Leadership in practice & Developing the reflective leader Enterprise Rent-A-Car - Assignment Example

? Leadership in practice & Developing the reflective leader – Enterprise Rent-A-Car Table of contents Introduction 3 2. Leadership in Enterprise Rent-A-Car 4 2.1 Leadership behaviours and approaches 4 2.2 Validity and utility of leadership theories within organisational context 9 2.2.1 Organization and leader’s behavior 10 2.2.2 Autocratic leadership 13 2.2.3 Democratic leadership 14 2.2.4 Laissez-faire leadership 14 2.3 Application of analysis to a critical incident 15 3. Reflection 18 References 20 Bibliography 21 Appendix 22 1. Introduction The success of businesses in the global market is depended on their ability to understand on time the market risks and develop appropriate measures for securing their position towards their rivals. At this point, leadership is proved to have a critical role. The successful leader aligns the organizational needs with the market trends and support the development of proactive communication in the internal organizational environment. Moreover, the successful leader is able to understand the customers’ needs and promotes plans that can serve the interests of the organization but also of its stakeholders. The aspects of leadership in practice and the qualities of reflective leader are examined in this paper. Reference is made to a specific organization, Enterprise – Rent – A car, a car-hire firm well known in the global market. In fact, the firm is ‘the largest purchaser of cars in the world’ (case study, p.65). Since its establishment, in 1957, the firm has achieved a significant growth, a fact that it is highly related to its leadership style. The review of the facts described in the case study leads to the assumption that the firm’s leadership practice is unique; a combination of key leadership approaches is used for ensuring that leadership in Enterprise – Rent – A car, a car responds to the customers’ needs. At the same time, it is made clear that in the specific organization employees are highly valued, a fact that highly benefits employee performance. The case of Enterprise – Rent – A car proves that modern organizations are able to face effectively the challenges of the market under the terms that their leadership is appropriately structured. Initiatives would be allowed to leaders; however, certain ethical standards are always necessary for ensuring that the power of leader is aligned with organizational ethics. Commonly, the value of leadership is judged in the long term, mostly because time is available for evaluating the effectiveness of leadership decisions. However, in Enterprise – Rent – A car the benefits of leadership style are continuous, on the terms that daily organizational activities face no particular problems at all levels of organizational hierarchy. At this point, the following issue should be mentioned: the firm’s existing leadership practices are based on leadership approaches, which are quite known in the leadership theory, as analyzed below. This means that existing literature has been used as the basis for the firm’s leadership practices. For this reason, the presentation of the literature related to the specific subject has been considered as necessary. Moreover, assumptions are developed in regard to the potential applicability of the firm’s leadership style in practice, i.e. whether the specific leadership style would be applicable on other organizations, of similar characteristics with Enterprise-Rent-A car. It seems that such prospect exists, under the terms that similar support is provided, referring not only to the resources available but also to the willingness of employees to support such plans. A personal reflection is provided, at the end of the paper, where the above issue is discussed. 2. Leadership in Enterprise Rent-A-Car 2.1 Leadership behaviours and approaches One of the key reasons for the success of Enterprise Rent-A-Car has been its leadership framework. In fact, Enterprise Rent-A-Car has a unique characteristic: a series of different leadership styles are used across the organization for managing the organization’s departments. Autocratic, democratic and laissez-faire leadership are combined in promoting organizational plans. Although such practice may be considered as quite risky, resulting to difficulties in regard to communication and cooperation across the organization, in practice it has been proved as particularly effective. Currently, the employees of the organization are about 75,000 (case study, p.65), showing the level of the organization’s growth despite the turbulences in the international market. The success of the organization in regard to its leadership practices would be understood only by referring to the main elements of these practices. The role of corporate governance but also of the organization’s internal and external environment will be also presented and evaluated, as the above factors have contributed in the development of the organization’s unique leadership framework. The first characteristic of leadership in the organization is the necessity of management skills in regard