Leadership Style Model
Leadership is a course of action through which a person influences a group of people in order to achieve set goals or objectives. Given the opportunity to lead, my leadership style would depend on many factors. One of these factors is the leadership power that the organization bestows on me. The role I will have to play will also shape the kind of style I will adopt. However, given my personality, I will prefer to understand the various capabilities of all those working under me with the intention of allocating duties to them according to their talents and skills acquired either through studies in the respective areas of the experience from previous similar tasks. I will study the task and the situation I will be working on before taking any action. The allocation of duties and responsibilities under my leadership will mainly be determined by the situational and task analysis (Yukl, 2010).
To ensure continuous training and versatility, I will ensure that my team members train on various roles. This will ensure all team members are flexible, and duties in specific areas will not depend on the presence of certain specific personnel. Once confirmed that a team member could competently perform certain tasks, they will be assigned specific roles. For instance, there may be various departments, such as maintenance, suppliers, or quality assurance departments. Basing on those skills and experienced members will be allocated tasks to various sections and rotated over time (Senior, 2010).
Team decisions will mostly be made through team meetings. This will ensure that members of the team do not feel decisions are imposed upon them. This will ensure they feel their contributions and work in their organization are taken with the seriousness it deserves. However, there are situations that, as a team leader, I will be forced to make decisions on my own without the need to consult. Such decisions will include, for instance, the choice of staff to serve at particular departments at particular times. The periodic performance f specific staff in particular areas will guide some of the decisions I will make, and the roles specific services are best suited. Although seeking the team’s guidance on what they think about running particular projects is important, it is always wise as a team leader to review all that was discussed before adopting them as either the official or the leader’s position on how to perform certain tasks. Liberal leadership must have limitations too. Expressive qualities such as emotion should be avoided when leading or making decisions. Leaders should be rational in their decisions and avoid emotional judgments or decisions made out of emotion (Senior, 2010).
Strengths and Weaknesses
A major leadership strength that my kind of leadership will have is the high motivational standards that it is likely to achieve. It will be rare to have a team member do or be guided by policies that he/she did not contribute to drafting. Team members will always be free to consult on anything that makes them uncomfortable to work when given particular roles or tasks. This way, an employee of the organization will have no excuse to underperform (Yukl, 2010).
My leadership utilizes the personality approach advanced by psychologists, which states that our capabilities vary depending on individual traits. For instance, some people may be low in creativity but are very adaptable and can easily adjust to tasks, and their drive is high. Some team members will always be dominant and will thus need to work in areas where they will work independently with limited interaction with others. They cannot be shunned because their performance will not be affected much by their personality. The psychological knowledge and approach will, therefore, be useful in this form of leadership because it will make team members be more satisfied and committed in their jobs (Robbins & Judge, 2011).
The weakness that comes with this kind of leadership is the inability to allow leaders to make decisions basing on the circumstances. There are situations when a leader will have to use personal intelligence and experience to make decisions. Although the psychological approaches are useful in understanding the various team members, some circumstances will force leaders to ignore them (Yukl, 2010).
Comparison and Contrast of the Leadership Theories
Situational Theory
The theory suggests that a manager’s decisions should always be based on what is deemed effective leadership based on various situations. It states that there is no one specific leadership style that is correct. The situation, people, environmental factors, and organizational structure, among other situational factors, will always influence the manner in which a leader will act or decide (Robbins & Judge, 2011).
Behavioral Theory
The theory states that people’s traits, although difficult to measure, influence the way they act or think. It emphasizes the importance of human relationships in influencing leadership styles and people’s behavior at work. This theory was advanced by a school teacher called McGregor, and it was named after him. His contribution had an influence on virtually all leadership behavioral theories. He suggests, among other factors, that human beings naturally dislike work, and given an option, they will shun it all together (Yukl, 2010).
The Leaders and Followers Theory
The theory recognizes the importance of a leader as someone who leads the rest. The importance of a leader in this theory is emphasized. It states that a leader has the duty of serving the team members in a way that his powers or skills enable him/her. Robert Greenleaf, a proponent of the theory, explains that the leader can also do this by providing others with opportunities to lead where he is confident they can perform, practically working in support of his subordinates or juniors, asking questions instead of commanding and seeking consensus before making decisions (Robbins & Judge, 2011).
References
Robbins, P.S., & Judge, A.T. (2011). Organizational Change and Stress Management. New Jersey: Pearson Education.
Senior, B. (2010). Organizational Change. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Yukl, G. (2010). Leading Change in Organizations. New Jersey: Pearson Education.