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Role of Leadership in Organizational Effectiveness: Anjeza Meraku

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Journal of Economics, Business and Management, Vol. 5, No.

11, November 2017

Role of Leadership in Organizational Effectiveness


Anjeza Meraku

 focused on achievement and continuous improvement) -


Abstract—The current world crisis is not a financial crisis concluding that only "theory y" is the right one [1]. But in the
but a crisis of decision-making. Making decisions is guided by book "Eupsychian Management" some years later, Masloe
the values and the question is about the values of the current (1962) showed that McGregor was wrong, and that different
"leaders". This study aims to examine qualities and leadership
features that need to be discussed. One of these aspects is
types of people should be guided in different styles [2]. In
effective leadership which does not suffer in terms of Albania, what is more apparent is that leadership approaches
techniques, but in the subject of categorical values. Another "theory X". Given the manager's opinions, workers prefer to
aspect is leadership which often relies on the image rather than avoid work. According to the managers, Albanian employee
on responsibility and work. A further concept is the rethink of reach goals just under pressure. There is an obvious emphasis
certain management-management vision. Also, this study on leadership style based on centralization and hierarchy.
shows the Albanian environment by explaining the colors of
Albanian leadership between myth and reality. Many
Leadership styles are often created by the influence of
organizations have fallen into disrespectful leadership by organizational factors such as the nature of work,
leaders, according to them, are the leaders who bring growth or organizational values, and national culture. In Albanian
decline of effectiveness in the organization. Naturally, the reality, organizational values are not known by all members
question arises. "What role does the leader play in enhancing of the organization, especially by the leaders. This is because
the organization's effectiveness?" Does the style of leadership most of the Albanian organizations do not have a specific
guide the structure and culture of the organization? These and
other issues are addressed in the theoretical part and then for
mission defined. To conclude, leadership is not a trend, and
case study we have taken in examination the "Plus moreover it is not a charisma. Basically, it is performance
Communication" company. For the "Plus" organization the (Drucker, 2001). Effective leadership is not related to
sample size is 100 questionnaires that were distributed charisma, or if it is tied, charisma is certainly not the end
randomly (all employees have the same probability to complete [3]-[5]. Effective leaders know well that the universe will not
the questionnaire compiled. be dominated by them. First of all, leadership is work. A
good leader sets goals and priorities while maintaining
Index Terms—Leadership, effective, vision, organization. standards. The second condition is that leaders should see
leadership as a responsibility rather than a prestige, image
and self-advertisement (as in our country). The goal of
I. INTRODUCTION effective leadership is to gain the trust of others, otherwise
An organization is considered to be effective if it finds the the leader will have no followers (in a noble sense).
balance between the demands of owners, employees,
customers, community and the needs of the employees. The
leader plays a key role in the orientation and direction of the II. LEADERSHIP AND ORGANIZATION
organization which is the one that sets the vision and mission Leadership means the process of influencing people, so
of the organization and others follow it. So, an appropriate that their efforts are oriented toward achieving the goals of
leadership style influence and ensure the prosperity and the the organization. Leadership is the process of guiding others'
economic growth of both organization and employees. This behavior towards achieving the stated objectives [6].
study investigates the importance and role that the leader Orientation in this case implies encouraging people to act in a
plays in the organization, how to define the vision, mission certain way or pursuing a particular course of action.
and the path to pursuit of the objectives. One important (Academi of Management Review, 2004). The question is
aspect is the way it treats and orients human resources and "Who is the leader?" and the most acceptable answer can be:
their involvement in making decisions. According to the "The leader is defined as any person who influences
numerous researches it has been verified that most of the individuals and groups within the organization, helps them in
failures in the organization have come from an incorrect defining objectives and guides them towards achieving these
direction that the leaders pursued to achieve the objectives. goals" (Nahavandi, 2003). The perception of the leader in
What is important to study is the adaptation of the leadership many successful companies consists of three elements on
style to the structure and composition of the organization. In which other elements can be raised. These elements are:
the Human Side of Enterprise, McGregor (1960) claimed For leaders to be visible, the importance of the leader to be
that leaders should choose between two ways of managing
visible is based on Lord Sieff's statement: "Being an effective
human resources - "Theory X" (authoritarian, repressive
leader should see, and better than ever seeing in
style, strong control, no development, Cultural depression)
action"Leaders offer a clear misunderstanding, who first and
and "Theory Y" (liberating and developing, democratic,
foremost trust the people themselves and encourage others to
do so.
Manuscript received July 27, 2017; revised October 29, 2017. Leadership thrives where people have clear objectives and
Anjeza Meraku is with the OSHEE (Electricity Distribution Operator) in resources to reach them. The leader's main source is the
Bilisht, Albania (e-mail: anjezameraku@yahoo.com).