to all levels of the organizational hierarchy. It is implied that leaders in all positions need to have advanced management skills, which usually refer to the ability to set priorities, to communicate effectively with employees and to identify risks in regard to various organizational activities. In the particular organization, managers are also able to set and monitoring budges but also to manage people and resources (case study, p.65). At the next level, managers in Enterprise – Rent – A – car are leaders, meaning that they are able to set goals and to inspire other people to follow them (case study, p.65). As for the firm’s leaders, these could be also characterized as exceptional managers. Reference is made for example, to the case of the organization’s Enterprise General Manager who leads a group of regional managers (case study, p.66). The interaction between management and leadership seems to be the key reason for the organization’s success in the international market. Another key characteristic of the organization’s leadership style is the following one: different leadership approaches are used for handling various organizational activities. These leadership approaches are further combined with a series of management styles, which aim to help leaders to respond more effectively to the needs of their role as managers, a role which is combined with leader’s role in the particular organization. It is believed that in this way, the needs of each organizational activity are better addressed. Beginning with the management styles used by leaders in Enterprise – Rent – A car organization, emphasis should be given on the ‘open door policy’ (case study, p.66). This policy allows to employees at all levels of the organizational hierarchy ‘to have direct contact with senior managers’ (case study, p.66). In other words, in Enterprise – Rent – A car organizational hierarchy does not exist, or at least, it is just typical. At the next level, in Enterprise – Rent – A car organization, the following leadership approaches can be identified: a) Autocratic leadership, b) democratic leadership and c) Laissez-faire leadership. The above leadership approaches, which have a critical value in the context of leadership theory, help towards the increase of flexibility of organizational plans. By choosing the leadership approach, which is more suitable for a specific organizational department, the organization’s leaders ensure that the performance of organizational plans related to that department will be high; also, in this way, it is expected that the communication and cooperation between employees in each organizational department will be at high level. The characteristics of the above leadership approaches, as developed in Enterprise – Rent – A car, can be described as follows: a) in the context of the Autocratic leadership approach, specific rules are set for ensuring that customer services are of high quality. More specifically, managers give to employees specific guidelines as to how they should behave to customers (case study, p.66); employees need to follow these guidelines but flexibility is allowed, meaning that employees can align these guidelines with their skills/ competencies. In other words, employees are allowed to choose the practices through which the targets set by managers are achieved (case study, p.66). On the other hand, there are cases where the guidelines given by the managers need to be followed strictly; in such cases, autocratic leadership approach is fully developed. Such practice is common in regard to issues, which are of critical importance for the organization. For example, employees in all branches of the organization have been obliged to use ESQi (a customer satisfaction measure) (case study, p.66), b) Democratic leadership is used in Enterprise – Rent – A car along with the autocratic leadership, as described above. Democratic leadership in the particular organization is reflected to the potentials of employees to participate in decision-making in regard to a series of organizational activities (case study, p.67). Democratic decision-making in the specific organization has two different forms: persuasive democratic management and consultative democratic management (case study, p.67). In the context of the former, manager takes the decision and explains to employees the appropriateness of his decision. In consultative democratic management employees have a key role in taking the decision, the final form of which is decided by the manager. Democratic leadership in the specific organization is clearer in the firm’s local offices; at the level of each branch, employees have to face different customer needs. In most cases, solutions need to be identified with no delay; employees need to be allowed to take initiatives. This challenge is faced by giving to employees autonomy but also ownership in regard to many of their activities (case study, p.67). An indicative example of democratic leadership in Enterprise – Rent – A car is the following one: when there is a need for covering a specific customer need, as for instance, a car for a weekend brake, employees in the branch