Leadership Styles and Organizations Productivity - Research Paper Example

Leadership Styles and Organization’s Productivity An organization's approach towards leadership can have an effect on the productivity of the workers as well as the firm’s output. Organizational efficiency is reliant on each organizational division, which is, in turn, headed by an administrator. The ways in which the organization’s executives make decisions, assign responsibilities, and cooperate with their staff ultimately influence the performance of the organization. HYPOTHESIS Many managers’ leadership techniques are strongly related to the knowledge they possess about leadership, their prior experiences, and the organization in which they are leaders. It is a recognized fact that leadership styles reconcile the relations between the organizational efficiency and go a long way in creating the corporate culture. LEADERSHIP STYLES There are participative, autocratic, transformational, and transactional types of leadership styles. Both the transactional and transformational leadership methods are viewed as 21st century discoveries. They not only seek to address the needs of workers, but inspire them towards achieving self-actualization along with the success of the corporate objectives. The autocratic leadership method, on the other hand, has a job-centered characteristic which calls for the leader to take complete responsibility for all the operations, and to make decisions without consulting any subordinates (Bass, 68). It heavily depends on workers concurring with the opinions of the leader and following their orders to the best of their ability. They follow orders, sometimes, without much clarification as to what they are meant to do, or the tasks they are meant to undertake. The autocratic style of leadership has some advantages. These include the rapid completion of projects because not many people are required to offer their opinions on different matters. Therefore, there is limited chance for conflict of interest. Additionally, autocratic leadership keeps workers from creating alternatives that control the minority in a negative way, and ensure that the leader is listened to by all workers. This type of leadership is best in crisis situation where seeking the opinions of many prior to making decisions could be disastrous. Members are quick to conform to the desired way of doing things, and there are rarely instances of insubordination. Autocratic leadership’s disadvantages are numerous. This type of leadership distances the organization’s employees. Their abilities remain stunted as they are not challenged to think beyond their specific roles. Many times, autocratic leadership can result in employees seeking for other prospects if they feel that there is no way in which they can compel the management to institute changes. The Laissez-Faire style of leadership stresses on employee centered characteristics. Leaders who use this method fail their workers in some aspects since they give no negative or positive direction. They also do not interfere with their employees’ operations at any time. According to Bass 7(4), advocates of the Laissez-Faire technique forsake their leadership, thereby allocating to their workers a wide spectrum of executive responsibilities which could result in amplifying their authority and influence. Such leaders avoid the responsibilities of goal-setting, cannot offer their workers opportunities to achieve something, and cannot direct organizational objectives. They also regularly avoid making decisions on significant issues concerning their organization. Such leaders usually presume that their workers will make decisions in an opportune manner, and be able to tackle any problems that may come up. There are a number of disadvantages and advantages of utilizing this leadership technique. It permits team members to acquire a functioning relationship in an unofficial setting, and creates a chance for them to be victorious by making their own judgment. On the other hand, it is easy for a particular employee to dominate every other operation or project, thus causing his or her team to make erroneous decisions. Mistakes can result in lowered expectation levels which then negatively affect the organization’s objectives. This lack of leadership can also result in workers being careless or slovenly, so that not much is achieved in the end. In the participative kind of leadership, the executives must be in possession of an imaginative, pioneering, and risk-taking mindset so as to empower their workers to make decisions concerning the business. Participative leaders equip their workers with knowledge in the regular periodic meetings, where they show a regard and trust for them. According to Fielder (86), empowerment is the consciousness of an individual’s latent gifts, talents, and power. It is also the revelation of how the individual can add to the organization’s objectives. Participative leadership needs and promotes participation from every other person in the organization, and shares the responsibility of decision-making so that the corporation can gain from the expression of different viewpoints. Employee inspiration is resultant from self-image, as well as financial rewards. Leaders reward workers through monetary gifts, and optimistic appraisals which, in turn, inspire the workers’ morale and motivation. There are some disadvantages as well as advantages in employing this method of leadership. Hisrich and Peters (97) state that leaders who permitted their workers to contribute towards decision-making exhibited progress in labor-management associations, supported workers’ commitments, improved community service, and reduced the cases of employee-manager conflict. Such leadership can result in increased job satisfaction, workers’ loyalty to the corporation, a feeling of being part of an inspiring business that is improving the overall community, labor-management partnership, and the improvement of workers’ performance. Transactional leadership holds that workers will trust and respect leaders that are motivating. The transactional leader produces a vision together with other parties, sells the idea to his or her subordinates, and then shows, through personal example, how to realize it. Lussier