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| How
to Succeed in the Business World
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Introduction
In the contemporary world the role of leaders of organizations
is extremely important, especially in the formation of the
organizational culture which is currently getting to be increasingly
more significant. In fact, it should be said that nowadays
organizational culture is one of the key issues of the general
success of organizational functioning that affects practically
all spheres of the organizational structure. It means that
at the present moment organizational culture is a constituent
part of the functioning of any organization and the higher
level of culture an organization has the more respectable
and popular its brand is. At the same time, the development
of a high organizational culture is hardly possible without
hard work on this issue of leaders of organizations which
actually establish the basic ‘rules of the game’
and are supposed to demonstrate the highest level of culture
that should be followed as an example by the rest of the organization’s
staff (Hesselbein, et al., 1996).
Preparing to succeed
On analyzing the current situation, it is possible to estimate
that many organizations suffer from the lack of healthy organizational
culture though the understanding of its importance makes this
problem one of the main targets in the development of an organization.
Also, it should be said that as a rule the problem of healthy
organizational culture is often associated with strong and
not less healthy leadership and the reasons for such views
are quite understandable (Schmitt and Simonson, 1997). Obviously,
nowadays, despite certain trends to democratization and liberalization
of relations within organizations, the role of leaders and
their position is still extremely important, especially in
relation to the development of a healthy organizational culture.
However, it is very important that leaders possessed various
skills, which, according to the Skill Approach, define the
effectiveness of the performance of the leader (Dessler, 2004).
It is important to come prepared to succeed in the contemporary
business environment. In this respect, the psychological preparedness
is not less significant than technical one. The modern business
needs leaders who are able to create teams. Hence, the contemporary
business environment implies the psychological adaptability
of people that means that both leaders and employees should
be able to change their work style and behavior to develop
normal relations within the organization where they work.
Also, it is necessary to know the basic approaches to increase
effectiveness and productivity of work since these two concepts
are crucial for success in the contemporary highly competitive
environment. The management style is of the utmost importance
and in order to improve the performance of the organization
it is necessary to develop the management style which meets
cultural needs and traditions of employees that means that
the leader should learn cultural background of employees and
apply methods that are effective in the specific cultural
environment.
Communicating with others
However, the communicative skills play probably the most important
role because it is due to them an individual can succeed in
the contemporary business. In fact, the communication allows
developing positive relations within the organization and
forming positive organization culture. In addition communication
skills contribute to the minimization of conflicts within
the organization and between business partners or between
a company and customers. In stark contrast, communication
gaps may lead the contemporary business to ruin.
In fact, the increased significance of communication is determined
by the increased role of human resources. Today, the business
needs the use of the full creative potential of employees
and if an organization fails to achieve this goal because
of communication gaps, than it will be unable to stimulate
creative work of employees. Hence, the organization will likely
to fail.
Leadership in the workplace
The successful business is practically unimaginable without
effective leaders who are able to encourage and guide employees
revealing their internal potential. In actuality, leaders
should combine leadership qualities, such as boldness, charisma,
ability to unite people, and managerial qualities.
Furthermore, it is practically impossible to imagine an organization
with a high level of organizational culture if its leaders
do not maintain the basic principles that correspond to the
notion of organizational culture. In other words, if leaders
are characterized by arguable or even immoral ways of actions,
or decisions than it is impossible to speak even about the
possibility of establishing a healthy culture within the organization
they head (Mohrman, 1998). For instance, the example of Enron,
one of the largest American companies, perfectly illustrates
the extent to which the wrong actions and decisions, which
are actually totally unacceptable and absolutely immoral,
could be ruinous for an organization. Notably, it is impossible
to establish a healthy organizational culture if there exist
double standards or if executives are in a privileged position.
It would be quite natural if the relations and interactions
between the personnel of such an organization would be characterized
by high level of conflict and total lack of healthy organizational
structure. In such a situation, it is possible to recommend
using path-goal approach when the leader set goals and guides
employees to meet this goals, but the technical achievement
of goals should depend on employees.
Keeping balance
Finally, the development of the successful business is based
on the balanced relations between people and lifestyle. What
is meant here is the fact that it is very dangerous to misbalance
contemporary organizations. It proves beyond a doubt that
the positive organizational culture and successful marketing
performance are possible only on the condition of the balanced
management approach to business. For instance, many organizations
have failed because they strived to maximize their profits.
In order to achieve this goal they neglected interests and
needs of employees and, what is more, they undermine the positive
relations with customers. As a result, the maximization of
profits misbalanced the marketing performance of many organizations
and they failed. In stark contrast, the balanced organization
of work produces a positive impact on the development of business,
especially if internal balance is combined with external balance,
i.e. when the balanced organizational culture is combined
with the balanced relations of the business with customers
and business partners.
Conclusion
Thus, taking into account all above mentioned, it is possible
to conclude that the contemporary concept of a leader and
leadership heavily depends on the ability of a leader to become
an effective manager who is able to unite and lead people,
conduct changes and, simultaneously, provide people with an
example of a standard or ideal behavior and lifestyle at large.
It is extremely important for organizations’ leaders
to be able to establish normal relationships with their employees.
The latter affects consistently the development of the organizational
culture which, to a significant extent, defines the effectiveness
of the performance of a contemporary organization. In such
a way, it is possible to minimize conflicts between leaders
and their subordinates and, therefore, contribute to the progress
and positive performance of the organization.
References:
Benfari, R. C. (1999). Understanding and changing your management
style. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Brown, D. C. (2003). Leading complex change. New York: Touchstone.
Dessler, G. (2004). Management: principles and practices for
tomorrows’ leaders (3rd ed.). New Jersey: Upper Saddle
River.
Hesselbein, F., Goldsmith, M., & Beckhard, R. (Eds.).
(1996). The Leader of the Future: new visions, strategies,
and practices for the next era. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Karakowsky, Len. (2002). The Nature of Management and Organizations:
Challenges in the Canadian Context, Captus Press.
Mohrman, S. A. (1998). Tomorrow's organization: Crafting winning
capabilities in a dynamic world. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Schmitt, B. and Simonson, A. (1997). In Marketing Aesthetics:
The strategic management of brands, identity, and image, New
York: The Free Press.
Wilkins, A. L. (1999). Developing corporate character : How
to successfully change an organization without destroying
it. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
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