would handle the issue more effectively, compared to managers, who are less involved in such tasks and they would not be able to understand appropriately the requirements of customers (case study, p.67); in such cases, employees can act independently without asking their manager, who intervenes only in cases that are emergent or quite complex; the above incident is analysed further in section 2.3 below, trying to understand the effects of leadership on organizational performance; c) the Laissez-faire approach is also used in Enterprise – Rent – A car. The specific approach provides to employees greater autonomy, compared to the democratic leadership style. In fact, in the context of laissez-faire approach, employees are allowed to act independently ‘within broad limits’ (case study, p.68). Entrepreneurial teams that have the responsibility ‘to organize local Enterprise offices’ (case study, p.68) act in the context of the laissez-faire leadership approach. In accordance with the case study, the use of laissez-faire approach in the above case has certain drawbacks, such as the decrease of motivation (case study, p.68). The firm’s leaders control these drawbacks by promoting appropriate training programs; at the same time the Corporate responsibility programme aims to help employees to understand the organization’s priorities in regard to its stakeholders and the environment (case study, p.68). In this way, the risks related to the use of laissez-faire approach are effectively controlled. Apart from the above leadership approaches, within organization, particular principles are promoted in regard to the values and skills of a good leader. At the same time, emphasis is given on the identification, early, of those employees who have many prospects to become exceptional leaders. In fact, at the recruitment stage, managers in Enterprise – Rent – A car try to identify those candidates who would become good leaders, meaning those who have leadership qualities (case study, p.66). While working in Enterprise – Rent – A car employees become familiar with the key characteristics of leadership excellence, as enhanced across the organization: in Enterprise Rent – A car leadership is considered to be a core competence; managers are empowered to take critical decisions in regard to their department; also, responding to the needs of customers is set as a critical criterion of a successful leader (case study, p.66). At the same time, managers are encouraged to choose the management style that best suits to the demands of customers with different characteristics and preferences (case study, p.66). The qualities of a good leader, as promoted in Enterprise – Rent – A car can be evaluated by referring to the literature published in regard to the specific subject. The performance of the organization up today indicates that leadership approaches used in the specific organization are aligned with the organization’s needs and the conditions in the internal and external environment. The effectiveness of these principles and approaches in the long term cannot be secured in advance, an issue, which should be further discussed using appropriate literature. 2.2 Validity and utility of leadership theories within organisational context In accordance with the issues discussed above, Enterprise-Rent-A car is based on a complex leadership framework, meaning that this framework incorporates a series of practices and principles that seem to be contradicting. A comparison with the relevant approaches of the literature would help to understand the practical value of the organization’s leadership style, as aligned with the needs and the characteristics of each organizational sector. In any case, emphasis should be given on the following fact: the use of different leadership approaches, a practice developed in the specific organization, for leading a business is a challenging and risky initiative. Firms that are already established in the global market, such as Enterprise – Rent – A car would establish easier such plan compared to smaller businesses, where the risks for a potential failure would be significant. 2.2.1 Organization and leader’s behaviour Leadership is a key element of organizational performance. However, the leadership style used in each organization cannot be standardized; a series of factors, such as the corporate governance, the organizational goals, the employee skills, the willingness of employees to support leadership initiatives and the technology/ funds available, is likely to affect the characteristics of leadership within modern organizations. For this reason, in order to evaluate the quality and the performance of leadership in a specific organization it would be necessary to refer primarily to the conditions in the internal and external environment but also to the organization’s ethical rules, as incorporated in its corporate governance framework. Under these terms, it would be difficult to decide on the effectiveness of a leadership style. Moreover, it would be difficult to identify those characteristics that distinguish the reflective leaders from other leaders. However, there are certain criteria