Leadership And Motivation Practices

Revised Definition Of Leadership

After gaining deep insight over the term leadership, I have enhanced my personal definition of leadership. In my previous work, I have demonstrated that leadership is nothing but an intentional course of action so as to make people perform the way they want (Kouzes & Posner, 2007).

Now, after having comprehension in relation with the topic, I think that this definition needs to be enhanced and altered. The revised definition of leadership states that it is ability of leader to inspire motivation in other so as to move them towards the desirable outcomes and vision. Further, the best type of leadership drives changes and long lasting motivation (Mielach, 2013).

Thus, after completing various units in regards with leadership theory and practice as well as having a deep insight over the concepts and practices of leadership, I have enhanced my personal definition of leadership being defined above. Further, I also need to make various changes in me based on this identified revised definition.

I was of the belief that leadership is the process of influencing other in order to achieve the desired outcomes. However, the revised definition is slightly different. In this, the important factor is motivation. If the leaders is able to motivate his or her staffs, than he can pull out better efforts from them. Hence, this is the main reason why I like to change and enhance my leadership style.

Actual Concepts And Practices Of Steve Jobs

The Steve Jobs was an effective leader. He was also a very persistent person. In the actual practice and concepts he was of the belief that each and every individual should be ready to face setbacks, as they are part of life. The success of each and every individual is dependent on his or her abilities (Jung & Avolio, 1999). There are many stances, where the leadership style of Steve Jobs has fashioned many measurable results.

Measurable Result Of Steve Jobs Leadership

The very first is the introduction of graphical user interface commercially. This was come into existence due to forward looking ability and quite competence of Jobs. Further, he was ever willing to start over and because of this, Steve consistently roll the dice for something bigger and better. The introduction of iPod, iTunes and iPhone in the market has changed the multiple industries and this was regarded as one of the biggest example of Steve willingness and innovativeness (Steve Jobs: an unconventional leader, 2011).

Recommendation For Increasing The Effectiveness Of Steve Jobs

Although, Steve Jobs was very effective and successful leader, however there are some mistakes, which he committed. Some of the suggestions for improving the effectiveness of Steve Jobs are as follows:

• Communicating expectation and goals - Steve Jobs was very visionary and when such leaders set a goal, they also expect from each and every member to follow the same direction. Steve Jobs never understood the reasons behind why people do not get it. In addition to this, he always used to fire and publically humiliate the employees rather than clarifying the goals and objectives of the company with them.
• Must invest in imparting training and investing in staff - Steve Jobs never conducted a formal training sessions for each and every level of the company right from engineering to management and designing. Almost every employee who worked in his organization was amazed about his abilities and capacity to take decisions solely on the basis of instinct. This is a great thing for a good visionary.Advocating, supporting and nurturing the initiatives – There are many noticeable instances, when Jobs has fired his employees on the spot of taking initiatives. As a result, each and every member of the staff was required to be very careful in regards with what they are doing or what they could do. They all knew that their action in the organization will not be forgivable by Steve Jobs.
• Must provide and receive feedback from the staff - Throwing light on the behaviour of Steve Jobs, there are many stories, which speak in about the bad behaviour of Jobs with his staff members. He often used to make absurd comments on his employees. However, one of the most common criticisms of Jobs was that he never listened and always interrupted in between. Being an incontrovertible leader of Apple computers, Steve embodied the vision and he was responsible for its success.

Integrating Information Into My Leadership Practices

After completing various units in regards with the leadership theory and practices and further, by having deep insight over the leadership style of Steve Jobs, it can be said that it becomes important on my part to integrate all this information into my leadership practice. The leadership style of Steve Jobs can be adopted by me as per the demand of the situation. As he was very visionary, I can also use this attribute and can pave the way for brighter future.

Conclusion

From the above analysis, it can be concluded that leadership plays a very important role in increasing the level of motivation of employees, which in turn improves the level of performance (Leadership and motivation - foundation for success, 2013). Here, in this report, the measurable result of Steve Jobs has also being mentioned, which have tremendously changed the brand image of Apple.

References

Books and journal

• Jung, D. I. & Avolio, B. J. (1999). Effects of leadership style and follower’s cultural orientation on performance in group and individual task conditions. Academy of Management Journal. 42(2). pp.208-218.
• Kouzes, J. M. & Posner, B. Z. (2007). The leadership challenge. 4thed. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
• Northouse, G. P. (2012). Leadership: Theory and Practice. SAGE.