The Leadership Models - Research Paper Example

Topic: Leadership Styles Lecturer: Presentation: Table of Contents Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction 3 2.0Problem Statement 4 3.0 Literature Review 5 3.0.1 Transactional Leadership Model 5 3.0.2 Leadership Styles in the Transactional Leadership Model 6 3.0.2.0 Bureaucratic Leadership 6 3.0.2.1 Autocratic Leadership 6 3.0.2 Transformational Leadership Model 6 3.0.3 Leadership Styles in the Transformational Leadership Model 8 3.0.3.0 Laissez-Faire Leadership 8 3.0.3.1 Charismatic Leadership 8 3.0.3.2 Democratic Leadership 9 3.0.4 Path Goal Theory 9 3.0.5 Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Model 10 3.0.6 Leadership Styles in the Situational Model 11 3.0.6.0 Directing 11 3.0.6.1 Coaching 12 3.0.6.2 Supporting 13 3.0.6.3 Delegating 14 3.0.7 Likert’s Leadership Model 14 3.0.7.0 Exploitive Authoritative 14 3.0.7.1 Benevolent authoritative 15 3.0.7.2 Consultative 15 3.0.7.3 Participative 15 Conclusion 16 Recommendations 16 References 17 1.0 Introduction Leadership involves soliciting the support of other people to assist in the accomplishment of a shared goal (Alldredge et al. 2003). The leader uses his/her abilities to socially influence others to perform particular tasks for the common good. The person needs to possess particular competences that enable him/her to effectively persuade people to follow certain guidelines that he/she thinks need to be used for success to be accomplished. Beattie (2002) observes that leadership involves steering others to do something that is desirable or to develop something that is useful. In organizations, competent leadership is one of the aspects that are important in enhancing the accomplishment of organizational goals. Competent leaders can propel an organization ahead through effective management of resources and maintenance of a favorable working environment. Finding solutions for workplace conflicts that may hamper the accomplishment of organizational goals is usually the responsibility of the leader (Kotter, 2001). All professions require strong leadership for goals to be accomplished. The success of organizations relies on the leadership to a large extent. It needs to be differentiated from management roles that are mainly focused on maintaining high profits with minimal use of resources. Leadership is about providing direction through socially influencing the followers and ensuring that they understand that the leader’s role is not focused on supervisory activities only. Rather, leadership needs to be seen as an important aspect of the organization that promotes harmonious working relations in the workplace (Barrett, 2006). Managers can possess the qualities of strong leaders, but it is not obvious that all managers are effective leaders. When people note that their personal needs are disregarded by their leaders, they are likely to develop a negative attitude towards their tasks, which may lead to failure in accomplishing organizational goals (Kesler 2002). Strong communication skills are significant for effective leadership. The leader should be in a capacity to effectively communicate ideas to the subordinates. Effective organizational relationships are based on good communication. The leader should also be honest with the management team as well as with the subordinates. He/she needs to possess unquestionable integrity to maintain confidence among the subordinates. The leader should be a visionary person who can see ahead of the others. This enables him/her to help others to understand the destiny of the organization. The leader should be in a position to select a strong team that has the capacity to act as an enhancement of his/her skills (Avolio & Bass, 2002). 2.0 Problem Statement Failure by leaders to apply tactical leadership in organizations is a major impediment to success. Strong leadership skills can be accomplished through understanding the appropriate leadership style for teams and organizations. This paper seeks to address this issue by highlighting various leadership styles and their impacts on success. 3.0 Literature Review 3.0.1 Transactional Leadership Model The transactional leadership model was developed by Max Weber in 1947. It was developed with the underlying assumptions that rewards and punishments are significant in maintaining motivation among followers and also that leadership involves social systems that can only accomplish their goals if a comprehensible chain of command is present (Greenleaf and Spears, 2002). Weber also assumed that when there is consensus regarding accomplishment of tasks among a group of people, all authority is bestowed to the leader and that the primary role of followers is to act according to the requirements of the leader. The leadership style begins with bargaining the contract in which the terms of contract are discussed including the benefits that will be derived by the subordinates for accomplishing the desired organizational goals. This means that the manager ensures that the subordinate understand his/her power (Bate et al. 2000). Transactional leaders utilize the available opportunities to the maximum through maintaining an astute focus on any upcoming prospects, competence in negotiation, persuasion skills and reciprocating the actions and favors of others (Avolio & Bass, 2002). Transactional leadership calls for the establishment of strong working procedures that allow the employees to carry out their duties without delays. The transactional leader offers concerted guidance to the subordinates and ensures that they understand his/her expectations through developing straightforward working structures. The rewards as well as the punishments are associated with the outcome of the tasks. Even though people are not instilled with fear regarding the punishments, they are made to understand them clearly. The model leads to leadership that does not focus on building strong relationships with the subordinates such as bureaucratic and autocratic/authoritarian leadership styles (Reynolds, 2000). 