Leadership refers to the ability of an individual to be able to lead others to achieve goals and objectives in the most effective manner possible. A leader posses a number of unique skills such as; being a good listener, being open minded; selflessness; being ethical and being emotionally intelligent. Leaders can be born and leaders can be made with the right kind of training and attitude. There are three different leadership styles which have been analyzed below:
1) Laissez-faire style of leadership: Laissez-faire leadership is a type of leadership style in which leaders are hands-off and allow group members to make the decisions. Researchers have found that this is generally the leadership style that leads to the lowest productivity among group members. The key strategic elements of the laissez-faire style of leadership include: -Delegation from leaders to the followers -Empowerment of the followers -Complete freedom for followers to make decisions -Leaders provide the tools and resources needed -Group members are expected to solve problems on their own
2) Democratic style of leadership - Democratic leadership is a type of leadership style in which members of the group take a more participative role in the decision-making process.This learning style is usually one of the most effective and lead to higher productivity, better contributions from group members, and increased group morale. Key strategic elements of democratic leadership include: -Group members are encouraged to share ideas and opinions, even though the leader retains the final say over decisions. -Members of the group feel more engaged in the process. -Creativity is encouraged and rewarded.
3) Autocratic leadership: Autocratic leadership, also known as authoritarian leadership, is a leadership style characterized by individual control over all decisions and little input from group members. Autocratic leaders typically make choices based on their own ideas and judgments and rarely accept advice from followers. Autocratic leadership involves absolute, authoritarian control over a group. Key strategic elements of autocratic leadership include: -Little or no input from group members -Leaders make the decisions -Group leaders dictate all the work methods and processes -Group members are rarely trusted with decisions or important tasks
Leadership style can be defined broadly as the manner and approach of providing direction, implementing plans, and motivating people. The three different styles of leadership were identified by Kurt Lewin, renowned social scientist, in 1939: Autocratic leadership, Democratic leadership, and Laissez-faire leadership. His results indicated that the democratic style is superior to the other two styles; attributes of each style are out-lined below:
Transformational leadership (democratic): leader welcomes team input and facilitates group discussion and decision making. This leader type shares plans with the group and offers multiple options for group consideration. Encourages members to work freely with each other and leaves division of tasks to the group. This leader is objective in praise and criticism, and joins group activities without over-participating. Strategic element: • Task collaboration • Open minded • Team work • Challenges the worker • Leader be an inspiration
Laissez-faire leadership: leader allows the group complete freedom for decision-making, without participating himself. This leader type provides materials and offers to assist only by request. The laissez-faire leader does not participate in work discussions. This leader does not offer commentary on members' performance unless asked directly, and does not intervene in activities. Strategic element: • Delegation of task • Ineffective communication • No creativeness • Lack of skills • employability is loss
Transactional leadership (autocratic): independent of member's input. This type of leadership dictated as leaving members in the dark about future plans. This leader type is very personal in his praise and criticisms of each member, but does not actively participate with the group, unless demonstrating to the group. This style of leadership is friendly or impersonal, but not openly hostile. Strategic element: • Ineffective communication • unsuccessful planning • unproductive • less contribution Rabiya jagir (darbb22)
In foundation of business leadership unit, there have been various discussions about what makes a good leader. Leadership is a person’s responsibility to increase subordinate’s motivation to achieve personal and organizational goals. It involves defining the direction of a team and communicating it to people, motivating, inspiring and empowering them to contribute to achieving organizational success. (Mind Tools, n.d.). Leadership can be broken down into several distinct categories such as transactional, transformational and laissez-faire leaderships. In the group discussions we were asked to discuss about each of the leadership styles and the strategic elements of the leadership styles by the example of real life leaders. Basically Transactional leadership or autocratic leadership is the traditional management function of leading, and applies to a leader who clarifies employee role and task requirements, initiates structure, provides rewards and displays consideration for employees. This style is used when leaders tell their employees what they want done and how they want it accomplished, without getting the advice of their followers. one of the best example of a transactional leader which my team was presented about Sirimaavo Bandaraike. Although she carried out a common style of leadership also she focused more on short term tasks rather than larger vision goals. The strategic elements of Transactional leadership are contingent positive and negative reinforcement to promote success by dealing out both rewards and punishments. and being open(openness) to the team members to give some control of their rewards by using incentives that leads to greater productivity. according to my point of view ,I would say in some cases Che Guevara was a Transformational leader. Transformational leadership is similar to charismatic leadership, but are distinguished by their special ability to bring about innovation and change in both followers and the organization. They have the ability to lead changes in the organization’s mission, structure and culture, as well as promote innovation in products and technologies. Che Guevara was a visionary man with great communication skills and emotional expressiveness abilities as well as a self disciplined person. Strategic elements of transformational leadership are idealized influence which means acting as role model and display a charismatic personality that influences others to want to become more like a leader. another element can be empowerment which is to empower employees or followers at lower levels in the organization. focusing on the collective vision and how their individual responsibilities impact the big picture. In doing so all team members share in accountability rather than focusing on the individual slice of pie. .Team collaboration also can be an element of this leadership style. This style affects team performance through value congruence and trust. (Burke,2007).
Laissez faire leadership relies heavily on the competence, honesty and enthusiasm of the team to be successful. This is because one of the main characteristics of the method is that the leader has a hands- off approach, providing minimal guidance and supervision. As the leader doesn’t actively guide the team, all the decisions are made by the team members. Resources are made available to the team to achieve goals so there is a lot of trust involved. One of the team presented about Richard Branson as a best example for this leadership style. For example he promotes a hands off approach to management and encourages employees to make their own decisions. The strategic elements that can be discussed under this style are delegate freely and may rely upon the talent and expertise of members of their team to achieve results which means handling the situational theory of leader’s behavioral style with the task readiness of followers . ineffective communication and loss of employability also can be stated.
Peter Drucker famously stated that ‘Management is doing things right; Leadership is doing the right things.’ Great leaders possess dazzling social intelligence, a zest for change, and above all, vision that allows them to set their sights on the ‘things’ that truly merit attention (Leadership management, n.d.). Leadership is a position or function of a leader who is responsible to lead, direct, guide, inspire and motivate the follower’s inorder to achieve the stated goal (Mission & Vision). Characteristics of a Good leader are; Selfless, Servant, Open-minded, Humility, Ethical, Role model, Good listener. From Mahatma Gandhi and Winston Churchill, to Martin Luther King and Steve Jobs, there can be as many ways to lead people. It is important to understand the leadership styles inorder to adopt the style that best fits the situation. The three major leadership styles that are more likely to be encountered in the workplace are; 1. Autocratic leadership (Transactional leadership) The leader makes the decision without consulting the team members, a one way communication takes place in the workplace where the subordinates are not given an opportunity to discuss with the superiors regarding the decisions being made. But the team members are motivated by rewards and punishment. The purpose is to do what the leader tells to do. Autocratic leadership style could be appropriate when making decisions quickly, when there is no need for team input and when team agreement is not necessary for successful outcome. However, this style can be demoralizing as it could lead to high levels of absenteeism, turnover, and moderate productivity due to poor Job satisfaction. The strategic elements of Autocratic leadership are less or no contribution from team members, moderate productivity, poor task and team collaboration.
2. Democratic leadership (Transformational leadership) People adopting democratic style are considered as ‘true leader’, as they possess the best leadership qualities, namely; Being a Good Role model, an Inspiration, Commitment to ideas and creativity, and Concern for individual team members. There is a two way communication taking place, which is making the final decisions with the involvement of both the leader and the team members. The strength of this style is that the team members (subordinate’s) are highly satisfied, which in return increases the productivity. The strategic elements of Democratic leadership are Team collaboration, Task collaboration, Conflict management, Leader being a role model.
3. Laissez-faire leadership Laissez-faire a French phrase meaning ‘leave it be.’ The leader gives the freedom for the team members to get on with their work alone, that is the freedom in how they do their work, how they set deadlines, the allocation of resources. It is a leadership style that could result in high job satisfaction, but it would be an ineffective style when the team is generally made up of the individuals who are inexperienced and new to the workplace. The strategic elements of Laissez-faire leadership are Delegation of task, freedom for the followers to make decisions and lack of collaboration.
Inevitably, learning about leadership is very interesting. This educates us on, who is a successful leader and what are the aspects which are needed in an organization and external situations to be a successful leader. There are few significant aspects which should be built up internally within the individual and furthermore some external instrument which influence to be an effective leader. The strategic plans are very much essential to work in a decent aligned way to reach the potential vision. Through the concept of leadership I understood that the organizational vision and mission are not isolated from the success of leader. As Warren Bennis said “Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality”. Vision is the future desired state and mission is the current actions which are being done to achieve the vision. Hence, the strategic plans has to be build in every stage of process to reach the ultimate goal. Strategic plans should be specific, relevant and supportive to reach the final goal. An effective leader will set the best mission strategic plans to achieve the vision. Hence, leader is the person who sets the direction and ensures whether the direction is followed. It can fit on to an individual, group, organization or society. Therefore leaders hold certain characteristics contrasting from other non-leaders. Characteristics which are relevant for an effective leader is that he or she should be ethical, good listener, humility and role model. There are different types of leaders such as autocratic, democratic and Laissez faire. Autocratic or Transactional leaders are those who give one way orders and never allow the followers or the employees to participate in the decision making process. For instance- Hitler. Democratic or Transformational leaders are those who gives the followers authority to involve in communication process, hence the decision making is done along with them. Basically this is a two way communication method. This type of leaders are very much recognized by the employees because their style will influence the employees to motivate them. For Instance- Mahathama Gandhi. In contrast Laissez faire leaders are the ones who give only guidelines to the followers or the employees to get the work done. The very main aspect a leader must exercise is emotional intelligence. That is the ability to perceive, analysis and control the emotions. Leading is a very human activity, therefore leaders should be able to understand about their own emotions as well as other individuals. It is an essential instrument that all leaders should have. Because not knowing their emotion could cause a vital calamity. Thereby when they have the ability to detect and control their own emotions and of others, they will reach the capstone of their goals. Example- if a manager doesn’t know how to control his or her anger, then the employees may think that he or she is a very transparent person who doesn’t hold anything back, henceforth the employees may take this as an advantage to manipulate the manager. This particular area taught us and practiced us with number of presentation with examples of worlds effective and in effective leaders and their styles and histories on how to adapt ourselves according to the environmental changes and the leadership traits that we should retain to be an effective leader in near future.
