Leadership Style - Research Paper Example

Leadership Style Leadership refers to a science and an art that is grounded on profound suppositions, skills, attributes and principles through which a person manipulates another person or group of people to attain a particular objective. Leadership theory stress that leaders should embrace and try to create relationships that will impact the follower’s commitment (Stringer, 143). Followers and employees always perceive their leader to have both task oriented and relational behaviors. The techniques in approaching leadership are considered the formulation of leadership which contains both task and relational deeds (Porter, Wrench and Honskinson, 134). The egression of this new world economy and era has brought higher levels of productivity and more focus on consumers and therefore the leadership approach requires a more comprehensive model other than the old transactional and authoritative leadership styles . (Findikli, Gulden and Semercioz and, pp. 1323)Leader-Member Exchange Theory, a newly formulated theory, has been linked to job contentment where there has been measuring of the worth of the affiliation connecting the supervisor and employee. When Leaders exhibit a good LMX relationship, they segment common deference, faith and responsibility (Stringer, 126-128).This shows that employees are issued with more challenging and suitable work appointments and earn more attention and support from the leaders and are urged to promote cohesion among them in order to act and move the leader’s direction (Beehr, Beehr, Wallwey, Glasser, Beehr, Erofeev and Canali, pp.1527). The leadership technique exhibited here is the democratic leadership style where the leader relates well with the other followers and these positive correlations with the followers enhance trust and improve on the job satisfaction as they act as motivation tools in the job environment (Infante and Gorden 81-90). The distinction between LMX Theory and transactional headship is that the foundation of transactional headship is making the followers submissive and obedient to the person in charge. In transactional headship, the only relations evident are that the leader wants the followers to follow the leader’s agendas and that is when they will get a reward for their efforts in advancing the agendas. Transactional leadership involves the use of incentives to entice the followers to accomplish a certain task based on contractual terms (Stringer, pp. 129). The LMX Theory is also distinct from transformational leadership style. Transformational leadership approach refers to the style where the charismatic leaders create a connection with the followers that inspires them and motivates them. This style is said to boost the performance of both the leaders and the employees (Richmond, McCroskey and Davis, 179-182). LMX leadership is a leadership approach based on relationship between the leaders and subordinates. According to early studies, LMX Theory concentrated on the Vertical Dyad Linkages (VDL) established by the leaders with their acolytes (Stringer, pp. 129). The relationship connecting the employees and their leader determines the vertical pair linkage since the different relationships established with each individual have different characteristics These pairs of relationships always emerge in accordance to how well they can function with the leader and how the leader can articulate with them well (Straiter, pp.89). The recent reports of LMX Theory are focusing on the temperament of the distinguished relationships, the effects they have on the organizational efficiency and effectiveness and how the positive results of the company are affected. This is because the quality of such relationships affects the positive nature of results that describes company’s performance (Williams, Podsakoff and Huber, pp. 118& 119). There are also various other social influence powers that a leader can employ. Such powers according to Raven (1959) include the justifiable power, use of pressure and power, incentive power, skilled power and suggestion power. These powers determine the kind of leadership that the supervisor will portray (Tepper and Taylor, pp.97-99). A forceful leadership is coercive, demanding and directive while advisory leadership is participative and involves consultation and counseling (Teven, pp. 157- 159). Job Satisfaction Job satisfaction has been described as “an affirmative emotional response towards the task that for long has been considered vital by managers and researchers” (Sharma, pp. 74). Job satisfaction consists of numerous aspects such as pay satisfaction, supervisor’s satisfaction, working conditions, coworkers and with promotions (Findikli, Gulden and Semercioz and 1320-1322). The employee’s perception about the work place and environment seem to be influenced by other work mates (Hasan, Zahid and Subhani pp.314). Supervisor satisfaction is a critical aspect too. Supervisors invariably have a bigger number of followers and subordinates than the supervisors above them; they thus should experience an impact of satisfaction with their subordinates. The leadership supposition should be conversant with the supervisor’s conduct and reactions. According to the studies that have been conducted, relationship between fulfillment with the employees and unit relationships and the association between the global job contentment and satisfaction with employees have been identified (Williams, Podsakoff and Huber, pp.119). The entity relationships have been identified as affecting the interpersonal relations in a mixture of surroundings. A good example is individuals identified to hold comparable value structures comprehend motivation likewise (Madlock and Lightsey,pp. 47). This value similarity has been considered to be relevant to social interactions since the potential for people to differ and disagree is seen to be high where they differ in values (Porter, Wrench and Honskinson ,pp. 134). Other people’s behaviors affect our reaction to them. These give rise to functional relationships which were strongly associated to satisfaction to subordinates (Ladebo, Awotunde and AbdulSalaam-Saghir pp, 212). A combination of good human relations and power is related to high employee morale. A supervisor who communicates to the subordinates in a friendly way will receive a different response from the subordinates and the one who communicates in a coercive power will receive a cold and negative response (Hassan and Chandran). Interpersonal relations play a critical role in promoting job fulfillment. Previous research has indicated that similarity between the subordinates and the supervisors leads to appeal and positive perspectives on the subordinates (Richmond, McCroskey and Davis pp. 183). It has also been identified that there are differences of the subordinate satisfaction depending on the interaction between their sex and the sex of the supervisor. There have been several stereotypes about women leadership within the world and many job settings. People evaluate leaders according to the leader’s and subordinate’s sex (Hasan, Zahid and Subhani pp. 315) (Feild and Caldwell,pp. 394) (Teven, pp. 157- 159). Communication Competence Leadership manners are ordained by communication (Porter, Wrench and Honskinson pp. 134). Communication in an organization may involve both verbal and non-verbal communication. Effective communication by leaders and supervisors wins the confidence of followers which boosts communication and job satisfaction of the subordinate. The way supervisors communicate and relate with the subordinates is critical than the verbal substance. Relative messages from the subordinates are critical in comprehending how supervisors maintain subordinates dedication to the task issued and to the organization and how the target goals will be attained (Madlock 2010, pp. 47), (Madlock, pp. 90). Competent people achieve their target goals appropriately. Thus communication competence should cover motivation, knowledge, behavior, effectiveness and abilities. “Competent interaction can be viewed as a form of interpersonal influence, in which an individual is faced with the task of fulfilling communicative functions and goals while maintaining conversational and interpersonal norms (Kruglanski, Pierro and Higgins, pp. 145). Communicator competence can also encompass the ability of an individual to listen and negotiate effectively (Hasan, Zahid and Subhani, pp. 323). Immediacy behaviors such as nonverbal communication of the supervisor or leader also stimulates job satisfaction as they always make the subordinated feel so appreciated and respected (Beehr, Beehr, Wallwey, Glasser, Beehr, Erofeev and Canali, pp. 1526). Works Cited Beehr, Terry A., Mathew J. Beehr, Dee A. Wallwey, Katherine M. Glasser, Dana E. Beehr, Dmitry Erofeev, and Kristophor G. Canali. 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