Entrepreneurial Leadership: Theories, Challenges, and Applications

This report discusses the role of entrepreneurial leadership in organisations, the challenges faced by leaders, and the application of various leadership theories in practice. It covers the theories of great man, contingency, transformational, charismatic, ethical, spiritual, servant, and authentic leadership. The report also highlights the importance of effective communication, confidence, learning, interpretation of opportunities, optimism, and vision in entrepreneurial leadership.

Entrepreneurial
Leadership
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Table of Contents
Introduction ....................................................................................................................................3
Main body .......................................................................................................................................3
Role of Entrepreneurial leadership.............................................................................................3
Challenges faced in leadership....................................................................................................4
Theories and concepts of leadership and their application in practice.......................................5
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
References ....................................................................................................................................10
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Introduction
The concept of entrepreneurial leadership is associated with organising and motivating
abilities of leaders to direct individuals towards common goals through driving innovation and
optimisation of opportunities. For the purpose of attaining success the concept of entrepreneurial
leadership emerges. In the given report, the development of people, ethical organisation and
team the role of entrepreneurial leadership will be critically evaluated where the characteristics
and traits will be explained in detail (Huang, Huang and Soetanto, 2022). Apart from this, in
order to develop the knowledge and understanding will be explained by using primary and
secondary sources, research based and theoretical evidence. Furthermore to this, in the real world
learning, opportunities and challenges will be critically analysis and apply concepts and theories
in this range.
Main body
Role of Entrepreneurial leadership
Leadership is the process of prompting the employees of an organisation to attain the
corporate objectives. Whereas entrepreneurship is 4th factor of science of economy because it
involves the creation of products and services by bringing factors of production such as natural
resources, capital, labour etc. In today's world in the success of business entrepreneurial
leadership is one of the effective leadership skills (Whitmore, 2010). It has both the qualities of
entrepreneurship and leadership. It involves the motivating and organising a set of people in
achieving a common objective through risk optimisation, managing the dynamic of environment
in organisation, innovation and taking advantages of opportunities.
The role of entrepreneurial leadership are as follows:
Effective communication skills – Entrepreneurial leadership must have effective
communication skills so that it help them to convey their ideas as well as actively listen to the
ideas of others. They inspire communication between departments and across levels (Idris,
2019). It avoid the misunderstanding and conflicts which occurs due to poor communication.
Confidence – In order to make good decision and lead the organisation in growth
oriented, productive activities effective entrepreneurial leaders must be confident. Through
leadership experience which include learning opportunities as well as success they generally gain
the confidence. It will help the organisation in attaining objectives and goals set by them.
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Learning – its job is not only in updating knowledge and learning but it also creates
leaning environment in an organisation which encourages others people to widen their
experience, improve their knowledge and able to tackle multiple challenges (Bush, Bell and
Middlewood, 2019). It help to solve and encourage their workers to think out of the box and try
to solve the problems creatively.
Interpretation of the opportunities – In an organisation the entrepreneurial leader must
find the opportunities and interpretation them in order to achieve the goals and objective
effectively and efficiently. By this it helps them to increase its market share and profitability
with cost effective methods and optimum utilisation of resources.
Optimism – Entrepreneurial leaders must believe that any challenges and problems can
be overcome or solved. The support of this optimism into innovation, creative problem solving
and determination which helps them in achieving their goals and objectives effectively and
efficiently (Guthrie and Jenkins, 2018). When paired with the right tools and resources and sense
of realism it will help the entrepreneurial leaders in achieving the organisational goals, increase
the profit margin and market share.
Vision – Every successful entrepreneurial leader must have a clear vision of where they
want to go, goals and how to achieve or get there. Their vision will be communicated with the
teams and in order to make the vision a reality work with them accordingly. It must be cost
effective and with optimum utilisation of resources.
Challenges faced in leadership Establishing effectiveness: The main challenges of leadership that are faced at
workplace is influencing and directing students and staff members through inspiring
them in effective manner. A leader must be inspiring enough that individuals actually
wants to pursue actions under his guidance. Coping stress and anxiety: The role of leaders are quite challenging in educational
workplace as they have to deal with a lot of individuals and thus conflicts arise in
managing them and leads to chaos. One of the major leadership attribute is to stay calm
under hectic situations, because they have to lead their team in every circumstances. The
effectiveness of leaders is truly analysed in chaotic situations.
