Reflective Journal on Concept of Leadership
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Added on 2020-04-01
Reflective Journal on Concept of Leadership
Added on 2020-04-01
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A REFLECTIVE JOURNAL ON INTRODUCTION TO LEADERSHIPThe concept of leadership can influence a group of individuals towards a certain goal or toachieve a particular objective. This is done by the managing body by using their formal rank onorganizational members. According to Binod et al. (2013), leadership is the art of gettingsomeone else to do something you want to be done because he wants to do it.Leadership TheoriesTrait TheoryTrait theory is a theory of leadership that consider traits or behavioral patterns of an individual.These patterns can be ambition, energy, physics and including social behavior. A desire to stepup and lead is also a trait one of the traits that show or increase leadership chances in anindividual. Integrity and honesty to be able to point and differentiate leaders from non-leaders isalso an important and most valued trait in leadership. Other traits include but not limited to job-relevant knowledge, self-confidence, self-motivation and drive and intelligence. However, noone known trait automatically shows or point straight to leadership. There is also no clearevidence that leadership and traits are related (David & Russell, 2014). Behavioral TheoriesThis is a theory suggesting that specific behaviors differentiate those who can lead from thosewho cannot. It is to be differentiated from trait theory as it means that leaders can be taught ortrained while trait theory suggests that leaders are born, and not made. This theory attempts touncover the behaviors in which leaders engage, rather than what traits a leader possesses. From astudy at Iowa State University, Eyun‐Jung & Linda (2012) concentrated on leadership styletheory and came up with two basic stylesa)Autocratic leadership style:This style is where a leader made decisions and tell the employees what to do and closely supervises them. b)Democraticleadershipstyle:This is where the employees are encouraged to participate indecision-making and are to carry out their duties with no supervision whatsoever. Different styles were needed for different situations, and each leader needed to know when to 1
exhibit a particular approach. I.Autocratic Leadership StyleThis is a classical approach where manager retains a lot of power, and all the decision-makingauthority stays with him. He avoids consulting his stuff by not allowing any input, and on theother hand, the staff is expected to obey without question. With this type of leadership style, thestructure is set on punishment and reward. It was, however, greatly criticized some years back asit is highly staff resistant. It uses threats and punishment to influence the employees andtherefore may demoralize them, and consequently, the trust between the employer andemployees is lost (Farhad & Akram, 2012). Autocraticleadership, however, does not mean that this style of leadership is all bad. It comes inhandy when there are new and untrained staffs who do not know what duties to perform or theprocesses to follow. It also provides effective and well-organized work as supervision givesorder and discipline. Staff may also need to be well supervised as not all of them listen andfollow instructions and hence need someone to be tough on them. When there is no time toinvolve the stuff, and a quick decision is needed, then this approach is needed as it saves time.The style is also effective when duties are to be delegated and shared to other organizations. Asmuch as it is necessary to use this type of leadership often, there are situations where it is not agood idea to use it. This is when I get tense, and other employees are fearful, employees need tohave their opinions heard, the employees only need their leader to make decisions for them.Therefore, it may lead to low staff morale and absenteeism. II.Bureaucratic Leadership Style This is the kind of leadership style that operates by the book. Bureaucraticleadershipis whereeverything is done according to the procedure. It is well effective when the staff needs to betaught certain rules and procedures, their safety is paramount, and they need to be well coachedand often more preferred when the type of work is where cash is involved.According to Liwen & Jingkun (2015), there are limitations to this leadership style. It isineffective when staff loses interest, and lack motivation, when work habits become hard tobreak even after what need is to be done is already done, when works become lazy and do not2
want to learn or do more and when they lose interest in their co-workers, hence discouragingteam spirit.III.Democratic Leadership StyleThis is also known as participative style. It is where staff participation is required andencouraged. They are included in the decision-making and are involved in all happenings of theworkplace, and they become part of the workplace family. Everything affecting them in theworkplace is made known, and they come together to find a solution. A democraticleader is an individual leader who creates plans to help staff to be better besidesproviding room for improvement them. Moreover, this type of leadership is where an employerencourages the employees to seek promotions and to make goals. It is effective when theemployees need to be informed of changes and reforms in the workplace. Employees may alsoneed the influence to grow and achieve more, and also when the workers need to be included indecision-making and problem-solving duties. When team building also needs to do, this type ofleadership style should be used.IV.Laissez-Faire Leadership StyleThis is known as a hands-off type of leadership, where the leader provides little or nosupervision and leaves the work to the employees, thus giving them freedom as needed. Theemployees are given authority over all workplace duties including decision-making and problem-solving. It is used when the employees are highly skilled and experienced, where they pride intheir work and are self-driven towards success, and when they can be trusted [ CITATION Joh11 \l1033 ].Importance of Leadership Qualities to ManagersActivity: numerous a period's decent leadership abilities make me more prone to have a decent feeling of activity henceforth I don't hold up to be advised to perform obligations. My groundbreaking makes me more outcome situated and more prepared to offer answers for issues that emerge. Ingenuity: leadership aptitudes improve your capacity to discover better approaches for getting 3
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