Leadership and Follow-Ship Styles - Assignment Example

LEADERSHIP AND FOLLOW-SHIP STYLES By Institution: Date of submission: Instructor LEADERSHIP AND FOLLOW-SHIP STYLES Effective leadership requires effective follow-ship because, without followers, there are no leaders. Leaders are in charge of a group or a team and they have to ensure that their teams achieve the objectives that were the basis for the formation of the group. A team can be defined as a group of interdependent individuals with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose and set performance outcomes. During this class, we were placed in several groups and the aim of each team was to come up with a hotel simulation business plan. During this period, I experienced not only different leadership styles but also followership styles. In this paper, I reflect on four leadership styles and four follow-ship styles with the objective of providing an opinion on whether the leadership styles were effective and productive. Laissez Faire In my estimation, the first leadership I experienced in the HOTS business plan team was laissez-faire. Pride, Hughes and Kapoor (2010, p.178) define laissez-faire style of leadership as a situation whereby the leader of a team gives authority to the team members. In our group, we had a team leader who was in charge of the team’s activities. With the laissez-faire leadership, the leader allowed us to work as we pleased with minimal interference. Moreover, the other thing I found interesting about this style of leadership was the commutation style used by the team; the communication was horizontal rather than vertical and each team member had access to the leader (Tarsik, Kassim and Nasharudin, 2014). Moreover, I think that with this style of leadership, work was made easier as each team member could chip in and help in various sections of the business plan. Through this leadership style, as a team we were able to identify the strengths of each team member. For example, I handled inputting data that was used to develop the business plan. Despite the benefits of this leadership style, I find that due to the minimal interruption, there was no specific way of achieving the objectives of the team (Bhatti et al., 2012). Authoritative The other leadership style that is think I experienced during my time with the HOTS team was that of authoritative leadership. Team leaders, in this case, make decisions quickly and encourage the team members to follow them based on their vision (Rothwell, 2009; Daft and Lane, 2008). The primary goal of this leadership style is to mobilize people towards a vision. At the beginning of the work the team was allocated, we appointed a team leader and in the beginning, the leader was authoritative. The leader had a vision for the group and this was to achieve the result of coming up with the business plan in time. I think that this was hard for some team members who valued some other type of leadership. In my estimation, I think this style of leadership is not effective because it changes people’s minds in an unfavorable situation. Moreover, I think that by applying the primary characteristics of the leadership style, results can be achieved in the short-term calling into question what could happen in the long-term. The primary characteristics of this style of leadership are enthusiasm and vision rather than criticism and use of negative tactics (Ahlstrom and Bruton, 2010). Although the leader had a vision, I think that for this vision to be effective, it had to be shared by all team members to achieve results. Transformational Leadership Transformational leadership is a process that changes and transforms people into a group. It is concerned with emotions, values, ethics as well as long-term goals (Northouse 2010, p.171). In my view, I think that these elements existed in our HOTS business plan group. Our team leader assessed all of our needs and worked towards ensuring that the team’s objectives did not compromise the individual motives (Tarsik, Kassim and Nasharudin, 2014). Moreover, I think that the team leader displayed various characteristics of transformational leadership that worked for the group. For example, the team leader communicated the high expectations that were expected of the team and how these expectations were to be met. I think that by the fact that this style of leadership is concerned with improving the performance of followers as well as developing followers was liked by the team members. For instance, there was a time I expressed difficulty in one stage of the business plan and in particular the formulation of objective; it took the intervention of the team leader to explain the basis on which the objectives were developed. Moreover, I think through this leadership style, all team members enhanced their performance and communication (Moynihan, Pandey and Wright, 2011). I think this was an effective leadership style because it encouraged full participation of the team members. The Situational Leadership Theory The other leadership style that I think I experienced during the HOTS business plan team was the situation theory. Situational theory suggests that leaders act in a certain way depending on the environment at hand. A leader’s behavior can be effective in only certain situations and not in others (Fairholm and Fairholm, 2009). In our team, I found that the as followers, we determined how the leader behaved at given times. The leader had to adopt a leadership style based on the current situation. For example, I recall there was a time when some team members had not completed their tasks in the business. In this situation, I think that the leader applied the authoritative leadership style and reminded each member of his or her role in the team. In my estimation, I think that this leadership is not effective because the leader looks to be inconsistent. A leader is supposed to be consisted and adopt a leadership style that not only defines them but also sets them apart from other leaders; this cannot happen in the situational style of leadership as the leader adopts diverse style of leadership. Moreover, due to this inconsistency, the team members’ faith in their leader may decrease and this will in turn affect the general performance of the team (McCleskey, 2014). Courage Follower One of the elements that I can use to describe our team is courage. Riggio, Chaleff and Lipman-Blumen (2008) suggest that when followers hesitate to tell leaders what they believe in, they are self-protective. I think that in teams just