Leadership Styles: Trait Theory, Situational, Transformational, and Servant Leadership

This document discusses various leadership styles including trait theory, situational leadership, transformational leadership, and servant leadership. It explores the characteristics of each style and provides examples of their application in different situations. The document also includes personal leadership profiles and scenarios that demonstrate the use of different leadership models.

INTRODUCTION TO MANAGEMENT
Leadership styles
Name:

TRAIT THEORY:
1. From among several traits under the trait theory I possesses:
a) Achievement drive- In many situations I have found myself putting higher level
of effort to build and retain teams and also I carry higher ambitions as compared
to my colleagues.
b) Honesty and integrity- I am a person honest towards my firm and my
responsibilities. I totally understand the value of coordination and integration
amongst several departments within the firm.
For example: Because once I felt that a model made for accomplishment of
specific task was unsound, I announced that I would take tough decisions needed
to reinstate the model. Because of the integrity, I attained the trust of my
teammates. They all came together, gave their utter best efforts and the results
were commendable.
c) Leadership motivation- I am a leader with intense desire to attain common goals
and I also tend to motivate my team for the same (Bonnici, 2016).
2. A trait that I possess within but which is not a part of trait theory is “Respect for team
members.” I believe in the fact that every single person desires respect and that everyone
has a right to attain the same in the workplace. I thus encourage my teammates to express
their opinions and ideas so that they feel belongingness and part of the task.
3. I feel that I could be a good leader in the future as I carry most of the traits of being a
successful leader. Other than few facts like handling teammates emotionally, solving

their personal issues, I feel myself as a very good leader. Rather than focusing on the
factors in the workplace, I tend to adjust my style according the abilities that my
followers carry. I as a leader follow a specific style based on my follower’s maturity
level.
SITUATIONAL, TRANSFORMATIONAL, AND SERVANT LEADERSHIP
1. Explanation:
a) Situation leadership- means a leadership in which the manager or leader of any
firm adjusts his/her style of leading to fit in the development level of his
teammates.
b) Transformational leadership- the leader helps and guides his staffs, gets
engaged with the team, inspires them as well as motives them towards their
personal and also organizational development
c) Servant leadership- such leader is a “servant” first. This type of leaders focus on
other’s needs and especially emphasizes on his team members demands and
requirements before he considers his own (Daft & Lane, 2015).
2. I don not feel that any leadership style is better than the other. Rather I feel that all
leadership styles are amazing in their own way and that one needs to understand when
and how to implement these styles in differing situations. Like, both servant as well as
transformational leaders works to build more leaders like themselves. While
transformational leader carries an ethical dimension, altruistic facet of servant leader is

also unmatched. Though all the styles have their own differences from each other yet
they even tend to compliment each other.
3. My experience with servant leadership style started at a church, with a priest. He was
an active Christian his entire life, and said that he has personally been on both the sides of
this leadership. While he was youth, people around him invested in his life to build him
as a Godly leader. People still put some efforts for depicting me as a servant leader. This
made him turn, into a servant leader. This father at church doesn’t yet considers himself a
faultless servant leader, and says that he is yet far away from attaining the style, but keeps
on investing into others life and aims that one day people will repeat this procedure and
says that this is what a pure servant leadership means.
IDENTIFY A LEADER
Negative user- prime minister of Slovakia pardoned himself for kidnapping the son of
the president. When the president died soon after the incident, Meciar temporarily
attained position of both president as well as prime minister he misused his post and
issued presidential pardons for himself.
Positive user- Nelson Mandela was actually a gifted visionary and an immensely
creative leader. He was extremely strategic leader and till date several leaders
aspire to be like him. Notwithstanding punitive prison life, he always mustered
energy for challenging his keepers (Glanz, 2017).

PERSONAL LEADESHIP PROFILE
I am full of enthusiasm; energy and I always take initiatives for works. Since my
leadership is directed towards satisfaction of staff’s needs as well as preferences, I
through this style am capable of showing my concern towards my follower’s
psychological well being. This enables me in letting the staff work things out for me and
would help me provide guidance to my team, as and when things in do not go so well.
Successful leaders tend to have certain traits. Major areas for personal growth as well as
development are: positive attitude and self-confidence. And I carry both. I feel myself a
successful and motivating leader.
a) My future in leadership-
 Leadership mission statement- My personal mission for leadership in
future is to be a safe, effective, patient and caring leader. I would like to be
up to date with all the upcoming technologies and services so that I could
make my followers aware of the same and build a strong and reliable team
for tasks to be undertaken. I believe in the fact that knowledge is actual
power that ultimately enables operations to the bring out results and
enhance firm’s profit. I would like to inculcate same thought in my team
as well.
b) Theories that I want to involve in my practice- I feel myself as a person being
very less innovative not so flexible. I would like to attain the quality of flexibility
within my traits so that in coming future I could adapt changes easily and handle
my staffs properly.

