Unit 5

Quality of work life is a concept which talks about the overall focus on employee as a person
rather than just the work done by him/her. Quality of Work Life is becoming an increasingly
popular concept in recent times. It basically talks about the methods in which an organisation
can ensure the holistic well-being of an employee instead of just focusing on work-related
aspects.
Quality of work life balance. ... Definition: QUALITY OF WORK LIFE BALANCE
Having a measure of control when, where and how individuals work, leading to their being
able to enjoy an optimal quality of life Ways to achieve quality of work life
Each organisation has its own way of achieving this. But the most common elements
adopted are shown in the image below:
There are several ways to achieve to quality of work life. The key elements can be described as below:
1. Providing Job Security: If an employee is confident that his job is secure, they are much more relaxed and can perform
better. It gives them a confidence that even if something goes wrong by mistake, their job will not be at stake
2. Rewards and recognition: If an employee is awarded for a good performance, its helps them to perform even better. The
leadership and top management must ensure recognition of the efforts of subordinates. This is an importance aspect of good
governance as well.
3. Flexible work timings: Flexibility during working hours is something which is appreciated by employees. This gives
employees a chance to do their work and also work on certain important personal commitments. This significantly contributes
to improving the quality of work life for an employee. Companies also promote a compressed work week concept.
4. Increased employee participation: Involving employees in discussions, strategies & feedback is something which helps
increase the employees QWL & contribution towards a particular role.
5. Open communication: Transparency between management and employees & effective team management gives
them confidence as they are updated with the business and also feel at ease being approachable
6. Career growth plans: Discussing the future of the employee in the company, interesting aspects of the job, career
development etc are all appreciated by employees
7. Job enrichment: Companies which are able to enrich the job with new tasks, better learning & training, more opportunities
etc are more likely to keep employees happy at work.
FACTORS:
The factors that influence and decide the Quality of Work Life are: Attitude, Environment, Opportunities, Nature of the job, People,
Stress level, Career, prospects, Challenges, Growth and development, Risk involved and reward.
Objectives of Quality of Work Life:
To increase in individual productivity, accountability and commitment. For better teamwork and communication. For
improving the morale of employees. ... To improve employee satisfaction. Socio technical Design:
Socio-technical design is concerned with advocacy of the direct participation of end-users in the information system design process.
The system includes the network of users, developers, information technology at hand, and the environments in which the system will be
used and supported.
A Sociotechnical system (STS) in organizational development is an approach to complex organizational work design that recognizes
the interaction between people and technology in workplaces. The term also refers to the interaction between society's complex
infrastructures and human behaviour.
Socio-technical Systems
Software and hardware are interdependent. Without the hardware, software is an abstraction. When you put hardware and software
together, you create a system. This system will be able to carry out multiple complex computations and return the result to its
environment.
It consists of many items. These items are difficult to distinguish from each other because they all have close inter-relationships. Some
of the items are shown in figure:
Socio-technical systems include:
1. People:
People can be individuals or in groups. We also need to consider their roles and agencies. An organization employs the people, who build
and make use of hardware and software, operate within law and regulations, and share and maintain the data.
2. Hardware:
The classical meaning if the technology is hardware. It involves mainframe, workstations, peripheral, connecting devices. There
is no way for a socio-technical system to be without any kind of hardware component.
3. Softwares:
Software is nothing but an executable code. Softwares include operating system, utilities, application programs. Software is an integral
part of the socio-technical system. Software often incorporates social rules and procedures as a part of the design, i.e. optimize these
parameters, store the data in these format, ask for these data, etc.
4. Law and regulations:
There might be laws about the protection of privacy, or regulations of chips testing in military use, etc. Laws and regulations set by
organization and government need to be followed. They carry special societal sanctions if the violators are caught.
5. Data:
The design of the socio-technical systems design involve what data are collected, to whome the data should be available and in which
formats the data should be stored.
To understand socio-technical systems as a whole, you have to know the various layers, as shown in figure.