Leadership style is the manner and approach of providing direction, implementing plans, and motivating people. As seen by the employees, it includes the total pattern of explicit and implicit action of their leaders. Fortunately, businesspeople and psychologists have developed useful frameworks that describe the main ways that people lead 01. Autocratic In the autocratic style, the leader takes decisions without consulting with others. The decision is made without any form of consultation. An autocratic style works when there is no need for input on the decision, where the decision would not change as a result of input, and where the motivation of people to carry out subsequent actions would not be affected whether they were or were not involved in the decision-making. 02. Democratic In the democratic style, the leader involves the people in the decision-making, although the process for the final decision may vary from the leader having the final say to them facilitating consensus in the group. Democratic decision-making is usually appreciated by the people, especially if they have been used to autocratic decisions with which they disagreed. It can be problematic when there are a wide range of opinions and there is no clear way of reaching an equitable final decision. 03. Laissez-Faire The laissez-faire style is to minimize the leader's involvement in decision-making, and hence allowing people to make their own decisions, although they may still be responsible for the outcome. Laissez-faire works best when people are capable and motivated in making their own decisions, and where there is no requirement for a central coordination, for example in sharing resources across a range of different people and groups. Mayoorabasan Udayakumar (UDMAB13)
A leader is a person who has a vision, a drive and a commitment to achieve that vision, and the skills to make it happen. Leaders see a problem that needs to be fixed or a goal that needs to be achieved. It may be something that no one else sees or simply something that no one else wants to tackle. Whatever it is, it is the focus of the leader's attention and they attack it with a single-minded determination.
A leader is a person who is able to influence others in a good manner, leaders may either be appointed or emerge from within a group, also leaders can influence others to perform beyond the actions dictated by formal authority.
Difference between a leaders and managers are that leaders have people to follow them where as the managers have people to work for them.
In practice a manager can be a leader, but a leader may not necessarily be a manager.
Autocratic leadership: also known as, transactional leadership is a type of leadership style characterized by individual control over all decisions and little input from group members. Autocratic leaders typically make choices based on their own ideas and judgments and rarely accept advice from followers. Autocratic leadership involves absolute, authoritarian control over a group.
Democratic leadership: also known as, transformational leadership is a type of leadership style in which members of the group take a more participative role in the decision-making process. This leadership style is usually one of the most effective and lead to higher productivity, better contributions from group members, and increased group morale.
Laissez-faire leadership: is a type of leadership style in which leaders are hands-off and allow group members to make the decisions. This is generally the leadership style that leads to the lowest productivity among group members.
Leadership can be identified as the leading others to achieve goals and objectives with the self awareness, self direction, vision, ability to motivate and social awareness through an action plan in an effective and efficient way. Leaders can get others to perform at their best who ultimately creates winning organizations. Leadership involves being able to motivate others, Taking responsibility for the direction & actions of a team, taking the initiative, Persevering when things are not working out, taking a positive attitude to frustration/failure, accepting responsibility for mistakes/wrong decisions and being flexible. A good leader will use a variety of styles of leadership according to the situation whereas bad leaders tend to fall in to just one style. Different styles of leadership can be defined as follows. Autocratic leadership style The leader has a lot of power over team members and has the right to reward good performance or punish members if they don’t reach the agreed standard. They tell their team members what they need and how without often asking for advice from team members. There’s a little opportunity to team members to make their suggestions. Autocratic style focus is on short term tasks. Works well on short term and the team is well motivated. Under this style team doesn’t gain from creativity and knowledge of members. Napoleon can be identified as a leader who followed autocratic leadership style in real world. No feedback, one way communication not allowing to communicate in between can be highlighted as main elements under autocratic style. Democratic leadership style The leader makes the final decision but the team to contribute to the decision making process. The leader asks the teams opinions and uses those to make decisions. The team is kept informed and is allowed to discuss changes to decisions. Under this style leader can’t know everything. Team working is essential where quality is more important than the speed of productivity. Members feel in control and motivated to work hard. Increases job satisfaction by involving the team in decisions. Specially helps to develop team member skills. Nelson Mandela can be identified as a leader who used democratic style to achieve his strategy. Allowing followers to communicate in between, feedback and giving instructions and improving creativity can be highlighted as main elements. Laissez – faire leadership style Team members make the decision but leader is still responsible for decisions. Leader listens to the team members’ suggestions. Team is left to make its own decisions which are guided by the leader. Leader participates discussions as a normal team member. Effective if the leaders communicate regularly with the team. This style is used when the leader has the confidence and trust. Increasingly necessary in a world where leader achieve power on the basis of their ideals and values. Mahatma Gandhi is a leader who used this style in achieving his objectives. Empowering to make decisions, feedback, allowing to communicate can be highlighted as main elements under this style. Sanuji Wijesekara WISWD32
Leadership styles could be easily categorized in to two areas which are good and bad. The ultimate goal of a leader is to provide direction, motivation and implementing plans effectively and strategically. The most common styles your likely to experience at a working environment would be ;
1. Laissez faire Leadership 2. Transactional Leadership 3. Transformational Leadership
It’s very important to know these leadership styles separately as it could in one way help a person to identify and gauge others around you from a leadership perspective which could ideally lead to successfully working with managers, peers ,subordinates and followers. On the other hand this could help one to understand their own strengths and weaknesses and to choose a leadership styles that’s would best fit his/her personality. We have all learned the 4 factors of production which are Land, Labor, capital and entrepreneurship. A leader is the one who would link all these together and make all these factors work together. So going back to the 3 initial leadership styles we spoke at the beginning, many leaders’ use a mixture of these styles and the effectiveness and efficiency is based on the situation and environmental factors I suppose.
Laissez faire leadership
The meaning of the phrase Laissez faire is ‘Leave it be’ This can also be known as the ‘hands off’ style where the leader gives very little and all authority and power is given to the employees to make their own decisions, determining organizational goals and expected to resolve problems on their own .This style is effective when the employees are highly skilled, experienced and educated. This leadership style could be highly unproductive as the leader has no idea on what’s going on with the company as well as the employees can feel insecure due to lack of direction which could lead to inefficiency.
Transactional Leadership
This leadership style is one of the most commonly used lucrative leadership styles. It’s operated on the basis of reward and punishment and that’s what’s used to enhance the employee’s performance and motivation. This method could only be useful when dealing with short term assignments rather than larger visions or goals. This style doesn't not allow input from employees and is not a good fit for knowledge based or creative work. A lot attrition in companies is caused due to this leadership style as it fails to meet employees needs and satisfaction.
Transformational Leadership
This is known to be a style of a true leader as the employees are encouraged to participate on the decision making process. Transformational Leaders spend a lot of time communicating and they always tend to play a transparent role amongst colleagues and even socially where anyone could reach out to them with their concerns. Some of the key characteristics of this style would be being a good role model, providing inspiration, coming up with ideas and being creative and showing a genuine concern for team members individually. But just like any other leadership style this method is always not appropriate and works effectively when working with highly skilled and experienced employees.
Leadership is when a leader has the ability to influence his followers in a positive manner in order to achieve goals and tasks. A leader helps his followers in many ways such as establishing a clear vision, sharing that vision with others so that they will follow willingly, providing the information, knowledge and methods to realize that vision and coordinating and balancing the conflicting interests of all members and stakeholders.
A leader steps up in times of crisis, and is able to think and act creatively in difficult situations. Unlike management, leadership cannot be taught, although it may be learned and enhanced through coaching or mentoring. For example Someone with great leadership skills today is Bill Gates who, despite early failures, with continued passion and innovation has driven Microsoft and the software industry to success.
A Leader to be effective there are different leadership styles to be followed and they are Autocratic leadership, Democratic leadership and Laissez-Faire Leadership Styles.
Authoritarian leaders, also known as autocratic leaders, provide clear expectations for what needs to be done, when it should be done, and how it should be done. There is also a clear division between the leader and the followers. Authoritarian leaders make decisions independently with little or no input from the rest of the group.Authoritarian leadership is best applied to situations where there is little time for group decision-making or where the leader is the most knowledgeable member of the group.
Democratic leaders offer guidance to group members, but they also participate in the group and allow input from other group members.Participative leaders encourage group members to participate, but retain the final say over the decision-making process. Group members feel engaged in the process and are more motivated and creative
Delegative leaders offer little or no guidance to group members and leave decision-making up to group members. While this style can be effective in situations where group members are highly qualified in an area of expertise, it often leads to poorly defined roles and a lack of motivation.
Leadership is leading a group if people of an organization to achieve their goals, In order to fulfill this, different leaders follow different Leadership styles. This can be mainly divided into three categories. 1. Laissez faire Leadership In French Laissez Faire means “Let do” as in let the organization work itself. These type of leaders leaves everything to employees and try not to interfere with organization activities. The only advantage of this leadership style is that it builds trust in the workers because they have given full authority and power to make decisions on their own for the better improvement of the organization, This leadership style would be effective in creative jobs where the employees are guided by their own aspirations and intuition, but at the same time this could in a highly ineffective in a fast moving business world due to lack of direction and poor management. 2. Transactional Leadership / Autocratic Leadership Transactional Leaders focus on getting their work done according to the standards of the organization. So in this case leader makes decisions without much regards of his other employees and promotes their performance and motivation through both rewards and punishments. Strategic elements for Transactional Leadership includes, • Chain of command • Less contribution
Transformational Leaders gets all the information from the other subordinates of the organization by making time to meet them, where the leader can study about the specific skills of the certain employee so he/she can direct them to focus on what their really talented on. This would be the most effective leadership style in my opinion because with the proper motivation it will always lead to a better productivity. Strategic elements for Transformational Leadership includes, • Collaboration • Task Collaboration • Intrapreneurship Akitha Kalawitagoda – KAAUD03
Leadership can be defined as leading a group of followers into achieving a common goal effectively and efficiently. Not all Leaders are successful.
There are three categories of leadership styles they are Democratic, Autocratic and Laissez Faire Style.
Democratic leadership can be defined as the redistribution of power and authority between employees and managers to provide employee involvement in decision-making. Ideas move freely among the group and are discussed openly. Followers are encouraged to share ideas and opinions, even though the leader retains the final say over decisions
Autocratic Leadership is where the leader is in charge has total authority and control over decision making. Autocratic leaders typically make choices based on their own ideas and judgments and rarely accept advice from followers. They also provide clear expectations for what needs to be done, when it should be done, and how it should be done.
