
the group and thus the levels of culture are put into public scrutiny. Therefore, it is up to the
leaders in the organization to influence organizational culture to promote strong moral and
ethical behavior, and foster the creation of new organizational norms and values (Pless & Maak,
2012). Leaders are looked upon at this point to help in mentoring others, teach and coach the
members into working towards solving the crisis in the best manner possible.
Ways in which Leaders Can Use Power to Promote Healthy Organization Culture
Leaders steer the organization using different styles, the level of skill, influence and
characteristics. There are different bases of power that can be utilized by leaders to exert their
influence. There exist five bases of power that are mostly used by leaders that are, expert,
referent, reward, coercive, and legitimate power (Tyssen et al., 2013). Most leaders today believe
in the notion that their groups can utilize varying bases of power. Leaders should utilize the
bases mentioned above of power even when doing so with respect to servitude and humility.
Leaders should seek to establish the moral nature of valuing the opinions of others rather than
pushing their ideologies. Such leadership framework promotes ethical frameworks and corporate
culture founded on moral high ground.
Quality leaders should instill and promote ethics in healthy organizations. Ethics in the
business context can be termed as a company’s attitude and conduct towards stockholders,
customers, employees and community as a whole (Komives et al., 2011). Ethical Standards and
practices are paramount as it is the fabric that keeps an entity from disintegrating. It is imperative
LEADERSHIP ROLE AND ORGANIZATION CULTURE 10
to note that unethical behavior often results in losses and cause problems in the organization and
also the entire industry in which the organization operates.
As such, it is critical for organization leaders to instill ethical framework to the
organization and on the team by team basis. Leaders can achieve the goals mentioned above by
establishing and creating a clear and open communication in the workplace. The management
should also diversify the employees amid encouraging team building exercise to promote
cohesiveness of the organization. Quality leadership implies that one should be able to monitor
internal factors and diagnosing deficiencies in different groups within the organization. Leaders
should also be ready to take remedy action that may lead to negative changes in the organization
(Tyssen et al., 2013). More than often communication factors may delineate a leader connection
activities with team members in terms of managing conflicts, promoting collaboration, coaching
and commitment to objectives. Such leadership styles result in overall team effectiveness,
organization performance, and organizational health.
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References
Tyssen, A. K., Wald, A., & Spieth, P. (2013). Leadership in temporary organizations: a review of
leadership theories and a research agenda. Project Management Journal, 44(6), 52-67.
Komives, S. R., Dugan, J. P., & Owen, J. E. (2011). The handbook for student leadership
development. John Wiley & Sons.
Pless, N. M., & Maak, T. (2012). Responsible leadership: Pathways to the future. In Responsible
Leadership (pp. 3-13). Springer Netherlands.
Blomme, R. J., Kodden, B., & Beasley-Suffolk, A. (2015). Leadership theories and the concept
of work engagement: Creating a conceptual framework for management implications and
research. Journal of Management & Organization, 21(02), 125-144.
Tsai, Y. (2011). Relationship between organizational culture, leadership behavior and job
satisfaction. BMC health services research, 11(1), 98.
Moynihan, D. P., Pandey, S. K., & Wright, B. E. (2012). Setting the table: How transformational
leadership fosters performance information use. Journal of Public Administration
Research and Theory, 22(1), 143-164.
Northouse, P. G. (2015). Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage publications.
Stone, K. B. (2012). Four decades of lean: a systematic literature review.International Journal of
Lean Six Sigma, 3(2), 112-132.
Dubrin, A. (2015). Leadership: Research findings, practice, and skills. Cengage Learning.
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Cummings, T., & Worley, C. (2014). Organization development and change. Cengage learning.
