To aid in deciding what style of leadership is appropriate for my particular team it is vital that I understand not only how my team is performing or even capable of performing but also the dynamics and personalities of the individuals making up the team. There are three main leadership styles as defined by Lewin, Lippitt and Whites. . Authoritarian (Autocratic) This style is used when leaders tell their team members what they want done and how they want it accomplished, without seeking any advice from them or the team actually having any input into the decision making process. This style of leadership would be bet suited to new team members and also to existing team members that need close and continual management they require a great deal of supervision and guidance to enable us to meet SLA’s and KPI’s Although this style can be seen by some as a heavy handed, almost as a military approach to leadership, it is necessary.
There are a number of models that have been developed to analyse leadership styles and to help me explore my own, I am going to use Douglas McGregor’s “XY Theory”, Ken Blanchard’s “Situational Leadership” and John Adair’s “Action Centred Leadership.” Douglas McGregor – XY Theory X Y Autocratic Style Democratic style McGregor’s theory describes a continuum whereby “X” is at one end of a sliding scale and “Y” the other. It assesses the behaviour of the leader and the attitude of those being led and how this can have an effect, both positive and negative, on workforce motivation. Under the autocratic leadership style of “X”, all decision-making powers are centralized in the leader. It permits quick decision-making, as only one person decides for the whole group and they keep each decision to themselves until they feel it needs to be shared with the rest of the group. But it also makes an assumption that workers need to be coerced into doing their jobs correctly and naturally leads to a much tougher approach with them, usually through a system of rewards and punishments.
This theory highlights four different types of leadership behavior based on combining directive and supportive behavior: DIRECTING (high directive, low support), COACHING (high directive, high supporting), SUPPORTING (low directive, high supportive), and DELEGATING (low directive, low supportive). The leader's function is to continually evaluate and adapt his or her behavior to each follower's maturity (i.e., willingness) to complete the task at hand. For instance, when a follower has lower experience, it prescribes that a leader should tell the follower how to get the job done. When a follower is more mature, he or she does not need as much direction or significant support in accomplishing the task. In this case, it would be best to delegate the task to the follower.
When things are quite clear, or very chaotic, people respond well to being told what to do - Task Orientation When the situation is moderate, people often need to be convinced or appealed to - Employee Orientation Substitutes for Leadership Jermier & Kerr found that situational variables can actually substitute or neutralise the need for leadership: – Alternative approaches that can at least partially substitute for the need for leadership or can sometimes overcome poor leadership • • • • Professional orientation Direct feedback from the task Cohesive work group (with positive performance norms) Ability, experience and training Limitations of Contingency Perspective States the importance of context, but theories often employ a ‘matching’ framework (e.g. Fiedler) Often focus is more of relationship between follower and leader, making it hard to consider environmental dimensions Can often ignore or silence formal power relation s(such as the importance of hierarchy) 9 28/03/2014 CONTEMPORARY Perspectives on Leadership 1. Transactional 2. Charismatic 3. Transformational 4.
I will compare and contrast the concepts of leadership and management. Next I will discuss what I consider to be the characteristics essential to becoming an effective leader and follower. I will also highlight my personal style of leadership. In conclusion, I will provide a reflective analysis of what I’ve learning in the course and how I plan to apply it in my life. My Definition of Leadership While one can find countless definitions of the word leadership, my personal definition is as follows: “Leadership can be defined as a process where one possesses the ability to influence and motivate a group of people towards the achievement of a common goal”.
Leadership not only entails being “in charge” of a group, but it also includes organizing group meetings, planning agendas, listening to other group members for improvement, and decision-making. It is important for someone to take the role of leader because without a leader a group is lost. Another strength that coincides with leadership is competence. Competence in communication and group interaction is very important for a leader and in all group members. After taking the Chapter 5: Mastering Group Skills: How Competent Are You?
Leaders in this type of organization must use different type's leadership styles. When leaders implement their leadership style, it allows them to meet the teams’ needs. The success and failure of the unit mission will depend on how well a supervisor balances their leadership style and management
Situational leadership is leadership that involves the change in approach that a leader must take into consideration the day-to-day challenges of a work environment. It is the ability to adjust one’s leadership style to any change in the work environment. It also involves examining a situation to determine the best course of action. Situation leaders adjust how to approach the different personality traits of the people they are leading. Every person views a situation from a different perspective.
Application of Transformational Leadership Transformational leadership provides what is typical of leadership who work in transforming context, a general way of thinking about leadership that’s focus on ideals, inspiration, innovations and individual concern. But it does not provide a clearly defined set of assumptions about what they should do in particular situation to be successful. Bass and Avolio (1990) suggested that transformational leadership can be taught to all people in organization, can be used in recruitment, selection and promotion and learning development. Also used in improving team effectiveness, decision making groups, quality enhancement and reorganization. People can use questionnaire to profiling leader’s strength and
Leadership is the process of influencing an individual socially in order to accomplish a common task. According to Schein (2010), a leader is someone who guides the employees to achieve the organizational goals or the leader is someone whom people follow. There are various leadership theories that have been introduced in the world such as trait leadership theory, behavioural leadership theory, contingency theory and transactional and transformational leadership theory. In my opinion, each leadership theory has its own advantages and limitation when we apply it to the real world. This essay analyses the three leadership theories and its application in the real world: situational leadership, servant leadership and transformational leadership.