that help to identify a successful leadership style. The potential effectiveness of such leadership style in the long term could be evaluated by reviewing the conditions in the internal and external environment of the organization involved. In accordance with Zaccaro and Klimoski (2011) an effective leader is able to communicate effectively; it is explained that such leader is able ‘to convey a similar message in many different ways, so it makes sense to many different stakeholders’ (Zaccaro and Klimoski 2011, p.117). On the other hand, Griffin and Moorhead (2011) emphasize on the ability of leader to urge employees for contributing in the achievement of organizational goals without using his ‘formal authority’ (Griffin and Moorhead 2011, p.325). In other words, a successful leader is the one who can influence employees in supporting his plans and initiatives and not the one who uses his power, as related to his position, for obliging employees to follow his guidelines. At this point it would be necessary to review the factors that are expected to influence leader’s practices and decisions. Hellriegel and Slocum (2007) note that personality can highly affect the behaviour of a leader; moreover, behaviour, as a set of practices is usually aligned with personality, a fact that justifies the relationship between leader’s behaviour and personality (Hellriegel and Slocum 2007). The involvement of leadership behaviour in the development of leadership style is made clear in the following fact: leadership style can be highly differentiated in accordance with the priorities set by the leader; these priorities result to different leadership practices, i.e. different leadership style which is aligned more or less with the leader’s environment. Reference can be made, for example, to the caring leadership style, which is usually expressed as ‘the care and the respect for other people’ (Antonakis, Cianciolo and Sternberg 2004, p.184). The creative leadership style, which focuses on the creation of opportunities for employees while keeping the relevant risks low (Antonakis, Cianciolo and Sternberg 2004, p.184) is another common leadership style, closely related to leader’s behaviour. In addition to the above, a successful leader needs to be self-confident in regard to his skills/ decisions, a fact that results to ‘confident leadership style’ (Antonakis, Cianciolo and Sternberg 2004, p.184); he also needs to have vision, or, else, cognitive power (Antonakis, Cianciolo and Sternberg 2004, p.186), being able to identify appropriate methods for achieving specific results. From a similar point of view, Yammarino and Dansereau (2009) note that professionalism in the workplace is a key element of charismatic leader, a leader who can motivate and empower his followers. In any case, successful leadership should be ethical; ethical leadership is the ability of leaders to make clear to employees the potential effects of their behaviour and choices within the organization (Martin and Fellenz 2010). Ethical leadership, as described above, is often related to authentic leadership, a leadership style, which refers to leaders who have ‘an internalised moral perspective and exhibit high levels of self-awareness’ (Martin and Fellenz 2010, p.214). Leadership style is not affected just by leader’s behaviour. It can be also influenced, as explained earlier, by the organization’s environment, including organizational culture. This fact is highlighted in the study of Antonakis, Cianciolo and Sternberg (2004); in accordance with the above researchers the relationship between leadership and culture is close, as reflected in the Parsons’ view on organizational culture: adaptation, goal attainment, coordination and shared values (Parsons 1956, in Antonakis, Cianciolo and Sternberg, 2004, p.187). From a similar point of view, Zimmerli, Richter and Holzinger (2007) note that leadership style is highly influenced by the organizational climate, meaning the view held across the organization in regard to which activity is ethical or not (Zimmerli, Richter and Holzinger 2007, p.119). Reference can be made to the case of Enron, where organizational climate supported ‘unethical behaviour’ Zimmerli, Richter and Holzinger 2007, p.119). On the other hand, Daft and Lane (2009) note that the evaluation of leadership should also refer to the role and the attitudes of the followers. It is explained that followers are important part of leadership. It further noted that effective leadership can be influenced by the qualities of followers (Daft and Lane 2009); in organizations where followers do not support their leader’s initiatives, the plans of the leader cannot be promoted. In this context, the effectiveness of the relevant leadership style can be doubted. For the above reasons, it is suggested that efforts are made so that followers have the same qualities as their leader (Daft and Lane 2009, p.194). In Enterprise-Rent-A car such target is achieved by emphasizing on the recruiting process, aiming to identify those candidates who have leadership qualities, as explained earlier. At this point, a brief explanation should be given in regard to the leadership approaches used in Enterprise-Rent-A car, i.e. the autocratic, the democratic and the laissez-faire styles of leadership. 