These systems can be impossible to understand. So, we refer to these 7 layers. These layers make up the Socio technical systems stack.
❖ The equipment layer:
It contains set of hardware devices some of which may be computer, laptops, phones, etc. Most of the devices include embedded system of some kind.
❖ The operating system layer:
This layer provides a set of common facilities for higher software layers in the system. This layer acts as a bridge to the hardware as it allows interaction
between software and hardware.
❖ The communications and data management layer:
This layer extends the operating system facilities and provides an interface that allows interaction with more extensive functionality, such as access to remote
systems, access to a system database, etc. This is sometimes called middleware, as it is in between the application and the operating system.
❖ The application layer:
This layer provides more specific functionality to meet some organization requirements. There may be many different application programs in this layer.
❖ The business process layer:
This layer consists a set of processes involving people and computer systems that support the activities of the business. The use of software system, are defined and
enacted.
❖ The organizational layer:
At this level, the business rules, regulations, policies along with high-level strategic processes are defined and are to be followed when using the system.
❖ The social layer:
Laws, regulations and culture that govern the operation of the system are defined.
High-performance work practices (HPWPs) can be defined as practices that have been shown to improve an organization's capacity to effectively attract, select,
hire, develop, and retain high-performing personnel. We refer to a set of specific HPWPs within an organization as a high
Some examples of HPWPs include:
∙ Realistic Job Previews (RJPs).
∙ An employee on-boarding strategy.
∙ A continuous mentoring and leadership development strategy.
∙ Regular performance appraisals (with SMART goals co-designed by employees). ∙ Current and flexible job descriptions and job specifications.
∙ In-house problem-solving and work-improvement groups/ teams.
∙ Employee Suggestion or Innovation Programs.
What are high-performance work practices?
The strategic importance of human resource management and its impact on financial performance has created substantial interest within academic and practitioner
communities. This interest is focused on the potential of high-performance work practices (HPWPs) to act as a unique, sustainable resource supporting the implementation
of corporate strategy and the achievement of operational goals.
Although HPWPs have neither been consistently defined nor uniformly named, Datta et al. (2005) point out that HPWPs are most commonly viewed as a set of internally
coherent and consistent human resources practices designed to
∙ promote employee knowledge,
∙ motivation, and
∙ Commitment.
Also called “high-performance work systems or alternate/flexible work practices” (Delaney & Godard, 2001), these programs share some common elements including
rigorous recruitment and selection processes, performance-based incentives, and comprehensive training programs centered around the needs of the business (Becker,
Huselid, Pickhus, & Spratt, 1997)
High-performance work practices empower employees, which helps organizational efficiency and performance HPWPs are not based on control but on employee autonomy,
decision-making and responsibility HPWPs are intended to lead to a highly motivated, skilled, and empowered workforce, with the goals of the employees closely aligned
with those of the management (Flood, MacCurtain & Guthrie, 2005). HPWP systems versus individual practices,
Operational versus financial performance measures, and manufacturing versus service organizations. Research on HPWPs is highly relevant for questions relating to the
dynamic world of work today
This research offers five contributions:
It statistically aggregates existing evidence on the impact of HPWPs on organizational performance, providing a conservative point
estimate of the relationship’s strength.
What are the benefits of high-performance work practices?
Combs et al. (2006) argue that HPWPs improve organizational performance through three interconnected processes:
They give employees the KSAs (knowledge, skills, and abilities) necessary to perform their tasks and the motivation and opportunity
to do so (Delery & Shaw, 2001).
What are shortcomings of high-performance work practices?
Although HPWP practices are generally considered to have a positive impact on employees’ wellbeing, there also exist certain opposing
views.
How can high-performance work practices be implemented?
HPWPs improve organizational performance by increasing employees' knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs), empowering them to utilize
their KSAs for the organizational benefit, and motivating them to do so. KSAs are introduced and ensured by adequate recruiting and
selectivity (Hoque, 1999) and then further advanced through
practices such as training, adequate job design, and compensation linked to skill development (Hoque, 1999; Russell, Terborg, &
Powers, 1985).
