Servant and Spiritual Leadership Theories

Question: Discuss about the Servant and Spiritual Leadership Theories. Answer: Introduction This study is based on the subject of communication and leadership. During this study, a particular case study of Auditing hidden agendas is considered. The study has focused on identifying the importance of proper communication and leadership style in the business organization. The relationship between the communication and organizational success as well as leadership and organizational success has been analyzed in this study. At the same time, the study also concentrates on the theoretical perspectives of communication and leadership. At the end of the discussion, the study provides the recommendations for the improvement of the given scenario. Identifying the concept and importance of communication and leadership in business organizations Communication is the most essential part of a business organization. In the words of MacLellan (2016), communication creates the bonding among the employees with the business organization. At the same time, Wiedemann and Meyen (2016) stated that for a company, communication is not only required for building the internal relationship among the people in the organization, but also building the relationship with the external stakeholders like, investors, creditors and government. Charlier et al. (2016) has commented that organizational communication is a process through which people within the organization and outside the organization shares their views and activities in order to fulfill the organizational goal. The importance of organizational communication is stated below: According to Wilhelm (2016), communication is one of the sources of employee motivation within a company. Clear communication between the employees and employer helps understanding the motive and ideas of each other. If the employees are aware of the motive of the employer, then they can understand how they can satisfy the needs of the employer. In the other words, it can be said that the employees can understand whether they can serve the needs of the employer or not. On the other hand, through proper communication, the employer can understand what the actual need of the employees is and how they can be motivated (Pacleb and Bocarnea 2016). Therefore, with the help of organizational communication, both employer and employees can be aware of each other and try to fulfill the needs of each other. Organizational communication helps building strong co-ordination between the employers and employees, among the employees and between the company and the external stakeholders. In the given case study, it can be identified that there was lack of communication between the company and its stakeholders. This type of situation can raise many problems within the company (Carter et al. 2016). Due to the lack of organizational communication, the stakeholders of the company were unaware about the financial crisis of the company. In this situation, it can happen that the stakeholders become dissatisfied with the performance of the company because they are not aware of the financial crisis in the company (Ruben and Gigliotti 2016). Therefore, the co-ordination between the company and the stakeholders is affected negatively. Hence, it can be stated that proper organizational communication helps building strong co-ordination. Khan et al. (2016) stated that organizational communication helps to build employees or stakeholders trust. In the case study, the dilemma took place because the CEO of the company was not ready to inform the stakeholders about the effects of financial crisis on the business of the company. However, it is the duty of the employer or CEO to inform the stakeholders about the financial situation of the company because their interests are related to the financial position of the company. If the stakeholders get to know about the actual financial condition after some days, then that may create a negative impact about the company. At the same time, trusts of the stakeholders will be reduced. Therefore, in order to build trusts in the minds of stakeholders, it is important maintaining proper communication between the organization and its stakeholders. Organizational communication is one of the sources of the information to the management as well as to the other stakeholders of the company (Pacleb and Bocarnea 2016). Communicating with the employer, the employees can know about the next target of the company. Similarly, with the help of communication, the creditors can know what the financial strength of the company is. The investors can also know the financial situation of the company through communication (DeFleur and DeFleur 2016). The information that every stakeholder gets through organizational communication, helps them taking proper decision regarding their engagement with the company. Therefore, from the above discussion, it can be stated that organizational communication is very important for operating a business successfully. Theories of organizational communication Organizational communication can be better understood with the help of different organizational theories. There are several theories related to the organizational communication like, Information theory, Critical theory and Groupware theory. All of these theories are discussed below: Information theory suggests that communication between the people must be made in such a way so that no one can alter the actual message. This theory has stated that communication is done in order to transfer some information from one person to another (Merkl-Davies and Brennan 2016). However, during the transfer of message, some mistakes can take place, which is the major barrier in communication. Therefore, while communicating with the other people within a business organization, maintaining the reliability and validity of the information is very important, otherwise, there will be miscommunication. The theory also suggests that in order to maintain the accuracy of the communication, it is important of the organization measuring the accuracy level of organizational communication (Jensen 2016). The management of the organization can maintain the accuracy level of the organizational communication by putting more accountability on the recipients of the message or information. Critical theory: Critical theory of communication assumes