doi: 10.18178/joebm.2017.5.11.535 336


Journal of Economics, Business and Management, Vol. 5, No. 11, November 2017

power they need to use effectively in order to motivate  Visional / direction direction for the future.
people to make the utmost effort to increase their level of To be visionary you have to be creative, innovative and
performance (Lord Sieff) Leadership is the process of adaptable to the combined change with a high capacity to
inspiring others to work hard to accomplish important tasks. learn. This too, implies the ability to make bold decisions
It is one of the most popular management issues [7]. when followers are not safe, swinging or suspicious. People
Planning sets the direction of the objectives, organizes the will react to these skills in the same way as they have done
pooling of resources to turn the plans into action; Allowing for centuries, because they still want to show the way to the
the building of co-operation and the enthusiasm of people to future from the leader they trust.
apply their talents to assist in the fulfillment of plans and by  Good communication skills.
making sure that safe things return to the right. These attributes are desirable skills for a leader. This
Regarding the vision, there are two important sayings: complexity of skills and competences includes the ability to
listen actively, knowing to have heart and mind appeal, the
 Where there is no vision, people have no place. ability to build relationships with the boy, communicate with
 Visional without action is like seeing dreams in the sun. each person directly and personally and with the ability to
walk, talk and lead by example.
Unseen actions are anxious.  Equality / Parity.
Visional is a new way of looking at both current This is the attribute of leaders who treat their followers
circumstances and future opportunities. Visionary leaders with justice, equality and respect and do not create favorite
can turn a whole set of existing knowledges into something groups. They do not prejudice people from ethnicity, race,
new. Visionary leaders possess great skill and confidence in gender, sexual orientation, or physical abilities. Where they
themselves. The power of vision can serve as a "new have to make judgments on other people, they make them
paradigm developer" by moving from today to the future [8]. based on the character of the people, values, skills,
Successful leadership is related to the vision-the future performance at work, and other tangible or visible
that someone hopes to create or achieve in order to improve contributions they make to the organization.
the status of current affairs. But simply having a vision for  The sense of humor.
the desired future is not enough. In fact, the great leaders are Humorous people are generally the best to work together
really good in transforming their vision into achievement. and laughter is one of the best work antistresors. Humor can
The Vision leadership describes a leader who brings to a be used in almost all situations to ease tension and labor
situation a clear and complete understanding of the future as conflicts. Humor is also associated with reactive and
well as an understanding of the actions needed to become a innovative skills in contrast to this, humorous people often
successful [9]. have excessive ego, are able to listen to others and are toxic
A. Styles and Qualities of Effective Leaders to some extent.
The most important qualities of a leader are: B. Leadership and Organization
 Honesty and integrity. Organisation isa set of elements that interact to achieve the
The word "honesty" comes from Latin which means goal and carry out their activities to provide people with
quality or honesty: while the word integrity comes from the material goods and services with a view to making profit.
word meaning the whole. These are the terms that are almost Organizations are a vital Element for the existence of modern
always being identified as the most important qualities for society. Individual working people can only perform simple
the leader. This shows that almost all managers and tasks, only by working together in the organization they can
professionals have great respect for leaders who do not accomplish complex tasks [10].
engage in macro gaming and who have professional When human efforts are effectively organized, it results in
confidence, integrity and are serious. These leaders do not high productivity, which would not be possible in an
make promises that they do not keep and do not break them unorganized batch of individuals. In other words, there is a
when they have said the word. synergy effect created by people working together in an
 Competence and credibility. organized manner.
These are leadership qualities associated with the right In each organization, its essential parts work to achieve
experience in an industry, practical business intelligence, common goals and at the same time the profit target. In
intelligence and dynamism are highly valued. There is general sense, the organization can be defined as an arena
almost no doubt that followers do not react positively to where the leaders gather together to perform complex tasks
leaders who believe they have these qualities and are able to with aim to meet common goals. Efficiency in the
make important and difficult decisions and follow their ideas organization means achieving qualitatively high results, with
up to implementation. minimal use of resources and at the least possible time (to act
 Inspiration and motivation. in such a way as not to misuse the resources). A leader is
Shaded as the most important qualities of a good leader by efficient in his work when investing excessive funds and
many MBA students are the willingness to tackle their doesn’t leave it without work or with a small interest in the
successors as intelligent at a rebellious one who will greatly bank when it has almost ready plans to put people into work
contribute to each organization if given the encouragement, in any situation or that rationally uses that information for
opportunities, and right reward. To be more precise we which certain resources have been spent. Effectiveness is the
would say that this quality is actually a consequence of ability to choose the right targets and the means to achieve
understanding how to not demote people. them. So, it means doing the right things and the right time.

