Action Learning Helps Produce Good Leaders - Assignment Example

Today's fast-growing world has new and revolutionary demands for leaders. A leader today has to be a charismatic being who does not shy away from doing work himself, but rather enjoys putting valuable effort into the teamwork. Action Learning helps in producing such leaders (Rigg, & Richards, 2006). Paragraph 2: Development of leaders and effective leadership through action learning The practical approach of Action Learning motivates the leaders to indulge in the work themselves to better perceive the situation.

It makes them realize that they cannot win a war by standing on the edge. They will have to step into the arena to understand the demands of particular events and to decide and direct their subordinates accordingly. They will have to observe their actions, analyze their motives and scrutinize their own experiences to find out ways to improve their performances further. Thus, action learning teaches men to use their insight along with their knowledge and intelligence to perform better.

And these very attributes have let Action Learning emerge as one of the most influential and valuable tools that are used worldwide for developing leaders nowadays. Paragraph 3: Traditional leadership styles Now the question arises, which leadership style is to be followed that is most compatible with Action Learning (Gold, Thorpe, & Mumford, 2010)? Let us first analyze the classical Leadership Styles offered by Kurt Lewin in 1939. According to Lewin, “there are three basic leadership styles: Authoritarian, Participative and Delegative”.

The Authoritarian style asks the leaders to be autocratic and solely decide the course of action. Being the lone taskmaster, such a leader shows less creativity and has to take full accountability for the entire group’s prospects. The delegation style asks the leaders to let the workers do as they wish and offer no guidance. On the other hand, the Participative style of leadership supports an environment with close collaboration between the leader and the workers. It is a productive situation where the actions are mutually analyzed and where the decisions are made together.

The leader uses his intelligence and superior knowledge whereas the workers use their experience to find out the solution to every problem. Action learning only conforms to the Participative style of leadership to some extent unless the leader does not back away from the work himself and contributes his share willingly (Marquardt, 2004). Paragraph 4: Emergent leadership styles that are labor friendly Today, numerous leadership styles in use give rather detailed specifications of the duties and responsibilities of the leaders and the subordinates.

One of these is the Situational Leadership Style proposed in 1950 which supports the use of a style alterable according to the situation. The Emergent Style believes in the rise of a leader from the subordinates who can comprehend their problems easily. The Transactional Style emphasizes the strict following of rules and regulations whereas the Transformational Style focuses on the change in four variables: our self, others, groups, and organizations. This style believes in the charisma of the workers and the vision of the leaders to be the road to success.

Strategic leadership supports the notion of creating an atmosphere of competition among subordinates to urge them to work harder. Team Leadership Style is a newly emerging style that lays stress on the importance of teamwork. 'Faceless Boss' is also a newly proposed style that diminishes the need for a prominent leader in a group to make the members feel comfortable in sharing their ideas, opinions, and experiences. There are so many other styles also which possess different names and are to some extent the same in application.

Paragraph 5: Leadership qualities and styles have become vital tools to encourage people’s participation As far as action Learning is concerned, it is the approach that supports such a leadership style in which both the subordinates and leader participate personally. It conforms to the 'faceless boss' team leadership and transformational leadership styles on somewhat equal grounds as these three styles emphasized the active participation of the two important variables of an organization. Large companies have started using this type of learning to solve their serious and complex dilemmas as well as to develop the traits needed for creating successful leaders in every field.