Understanding Leadership free essay sample

The purpose of this unit is to develop the knowledge and understanding of different leadership styles or behaviours to be found in the workplace, including an understanding of your own preferred leadership behaviours, and the impact that these different styles are likely to have on behaviour of team members. The task requires you to demonstrate this understanding in the context of an organisation with which you are familiar. It also requires you to use feedback to assess and reflect on your own preferred leadership style in order to identify how you could modify behaviours or build upon existing strengths to become more effective in a leadership role. NOTE: If you are not currently working within an organisation, then you may complete this task in relation to an organisation with which you are familiar. This could include experience working in a voluntary capacity. You should plan to spend approximately 12 hours researching your workplace context, preparing for and writing or presenting the outcomes of this assignment for assessment. The nominal word count for this assignment is 1200 words: the suggested range is between 800 and 1500 words. Check your assignment carefully prior to submission using the assessment criteria. Please use the sub-headings shown below when structuring your Assignment Assessment Criteria Understand leadership styles Provide responses to cover these assessment criteria. Describe the factors that will influence the choice of leadership styles or behaviours in workplace situations (24 marks) Explain why these leadership styles or behaviours are likely to have a positive or negative effect on individual and group behaviour (24 marks) Understand leadership qualities and review own leadership qualities and potential For this section you need to gather information about you own leadership style using feedback from others such as line manager, team members. You may also chose to use some leadership styles self assessment technique. The information gathered should be used, in conjunction with a recognised leadership model, to assess your preferred patterns of leadership behaviour and how effective these are within the working practices and culture of the organisation. Once this has been completed you need to identify any actions you should take in order to enhance your leadership behaviour. Assess own leadership behaviours and potential in the context of a particular leadership model and own organisation’s working practices and culture, using feedback from others (28 marks) Describe appropriate actions to enhance own leadership behaviour in the context of the particular leadership model (24 marks) By submitting I confirm that this assignment is my own work Understanding Leadership Styles. (1. 1) Factors that will Influence the choice of Leadership Styles or behaviours in workplace situations and (1. 2) the positive or negative effect on individual or group behaviour One of the key factors that will influence the appropriate choice of leadership style is the experience level or competency of the staff being led. For example a new team member to an organisation will not have the skills in order to perform their role without clear objectives and guidelines set in place. This lack of experience will result in low confidence but this is not to say they will lack commitment to the task at hand. New starters are most often keen to impress and eager to learn their new roles. In this situation one would initially engage in an ‘Autocratic’ or ‘Directing’ style of leadership. Autocratic leaders would maintain full control of any decision making with staff being told exactly what needs to be done, how to perform the task and the timeframe the objective must be completed by. The positive impact of this Autocratic approach is the new member of staff will quickly understand what is required from them to perform the role, and, the expectations from management of the work level that will be required from them in the future. The Autocratic approach in this situation will however have some negative impacts. For the worker, there will be little engagement with either the management or other team members from a collaborative working perspective. Their opinions or suggestions relating to the workplace or task at hand are likely to go unheard, limiting the ability to improve working relationships with peers or leaders. Depending on the type of organisation and the particular role, it could be an advantage to move on to a more supportive or participative ‘Democratic’ style of leadership once the staff member has gained their core competence and confidence in the role. This Democratic approach encourages staff to discuss opinions of the role, and give feedback as part of a more inclusive team and management partnership. This can lead to lower productivity than autocratic leadership, but staff creativity and solidarity improve. Democratic leaders still maintain the authority but would not have day to day control of workload, perhaps just checking in periodically to ensure work and commitment is still of a high level. Workers are generally happier if they feel that they are valued and respected within their team and their worth is recognised by management which is a key advantage of the Democratic approach. The democratic approach can also have a negative impact on individuals and teams. For example, if a quick decision needs to be made this collaborative approach can take a long time and not all team members may be given the time to put forward their views. Additionally, if there are very strong members within the team there may be pressure to conform to their way of thinking. This can be an inefficient way of making decisions. For highly experienced team members however, an entirely different approach would be more appropriate to the Autocratic style of leadership. The staff members would have the confidence and competence to perform tasks without the need for Directive leadership – they already know how to perform the task and the expectations of them within their organisation. Using an autocratic approach would still yield high levels of work output; however the worker may not feel inclusive to the organisation and could suffer low morale or de-motivation. This is were are more Laissez-Faire approach can be more appropriate. The Nature of the business or organisation will also be a key factor in the style of leadership required. For example a high productivity workplace with set structures or deadlines may require the clarity of role expectation that comes with the Autocratic approach. This would be true on a packing or assembly line within a ‘manufacturing facility’. Staff members would need to know exactly what needs to be done, how to do it and when by in order to meet the organisations own deadlines. There would be little requirement for individuals to think for themselves about how to approach the work and little need to collaborate with other workers or management about how best to perform the task. A more hands off or ‘Laissez-Faire’ style of management would be less efficient to the business and could result in far lower productivity. In contrast, workplaces that require staff to be individually creative