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Journal of Economics, Business and Management, Vol. 5, No. 11, November 2017

According to the Peter Ducker's, efficiency is doing things B. Study of Leadership


right; effectiveness is doing the right things. The qualities that characterize a leader are very important
C. Indicators that Measure Organizational Effectiveness both for the organization and for the leader himself. [12],
[13]. The rating made to the employee of "Plus
As we mention above, organization produce a balance of
Communication" company's qualities owned by their leader
leading and lagging indicators for measuring organizational
are listed as:
success and forecast a high probability of future success.
Let’s take as example the relationship that company has with
 Inspiration and motivation
customers which can say a lot about future sales, competitive
advantage, and their prospects for future growth [11]. The  Honesty and integrity
elements of organizational effectiveness are as follows:  Vision
 Good communication skills
 Communication Effectiveness  Sense of humor
 Customer Relationships
 Employee Satisfaction The most valued quality it comes with the lowest
coefficient since the evaluation has become the 1 most
 Brand Image (A leading indicator of success
important qualification, with 2 less important and so on up to
regarding how people feel about your organization)
5. The most important quality that employees value in their
 Distraction
leader is the "vision / future direction" with coefficient 2.07.
 Trust
This is the quality that employees value more in the leader
 Customer Frustration because "Plus" is an organization where the leader have a
 Supplier Relationships vision for the future, are creative and constantly undertake
 Project Management changes to adapt to the market. So, creativity and vision are
 Employee Competence important qualities for Plus's leader.
In the second rank is "Honesty and integrity" with a rating
of 3.07, employees mention that this quality is important
III. CASES OF STUDY “PLUS COMMUNICATION” because they have professional confidence in their leader. In
ORGANISATION third place, it is "Inspiration and Motivation" the leader has
This research study observes the leadership role in the confidence in his staff's skills and encourages them to move
organization's effectiveness in Albania by taken in forward, motivation is the key part of the organization's
examination the "Plus Communication" company. Plus success. Then, they have put together "Good Communication
Communication SH.A. (PLUS) is an Albanian-owned and Skills" with a rating coefficient of 3.28. It is the ability to
operated telecommunications company. It is the 4th mobile communicate and listen effectively. The last one is the
operator in Albania by number of subscribers. It was "Sense of humor" with a coefficient 3.4, this is a quality that
established on June 2009, after AKEP gave the Individual the leader appears less in the workplace, he is qualified by
Authorization (license) as the bidder with the highest value, the employee as a serious individual and with high
to provide mobile telephony services. Company started its professional skills. If we look at the coefficient, they are
commercial operations on December 6th, 2010 and within a close to each other (with interval [2.07; 3.4]) which means
very short time managed to cover 99% of Albania territory that employees have not made a big difference in their
with quality signal. The Company aims to become the estimation.
leading telecom operator in Albania focusing on Customer
A leader who is within the rule of law, respects and values
Satisfaction, Innovation & Quality of Service and bringing
employees equally and pursues moral principles is an ethical
added value as well as the best products and services to its
leader. Many employees would like to work with such a
clients. This is expressed very significantly in the brand
leader. In our case, the employee evaluates the leader in this
name.
way: Employees perceive the leader as ethically neutral, they
A. Questionnaires Analysis are not sure what the ethical leader thinks of his behavior,
This research study derives from the results of survey and 79% of the employees call it a neutral leader and 21% of
the targeted group of people are the employees of Plus them as an ethical leader. Being a neutral leader is also
Company. The survey also aims to assess the effectiveness of indicated by the assessment of the basic principles that the
leaders inside the company and the questions covered many employee has done and the results are as follows:
areas, from their experience and competencies to their The principle of "Obedience to Law" is rating at the
expectations, and much more. There are distributed 100 average level by 20% of the employees and 80% of them
questionnaires to employees where 40% of the assess the achievement and implementation of this principle
questionnaires were filled by female and 60% by male, the at a high level. This is the basic principle for a leader who
distribution of questionnaires was done at random. The must be within the law and the rules set by the government.
respondents' age groups are classified in three categories For the principle "Being honest (telling the truth)." 64% of
where 40% are from the age group of 25-30 years, 35% from respondents think that this principle is reached at an average
the age group of 30-35 years and the last 25% from the age level and 36% think this principle is reached at a high level.
group of 35-40 years. According to the results, the most of Then the other principle "Respect for People" is rating the
the employees are of a young age, which means that the same as the principle of "Obedience to Law" where 20% of
company involved in the study consists of a potential staff. respondents consider this principle to reach the average level