that the organizational conflict is the result of wrong communication among the people within the organization (Beatty and Pascual?Ferr 2016). This theory suggests that proper communication is the key to achieve the organizational success. According to this particular communication theory, organizational communication is important because it helps to motivate the employees and reduce the level of misinterpretation and conflicts among the people within the company (Leonardi 2016). The critical theory believes that any critical situation within the organization can be solved with the help of proper communication. Therefore, it is very important for the organizations taking care of the organizational communication standard. Groupware theory: This particular theory of communication believes that the system of organizational communication may be changed with the changes in the technologies in the organization. Previously, the employees within the organizations used to communicate either through face to face meetings or through hand written letters (Merkl-Davies and Brennan 2016). However, with the changes in technology, the system of communication has also changed. Nowadays, people within the organizations use to communicate through computers or social media websites. The Groupware theory of communication specially focuses on the speed and style of communication (Leonardi 2016). This theory suggests that the positive and quick follow of information helps to maintain better relationship between the management and the other stakeholders of the company. Therefore, from the above discussion, it can be stated that organizational communication is the medium of transferring the information from one employee to another employees. However, the management of the organizations requires maintaining a systematic flow of communication. Concept and importance of leadership According to Offord, Gill and Kendal (2016), leadership is the ability of an individual to motivate a particular group of people towards the achievement of a specific aim. At the same time, Contreras (2016) stated that leadership is a personality trait of influencing the people towards a particular goal. In the business scenario, leadership is the most essential factor for achieving the success of the organization. Storey (2016) mentioned that leadership not only means dominating the people but it indicates motivating the people through friendly and polite behavior. There are several styles of leadership that the business organizations follow. However, in any kind of leadership style, the leaders must follow some core principles of leadership and these are mentioned below: The leaders must be helpful enough to each of the group members whom the leaders are leading (Harrichand, Kimball and Kirk 2016). The leaders must have the ability to know the people or the group members. This indicates that the leaders must be aware of the positive and negative sides of each group member. The leaders must be aware of themselves. Proper leadership demands self-judgment and self-improvement (Delshad and Karimi 2016). The leaders must be able of handling the any kind of emergency situation within the organization and outside the organization. Ospina (2016) noted about different types of leadership styles like, autocratic leadership, participative leadership, strategic leadership, team leadership, facilitative leadership and cross-cultural leadership. Each of the leadership styles has some different and unique characteristics or features. Due to this, the leaders in the business organizations require to adopt different types of leadership in different situations. However, every type or style of leadership has the capacity of providing some benefits to the organization (Beatty and Pascual?Ferr 2016). These have created importance of leadership within the business organizations. The importances of leadership are stated below: Khan et al. (2016) stated that leadership is important in the business organization because it helps to create a strong bonding or co-ordination among the people within the country. Strong team bonding ultimately helps to achieve the business goal properly. Leadership is important because it helps to improve the competence level of the employees within the organization. However, in this context, Contreras (2016) argued that the competence level of the employees can be improved only when the leaders apply appropriate leadership style as per the situation. If the given case study is considered, then it can be identified that the leader or the CEO of the organization has not taken the right leadership style for handling the financial crisis situation of the company. As the employees of the organization are not fully aware of the financial situation of the company, they cannot understand whether their competence level should be improved or not. Leadership is an important factor for creating an effective and friendly working culture within the organization (Jensen 2016). Friendly and effective working culture actually motivates the employees towards the business goal. This is because if the management or leaders within the organization are friendly and supportive enough then the employees or sub-ordinates get any kind of help from their leaders, which actually motivates the employees to performing better. Leadership is also an importance factor for removing the conflicting situation within the business organization (DeFleur and DeFleur 2016). In a business organization different types of conflicting situations can take place. With the help of proper leadership, the management of the organizations can easily handle the conflicting situation. Therefore, from the above discussion, it can be said that leadership is very important in the context of business. Wiedemann and Meyen (2016) commented that in the current competitive business scenario, a company cannot survive if it applies wrong leadership style. Offord, Gill and Kendal (2016) stated that if the importance of leadership is identified as per the different leadership styles, then it can be stated that when there is chaotic situation within the organization, the management of the company must apply the autocratic leadership style. The autocratic leadership style helps to run the business organization by considering the decision of the management only. On the other side, if the organization is facing a problem