How does leadership shape organizations and how do organizations shape leadership? Discuss critically by drawing on theory and research, using an example relevant to HR to illustrate your points.
In today’s continuously changing world, the only constant that an organisation would hope to have is the people in it. It is the leaders of an organization that ultimately result in the achievement of its goals. In simple terms, Leadership can be defined as a process or phenomenon wherein one individual successfully attempts to define or outline the reality of the others in an organization (Smircich and Morgan, 1982). The leader’s thought processes, their previous experiences, their understanding and reading of situations and the resulting actions they take affect this reality. Thus, every organization is shaped by the actions of its leaders. Alternatively, an individual rises to the ranks of a leader only when the organization invests in the person and creates opportunities for leadership. Thus the organization too plays an important role in shaping its leaders.

This essay explores the interdependent relation between an organization and its leaders, and how actions taken at both individual and organizational level, affect the role that each one plays in achieving targets. Before outlining the impact leaders have on organizations and vice versa, it is imperative to understand the parts of the organization that can be affected or influenced by a person. These parts mainly constitute the organization culture. Schien defines organization culture as “A pattern of shared basic assumptions that a group has learned as it solved its problems of external adaptation and internal integration, that has worked well enough to be considered valid and therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems.” (Schein, 1985).