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 Coaching and mentoring: One major attribute of leadership is coaching others so that
they can perform with high productivity. Leaders face challenge when their team
performs ineffectively due to lack of guidance or organisation skills. Implementing changes: Changes and uncertain events are crucial element of an
organisation and changes are sometimes very much necessary in educational institutions
for promoting growth and development (Xie, 2018). Thus leading change and
encouraging follower to respond better is a constant challenge for leaders as changes are
highly restrained by staff members and students as well. Aligning practices with ethical values: Challenges are faced by leaders in establishing
ethical values among individuals and problems often arise when someone from their team
is indulged in acts breaching ethical code and conduct of an organisation. Handling differences: One of the major challenge faced by leaders in managing
differences within diverse workplace. Individuals in organisation has differences of
opinions, thoughts, viewpoints and leaders have to deal with these perspectives (Feser
and et al., 2019). Such differences are hard to manage and they leads to chaotic
situations. Communication challenges: Leaders face challenges in effective communication as
workplaces are becoming fast paced and communicating policies and directions is quite a
challenge. Lack of organisation leads to delays in meetings, schedules, decision-making
resulting in inefficiency.
 Decision-making: The task of taking effective decisions is a challenging task for leaders
as they have to take into account various aspects which is time taking. More often the
decisions of leaders leads to disappointments and disapproval among various staff
members which leads to dissatisfaction of personnel (Boyatzis and McKee, 2005).
Theories and concepts of leadership and their application in practice
The great man theory
This theory is a conventional theory which states that leaders are born not made.
According to this theory, if an individual is endowed with the traits of leadership such as
influential personality, leading and directing attitude and other attributes, then such individuals
are capable of becoming leaders. It suggests that leaders are born with specific traits which sets
them apart from others and allow them to rise and lead a group. This theory is based on
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conventional aspects and does not consider any strategies or actions of leaders, instead it blindly
assumes that great leaders of history influenced people and bought changes with their in-built
qualities. This theory does not seem relevant today as it do not consider actions and development
of traits for enhancing influence rather it deny that leadership traits could develop with time and
experience.
Contingency theory
This theory is associated with emphasizing upon multiple variables in a certain
background which suggests that leadership styles must be developed according to given
circumstances. It states that no particular style of leadership is best and leaders must follow
approach best suited to existing conditions (Boyatzis, Smith and Van Oosten, 2019). Thus
leaders must apply this theory in practice by following flexible approach where for the purpose
of coaching and mentoring members, no particular style is taken into consideration. Instead, it
highly emphasize that leaders must attempt at finding perfect balance among behaviours,
patterns and attitude of their followers and context of their organisation. The theory of
contingency should be practiced in the process of mentoring and coaching individuals within an
educational institution. Through practising this theory, leaders would be able to implement
changes through enhancing flexibility and respond better to uncertainties. Leaders following this
approach focusing upon attaining best outcomes through making decisions best suited to
prevailing situations. Practising pragmatic and flexible approach would help in achieving high
and potential results. However, this approach sometimes leads to inefficiency of results as it
lacks knowledge of literature as well as clarity of forward thinking.
Transformational leadership
This leadership style and theory is an emerging leadership and coaching model which
states that a true and effective leader must motivate, encourage and inspire their followers to
perform better. Transformational leaders attempts at implementing changes which are beneficial
for the growth and development of the organisation as well of staff members. In educational
insinuations, this theory of leadership is highly relevant and significant for ensuring future
success. Under this leadership and coaching approach, leaders give space to their followers for
enhancing creativity and driving innovation so that they would be able to take initiative on their
own (Browne, 2020). With application of this theory in practice, leaders at educational institutes
would be able to attain growth and progress through enhancing innovative skills and creativity of
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staff members. With this leadership style, leaders attempts at providing autonomy to followers in
order to bring transformation through allowing their suggestions and advices for betterment of
processes. The application of this theory requires high level of interaction with employees
because it focus upon brining changes through staff and if tasks do not get accomplished, team
members are to blamed.
Charismatic leadership
This leadership theory states that leaders are able to lead a group through maintaining an
influential personality and persuasive approach which leads to effectiveness in leadership.
Charismatic leaders who possess the ability to connect with individuals on a profound level
implies stronger interpersonal relations which ensures that staff members are religiously
following their leaders. This theory of leadership is very effective in practice within an
educational institutions as in order to manage diversity of students and staff members, carrying
charm and persuasive attributes helps in establishing effectiveness (Bush, 2020). The
application of this theory requires leaders to improve their communication and interactive skills
so that their personality seems charming and influential to others. The practice of this theory
would help in inspiring followers through constructive soft skills which assist in effective
guidance to employees. However, this theory sometimes leads to narcissism and persuasive
behaviour sometimes encourage manipulation. This theory in practice often creates over-
confidence among leaders and in some cases leaders act for the sake of seeking attention.
