Introduction
Managers have many roles in an organization, each with different advantages. The roles keep on changing depending on the type of manager and the organization. According to Elenkov and Manev, the roles of managers included conservative, creative, strategic, and organizing (359). Conservative role involve managing problems that arise daily so that an organization can run smoothly. Creative role is whereby the manager encourages the employees to be innovative so that they can survive in the competitive environment. Strategic role is where the manager works together with the employees and identify ways of achieving the mission and reaching at the vision of an organization.
Organizing role is where the manager ensures that employees are performing their duties according to the set standards. With time, the aforementioned management roles have been grouped and they include interpersonal, decision and information roles (Muller and Tuner 400). Interpersonal include figurehead, leadership and liaison roles. Decisional include entrepreneur, handling disturbance, allocating resources and negotiating roles. Informational include monitor, disseminator and spokes person roles. Although all the roles are imperative, leadership is the most important. Therefore, this paper will discuss the leadership role of managers in an organization and its importance.
The leadership role
Leading is influencing people so that they can work together to achieve a certain objective. Leadership role has four pillars, which are creating vision and strategies as well as supporting communication and collision (Cetin, Karabay and Efe 227). During the creation of vision, the manager should involve all the employees and they should explore the status of the organization and its future. Creation of strategies involves exploring the internal and the external environment and determining the strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the organization. After the exploration, the manager should direct the employees to set strategies that increases the organization strength and reduces the weakness while at the same time identifying opportunities and managing threats. As a leader, the manager should encourage the employees to communicate freely with each other so that they can work in harmony. Finally, the leader should support coalition and persuade the employees to be followers so that they can achieve the mission of the organization.
According to Abernethy, Bouwens and Laurence, a manager who assume the leadership role should have a good interpersonal relationship with other employees (4). This will help the manager to influence others and as a result, employees will listen to him and work hard to achieve the objectives of the organization. Additionally, a manager with good interpersonal relationship can easily restructure the internal organization so that it can survive in the competitive business environment. This is because employees usually believe in a manager who relates well with them and they will do anything to please him (Cetin, Karabay and Efe 212). In the event of following whatever a manager says, the employees achieve the mission and the vision of the organization.
The importance of leadership role
Abernethy, Bouwens and Laurence conducted a research and found out that the style of leadership is imperative for the proper running of an organization (15). A leader can make an organization collapse or triumph depending on the leadership style that he chose to adapt. Abernethy, Bouwens and Laurence stated that typology leadership style is effective for the running of an organization (12). This leadership style operates under the principle of consideration and initiation. The principle of consideration is where a manager involves employees in decision-making process and values their opinions as well as their health and social life. On the other hand, the principle of initiation is a process whereby the manager applies rules and policies to all employees in a similar manner without discrimination. Typology leadership style is evident in managers with good interpersonal relationship and it assists them in expanding the organization and increasing the profit margin.
The leadership role allows the manager to empower employees with knowledge, skills and attitude (Abernethy, Bouwens and Laurence 15). A manager who is a leader will always delegate work to other employees. The delegation process is important to an employee because it enable him to gain the necessary skills that are important for the running of an organization. Additionally, an employee who has been given an authority and responsibility to perform a certain task will always be enthusiastic about work and will trust his manager.
A manager who is a leader always communicates with his employees when he wants to introduce something to the organization (Abernethy, Bouwens and Laurence 10). The ability of a manager to communicate with the employees has been proved the reason for success in an organization because workers will always embrace the new technology. This is because they feel like they own the technology since the idea came from them. Additionally, interactive communication between the manager and the employees allow every person to participate in decision-making process. This makes every employee and the manager to be the owner of the organization.
Elenkov and Manev stated that leadership role is important in an organization because it increases the innovativeness of the employees (360). Transformational leaders can influence other employees because they possess factors that are relevant for interpersonal relationships (Elenkov and Manev 362). For instance, they work with other people to build a strong interpersonal relationship with employees and workers from other organizations. As a result, they allow their employees to go to other organizations and learn how they work. As a result, the employees learn the culture of other organizations and adapt the ones that will benefit them (Elenkov and Manev 368). Additionally, managers who are leaders can increase the innovativeness of the employees by reminding them of the objectives of the organization and encouraging them to come up with innovative activities. The manager can also increase the knowledge level of the employees by organizing and facilitating seminars where they can learn the skills that are important in the work place.
Job satisfaction is essential for the success of an organization. According to a research done, Cetin, Karabay and Efe affirmed that leadership role is important in an organization because it enable a manager to make the employees satisfied with the job (230). Through communication and effectual leadership style, a manager can run an organization without any opposition from the employees. Effective communication involves attentive listening and it can assist a manager to share his views and opinions with employees (229).
The sharing process makes the employees feel appreciated and as a result, they work hard to achieve the organization goal. The interaction of the leader with employee will determine the output of the organization. According to Cetin, Karabay and Efe, interactive leadership style is imperative for the level of job satisfaction of the employees (234). Through interaction of the manager and the employees, they can air out their grievances and motivational factors. This will assist the manager to address the grievances and increase the motivational factory. By so doing, the employees will be satisfied.
Muller and Tuner conducted a research and found out that leadership role is essential for the success of a manager (411). Muller and Tuner suggested that a manager should be competent so that he can lead other well (423). The competencies that a leader requires are logical thinking, imagination and ability to strategize on ways of surviving in the competitive business environment. Muller and Tuner affirmed that a transformational leader can run an organization better that a manager who is not a leader (447). This is because a transformed leader can analyze the situation of an organization through observing the behaviors of the employees and discussing with them. This will help the manager identify the weakness and strengths of the organization and act accordingly.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the leadership role of the manager is important in an organization. Through the leadership role, a manager can influence employees to work hard. Therefore, leadership role of a manager ensure that the organization survive in the competitive business environment. It also ensures that the employees are empowered with knowledge, skills and attitude that are essential for the running of the organization. A manager who is a leader increases the innovativeness of the employees. This is because he creates an organization environment that facilitates learning. Leadership role is also essential for increasing job satisfaction of the employees. Through free interaction of the manager with the employees, they build trust on him and air out their issues and when the manager address them, their level of job satisfaction increases. Finally, leadership role is essential for the success of a manager.