to meet objectives would be far less productive under Autocratic rule. A Laissez-Faire approach encourages individuals to be creative on their own without the need of input from management or other team members. So even within the ‘manufacturing facility’ outlined previously, the Laissez Faire ‘hands off’ approach could be appropriate for the design teams or engineers who are highly skilled, capable of working on their own and self motivated to meet their goals. The lack of control or direction from management with the Laissez-Faire approach can however lead to substandard work or missed deadlines as some workers do not work well without guidance and feedback from leadership. Staff members tend to flounder and can lack attention to detail. For some design based roles a more collaborative team approach to tasks with direct input from management would lead to a more balanced result, where ideas have been shared and respected in the decision making process. Here the democratic approach to leadership would be most appropriate. In conclusion, there is no one style of leadership that is appropriate to every leadership situation. Leadership will need to be tailored to meet the development level of the worker, the confidence the worker has is achieving the objectives being set and the level of engagement requirement from both a directive and supportive level from the leader. Understanding Leadership qualities and reviewing my own leadership qualities and potential. I currently do not have a direct leadership role inside my own company, so have instead used the following resources in order to assess my Leadership qualities: Online Self Assessment. Feedback from two members of staff ‘Jason and Ciaran’ within another organisation I work closely with, over whom I have some managerial responsibility. They are funded heads or ‘brand ambassadors’ for the product I sell, therefore I set their key objectives and targets for them to work towards alongside their own immediate managers. My current line manager, the MD of B-Tech. The feedback I have received strongly suggests that I am a Democratic and Participative Leader. I strongly believe in and adhere to a collaborative approach to generating new ideas and regularly engage with Jason and Ciaran for suggestions on how to move their business forwards. I am also personally encouraged to work with my own management team and peers to identify new opportunities, threats and to feedback any arising internal issues. We are regularly consulted with regard to business direction. I am respected and considered approachable and trustworthy, with peers and followers coming to me for help and advice both on a work and personal level. Problem solving is a big part of my day to day work, for which I will always engage with others for their opinions. I will make my decisions and set objectives based on the feedback I received in collaborative discussion, whilst also working towards the companies own clear goals. It was highlighted that I am able to motivate people to deliver the objectives and key goals that I set out. This is done by selling them the vision of my ideas and clearly explaining the reason they are being set the task. I set clear, realistic and achievable goals and I am considered a role model and a team player as I am prepared to get stuck in and work as part of a wider team. I will often demonstrate how I would go about tackling a specific task in order to give the confidence to others on how to perform the task. For example, if I have asked Jason or Ciaran to call customers with a particular sales pitch I will first demonstrate the correct way in which to conduct the call. After this, I will listen to them make a call for themselves and offer constructive feedback and praise where due. It was also highlighted I have an infectiously positive outlook and this upbeat approach to work engages others to also stay optimistic, even in the face of uncertainty. I am able to recognise if peers or followers are unhappy with a particular situation and engage with them to help find a solution. If there are negative vibes coming from the team I am quick to turn these around to positives. The feedback I received on my self assessment did also highlight that whilst I am outgoing and positive, I do experience a certain level of self doubt and lack some self confidence. Additionally whilst I am setting out objectives and tasks for team members to fulfil, it has become apparent I am not clearly measuring their performance against these goals. I have not regularly provided recognition of achievement or taken action to deal with shortfalls in performance. I am not providing regular constructive feedback to help the team improve or rewarding them where due, outside of remuneration. It was also verbally noted to me that whilst engaging in an open forum meeting or discussion with all team members, I do not command keeping the discussion completely on topic to ensure decisions are agreed on swiftly. Appropriate actions to enhance own leadership behaviour. In order to build on my self confidence I must begin by acknowledging what I have achieved and what my key strengths are whilst also identifying any potential weaknesses. It is not self esteem I lack, but self efficacy. I should more regularly seek constructive feedback from my direct management but also peers and staff members in order to set my own personal goals and objectives. Being openly more self confidence will inspire my team to trust in my decisions and be more inclined to be on board with my management decisions. If I believe in myself as a strong leader, others will believe in me too. I must adopt a clearer strategy to setting objectives and measuring performance, with more emphasis on communicating achievements to staff. The use of Key Performance Indicators would be a more effective way of clearly communicating the requirements of the role. It will clearly focus effort in the right direction and motivate staff to achieve these goals. Successes must be celebrated. I would start by setting more measurable tasks, with benchmarks to achieve within a given time period. At the end of the period the results are reviewed together with the staff member. For example for Jason and Ciaran, they could be given a set number of calls to achieve per day. Achieving this goal would be given positive feedback or potentially a reward. If there was any difficulties faced in achieving the task or they did not perform as expected I can establish what the barriers were and work with them to eliminate these difficulties in the future. This will help to develop their core competences and confidence. When running a meeting with all staff members present as an open forum for ideas, I must work harder to ensure conversation remains structured and on topic. If we are going off on a tangent I must assert my authority and remind everyone present the objective of the meeting. If these ‘tangents’ are of relevance for future discussion, they should be noted and referred back to at a later time so the team feel there points are being listened to and are valued. Setting out the meeting objectives clearly at the start of the meeting, prior to any consultative engagement with the team will help keep focus relevant.