Advantages And Disadvantages Of Task Oriented Leadership

Leadership is a facet of management. It is just one of the many assets a successful manager must possess. The main aim of a manager is to maximize the output of the organization through administrative implementation. To achieve this managers must undertake the four functions of management: planning, organization, leading and controlling. In some cases leadership is just one important component of the leading function. Predpall (1994) said, "Leaders must let vision, strategies, goals, and values be the guide-post for action and behavior rather than attempting to control others". In some circumstances, leadership is not required. For example, self-motivated groups may not require a single leader and may find leaders dominating. The fact that a leader is not always required proves that leadership is just an asset and is not essential.

An authoritative leader addresses the end but generally gives workers freedom to innovate, experiment and take risks. The authoritative style works best for organizations that are off track, it helps in creating a new course and fresh long-term vision. The affiliative style strives to keep employees happy to create harmony among. The style has a positive effect on communication. People who like one another a lot talk lot. They share ideas, inspirations leading to flexibility, innovation and risk taking. This style should only be employed when trying to build team harmony. The democratic style allows leaders to build consensus through participation. By spending time getting people’s ideas, a leader is able to build trust, respect and commitment. This style works best when a leader is uncertain about best direction however, it does not make sense if employees are not competent. Pacesetting is a leadership style that expects excellence and self-direction. The leader is obsessive about doing things better and faster, and expects the same of everyone around

There are four main leadership styles, the first being Autocratic style which the manager retains as much control and decision making authority as possible, the manager does not give employees any input or consultation. The next is Bureaucratic which is where the manager manages ‘by the book’ which is where everything must be completed according to procedure and protocol. Mangers using this style will only consult with those above them in the chain of command. They simple enforce the rules of the workplace. The next style of leadership is Laissez-Faire which is also known as the ‘hands off’ approach to management. The manager usually provides little or no direction and give employees as much freedom as possible. All power is given to employees and they are to dictate their own work ethics. The last leadership style is the Democratic style which is also known as the participative style and this is where employees are encouraged to be a part of the decision making process. The democratic manager keeps their employees informed about everything that affects

Furthermore, there are different theories which give insights about why some leaders lead the way they do. One of these theories is the behavioral theory, it emphasized on what leaders do and their leadership styles. The behavioral theory explains three different types of leadership styles namely: autocratic, democratic, and laissez-faire. An autocratic leader makes plans, gives direction on how to execute them, and makes decisions for the group. These type of leaders are highly power control. They give little or no freedom to the members. Whatever they say is final. On the other hand, democratic leaders allow members to participate in the decision making. They seek opinions of the members. On the other hand, laissez-faire leaders allow members to do whatever they like. This type of leaders does very little planning or decision making thus fail to encourage others to do it (Weiss and Tappen, 2015 p.

Task-oriented leadership is a style where the work and roles are actively defined with structure and then monitored. (Vector Study Group, (2014).

There are a number of theories that can be employed by the leaders in different organization. The first theory is the direct leadership theory; this is a type of leadership where leaders are mainly concerned with the productivity, the outcomes, and efficiency. The leaders use the action-and-outcome approach to get the goal achieved. The leader is less concerned in the aspect of creating a rapport between the employees. This theory can work best organization which is global, since the employees do not directly relate with their leader. The second leadership theory is the supportive

This leadership style is more concerned with maintaining the normal flow and keeping the ship running smoothly (Ingram, 2015). Without the broader context of a shared vision and the higher-level perspective of what an organization is trying to accomplish, people will maintain a narrow focus. Employees will tend to concentrate on the individual transactions at hand such as processing forms and interacting with callers, rather than how those transactions fit into and contribute to higher goals (Tucci, 2008). This style is effective in addressing small operational issues quickly but does not address strategic growth (Ingram,

Leaders have a profound effect on employee performance because they shape workers’ perceptions of the working environment. Consequently, some leadership styles are more effective with meeting particular objectives. Although personal attributes dictate a leader’s natural leadership style, effective leaders recognize the benefits and limitations of each style, understand the impact a style will have on the organization’s environment, and are capable of developing and incorporating a variety of styles to ensure the desired outcome is achieved.

