Challenges on Traditional Leadership Theories - Coursework Example

Leadership Style 1. Introduction Earlier leadership theories assumed that leaders with high concern for production and people would be generally effective. However, leadership issue is an expanding field of study and it remains in its growing stages. It has no unifying theory to this date that can provide common direction to thinkers and researchers. Contrary to traditional views of leadership, some theorist suggests that in order to be effective, managers should be flexible in their choice of leadership style. They generally believe that a particular leadership style may not be equally effective for every situation. For this reason, our discussion will focus on the challenges faced by traditional leadership theories and the way managers using different leadership style motivate their teams. 2. Leadership Style 2.1 Challenges on Traditional Leadership Theories “Leadership can be displayed in different ways and takes many forms (Rodd 2006, p.11). The study of leadership in organization moved its emphasis away from the study of the ‘traits’ of leaders towards their ‘style’. Leadership style and behaviour are usually treated as similar since both of them is emphasising to what leaders do (Bryman 1986, p.36). It has been censured as being too predisposed on investigating what leaders do and the qualities they have rather than what is actually in leadership itself. Good examples of these are the key leadership theories that centre on the trait, behavioural and situational aspects approaches (Rodd 2006, p.11). These models according to Rodd (2006, p.11), do not offer insight into the complex process of leadership, which is complex and founded on mutual relationships. On the other hand, ‘style’ theories are making some effort to explain the behaviour in which leaders carry out their roles in various circumstances to facilitate and realize their goals effectively. There are some research findings that show leaders as having a unique set of rather indescribable virtues and proficiencies, which are merged into an ability to get others to do what the leader wants them to do. “Leadership is not inherent to the personality of the leader” (Van Wormer et. al. 2007, p. 198). Generally, past leadership theories perceived that those leaders with indisputable concern for production and great concern for people will be generally successful. It was only in the 1970s, when path-goal theory surfaced, that leadership theories began to think about the idea that a specific leadership style may not be similarly useful for all situations or for all employees (Stockdale and Crosby 2004, p.103). The absence of support on the contribution of personality traits on leader’s success has not prevented modern leadership theorist from attempting to connect personality style variations, which they alleged are significant to leader effectiveness (Kegan 1995, p.202. According to Christ (1999, p.211), every person has a ‘personality profile of qualities’, and this profile operates within ‘latitudes of potential’. While a person may sporadically elude this personality, the basic profile will almost certainly re-emerge. Moreover, it is very important not to equate this personality with a leadership style, because the leadership style is a ‘priori’ labelling of various personal profiles and the personality is exclusive to the person. While some patterns may emerge, several diverse personal profiles may be suitable within a specific leadership style. Therefore, to make the leadership style literature correct, we must first recognize that personality plays a very significant role in leadership style. “Just as one’s personality profile has a loose relation with leadership style, the traits of leadership are only loosely correlated with situational demands and personal qualities” (Christ 1999, p.211). Traditional theories predominantly regard leadership under the assumption that supporters were a standardized group. At present, with the rising intensity of diversity in organizations, “leadership theories developed in earlier years are now recognized to be flawed” (Stockdale and Crosby 2004, p.103). On the other hand, the leadership theory we recognized as ‘trait theories’ according to Locke (1999, p.10) are not entirely flawed since the ownership of certain traits seem to be an essential requirement for successful leadership. For instance, leaders must be dynamic and sincere, and they must be eager to guide their followers. However, these traits alone are not enough since an effective leader have skills, vision, and capable of implementing this vision into reality. Therefore, traits are just one of many components of leadership. The style theory of leadership attempts to appreciate leadership by exploring the various styles of leadership that distinguish particular leaders. Instead of investigating individual traits, theorist fashioned a set of leadership styles that were comprised of related traits that seemed to represent the overall picture of leadership (Van Wormer et. al. 2007, p.199). Various incidental theories helped construct the notion that leadership behaviours are sometimes influenced by situational factors. Indisputably, the success of a leadership style in one situation does not necessarily mean it will have the same effect in another situation (Gill 2006, p.49). 2.2 Leadership Style and Team Motivation “Leaders should use different styles for different situations” (Rowitz 2003, p.17). Path-Goal theory centre on what motivates members of the organization to work efficiently, and whether or not they feel properly compensated for their work. Thus, the main concern of a leader is to put into practice a leadership style that can effectively inspire his worker (Creighton 2004, p.13). Within the path-goal theory are four distinct styles of leadership that includes directive, supportive, participatory, and achievement-oriented. Workers expect, and this issue emerges largely when a leader’s leadership style or approach is foreign to the team members. The origin of this apprehension according to Heekens (2001, p.84) frequently relate to characteristic of the responsibility that is the irrelevant to their assigned work. Team members are more often concern with matters such as their personal freedom, objectionable task a leader may require them to carry out, and the extent to which a leader would micromanage them. “Different kinds of leadership are appropriate for different kinds of situation” (Furnham 2005, p.582). Brody (2005, p.5) explains, an successful manager use flexible leadership and once in a while, a ‘directive’ style may be more suitable than a ‘delegative’ or ‘participative’ style depending on the situation. For instance, when an urgent situation exists or when tough personnel decision must be made, a directive leadership style is more suitable. This is because a ‘delegative’ style is only effective when workers are already self-motivated and requires less supervision. According to Furnham (2005, p.582), “the leaders set the pace for high performance standards and then expect staff to carry out assignments competently”. Functioning within a programme developed by the leader, staffs are given the autonomy to innovate, try out, and take calculated risks. This style is effective with employees who desires personal and professional development and challenges in their work. Participative leaders accentuate relationships and they respect staff as people, and they treasure workplace contentment and harmony. These leaders develop deep emotional bond, encourage loyalty and sense of belonging, and strengthen staff morale. To avoid mediocrity, successful managers praise workers when their performance is good and criticize them when they fail. However, in circumstances where directions are required, this style alone is not enough. Thus, managers need to combine approaches based on circumstances and the skills of the staff. Leadership styles need not be constant and should transform whenever staff changes. This is because leadership style that motivates employees with strong desires for self-sufficiency is dissimilar from the style required to inspire and convince employees incapable of autonomy (Furnham 2005, p.582). However, although flexible leadership is generally desirable, certain leadership styles are pragmatically more receptive to the needs of a well-trained professional staff and more advantageous to efficiency in human service organizations (Brody 2005, p.6). In addition to expectation issues, leadership style has been found to play a role in team success (Gibson and Cohen 2003, p.187). One distinguished model of leadership is transformational leadership where leaders develop and communicate strategic vision to the team. Transformational leaders inspire and motivate team members to see the organization’s vision as their own. This style is highly associated to perceived integrity of a leader because team members distinguish a leader as transformational when they trust that leader to act in their best interest. There are other techniques leaders utilized to motivate and inspire their followers and it includes being a role model for ethical and moral conduct, communicating high expectations, inspiring followers to be resourceful and innovative, and providing a cooperative climate through listening. 3. Conclusion Leadership theories developed in the earlier years are considered flawed and inadequate as theories of leadership. This is because traits and behaviours alone are not sufficient since managers still need to develop further skills in order to be an effective leader. Advocates of the style theory believe that a particular leadership style may not be equally effective for every situation. Thus, leadership style should be flexible and can change as staff change. Flexible leadership is generally desirable and realistically more responsive to the needs of workers. It inspires, motivate, and stimulate followers to be creative and innovative. Hence, the challenge for a ‘flexible’ leader is to ensure that his leadership style meets the motivational needs of his workers. 4. 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