Behavioural performance management:
The behavioural approach to the performance management system rests on the idea that you can get the right level of performance from
employees based on a demonstration of desirable behaviours. This system contrasts with the outcome approach in which the results of
employee work efforts are emphasized. The behavioral approach to the performance management system rests on the idea that you can
get the right level of performance from employees based on a demonstration of desirable behaviours. This system contrasts with the
outcome approach in which the results of employee work efforts are emphasized. There are various methods which organisations adopt to
measure employee performance such as: ∙ comparative approach,
∙ attribute approach,
∙ behavioural approach,
∙ result approach and
∙ Quality approach.
Behavioural approach is the most commonly adopted approach and comprises of vertical scales which are based on certain parameters.
Organisations use following techniques to measure employee performance: ∙ Behaviourally Anchored Rating Scale (BARS)
∙ Behavioural Observation Scale (BOS)
The BARS technique contains five to ten scales which are based on parameters that are mutually agreed upon by the employees. The
BOS technique on the other hand is an improved version of the BARS technique and has its own advantages vis a vis the latter. This
technique provides more specific data on employee performance, thus resulting in a better measure of his or her performance. The
average of all the frequencies of data is taken as a result for that particular parameter. This technique is more reliable and accurate than
BARS technique (Bohlander & Snell, 2007).
Approaches for measuring performance of employees

Measuring performance of employees is the backbone of any organization’s management. Business owners usually measure employee performance by assessing how much
contribution the employee is making to the firm’s growth. This is conveyed to the employee at the time of their performance appraisal. Performance appraisal refers to the
evaluation of employees, providing them with valuable feedback and creating a positive effect on future performance. Employee performance depends upon a number of factors
such as; ∙ conducive work environment
∙ work profile
∙ compensation
∙ bonus system
∙ job satisfaction
∙ company policies
∙ technology
These factors play an important role in determining the employee productivity and hence the overall organizational development.
Different approaches of measuring performance
Organisations can use different strategies and approaches for the purpose of measuring performance of their employees. The five major approaches are:
1. Comparative approach,
2. Attribute approach,
3. Behavioral approach,
4. Result Approach and
5. Quality approach.
Each of these approaches differs in characteristics and suitability. A firm can select any one or a combination of these approaches on the basis of their business goals
and management type. Comparative approach of measuring performance
Attribute approach of measuring performance
Graphic Rating Scale entails rating the employee on a scale of 1 to 5 (lowest to highest). Mixed rating scale is a more layered form of measurement. In the first step, the employee is
rated as high, medium or low on a given set of parameters.
Behavioural approach of measuring performance
This is one of the oldest performance measurement techniques. The Behavioural approach consists of a series of vertical scales for different dimensions of the job. This can be done
using BARS technique or BOS technique. The Behaviourally Anchored Rating Scale (BARS) technique consists of five to ten vertical scales.
Result approach of measuring performance
This approach is a simple and straight-forward concept, wherein organisation rate employees on the basis of employee performance results. The first type of result approach is the
Balanced Scorecard technique. This technique focuses on four perspectives namely:
1. financial,
2. customer,
3. internal & operations and
4. learning & growth.
The second approach is Productivity Measurement and Evaluation System (ProMES). It is very effective in motivating employees for enhanced productivity and measuring the feedback.
It consists of four steps. The first step is to identify the objectives which the organisation want to achieve. The second step measures how well these objectives are made. While the third
step involves how effective are they in evaluating the employee performance. Finally, the last step gives feedback to the employees.
Quality approach of measuring performance
This approach focuses on improving customer satisfaction by reducing errors and achieving continuous service improvisation. This approach takes into consideration both person and
system factors. Also employers take regular feedback on the personal and professional traits of the employee from managers, peers and clients to resolve performance issues. The Quality
Approach mainly focuses on the use of Kaizen process in order to continuously improve the business processes. The advantage of this approach includes: ∙ assessment of both employee
and system,
∙ problem solving through teamwork,
∙ use of multiple sources to evaluate performance and
∙ involvement of both internal and external factors
However practitioners of this approach believe that this approach does not correspond with quality philosophy of an organisation (Noe 2008).