2.2.2 Autocratic leadership Autocratic leadership is based on the following rule: organizational decisions are taken without the consent of employees (Pride, Hughes and Kapoor 2011). Rather, employees are given exact guidelines, which they need to follow without stating their concerns. Hyundai USA has extensively used autocratic leadership style across its departments (Pride, Hughes and Kapoor 2011, p.180), a fact that indicates the potentials of the specific leadership style, under the terms that it is aligned with the organization’s ethics. However, the effects of autocratic leadership style can, occasionally, harm the organization. For example, in a research developed by ‘a group of psychologists led by Lewin (1939), it was proved that if not carefully organized and monitored autocratic leadership can lead to revolution’ (Clark 2008, p.8). The above findings refer to leadership in a political/ social context; in the organizational context similar outcome could be expected, in the form either of strong conflicts between employees or strong resistance to leader’s guidelines (Clark 2008). 2.2.3 Democratic leadership In the context of democratic leadership, employees are allowed to participate in the decision-taking process. The level at which such potentials are given is depended on the organizational culture and structure. The most important advantage of democratic leadership is that employee satisfaction is kept at high levels, since employees feel they contribute in the development of organizational plans (Hamilton 2010). Moreover, democratic leadership increases the self-confidence of employees. This means that employees can act effectively to daily organizational tasks even if their leader is not present (Daft and Lane 2007, p.44). The Maslow Hierarchy of Needs, as presented in Figure 1, Appendix, is a common model for explaining the need for democratic leadership within modern organizations. However, democratic leadership has also an important disadvantage: the time required for the development of the decision-making process can be quite long, allowing employees to state their views in regard to each organizational issue (Hamilton 2010). 2.2.4 Laissez-faire leadership The specific leadership style is based on the following rule: employees are allowed to act independently, taking initiatives in regard to various organizational tasks (Chamorro-Premuzic 2007, p.157). The laissez – faire leadership style has been developed as an opposition to transformational leadership style, which is based on the role of the leader as a ‘model’ for their followers (Chamorro-Premuzic 2007, p.157) and the transactional leadership style which focuses on the successful completion of tasks, rather than on the empowerment of employees to take initiatives (Chamorro-Premuzic 2007). In accordance with Capon (2008) the laissez-faire leadership style is commonly used in organizations in which leader is pursued on the ability of employees to take appropriate decisions in regard to the organization’s daily operations. However, the specific leadership style is related to the following risk: the provision of excessive power to employees may lead to opposite results, in the case that employees violate the limits of their power, which is broad in the case of laissez-faire leadership style (Capon 2008). For this reason, the laissez-faire leadership style should be used only in organizations where the skills and attitudes of employees have been tested in regard to critical organizational activities. In accordance with the issues discussed above, the leadership style of Enterprise – Rent – A car should be slightly differentiated. Employees should be empowered to take initiatives but their ability to respond to the needs of the organization should be continuously monitored. The follow hypothesis is set: employees in the organization’s branch offices would face difficulties to perform effectively in case of an emergent need if the manager would be absent. The above hypothesis is tested through the following organizational incident: in the firm’s branch offices, employees handle customers’ requests; the manager of the branch is not involved unless there is a case of accident or other similar issue. Would employees face problems in handling such incidents without the support of their manager? Appropriate literature is used below for testing the specific hypothesis and identifying the level at which the firm’s existing leadership style would be alternated. 