Organizational Leadership Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Organizational Leadership - Term Paper Example The intention of this study is leadership as the ability to influence a group towards the achievement offset goals. In an organization there are leaders who may be vested with formal authority to influence the activities of the other members so that the goals of the organisation can be achieved. On the other hand, the classical approach to leadership loosely refers to a type of conditioning where an individual responds to some stimulus that would not invariably produce such a response. In as far as leadership is concerned, it can be noted that there is need to influence people within an organization to behave in a particular way so that their efforts can be pulled in the same direction towards the attainment of the set goals. However, the success of this strategy mainly depends on the type of the organisation and the leadership style that is used by the leaders. Merton defines a bureaucratic structure as one that is formal and it involves clearly defined patterns of activities and ev ery action is ideally related to the purposes of the organization. Such an organization is hierarchical in structure where power and authority follow a top to down structure. Another very important aspect of this organization is that power is vested in the office not the particular person who performs the official task. The formality of this type of organization suggests that subordinates have to take orders from their superiors and the methods of communication are also formalised where the leaders give orders to the junior employees. In a bureaucratic structure, everything is centralized and this particular type of organization cannot easily change its formalised way of operation. Another important aspect about this structure is that the decision making process is centralised and other ordinary members may not contribute their ideas. In short, the leadership style used by this organization is authoritative where focus is put on the vision of the firm. On the other hand, it can be n oted that some organizations are liberal and they welcome initiative, innovation as well as creativity. Goleman (2000) posits to the effect that the effectiveness of this particular type of organization can be attributed to the leadership style that is used. In this case, the members of the organisation are given the autonomy to contribute towards the decision making process and it can be observed that this kind of firm is flexible since it allows people to learn and adapt to changes that can take place within and outside the organisation. The success of such kind of organisation can also be attributed to the leaders’ ability to encourage the members to learn from others as well as to participate in activities that are crucial to its operation. There is a shared vision among the members and it can be noted that this structure is more flexible compared to a bureaucratic st

Active listening in counseling Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Active listening in counseling - Essay Example Active listening encompasses purpose of listening during counseling,when interacting with people.It is listening to others views without distraction/ thinking about any other things.It defines the most structured way of listening and responding to others paying complete attention on the speaker. The behaviors and body language of the speaker is a matter of great concern. In the present article active listening is discussed in terms of counseling with its benefits and barriers.Active listening techniques are essential for facilitating the development of any relationship. In a clinical relationship, active listening is vital if the counselor is to effectively investigate and challenge the client. It is one of the primary ways that we are able to learn the client's story. Active listening implies incredible understanding towards the client's verbal and non-verbal messages. It involves "being with" the client, both physically and psychologically, in order to communicate empathy (Egan, 19 90).In the active -listening process, the counselor uses both verbal and non-verbal cues and signals to recognize and identify the client's core messages and cognitive patterns. The counselor continually asks the question, "What is it that the client wants me to understand" the tasks takes persistence and concentration. It is imperative that counselor must be aware of possible cultural biases. If the counselor's cultural filters are strong there is a greater likelihood of biased and distorted understanding. It is manifested that book learning can distort perception. It is important to keep academic theories in the background and the client in the foreground. It is therefore vital that this active listening must be reflective also for perfect counseling and psychotherapy (Fisher, D). Active listening encompass- Empathy is a wish of the listener and efforts taken to understand what the speaker is trying to explain. It is beyond any theoretical aspects. This empathetic listener has the potential to get inside the other's thoughts, feelings and perception (Fisher, D). The client must gain the confidence that the counselor is providing the feeling of verbal and nonverbal messages such as "I follow you," "I'm with you" or "I understand." It is therefore of great concern as empathy is the listener's effort to hear the other person profoundly, correctly, and non-judgmentally. An active listening sees that a listener is really trying to understand the meanings the client is explaining or expressing (Fisher). It is difficult to attain the state of complete empathy as there is a strong propensity to counsel, notify, concur, or disagree from our own point of view. Acceptance- is related to empathy, as it formulates respect for a person for simply being a person. It should not bear any kind of conditions. This ensures that the listener should circumvent expression of conformity or divergence about what the other person says. This approach persuades the client to be less defensive and to discover aspects of client and the circumstances that the client may otherwise keep hidden (Fisher). Congruence- is associated with ingenuousness, frankness, and genuineness an active listener represents. The congruent listener is in contact with self. A congruent listener admits to have feeling in case of anger or any kind of irritation. An active listener communicates what they feel and know, rather than trouncing behind a disguise. It is imperative to understand that honesty on the part of active listener tends to evoke candor in the speaker (Fisher). In some cases, if the listener becomes annoyed with the speaker then empathy and acceptance must be kept suspended till the things are sorted. Concreteness throws light on information as compared to fuzzy sweeping statements. It is observed that a person who has a problem will avoid painful feelings by being conceptual or uncongenial. If the client is expressing feelings in the form of expressions like "sometimes there are situations