3.0.2 Leadership Styles in the Transactional Leadership Model 3.0.2.0 Bureaucratic Leadership In bureaucratic leadership style, all the organizational processes are carried out according to the laid out procedures, and every member of the organization’s staff understands his/her role in the process (Huczynski and Buchanan, 2007). None of them has a right to change any of the procedures involved. Decision making follows a conventional plan regardless of the changing operating environment. Authority is usually vested on the leader who the subordinates are supposed to respect unconditionally if they are to remain in the organization. The style has a tendency of generating dissatisfaction among the subordinates due to monotony and rigidity of leadership (Bass et al. 2003). 3.0.2.1 Autocratic Leadership Autocratic leadership is characterized by the extreme form of leaders tending to acquire unlimited power over the subordinates. The team lacks the capacity to challenge the leader’s decision regarding the strategic objectives or involvement in identifying the path to follow while pursuing the organizational goals regardless of the meaning in their suggestions. The team is not allowed to make important decisions regarding the organizational processes. The leader has absolute authoritarian control over the group’s activities (Kotter, 2001). 3.0.2 Transformational Leadership Model Transformational leadership on the other hand involves leaders who challenge the change process to motivate their followers to open up and view things differently from the conventional way. Transformational leaders inspire people regarding new ways of approaching issues, which helps them to accomplish their professional goals. Such leadership is usually maintained by strong personality and ability to influence followers to act towards accomplishing particular organizational goals. Alldredge et al. (2003) observe that transformational leadership has been significant in the success of the contemporary organizations. Leaders who are able to motivate and inspire workers to discover their talents and put it in practice usually accomplish organizational goals and also promote personal development among employees. Motivation can be as simple as appreciating the contribution of workers towards the success of the organization (Kotter, 2001). Whenever the subordinates come up with a new idea that can enhance the success of the organization, transformational leaders motivate them to carry on with their inventiveness. The leaders help their followers to discover new ways of solving their problems as well as stimulating them intellectually to understand themselves. They generate enthusiasm amongst followers, and also use their eloquence to convince them regarding their vision (Krug and Weinbert, 2004). As Kesler (2002) observes, a leader needs to be creative and able to make things work out according to his vision. This is accomplished through motivating people to change their perception regarding issues affecting them and being inventive to achieve in life. Transformational leaders inspire their followers through advocating new and better ways of working out issues. They are usually respected for their ability to associate with people as individuals and not as a race or group of people with similar characteristics. They understand that each person has unique needs that needed attention. Transformational leaders emphasize on rewards for the followers who maintain good performance and accomplishments. They have an appreciative nature whenever the subordinates make tremendous progress in their tasks (Steers & Black, 1994). Transformational leaders are capable of generating enthusiasm amongst their followers regarding the course of action. This is one of the aspects of leadership that is significant in mobilizing groups of people to take action. The leadership style indicates concern and appreciation of others, which is necessary in building loyalty amongst the subordinates. Expressiveness and vibrancy in presenting ideas helps in convincing other people that there is need for change (Bate et al. 2000). The leaders are capable of expressing the feelings of his group to others thereby building confidence amongst the followers, which motivates them to work harder for the realization of personal and organizational goals. Coupled with their articulacy in expressing themselves to others, the strong ideologies of transformational leaders make people hopeful of the future whereby everyone will be contented. The model results in charismatic, democratic and Laissez-Faire leadership styles (Konorti, 2008). 