Also I have seen that people in my team feel hesitated to share facts and details
with me. Probably this was the reason that few team members who were unhappy
with the reward system were found talking amongst them and not with me as a
leader. So, I would opt for “participative style of leadership.” I would like to
develop a patter on two way communication where both superiors and
subordinates can share facts with each other without hesitation and staffs could be
happier and more focused to their work.
I would like to adopt “contingency theory of leadership” as it enables the leader to
attain no single way for leading his team rather asks him to change his style of
leadership as per the situation which also signifies that the leader through this
could perform his best and the followers would also feel more satisfied and happy
(Glanz, 2017).
c) My core values as a manager would be:
 Strengths- my major strength would involve traits that I am a good
achiever, a disciplined person, an extrovert, and an emotionally matured
human being. But being a human I also have few weaknesses like
flexibility skills and innovative qualities. I also possess traits of a relator
as well as a learner. My analysis depicts that I attain greater deal of
stamina, physical strength, hard work and also I take good care of both the
involved parties while any decision making or conflict resolution.

 Conflict management skills- the analysis depicts that I am cooperative
when it is about conflict management and dealing with negative situations.
The accommodating style is cooperative because it gives in to maintaining
relationships and minimizes injury when one is outmatched.
 Feedback skills- I would like to attain thoughtful reviews and feedbacks
from my teammates and this helps me in improving myself as well as my
team. The procedure of being a leader who believes in constructive
feedback is actually an interactive method, which provides me with
understanding the purpose of modifying errors as well as enhancing
the process of learning (Bonnici, 2016).
SCENARIOS
1. Use of Hersey-Blanchard Model when a staff is under performing and seems to
lack confidence-
Source: (Bonnici, 2016)

Source: (Bonnici, 2016)
Leadership model given by Hersey-Blanchard recommends that there actually exist no
sole leadership style, which can be said to be better than any other. In this case we can
clearly see that the employee is underperforming and lacks confidence. Though he is not
actually unwilling to perform but is in fact afraid of the results. The leader in this
scenario can start from participating leadership style and end up to selling leadership
style. This is the R1 level where the staff feels less confident and insecure and only
motivation and participation can help him. Secondly after boosting him up, as the
employee moves to R2 level where leader can attempt assigning him different job
responsibilities, being in S2 (Style 2) of leadership (Kellerman, 2019).
2. Path-Goal Model for expert employee’s changing behavior from positive to
negative

Source: (Bonnici, 2016)
In this situation where a particular staff after attaining expertise in a field and being
considered by the leader for future promotion, suddenly starts dropping her level of
performance and seems to be demotivated and unhappy with work, best leadership style
to be adopted by the leader can be “supportive leadership.” This style would help the
leader to develop a feeling of belongingness and would motivate the demotivated staff
thereby making her more focused and happy towards her work (Kohler, 2016).
3. Path-Goal Model for employees unhappy with reward system
In a situation where the teams of employees that are doing a specific project are seen
unhappy with the reward system of the firm, leader must adopt “Participative leadership
style” from the path goal theory of leadership. Since the staffs are unable to discuss their
feelings regarding the reward system, they are heard discussing the same in the staff’s
room, thereby demotivating the staffs. Thus, participative style of leadership will be the
best to be considered by the leader in the situation (Kellerman, 2019).

4. Hershey Blanchard Model for employees unhappy with reward system
As the scenario depicts, the employees undertaking a specific task in the firm are
unhappy with the reward system and they are heard talking negative about the company’s
reward schemes. As it is known that unhappy staffs turn to be demotivated,
unenthusiastic, the leader in such situation can follow “participative leadership style” as
the staffs are at R3 level where they are actually capable but are seen unwilling towards
work due to their unhappiness and dissatisfaction from the reward system existing in the
firm (Kellerman, 2019).
5. Path-Goal Model for capable and experienced but demotivated and unhappy
staffs
The team is actually somewhat intentionally non-supportive, thus, the manager
needs to be very cohesiveness and adopt esprit-de-corps, which would provide
friendship, enthusiasm, as well as devotion to the team and motivate them
thereby. The leader through adoption of “directive style of leadership” can
inform the staffs of the tem about the firm’s expectations from them, which
would give them a very clear idea thereby avoiding situations of chaos
(Goldgeier, 2018).

References
Bonnici, C. (2016). Creating a Successful Leadership Style. Lanham: Rowman &
Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
Boutros-Ghali, B., Bush, G., Carter, J., Gorbachev, M., Tutu, D., Hamburg, D., & Vance,
C. (2018). Essays on leadership. Washington DC: Carnegie Corp. of New York.
Daft, R., & Lane, P. (2015). Leadership. Stamford: Cengage Learning.
Glanz, J. (2017). Finding your leadership style. Moorabbin, Vic.: Hawker Brownlow
Education.
Goldgeier, J. (2018). Leadership style and Soviet foreign policy. Baltimore: Johns
Hopkins University Press.

Kellerman, B. (2019). The leadership standards crisis. Strategy & Leadership, 47(1), 26-
29. doi: 10.1108/sl-11-2018-0107
Kohler, R. (2016). Optimization of Leadership Style. Wiesbaden: Springer Gabler.