Analysis of Leadership Style - Essay Example

Individual Assignment: Leadership Name Institution Date Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Individual Assignment: Leadership 3 Section II: Self Reflection, Individual 3 Section III 5 Individual Assignment: Leadership Section II: Self Reflection, Individual Leadership entails influencing the behavior of another individual while entirely respecting the freedom of that individual. For me, leadership is less about my needs and more about the needs of the individuals I am leading. My leadership style is participative leadership style where I delegate authority and duties to my followers. I always encourage my followers to participate actively and contribute their ideas and hence I tend to involve everyone in the decision making process. The way I select my followers gives me loyal followers that faithfully follow my rules. I am like a friend to the people I am leading and like a family to them. I am aware of everything regarding my followers and their situation as well and I always respect their situation. These things can provide me with an opportunity to have a long lifetime working together with my followers. I always like participating and being able to agree and disagree with my followers and therefore feel free to give my views and take part in decision making. On the other hand, I also give my followers an opportunity to air their opinions and contribute in decision making. Leaders should be able to delegate. However, this is the area that I need so much improvement. This is because often I have evaded delegating some tasks for the fear that the task might be completed imperfectly. In most cases, I have the attitude that it is simpler for me to complete a particular task for it to be completed appropriately. The reason why I need improvement in delegation area is that as a leader, I am supposed to give other the chance to learn, think and develop initiative as well. Effective delegation will also give me an opportunity to sharpen other leadership aspects, for instance communication and personal investment. Additionally, delegating also implies giving my followers an opportunity of making mistakes, which is a good way of learning. I would work best with democratic leaders since such leaders value opinions of their followers, which is an important aspect in my leadership style. Effective leadership requires close relationship between the leader and the followers, which greatly determines the success of the leader’s objective. Without inspiring, involving and encouraging the follower, the relationship cannot be successful. As a leader, I should put more efforts in reaching out my followers in order to instigate and develop this alliance that is very important in achieving the set objectives. My leadership style would suit best in situations requiring enormous research; for example where an organization is set to launch a new product in the market and the organization needs all organizational members in researching the market condition and customer’s views regarding the new product. In such a situation, the organizational leader will need the ideas from all the members to ensure successful launch of the product. My leadership style, participative would be appropriate in such a situation that requires enormous information and research since this style draws on individuals’ skills and knowledge and develops group dedication to achieving its goals and targets. However, my leadership style would not be effective in situations requiring immediate solution, because the style is based on extensive participation and research and there may not be adequate time for this in urgent situations. Finally, as any other person, leaders can also be learners; this is from my experience. I learn from success, failures and mistakes that I freely admit. Therefore, if I am a leader, this is also applicable in my leading and followers at large. As a leader, I would also work as a follower since a leader uses a portion of their following and another portion leading. Section III As the group leader, my leadership style would still be the same as in section one; participative leadership style. While as a leader I would still be responsible for the results of the group, group members are also responsible for the tasks they have been and hence I would hold them responsible for their decisions. Encouraging the group members to actively participate and contribute their ideas within the group is very important for me as their leader. The communication channel would be two-way, where the communication would flow from me, as their leader to the group members and vice versa. I would hold meetings regularly with the group members and get their feedback as this will support communication flow. My other group members are cooperative and are always willing to work as a team. All group members are set to work on the group’s project and they are completely dedicated to achieving the set objectives. They are always seeking clarification and consulting on issues that are not clear and keen on sharing their opinions and knowledge. In addition, my group members get encouraged and motivated when their opinions and ideas are listened to and taken into consideration. Therefore, my leadership style will successfully guide them because we both have similar leadership traits. A combination of their will and my guidance can lead to great success in our undertakings. I would be an effective leader since my group would achieve its task efficiently without numerous setbacks because each and every group member contributes to the group work and communication is effective since everyone would be allowed to air their views. The reason why I would be an effective leader for the group is that in my leadership style, which is participative, decisions made, will be very effective. This is because of the more wide-ranging research and discussion of alternatives, in addition to the inclusion of numerous opinions from all the group members. In addition, group members who have a participative leader are a lot more productive, effectual, cooperative and resourceful as compared to group members led by leaders using other types of leadership styles. Group motivation will also be very high in my group since I all group members will be recognized and praised for their role and contribution to the group. This leadership style would be effective in a situation where the direction that should be taken is unclear and hence there is a need for the leader to tap communal knowledge of the group. This is because participative leadership style draws on individuals’ skills and knowledge and develops group dedication to achieving its goals and targets. However, this leadership style might not be effective in case there are pressing time restraints on the group work or any other project because it is time consuming due to the extensive discussions and consultations involved in this leadership style. The time taken within the diverse stages of delegation, investigation and evaluation of alternatives in addition to facilitation of group members might be too great to the task/project in case an instant solution is required. Additionally, in circumstance where there is just one option, participative leadership style might not be effective, as group members may spend a lot of time searching for alternatives that are non-existence. In conclusion, regarding my leadership capacity, I consider myself to be an active follower as well as a leader and hence I would be an effective leader in group. The reasons are I have the courage and boldness inherent within the qualities of an effective leader and my need for power is more socialized rather than personalized. Read More