Due to the path-goal theory being such a broad theory, it encompasses four different styles of leadership. The four leadership styles included are directive, supportive, participative, and achievement-oriented leadership. A directive leader under the path-goal theory will focus on their expectations that they have laid out for their employees, they will provide clear direction and believe that they have more power and information that their subordinates. Under a supportive leader, you will notice that they are concerned for their employees and their needs but also stresses the importance of the organizational tasks at hand. An achievement-oriented leader will focus on seeing their employees achieving results in their job. As mentioned in the Stojkovic book, the leader in this scenario “expects that workers will attempt to do their best and that if goals are set high enough and subordinates are properly motivated, they will achieve those goals.” (Stojkovic, Kalinich & Klofas, 2012, p. 203). Last but not least we have participative leaders, this style of leadership emphasizes collaboration between the leaders and subordinates, they feel they have equal power to their employees and will work with them in order to complete a task.

A further aspect of leadership, which can also be believed to have a direct link with communication, is decision-making. Both leadership styles are similar in the way that ideas need to be stored before making a business decision. In an autocratic work place “decisions are made independently with little or no input from the rest of the group” (Riley, 2012 n.p.). However, in a democratic society “employees have greater involvement in decision making” (Riley, 2012 n.p.). Both these types of leadership have their benefits and disadvantages with respect to decision-making. In his research on different types of leadership, Joseph, (n.d.) stated that autocratic leadership style could be effective in a business environment as decisions can be made quickly without consulting with workers. According to Cherry, (n.d.) this type of leadership would be advantageous in situations such as the military where decisions need to be taken quickly. Though quick decision-making can be beneficial, it could be argued that it can lead to a demotivated workforce. Employees’ motivation decreases

So, from the above definitions we may draw a difference between leaders and managers as leaders do have a vision, goal and objective, which he tries to make effective and purposeful. On the contrary, the managers only have to maintain their efficiency on day-to-day basis. In other words administration is the task of managers but innovation is the characteristic of leaders and there is a possibility of a manager becoming a leader by setting high standards and goals for his people. It is not the task of this paper to present a difference between both but it is important to present it only because of its being necessary to clear the concept of a leader. So, a good leader is a person who can look high into the horizons when the people are looking down in the bottom line. This makes other people follow their footsteps as everyone wants to move towards horizon to explore new dimensions of practicality.

Their Emotional Intelligences are leverage, ability to achieve and progressiveness. They usually acquire immediate obedience. They are not likely to accept other members’ opinions, but give directions clearly. Furthermore, they control the organisation severely and want detailed report from their employees. They just want others to follow him/her, but do not like to explain. This kind of leadership focuses on bad results rather than good ones. As this style is the worst effective one, other types of leadership need to be used with this one. It should be used very carefully.

An effective leader influences their employees in a desired manner to achieve goals and objectives. Different leadership styles can affect an organization’s effectiveness and performance. The objective of this paper is to analyze the review of literature on various leadership styles over the past years and how effective and ineffective different leadership styles are in the workplace.

The leaders with task oriented behaviour, generally have a high concern on getting the job done and on time. This type of leaders behaviour may give a specific schedule and clear guideline for the employees to follow, because of that the leaders need some feedback from the employees to always meet the requirements and follow the deadline. Task-oriented leader also the type of leader that mostly follow the progress of every work, and not forget to follow up. That is why this type of leadership behaviours may give an advantage in completion and meet the deadlines (Kokemuller,

There are different forms of leadership that can successfully operate a workplace. However, if the different types of leadership are applied incorrectly it can cause employees to become dissatisfied or have a poor attitude. Dr. Enter