Laissez Faire leadership is where the leaders are hands-off and allow the followers to make the decisions. Followers are expected to solve the problems on their own and are given the complete freedom for followers to make decisions. The necessary tools and resources are given by the leader
Leadership Style is the manner and approach of providing direction, implementing plans, and motivating people. As seen by the employees, it includes the total pattern of explicit and implicit action of their leaders (Newstrom & Davis, 1993). The three major leadership styles: 1. Autocratic leadership Also known as the Transactional leadership and Authoritarian style. Leaders expect the followers to carry out whatever said by them, In other words the prime purpose of a subordinate is to do what their manager tells them to do. People are motivated by reward and punishment, if successful the subordinates are rewarded but when things go wrong, then the subordinate is considered to be personally at fault, and is punished for their failure. The strategic elements of Autocratic leadership are: - System working best with a clear chain of command - Little or no contribution by subordinates
2. Democratic leadership Also known as transformational leadership and Participative style. Here the leaders engage with the followers, that is active communication takes place between the superior and subordinate where they discuss major issues, the leader considers the followers ideas, and also expects commitment in the workplace. As a whole it could be stated that transformational leaders put passion and energy into everything, they care about their followers and want them to succeed. The strategic element of Democratic leadership are: - Active Communication - Task collaboration - Conflict Management
3. Laissez-faire leadership Also known as Delegative style. Leaders delegate the tasks to the followers and expect them to make their own decision and carry out the work effectively without being dependent on the leader. Hence the follower’s satisfaction increases. Yet the weak point is that using this style would be ineffective when used it to inexperienced and new subordinates. The strategic elements of Laissez-faire are: - Delegate tasks - Improper communication
There are 3 main leadership styles 1.0 Laissez-faire leadership Laissez-faire describes a leader who leaves his or her colleagues mostly alone to get on with their work. It’s an effective style when a team is generally made p of individuals who are very experienced and skilled self-starters, and where the leader monitors what’s being achieved and communicate those achievements back to the team on a regular basis. This leadership style may fail when there are less skilled and less knowledgeable employees. 2.0 Transactional leadership This style of leadership says that when you as a team member, agree to do a job you surrender all authority to the leader. This is part of the “transaction” Your purpose is to do what that leader tells you to do. If you succeed you’ll receive a pre-determined reward. If you fail, the organization has the right to “punish” you and team members if the work doesn’t meet a pre-determined standard. These rewards and punishments will help the organization achieve its goals as employees are mostly motivated to receive the goal and get rewards. 3.0 Transformational Leadership This leader inspires a team constantly with a shared vision of the future. Transformational leaders are highly visible, and spend a lot of time communicating. They don’t necessarily lead from the front, as they tend to delegate responsibility amongst their team. And while their enthusiasm is often infectious and employees are more motivated when working under these leaders.
Strategic leadership refers to a manager’s potential to express a strategic vision for the organization, or a part of the organization, and to motivate and persuade others to acquire that vision.
Leadership is a process by which an executive can direct, guide and influence the behavior and work of others towards accomplishment of specific goals in a given situation. The style of an organization's leadership is reflected in both the nature of that organization and its relationships with the community. There are different types of leadership : laissez-faire leadership, transactional leadership, transformational leadership.
Transactional leadership. An autocratic leader often maintains his authority by force, intimidation, threats, reward and punishment, or position. Although he may or may not have a clear vision, and may or may not be steering the organization in the right direction, he's not concerned with whether anyone else agrees with what he's doing or not. The advantage of this style is that it leads to speedy decision-making and greater productivity under leader’s supervision. Drawbacks of this leadership style are that it leads to greater employee absenteeism and turnover. This leadership style works only when the leader is the best in performing or when the job is monotonous, unskilled and routine in nature or where the project is short-term and risky. Autocratically -led organizations are not particularly supportive of personal relationships, but much more keyed to chain-of-command. For an instance Hitler.
Transformational leadership A democratic leader understands that there is no organization without its people. He looks at his and others' positions in terms of responsibilities rather than status, and often consults in decision-making. While he solicits, values, and takes into account others' opinions, however, he sees the ultimate responsibility for decision-making as his own. Democratic leadership invites the participation of staff members and others, not only in decision-making, but in shaping the organization's vision. It allows everyone to express opinions about how things should be done, and where the organization should go. For an instance Mahathma Gandhi.
Laissez-faire leadership The laissez-faire leader allows team members to define their own roles and make their own decisions. The laissez-faire approach often fails to provide direction to team members resulting in a lack of motivation. The laissez-faire style of leadership is not usually a very effective type of leadership style unless team members are highly motivated and experts in their fields. In such a situation a laissez-faire leader can empower team members to achieve their goals by sharing authority.
The unit edge 3 has given me so much of knowledge about the corporate and not only about the corporate but also had given me the chance to learn about the outer world affairs. and mostly edge 3 was a subject that allowed us to use our tabs and laptops to do so much of research on the given topic. That's, during the first two classes we had our discussion to analysis on great dealers like Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Adolf Hitler, Che Guevara, etc., to critically analysis their strength and weakness and why they were successful leaders or ineffective ones. This bought us to so much of hidden facts which we have not known about these leaders. Basically all our discussion was directed towards one topics which is LEADERSHIP. We were educated on the elements of leadership, styles of leadership and a how a leader help the organisation and his followers achieve the said objectives. These weren't just mere words, research and presentation, but also something that helped us to identify which type of leadership style we will follow and at which circumstances when we move into the corporate worlds. Knowing about the Emotional Intelligence means that it helped me to control my emotions and also understand my co workers employees. this will help me in future at work to know the employees emotions and motivate them and boost their self confidence and get the work maximum input from them. Presenting in front of the class gave us chances to improve our communication skill and also the discussion point of whether our audience will accept our fact or not gave us the ability to put our point forward of argument. Apart from education, edge 3 is every active and the two way rapport where you get to work with difference people, so that isolation among students of the same class maybe not be there. and more of as team work rather than a solo effort. I'm surer edge 3 will give us more knowledge and experience about the corporate world and turns into a more confident and better individual for the work place GAPUD32
I believe Leadership is an individual’s ability to lead his or her followers to achieve their goals and objectives in the most suitable yet effective manner, when concerned with an organization leadership is the ability to lead an organization in the most effective way by achieving the mission objectives of the organization which leads to the achievement of the overall vision. To be an effective leader one must possess the following stated unique qualities or skills: Being open minded, being ethical, being a good listener, being emotionally adapted and being open minded.
The question whether leaders are ‘born or made’, I believe in both, as leaders can be made with proper training and attitude and also people can be born with the above stated qualities. Throughout the human era three very important leadership styles have been born, they are: Autocratic Leadership (Transactional Leadership), Democratic Leadership (Transformational Leadership) & Laissez-faire Leadership.
Laissez-faire Leadership style: This type of leadership style is where the leader does not provide any leadership qualities but promotes other group members to make their own decisions and fend for themselves. This leadership style is said to be the least effective amongst other leadership styles as it is proven to give out poor productivity amongst members under this leadership style. Some key characteristics of this leadership style include:
*Motivation and Empowerment of followers *Freedom of decision making for followers *Leaders are said to provide necessary resources and tools for its followers
Democratic Leadership style: It is said that whoever uses this leadership style is a ‘true leader’. As this leadership style is where followers are constantly inspired and the true vision for the future is always shared. The followers can take a more participative role in decision making. This leadership style is more often used in the modern era and is the most effective leadership style out of the three leadership styes. Recent study has proved that this leadership style has led to higher productivity, high motivation from followers and boosted team moral. Some key characteristics of this leadership style include:
*Followers of this leadership style feel more focused and more engaged leading to higher productivity as a whole. *unique and innovative ideas are encouraged by the followers in the decision making process *Communication amongst members is very effective and efficient.
Autocratic Leadership style: this s a leadership style known to be based on a simple principle: followers are aggravated by reward or punishment. It is a leadership style characterized by the leaders complete control over all decision making and control and little or no input is taken from the followers. Leaders who use this leadership style often makes decisions based on their own judgments and ideas. This type of leadership is known to speed up decision making process however also leads to de-motivation of employees. Key characteristics of autocratic leadership are:
*whenever quick decisions are needed to be made this leadership style helps *Leaders make all decisions no matter the consequences to the followers *Work ethics and methods are dictated by the leaders
Whilst the above comments provide a comprehensive explanation on Leadership and Leadership styles, which we all learned about during our last segment. I would like to briefly explain my opinion on Leadership and the different styles of leadership that needs to be understood by all individuals interested in pursuing their career in the corporate world or otherwise as a Leader. The importance of knowing the different leadership styles will benefit you in terms of working successfully in the corporate world in spite of what kind of boss you work with. Understanding their particular style of leadership and adapting to it will be the key to success and building a good relationship with your leaders. Also, if your goal is to pursue your career as a leader someday, it will support you in adopting and using the leadership style that best fits your personality and more importantly the style that suits the circumstances of your job. Understanding the various leadership styles and using the correct approach will be beneficial in terms of less stress, increased income potential, promotional opportunities as well as greater job satisfaction. Although many leaders use a mixture of styles, wise leaders adapt their styles according to the various circumstances, the company and their employees. Through group work, presentations and analyzing various cases we were able to learn about three different styles of leadership, which are briefly explained below. 1) Laissez – faire is a French phrase meaning “Leave It Be.” This type of leadership describes a leader who leaves his followers mostly alone to get with their own work. It is quite effective in terms of having a team that consists of very experienced and skilled individuals however on the other hand it could be quite catastrophic if the members of the team are unskilled and inexperienced, in this case a clear direction needs to be given. In my opinion an example of a leader that used this approach would be Abraham Lincoln, known as a servant leader who never let his ego get in the way of his primary ambition for the larger cause of the nation. Instead of dictating rules and exercising his power, he felt that harmony and unity within his group was of utmost importance and that persuading people and helping them understand his vision was a better way to lead and gain support. 2) Transactional Leadership (Autocratic), in a nutshell people are motivated by reward and punishment. The system is known to work best with a clear chain of command. Basically if you do as the leader says and you succeed to give him a good impression through a job well done, you will be rewarded and if you fail, you will be punished. An example of such a Leader would be Adolf Hitler, as we discussed in the last segment in class through presentations. He was a highly powerful individual who had a strong characteristic of being persistent. People recognized him as being very stubborn and he would not trust anybody but himself. Within Nazi Germany there was a clear hierarchy where individuals were well aware of what their responsibility was, this was something that was strictly enforced by Hitler. Hitler held the final say on any decision regardless of whether specialist knowledge was required which highlights the fact that he was a true autocrat. Transformational Leadership (Democratic), known as a True Leader that inspires a team constantly with a shared vision of the future. The leader spends a lot of time communicating and delegating responsibility amongst the team. A good example of a leader for this leadership style would be Nelson Mandela, he was one of the few leaders capable of inspiring confidence both inside and outside the country. As South Africa's first democratically elected President in 1994, Mandela tackled the challenge of uniting both the country's racial groupings and he use a quite democratic approach in doing so.
