Effective Leadership Styles - Coursework Example

Good Leadership Styles Name: University: Course Title: Instructor: Date of Submission: Effective Leadership Styles Abstract The search for leadership characteristics has been going on for many centuries. Many researchers and academicians have researched vastly on qualities of leadership. For many centuries, studies on leadership have been based on personal traits perspective. Later in the mid 21st Century, a series of other reviews on leadership styles emerged giving researches a new driving force in leadership studies. As improvements continue to be made to studies pertaining to leadership styles, theories have shifted from situational and contingency approaches, attribute pattern approaches to recent behavioral and styles theories such as group leadership styles which are more involving but effective that previous styles. Leadership is well understood if viewed from the perspective of leadership categories and leadership styles. Successful leaders don’t stick to specific leadership style, but mix various styles to suit different situations. Good leadership has positive effect to follower’s performance and the organization. Bad leadership styles de-motivating and result to poor performance and incomplete tasks. It is important for leaders to be able to understand the type of people they are leading, the mission of the organization and be able to link this to their leadership styles. This paper defines leadership, and describes various leadership styles looking into impacts of good and bad leadership styles. Introduction Leadership is the ability an individual has to influence, motivate and enable others to successfully contribute to the organisations they belong to effectively. Regardless of how one defines leadership, it still involves vision. When a leader has a vision, the entire group is able to achieve its goals successfully. According to Zastraw (2010) a leader is any person who has authority in an organisation. For an organisation or group of people to be successful, they require leaders who are able to set and communicate goals. This inspires the followers and facilitate for change within the organisation. There are many types of leaderships, which leaders can apply in their leadership roles. The most attributed include leadership styles are transformational and transactional leadership. As much as leaders can practice specific type of leadership, it does not limit them from other styles of leadership. According to Dr. Linus Pauling a two times winner of the Nobel Prize (2001), the best way to have a good and effective idea is to have plenty of it. Leaders should choose the most appropriate type of leadership style, at the right time. Good leader should be able to see different gifts and talents in other people and value the diversity of thoughts from each member in the group. This makes a leader to better understand and utilize the difference in people within a group or organisation (Natalicchio, 2009, p.22). Leadership can be defined in many ways. However, the best way is to look into the categories in leadership and various leadership styles. Leadership can be categorized into transactional and transformational leadership. Looking into various styles as provided by many scholars in their themes seeking to define leadership is similarly important. This paper discuses leadership, defining various leadership styles and theories that leaders can put into use, in order to lead an organisation or a group of people towards achieving a set goal. Who is a Leader? A leader is should have a vision about how an organisation or a group of people should progress or change, and make change in an organisation. Leaders carry people through their vision, towards achieving specific objectives. This may be set or created in an environment that allows people to develop. Leaders are concerned with ensuring the right thing is done in the right way and place. They think in terms of innovations, development and how to make a better future. Leaders have a tendency of looking at things from the future or long term perspective. Leaders mostly set the vision and give the group the tone ad direction. Leaders expect others to contribute and realize their vision. For effective leadership, leaders are expected to undergo self discovery and personal understanding. This makes them understand who they are and what their principles stand for (Northouse, 2010, p.65). What is Leadership? Leadership is a controversial subject both in the past and recent times, as the position of leadership continues to get more complicated. Leadership has come to face pressure from political, social and labor organisations. Matters such as authority and responsibility are nowadays greatly questioned something that hardly happened in the past. Current leadership styles have replaced the old ways of not questioning leaders with new ideas such as primacy of the organisation, leader disposability, and dutiful leadership roles. Many institutions have moved from the reward and punishment system controlled by the leader, to expertise based power leadership. Various types of leadership have emerged as dramatic changes in leadership takes place. Institutions have abandoned the scientific models of leadership that were aimed at finding a master way of management that could be acceptable universally. Instead, the area of leadership has flooded with many competing leadership models such as multiple linkage models, contingency models, and transformational, transactional, symbolic and social interactive models among many others (Achua and Lussier, 2010, p.152). Categories of Leadership Transactional Leadership Transactional leaders act within standardized established procedures in order to achieve set goals. This type of leaders assigns specific tasks that are well defined to their subordinates. They expect each individual to work within the agreed prescriptions and be able to fulfill their responsibilities. Transactional leadership is directed towards the exchange occurring between the leader and the team members. The leader discusses with the team or gives a directive on the requirements for a particular job. The leader mostly monitors the deviations or errors committed by the subordinate’s performance. If they fail to meet the agreed objectives, the leader subjects the members