Factors Influencing Leadership Styles and Behaviours in Workplace Situations

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Understanding leadership
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AC 1.1 Describe the factors that will influence the choice of leadership styles or behaviours
in workplace situations
Leadership Style is defined as an approach and manner of motivating people,
implementing a plan and providing direction (Popa, 2012). The most common leadership styles
practised by diverse leaders include transformational, servant, coaching, visionary, democratic,
Autocratic leadership and Laissez-fair leadership approach (Yueh, Lee and Barnes, 2010 p.1-9).
In the contemporary world, Leaders change their leadership styles depending on the
circumstances surrounding an organization. The factors that influence the choice of leadership
styles include a situation and environment, task, team members and how they are prepared to
work.
Environment and situation is a factor that influences the choice of leadership style or
behaviours in the workplace. For example, in a designing company where there are flexibility,
creativity and production and in a production line where employees of an organization must
follow a routine that requires direction, leaders tend to use varying leadership style in both
situations. Furthermore, the culture of an organization or time constrains also influences the
leadership style to be used.
Team members and how they are prepared for tasks also influence the choice of
leadership style or behaviours in the workplace. The readiness of teams in context to factors
influencing leadership styles is quantified by a research conducted by Mehta (2012 p.23-35) that
used a scale from R1 where employees had no skills and abilities to R4 where employees had
many abilities, skills and will. Teams in R1 need more instruction and direct management style
to get the job done. On the other end, people in R4 need fewer management styles and allowed to
supervise themselves. The team or individual behaviours range from motivated to active on one

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end to lazy and unmotivated on the other end. McGregor theory named the two extremes as X
and Y and leadership style will vary from Y to X (Odumeru and Ogbonna, 2013 p.355)
Autocratic (authoritarian) leaders don’t consult with others and have a great deal of
control and power over their team. The leadership is suitable in a situation where deadlines and
budgets are tight hence their team members will be from XR1. Democratic leadership style will
also be suitable for YR4 as team members are involved in decision making and encouraged to
take responsibility for their own creative. Laissez-faire leaders will be suitable for group YR4 as
the leadership style will be able to monitor progress and feedbacks regularly to provide
employees with resources and advice.
AC 1.2 Explain why these leadership styles or behaviours are likely to have a positive or
negative effect on individual and group behaviour
The diverse leadership approaches have their own negatives and positives and the choice
of leadership style depends on the available type of workforce that gets work done. In an
organizational context, a team is usually made up by employees from diversity who possesses
diverse skills, experiences, characters and abilities and therefore is up to a leader to combine
attributes from various leadership styles in order to improve or maintain production.
A leader governing using Laissez-fair leadership style will always give employees or
formed team members’ freedom to manage themselves will all the job aspects of the job
(Chaudhry and Javed, 2012 p.7). The leadership approach generally works well in a situation
where teams are more motivated and highly skilled. For example, when all team members are R4
and Y members, the output will be high. The Leader has to monitor the work done by team
members closely as things can go wrong in a situation where employees resent the leadership