Leadership is defined as the ability of an individual who is able to lead his/her followers towards achieving the goals and objectives set out in the most effective manner. Leaders are driven by a vision. A leader should have characteristics such as, being ethical, being a good listener, being an open minded individual, being selflessness, being a role model to others. There are three main leadership styles that exist in the current world.
Laissez-faire Leadership
Laissez-faire is a french phrase which means "let it be". This leadership style if defined by its translation. Leaders who follow this leadership style, gives his/her followers the responsibility to do whatever is necessary to achieve the objective. In this leadership style, the leader trusts his/her followers to do what is necessary and gets involved only at the last minute. Leaders such as this are very hard to find at the work place as they feel they do not need to be there the whole time. The followers feel motivated as they know the leader has trusted them with a certain project. This could improve the productivity of the followers as they are motivated.
Transactional Leadership
This leadership style is also known as "Autocratic Leadership". The three main characteristics of this leadership style would be, message flow,reward and punishment. The message flow in this leadership style is two way. Leaders who follow this leadership style would reward their followers for hard work, goal achievement etc. and punish their followers for dishonesty, laziness etc. Followers could be motivated as they would be rewarded for hard work and they would also make sure to maintain their productivity as low productivity could mean punishment in various forms and the worst being, asked to leave the organisation.
Transformational Leadership
This leadership style is also known as "Democratic Leadership". This leadership style's message flow is one way. The leader expects its followers to be up to the expected standard. Such leaders would be highly inspirational and motivating for its followers. Such leaders would also have to lead by example as his/her followers would look up to him/her as a role model. Communication needs to be clear as well. When taking leaders as examples for each leadership style:
Laissez-faire Leadership: Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, Sir Richard Branson, Steve Jobs
Transactional Leadership: Adolf Hitler, Che Guevara
In conclusion, most past and present successful leaders follow the Laissez-faire leadership style. I believe and agree when this was said in class, this leadership style is the style of the future.
In a dynamic and competitive world it is important to distinguish ourselves as leaders. Employees and subordinates prefer to work and collaborate with a leader. At our Foundation of business leadership lecture, we were taught of the differences between a leader and a manager. while in my opinion all leaders can be managers, not all managers can be leaders. Hence traits that sets a leader apart are – The manager administers; the leader innovates. The manager maintains; the leader develops.The manager relies on control; the leader inspires trust.The manager imitates; the leader originates.The manager accepts the status quo; the leader challenges it.The manager does things right; the leader does the right thing.
Leadership is the way a leader convinces his followers through his charisma, good listening skills, ethical behavior, ability to solve problems to achieve a common goal. he has a mission and later develops his vision which he hopes to achieve through leadership strategies.
We were inspired by great leaders such as Gandhi, Che Guevara, Martin Luther king, Hitler and Mandela. We then split into groups, took each leader and were told to discuss whether or not he was a good leader, what characteristics he had and finally if he was successful in achieving his vision.
When we came into the second lecture, we refreshed our memories with that we learnt in the previous week and were once again split into groups to learn about the different leadership styles. namely' Autocratic, democratic and laissez faire.
Autocratic/Trasactional leadership-
This type of leadership is best to be portrayed when followers don’t have the high expertise and skills set. It is when the leader expects his followers to carry out tasks with minimum questions asked and leaders use rewards and punishments as motivation. Strategic elements of this leadership work best when there is a clear chain of command and subordinates have little or no contribution. Best examples include Adolf Hitler and Steve Jobs. There was one incident that portrayed Steve jobs as a transactional leader when he rewarded one of his engineers when he manufactured a part of the iphone with a large bonus and fired the engineer when there was a slight glitch that caused AM/PM in the alarm clock to only show AM. Democratic/Trasformational leadership- This leadership style operates under Abraham Lincoln’s saying “for the people, by the people, of the people” the leader is constantly engaging with followers to brain storm and come up with ideas. There is a participatory approach where followers and subordinates achieve a higher level of involvement in the job and therefore job satisfaction, there is immense commitment, flow of positive energy and active communication. The strategic elements of Democratic leadership include task collaboration, conflict management and intrapreneurship Examples of leaders include Nelson Mandela, presidents John F. Kennedy and Abraham Lincoln.
Laissez-faire/Delegative leadership-
This is a type of leadership style in which leaders are hands-off and allow group members to make the decisions. Researchers have found that this is generally the leadership style that leads to the highest productivity among group members and is at its optimal when subordinates/ followers have a high skills set and expertise. Virgin Holdings Richard Branson follows this style. We were once again told to get into group and analyse one leader and to present what type of leadership he follows.
therefore, contrary to the popular saying "leaders are born and not made", i believe that most leadership traits can be inculcated.
We looked into three predominant leadership styles and how various historic figures practiced them and how effective they were. Furthermore, we analyzed each leadership style with their benefits and disadvantages as well as the best scenarios of when they do work.
Laissez Farie- In this style, subordinates and the directly lover level employees have a great deal of autonomy and authority. This style can also lead to organizational ineffectiveness, lack of control, over processes, and weak. Desired outcomes may not be successful as there is no systematic approach to problem solving. Individual’s goals and agendas can overlap due to ineffective communication. However, under the right circumstances, such as when a workforce is highly educated, skilled, and experienced, and when the goals of the organization are clear to everyone, the approach can enhance creativity, independent thinking, and personal responsibility. Laissez-Faire may be the style of choice is the workforce is considerably more technically knowledgeable than the leader is as every employees covers their areas of expertise. Example- Richard Branson
Transactional- These leaders motivate through the use of deserved rewards or negative consequences. The Transactional leader’s main focus is on setting goals and clarifying the relationship between performance and rewards. The leader tells his subordinates what they are to do to receive rewards. Constructive feedback is offered in terms of progress toward or away from rewards. The Transactional leader can punish subordinates for performance that does not meet standards. Often a clear chain of command is necessary to achieve results and that the concentration of authority and power are at the top of the chain. Subordinates may have little opportunity to practice their creativity or influence decision making. When the Transactional leader allocates work to subordinates, they are considered to be fully responsible for it. Example- Adolf Hitler
Transformational- These leaders assume that subordinates will follow a person who inspires them and that to inspire, the leader must be a person with vision and passion to establish the organization’s targets. They achieve this through being highly corporative, in constant communication, and by infusing their actions and communications with enthusiasm and energy. Relationships are built between authorities and subordinates who help with working relationships and having a personal connection. Example – Mahatma Gandhi
In conclusion, I strongly stand by the fact that Democracy is indeed the way forward as everyone has a say in what they deserve and thus am a strong believer in Transformational Leadership. Over use of power and authority is just as bad us under using it. Laissez-faire leadership may give the employees a chance to shine and performs the of delegation, however the lack of control and focus may lead to the organization losing track of their ultimate targets and goals. Transactional leadership on the other hand is straight to the point and keep employees in path but may lead to lack of creativity, interest and motivation. Thus it is only evident that Transformational Leadership is the recommended as it caters to the best of both worlds.
Leadership could be defined as as a leader steps up in times of crisis, and is able to think and act creatively in difficult situations. Unlike management, leadership cannot be taught, although it may be learned and enhanced through coaching or mentoring. Leadership is a vital role in any organization. It involves defining the direction of a team and communicating it to people, motivating, inspiring and empowering them to contribute to achieving organizational success. Leadership requires being strategically focused and applying behavioral techniques to build commitment and attain the best work from your people. A leader should pose some elements such as; a role model, a good listener, servant,
Autocratic leadership These kind of leaders make decisions without consulting their team members, even if their input would be useful. This can be appropriate when you need to make decisions quickly, when there's no need for team input, and when team agreement isn't necessary for a successful outcome. However, this style can be demoralizing, and it can lead to high levels of absenteeism and staff turnover.
Democratic leadership These kind of leaders make the final decisions, but they include team members in the decision-making process. They encourage creativity, and people are often highly engaged in projects and decisions. As a result, team members tend to have high job satisfaction and high productivity. This is not always an effective style to use, though, when you need to make a quick decision.
Laissez faire leadership These kind of leaders give their team members a lot of freedom in how they do their work, and how they set their deadlines. They provide support with resources and advice if needed, but otherwise they don't get involved. This autonomy can lead to high job satisfaction, but it can be damaging if team members don't manage their time well, or if they don't have the knowledge, skills, or self motivation to do their work effectively. Laissez-faire leadership can also occur when managers don't have control over their work and their people.
Organizing everybody under the same method of leadership would be near enough impossible. Leadership and management in the workplace are just as important as political leadership. A lot of power and influence lies within private organizations as well as within governments. Also with power and influence comes the need for responsible leadership, and this is academics and business professionals have devoted the best part of a century in order to produce the next generation of leaders. KAHUD32
Leadership refers to the ability of an individual to be able to lead others to achieve goals and objectives in the most effective manner possible. A leader posses a number of unique skills such as; being a good listener, being open minded; selflessness; being ethical and being emotionally intelligent. Leaders can be born and leaders can be made with the right kind of training and attitude. There are three different leadership styles which have been analyzed below:
ReplyDelete1) Laissez-faire style of leadership: Laissez-faire leadership is a type of leadership style in which leaders are hands-off and allow group members to make the decisions. Researchers have found that this is generally the leadership style that leads to the lowest productivity among group members. The key strategic elements of the laissez-faire style of leadership include:
-Delegation from leaders to the followers
-Empowerment of the followers
-Complete freedom for followers to make decisions
-Leaders provide the tools and resources needed
-Group members are expected to solve problems on their own
2) Democratic style of leadership - Democratic leadership is a type of leadership style in which members of the group take a more participative role in the decision-making process.This learning style is usually one of the most effective and lead to higher productivity, better contributions from group members, and increased group morale. Key strategic elements of democratic leadership include:
-Group members are encouraged to share ideas and opinions, even though the leader retains the final say over decisions.