between the management and employees, then the application of participative leadership is more helpful (Delshad and Karimi 2016). However, different types of leadership styles depend on different theories of leadership. The theories of leadership are stated below . Analyzing different theories of leadership Storey (2016) stated that the leadership styles available to the leaders in the modern business organizations are based on different leadership theories. Some of the important theories of leadership are Trait theory, Behavioral theory and Contingency theory. These theories are discussed below: This particular theory of leadership is based on the different traits of human beings. According to this particular theory, the personality traits of the individuals help to identify the difference between the leaders and non-leaders. Wilhelm (2016) mentioned that while developing the trait theory of leadership, the features of successful as well as unsuccessful leaders have been considered. At the same time, Offord, Gill and Kendal (2016) commented that trait theory of leadership provides the constructive data and information about the leadership within the organization. However, Ospina (2016) argued that trait theory of leadership provides only the subjective judgment while considering someone as an efficient or inefficient leader. In support of this, Leonardi (2016) stated that there are huge numbers of human traits and it is not possible to consider each of the traits while identifying a successful leader. However, it is true that the trait theory of leadership is very effective in identifying and understanding the important traits of effective leadership. Behavioral theory: The behavioral theory of leadership is based on two assumptions. The first assumption is leadership is not a born talent rather it can be built within an individual. The second assumption is the effective leadership can be built through the learnable and definable behavior. Wilhelm (2016) stated that the behavioral theories of leadership consider that the leadership is such a talent of human beings that is created through effective learning and practice. Leadership is not an inherent talent of anyone. This means, the behavioral theory of leadership suggests that in order to lead an organization successfully, a leader needs to develop some effective personality traits. MacLellan (2016) mentioned that behavioral theory influences the human being towards the development of leadership traits because it believes that leadership characteristics can be generate and it is not in-born. However, Khan et al. (2016) argued that behavioral theory does not give any clue regarding its use in diff erent organizational situations. This particular theory of leadership was developed by Fred Fiedler during 1958. According to this theory, the success of a leadership is not solely dependent on the leadership style, but the control level of the leadership in a particular scenario is also the determinant of effective leadership (Delshad and Karimi 2016). The contingency leadership theory has critically researched on the characteristics of effective leadership and it has been stated that the characteristics of effective leadership are flexible. However, the subjective scale of the theory makes the usability of contingency theory limited. Relationship between leadership, communication and organizational sustainability According to Contreras (2016), the sustainability of a business organization depends on the level of communication and effectiveness of leadership within the organization. On the other side, Charlier et al. (2016) noted that the leadership and communication are also dependent on each other. In support of this, Wilhelm (2016) suggested that a leadership can be successful when the communication level within the organization is strong and an organization is successful when it has strong leadership as well as communication. Effective communication system helps the leaders making proper plan for the future and effective leadership motivates the employees to convert the plan into a success. In the other words, it can be said that by implementing the well developed communication system, the leaders in the organization can build a friendly working atmosphere and at the same time, the relationship between the management and employees becomes stronger. If the employee-management relationship is strong, then the employees become motivated towards the fulfillment of companys goal (Harrichand, Kimball and Kirk 2016). At the same time, it can also be said that if the employees are well motivated towards the fulfillment of companys overall goal, then it is obvious that the company will achieve a sustainable position in the market (Beatty and Pascual?Ferr 2016). This means in order to operate a business successfully and to make a business sustainable, the management of the organization requires leading the employees through effective leadership style and implementing proper communication network. Conclusion In this study, it has been identified that communication and leadership are the most important factors behind the success of a company. In the study has found out that in the given scenario, the CEO of the company has not communicated properly about the financial position of the company with the employees ad well as external stakeholders. Due to this, the company may face several problems in future. The study has indicated that through effective communication, the organization can build team bonding, co-ordination and can clarify the doubts of the employees. On the other side, effective leadership helps to motivate the employees towards the fulfillment of the overall goal of the company. The study has also indicated that the sustainability or success of a company depends on both the effective implementation of communication system and leadership style. Reference list Beatty, M.J. and Pascual?Ferr, P., 2016. Trait Theories.The International Encyclopedia of Communication Theory and Philosophy. Carter, D.F., Ro, H.K., Alcott, B. and Lattuca, L.R., 2016. Co-Curricular Connections: The Role of Undergraduate Research Experiences in Promoting Engineering Students Communication, Teamwork, and Leadership Skills.Research in Higher Education,57(3), pp.363-393. Charlier, S.D., Stewart, G.L., Greco, L.M. and Reeves, C.J., 2016. 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