3.0.3 Leadership Styles in the Transformational Leadership Model 3.0.3.0 Laissez-Faire Leadership The style involves allowing the followers to accomplish tasks on their own with minimum control. The leader maintains enthusiasm and satisfaction through appreciating the subordinates’ contribution to the organization’s success. As long as they understand their obligations in the organization, people are allowed to apply their discretion to undertake the day to day tasks (Bass et al. 2003). Decision making and problem solving is left for the team members with the leader only providing the resources that they require. Nevertheless, this leadership style needs to be applied on competent teams that are self motivated, skilled and able to work without supervision. On the contrary, it may not be appropriate for inexperienced people who lack the necessary competency (Klau, 2006). 3.0.3.1 Charismatic Leadership Charismatic leadership is significant in attracting followers. The leader has a characteristic allure and elegance, which are admired by subordinates. The Charismatic leader possesses self-belief and gathers followers through dint of personality and charm, rather than any form of external power or authority (Sosik, 2000). As Conger & Kanungo (1998) observe, charismatic leaders are encouraging to their subordinates and try to pay attention to all their needs as well as making each person to feel important through appreciation. 3.0.3.2 Democratic Leadership The subordinates are involved in all aspects of decision making. The subordinates have full control of their day to day activities that are delegated to them by the leader. Feedback is given to the leader who is always ready for the initiatives of the subordinates. Leadership development among the subordinates is encouraged through empowerment and training (Sosik, 2000). 3.0.4 Path Goal Theory The path goal theory was developed by Robert House and was focused on motivation of subordinates by leaders. House explained the significance of having leaders who are able to enhance the pursuance of a common purpose. This is done by ensuring that the subordinates are capable of relating their needs to the organizational goals. Leaders also enhance performance by offering direction and helping the subordinates to keep focused on the path that they are supposed to follow to satisfy their needs in addition to the organization’s needs (House, 2004). When the employees are aware of the goal that they are intending to achieve, they are motivated to be effective in the accomplishment of tasks. The experienced employees ensure that they maintain good performance and are encouraged to make the right decisions that can facilitate realization of the goal. The leader generates expectancy among the employees thereby modelling their behaviour (Avolio & Bass, 2002). Generally, subordinates are motivated by realizing that their actions are likely to culminate in good results. Leaders who encourage creativity are able to maintain a competent workforce. Employees derive enthusiasm from coming up with workable ideas that can be attributed to their ability to think critically. Failure to get such a chance to demonstrate inventiveness may cause low spirits in the workplace especially when the employees are used to rely on the leader for decisions (Conger & Kanungo, 1998). Leaders who promote creativity in the workplace also promote organizational learning since workers are able to learn from the diverse inventions. They also learn together with the workers. Clients are usually attracted to the organization where people cooperate. According to House (2004), there are four leadership styles that emerge from the path goal theory. These include directive, supportive, participative and accomplishment focused leadership. Directive leadership involves guiding the subordinates to follow the right path in accomplishing their tasks. Supportive leadership style involves the leader establishing a strong relationship while demonstrating concern for the subordinates. The leader employs his skills to facilitate the accomplishment of personal and organizational needs among the subordinates. Participative leadership involves the leader engaging his/her subordinates in the decision making process. Accomplishment focused leaders promote ownership of the organizational goals among the workforce, which is significant in the accomplishment of the organization’s strategic objectives (Kouzes & Posner, 2007). 3.0.5 Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Model The model focuses on leadership strategies whereby the leader becomes effective through motivating their followers to adhere to their instructions. This depends on the capability and willingness of the followers to undertake the particular tasks allocated to them (Hersey & Blanchard, 1999). The model comprises of four leadership styles that focus on leadership that involves emphasizing on the organizational tasks in which the employees are required to perform. The styles also lay emphasis on the rapport existing between the leaders and the subordinates. This relationship corresponds to a particular development level of the subordinates. The development level is the extent to which the followers possess the desired competency and commitment for the accomplishment of organizational goals. Both competency and commitment can be high, low or one of them can be high and the other low (Reynolds, 2000). 