-Members of the group feel more engaged in the process.
-Creativity is encouraged and rewarded.
3) Autocratic leadership: Autocratic leadership, also known as authoritarian leadership, is a leadership style characterized by individual control over all decisions and little input from group members. Autocratic leaders typically make choices based on their own ideas and judgments and rarely accept advice from followers. Autocratic leadership involves absolute, authoritarian control over a group. Key strategic elements of autocratic leadership include:
-Little or no input from group members
-Leaders make the decisions
-Group leaders dictate all the work methods and processes
-Group members are rarely trusted with decisions or important tasks
Sonal Jayawickrama
JASOD133
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteLeadership style can be defined broadly as the manner and approach of providing direction, implementing plans, and motivating people. The three different styles of leadership were identified by Kurt Lewin, renowned social scientist, in 1939: Autocratic leadership, Democratic leadership, and Laissez-faire leadership. His results indicated that the democratic style is superior to the other two styles; attributes of each style are out-lined below:
ReplyDeleteTransformational leadership (democratic): leader welcomes team input and facilitates group discussion and decision making. This leader type shares plans with the group and offers multiple options for group consideration. Encourages members to work freely with each other and leaves division of tasks to the group. This leader is objective in praise and criticism, and joins group activities without over-participating.
Strategic element:
• Task collaboration
• Open minded
• Team work
• Challenges the worker
• Leader be an inspiration
Laissez-faire leadership: leader allows the group complete freedom for decision-making, without participating himself. This leader type provides materials and offers to assist only by request. The laissez-faire leader does not participate in work discussions. This leader does not offer commentary on members' performance unless asked directly, and does not intervene in activities.
Strategic element:
• Delegation of task
• Ineffective communication
• No creativeness
• Lack of skills
• employability is loss
Transactional leadership (autocratic): independent of member's input. This type of leadership dictated as leaving members in the dark about future plans. This leader type is very personal in his praise and criticisms of each member, but does not actively participate with the group, unless demonstrating to the group. This style of leadership is friendly or impersonal, but not openly hostile.
Strategic element:
• Ineffective communication
• unsuccessful planning
• unproductive
• less contribution
Rabiya jagir (darbb22)
In foundation of business leadership unit, there have been various discussions about what makes a good leader. Leadership is a person’s responsibility to increase subordinate’s motivation to achieve personal and organizational goals. It involves defining the direction of a team and communicating it to people, motivating, inspiring and empowering them to contribute to achieving organizational success. (Mind Tools, n.d.).
ReplyDeleteLeadership can be broken down into several distinct categories such as transactional, transformational and laissez-faire leaderships. In the group discussions we were asked to discuss about each of the leadership styles and the strategic elements of the leadership styles by the example of real life leaders.
Basically Transactional leadership or autocratic leadership is the traditional management function of leading, and applies to a leader who clarifies employee role and task requirements, initiates structure, provides rewards and displays consideration for employees. This style is used when leaders tell their employees what they want done and how they want it accomplished, without getting the advice of their followers. one of the best example of a transactional leader which my team was presented about Sirimaavo Bandaraike. Although she carried out a common style of leadership also she focused more on short term tasks rather than larger vision goals. The strategic elements of Transactional leadership are contingent positive and negative reinforcement to promote success by dealing out both rewards and punishments. and being open(openness) to the team members to give some control of their rewards by using incentives that leads to greater productivity.
according to my point of view ,I would say in some cases Che Guevara was a Transformational leader. Transformational leadership is similar to charismatic leadership, but are distinguished by their special ability to bring about innovation and change in both followers and the organization. They have the ability to lead changes in the organization’s mission, structure and culture, as well as promote innovation in products and technologies. Che Guevara was a visionary man with great communication skills and emotional expressiveness abilities as well as a self disciplined person. Strategic elements of transformational leadership are idealized influence which means acting as role model and display a charismatic personality that influences others to want to become more like a leader. another element can be empowerment which is to empower employees or followers at lower levels in the organization. focusing on the collective vision and how their individual responsibilities impact the big picture. In doing so all team members share in accountability rather than focusing on the individual slice of pie. .Team collaboration also can be an element of this leadership style. This style affects team performance through value congruence and trust. (Burke,2007).
Laissez faire leadership relies heavily on the competence, honesty and enthusiasm of the team to be successful. This is because one of the main characteristics of the method is that the leader has a hands- off approach, providing minimal guidance and supervision. As the leader doesn’t actively guide the team, all the decisions are made by the team members. Resources are made available to the team to achieve goals so there is a lot of trust involved. One of the team presented about Richard Branson as a best example for this leadership style. For example he promotes a hands off approach to management and encourages employees to make their own decisions. The strategic elements that can be discussed under this style are delegate freely and may rely upon the talent and expertise of members of their team to achieve results which means handling the situational theory of leader’s behavioral style with the task readiness of followers . ineffective communication and loss of employability also can be stated.
Krishanthini Renganathan –REKRB22
Peter Drucker famously stated that ‘Management is doing things right; Leadership is doing the right things.’ Great leaders possess dazzling social intelligence, a zest for change, and above all, vision that allows them to set their sights on the ‘things’ that truly merit attention (Leadership management, n.d.). Leadership is a position or function of a leader who is responsible to lead, direct, guide, inspire and motivate the follower’s inorder to achieve the stated goal (Mission & Vision). Characteristics of a Good leader are; Selfless, Servant, Open-minded, Humility, Ethical, Role model, Good listener.
ReplyDeleteFrom Mahatma Gandhi and Winston Churchill, to Martin Luther King and Steve Jobs, there can be as many ways to lead people. It is important to understand the leadership styles inorder to adopt the style that best fits the situation. The three major leadership styles that are more likely to be encountered in the workplace are;
1. Autocratic leadership (Transactional leadership)
The leader makes the decision without consulting the team members, a one way communication takes place in the workplace where the subordinates are not given an opportunity to discuss with the superiors regarding the decisions being made. But the team members are motivated by rewards and punishment. The purpose is to do what the leader tells to do. Autocratic leadership style could be appropriate when making decisions quickly, when there is no need for team input and when team agreement is not necessary for successful outcome. However, this style can be demoralizing as it could lead to high levels of absenteeism, turnover, and moderate productivity due to poor Job satisfaction. The strategic elements of Autocratic leadership are less or no contribution from team members, moderate productivity, poor task and team collaboration.
2. Democratic leadership (Transformational leadership)
People adopting democratic style are considered as ‘true leader’, as they possess the best leadership qualities, namely; Being a Good Role model, an Inspiration, Commitment to ideas and creativity, and Concern for individual team members. There is a two way communication taking place, which is making the final decisions with the involvement of both the leader and the team members. The strength of this style is that the team members (subordinate’s) are highly satisfied, which in return increases the productivity. The strategic elements of Democratic leadership are Team collaboration, Task collaboration, Conflict management, Leader being a role model.
3. Laissez-faire leadership
Laissez-faire a French phrase meaning ‘leave it be.’ The leader gives the freedom for the team members to get on with their work alone, that is the freedom in how they do their work, how they set deadlines, the allocation of resources. It is a leadership style that could result in high job satisfaction, but it would be an ineffective style when the team is generally made up of the individuals who are inexperienced and new to the workplace. The strategic elements of Laissez-faire leadership are Delegation of task, freedom for the followers to make decisions and lack of collaboration.
Shalini Mohanasundaram (MOSHB22)
Inevitably, learning about leadership is very interesting. This educates us on, who is a successful leader and what are the aspects which are needed in an organization and external situations to be a successful leader. There are few significant aspects which should be built up internally within the individual and furthermore some external instrument which influence to be an effective leader. The strategic plans are very much essential to work in a decent aligned way to reach the potential vision. Through the concept of leadership I understood that the organizational vision and mission are not isolated from the success of leader. As Warren Bennis said “Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality”. Vision is the future desired state and mission is the current actions which are being done to achieve the vision. Hence, the strategic plans has to be build in every stage of process to reach the ultimate goal. Strategic plans should be specific, relevant and supportive to reach the final goal. An effective leader will set the best mission strategic plans to achieve the vision. Hence, leader is the person who sets the direction and ensures whether the direction is followed. It can fit on to an individual, group, organization or society. Therefore leaders hold certain characteristics contrasting from other non-leaders. Characteristics which are relevant for an effective leader is that he or she should be ethical, good listener, humility and role model. There are different types of leaders such as autocratic, democratic and Laissez faire. Autocratic or Transactional leaders are those who give one way orders and never allow the followers or the employees to participate in the decision making process. For instance- Hitler. Democratic or Transformational leaders are those who gives the followers authority to involve in communication process, hence the decision making is done along with them. Basically this is a two way communication method. This type of leaders are very much recognized by the employees because their style will influence the employees to motivate them. For Instance- Mahathama Gandhi. In contrast Laissez faire leaders are the ones who give only guidelines to the followers or the employees to get the work done.
ReplyDeleteThe very main aspect a leader must exercise is emotional intelligence. That is the ability to perceive, analysis and control the emotions. Leading is a very human activity, therefore leaders should be able to understand about their own emotions as well as other individuals. It is an essential instrument that all leaders should have. Because not knowing their emotion could cause a vital calamity. Thereby when they have the ability to detect and control their own emotions and of others, they will reach the capstone of their goals. Example- if a manager doesn’t know how to control his or her anger, then the employees may think that he or she is a very transparent person who doesn’t hold anything back, henceforth the employees may take this as an advantage to manipulate the manager.
This particular area taught us and practiced us with number of presentation with examples of worlds effective and in effective leaders and their styles and histories on how to adapt ourselves according to the environmental changes and the leadership traits that we should retain to be an effective leader in near future.
Rebecca Ram ( RARJD22)
Leadership style is the manner and approach of providing direction, implementing plans, and motivating people. As seen by the employees, it includes the total pattern of explicit and implicit action of their leaders. Fortunately, businesspeople and psychologists have developed useful frameworks that describe the main ways that people lead
ReplyDelete01. Autocratic
In the autocratic style, the leader takes decisions without consulting with others. The decision is made without any form of consultation. An autocratic style works when there is no need for input on the decision, where the decision would not change as a result of input, and where the motivation of people to carry out subsequent actions would not be affected whether they were or were not involved in the decision-making.