Differences between Reinforcement and Punishment
While reinforcement is an enthusiastic outcome, for good performance, punishment is an averse consequence, of wrongdoing. Reinforcement
strengthens response, whereas punishment weakens the same. The result of reinforcement will increase the frequency of behaviour.
Reinforcement has played a central role in learning. Most learning experts agree that reinforcement is the single most important principle of
learning.
The organizations can maintain or increase the probability of such behaviours as quality oriented performance, decision-making, high level of
attendance and punctuality and so on. There are four basic reinforcement strategies:
❖ Positive reinforcement
❖ Negative reinforcement
❖ Extinction
❖ Punishment
❖ Positive Reinforcement
A positive reinforcement is a reward for a desired behaviour. The reward should be sufficiently powerful and durable so that it increases the probability
of occurrence of desirable behaviour. Positive reinforcement results from the application of a positive consequence following a desirable behaviour.
For example
Bonuses paid at the end of a successful business year are an example of positive reinforcement Employees will work hard for a raise or a
promotion
Salesmen will increase their efforts to get rewards and bonuses
Students will study to get good grades and
Children will throw temper tantrums to get candy or ice creams.
In these examples, the rises, promotions, awards, bonuses, good grades candy and ice cream are positive reinforcers.
Negative Reinforcers: Negative reinforcement also known as "escape conditioning" or "avoidance learning" it is also
a method of strengthening desired behaviour. Negative reinforcement results from withholding a threatened negative
consequence when a desired behaviour occurs. For example students study hard, write term papers and do their
homework on time to avoid the consequences of failure in the examination.
Punishment:
Punishment is the opposite of reinforcement. Punishment tends to lower the probability of a response by following it with
an aversive or unpleasant consequence. And punishment can be accomplished either adding an unpleasant stimulus or
removing a pleasant stimulus.
From an organizational standpoint, this result becomes important when the punished person translates negative emotional
and psychological responses into negative actions.
Reinforcement and Punishment Strategies
These four reinforcement strategies are illustrated below with the help of an example when a superior advises his
employee to come to work on time
Reinforcement Strategies Schedules of Reinforcement:
Any analysis of reinforcement shows that it is not provided in a consistent manner. The various ways by which the reinforcement can be administered can be
categorized into two groups. These are continuous and partial reinforcement schedules.
1. Continuous reinforcement Schedule: A continuous schedule is that one in which the desirable behaviour is reinforced every time it occurs and the
reinforcement is immediate.
This results in fast acquisition of the desired response and the learning is rapid. Continuous reinforcement strategy is not always feasible in the organizational
environment where continuous observation of behaviour is not possible due to time constraints imposed upon management. Reinforcing every correct response
is known as continuous reinforcement.
Partial Reinforcement Schedule: A partial reinforcement schedule rewards desirable behaviour at specific intervals. It is believed that "behaviour tends to be
persistent when it is learned under conditions of partial and delayed reinforcement.
There are four kinds of partial reinforcement schedule. These are:
a. Fixed Interval Schedule: In this type of schedule, a response is reinforced at fixed intervals of time. Fixed-interval schedules produce an uneven pattern of
responses. The highest rate of response occurs fairly close to the time when reinforcement occurs. For example, if there are two tests announced at fixed
intervals in a semester, you will see that the students will study harder as the time of the test approaches because the test itself is a reinforce and the studying
behaviour is reinforced by the opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge and earn a good grade.
b. Variable Interval Schedule: In this type of schedule, the reinforcement is administered at random times that cannot be predicted by the employee. For
example: "Surprise Quizzes" in the classroom is one of the examples of variable interval schedules.
c. Fixed Ratio Schedules: In a fixed ratio schedule, the reinforcement is administered only upon the completion of a given number of desirable responses.
