Essay about Understand Leadership Styles

1.1 Describe the factors that will influence the choice of leadership styles or behaviours in workplace situations

AC 1.1 Describe the factors that will influence the choice of leadership styles or behaviours in the work place

* A correct and appropriate description is given of two or more issue that will influence the choice of leadership styles or behaviours in workplace situations although the description may be limited and the links to workplace situations may be more understood than clear (criteria for a pass on this question)

Coaching leaders help employees by identifying their unique strengths and weaknesses. They encourage employees to establish long-term goals. Coaching style is used least often because many leaders don’t have time to teach people and help them grow. Studies have shown that leaders who have mastered four our more especially the authoritative, democratic, affiliative and coaching styles have the best climate and business performance. I believe in order to master the art of leadership we need to comprehensively understand human behavior and have the ability to adapt. Leadership styles can lead to different types of success, as mentioned in the article leadership will never be an exact science. But neither is it a complete mystery. I believe that the business environment is continually changing, all leaders have to respond. Leaders must know when to use the right style at the right time to gain success. Although not all skills are equally effective leaders could use multiple styles at one time to gain success. For example leaders could use the authoritative style to mobilize people towards a vision while at the same time creating bonds and harmony through the affiliative

Situational leadership theory is when a leader adapt’s to the situation and the management styles to the behavioral needs of the individual or group. Trait approach leadership gives more credence to the qualities and traits that people are born with that make them natural born leaders.

A1. Leadership Style Upon conducting research, it is clear that the definition of “leadership” is not agreed upon. It is fluid, based upon many perceptions, situations, and surroundings. According to Robinson (2010), adopting a specific style of leadership is rather futile as it is, “contingent on the personal traits of the leader, the people being led, and the nature of the activity.” Tools are available to help guide potential leaders in determining a preferred style of leadership. For example, utilizing the “Leadership Self-Assessment

1.1 Describe the factors that will influence the choice of leadership styles or behaviours in workplace situations (24 marks)

There are a number of factors that will influence the style of leadership a leader may choose, such as:

Managers perform many functions and play many roles. They are responsible for handling many situations and these situations are usually different from one another.

In situations where roles are vague or time is limited, this leadership style can lead to communication failures and uncompleted projects. Sometimes the group members may not have the necessary expertise to make quality contributions to the decision-making process.

What are the key strengths and weaknesses of the supportive, directive, and participative styles of leadership? Substantiate your response.

Situational leadership, developed by professor Paul Hersey and author and consultant Ken Blanchard. Their approach was based off of a 1967 article by W.J. Reddin called The 3-D Management Style Theory. In his article, Reddin discusses the need to have different styles based on the demands of the leader. A leader needs to be flexible in their approach to meet the needs of the job, their superior and their subordinates (1967). Hersey and Blanchard progressed this theory by introducing the Situational Leadership II model. Their model breaks leadership into four different styles, and how a leader must alter their approach in supporting and directing their subordinates based on a given situation. These styles are directing (S1), coaching (S2), supporting (S3) and delegating (S4). The model also focuses on the development level of the subordinates by categorizing them between low (D1), moderate (D2 and D3) and

The theory is based on determining the orientation of the leader, the elements of the situation and the leader orientation that was found to be most effective as the situation changed.

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.

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of some common leadership styles and evaluate how modern managers can best implement them to deal with the challenges they face in the 21st century.