2 1 The Leadership Challenge Name OBLD 511 Organizational Leadership School Professor

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The Leadership Challenge

Name

OBLD 511 Organizational Leadership

School

Professor

Date

The leadership challenge

People use different techniques and approaches to become effective leaders. The different approaches help overcome different complexities related to the leadership process.

Itay Talgam demonstrates that leadership is a challenge because orchestra conductors use different techniques to ensure noise becomes music. The technique for attaining harmony varies from one culture or orchestra. The conductor in the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra uses a different technique to attain harmony than an Israeli or German conductor (Talgam, 2009). More closely, one conductor is commanding while the other only uses a finger. All techniques or approaches deliver clear instructions to members leading to a partnership that delivers the best music.

Like leaders in other platforms, conductors, too, may fail in their leadership roles whenever they do not match their techniques to the orchestra. Itay Talgam talks about a great conductor who seven hundred employees of La Scala rejected because the leader was not letting them develop. The employees were clear they wanted a partner or a less controlling conductor. The idea that people can reject the best conductor brings out leadership as a game of arithmetic combinations (Blake & Mouton, 1981). The task, people, and leader are variables that must blend or interact seamlessly. People will not have the morale or cohesion needed to achieve a goal if they lack good cohesion with the leader. The leader should also understand the importance of norms and a group’s way of doing things to avoid contradiction and confusion. Overall, I agree with leadership literature that the best leader adapts to the situation or knows the behavior or practices that fit a certain group or situation. Leaders also need to create conditions that will support their work. They also need to change styles to create positive outcomes, including increased productivity, improved job morale, and mental/physical health.

Leading an orchestra is also a technical leadership technique because some use technical presence to execute written music. For example, German superconductor, Herbert von Karajan, closes his eyes and does some kind of movement. He does not give a nob when players should start. Personally, I believe this is a technical aspect of leading an orchestra because closing the eyes means one thing, and moving means another. I also believe members have deep harmony among themselves and understand the leader. These soft or technical leadership skills make the whole assemblage take simple instructions. Elsewhere, orchestra leadership is about the local conceptualization of power or group culture. Itay Talgram talks about Karajan having total authority over orchestra members. They cannot change anything because music is dictated to or led by Karajan. Thus, Karajan’s orchestra attains harmony because he has firm control. The leadership theory or approach applicable in this orchestra is the leadership-based domain, where the leader is the primary focus. The leader also uses leadership behavior to promote certain desirable outcomes and pays little attention to situational factors that may affect outcomes (Graen & Uhl-Bien, 1995).

Itay Talgam uses orchestra conductors to showcase the importance of situational leadership. Music-making cannot be uniform across all cultures or orchestras since some use physical energy while others rely on beautiful body language. This is a clear indication of situational leadership or understanding people’s development stage and using a set of combinations to influence their performance. Conductors who employ a lot of physical energy utilize directing style of situational leadership, while those who utilize beautiful body language have done enough coaching and only need to provide toned-down control. Their coaching behavior builds confidence and enthusiasm (Blanchard, 2008). Besides directing and coaching, situational leadership also depends on the promise of rewards, technical arguments, and inspirational appeals (Vroom & Jago, 2007).

References

Blake, R. R., & Mouton, J. S. (1981). Management by Grid® principles or situationalism: Which?. Group & Organization Studies, 6(4), 439-455.

Blanchard, K. (2008). Situational Leadership-Adjust your style to suit the development level. Executive excellence, 25(5), 19.

Graen, G. B., & Uhl-Bien, M. (1995). Relationship-based approach to leadership: Development of leader-member exchange (LMX) theory of leadership over 25 years: Applying a multi-level multi-domain perspective. The leadership quarterly, 6(2), 219-247.

Talgam, I. (2009). Lead like the great conductors. TED. https://www.ted.com/talks/itay_talgam_lead_like_the_great_conductors/transcript

Vroom, V. H., & Jago, A. G. (2007). The role of the situation in leadership. American psychologist, 62(1), 17.