Military Leadership Style Paper

An Army Leader is able and willing to act decisively, within the intent and purpose of his superior leaders, and in the best interest of the organization. Army leaders recognize that organizations built on mutual trust and confidence, successfully accomplish peacetime and wartime missions.” (2006, P. Viii). Balance molds a leader and in turn, an effective leader is a proactive person who works a whole lot smarter. President George Bush (1997) states, “Leadership to me means duty, honor, and country; It means character and it means listening from time to time.” (Adrain, p. 35).

My leadership philosophy revolves entirely around the Army Values. In every action I take as a leader, I assess whether or not it lines up with the Army Values and the potential impacts. I have had a variety of leadership assignments during my career, all requiring a different leadership approach, spanning from team leader through platoon sergeant. My conflict resolution skills have greatly evolved through my twelve years in the Army, from rudimentary conversations to in depth problem solving. My professional development has had a profound effect on my leadership abilities, from NCOPD’s to mentorship from senior non-commissioned officers (NCO’s).

The participative style is a hybrid between the autocratic and the democratic styles of management. This style will often ask for and listen to the opinions of subordinate employees, but in the end they do not have a say in the final decision (Exploring Different Management Styles).

The four leadership styles within the situational leadership model are: Directing style: Leaders at this stage increases the motivation in each team member. Whenever there comes a point when a team member thinks that they can’t get a job done the leader come through and direct them in the right direction. They are able to point the team member on the right path to accomplish their task.

For our RQ1, several researchers have proved that based on a different culture, environment and diversity, setting one of the several leadership styles positively affected both motivation and satisfaction. It may have been transactional, transformational and even instrumental.

My style of leadership is participative. Participative leaders utilize collaboration and receive feedback from employees to guide decision making. Employees often feel that they have a significant role in the decision making process, which motivates them and can lead to greater job satisfaction. Participatory leaders acknowledge that there is information to be gained by engaging with their employees. This style of leadership is useful in cases when quality is valued higher than simple productivity. There are potential drawbacks to this leadership style, however. Team members may sense indecision on the part of the leader, because this style of leadership tends slow progress in the decision making process, “some team members may be left feeling confused and leaderless.” (“How to find out your style of leadership,” 2011)

Participative Style is where decisions are made with the most feasible amount of participation from those who are affected by the leaders’ decision (Grimsley, Participative Leadership Style: Definition, Theory & Examples, 2015). It requires the leader to ask on the team to share ideas and observations in order to come to a decision. Although the team has input into the decision, the leader ultimately has the task of the final decision. Participative leadership can be divided into three subtypes because it encompasses so many forms of behaviours.

Participative Leadership, also known as participative management involves workplace power sharing across hierarchies to enable and achieve solutions and goal deliverables. In my current capacity I need to rely on this style of leadership

Based on this exercise, what was your most predominant leadership style? Is this consistent with what you would have predicted in advance?

According to Usman, Usman and Sugianto (2016) participative leadership is when leaders tries to include subordinates suggestions but finals decision is decided by the leaders. These two authors states similar ideas about participative leadership which is encouraging participation in the decision process that directly affect subordinates. The goal for participative leadership style is to enhance subordinates quality of their work life. The decision making process works by a leader giving the subordinates information regarding company’s issues. They will then discuss and take majority vote in which the company will take action of. It may be time consuming because leaders will have to listen and take not of everyone’s opinions, but it has several advantages that may make it a right managerial method. Lussier and Achua (cited in Malik 2013) defines that participative leadership style is appropriate when tasks given are complex, subordinates are experienced and confident and they follow instructions to order.

Participative style is where the leader and the subordinates shares their views and opinions in decision making process. This can be seen in Roger Eaton where he provides group of interactive sessions and open conversations. This is to enhance open communication and give employees the opportunity to express concerns and their ideas.

The participative leadership style is also referred to as democratic leadership This style of leadership includes the subordinates in the decision making and problem solving responsibilities. Even though staff participation is encouraged in the decision making process the final decision still rests with the leader and the leader takes full responsibility for the decisions made. This leadership style is most effective where the subordinates are highly skilled and experience.

A participative leader will allow a team to express their ideas and make suggestions, by doing so a participative leader can increase the vision shared by the team. With effective leadership, a team will thrive and succeed, after all, it’s about the success of the team which leads to the success of the organization, by implementing all the right tools and practices the probability of success only increases.

Participative leadership involves efforts by a leader to encourage and facilitate participation by others in making important decisions (Yuki, 2010). Participative leadership is important because the employees are able to see that leadership is also participating in the change with the employees. The feedback from the employees previously is what prompted the change in human resources and it is important for the leader to show employees how this is an important and positive change for all.

Participative leadership style has been found to be the most effective. It involves efforts by a leader to encourage and facilitate participation by his or her subordinates in decision making and solving problems. This increases interpersonal skills, reduces communication gap and resolution of conflicts is witnessed. The leader would thus, guide the interaction and keep it supportive and directed towards the problem