3.0.6 Leadership Styles in the Situational Model 3.0.6.0 Directing This style of leadership is mainly adopted by leaders who work with subordinates whose competency and commitment are of a low level. Employees in such a case are usually unable to accomplish tasks or may have the capability but are unwilling to use their knowledge to perform tasks effectively. Under such circumstances, the leader may be compelled to adopt a directive style whereby he/she sets targets and directs the employees on what to do, how to do it and the time to be taken for the accomplishment of these tasks (Hersey & Blanchard, 1999). The leader usually has a low focus on the relationship between him and the subordinates as well as between the followers. This is mainly due to the fact that the followers have different competencies and therefore developing a link amongst them may not be appropriate. Performance amongst the workers is enhanced through directing them individually other than in groups (Bass et al. 2003). In situations whereby the subordinates fail to perform particular tasks as a result of fear of adverse consequences, directional leadership comes in handy since the leader has to make things happen for the accomplishment of organizational goals. Without such approach, tasks may be left incomplete and the organization may fail. In doing so, the leader usually disregards the maintenance of a strong relationship (Reynolds, 2000). Leaders who adopt this approach usually develop working frameworks that serve as a guide for the employees, and they also develop their own guidelines regarding the manner in which the tasks are to be accomplished as well as how the employees are to be managed. It requires analyzing the reasons that inhibit competence and commitment among the employees, or factors that cause fear leading to poor performance. The leader tends to generate confidence among the subordinates if the reason for low competence is the feeling that they are not capable of performing. In other words, this style may be used to help the subordinates to discover their potential (Alldredge et al. 2003). Directional leadership may also be used to enhance the adherence to procedures to prevent dangers associated with lack of competence in the process. In the manufacturing organizations, directional leadership is used to ensure that the employees do not make mistakes that may be fatal to the success of the organization. The manager has to direct the leaders to follow the laid out procedures to ensure that the production target is accomplished without hitches in the process that may emanate from incompetent employees (Konorti, 2008). 3.0.6.1 Coaching Coaching is a leadership style that mainly applies to employees whose competence and motivation are slightly high. They might be unable to perform particular tasks even though they have interest in working (Huczynski and Buchanan, 2007). The leader understands that the performance of employees can be improved through additional learning. Coaching is usually focused on giving the employees additional skills to improve their competence. For example, when new employees are engaged in a company, they usually possess some skills but have little experience in the organizational operations. Coaching them is necessary to improve their knowledge regarding the organization. It helps them to apply the skills acquired in studies in real practice (Kesler, 2002). Leaders focus on building a strong relationship between them and the subordinates, which enhances understanding making him/her able to identify weaknesses that need to be suppressed through coaching. They are usually highly focused on the manner in which tasks are accomplished (Reynolds, 2000). This style involves introducing new working strategies, offering explanations and making facts clear to the subordinates. Under such leadership style, the leader pays attention to the subordinates to know the appropriate method of coaching that needs to be applied. Continuous coaching ensures that employees are regularly updated regarding the changing nature of the operating environment (Collins, 2001). 3.0.6.2 Supporting This leadership style usually applies to followers who are competent but show signs of insufficient commitment. In other words, they may have the desired skills but may not be willing to utilize their expertise to the fullest (Kouzes & Posner, 2007). The leader in such a situation needs to understand the causes of a low level of commitment. In certain instances, there might be feelings of uncertainty and insecurity among the employees, which make them loose the motivation needed to accomplish tasks effectively. The supportive leadership style is mainly focused on developing a strong relationship between the leader and the employees. There is less focus on the tasks since the leader understands that the employees are capable of performing but there is a particular hindrance to effective performance (Kesler, 2002). Lack of supportive leaders in organizations leads to loss of experienced workers due to lack of motivation in spite of their competence. The leader in such circumstances needs to analyze the causes of low commitment. This would enable him to make the necessary changes to generate satisfaction, which is significant in maintaining experienced workers (Barrett, 2006). 