2.3 Application of analysis to a critical incident The literature focusing on leadership theory emphasizes on the following problem: leadership style is not standardized across organizations. This problem has been related to the influence of leadership behaviour by the leader’s personality (Zaccaro and Klimoski (2011), Hellriegel and Slocum, 2007, Antonakis, Cianciolo and Sternberg, 2004), the conditions in the internal and external organizational environment (Yammarino and Dansereau, 2009, Griffin and Moorhead, 2011), including the organization’s climate, Martin and Fellenz (2010), and the corporate governance rules of the organization (Zimmerli, Richter and Holzinger 2007). At the same time, the qualities of followers have been found to be quite important for the success of an organization’s leadership style (Daft and Lane 2007). Moreover, the review of the characteristics, advantages and disadvantages of the democratic leadership style, has led to the assumption that democratic leadership can benefit the organization only under the terms that the participation of employees in the organization’s decision – making process is based on specific criteria ensuring that delays in taking initiatives are avoided but also that these initiatives are aligned with the organizational needs involved (Daft and Lane 2007, Hamilton 2010). As noted in the case study (p.67) in the firm’s local offices, employees are allowed to handle most of the organization’s daily operations, without the involvement of the manager; the latter is expected to intervene only in case that a customer’s request is quite complex or if it is extremely urgent (p.67). If such a case occurs while the manager is absent, then employees would have to test their ability in handling complex organizational tasks, especially in taking initiatives under pressure and without the guidance of their supervisor. In accordance with the issues discussed in the previous section, employees would be able to handle such issues only if they have the qualities of their manager, i.e. if they would be equally capable to take critical decisions under pressure. Also, the high level of employee satisfaction, in regard to their position, would also help; such term would exist only if their leader would care for the staff, as highlighted in the caring leadership framework (Antonakis, Cianciolo and Sternberg 2004), being able to communicate effectively with employees at all levels (Zaccaro and Klimoski 2001). In any case, training in facing such conditions would significantly help the local offices’ employees in handling effectively such cases (Hamilton 2010). However, in accordance with the case study, employees in branches are not given specific support in order to be prepared for handling issues without the guidance of the manager. Such provision exists only in regard to the members of ‘the entrepreneurial teams that manage local offices’ (case study p.68). A similar scheme would be developed in regard to the staff in local offices. As of the ability of managers in local offices to prepare their staff for such incidents, in case of their absence, this cannot be evaluated in advance. Indeed, in the case study, no reference is made to a scheme, or schemes, that test, periodically, the effectiveness of local managers, i.e. their ability to perform as charismatic or reflective leaders. It is assumed that no such scheme is available at the level of local offices. The firm’s democratic leadership style, as applied on its local offices, should be differentiated at this point: employees should be allowed to take initiatives but they should be appropriately prepared, so that they can act independently in case of their manager’s absence. Moreover, they should be checked periodically in regard to their responses in such crises. If there is no potential for such schemes, then the ability of employees to take initiatives would be limited, meaning that in case that their manager is absent employees would not take initiatives in regard to critical issues, but they should rather refer to the supervising body of their office, meaning the entrepreneurial team managing the particular office (case study, p.68). 3. Reflection In regard to the issues discussed above, it is made clear that the challenges that leaders have to face within modern organizations can be significant. In case that I would have the chance to manage one of the firm’s local offices, I would develop a carefully designed plan of action, ensuring that employees are able to face emergent challenges even in my absence. This plan of action would include, indicatively, the following initiatives: promotion of a training programme focusing on the increase of employees’ ability to handle emergent and complex customers’ requests, participation of employees in critical organizational decisions so they become familiar with such cases, check, periodically, of the ability of employees to handle critical organizational problems, probably by assigning to them such tasks on a weekly basis. Primarily, I would estimate the resources required for the development of the above project. In case that the office’s entrepreneurial management team would not accept such initiatives, then I would suggest to make differentiations on the office’s operational rules, meaning that, in my absence, employees would be obliged to ask for the guidelines of the office’s entrepreneurial management team in regard to a complex or emergent customer request. At this point, it would be necessary to refer to my current leadership skills and qualities, as developed through my experiences in my daily life, referring especially to my life as a student. More specifically, at