Impact of Different Styles of Leadership in Organizations - Essay Example

Impact of Different Styles of Leadership in Organizations 1.1 Impact of different styles of leadership in organizations, especially in regard to staff’s motivation, during periods of change. In each organization the leader has a critical role: to secure that the business will be able to survive in its industry and that it will be able to achieve growth, even at a low/ moderate level. However, a leader has to face a series of challenges which can be stronger during periods of transition, i.e. periods in which change is implemented in regard to one or more parts of business operations. In the literature it has been noted that a leader is considered as effective after reviewing his ‘leadership style and his power, i.e. influence’ (Phillips and Gully 2011, p.429). This means that an effective leader would be, necessarily, powerful enough in order to control all aspects of organizational change. Still, the leadership style of a leader could possible reduce the leader’s potentials to support change. At this point it would be necessary to check which type of leadership behaviour would be most appropriate for enhancing staff motivation, as this fact would positively affect the implementation of change: the directive leader, i.e. the leader who focuses on the provision of specific guidelines to followers and who is passionate with hierarchy and bureaucracy would not be effective in supportive change (Phillips and Gully 2011). Instead, the supportive and participative leadership behaviour would be quite appropriate for promoting change, at the level that such behaviour leads to the radical increase of followers’ confidence (Phillips and Gully 2011). Moreover, the transactional leader could not promote change since he tends to focus on deadlines and on bureaucracy, setting goals that can be achieved in the short term (Moore 2007). Indeed, transactional leaders have been proved as quite effective in organization where the needs for change are quite limited (Moore 2007). In general, compared to all leaders those who employ a transformational leadership style have been found to be most able to enhance employee motivation and to promote change (Moore 2007). 2.0 Motivation and organizational performance 2.1 Motivation theories in the workplace Different approaches have been used in the literature for showing the terms under which employees can be motivated. Two broad categories of motivation theories exist: the Content theories and the Process theories (Reichwald and Wigand 2008). The most known Content theories are: the Hierarchy of Needs theory of Maslow (Figure 1) and the Two-Factors/ Hygiene theory. Maslow supported that employee motivation can be increased only if certain needs of the employee are covered; the needs at the lower level of the relevant model should be addressed first (Nelson and Quick 2012). Through a different approach Herzberg noted that employee motivation can be increased only if emphasis is given on certain factors, the motivational factors (Figure 1a, Nelson and Quick 2012). There is also the Processes theories, such as the Expectancy theory which relates employee motivation to the expectation for particular rewards (Jex 2002) and the Goal-Setting theory which is based on the view that employee motivation can be increased by setting goals that meet five criteria: ‘a) are of low/ average difficulty, b) are likely to be accepted, c) are specific, d) can be monitored as of employees’ performance and e) are not too complex’ (Jex 2002, p.228-229) 2.2 How useful are motivation theories for managers Managers can use motivation theories for securing employee satisfaction; satisfied employees are more likely to respond to the needs of their position, a fact that would lead to the increase of business performance (Graham 2008). In addition, by using motivational theories managers have the following benefit: they follow a plan which is already extensively tested, meaning that possibly risks are minimized while managers save time from developing a relevant plan from the beginning (Jex 2002). However, the type of motivational theory chosen in each case should be carefully checked by managers, as of its appropriateness for a specific organization (Nelson & Quick 2012). 3.0 Group dynamics in the workplace 3.1 Process and importance of effective team development In order to develop an effective team, managers need to follow a particular process (Figure 2). In practice, the above process is known as development cycle and is likely to incorporate many stages. For Schermerhorn (2009) these stages are five (Figure 2); however, fewer stages can be employed depending on the needs of each organization (Figure 2a & 2b). 3.2 Benefits of completing the development cycle By ensuring that the development cycle is completed managers can reduce risks, as of the successful completion of tasks allocated to employees (Dyer et al. 2010). In addition, the completion of the development cycle helps managers to check the performance of employees; if an employee performs low in regard to one or more stages of the cycle then appropriate support can be provided by the organization so the chances for similar problems in the future are minimized (Neider and Schriesheim 2005). 