of the team to disciplinary action, which range from disappointment, psychological or material punishment. This form of leadership is normally applicable in situations such as crisis management or when responding to emergency issues. This requires members of the team to be competent and have the capacity to produce the desired quality and high standard of work as directed by the leader (Marshall, 2011, p.13). Transformational Leadership This type of leadership is aimed at higher goals than what transactional leaders may have in their vision. Goals in transformational are achieved through inspiration and followers motivations. The leader encourages and motivates the members of the group. Transformational leaders create a vision and establish a sense of purpose to the team members. They motivate their followers through raisin basic needs, achievements and making them feel a sense of self fulfillment. Leaders practicing this mode of leadership style move their followers beyond self interest to interests of the group or organisation. This brings charisma to the members as the feel inspired and acquires intellectual stimulation (Kippenberger, 2002, p.134). Through addressing individuals self fulfillment, transformational leaders capitalize on individuals unique talents and capabilities. Contingent rewarding is also part of motivating followers which include both psychological and material rewards. The leader goes beyond monitoring the follower’s performance and being reactive, to being proactive (Charon, 2003). Styles of Leadership Authoritarian or Autocratic Leadership Style Authoritarian has been a common leadership style since early times and is considered among the oldest styles of leadership. This is a commanding type of leadership. Followers are expected to do as they are told. Authoritarian or autocratic leadership is based on power and the position being held by the leader. Authoritarian leadership is used when leaders demand specific work from their followers and give directive of how exactly they want it done. They do not allow advice from their followers. The leader makes decisions, and passes them to the followers. Leaders are there to make decisions and the work of the followers is to follow the command. This is most suitable when all the information available for performing a particular task to the followers. In working areas where employees are expected to have the required knowledge to perform given tasks, authoritarian leadership can effectively be deployed. However, most of the time this style of leadership is mistaken and leaders get to yell and use threats and demeaning language. This style of leadership is not widely recommended especially in job situations and should be used rarely in cases where perfection is demanded (Lane and Daft, 2008, p.18). Democratic or Participative Style also Know as Group Leadership Leaders using the group leadership style include their followers in their decision making process. This is involving members of the team to make decisions on what should be done and how to do it. As much as leaders involve the team members, they still hold the final decision. This leadership style is a sign of strength that members of the team will respect and prefer. When the leader has only part of the information required for a task, and the members of the team have the rest, group of democratic leadership is the most appropriate style of leadership to be deployed in such a situation. It is not necessarily a must that leaders should know everything (Chemers, p.44). A team consisting of knowledgeable and skillful members will require this style of leadership in order to complete a task. This style allows team members to benefit mutually and feel as part of the team which gives way for better decisions. This is the most popular leadership style in many organisations. In group leadership, Group members need to be consulted when decisions are being made. Through a democratic way of leadership, leaders are able to involve their followers in decision making (Chemers, p.212). Laissez-faire or Delegative In this style, employees are allowed to make their own decisions. The leader is still responsible for the decisions made by the followers. This type of leadership style is used where followers or members of a team are able to analyze a situation and be able to decide the appropriate decisions to make and determine the what needs to be done and how to do it. When a leader trusts the group members, this style of leadership can wisely be used to get work done. From the French word laissez-faire, it means ‘leave freely to act freely’. It is completely opposite of the autocratic style of leadership (Mills, 2005, p.2). This style is not good for creative jobs such as arts in clothing and design fashion industry, photography and film industry. Here, followers need to be left alone to do their work with minimal supervision from their leaders (Adams, 2007, p.8). Bureaucratic leadership Bureaucratic leadership is a difficult style of leading people. It is widely disliked in many organisations that practice it. Bureaucratic leadership style involves intensive rules and instructions set within a rigorous framework. Followers are expected to perform their work strictly as per the stipulated rules and regulations or directives. Followers have no choice on deciding how to perform their work. This type of leadership only benefits the leaders who are able to get the exact results expected. Bureaucratic leadership makes followers more efficient by facilitating speedy review and analysis. The leader is in total control of the outcome and easily maintained high standards in yields with minimal maintenance costs. However, this style of leadership can result to low morale and followers resort to drawback as they feel they are being exploited (Pardeep, p.477). Effective leadership is never based on set personal attributes and traits, but a wide range of a person’s abilities and approaches. Affective leadership requires a leader to be able to understand the level of skills and experience of the team members, the task involved in any job and the organisational environment surrounding the team (Mills, 2005, p.2). Leaders should be able to pick the most appropriate leadership style to apply in every task and how to fully utile the mean members to their highest capacity while