a first level, I would evaluate my leadership skills using appropriate theories. Then I would decide if I should change any aspects of my leadership style. An important theory that could help me to understand my role as a leader but also the expectations of my environment, meaning especially the employees would the Role theory of Merton (1957, as described in Clark 2008, p.7). In accordance with this theory ‘the information available within each organization in regard to leadership values and culture shapes expectations’ (Clark 2008, p.7). However, it is made clear that expectations need to be aligned with the behaviour of each individual; otherwise, role conflicts are expected to appear (Clark 2008, p.7). Personally, I tend to work effectively within a team and take initiatives but I face difficulties in distinguishing the exact powers of my role. I think I would become a good leader under the terms that I would be able to understand exactly the needs of my environment, to which I should respond. At the next level, using the Leadership Continuum theory of Tannenbaum and Schmidt (1950s), as presented in Figure 2, Appendix, I would characterize my self being in the middle of the diagram, supporting the democratic style of leadership. However, I think that I should think of adopting practices of the autocratic leadership also. As proved in the case study, autocratic leadership is necessary in regard to specific organizational tasks. This means that, more or less, in modern organizations the need for autocratic leadership cannot be ignored. This means that employees at all levels should be aware of the principles and the rules of autocratic leadership; for me also, understanding the specific leadership framework would be of critical value, either in the short or the long term. References Antonakis, J., Cianciolo, A., Sternberg, R. (2004) The nature of leadership. London: SAGE. Ardichvilli, A., and Kuchinke, P. (2002) Leadership styles and cultural values among managers and subordinates: a comparative study of four countries of the former Soviet Union, Germany, and the US. Human Resource Development International, 5(1): 99-117. Capon, C. (2008) Understanding Strategic Management. Essex: Pearson Education. Chamorro-Premuzic, T. (2007) Personality and individual differences. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. Clark, C. (2008) Creative nursing leadership and management. Sudbury: Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2008 Daft, R., Lane, P. (2007) The leadership experience. Belmont: Cengage Learning, 2007 Dulewicz, V., Higgs, M. (2005) Assessing leadership styles and organisational context. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 20(2): 105-123 Griffin, R., Moorhead, G. (2011) Organizational Behavior: Managing People and Organizations. Belmont: Cengage Learning. Hamilton, C. (2010) Communicating for Results: A Guide for Business and the Professions. Belmont: Cengage Learning. Hellriegel, D., Slocum, J. (2007) Organizational behavior. Belmont: Cengage Learning. Lussier, R., Achua, C. (2009) Leadership: Theory, Application, & Skill Development. Belmont: Cengage Learning. Lievens, F., Van Geit, P., and Coetsier, P. (1997) Identification of Transformational Leadership Qualities: An Examination of Potential Biases. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 6(4): 415-430. Martin, J., Fellenz, M. (2010) Organizational Behaviour & Management. Cengage Learning. Pride, W., Hughes, R., Kapoor, J. (2011) Business. Belmont: Cengage Learning. Shahzad, K., Ur-Rehman, K., Abbas, M. (2010) HR Practices and Leadership Styles as Predictors of Employee. European Journal of Social Sciences, 14(3): 417-426 Visagie, J., Linde, H. (2010) Evolving Role and Nature of Workplace - Leaders and Diversity: A Theoretical and Empirical Approach. Managing Global Transitions, 8 (4): 381–403. Yammarino, F., Dansereau, F. (2009) Multi-Level Issues in Organizational Behavior and Leadership. Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing. Zaccaro, S., Klimoski, R. (2001) The nature of organizational leadership: understanding the performance imperatives confronting today's leaders. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons. Zimmerli, W., Richter, K., Holzinger, M. (2007) Corporate ethics and corporate governance. New York: Springer. Bibliography Bruch, H. (2003) Leaders' action: model development and testing. Munchen: Rainer Hampp Verlag. Goldsmith, M., Baldoni, J., McArthur, S. (2010) The AMA handbook of leadership. New York: AMACOM Division of American Management Association. Miner, J. (2005) Organizational behavior: Essential theories of motivation and leadership. New York: M.E. Sharpe. Nichols, T. (2008) Authentic transformational leadership and implicit leadership theories. London: ProQuest. Schermerhorn, J. (2011) Organizational Behavior. Hoboken: John Wiley and Sons. Appendix Figure 1 – Maslow Hierarchy of Needs model (Source: http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/maslow.html) Figure 2 – Leadership Continuum model of Tannenbaum and Schmidt (Source: http://www.12manage.com/methods_tannebaum_leadership_continuum.html) Read More