3.3 Advantages and disadvantages of teamwork Teamwork has important advantages: a) people are more likely to follow a suggested plan when working as a team, b) through the exchange of views between the members of the team critical mistakes can be avoided, c) team working supports innovation more effectively, d) in the context of a team decisions can be quite fast, e) as a member of team an individual has more chances ‘to feel empowered and motivated’ (Lussier and Achua 2009, p.282). On the other hand, it can be quite difficult for managers to face conflicts developed within teams, especially when these conflicts appear at a high level/ stage of the development process (Parker 2011). Also, it is not always easy to identify the individuals that could cooperate effectively as a team (Parker 2011). Moreover, the progress of work of a team is difficult to be monitored (Parker 2011). 3.4 Can teams make better decisions than individuals? At a first level teams are able to access an extensive number of sources for research, meaning ‘pools of knowledge’ (Albrecht 2010, p.327), compared to an individual so that their potentials to respond to the needs of a task are highly increased. Also, through their interaction the members of a team can decide faster and have more chances to retrieve solutions even to quite difficult problems (Albrecht 2010). Moreover, the effectiveness of team members in taking decisions would be higher if these individuals would be able to participate ‘in the whole decision making process and not just in its final part’ (Nelson and Quick 2012, p.375). 3.5 How technology has influenced the nature of team work. In team working communication is vital. Thus, the use of advanced technology by team members when communicating each other could highly increase the performance of the team (Haftor 2010). Today, the use of social media offers the chance for quite high quality team work by employing communication schemes such as virtual meetings and social networking (Birchmeier et al. 2011). References Albrecht, S., 2010. Handbook of Employee Engagement: Perspectives, Issues, Research and Practice. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing. Birchmeier, Z., Dietz-Uhler, B. and Stasser, G., 2011. Strategic Uses of Social Technology: An Interactive Perspective of Social Psychology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Business Case Studies, 2014. Motivation. Available at http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/egg/motivation-how-egg-unleashes-the-power-of-people/motivational-theory.html#axzz38Hd1FBb9 Dyer, W., Dyer, G. and Dyer, J., 2010. Team Building: Proven Strategies for Improving Team Performance. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons. Graham, J., 2008. Leadership and Change in a Crisis Organization: An Exploratory Analysis of the Relationship Between Leadership Style and Employee Perception. London: ProQuest. Haftor, D., 2010. Information and Communication Technologies, Society and Human Beings: Theory and Framework. London: Idea Group Inc (IGI). Lussier, R. and Achua, C., 2009. Leadership: Theory, Application, & Skill Development. Belmont: Cengage Learning. Mathehu’s Weblog, 2014. A selection of psychological theories of motivation. Available at http://mathehu.wordpress.com/2010/04/15/a-selection-of-psychological-theories-on-motivation-and-behaviour-change/ Mullins, J., 2010. Managements & Organisational Behaviour. Harlow, Essex: Pearson Education. Neider, L. and Schriesheim, C., 2005. Understanding Teams. Charlotte: IAP. Nelson, D. and Quick, J., 2012. Organizational Behavior: Science, The Real World, and You. Belmont: Cengage Learning. Parker, G., 2011. Team Players and Teamwork: New Strategies for Developing Successful Collaboration. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons. Reichwald, R. and Wigand, R., 2008. Information, Organization and Management. New York: Springer Science & Business Media. Schermerhorn, J., 2009. Exploring Management. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons. The Center for Organizational Design, 2012. Senior Team Development. Available at http://www.centerod.com/executive-team-development/ Work Systems Associates Canada, 2009. Team Development – The Executive Team. Available at http://www.worksystemscanada.com/services/team_stuff/CharteringTopMgmt/HowToDevTopMgmtTeam.html Appendix Figure 1 – Maslow Hierarchy of Needs theory (Business Case Studies 2014) Figure 1a – Herzberg – Two Factor theory (Mathehu’s Weblog 2014) Figure 2 – Five stages of Team Development/ phases followed by analysis based on the status of task (Schermerhorn 2009, p.326) Figure 2a – Process of team development (Work Systems Associates Canada, 2009) Figure 2b – The process for creative an effective team (The Center for Organizational Design, 2012) Read More