02. Democratic
In the democratic style, the leader involves the people in the decision-making, although the process for the final decision may vary from the leader having the final say to them facilitating consensus in the group. Democratic decision-making is usually appreciated by the people, especially if they have been used to autocratic decisions with which they disagreed. It can be problematic when there are a wide range of opinions and there is no clear way of reaching an equitable final decision.
03. Laissez-Faire
The laissez-faire style is to minimize the leader's involvement in decision-making, and hence allowing people to make their own decisions, although they may still be responsible for the outcome. Laissez-faire works best when people are capable and motivated in making their own decisions, and where there is no requirement for a central coordination, for example in sharing resources across a range of different people and groups.
Mayoorabasan Udayakumar (UDMAB13)
A leader is a person who has a vision, a drive and a commitment to achieve that vision, and the skills to make it happen. Leaders see a problem that needs to be fixed or a goal that needs to be achieved. It may be something that no one else sees or simply something that no one else wants to tackle. Whatever it is, it is the focus of the leader's attention and they attack it with a single-minded determination.
ReplyDeleteA leader is a person who is able to influence others in a good manner, leaders may either be appointed or emerge from within a group, also leaders can influence others to perform beyond the actions dictated by formal authority.
Difference between a leaders and managers are that leaders have people to follow them where as the managers have people to work for them.
In practice a manager can be a leader, but a leader may not necessarily be a manager.
Autocratic leadership: also known as, transactional leadership is a type of leadership style characterized by individual control over all decisions and little input from group members. Autocratic leaders typically make choices based on their own ideas and judgments and rarely accept advice from followers. Autocratic leadership involves absolute, authoritarian control over a group.
Democratic leadership: also known as, transformational leadership is a type of leadership style in which members of the group take a more participative role in the decision-making process. This leadership style is usually one of the most effective and lead to higher productivity, better contributions from group members, and increased group morale.
Laissez-faire leadership: is a type of leadership style in which leaders are hands-off and allow group members to make the decisions. This is generally the leadership style that leads to the lowest productivity among group members.
Deshitha Abeypitiya
heddb12
Leadership can be identified as the leading others to achieve goals and objectives with the self awareness, self direction, vision, ability to motivate and social awareness through an action plan in an effective and efficient way. Leaders can get others to perform at their best who ultimately creates winning organizations. Leadership involves being able to motivate others, Taking responsibility for the direction & actions of a team, taking the initiative, Persevering when things are not working out, taking a positive attitude to frustration/failure, accepting responsibility for mistakes/wrong decisions and being flexible. A good leader will use a variety of styles of leadership according to the situation whereas bad leaders tend to fall in to just one style. Different styles of leadership can be defined as follows.
ReplyDeleteAutocratic leadership style
The leader has a lot of power over team members and has the right to reward good performance or punish members if they don’t reach the agreed standard. They tell their team members what they need and how without often asking for advice from team members. There’s a little opportunity to team members to make their suggestions. Autocratic style focus is on short term tasks. Works well on short term and the team is well motivated. Under this style team doesn’t gain from creativity and knowledge of members. Napoleon can be identified as a leader who followed autocratic leadership style in real world. No feedback, one way communication not allowing to communicate in between can be highlighted as main elements under autocratic style.
Democratic leadership style
The leader makes the final decision but the team to contribute to the decision making process. The leader asks the teams opinions and uses those to make decisions. The team is kept informed and is allowed to discuss changes to decisions. Under this style leader can’t know everything. Team working is essential where quality is more important than the speed of productivity. Members feel in control and motivated to work hard. Increases job satisfaction by involving the team in decisions. Specially helps to develop team member skills. Nelson Mandela can be identified as a leader who used democratic style to achieve his strategy. Allowing followers to communicate in between, feedback and giving instructions and improving creativity can be highlighted as main elements.
Laissez – faire leadership style
Team members make the decision but leader is still responsible for decisions. Leader listens to the team members’ suggestions. Team is left to make its own decisions which are guided by the leader. Leader participates discussions as a normal team member. Effective if the leaders communicate regularly with the team. This style is used when the leader has the confidence and trust. Increasingly necessary in a world where leader achieve power on the basis of their ideals and values. Mahatma Gandhi is a leader who used this style in achieving his objectives. Empowering to make decisions, feedback, allowing to communicate can be highlighted as main elements under this style.
Sanuji Wijesekara
WISWD32
Leadership styles could be easily categorized in to two areas which are good and bad. The ultimate goal of a leader is to provide direction, motivation and implementing plans effectively and strategically. The most common styles your likely to experience at a working environment would be ;
ReplyDelete1. Laissez faire Leadership
2. Transactional Leadership
3. Transformational Leadership
It’s very important to know these leadership styles separately as it could in one way help a person to identify and gauge others around you from a leadership perspective which could ideally lead to successfully working with managers, peers ,subordinates and followers. On the other hand this could help one to understand their own strengths and weaknesses and to choose a leadership styles that’s would best fit his/her personality. We have all learned the 4 factors of production which are Land, Labor, capital and entrepreneurship. A leader is the one who would link all these together and make all these factors work together. So going back to the 3 initial leadership styles we spoke at the beginning, many leaders’ use a mixture of these styles and the effectiveness and efficiency is based on the situation and environmental factors I suppose.
Laissez faire leadership
The meaning of the phrase Laissez faire is ‘Leave it be’ This can also be known as the ‘hands off’ style where the leader gives very little and all authority and power is given to the employees to make their own decisions, determining organizational goals and expected to resolve problems on their own .This style is effective when the employees are highly skilled, experienced and educated. This leadership style could be highly unproductive as the leader has no idea on what’s going on with the company as well as the employees can feel insecure due to lack of direction which could lead to inefficiency.
Transactional Leadership
This leadership style is one of the most commonly used lucrative leadership styles. It’s operated on the basis of reward and punishment and that’s what’s used to enhance the employee’s performance and motivation. This method could only be useful when dealing with short term assignments rather than larger visions or goals. This style doesn't not allow input from employees and is not a good fit for knowledge based or creative work. A lot attrition in companies is caused due to this leadership style as it fails to meet employees needs and satisfaction.
Transformational Leadership
This is known to be a style of a true leader as the employees are encouraged to participate on the decision making process. Transformational Leaders spend a lot of time communicating and they always tend to play a transparent role amongst colleagues and even socially where anyone could reach out to them with their concerns. Some of the key characteristics of this style would be being a good role model, providing inspiration, coming up with ideas and being creative and showing a genuine concern for team members individually. But just like any other leadership style this method is always not appropriate and works effectively when working with highly skilled and experienced employees.
Rakitha Gamage (GARLC71)
Leadership is when a leader has the ability to influence his followers in a positive manner in order to achieve goals and tasks. A leader helps his followers in many ways such as establishing a clear vision, sharing that vision with others so that they will follow willingly, providing the information, knowledge and methods to realize that vision and coordinating and balancing the conflicting interests of all members and stakeholders.
ReplyDeleteA leader steps up in times of crisis, and is able to think and act creatively in difficult situations. Unlike management, leadership cannot be taught, although it may be learned and enhanced through coaching or mentoring.
For example Someone with great leadership skills today is Bill Gates who, despite early failures, with continued passion and innovation has driven Microsoft and the software industry to success.
A Leader to be effective there are different leadership styles to be followed and they are Autocratic leadership, Democratic leadership and Laissez-Faire Leadership Styles.
Authoritarian leaders, also known as autocratic leaders, provide clear expectations for what needs to be done, when it should be done, and how it should be done. There is also a clear division between the leader and the followers. Authoritarian leaders make decisions independently with little or no input from the rest of the group.Authoritarian leadership is best applied to situations where there is little time for group decision-making or where the leader is the most knowledgeable member of the group.
Democratic leaders offer guidance to group members, but they also participate in the group and allow input from other group members.Participative leaders encourage group members to participate, but retain the final say over the decision-making process. Group members feel engaged in the process and are more motivated and creative
Delegative leaders offer little or no guidance to group members and leave decision-making up to group members. While this style can be effective in situations where group members are highly qualified in an area of expertise, it often leads to poorly defined roles and a lack of motivation.
Nifraz Naufer
NAMOB13
Leadership is leading a group if people of an organization to achieve their goals, In order to fulfill this, different leaders follow different Leadership styles. This can be mainly divided into three categories.
ReplyDelete1. Laissez faire Leadership
In French Laissez Faire means “Let do” as in let the organization work itself. These type of leaders leaves everything to employees and try not to interfere with organization activities. The only advantage of this leadership style is that it builds trust in the workers because they have given full authority and power to make decisions on their own for the better improvement of the organization, This leadership style would be effective in creative jobs where the employees are guided by their own aspirations and intuition, but at the same time this could in a highly ineffective in a fast moving business world due to lack of direction and poor management.
2. Transactional Leadership / Autocratic Leadership
Transactional Leaders focus on getting their work done according to the standards of the organization. So in this case leader makes decisions without much regards of his other employees and promotes their performance and motivation through both rewards and punishments. Strategic elements for Transactional Leadership includes,
• Chain of command
• Less contribution
3. Transformational Leadership / Democratic Leadership
Transformational Leaders gets all the information from the other subordinates of the organization by making time to meet them, where the leader can study about the specific skills of the certain employee so he/she can direct them to focus on what their really talented on. This would be the most effective leadership style in my opinion because with the proper motivation it will always lead to a better productivity. Strategic elements for Transformational Leadership includes,
• Collaboration
• Task Collaboration
• Intrapreneurship
Akitha Kalawitagoda – KAAUD03
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteLeadership can be defined as leading a group of followers into achieving a common goal effectively and efficiently. Not all Leaders are successful.
ReplyDeleteThere are three categories of leadership styles they are Democratic, Autocratic and Laissez Faire Style.
Democratic leadership can be defined as the redistribution of power and authority between employees and managers to provide employee involvement in decision-making. Ideas move freely among the group and are discussed openly. Followers are encouraged to share ideas and opinions, even though the leader retains the final say over decisions
Autocratic Leadership is where the leader is in charge has total authority and control over decision making. Autocratic leaders typically make choices based on their own ideas and judgments and rarely accept advice from followers. They also provide clear expectations for what needs to be done, when it should be done, and how it should be done.