maintaining their morale and spirit. It is important for a good leader to be able to switch between styles according to the followers and the wok that is to be done. Most importantly, as the leader drives the team towards achieving the desired goal of the organisation, the needs of the team members must be met (Kippenberger, 2002, p.34). Good Leadership There are many leadership models from many scholars which describe leadership styles and that are meant to help an individual to decide on how best to lead. Leadership styles depend on the type of people being led and the leaders concern for production. Leadership is greatly influenced by an individual’s personality and habits (Sperry, 2002, p.35). Bad leaders only follow a specific type of style but modest and competent leaders mix the concepts and come up with a more redefined leadership style that is aimed at achieving an organisations ones goal. How leaders behave, has a great impact on their effectiveness as leaders. Best leaders always pick on the most appropriate leadership style to use for the right situation. Each leadership style has its best situation to be use at. There are styles which are best when immediate decisions are needed, when full support of the team is needed, and when the work to be done it either task or people oriented (Bal et al, 2008). Challenges in Leadership Leadership is a challenging task. Leaders face many challenges as they tenure their careers in corporations or among themselves. Creating and maintaining a team that is well diversified is among the biggest challenges a leader may meet. Each individual member in the team may have unique background, and yet the leader has to integrate them and find a uniform way to work with them. When developing a mission or vision for the team or organisation, the leader greatest task is to promote the vision of the organisation and ensure followers accept. Every member in the team or in the organisation should share a common goal or mission (Northouse, 2010, p.65). Leaders have the difficult task of effectively communicating the mission and are able to influence the members to be supportive (Bal et al, 2008). Consequences of Bad Leadership Leadership is one of the most prevalent potential stressors in workplaces across the globe. Leaders can turn to be aggressive and abusive in how they handle their followers at work environments. This may be simply because they lack appropriate leadership skills. Abusive leaders occur in an aggressive or punitive behavior towards group members in the workplace that may be working under the supervision of the leader. This can vary from leaders degrading their employees through yelling calling names and making ridiculous comments about their personal status. Lack of leadership skill leads to a condition referred to as passive leadership. This is normally common in leadership styles such as laissez-faire where managers like evading decision making and taking responsibility for team members (Bal et al, 2008). Conclusion Leadership styles have great influence on group processes and their outcomes. Leadership affects the psychological state of the followers. These are people who the leader depends on in order to accomplish a given mission. It is important for leaders to adopt styles that are most suitable while considering their effect on the motivation and satisfaction of followers. Organisations require strong leadership that can transform them from traditional leadership styles to modern shared leadership environment. Earlier traits theories promoted the concept that leadership was innate and is an instinctive quality that a person either has or doesn’t have. Leadership traits are now achieved through learning and developing leadership qualities within oneself or with other people. Effective leadership is determined by an individual’s internal beliefs and processes that emerge from things going on in a person’s mind. Good leadership encourages team work and makes an organisation attain exclusive performance from a more motivated team. Having a well disciplined and motivated team is an important factor towards achieving a competitive edge for any organisation. Organisations which make their employees comfortable and happy through ensuring their interests are well taken care of become more productive. Good leaders not only project confidence, but they pass it on to their followers. This encourages constructive feedback. Good leadership reveals in other peoples success and talents. When leaders allow employees to exploit their capabilities and talents, the organisation is well placed in terms of innovative problem solving from its own employees. Mentoring enthusiasm amongst followers is a beneficial experience to both the organisation and the members. Leaders must recognise that leadership styles are situational, and no one leadership style can ever be a perfect fit for all. A leader’s legacy is measured by the examples he sets to the followers. When followers are able to recognise their leader’s vision and works towards attaining the set goals, the organisation will rise to new heights in term of productivity. References Achua, F.C. and Lussier, N.R, 2010. Leadership: Theory, Application, and Skill Development. Boulevard: Cengage Learning. Adams, L.D., 2007. Personality type and Leadership approach. New York: ProQuest Bal, V. et al.2008. The Role of Power in Effective Leadership. [online] Available at: [Accessed 14 March 2012] Chamers, M.M., 2007. An Integrative theory of Leadership. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc Pub. Charon, L. D., 2003. A transformational leadership development program: Jungian psychological types in dynamic flux. Organisation Development Journal, 21(3), p.9 Chemers M.M., An Integrative theory of Leadership. New York: Routledge Kippenberger, T., 2002. Leadership Styles. New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons, Inc. Lane, G.P. and Daft, L.R., 2008. The leadership Experience. Boulevard: Thomson Higher Education Marshall, E., 2011. Transformational Leadership in Nursing. New York: Springer Pub. Mills Q.D., 2005. The Importance of Leadership. [online] Available at: [Accessed 14 March 2012] Natalicchio, G., 2009. Executive Leadership in Transitory Entertainment Industries. New York: ProQuest Northouse, G., 2010. 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