Department of Business Administration
Does Leadership Always Matter in Organizations?
Leadership could make a difference, but some researchers wondered that leadership does not make a difference to influence individuals, groups, and increasing the effectiveness in organizations all the time. They debate that even leadership let people to know there is some one in charge, leadership might be more a myth than the facts in the organizational life. They think the leaders have little effect to influence employees’ behaviors and performance sometimes. Sometimes employees continue dissatisfied with the work and performing at a lower level no matter the leader do, and the leader’s special way has little or no effective to motive employees. The employees might get the achievements and perform at a high level with ignoring the leader’s behaviors. For example, a scriptwriter prefer to stay at home to work and has more autonomies, and he created many wonderful scripts by this way. With increasing of telecommuting and outsourcing, this scriptwriter’s situation is becoming more and more common, in these cases, the leaders has little effect. Steven Kerr and John Jermier presented the leaderships such as substitutes and neutralizers will influence the importance of the leader in an organization.
Leadership Substitutes
The leadership substitutes could take place of the formal leadership and make the leadership unnecessary. The individual, group, organizational features could become to the leadership substitutes. Such as the scriptwriter, both his personalities and the working features caused his situation. He is person who loves writing and has various of creativities to the work, he does not need a supervisor to order him. He thinks this work is interesting and encouraging, they become to the leadership substitutes.
Leadership Neutralizers
Sidney Harman is CEO of Harman International Industries. That company makes audio equipments
References: George. J. M. & Jones. G. R.(2012). Understanding and Managing Organizational Behavior (6th ed. Pp 325-331).Boston Prentice Hall