Laissez Faire leadership is where the leaders are hands-off and allow the followers to make the decisions. Followers are expected to solve the problems on their own and are given the complete freedom for followers to make decisions. The necessary tools and resources are given by the leader
Manoj Senanayake - SEMTB13
Leadership Style is the manner and approach of providing direction, implementing plans, and motivating people. As seen by the employees, it includes the total pattern of explicit and implicit action of their leaders (Newstrom & Davis, 1993). The three major leadership styles:
ReplyDelete1. Autocratic leadership
Also known as the Transactional leadership and Authoritarian style. Leaders expect the followers to carry out whatever said by them, In other words the prime purpose of a subordinate is to do what their manager tells them to do. People are motivated by reward and punishment, if successful the subordinates are rewarded but when things go wrong, then the subordinate is considered to be personally at fault, and is punished for their failure. The strategic elements of Autocratic leadership are:
- System working best with a clear chain of command
- Little or no contribution by subordinates
2. Democratic leadership
Also known as transformational leadership and Participative style. Here the leaders engage with the followers, that is active communication takes place between the superior and subordinate where they discuss major issues, the leader considers the followers ideas, and also expects commitment in the workplace. As a whole it could be stated that transformational leaders put passion and energy into everything, they care about their followers and want them to succeed. The strategic element of Democratic leadership are:
- Active Communication
- Task collaboration
- Conflict Management
3. Laissez-faire leadership
Also known as Delegative style. Leaders delegate the tasks to the followers and expect them to make their own decision and carry out the work effectively without being dependent on the leader. Hence the follower’s satisfaction increases. Yet the weak point is that using this style would be ineffective when used it to inexperienced and new subordinates. The strategic elements of Laissez-faire are:
- Delegate tasks
- Improper communication
Azahim Ali Ameer Ali (ALAZB21)
There are 3 main leadership styles
ReplyDelete1.0 Laissez-faire leadership
Laissez-faire describes a leader who leaves his or her colleagues mostly alone to get on with their work. It’s an effective style when a team is generally made p of individuals who are very experienced and skilled self-starters, and where the leader monitors what’s being achieved and communicate those achievements back to the team on a regular basis. This leadership style may fail when there are less skilled and less knowledgeable employees.
2.0 Transactional leadership
This style of leadership says that when you as a team member, agree to do a job you surrender all authority to the leader. This is part of the “transaction” Your purpose is to do what that leader tells you to do. If you succeed you’ll receive a pre-determined reward. If you fail, the organization has the right to “punish” you and team members if the work doesn’t meet a pre-determined standard. These rewards and punishments will help the organization achieve its goals as employees are mostly motivated to receive the goal and get rewards.
3.0 Transformational Leadership
This leader inspires a team constantly with a shared vision of the future. Transformational leaders are highly visible, and spend a lot of time communicating. They don’t necessarily lead from the front, as they tend to delegate responsibility amongst their team. And while their enthusiasm is often infectious and employees are more motivated when working under these leaders.
Strategic leadership refers to a manager’s potential to express a strategic vision for the organization, or a part of the organization, and to motivate and persuade others to acquire that vision.
Tehan Weliwitawithanage (WETJB12)
Leadership is a process by which an executive can direct, guide and influence the behavior and work of others towards accomplishment of specific goals in a given situation. The style of an organization's leadership is reflected in both the nature of that organization and its relationships with the community. There are different types of leadership : laissez-faire leadership, transactional leadership, transformational leadership.
ReplyDeleteTransactional leadership.
An autocratic leader often maintains his authority by force, intimidation, threats, reward and punishment, or position. Although he may or may not have a clear vision, and may or may not be steering the organization in the right direction, he's not concerned with whether anyone else agrees with what he's doing or not. The advantage of this style is that it leads to speedy decision-making and greater productivity under leader’s supervision. Drawbacks of this leadership style are that it leads to greater employee absenteeism and turnover. This leadership style works only when the leader is the best in performing or when the job is monotonous, unskilled and routine in nature or where the project is short-term and risky. Autocratically -led organizations are not particularly supportive of personal relationships, but much more keyed to chain-of-command. For an instance Hitler.
Transformational leadership
A democratic leader understands that there is no organization without its people. He looks at his and others' positions in terms of responsibilities rather than status, and often consults in decision-making. While he solicits, values, and takes into account others' opinions, however, he sees the ultimate responsibility for decision-making as his own. Democratic leadership invites the participation of staff members and others, not only in decision-making, but in shaping the organization's vision. It allows everyone to express opinions about how things should be done, and where the organization should go. For an instance Mahathma Gandhi.
Laissez-faire leadership
The laissez-faire leader allows team members to define their own roles and make their own decisions. The laissez-faire approach often fails to provide direction to team members resulting in a lack of motivation. The laissez-faire style of leadership is not usually a very effective type of leadership style unless team members are highly motivated and experts in their fields. In such a situation a laissez-faire leader can empower team members to achieve their goals by sharing authority.
Chirathi Somasiri
(SOCLD13)
The unit edge 3 has given me so much of knowledge about the corporate and not only about the corporate but also had given me the chance to learn about the outer world affairs. and mostly edge 3 was a subject that allowed us to use our tabs and laptops to do so much of research on the given topic. That's, during the first two classes we had our discussion to analysis on great dealers like Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Adolf Hitler, Che Guevara, etc., to critically analysis their strength and weakness and why they were successful leaders or ineffective ones. This bought us to so much of hidden facts which we have not known about these leaders.
ReplyDeleteBasically all our discussion was directed towards one topics which is LEADERSHIP. We were educated on the elements of leadership, styles of leadership and a how a leader help the organisation and his followers achieve the said objectives. These weren't just mere words, research and presentation, but also something that helped us to identify which type of leadership style we will follow and at which circumstances when we move into the corporate worlds.
Knowing about the Emotional Intelligence means that it helped me to control my emotions and also understand my co workers employees. this will help me in future at work to know the employees emotions and motivate them and boost their self confidence and get the work maximum input from them.
Presenting in front of the class gave us chances to improve our communication skill and also the discussion point of whether our audience will accept our fact or not gave us the ability to put our point forward of argument.
Apart from education, edge 3 is every active and the two way rapport where you get to work with difference people, so that isolation among students of the same class maybe not be there. and more of as team work rather than a solo effort. I'm surer edge 3 will give us more knowledge and experience about the corporate world and turns into a more confident and better individual for the work place
GAPUD32
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWhat is Leadership?
ReplyDeleteI believe Leadership is an individual’s ability to lead his or her followers to achieve their goals and objectives in the most suitable yet effective manner, when concerned with an organization leadership is the ability to lead an organization in the most effective way by achieving the mission objectives of the organization which leads to the achievement of the overall vision. To be an effective leader one must possess the following stated unique qualities or skills: Being open minded, being ethical, being a good listener, being emotionally adapted and being open minded.
The question whether leaders are ‘born or made’, I believe in both, as leaders can be made with proper training and attitude and also people can be born with the above stated qualities. Throughout the human era three very important leadership styles have been born, they are: Autocratic Leadership (Transactional Leadership), Democratic Leadership (Transformational Leadership) & Laissez-faire Leadership.
Laissez-faire Leadership style:
This type of leadership style is where the leader does not provide any leadership qualities but promotes other group members to make their own decisions and fend for themselves. This leadership style is said to be the least effective amongst other leadership styles as it is proven to give out poor productivity amongst members under this leadership style. Some key characteristics of this leadership style include:
*Motivation and Empowerment of followers
*Freedom of decision making for followers
*Leaders are said to provide necessary resources and tools for its followers
Democratic Leadership style:
It is said that whoever uses this leadership style is a ‘true leader’. As this leadership style is where followers are constantly inspired and the true vision for the future is always shared. The followers can take a more participative role in decision making. This leadership style is more often used in the modern era and is the most effective leadership style out of the three leadership styes. Recent study has proved that this leadership style has led to higher productivity, high motivation from followers and boosted team moral. Some key characteristics of this leadership style include:
*Followers of this leadership style feel more focused and more engaged leading to higher productivity as a whole.
*unique and innovative ideas are encouraged by the followers in the decision making process
*Communication amongst members is very effective and efficient.
Autocratic Leadership style:
this s a leadership style known to be based on a simple principle: followers are aggravated by reward or punishment. It is a leadership style characterized by the leaders complete control over all decision making and control and little or no input is taken from the followers. Leaders who use this leadership style often makes decisions based on their own judgments and ideas. This type of leadership is known to speed up decision making process however also leads to de-motivation of employees. Key characteristics of autocratic leadership are:
*whenever quick decisions are needed to be made this leadership style helps
*Leaders make all decisions no matter the consequences to the followers
*Work ethics and methods are dictated by the leaders
by Khushan Leitan
LEKSD133
Whilst the above comments provide a comprehensive explanation on Leadership and Leadership styles, which we all learned about during our last segment. I would like to briefly explain my opinion on Leadership and the different styles of leadership that needs to be understood by all individuals interested in pursuing their career in the corporate world or otherwise as a Leader. The importance of knowing the different leadership styles will benefit you in terms of working successfully in the corporate world in spite of what kind of boss you work with. Understanding their particular style of leadership and adapting to it will be the key to success and building a good relationship with your leaders. Also, if your goal is to pursue your career as a leader someday, it will support you in adopting and using the leadership style that best fits your personality and more importantly the style that suits the circumstances of your job. Understanding the various leadership styles and using the correct approach will be beneficial in terms of less stress, increased income potential, promotional opportunities as well as greater job satisfaction.
ReplyDeleteAlthough many leaders use a mixture of styles, wise leaders adapt their styles according to the various circumstances, the company and their employees. Through group work, presentations and analyzing various cases we were able to learn about three different styles of leadership, which are briefly explained below.
1) Laissez – faire is a French phrase meaning “Leave It Be.” This type of leadership describes a leader who leaves his followers mostly alone to get with their own work. It is quite effective in terms of having a team that consists of very experienced and skilled individuals however on the other hand it could be quite catastrophic if the members of the team are unskilled and inexperienced, in this case a clear direction needs to be given. In my opinion an example of a leader that used this approach would be Abraham Lincoln, known as a servant leader who never let his ego get in the way of his primary ambition for the larger cause of the nation. Instead of dictating rules and exercising his power, he felt that harmony and unity within his group was of utmost importance and that persuading people and helping them understand his vision was a better way to lead and gain support.