3.0.6.3 Delegating Delegating is usually applicable for the employees who are both highly committed and competent in the workplace. It can also be regarded as democratic leadership where subordinates are involved in all aspects of decision making. They can perform tasks on their own without supervision or continuously being directed. Such employees are usually satisfied with their work and derive much enthusiasm from performing their day to day duties in the work place. They are able to meet the target on their own and therefore there is usually no need for the leader to maintain focus on their tasks or developing strong relationships (Greenleaf & Spears, 2002). However, it is usually important for the leader to ensure that he is aware of the progress and to ascertain that the organizational objectives are met. His main duty is to compare the process with the plan to ensure that it is adhered to. More over, the subordinates can remain motivated through recognition and being rewarded for exemplary performance (Collins, 2001). 3.0.7 Likert’s Leadership Model Likert also established four leadership styles that are also significant in the accomplishment of organizational goals. His main focus was the decision making process in leadership, and the level at which leaders involve subordinates in the decision. These include; exploitive and benevolent authoritative styles, consultative and participative styles (Kouzes & Posner, 2007). 3.0.7.0 Exploitive Authoritative This is a style that employees usually dislike due to the pressure exerted on them by the leader. It involves laying out procedures that have to be exclusively adhered to without flexibility. The leader is usually less concerned regarding the desires of the employees. The main focus is their output in the organizational activities. Sometimes it may involve the use of unpleasant terms such as threats to ensure that the employees accomplish the desired tasks on time. Decision making is usually at the top and the employee desires are usually given little or no consideration (Bruce, 2006). 3.0.7.1 Benevolent authoritative It is a more acceptable approach to leadership since it is focused on maintaining high commitment through generating enthusiasm and interest by offering rewards for effective performance. Moreover, the desires of employees are given consideration and therefore there is a high possibility of generating satisfaction among them. However, decision making is top down but there are usually various aspects of delegating tasks. This leadership style is somehow similar to supportive leadership in the situational model of Hersey and Blanchard (Hersey and Blanchard, 1999). 3.0.7.2 Consultative This style involves the down-up decision making process. The employees are involved in the decision making process. They raise issues regarding the manner in which they would like to undertake their tasks for the leaders to give their consent (Huczynski and Buchanan, 2007). This strategy is important in generating employee satisfaction in the workplace. It is somehow similar to delegation leadership style in the situational model. 3.0.7.3 Participative This is the style whereby the leader participates in performing some of the tasks that have been allocated to employees. They are engaged in decision making, which makes it possible for the junior staff to own the organizational goals. This style leads employee satisfaction and increased productivity in all levels of the organization (Collins, 2001). Conclusion The leadership style adopted by leaders in an organization significantly affects the productivity of workers. Rewards and punishment are emphasized in the transactional leadership model that leads to bureaucratic and autocratic/authoritarian leadership styles. Transformational leadership model is focused on maintaining a strong rapport between the leaders and subordinates. The model leads to charismatic, Laissez-Faire and democratic leadership styles. The path goal theory results in directive, supportive, participative and accomplishment focused leadership. Hersey and Blanchard’s situational model comprises four styles of leadership which include; directing, coaching, supporting and delegating. Each of them significantly affects the performance of employees. Likert also established four leadership styles that include; exploitive and benevolent authoritative styles, consultative and participative styles. Recommendations It is recommendable that leaders in organizations evaluate the needs of their subordinates and the nature of the tasks they are supposed to accomplish. The leaders should also be informed regarding the employees’ competencies to ensure that they assign tasks appropriately to the right people. This makes it possible for them to identify the leadership style to apply. Based on the outcome of using the leadership styles identified in this paper, it is recommendable for leaders to choose the leadership style that motivates subordinates thereby maintaining their productivity. References Alldredge, M., Johnson, C., Stoltzfuz, J., & Vicere, A. (2003). Leadership development at 3M: Ne wprocess, new techniques, new growth. Human Resource Planning, 26(3), 45. Avolio, B. 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