and Achua (81) described transactional leadership as being a transactional procedure that takes place between the employee and the manager. Marquis and Huston (45) additionally stated that the leader-employee association not only includes exchanges, but negotiations also. The transformational method of leadership supplements the transactional approach, though the opposite does not occur. It also stresses that leaders have to change to be more accommodating towards their workers, and permit them to take part in the decision-making procedures. A critical feature of headship is making use of human talents to cultivate performance, confidence and truthfulness among an establishment’s workers (Daft, 2005). A manager’s personality has a considerable influence on how they lead. Personality is simply a blend of qualities that categorize the manager’s behavior. Personality shapes conduct as well as outlooks and insight. Recognizing different personalities contributes towards explaining and predicting the conduct of others, as well as their expected job performance (Marquis and Huston, 65). The ‘Big Five’ structure of personal qualities evaluate whether an individual is stronger in agreeableness, surgency, conscientiousness, being openness to experience, and adjustment. Surgency comprises of extraversion as well as leadership traits (Shaw, 83). The desire for power is identical to surgency in the Big Five element. Individuals with a great desire for power are portrayed as wanting to be in charge of situations, and taking pleasure in competition in which they can succeed because they hate to lose. Extraversion is descriptive of the level to which an individual is, sociable, outgoing, talkative, and unperturbed in meeting and conversing with new people. An individual with considerable marks in surgency is viewed as being one who wants to have authority over others in order to influence their lives (Daft, 92). Agreeableness is the characteristic of getting along with other individuals. Adjustment is usually viewed as being descriptive of emotional stability. This characteristic shows the extent to which people are calm, well-adjusted, and secure (Daft, 93). Conscientiousness refers to characteristics that are usually connected with achievement. People with the desire for success are goal oriented and they normally take responsibility for unraveling problems. They also yearn for challenges, endeavor to be excellent and long for concrete feedback in regards to their performances. Being open to new experiences is a character of those who are willing to transform, attempt new challenges, are inventive, creative and have an extensive variety of interests (Daft, 79). The inadequacies of the trait theory include the fact that leaders’ traits can not be advanced through their talents or educational achievements. Unlike the trait theories, the behavioral concept is based on the identifiable actions that make an individual an effectual leader. Personal Behavior premises have been employed in recognizing two more approaches in leadership: employee-centered and job-centered leadership. The job-centered model of leadership is based on the leader singularly controlling every operation so as to realize corporate objectives in a given time period. The employee-centered model, on the other hand, centers on the leader fulfilling the requirements of workers and creating relationships. The leadership techniques described by Fiedler’s Model, on the other hand, are also relationship or task oriented. The approach that is used depends on whether the circumstance was one concerning leader-member associations, position power or task structure. Hersey and Blanchard asserted that the method of leadership was decided by the worker’s insights. This theory gave further details on the Fiedler’s model by producing four types of leadership styles: - Supporting, Directing, Delegating, and Coaching (Daft, 62). It has also been suggested that the theory of path- goal affects and stimulates worker’s opinions and opportunities. Employee satisfaction, the achievement of corporate objectives, and better functioning would be derivative of the leader’s training, direction, support, and guidance. Comparison of the Different Types of Leadership. There is no obvious answer as to which leadership method is the best, since all leadership styles have diverse weaknesses and strengths in different settings. Therefore, the best method to use would be a blend of dissimilar styles in one. For instance, many national armies contain different types of leadership, even though the military leaders are usually transformational. They delegate many tasks, and utilize leadership styles that are people-orientated in trying to complete particular objectives while available the army’s safety. On the other hand, it is well recognized that armies usually make use of authoritarian leadership. CONCLUSION The different techniques of leadership and approaches to management are grounded on different theories and assumptions. The style that is used by the managers in different organizations is often based on a blend of their values, beliefs and preferences. In many instances, it is also based on corporate norms and cultures which will promote some leadership styles while discouraging others. Works Cited Bass, Benard. Charismatic Leadership: The Elusive Factor in Organizational Effectiveness. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 1988. Print. Bass, Benard. Leadership and Performance Beyond Expectations. New York: Free Press, 1985. Daft, Richard. The Leadership Experience. Toronto: Southwestern, 2005. Print. Fiedler, Edward. A Theory of Leadership Effectiveness. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc, 1967. Print. Hisrich, Robert, and Peters Michael. Entrepreneurship: Starting, Developing and Managing a New Enterprise. Hollywood, IL: Irwin, 1992. Print. Lussier, Robert, and Achua Christopher. Leadership Theory, Application, Skill Development. Minnesota: Southwestern, 2004. Print. Marquis, Bessie, and Huston Carol. Leadership Roles and Management Functions in Nursing. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins, 2000. Print. Shaw, Sally. Nursing Leadership. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2007. Print. Read More