like the HOTS business plan teams, most of the followers only see the downside risk of disagreeing with the leader or raising sensitive issues. Nevertheless, I think that this did not happen in our HOTS business plan team as everyone was encouraged to express themselves in all aspects that relate to the business plan. Moreover, I think that the fact that our leader valued courage and honesty contributed to this type of follow-ship. I think that this type of follow-ship is not only effective but also productive. To begin with courageous followers support the leader to do everything possible that will contribute to the leader’s success. Moreover, i thin that due to the courage among members of our team, each member was able to assume responsibility and act for the common purpose of the group regardless of whether there were instructions from the team leader. Furthermore, I think that through this follow-ship style, as followers we were able to challenge the leadership style used by our leader if we had the feeling that this threaten the common purpose of the group (Chaleff, 2009). Effective Follower An effective follower is not only critical but also an independent thinker; the active follower is also an active member of the organization of the group. In my view, effective followers determine how effective a leader is. In the HOTS business plan group I find the elements of effective followership in our group. For instance, most of the team members did not avoid conflict with other members because what the other members were doing was not in the best interest of the group. Moreover, as effective followers we had the courage to initiate change and serve the best interest of the group (Daft, 2013). I think that no leader can be effective in a vacuum; those in charge must buy into the team’s plans and work diligently to achieve the goals of the team. Followers can only become effective if they think that their leader is listening to them and our team played this role effectively by actively listening to our suggestions (Hicks, 2009). Moreover, I think that the other factor that contributed to effective followership among our team members was the fact that we saw each other as irreplaceable. We had in mind that if each member of the team were effective, then the overall goals of the team could be achieved. Conformist Follower As noted earlier, our leader at times displayed authoritative leadership and I think that can be attributed to conformist followership among some members. A conformist follower is one who actively participates in the activities without any application of critical thinking skills. For example, a conformist follower will carry out orders given by the team leader without questions the orders even if they will affect negatively on the group. Although this did not happen many times during our time as a team, I think that some members of the team displayed this style of followership. I think that can be attributed to the fact that some members of the team wanted to avoid conflicts. Daft (2015) suggests that a conformist primary aim in the team is to avoid conflicts with team members as well as the leader. I think that this style of followership is not only detrimental to a team but also threaten the realization of the teams objectives. Regardless of the fact that conformist followers are involved and supportive of the team, their lack of critical thinking skills threatens the group. Moreover, conformist followers tend to go along with the crowd instead of making individual choices that they can later explain (Leonard and Trusty, 2015). Furthermore, this style of followership style can be attributed to the over dependent attitude toward authority. Additionally, this can also arise from the rigid rule that govern the team (Bryman, 2011). Passive Followers The other style of followership that I will analyze is passive followership; I think this was displayed by at least two members of our HOTS business plan team. I think that this can also be partly attributed to the fact that our leader at times used situational leadership style. These type of followers display various characteristic with the primary ones be passive and uncritical. Such followers show neither initiative nor a sense of responsibility. Moreover, their activities in the team are limited to what they are told to do and they can only accomplish things under the supervision of the team leader (Schedlitzki and Edwards, 2014). I think that such a style of followership is not required especially for groups that are meant for academic purposes. Furthermore, I think that this style cannot be effective and productive regardless of the type of team. Such followers tend to be lazy and this affects other members of the team who may resort to reducing their levels of productivity (Choong, 2011). Moreover, the team may end up missing deadlines because of such followers but if they can be criticized, they cannot change. In my estimation, the success of our team can be attributed to the fact that most of the members were effective. To conclude, I think that the laissez-faire style of leadership and the follow-ship styles of courage and effectiveness are the most effective and productive styles of the two concepts. While the laissez-faire style of leadership allows members to work independently without interference from the leader, the courage and effective followers contribute to the overall success of the group by working collaboratively with their leader. Moreover, the laissez-faire style of leadership presents members of a team a chance to be innovative in achieving the goals of the team. Courage and effective followership on the other hand enable members to challenge each other while at the same time not compromising the goals of the team. BIBLIOGRAPHY Ahlstrom, D. and Bruton, G. (2010). International management. Australia: South-Western Cengage Learning. Bhatti, N., Maitlo, G., Shaikh, N., Hashmi, M. and Shaikh, F. (2012). The Impact of Autocratic and Democratic Leadership Style on Job Satisfaction. IBR, 5(2). Bryman, A. (2011). The SAGE handbook of leadership. London: Sage. Chaleff, I. (2009). The Courageous Follower: Standing Up to and for Our Leaders. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler. Choong, G. (2011). Counter-cultural paradigmatic leadership: Ethical Use of Power in Confucian Societies. Eugene, or: Wipf & Stock. Daft, R. (2015). The leadership experience. Australia: Cengage Learning. Daft, R. and Lane, P. (2008). 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