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Saturday 10 August 2013

Ignou MBA Solved Assignment MS 01 2013 How do you see the relationship between leadership styles and leadership Theories?


Question 4).How do you see the relationship between leadership styles and leadership Theories? Describe, explain and relate your answer with the experience you have had in the organisational set up yourself or you are aware of. Describe the situation and the organisation briefly, which you are referring to
Ans :
Leadership Theory vs. Leadership Style


Leadership theory is a discipline that focuses on finding out what makes successful leaders excel in what they do. The primary distinction between leadership theory and leadership style is that leadership style falls under the overall umbrella of leadership theory. In other words, leadership style is one of many examples covered with leadership theory. Leadership style focuses specifically on the traits and behaviors of leaders.
Leadership Theory
Since businesses are always striving to find great leaders that can lead them to success, much effort has been put forth into finding out how they operate. More specifically, businesses are trying to identify the characteristics and behaviors associated with the best leaders. As a result, many leadership theories have been developed over the years that attempt to explain what makes a leader great. Businesses figure if they can identify the traits that make a successful leader, they can not only identify potential leaders more readily, but also can hone in on those specific skills for improvement.
Examples of Leadership Theory
In the beginning, leadership theories focused primarily on specific characteristics and behaviors of leaders. However, as time went on, theories began to focus more on a leader's followers and the contextual nature of leadership. For example, the early theories, such as the great man theory and the trait theory, focused specifically on innate qualities leaders are born with. Within the next phase -- which includes behaviorist theory, situational leadership theory, and contingency theory -- focus shifted more toward what leaders do versus what traits they have. The final stage includes transactional theory and transformational theory, where the relationship between the leader and his followers is explored.
Leadership Style
Leadership style is modeled after a leader's behaviors, which is encompassed under behaviorist theory. Within this category, different patterns of leadership behavior are observed and then categorized as leadership styles. Practicing managers tend to be the most interested in researching this particular theory because with it leaders have the ability to alter their style based on the beliefs, values, preferences and culture of the organization they work for.

Examples of Leadership Style
Leadership styles can be broken down in several different ways depending on what information is being looked at. For example, an organization interested in how decisions are made may define leaders as either being autocratic or democratic. Another organization may have more interest in how leaders handle situations and choose to define them as being charismatic, participative, situational, transactional, transformational, quiet or servant-like. One more way to differentiate leadership styles is according to whether leaders are task-oriented or people-oriented. Task-oriented leaders are said to have a considerate style and people-oriented leaders an initiating-structure style.
Leadership Styles and Theory
·         Leadership is the process of motivating a group of people to act towards accomplishing a common task. There are number of recognized versions, or styles, of leadership, some of which have been shown to be more effective than others. In 1939, a group of researchers led by German-American psychologist Kurt Lewin identified three major leadership styles: authoritarian or autocratic; participative or democratic; and delegative. Good leaders may well adopt some element of all of the styles of leadership.

·         Autocratic leaders seek to have the most authority in decision-making and provide the rest of the group with clear expectations regarding what needs to be done and how it should be done. They try to make as many decisions as possible and consultation is minimal. This leadership style is effective on short-term projects or in environments where employees are poorly motivated or need to perform low-skilled tasks.

·         This leadership style offers some benefits to managers who use it. It reduces their stress levels as they know they have full control and it also improves the working speed of poorly motivated employees, who know they are being watched by a leader. One of the main disadvantages of this style is that by making all the decisions, the leader doesn't give the other members of the group the opportunity to start their leadership development. By taking all responsibility, the leader works at full capacity, which can lead to health problems and poor working relationships with colleagues.

·         Participative or democratic leadership style is generally seen to be the most effective. Democratic leaders offer guidance to group members and participate in the group. Democratic leadership promotes sharing of responsibility and continual consultation. The leader delegates tasks to each member of the group and gives full control over them. Democratic leaders encourage others to get involved in leadership development.

·         This leadership style has many benefits. Employees that are given responsibility tend to become more enthusiastic about their work and are involved more in the accomplishment of their task. Consulting the other members of the group and giving and receiving feedback results in better decision making and creative thinking. But consulting over every decision can be time-consuming and can cause opportunities to be missed.

·         Delegative leadership style gives little or no guidance to group members, but allows them to make the decisions. This style can be effective in situations where group members are highly qualified or when the leader trusts them. However, it can lead to poorly defined roles within the group and a lack of motivation.

·         Over time, many other leadership theories have been developed. Most can be classified as one of the eight major types.

·         "Great Man" theories assume that great leaders are born, not made. Leaders have exceptional qualities and are destined to lead. They are portrayed as heroes who will rise to leadership when needed.

·         Trait theories are similar to "Great Man" theories. These theories assume that people inherit certain qualities and traits that are suited to leadership.