Ethical leadership
The concept of ethical leadership is associated with demonstration and promotion of
compliance with normative conduct so that actions of staff members aligns with ethical concerns
of the organisation. It is a significant and highly important theory as it revolves around ensuring
respect and equal treatment among various individuals of an organisation. In educational
institutions, it holds great significance as an effective leader must be able to establish high
ethical values and ensure equal opportunities to all students as well as staff members.
Challenges are faced by leaders in ensuring ethical practices by various staff members and thus
through practising this theory of leadership, leaders are able to guide fellow members to follow
the code of conduct of an organisation (Coleman and Glover, 2010). The application of ethical
leadership in practice is quite challenging as it requires consistency without failure and it
requires high clarity for establishing guidance regarding ethics and moral code of conduct.
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Spiritual Leadership
This theory and style of leadership is related to the application of spirituality through
engaging in practices focusing upon values and principles of staff members. A spiritual leader
takes into consideration the concerns of their team members and pays emphasis on human
element of an individual within workplace. In educational institutions, this theory of leadership
is highly valuable as it helps in ensuring an inclusive environment for students as well as staff
members where they are valued. Through practising spiritual leadership, leaders are able to
ensure effective performance with high productivity of staff members. When leaders consider
concerns of their members, employees also revert them in the same manner. Thus through
creating valuable relations with staff members by listening to their grievances and serving their
purpose, leaders can attain high efficiency in organisation (Diller and et.al., 2020). However too
much emphasizing on practising spiritual leadership could leads to inefficiency as it could lead
to loss of focus on organisational objectives. Spiritual leaders become negligent in directing and
commanding employees as focus is paid on their members expectations and hence it leads to
compromise in achievement of tasks.
Servant Leadership
It is a philosophy and leadership style where an individual interacts with others in order
to achieve authority rather than power. Its focus is to develop qualities of leadership in others
and is not suitable in other or all situations. Servant leader puts the needs of the employees,
shares power and help people to perform and develop as highly as possible. It often put the
organisation's need ahead of honour people and personal needs and not politics and programs.
Students will be benefit highly from this leadership approach as serve them first as a person by
their teachers and them lead them in their learning confidently (Evans, 2020). At lower level
servant leaders supports teams and employees in making decisions, having both the tools and
having both the tools and skills to do their jobs and having more job responsibilities. It is useful
and helpful for the betterment of an organisation and this style is opposite of the traditional
leadership model. It provides a framework where the teams of an organisation can flourish.
Authentic Leadership
It emphasizes genuineness, transparency and honesty as it inspires trust, build authentic
relationship and motivation in the employees of an organisation. It encourage their teams and
able to see long term goals to reach the goals and remain focused. There are mainly four
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components of authentic leadership that is self awareness, relational transparency, balanced
processing and internalized moral perspective by which it helps to achieve the organisational
goals effectively and efficiently with optimum utilisation of resources. It creates reliability and
transparency as it act on beliefs and deep personal values, interact with others in a manner which
recognise as authentic (Feldman and et.al., 2013). To prioritise in serving the greater good the
servant leadership which is based on the idea. The central point of a team is seeing as a leader by
the team and to meet the organisational goals which is supported by them. In this theory its
objective is to keep the needs and wants of employees at the forefront.
Conclusion
From the above report, it has been concluded the role of entrepreneurial leadership is
significant in the development of teams people and ethical organisations. The various theories
and styles of leadership are evaluated in this report which helps in understanding of practises and
approaches that are useful for leaders for effective management. The analysis of several
leadership theories suggests the ideal practices which leaders must adopt within an organisation
for effectively leading a group. It has been analysed that application of different theories of
leadership has different implications on the performance of leaders. It has been assessed that
how leaders can adopt effectiveness in their functions through considering various styles and
concepts of leadership.
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References
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Compassion for Lifelong Learning & Growth: Harvard Business Review Press
Boyatzis, R.& McKee, A., 2005 Resonant Leadership: Renewing Yourself & Connecting with
Others through Mindfulness, Hope & Compassion: Harvard Business School Press
Browne, E., 2020. Effective School Leadership in Challenging Times: A Practice-First, Theory-
Informed Approach, London, Routledge.
Bush, A., 2020. Theories of Educational Leadership and Management, London, Sage.
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management. Sage.
Coleman, M & Glover, D., 2010. Educational Leadership and Management: Developing Insights
and Skills, London, McGraw Hill.
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basic psychological needs, International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in
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Richard Branson, and Jack Ma, Independent Publishing
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