Leadership Context Introduction
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Charles Sturt University
Leadership (MGT536)
Added on 2020-03-01
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MGT536 - The essay provides a detailed analysis of the various types of leadership exercised in different situations. The three kinds of situations namely, CEO of a multi-national company, supervisor of a construction site, and a sports coach are discussed along with withthe respective suitable leadership styles.
Leadership Context Introduction
Charles Sturt University
Leadership (MGT536)
Added on 2020-03-01
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Leadership ContextIntroduction The essay provides detailed analysis about the various types of leadership exercised in differentsituation. The three kinds of situations namely, CEO of a multi-national company, supervisor of aconstruction site and a sport coach are discussed along with the respective suitable leadershipstyles. The theories such as trait theory, behavioral theory and contingency theory of leadershipare referred in the essay. The leadership styles such as transformational leadership, transactionalleadership and democratic leadership style are conversed in the essay. The present paperconcludes that leadership is not precisely represented by the position of the individual in theorganization. It is phenomenon which is exercised in different level at the organization and evenin certain social situation. Literature ReviewFrom several decades people are trying to add new concepts on the area of ‘what makes aexcellent leader’. There had been various arguments since several centuries about the idealdefinition of leadership (Woods, 2007). Scholars found out that leadership is a complexphenomenon and it can’t be defined easily. In 20th century there exist several studies which arefocused on the leadership and its effectiveness (Weinberger, 2009). It is appropriate to say thatleadership play vital role in the organization in terms of achieving objectives and goal, thus it isan important aspect from organization or any particular situation point of view (Colbert et. al2008).Leadership is a relationship which exists between two parties, one is a leader while others arefollowers, who creates a shared value and strive towards achievement of shared objectivetogether (Lee, 2008). Based on this concept the leader is likely to be act as a role model for thefollowers and the followers should climb the path directed by leader to accomplish the giventasks (Knab, 2009). Although the leadership is mostly linked to the feature of ‘leading’ or‘directing’ there are several dimension to the act of leadership. McCleskey (2014)proposed thatleaders have distinguished traits as compared to other people. Based on the trait theory, leaders
have different traits in terms of task competence, demographics and interpersonal attributes.However, the behavior theory provides that the leaders can be differentiated based on theirbehaviors. Based on the past literature on leadership there are 65 separate classifications of leader behavior(Derue et.al, 2011). The most consistently researched categories of behaviors are task-oriented,relational-oriented, change-oriented behaviors, and passive leadership. The task orientedbehavior of a leader includes defining task roles, determining the standards of performance, co-ordination with team members, take corrective action and contingent rewards. The relational-oriented behavior includes the democratic (Northouse, 2015) and participative (Dolatabadi &Safa, 2010) style of leadership. Here, the leaders are approachable, friendly and show concernabout the followers. The change-oriented behavior of a leader consists of communication ofvision for change, encouragement of the followers and risk-taking behavior (López-Domínguezet al. 2013). The transformational leadership represents the change-oriented behavior of leaders.The passive leaders are not actively engaged in the problem solving zone. The laissez-faireleadership is the example of passive leadership behavior (Chaudhry & Javed, 2012). As there are various types of behavior one can implement and there are distinguished traits ofleadership, the question arises as what exactly a person should do while leading a group ofpeople? The answer is given in contingency leadership theory. The contingency theory states thatthere is no single way to lead people; the leadership style should be according to the situation.Thus, it is vital that the leader understand the different factors assembled in the situation andfollow a leadership style which is appropriate to the situation. CEOof aMulti-National CompanyCEO of a multi-national company is a position which allocates decision making power alongwith the linked responsibility. As per the trait theory a CEO of the company should have taskcompetence and interpersonal attributes. The person is responsible for the critical decisions inthe company and thus detailed knowledge about the domain of the company (task competence)is required. On the other hand, CEO has to deal with various teams working in the companyincluding technical team, marketing team, human resource team, finance team and many more.
Thus, interpersonal attribute is the essential trait in the CEO of the multi-national company. Thetransformational leadership (change-oriented behavior) is a suitable style of leadership for aCEO. Cheung and Wong (2011) stated that transformational leader should motivate thefollower, stimulate the intellectual, influence their work orientation (performance), providevision and objective, and lastly mentor the followers to accomplish the shared objective. As perChaudhry and Javed, (2012), the transformational leader should encourage the followers tothink ‘out of the box’ which is completely applicable for a leader at CEO position. There arereal time examples in the past that transformational leadership of a CEO has leaded thecompany towards success and innovation. One of such renowned example is Jeff Bezos, CEOof Amazon.com who are created history due to the innovative thinking and transformationleadership. Despite of huge competition in the online retail domain Jeff Bezos, madeAmazon.com to perform, sustain and provided a rapid growth to the company. ASupervisoron aConstruction SiteThe supervisor on the construction site needs to take care of the timely completion of project,safety of workers and tools (resources) required to complete the task. As per the path-goaltheory (Northouse, 2015), the supervisor at the construction site should focus on the leadershipactions which will motivate the workers and enhance their performance to attain the work-related goals. As the supervisors on the construction site have to take care of the day-to-dayallocation of resources the transactional leadership style is suitable for them.Dumdum, Loweand Avolio (2013) stated that transactional leaders are the one who focused on proper allocationof the resources and timely completion of the task. Transactional leaders convey the followersthat they have to perform as per the instruction of the leader; in turn the leader will recognizetheir contribution and provide appropriate reward to them. Here, the supervisor on aconstruction site can motivate the worker to perform well, be committed to the work in order toreceive the reward in terms of bonus after completion of task. As per McCleskey (2014), thetransactional leader take cares of two factors, management by exception and contingent reward.The reward in terms of bonus, flexible work time, leave allocation and assurance of assignmentof upcoming task can be used by the supervisor to motivate the workers to improve their workperformance. The fair treatment as well as appropriate reward by the supervisor will act as a
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