Reward is consistently tied to the output. The individual soon determines that reinforcement is based upon the number of responses and performs the
responses as quickly as possible in order to receive the reward. For example, a professor may receive a promotion after a certain number of research articles
have been published.
d. Variable Ratio Schedules: It is similar to fixed ratio schedule except that the numbers of responses required before reinforcement is determined, are not fixed
but vary from situation to situation. The variable ratio schedule elicits a rapid rate of response. The value of the reward and its unpredictability keeps the
Leadership theories - Styles, Activities and skills of Great leaders:
What are leadership theory and leadership style?
Leadership theory studies the qualities of good leaders. Psychologists analyze and develop leadership theory, and researchers try to discover the
common qualities or behavioral patterns of excellent leaders. Some of the leadership aspects they consider include:
∙ Personality traits
∙ Actions
∙ Environment
∙ Situation
∙ Decision-making process
∙ How input is received
∙ How relationships are maintained
Leadership style is the way a leader approaches managing team members. Leadership styles were formally developed as a result of studies on
leadership theory, and each style includes distinct qualities. Common leadership styles include:
∙ Coach: Recognizes strengths and weaknesses, helps people set goals and provides a lot of feedback. ∙ Visionary: Manages through inspiration
and confidence.
∙ Servant: Focuses on helping team members feel fulfilled.
∙ Autocratic or authoritarian: Makes decisions with little or no input from others. ∙ Laissez-faire or hands-off: Delegates tasks
and provides little supervision. ∙ Democratic: Considers the opinions of others before making a decision.
∙ Pacesetter: Sets high standards and focuses on performance.
∙ Bureaucratic: Follows a strict hierarchy and expects team members to follow procedure.
Six main leadership theories
The six main leadership theories are:
∙ The great man theory
∙ The trait theory
∙ The behavioural theory
∙ The transactional theory or management theory
∙ The transformational theory or relationship theory
∙ The situational theory
Theories of Leadership:
Definition: Leadership is the process of channelizing the energy of an individual or a group towards the
realisation of specific goals, objectives and vision.
Theories of Leadership
Over the decades, many great scholars, researchers and academicians have conducted various research and studies to
discover the factors that contribute to effective leadership. In this process, the following theories of leadership have
evolved:
▪ The Great Man Theory: Thomas Carlyle proposed the Great Man Theory in the 1840s, and it merely believes that leadership is an inherent trait of a
person who is destined to become a great leader by birth and they prove themselves when the great need arises. In other words, some people are born to
become leaders and leadership is a heroic act.:
Criticism: This theory was criticised or questioned due to the following reasons:
▪ It was a male-centric approach when women have proved to be great leaders too. ▪ This theory explains that leadership cannot be learned or
taught it’s an inherent trait. ▪ There is no scientific validation to support this theory.
▪ It neglected the environmental and situational factors which affect the leadership process.

▪ The Trait Theory: Ralph M. Stogdill proposed the trait theory of leadership in the late 1940s; he explained that an individual must possess the key
personality traits and characteristics to be an effective leader and these traits are inherent by birth.
Some of the core leadership traits based on this theory can be categorised as follows:
Physiological traits: Height, weight, structure, colour, appearance and so forth.
Socioeconomic characteristics: Gender, religion, marital status, age, occupation, literacy and earnings. Personality traits: Extraversion,
self-confidence, patience, agreeable, reliable, honesty and leadership motivation.
Intellectual traits: Decisiveness, intelligence, judgemental ability, knowledge and emotional attribute. Task-related traits: Attainment drive,
dedication, initiative, determination and business expertise. Social characteristics: Socially active, cordiality and cooperation.
Some of the other traits being charisma, adaptiveness, creativity, uniqueness.
This theory was criticised since it neglected the environmental factors which may not always remain the same. The list of traits is quite vast and keeps
on changing from time to time. It was unable to explain failures despite possessing the certain traits specified in the theory. Moreover, of the identified
traits can be acquired through learning and training.
