Syed Ali MBA

What are two "aha" moments you've had from the second set of readings? What do they say about "Leading for Organizational Success"?

After reading the assigned book A Primer on Organizational Behavior I learned regarding diverse characteristics of individuals and groups, as well as how they persuade the entire society. It pertains to various phenomena that we see every day, however we cannot put words on it or completely ignore that it actually exist. By reading this text I clearly viewed the concept that in usual days I never notice. While reading this book, I had have few a-ha moments that led me to think about my experience toward these theories. I would like to initiate two theories that gave me a-ha moments, Trait Theory and Path-Goal Theory.

Traits theory not only give me ah-a moment but to everyone else. The Leadership Trait Theory creates a difference between leaders and followers. It is a concept to leadership focused on those personal characteristics and attributes such as cultural, physical and mental which leader possess. This theory discuss about leaders are quite different from average people in terms of a number of personality characteristics (i.e. intellect, supremacy and self-confidence, motivational energy and subject matter knowledge. The research shows that there are number of traits that do contribute to effective leadership: Drive, Leadership motivation, Honesty and integrity, Self-confidence, Resonance, and Cognitive ability. Some people argue that five traits which mentioned in trait theory above can be learned and developed over time. On the other hand people argue that leaders are quite different from average people and are born with certain characteristics. Nevertheless, my opinion leaders are

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born by birth with certain special qualities but it not necessary. Initially, no one knows their inner potential, they achieve their goals with passion and drive and gradually they develop confidence and strategies to follow through commitments and motivate others. Therefore, in order to be an effective leader and lead for organizational success, people should learn about Trait theory and keep in mind that anyone can develop those five traits. In view of the fact that certain traits are connected with proficient leadership, it assumes that if you could identify people with the correct traits, you will be able to identify leaders. Mainly the traits are considered to be naturally part of a persons personality from birth. A leader must not only have these traits, it is important to exhibit these traits. Simply possessing each trait is not enough; you have to display it in a way that people notice. People want to see you demonstrating this traitsnot just assuming that you have them. It isnt enough to just be neutral. From this standpoint, leadership trait theory tends to assume that people are born as leaders or not as leaders. I agree on this one: as I observed some great leaders; most of them displayed their leaderships characteristics at their young age. Some display their traits at home. Some traits are born, such as; willingness to help one another, eagerness to show forgiveness, genuinely caring and by doing so, hence assuming responsibilities as the role of a leader in a given unfortunate circumstance. Trait Leadership theory is actually a range of theories which share the belief that all leaders are born with, or at least display, certain key personalities traits. Trait leadership focuses on the leader, not necessarily the followers or the situation. The leader exhibits a certain set of traits to be an effective leader. For example Trait leadership works well for organizations with managers in leadership positions have specific traits. Then the company will go out and get the people with those traits. They are not interested in developing these traits, they want them immediately. The person fits the needs of the organization. Or, if an
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organization has the time, they will help develop an individual's traits. School is a good example of an organization in this situation.

As I was reading this theory, the first person that came to my mind was Warren Buffet. Mr. Buffet is passionate and motivated about achieving something substantial in his life without the lust of money. He believes in his ideas and judgments, self-confidence and his energy motivated others to support his dream. I believe, Warren Buffet possesses all five traits and has successfully fulfilled his dream through share hard-work, setting high ethical values and incredible vision and judgment to lead organization at par. I had to say a-ha at the same time as I was reading about Path -Goal Theory. Path goal theory was originally developed by Robert House to explain workplace leadership. The theory builds heavily on two theories of work motivation: goal setting and expectancy theory. The theory states that a leader's behavior is reliant to the satisfaction, motivation and performance of her or his subordinates. The directive path-goal clarifying leader behavior refers to situations where the leader lets followers know what is expected of them and tells them how to perform their tasks. The Path- Goal theory argues that this behavior has the positive effect when the subordinates' role and task demands are indistinct and essentially satisfying. It also emphasizes the relationship between the leaders style and the characteristics of the subordinates and the work setting. In this case the leader will use the leadership style that best meets the employees motivational need. The leader has choice to choose behaviors that either complement or supplement what is missing in the workplace.

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A friend of mine once discussed about her supervisor that she had worked with. She works in a small manufacturing company that produces the parts of automobile industry. She told me that her supervisor (James) is very good and highly involved in day to day operation. She mentioned that her colleagues and she passed few negative comments about Jamess management style. James likes to work around the plant and remind all of us the correct procedures to follow. However, most of the time we make jokes out of it and say James knows milligrams the amount of raw materials that company has on hand at any given time. She and most of her colleagues complaint during the lunch time that how bored they are doing the same things over and over again. They think that supervisor (James) doesnt understand their situation. She doesnt realize how bored they are on their straight forward work. I find Jamess leadership style is directive. He seems to be very supportive in how to be succeed but in this case the employees are bored with their everyday task because of their same working routine. I believe James need to find a way to motivate their employees and also he needs to be supportive when the task is dull. Before it was just a complain that my friend was telling me that how bored she is of her supervisor management , but after reading about the path- goal theory it end up giving me ah-a moment . This discussion has provided a brief introduction to just some of the more influential general learning theories like trait leadership and Path-Goal that gave me ah-a moments. It is

important to remember that each has its benefits and critics. As the final discussion about these two theories Ive learned emphasizes, it seems that educators will get a better understanding of human learning processes by considering a wide range of learning theories and their relevance in different contexts rather than by holding rigidly to any one theory. A primer on Organizational Behavior could provide me a useful starting point for finding out more about some of the theories with which we are less familiar.

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