·         Contingency theories state that no leadership style is suited for all situations. Success depends on situational factors, including the leadership style and the abilities and behavior of the followers.

·         Situational theories assume that the best action of the leader depends on a range of situational variables including motivation and capability of followers.

·         Behavioral theories are based on the assumption that great leaders are made, not born. They don't focus on the leaders' inborn traits, but on what they can do. According to these theories, leadership can be learned, rather than being inherent.

·         Participative theories assume that the members of the group make decisions together while leaders help them feel more relevant within the group.

·         Management theories, also known as transactional theories, are based on a system of rewards and punishments. The leader creates a clear structure which states what is required from each member of the group. Transactional leadership is mainly used in companies, when the employees' performance is good, they are rewarded and when it is poor they are reprimanded.

·         Relationship theories, also known as transformational theories, focus on the relationships between the leader and the members of the group. Transformational leaders put passion and energy in everything and inspire and motivate the members of the group. These leaders focus on the performance of each member group and help them fulfill their potential.

·         Leadership Leadership is the process where a person exerts influence over others and inspires, motivates and directs their activities to achieve goals.Effective leadership increases the firm’s ability to meet new challenges.Leader:The person exerting the influence.Personal Leadership Style:the ways leaders choose to influence others.Some leaders delegate and support subordinates, others are very authoritarian.Managers at all levels have their own leadership style.

·         Leadership Across CulturesLeadership styles may vary over different cultures.European managers tend to be more people-oriented than American or Japanese managers.Japanese culture is very collective oriented, while American focuses more on profitability.Time horizons also are affected by cultures.U.S. firms often focus on short-run efforts.Japanese firms take a longer-term outlook.

·         Sources of PowerUsed to affect other’s behavior and get them to act in given ways.Legitimate Power:manager’s authority resulting by their management position in the firm.Can be power to hire/fire workers, assign work.Reward Power:based on the manager’s ability to give or withhold rewards.Pay raises, bonuses, verbal praise.Effective managers use reward power to signal employees they are doing a good job.

·         Sources of PowerCoercive Power:based in ability to punish others.Ranges from verbal reprimand to pay cuts to firing.Can have serious negative side effects.Expert Power:based on special skills of leader.First & middle managers have most expert power.Often found in technical ability.Referent Power:results from personal characteristics of the leader which earn worker’s respect, loyalty and admiration.Usually held by likable managers who are concerned about their workers.

·         EmpowermentProcess of giving workers at all levels authority to make decisions and the responsibility for their outcomes. Empowerment helps managers:Get workers involved in the decisions.Increase worker commitment and motivation.To focus on other issues.Effective managers usually empower substantial authority to workers.

·         Leadership Models Trait Model:sought to identify personal characteristics responsible for effective leadership.Research shows that traits do appear to be connected to effective leadership.Many “traits” are the result of skills and knowledge.Not all effective leaders possess all these traits. Behavioral Model:Identifies types of behavior.Consideration:leaders show care toward workers. Employee-centered.Initiating Structure:managers take steps to make sure work is done. Done by assigning work, setting goals, etc.Job-oriented.

·         Consideration & Initiating StructureRate manager from 1 (never does) to 5 (always does)NOTE: for full survey, see Figure 13.2 in textFigure 13.2ConsiderationInitiating StructureIs friendly, approachableDo little things to make it funto be a member of groupGive advance notice of changesWilling to make changesTreats group members as equalsTries out ideas in the groupLets group members know what is expectedAssigns workers to tasksSchedules work to be doneMaintains standardsof performance

·         Theories of LeadershipTrait theories:Is there a set of characteristics that determine a good leader?Personality?Dominance and personal presence?Charisma?Self confidence?Achievement?Ability to formulate a clear vision?

·         Theories of LeadershipTrait theories:Are such characteristics inherently gender biased?Do such characteristics produce good leaders?Is leadership more than just bringing about change?Does this imply that leaders are born not bred?

·         Theories of LeadershipBehavioural:Imply that leaders can be trained – focus on the way of doing thingsStructure based behavioural theories – focus on the leader instituting structures – task orientatedRelationship based behavioural theories – focus on the development and maintenance of relationships – process orientated

·         Contingency Models Fiedler’s Model:effective leadership is contingent on both the characteristics of the leader and the situation. Leader style:the enduring, characteristic approach to leadership a manager uses.Relationship-oriented:concerned with developing good relations with workers.Task-oriented:concerned that workers perform so the job gets done.

·         Fiedler’s Model Situation characteristic:how favorable a given situation is for leading to occur.Leader-member relations:determines how much workers like and trust their leader.Task structure:extent to which workers tasks are clear-cut. Clear issues make a situation favorable for leadership.Position Power:amount of legitimate, reward, & coercive power a leader has due to their position.When positional power is strong, leadership opportunity becomes more favorable.



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