Leadership and Change - Essay Example

Leadership and Change and number: Leadership and Change Question My Leadership Style A leadership style is a pattern of providing direction, implementing plans and motivating people. The three different types of leadership styles are laissez faire, autocratic and participative. A laissez faire style leader lacks in direct supervision and fails to get regular feedback from his employees. An Autocratic style imposes decisions on the subordinates and does not allow them to participate. A Participative leadership style encourages the team to give their views but the final decision is taken by the leader (Glanz, 2002). My leadership style is participative, whether it is in the family, a community, organization, or among friends, because I always ask my colleagues or friends regarding their views before taking any decision. In order to justify my leadership style, a questionnaire survey has been conducted, taking into account the insight of 10 individuals. When I asked my close ones about my leadership style, they agreed with my opinion that I have a participative style of leadership. Out of 10 individuals, 3 of them agreed that I almost take final decisions after consulting my close ones. When it was asked whether I encourage my surrounding people, the majority of them said that yes, I do, and very few people told that I do not. If I ask my near ones for their plans and ideas and whether I form a team and meeting to implement the ideas, it was seen that almost 40% agreed that I ask and some 20 % told that I do not ask. This clearly shows that my leadership style is participative and I involve employees all the time. Question 2: Situational Leadership Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard developed a model known as the Situational Leadership theory. This theory states that there is not only one best way to perform leadership. Leadership style depends upon the situation which arises in the company. A particular leadership style is not applicable in all organizational situations, as different situation demand different leadership style. Effective leadership depends upon the task given, and the most appropriate leaders are the ones who react to the leadership style in accordance with the maturity of the group (Helfat, et al., 2009). Yes, the video was impressive as it acknowledged me with the situational leadership concept. It helped me to understand the reason behind Hersey-Blanchard success. They focused on four leadership behaviors, they are telling, selling, participating and delegating. They even focused on four maturity behaviors. They are competence, willingness, motivation and group competence. According to the theory, no leadership style can be called as the best style as because it depends upon the individual situation. A polished leader will survive in the entire situation and will attain goals and objectives of the organization. Experience, education, responsibility are the factors which make leaders motivated and help them in doing well. The main reason behind the success of this theory is that the authors focused the theory on two main pillars; they are maturity level of an individual and the leadership style (You Tube, 2013). Question 3: Transformational Leadership The transformational leaders think beyond their day to day activities and make strategies, so that the company, work or department achieves higher level of success. Leaders focus on motivating the entire organization, collaborating with them and building a team so that change takes place for the betterment of the organization (Bonnici & Cooper, 2011). They set incentives and goals for their subordinates and push them for higher performance. It is been seen that employees grow both professionally and personally. Transformational leadership requires high responsibility and involves lot of task; they have to be very smart as employee will take time to trust the leader. In small firms, it is simple to handle, but in large firms it is very difficult to perform. ` In order to justify Transformational leadership style, a questionnaire survey has been conducted taking into account the insight of 10 individuals. It was analyzed that survey was very accurate, as individuals agreed to those statements which are the characteristics of transformational leaders. This survey will be useful in the business world as employees will come to know that their leaders work very hard to achieve the goal of the organization. When it was asked that if leaders go beyond their way to make employees feel well, then it was analyzed that 3 out of 10 said almost always while some said frequently they go beyond their level. If a leader identifies that the employees are performing in a poor manner, they strive to incorporate the best possible strategies to improve the performance of the employees , 4 out of 10 individuals said yes while some said seldom true. Question 4: Acceptance of Change Flexibility of employees at workplace is very important. This improves the efficiency and productivity of the company. Change should be done mutually between employers and employees (Orridge, 2012). In order to justify acceptance of change, a questionnaire survey has been conducted taking into account the insight of 10 employees from different business houses. Most of the employees when asked that if they consider change as a positive thing, around 50% said it to be almost always true, 20% agreed to frequently true, whereas, 30% denied to the statement. When they were asked if they like to do same things daily or they like to accept new projects, 40% agreed to the statement, while 30% agreed to frequently true and very few disagreed. The survey helped management people very much as they realized that change is an important thing, and even I take change as a positive concept. When change takes place in an organization, employee should adapt their leadership style, as at that point of time employees need to show their skills and talent to work in the change environment efficiently. It is observed that employees themselves look for change as they get bored with the regular stable work. This questionnaire was very helpful as, employees view for change came in front of everyone and everyone showed interest towards change. Leadership style like participative, autocratic, Laissez faire, transformative and transactional should be performed when there is change