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Journal of Economics, Business and Management, Vol. 5, No. 11, November 2017

by their leader and 80% as a principle that has been achieved the company provides. Then 31.5% of employees use
at high levels. bottom-to-top communication which is used to communicate
According to the employees, the "Content on the Golden subscriber complaints, to present ideas, to communicate the
Rule" principle is reached equally by the respondents. To problems faced by the employee at work. 18.5% of
conclude, the two principles that have been reached at the respondents have a twin-word communication which is used
highest level are "Obedience to the Law" and "Respect for by employees of different departments who need to exchange
People", which shows why the workers call their leader a information in a short time (example the economist asks the
neutral leader against ethics. human resources department to list employee names to
Good communication skills are a priority for any leader calculate bonuses related to their performance at work. And
and organization that he leads, effective leadership only 12.5% of respondents think that less usable
communication eliminates many obstacles that may arise. communication is horizontal communication which is used
The leader's communication skills are essential to the by employees who are on the same hierarchical scale in the
organization's performance [14]. According to the answers of organization, rarely happens with those employees in the
employees , the average grade that the employees rated is same hierarchy level.
8.28 so we have average communication skills if the rating It is difficult for a communication to be effective, as there
will be over 9 then we can call it a leader with excellent are different barriers that do not allow the message sent by
communication skills. the sender to go with the recipient's proper meaning, this is
According to Weber, a recognized sociologist has three due to some of the barriers that appear in the communication.
types of legitimate authority in the organization, a-traditional Employees have evaluate these obstacles according to this
authority, b-rational-legitimate authority, c-charismatic order:
authority. [15]. The "Plus" employees have evaluated the The main obstacle value is "Change in Perception" voted
authority of the leader in this way: 7% of the respondents by 43% of respondents , the interpretation of the information
think that the leader enjoys traditional authority where the provided is done differently, often the employee selects only
acceptance of authority is given based on the tradition and that information or part of the information that interests him
the unwritten laws. 43% of the respondents think that the or her to listen to or keep in mind. 29% of employees think
leader enjoys rational-legitimate authority, whose that communication problems arise from "Culture, Backlog
acceptance stems from the position of the person with and Prejudice", there are times when the culture and
authority bound by the rules and procedures of the prejudice of an employee change the content of the message
organization. And half of the total respondents think that the that goes to him. Then with 14% of respondents notices that
leader enjoys charismatic authority, in this case the authority problems comes by "Semantic Problems", the same words or
is accepted as such by the belief in the special skills of the symbols have a different meaning for the listener and the
superior. recipient of the message. And only 7% of respondents think
Leadership behaviors within the organization help us that problems coming from "Listening Rate and Excessive
identifying leadership styles. Workers have valued the style Information", the recipient of the message is not a good
that is most used by the leader. So, 21% of employees see listener and sometimes superiors provide excessive
leader style as an autocratic style, the leader has greater information in which the employees fail to perceive the
concern over the task, the leader takes more decisions, he or essence of the information.
she gives orders and is expected to apply. 43% of Communication is essential to an organization and to its
respondents think it suits the supportive style, shows great growth. The question of what is the impact of effective
interest to people, evidences conflict and requires harmony communication in the growth of the organization's
in the workplace. And 50% of them think that it fits in with a employees responded as follows: Employees value effective