Behavioural Theory: The behavioural theory of leadership evolved in the 1950s. After understanding that the personal traits of a leader are
essential for effective leadership, the researchers were now keen to know that what leaders do to become effective leaders
Thus, they now focussed on the leader’s behaviour rather than traits. To study the behaviour of leaders, two major research programs
were started by two different universities namely, the Ohio State Leadership Studies and the University of Michigan Studies.
The Ohio State University Studies: A group of researchers at Ohio State University prepared a questionnaire to be surveyed in military
and industrial setups, to determine the perception of the subordinates for the actual behaviour of their leaders. From their findings, the
researchers identified two major categories of leader behaviour:
▪ Consideration: The leaders are attentive towards their subordinates and build up an excellent inter personnel relationship with them.
They are very supportive and friendly. This was termed as ‘people-oriented behaviour’.
The study further resulted in the identification of four additional behaviours essential for effective leadership which are:
▪ Support
▪ Goal emphasis
▪ Work facilitation
▪ Interaction facilitation
▪ Contingency Theory: Contingency theories of leadership state that effective leadership comprises of all the three factors, i.e. traits,
behaviour and situation. A leader’s behaviour varies as per the situation. To support this theory of leadership various models were
developed, and multiple studies were conducted in this direction.
 Following are the models of contingency theory:

Fred Fiedler’s Contingency Model: Dr Fred E. Fiedler tried to explain that the performance of a group or team is banked on
the pleasant and unpleasant situations and style of leadership.
Leadership style can be assessed with the help of Least Preferred Co-worker (LPC) scale. It is a technique in which a leader
is asked to think of a person whom they least like to work with and score them on different bipolar scales.
For instance: Friendly-unfriendly, Efficient-inefficient, Cooperative-uncooperative, etc Fiedler’s findings:
Leader’s Traits: On the basis of the LPC Scale, a leader’s style of leadership can be determined. If a leader scores high on the
LPC scale, that means he is highly relationship-oriented and treats even the least preferred co worker generously.If he scores
low on the LPC scale, he is a task-oriented leader prioritising the work and performance.
Situational factor: Leaders manage to perform effectively in the favourable situations. They feel that they have control and
command over the group of employees in such situations.
Situation Matches: Fiedler gave a Contingency Model named Leader Situation Matches in which he explained that leadership
style could be either task-oriented or people-oriented, based on the favourableness of the situation.
Hersey Blanchard Situational Theory: The Hersey-Blanchard Situational Theory states that the style of leadership depends upon
the maturity of the subordinates; accordingly the following four styles were developed: ▪ Telling: When a new person enters the
organisation, he has to be told everything, i.e. he is given training and orientation to make him understand the task to be performed.
▪ Selling: The leader leads by providing social and emotional support to the subordinates and convincing the groups to give
maximum output.
▪ Delegating: The leaders are least concerned about and hardly interfere with the execution of the tasks. They are not even
concerned about the subordinates and their issues.
▪ Participating: It is a democratic style where subordinates are allowed to participate in the decision making process. Here, the
leader is less focussed on the achievement of objectives.
▪ Evans and House Path-Goal Theory: The Path-Goal Theory was proposed by Robert J. House and Martin Evans in 1970s.
The situational factors involved are Subordinate characteristics and Organisational environment. This model emphasised four
different behaviours of a leader:
▪ Directive
▪ Supportive
▪ Participative
▪ Achievement-Oriented
▪ Vroom-Yetton-Jago Decision-Making Model: This model suggested that leadership style varies on the basis of the
decision-making ability of the leaders in different situations. Leadership style was merely based on the degree of
employee’s contribution and activeness in the decision-making process. The various aspects taken into consideration
were decision timeliness, decision acceptance and the decision quality. Following are the Leadership Styles derived out
of
▪ Autocratic (AII): This is stringic autocratic leadership style where the leader takes the opinion of group members to
gather more information but may or may not share the final decision with the group members. ▪ Consultative (CI): The
leaders consult with the group members to explore opinions but solely take the decision.
▪ Consultative (CII): the leader consults with the group members to explore opinions and also invites suggestions but
solely takes the decision.
