Organizational Leadership

The context of an organization has an important impact on the leadership of the organization. The people of an organization need to be receptive of the message a leader is presenting, and the leaders of an organization need to structure there techniques and strategies to fit the organization and its actors. On an NFL team, if the assistants and players do not respect the coach, the organization will not run smoothly. The same goes for the coach understanding others and being an easy leader to follow. The processes that the organization goes through are also important. If the process needs a direction, a leader is important to direct the team of employees to reach the goal. Coming up with a game plan is an important process in the NFL, if a leader does not take an important role in the startup process, the ideas will be all over the place. The culture of an organization sets the tone for respect in leadership positions. The New England Patriots did have a successful organization until the culture was changed into a winning culture where leaders were respected and followed. If a definitive structure is not set for an organization, leadership roles are not clearly defined and employees have trouble knowing who to follow. If a team has a head coach and many assistants, everyone needs to know there role and how they can take a leadership role to help the organization succeed. The final factor that affects leadership is the environment of the organization. If there is a healthy work environment, leadership roles can be effective and goals can be accomplished by a team that follows the game plan of a leader. On a team, an environment of workers that work well together can follow an established leader more than in a chaotic environment where no one knows who to follow. All of these factors affect leadership, but the main part of leadership is the actual people in leadership positions. If the leaders are respected and in turn respectful, the organization has a much greater chance to be efficient and effective. A leader can be very knowledgeable, but if he or she does not possess the social skills to lead a group all the knowledge in the world will not help.