How charismatic leaders facilitate group performance

Author: Iloka Benneth Chiemelie

Published: 20-October-2014

From marketing executive to graphic designer

In early 2013, I entered as a marketing executive with no experience in graphic design. The manager was quick to note that I can learn fast and the company is spending tens of thousands in USD designing in India. Thus, my manager decided to put me through 2 weeks of intensive graphic designs lecturers and I got so well the new orders were cancelled from the Indian designers. Today I post high efficiency in both Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Indesign.

Outsourcing to enhance productivity

In the ending months of 2013, my company also reshuffled the production team and outsourced book printing to another company. Thus, the company converted all the production staffs into marketers. They were passed through weeks of intensive training and put into the wild to fight for customers. The outcome? We recorded more than triple the same amount we did for the months earlier.

Charismatic or not?

Form the above two cases I will say that my manager is charismatic in my own case because she drew my loyalty by teaching me more (Sankowsky, 1995) but that might not be case with the production team because some of them might feel disappointed with the change as they might have strong emotional attachment to their jobs. Thus, it can be said that not all transformational leaders are charismatic.

Importance of charismatic leaders in facilitating groups

1.      Research have made known that charismatic leader are known as capable of drawing their followers loyalty towards themselves (Sankowsky, 1995) and this can be very crucial in group facilitation as such can be used to draw the groups loyalty and effectively guide the group process towards achieving common goals. For instance, a loyal group will be willing to make the leader happy and as such they will be all committed towards meeting common goals.

2.      Charismatic leaders are known to adopt persona charm, attractiveness, and persuasive communication in order to influence their followers (House, 1977; Judge, Piccolo, & Kosalka, 2009). Thus, they can facilitate group by influencing their decision and redirecting or directing it towards common goals. For instance, if the group has members with mixed opinions, charismatic leaders will redirect their opinions towards the same goal and improve the group spirit in the process

3.      Charismatic leaders inspire followers by articulating a vision (Sankowsky, 1995). Once vision an purpose are placed in as the main focal point of any system, researchers noted that followers will more likely perceive this vision as the “bigger picture” and expect others to also adhere to the influence of the leader.

Conclusion

From the above analysis, charismatic leaders can be seen as a good instrument for continued growth in the organization because they are influential on both individual and group level as demonstrated above.

Reference

House, R. J. (1977). A 1976 theory of charismatic leadership. In J. G. Hunt, & L. L. Larson (Eds.), Leadership: The cutting edge (pp. 189–207). Carbondale, IL: South Illinois University Press.

Judge, T. A., Piccolo, R. F., & Kosalka, T. (2009). The bright and dark sides of leader traits: A review and theoretical extension of the leader trait paradigm. The Leadership Quarterly, 20, 855–875.

Sankowsky, D. (1995). The charismatic leader as narcissist: Understanding the abuse of power. Organizational Dynamics, 23, 57–71.