democratic style, shows great concern for people and duties, communication in the organization's growth by 60-70%,
supports employees, encourages participation, makes others evaluate 80-90% and only 2 respondents evaluate
decisions together in the group (most of the employees see 100%, these figures indicate that communication is a key
the behavior of a democratic-style leader). factor in the organization's success. Acceptance and support
of the vision appointed by the leader is important in
C. Leadership and Organization Effectiveness achieving the objectives. 62.5% of the respondents support
Communication is essential, especially for the internal organization's vision and accepts it on an average level and
functioning of the organization and it realizes the integration 37.5% of employees accept the leader's vision at a high level.
of all managerial functions. Communication helps to set Planning and implementation of projects are of great
targets for their respective departments, organizes human importance in achieving organizational effectiveness. Many
resources and all other resources so effectively and helps work processes, strategies and projects may have a perfect
employees better understand the decision-making process. planning but more important is to what extent they are
The most commonly used communication in the study realized. Employees have this opinion regarding the
organization is top-down communication according to implementation of projects planned by the organization:
37.5% of respondents, where information passes from the 7%of respondents think that planned projects are
highest levels to the lowest levels of the organization. This implemented at a low level, 71% of them think that the
communication is used to provide employee job instructions, organization's plans are at an average level and 22% of
and is more used by training managers to make affiliation respondents think that planning is carried out at a high level.
with one another. Top-down communication is used to The result shows that the planning of processes and projects
communicate the policies, procedures, and new offers that has an acceptable degree of realization. Control and

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Journal of Economics, Business and Management, Vol. 5, No. 11, November 2017

supervision at work shows confidence and degree of affects all work processes throughout the organization. As a
delegation of authority. In some positions it is important to conclusion, we find that there is a weak (negative) link
control and supervise. 57% of employees see the oversight between reward and performance, financial incentives are
and control of their work important, and those who are in the ones that motivate most of the employees. For quality
positions of work as economist-financier, distribution leaders, the "sense of humor" is estimated by a few
specialists and reporters and sales supporters. For 43% of employees and for Plus the most important quality for the
employees, oversight and control does not matter in their leader is "vision / direction for the future, In Plus, the most
work, these employees are the artisans, training managers commonly used form of motivation is the development of
and the legal director. Human resources are the key to the employees' worship (by systematically developing training
organization's success in the face of the competitive market. staff).
Motivating and retaining employees in the organization is a
task that the leader has to accomplish successfully without REFERENCES
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Anjeza Meraku was born in the year on Augusto 27,
1990. She holds the position of head billing and cash
management sector at OSHEE in Bilisht, Albania.
IV. CONCLUSION From 2011 until 2013 she received her MSc degree
and BA degree in 2011 in management program at the
Leadership of "Plus Communication" has the vision as the Department of Business Administration from
strongest point for the future, most employees perceive it as a University of “Fan.s.Noli” at Korca, Albania. She
leader who likes to constantly make changes (transformer worked as a sales operator at PLUS communication
for two years and then for one year, she worked as
leader), most of the employees support the changes in the billing specialists at OSHEE in Bilisht, Albania. Her research interest
organization led by the leader. The role of the leader in the includes management, economics and economic development.
organization is a decisive role since any action taken by him

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