Leadership Style Essay

Hershey and Blanchard’s scale of R1 to R4 where R1 denotes a team that lacks the will and ability to do a task and R4 denotes teams with much ability will two hypotheses will emerge (Nohria, Khurana, & Anand, 2010). The R1 teams will want much supervision and direction to get their tasks done while the R4 teams will need less supervision and attention to make their tasks done. Such kind of behaviors range from individuals who are unmotivated by work and therefore lazy and those who are highly active and therefore, motivated. The two extremes are based on the McGregor’s X and Y theories. It is out of this theories that leadership styles greatly vary.

Autocratic leaders are deemed very strict, authoritarian and never mind consulting with the other workforce as they take all the responsibilities upon themselves. They possess a great deal power and take full control over their subjects. The style is highly applicable in the workplace situations where deadlines and strict budgets are coupled. In such situations, leaders will always want to make quick decisions and therefore prefer team members of type X R1. For the democratic leaders, yes, they make final decisions but the decisions are also depended on the input from team members. The leader thus allows the team to run their own affairs in terms of decision making as long as they meet the deadlines within the stipulated budgets. Since the team members are responsible for their own courses of action, they feel encouraged to come up with creative ideas. In the end, the organization enjoys a highly motivated workforce that enjoys their work and ready to deliver. These

are team members of type Y R4. Laissez-faire type of leadership on the other hand manages a highly skilled and very experienced work force. Slightly similar to the democratic style of leadership, the team members are free to run their own state of affairs while making their own decisions. The only task of the team leader will be to monitor their progress and access regular feedback as they avail resources and technical advice. Other leadership styles such as Bureaucratic will be applicable in the workplace situations where the tasks lack flexibility such those tasks where safety rules and regulations must be adhered to.

#2 Why the Leadership Styles or Behaviors Are Likely To Have A Positive or Negative Effect on Individual and Group Behavior

The aforementioned set of leadership styles and behaviors have their own positive and negative effects depending on the team the leader is using to accomplish a given task. This is because teams will always constitute people with varying attitudes and abilities and so a skillful leader must be in a position to envision and combine all the best attributes associated with different leadership styles. For instance, autocratic style of leadership has positive attributes such as helping ensure a job with a tight schedule and budgeted is done on time within the budget limits. It is also good when the job is repetitive and done on a routine basis such as the production line which requires pressure to make the work done. In terms of decision-making, it is the best as it has limited room for consultation. The workforce in this area would, however, need to be type X R1 members who are highly

disciplined. The negative side of autocratic leadership is that it leaves the team members who have lost motivation, loyalty and morale as they are often not encouraged. In the end, the organization may face the risk of high turnover of their staff. The positive side of Democratic leadership is that it leads to highly motivated team and guarantees job satisfaction that in turn leads to lower rates of absenteeism and hence increased productivity. The workforce in this leadership style would consist of Y and R4 team membership skilled and highly motivated. The downside of democratic leadership style is such that team members may not be able to adapt to a new situation where a quicker decision has to come forth. The leader must also take overhead time considering the members that have come up with the right knowledge and skills in order to make an informed decision. For Laissez-faire leadership style, the workforce will always be productive if it is made up of team members who are highly motivated and skilled in equal measure. The downside is that leaders must be in close supervision of the work as everything may go wrong if the team decides to overlook the leadership source of knowledge. The bureaucratic leadership style may guarantee efficient performance but team members are often easily demotivated along the way.

#3 Main Motivational Factors In a Work Context and How They May Apply To Different Work Situations, Teams And Individuals

Different employees in different organizations may have their own set of factors that motivates them to work better. In most cases, however, the main motivational factors in the context of the workplace are always extrinsic. Such

factors include financial rewards, personal satisfaction, flexibility, recognition in the workplace and impact assessments. Financial factors are the most known motivational factors in the work place. The employees would want a salary that covers their bills such as housing, food, leisure and clothing. The vast majority will be motivated by the prospects of the job to provide for a pay rise or promotions. Personal satisfaction is in the sense that most employees will find it encouraging to do the work they enjoy most. Therefore a leader must be in a position to provide a better working environment where the employees feel encouraged to work more and more. Flexibility as a motivational factor implies practices such as annual leaves as employees would appreciate employers who understand that life outside their work is equally important as the normal work and helps improve the quality of work. Some intrinsic factors such as recognition for their job performance are motivating especially when the leader highlights some of the individual achievements in a group meeting. Making the employees learn that their work matters a lot and has positive impact on the performance of the organization is equally motivating. Employees can be encouraged to always stay at the core customer satisfaction even when they are not in direct contact with their clients.

#4 Importance of a Leader Being Able To Motivate Teams and Individuals and Gain Their Commitment to Objectives

It is always necessary for team leaders to learn how to motivate their team members as it would ensure the team gets committed to their goals and objectives. This also goes a long way to make the work practices of the team members

is satisfactory, enjoyable and achievable. In order to achieve this, the leaders must be in a position to determine everything that can serve to motivate the employees and a team entity so that can gain achievable goals based on the agreed outcomes. Some of the means through which employees can get motivated is through monetary rewards, praises, appreciation and work-life balances or even a full combination of all those aspects. Since most employees are likely to appreciate the interest of their leaders in their living desires, a leader may take a decisive step of systematically analyzing each employee to understand their work-based desires and understand the best way to get them motivated.

A good decisive leader can achieve the employee commitment by employing transparency and honesty in their daily undertakings. Employees are likely to get committed to leaders who are frank and able to deal with issues in an open and straight forward manner. This will help the team understand that their reward will come based on the proportion of their performance. They will also have a clear understanding that reprimanding them will be open and fair. Good leaders portray their leadership skills by leading as an example. Leaders must be in a position to behave in a manner they wish their team to behave as they refrain from all manner of behavior that promotes distraction and procrastination. Good leaders must also set realistic goals in order to gain the motivation from the team. In line with this are performance indicators milestones through which employees van set achievements based the motivation from their leaders.

#5 Importance of the Team Having a Common Sense of Purpose That Supports

the Overall Vision and Strategy of the Organization

There is need for an organization to formulate a shared sense of purpose in order to unite all the employees working there as well as the external stakeholders. An organization with a shared sense of purpose implies that it has a clear identity as well as the services and people benefiting from the success of that organization. In essence, a shared sense of purpose in an organization is crucial due various factors. Some of them include, ensuring that all the employees within that organization are working towards achieving a common goal, it helps ensure employee motivation and engagement so that they can also achieve these goals. It also helps employees to feel encouraged as they commit to the organization. It then enables the employees to collaborate by working to achieve common goals rather than just relying on their own personal techniques at the expense of the overall organization in general. In so doing, the employees feel motivated while sharing in the success of the organization as they aspire to succeed both as individuals and as teams. In the end, the organization will be able to enjoy a workforce that is highly satisfied with their jobs, working conditions and thus highly motivated to stay focused for their entire lifetime in the organization.

References

1. Nohria, N., Khurana, R., & Anand, B. (2010). Handbook of leadership theory and practice: An HBS centennial colloquium on advancing leadership Boston, Mass: Harvard Business Press