«Impacts of Organizational Culture on Leadership» - Great Essay Sample

The values, norms and practices within an organization have a significant impact on leadership. Organizational culture determines the applicability of leadership traits and, thus, performance of a leader. The relationship between organizational and leadership arises due to factors, relating to influence, common goals, and the willingness to collaborate. Synergy between organizational culture and leadership arises when the leader has influence on his or her followers and can sustain their willingness to work towards the realization of organizational goals (Alvesson, 2002). While a particular organizational culture may create an environment that facilitates the practice of leadership traits, another organizational culture may discourage those traits making them irrelevant to the attainment or organizational goals. In this regard, for a leader to influence the workforce in an organization, his or her leadership style must have synergy with the organizational culture. An organizational culture that is outcome-oriented will lead to deterioration in performance, if a leader employs the supportive style. On the other hand, an organizational culture that thrives on building of relationships and consultations will hamper the realization of an organization’s strategic goals in the case of directive leadership. Conflicts between organizational culture and leadership increase job dissatisfaction and employee morale leading to poor performance, due to disharmony (Argyris, 2010). Thus, there can be poor communication and delegation of duties within various departments, which causes delays in the attainment of the set goals. In addition, the process of decision-making becomes increasingly difficult when it excludes the organizational culture, since any change process must include all the members in an organization. When a leader cannot effectively communicate with his or her followers, delegate duties and make all-inclusive decisions, it is an illustration of inappropriate leadership skills (Wren, 1995). Good leadership traits should influence and cultivate collaborative efforts, aimed at the realization of goals and objectives, envisioned by both the leader and his or her followers.