2) Transactional Leadership (Autocratic), in a nutshell people are motivated by reward and punishment. The system is known to work best with a clear chain of command. Basically if you do as the leader says and you succeed to give him a good impression through a job well done, you will be rewarded and if you fail, you will be punished. An example of such a Leader would be Adolf Hitler, as we discussed in the last segment in class through presentations. He was a highly powerful individual who had a strong characteristic of being persistent. People recognized him as being very stubborn and he would not trust anybody but himself. Within Nazi Germany there was a clear hierarchy where individuals were well aware of what their responsibility was, this was something that was strictly enforced by Hitler. Hitler held the final say on any decision regardless of whether specialist knowledge was required which highlights the fact that he was a true autocrat.
Transformational Leadership (Democratic), known as a True Leader that inspires a team constantly with a shared vision of the future. The leader spends a lot of time communicating and delegating responsibility amongst the team. A good example of a leader for this leadership style would be Nelson Mandela, he was one of the few leaders capable of inspiring confidence both inside and outside the country. As South Africa's first democratically elected President in 1994, Mandela tackled the challenge of uniting both the country's racial groupings and he use a quite democratic approach in doing so.
Shevon De Almeida
DESTD31
Leadership is defined as the ability of an individual who is able to lead his/her followers towards achieving the goals and objectives set out in the most effective manner. Leaders are driven by a vision. A leader should have characteristics such as, being ethical, being a good listener, being an open minded individual, being selflessness, being a role model to others. There are three main leadership styles that exist in the current world.
ReplyDeleteLaissez-faire Leadership
Laissez-faire is a french phrase which means "let it be". This leadership style if defined by its translation. Leaders who follow this leadership style, gives his/her followers the responsibility to do whatever is necessary to achieve the objective. In this leadership style, the leader trusts his/her followers to do what is necessary and gets involved only at the last minute. Leaders such as this are very hard to find at the work place as they feel they do not need to be there the whole time.
The followers feel motivated as they know the leader has trusted them with a certain project. This could improve the productivity of the followers as they are motivated.
Transactional Leadership
This leadership style is also known as "Autocratic Leadership". The three main characteristics of this leadership style would be, message flow,reward and punishment. The message flow in this leadership style is two way. Leaders who follow this leadership style would reward their followers for hard work, goal achievement etc. and punish their followers for dishonesty, laziness etc.
Followers could be motivated as they would be rewarded for hard work and they would also make sure to maintain their productivity as low productivity could mean punishment in various forms and the worst being, asked to leave the organisation.
Transformational Leadership
This leadership style is also known as "Democratic Leadership". This leadership style's message flow is one way. The leader expects its followers to be up to the expected standard. Such leaders would be highly inspirational and motivating for its followers. Such leaders would also have to lead by example as his/her followers would look up to him/her as a role model. Communication needs to be clear as well.
When taking leaders as examples for each leadership style:
Laissez-faire Leadership: Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, Sir Richard Branson, Steve Jobs
Transactional Leadership: Adolf Hitler, Che Guevara
In conclusion, most past and present successful leaders follow the Laissez-faire leadership style. I believe and agree when this was said in class, this leadership style is the style of the future.
Shahen Rodrigo
RODEB31
In a dynamic and competitive world it is important to distinguish ourselves as leaders. Employees and subordinates prefer to work and collaborate with a leader.
ReplyDeleteAt our Foundation of business leadership lecture, we were taught of the differences between a leader and a manager. while in my opinion all leaders can be managers, not all managers can be leaders. Hence traits that sets a leader apart are – The manager administers; the leader innovates. The manager maintains; the leader develops.The manager relies on control; the leader inspires trust.The manager imitates; the leader originates.The manager accepts the status quo; the leader challenges it.The manager does things right; the leader does the right thing.
Leadership is the way a leader convinces his followers through his charisma, good listening skills, ethical behavior, ability to solve problems to achieve a common goal. he has a mission and later develops his vision which he hopes to achieve through leadership strategies.
We were inspired by great leaders such as Gandhi, Che Guevara, Martin Luther king, Hitler and Mandela. We then split into groups, took each leader and were told to discuss whether or not he was a good leader, what characteristics he had and finally if he was successful in achieving his vision.
When we came into the second lecture, we refreshed our memories with that we learnt in the previous week and were once again split into groups to learn about the different leadership styles. namely' Autocratic, democratic and laissez faire.
Autocratic/Trasactional leadership-
This type of leadership is best to be portrayed when followers don’t have the high expertise and skills set. It is when the leader expects his followers to carry out tasks with minimum questions asked and leaders use rewards and punishments as motivation. Strategic elements of this leadership work best when there is a clear chain of command and subordinates have little or no contribution.
Best examples include Adolf Hitler and Steve Jobs. There was one incident that portrayed Steve jobs as a transactional leader when he rewarded one of his engineers when he manufactured a part of the iphone with a large bonus and fired the engineer when there was a slight glitch that caused AM/PM in the alarm clock to only show AM.
Democratic/Trasformational leadership-
This leadership style operates under Abraham Lincoln’s saying “for the people, by the people, of the people” the leader is constantly engaging with followers to brain storm and come up with ideas. There is a participatory approach where followers and subordinates achieve a higher level of involvement in the job and therefore job satisfaction, there is immense commitment, flow of positive energy and active communication. The strategic elements of Democratic leadership include task collaboration, conflict management and intrapreneurship
Examples of leaders include Nelson Mandela, presidents John F. Kennedy and Abraham Lincoln.
Laissez-faire/Delegative leadership-
This is a type of leadership style in which leaders are hands-off and allow group members to make the decisions. Researchers have found that this is generally the leadership style that leads to the highest productivity among group members and is at its optimal when subordinates/ followers have a high skills set and expertise.
Virgin Holdings Richard Branson follows this style.
We were once again told to get into group and analyse one leader and to present what type of leadership he follows.
therefore, contrary to the popular saying "leaders are born and not made", i believe that most leadership traits can be inculcated.
-Afra Faizel
MOFAD133
We looked into three predominant leadership styles and how various historic figures practiced them and how effective they were. Furthermore, we analyzed each leadership style with their benefits and disadvantages as well as the best scenarios of when they do work.
ReplyDeleteLaissez Farie- In this style, subordinates and the directly lover level employees have a great deal of autonomy and authority. This style can also lead to organizational ineffectiveness, lack of control, over processes, and weak. Desired outcomes may not be successful as there is no systematic approach to problem solving. Individual’s goals and agendas can overlap due to ineffective communication. However, under the right circumstances, such as when a workforce is highly educated, skilled, and experienced, and when the goals of the organization are clear to everyone, the approach can enhance creativity, independent thinking, and personal responsibility. Laissez-Faire may be the style of choice is the workforce is considerably more technically knowledgeable than the leader is as every employees covers their areas of expertise.
Example- Richard Branson
Transactional- These leaders motivate through the use of deserved rewards or negative consequences. The Transactional leader’s main focus is on setting goals and clarifying the relationship between performance and rewards. The leader tells his subordinates what they are to do to receive rewards. Constructive feedback is offered in terms of progress toward or away from rewards. The Transactional leader can punish subordinates for performance that does not meet standards. Often a clear chain of command is necessary to achieve results and that the concentration of authority and power are at the top of the chain. Subordinates may have little opportunity to practice their creativity or influence decision making. When the Transactional leader allocates work to subordinates, they are considered to be fully responsible for it.
Example- Adolf Hitler
Transformational- These leaders assume that subordinates will follow a person who inspires them and that to inspire, the leader must be a person with vision and passion to establish the organization’s targets. They achieve this through being highly corporative, in constant communication, and by infusing their actions and communications with enthusiasm and energy. Relationships are built between authorities and subordinates who help with working relationships and having a personal connection.
Example – Mahatma Gandhi
In conclusion, I strongly stand by the fact that Democracy is indeed the way forward as everyone has a say in what they deserve and thus am a strong believer in Transformational Leadership. Over use of power and authority is just as bad us under using it. Laissez-faire leadership may give the employees a chance to shine and performs the of delegation, however the lack of control and focus may lead to the organization losing track of their ultimate targets and goals. Transactional leadership on the other hand is straight to the point and keep employees in path but may lead to lack of creativity, interest and motivation. Thus it is only evident that Transformational Leadership is the recommended as it caters to the best of both worlds.
Hisham Samsudeen - SATHB32
Leadership could be defined as as a leader steps up in times of crisis, and is able to think and act creatively in difficult situations. Unlike management, leadership cannot be taught, although it may be learned and enhanced through coaching or mentoring. Leadership is a vital role in any organization. It involves defining the direction of a team and communicating it to people, motivating, inspiring and empowering them to contribute to achieving organizational success. Leadership requires being strategically focused and applying behavioral techniques to build commitment and attain the best work from your people. A leader should pose some elements such as; a role model, a good listener, servant,
ReplyDeleteAutocratic leadership
These kind of leaders make decisions without consulting their team members, even if their input would be useful. This can be appropriate when you need to make decisions quickly, when there's no need for team input, and when team agreement isn't necessary for a successful outcome. However, this style can be demoralizing, and it can lead to high levels of absenteeism and staff turnover.
Democratic leadership
These kind of leaders make the final decisions, but they include team members in the decision-making process. They encourage creativity, and people are often highly engaged in projects and decisions. As a result, team members tend to have high job satisfaction and high productivity. This is not always an effective style to use, though, when you need to make a quick decision.
Laissez faire leadership
These kind of leaders give their team members a lot of freedom in how they do their work, and how they set their deadlines. They provide support with resources and advice if needed, but otherwise they don't get involved. This autonomy can lead to high job satisfaction, but it can be damaging if team members don't manage their time well, or if they don't have the knowledge, skills, or self motivation to do their work effectively. Laissez-faire leadership can also occur when managers don't have control over their work and their people.
Organizing everybody under the same method of leadership would be near enough impossible. Leadership and management in the workplace are just as important as political leadership. A lot of power and influence lies within private organizations as well as within governments. Also with power and influence comes the need for responsible leadership, and this is academics and business professionals have devoted the best part of a century in order to produce the next generation of leaders.
KAHUD32