in an organization. Employees should keep aside their regular work habit and build extra energy and attain the goal. Question 5: Company Specific Leadership Tim Cook, CEO of Apple Inc. has leadership qualities which have helped the company to continue so well. Tim Cook has the ability to take risk, he trusts his people around him. He focuses and gives attention to the person with whom he speaks. He is very humble and has flexibility about the changes. He has a unique quality of accepting his fault. He trusts his and his colleague’s decisions. He is very transparent and does not try to be anyone else. These qualities are ideal for a perfect leadership (Apple Inc., 2015). Tim Cook has given so much to his company that it will be difficult for anyone else to replace him. His leadership attributes is highly praised by other CEO’s and some even treat him as their idol. In the coming year, when Tim Cook will retire, it will become difficult to replace someone else, so to avoid such situations, company should decide beforehand that who will come in place of Tim Cook and start training that person for the post of CEO. Grooming a person for a particular position is not that tough as he already have qualities to lead the company, he just needs to be polished more. Appointing someone from outside is a risky task as first of all that person does not know about the company much, and no one knows that if he has the leadership quality or not, so, if he gets appointed then company comes to a risk position. As of now, Tim Cook does not require any replacement, he has potential leadership qualities. Question 6: Professional Disciplines To achieve your goal, professional discipline should be there. The three important disciplines are leadership quality, flexibility and adaptability and compliance with ethical approach. The three disciplinary actions are inter-related as they are very important to work in a professional environment. A person should be ethical from inside through which he can be loyal to himself and loyal towards the company, then only work will be assigned to him and people will trust him. Ethical behavior reflects the character of the person. If a person is ethical, he is accepted by everyone in an organization (Iqbal, 2011). A person should be flexible enough to adapt the changes immediately. In an organization, change takes place frequently and it is the duty of the employees to adapt and work accordingly. Flexibility makes work smooth and help to compete with the competitors. Customers’ needs keep on changing, so to satisfy them, an organization has to make new plans time to time which can only be performed by the employees. Leadership quality includes ethical behavior and flexibility of an employee. It is seen that how all the three disciplinary actions are inter related. Every employee should have leadership quality as leaders should be participative, he should involve his team for every decision, he should handle his team at personal level and be with them in their needs. If an employee builds these three disciplines in them, it becomes very easy for them to work in a professional environment with good reputation. References Apple Inc. (2015). Apple press info. [Online] Retrieved from https://www.apple.com/in/pr/bios/tim-cook.html. Bonnici, C. A. & Cooper, B. S. (2011). Creating a successful leadership style: Principles of personal strategic planning. Lanham: R&L Education. Clark, D. (2010). Leadership style survey. [Online] Retrieved from http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/survstyl.html. Clark, D. (2014). Transformational leadership survey. [Online] Retrieved from http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/transformational_survey.html. Echendu, J. A., Hoohlo, C. & Mathew, J. (2015). 9th WCEAM research papers: Volume 1 proceedings of 2014 world congress on engineering asset management. Berlin: Springe. Glanz, J. (2002). Finding your leadership style: A Guide for Educators. Ottawa: ASCD. Helfat, C. E., Finkelstein, S., Mitchell, W., Peteraf, M., Singh, H., Teece, D. & Winte, S. G. (2009). Dynamic capabilities: Understanding strategic change in organizations. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons. Iqbal, T. (2011). The impact of leadership styles on organizational effectiveness. Munchen: GRIN Verlag. Orridge, M. M. (2012). Change leadership: Developing a change-adept organization. Farnham: Gower Publishing, Ltd. You Tube. (2013). APMP online video leadership - Hersey and Blanchard situational leadership. [Online] Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeujU1s9LQ4. Appendix Appendix 1: Leadership Style Questionnaire Serial No. Survey Questions Rankings 5 4 3 2 1 1 I always retain the final decision making authority within the individuals in my close surroundings. 3 3 2 1 1 2 I listen to my colleagues and give them encouragement. 3 2 2 2 1 3 I ask my near ones for their ideas and input on upcoming plans and projects. 4 2 2 1 1 4 When things go wrong and I need to create a strategy to keep a project or process running on schedule, I call my close people for advice. 3 3 2 1 1 5 I always try to include people in determining what to do and how to do it. 4 2 1 2 1 (Source: Clark, 2010) Appendix 2: Transformational Leadership Questionnaire Serial No. Survey Questions Rankings 5 4 3 2 1 1 Leaders go out of the way to make others feel good around them. 3 3 2 1 1 2 Leaders help others with their self-development. 3 2 2 2 1 3 Leaders ensure others get recognition and/or rewards when they achieve difficult or complex goals. 4 2 2 1 1 4 Leaders provide challenges for the team members to help them grow.  3 3 2 1 1 5 Leaders ensure poor performance gets corrected.  4 2 1 2 1 (Source: Clark, 2014). Appendix 3: Resistance to Change Questionnaire Serial No. Survey Questions Rankings 5 4 3 2 1 1 I consider changes to be a positive thing. 5 2 1 1 1 2 I like to do new things rather than doing same old things. 4 2 2 1 1 3 Id rather be surprised than bored 4 3 1 1 1 4 Whenever my work forms a stable routine, I look for ways to change it. 3 3 2 1 1 5 When I am informed of a change of plans, I become curious for the new change. 4 2 1 2 1 (Source: Echendu, Hoohlo, & Mathew, 2015) These are the parameters based on which the questionnaire has been made. The scale is from 5 to 1. Almost Always True — 5 Frequently True — 4 Occasionally True — 3 Seldom True — 2 Almost Never True — 1 Read More