▪ Collaborative (GII): The leader allows the group to take their own decisions collectively and plays a supportive role
in the process.
 Cognitive Resource Theory: This theory explains that if the leader is experienced he will be able to perform
effectively even under the stressful situations whereas an intelligent leader performs well in less stressful
situations.
▪ Strategic Contingencies Theory: This theory says that the effectiveness of a leader depends upon his
problem-solving skills and ability to handle critical situations and make decisions wisely. A person with better
problem-solving skills can secure his position and cannot be easily replaced.
Charismatic Leadership Theory: This theory believes that a leader must possess some extraordinary and
exceptional qualities to become an effective leader. Such leaders lead by t
▪ Envisioning/Foreseeing: Leaders foresees future possibilities and create a vision accordingly, usually having
high expectations and dreams.
▪ Energizing/Empowering: Leaders are highly enthusiastic, proactive, energetic and confidently aiming
towards success.
▪ Enabling/Guiding: Leaders provide complete support and guidance and show compassion and trust in followers.
Such leaders are highly focussed and committed towards their goal accomplishment. ▪
Transactional Leadership Theory: Transactional Leadership Theory emphasises the realisation of a desired outcome and
result. The leaders motivate the followers by way of a reward system, i.e. rewarding the performers and punishing the
non-performers.
The theory emphasises maintaining a cordial relationship with the followers, leaders and followers must work mutually to
meet organisational goals.
▪ Transformational Leadership Theory: The transformational theory states that a leader is effective only if he can transform
or change the perceptions, behaviour and expectations of the followers and direct them towards a common goal which will lead
to the accomplishment of the leader’s vision. Such leaders have a charismatic and influential personality.
Following are the key factors behind Transformational Leadership:
▪ Psychological transformation: Bring about a change in the perception and mindset of the follower.
▪ Influential: Creates a strong impact on the followers.
▪ Motivational: Generates positive energy within followers.
▪ Inspirational: Encourages them to achieve something.
▪ Individual impact: Creates a powerful effect on the behaviour and perception of the followers.
From the above description, we can conclude that a leader needs to follow different leadership theories based on the situation
and circumstances.
Activities and skills of Great leaders:
Definition of a Leader
A leader is "a person who influences a group of people towards the achievement of a goal". A mnemonic for this definition would be 3P's - Person, People and Purpose.
Leadership plays an important role in the workplace as well as other community organizations. Leadership activities are associated with benefits to business, including
increased performance and productivity.
The working style, principles, and values of a leader is a crucial aspect in determining the behaviour within an organization Leadership training can help leaders become
role-models The behaviour of leaders and what they consider the “norm” determines which behaviours are enforced and those which are punished Given the importance of
a leader’s behaviour, it is also essential that they learn skills, such as: Communication
Leaders need to develop the ability to clearly, succinctly explain to employees everything from the goals of a company to the details of specific work-tasks Many
components are important for effective communication, including active listening, reading body language and written communication such as emails Motivation
Leaders need to inspire employees. They may do this by increasing worker’s self-esteem, by recognizing effort and achievement, or by giving a worker new responsibilities
to further their investment in the business Delegating
Leaders can achieve this by identifying the skills that workers have, and as such assign tasks to each worker based on the skills they have
Creativity
Good leaders are willing to try novel solutions or to approach problems in a non-traditional way Feedback
Leaders are constantly on the lookout for opportunities to provide team members with information about their performance, without ‘micromanaging’ their work
Now that you have more clarity as to what leadership activities are, and what they are used for, let us look at a wide selection of activities. While some of the activities
and games may not immediately appear to be ‘leadership activities,’ the chosen activities might develop and promote the leadership skills outlined above. Leaders have
both a big influence and responsibility for their teams. Some of the aspects they need to pay attention to are:
∙ Setting the climate of a workplace
∙ Inspiring team members
∙ Setting values for their team
∙ Improving team spirit and cohesion
∙ Being responsible for their team’s communication and wellbeing