HR Management Assignment help on : Leadership Styles
“Leadership is work , and the foundation of leadership is thinking through the organization’s mission, defining it, and establishing it clearly and visibly”
– Peter F. Drucker
As the definition of a leader goes, they are the individuals who by their action motivate or facilitate group of people towards a common objective or goal. In other words leaders are influencers and leadership is influencing people.For an optimal organizational effectiveness, it is very important that strong management along with Strong Leadership exists. Good Managers and leaders ensure that five of the below mentioned functions are effectively followed:
Planning: This involves mapping out of steps or plan to accomplish the goal.
Organize: Organizing materials according to the plan.
Staffing: This involves selecting, training, developing and briefing employees for a particular goal .
Leading: This involves motivating, communicating, guiding, coaching and assisting the team.
Controlling: This means checking the role against the target, reviewing it and taking correcting actions (Cliffs Notes n.d.)Peter Drucker, one of the most famous management theorists offered a pragmatic approach to leadership. There are three characteristics of an effective leader through which he /she ensures that organization objective are reached:
Establish a sense of Mission: Effective leaders set their goals, plan things in advance, priorities and they make sure that objectives are communicated to everyone and they are maintained as well.
Leadership as a responsibility rather than a rank: Effective leader surround themselves with talented people and aren’t afraid of it, they take decisions on their own and they do not blame anyone if things go wrong. They take effective control of everything.
Earn and keep Trust of others: Effective leader believe in personal integrity and they keep trust of all the followers and they stand by their words and promise (Cliffs Notes n.d.)
Interpretation of Different Leadership Style based on Path-Goal Theory:
Originally developed by Martin Evans and expanded by Robert House in a complex contingency Theory. According to this theory a leader is the one who elucidates the path to his team or followers so that they reach to the common goal or group goal. This theory proposes that effective leadership is contingent on leaders that what kind of leadership style they have to follow in order to match the need of the workers and their situation in which they are working. This theory recognizes four leadership styles (Sage References n.d.)
- Directive
- Supportive
- Participative
- Delegating or Achievement Oriented
Style 1 | Style 2 | Style 3 | Style 4 | |
Brief description of the style | Directive Style:In this style of leadership, the leader gives clear directives on how the goal is to be achieved and he shows the path as well. He clarifies what is expected out of the subordinates also. | Supportive Style:In this style of leadership, the leader creates a friendly environment and he provides psychological support to his subordinates. | Participative Style:In this style of leadership, the leaders involve their subordinates also in decision making. Leaders encourage involvement of subordinates. | Delegating:In this style, the leaders challenge their subordinate to exhibit highest of best possible level of performance and displays high level of confidence in abilities of employees. |
Situations where the style is productive | When the task is ambiguous and the perception of employees towards their own abilities are low. Directives by leader give positivity. | When the subordinate takes risky, stressful and monotonous task. The leader uses his relationship to build his confidence and reduces his stress. | When task is ambiguous and subordinate demand the involvement of the leader. | When subordinates have high level of motivation for challenging tasks and when they have control over taking decisions of the task |
Situations where the style is not productive | When there is no ambiguity in task and it’s a routine work and subordinate has confidence in his abilities. | When the task in itself are very motivating | When the task is clear or when task is ambiguous but subordinate don’t want leader’s involvement. | When they do not have their control over taking decisions of the task |
How a manager would take decisions | Decision would be similar toAutocratic Style and leader would take decision himself. | Decision would similar to Democratic style | Decisions would be similar to Democratic style | Decision would be similar to Democratic style |
The form of power that a manager would use eg I am the boss or refer power to those who have the expert knowledge for example | Power would vest in the hand of the leader | Power would be in hand leader only | There would be equal participation from all in decision making hence, some power would be there in everyone’s hand. | There would be equal participation from all in decision making hence, some power would be there in everyone’s hand. |
What would influence using this style – task, development level of the team member | Task would influence his style | Task would influence his decision | Both task and developmental level of team
|
Task would influence his decision. |
The same are discussed and interpreted in the below mentioned table:
(Some of the content of the table is adapted from Practical Management 2009)
Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership Theory
This theory states that there is no one perfect leadership style. For the effective leaders the leadership style changes according to the maturity of the subordinate and as per the details of the task that has been assigned to them. Maturity is also known as readiness which is the willingness and ability of the employee to accomplish the task(Management Study Guide 2012). This Leadership theory recognizes four leadership style (Telling, Selling, Participating and Delegating). There are four maturity classification for the employees (M1= Low ability and low Willingness of the follower, M2= Low ability and high willingness,M3=High ability and low willingness of the follower, M4= High ability and high willingness of the follower)
The leaders in under this take decision based on a combination of the task and relationship behavior. The same can be represented in the form a graph as below
The definition of leaders and their style might differ from one individual to other and from one situation to other.Leadership style in an organization is considered to be one of the most important factors that play an important role in increasing or decreasing the interest, commitment and performance in the organization. It’s the leadership style which ensures that resources are efficiently mobilized ,utilized and allocated within the team which also has an effect on the organizational performance as a whole(Australian Journal of Business and Management Research 2011)
If inappropriate or incorrect style of leadership is followed, it can lead to demotivation and lack of interest within the team. For eg If an employee feels that the task given to him is very easy and he can handle it confidently and if the manager/leader directs him to do even the simplest task, he might feel unhappy and disinterested (ehow 2012). The directive style of leadership is inappropriate here. This may result in lesser participation from the team and hence decreased level of motivation and commitment to reach company’s objective or Goal.
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