Leadership Style and Employee Motivation - Essay Example

Topic: Lecturer: Presentation: Introduction Leadership involves soliciting the support of other people to assist in the accomplishment of a shared goal. 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 thinks need to be used for success to be accomplished. In organizations, competent leadership is one of the aspects that are important in enhancing the accomplishment of organizational goals. Competent leaders are able to propel an organization ahead through effective management of resources, maintenance of a favorable working environment as well as employee motivation. This paper evaluates the extent, if at all, can leadership style affect employee work motivation. It highlights various motivational strategies applied by leaders to generate contentment and competence among employees. Leadership Style and Employee Motivation Bureaucratic leadership is one of the styles that affect employee motivation. The entire organizational processes are accomplished according to the predetermined procedures, and all employees understand their roles in the process. None of them has a right to change any of the steps involved. Decision making is centralized, with no room for employees to apply their judgment in undertaking the tasks. This leadership style lowers employee motivation and hinders inventiveness. The workers suffer from inferiority complex as they feel that the leader is the only person who can make the right decision. The style leads to dissatisfaction of staff due to monotony and rigidity of leadership (Khurana, 2002). In Laissez-Faire leadership style, the leader focuses on maintaining interest among the workers due to the understanding that they need to be enthusiastic about their work for them to relate effectively with clients. The leader generates employee satisfaction through appreciating workers’ contribution to the accomplishment of organizational goals. Employees appreciate being trusted by the leader. They are allowed to complete various tasks on their own, especially in situations where the leader possesses confidence in their competence. Laissez-Faire leadership is a significant factor for an organization’s success since the leader has the capacity to develop strong working teams among the employees. Such leaders encourage flexible work practices such as developing their own work plan and engaging in activities outside the organization where they organize meetings with clients without supervision among other aspects of organizational flexibility. This leadership style allows the employees to own the organizational goals (Gemmill and Oakley, 1992). Charismatic leadership is significant in a leader’s ability to motivate employees. Such leaders possess allure and elegance, which are admired by many people. They have self-belief and confidence that are a major factor for success in leading workers to accomplish tasks. The Charismatic Leader gathers followers through personality and charm, rather than any form of external power or authority. As Conger & Kanungo (1998) observe, charismatic leaders are encouraging to their subordinates and try to pay attention to all. They try to make each person to feel important and appreciated. Reynolds (2000) observes that charismatic leaders encourage employees to feel relaxed when airing their views regarding their work. This is an important strategy that helps in motivating employees to be inventive and has been core to the success of many organizations. A charismatic leader can be placed at level 5 of Jim Collins leadership hierarchy (Collins, 2001). He/she is determined to promote and accomplish his vision while on the other hand remains modest in his relationship with the subordinates. He/she regards his success as the success of the organization. The leader’s self esteem helps in maintaining confidence to utilize emerging opportunities, take risks for the success of the organization while encouraging others to be inventive and ensuring that hard work is rewarded appropriately. He/she demonstrates humility while dealing with the subordinates and helps them to realize their potential to accomplish a common goal (Kesler, 2002). The Hersey and Blanchard’s situational model focuses on leadership strategies whereby the leader becomes effective through motivating their subordinates to adhere to instructions. This depends on the capability and willingness of the workers to undertake the particular tasks allocated to them. Employees joining an organization are usually competent in various fields and are motivated to work for personal and career development. However, they have to follow the organizational requirements as laid out by the leader. The model comprises of four leadership styles that focus on leadership that involves emphasizing on the organizational tasks that the employees are required to perform. The styles in the model also lay emphasis on the leader-subordinate relationship (Hersey & Blanchard, 1999). The leadership styles in the situational model include; directing, coaching, supporting and delegating. Directing is a style of leadership that is largely practiced by leaders who work with subordinates with little abilities and commitment. Employees in such a case are usually unable to accomplish tasks or may have the potential but are reluctant to use their skills 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 et al. 2007). The leader usually has a low focus on the relationship between him and the subordinates. 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, which is a better motivational technique in such a situation (Hitt et al. 2005). In circumstances whereby the subordinates fail to perform particular tasks as a result of fear of adverse consequences, directional leadership comes in handy to encourage workers to accomplish tasks. 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 thereby motivating them to utilize it to the fullest (Alldredge et al. 2003). 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. 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 thereby motivating them to work towards the accomplishment of organizational goals (Kesler, 2002). Leaders focus on building a strong relationship between them and the subordinates, which enhances understanding thereby increasing their ability to identify weaknesses that need to be suppressed through coaching. They are usually highly focused on the manner in which tasks are accomplished. This style involves introducing new working strategies, offering explanations and making facts clear to the subordinates. The leader pays attention to the workers coaching needs, which make them feel appreciated, thereby increasing their competence (Hitt et al. 2005). Through coaching, the leader acts as a mentor. Mentoring in the workplace is a practice that involves imparting knowledge, experience, facts as well as opinions by the leader to the employees to promote personal and career development. It involves maintaining a positive attitude towards work as well as developing problem solving skills among the less experienced employees to enhance the accomplishment of organizational goals. The leader is usually an experienced worker in the organization who understands the organizational processes and is competent in problem solving (Ragins, 2007). Supporting is a leadership style that is usually applied to workers 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. 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. This style is focused on developing a strong relationship between the leader and the employees. There is less emphasis on the procedures for accomplishing tasks since the leader understands that the employees are capable of performing. He/she strives to get rid of the hindrance to effective performance. An enabling environment is a significant motivating factor to work (Hersey et al. 2007). Delegating is usually applicable for the employees who are both highly committed and competent in the workplace. 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 hence the leader maintains motivation through various strategies such as rewarding performance. Employee motivation is maintained through appreciation and rewards for exemplary performance. Rewards are offered according to the employees’ accomplishments, which translate to an organization’s turnover. They motivate employees who feel appreciated and always target higher output for them to be rewarded. This leadership style is important in maintaining a self driven workforce (Roberts and Corbett, 2009). Likert also established four leadership styles that are 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). Exploitive authoritative 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 thereby lowering motivation (Kouzes & Posner, 2007). Benevolent authoritative style 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 leadership and is necessary for employee motivation (Alldredge et al. 2003). Consultative leadership 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. This strategy is important in generating employee satisfaction in the workplace, thereby increasing motivation to work (Huczynski and Buchanan, 2007). Participative leadership 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 (Meindl et al. 1982). Organizations require the professional group so that they can advance in their endeavors to accomplish organizational goals (Hickson & Pugh, 1996). The leadership style that is effective in maintaining a productive workforce is important in enhancing competitiveness in the organization. In general, coaching, delegating and supportive styles in situational leadership are important in maintaining productivity in the workforce. On the other hand, benevolent authoritative, consultative and participative styles in the Likert’s leadership styles are important for the professional core that maintains organizational competitiveness (Kouzes & Posner, 2007). Conclusion The leadership style adopted by leaders in an organization significantly affects the productivity of workers. Bureaucratic leadership is one of the styles that lower employee motivation. The leader is the decision maker while the employees’ role is to adhere to the procedures that have been set without flexibility. The Laissez-Faire leadership style motivates workers through flexibility of work and employee satisfaction. Charismatic leadership is important in motivating workers to remain competent. The leader generates interest ad enthusiasm in the workforce thereby increasing competence. 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’s styles are also important for the professional core that is important for productivity. References Alldredge, M., Johnson, C., Stoltzfuz, J., & Vicere, A. 2003. 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