The Leadership Experience: Understanding Styles, Theories, and Development

This article explores the concept of leadership, its importance in organizations, and the different leadership styles and theories. It also discusses leadership development and the skills required for effective leadership.

RUNNINGHEAD: The Leadership Experience 0
The Leadership Experience

The Leadership Experience 1
The leadership is an ability to influence others to pursue defined objectives. It is the
leadership between two or more persons in order to influence each other towards the
accomplishment of goals. The leadership has an important role in making an organization
successful. As per Nichols, 2016, the leadership is considered an important part and crucial
component of effective management. An effective leadership helps an organization to remain
focused and encourages achieving short-term and long-term goals (Nichols, 2016).
The leaders continuously work to improve leadership skills. It is a process by which a leader
inspires others in order to achieve organizational goals. The leaders direct the organization in
such a way to make it more cohesive and coherent. The leadership includes:
Leader: A leader is an honest and confident person. They are the followers who conclude
whether the leader is successful or not. If the followers lack assurance in their leaders then
they will be uninspired. A leader needs to persuade followers in order to be successful.
Followers: It has been seen that different people adopt different styles of leadership. For
instance, a fresher entails more supervision and attention than an experienced employee. A
demotivated person requires a different approach with a high degree of motivation. A good
understanding of human nature is required such as needs, emotions and more (Bolden, 2016).
Communication: A leader leads through two-way communication. When a leader sets the
example and communicates to a person which does not necessarily ask them to perform
something that a leader is not willing to do.
Situation: The situations are not always same. A tactic applied in one situation is not going to
help in other situation. A proper judgment is required to decide the best course of action and
leadership style required in every situation.
There are various theories of leadership to explain leadership.
Trait theories: According to trait theory, people inherit certain qualities which make them a
better leader. It identifies the personality and characteristics which is shared by the leaders. It
is the conventional approach used to study leadership. This approach is also used to observe
the difference between leaders and non-leaders. There are some traits which put positive
implication for a successful leadership is integrity, obstinacy, flexibility, self-confidence,
emotional stability, achievement orientation, stress tolerance and more. These traits tend to
predict leadership outcomes.

The Leadership Experience 2
Behavioral theories: The behavioral theory focuses on the action of leaders other than the
mental states. As per this approach, people can learn the way to become leaders through
teaching and observation. According to Crites, Dickson & Lorenz, 2015, theory also
highlights what people do on the job and behaves in order to leadership effectiveness. The
behavior research includes classification of leadership behavior in organizations and
identification of behaviors linked to the criteria of leadership effectiveness (Crites, Dickson
& Lorenz, 2015). The leaders are highly sensitive to the feelings of people. They define the
requirements of task and aspects of the work plan.
Situational contingency theories: the trait and behavioral theories have a strong impact on the
outcomes. The situational contingency theories consider the traits and behaviors in the
context of the situational contingencies. This theory defines the particular style of leadership
as per the suitable situation. This theory also assumes that there is no particular leadership
style which is suitable for all situations. It depends on various variables such as the preferred
style of leadership, facets of situation, skills, and behavior of employees. The optimal amount
of leadership behavior is defined by the work environment, nature of the task and subordinate
attributes.
There are various leadership styles exist in the work environments. The culture and goals of
an organization define which leadership style is suitable for them.
Autocratic leadership: In the autocratic leadership, the autocratic leader holds all authority
and responsibility. The leader takes a decision on the behalf of all team members. The leader
does not consult with its subordinates. This leadership is used when the close level of
supervision is required. The autocratic leader possesses a high level of power on it’s
employees.
Democratic leadership: In the democratic leadership, the subordinates contribute has role in
the decision making process. However, the final decision and responsibility are in the hands
of the democratic leader. Unlike autocratic, the democratic leader delegates authority to the
people who control work projects. Communication is the most important feature in this style
of leadership which flows upward and downward (Latham, 2014). This leadership style is
considered the most preferred leadership and comprises the qualities like fairness,
competency, creativity, courage, aptitude, and honesty.

The Leadership Experience 3
Transformational leadership: The transformational leadership style focuses on initiating
change in organizations. It motivates others to do more than the employees originally
intended to do. The expectations are set challenging in order to achieve a higher performance.
As per Hildenbrand, Sacramento & Binnewies 2018, the transformational leadership style
aims at inducing a change in attitudes and expectations held by an organization (Hildenbrand,
Sacramento & Binnewies 2018). The high level of communication exists between managers
and employees. The leaders meet goals and enhance productivity under the supervision of
leaders (Muenjohn & Armstrong, 2015).
Transactional leadership: The transaction leadership involves management. It punishes the
employees who made errors. This style monitors subordinates closely. The performance is
not going to be best if the employees consider it constrained. This theory reduces the
voluntary behaviors such as citizen behaviors. The follower achieves tangible rewards such
as bonuses to carry out the orders of leaders.
Bureaucratic leadership: The bureaucratic leadership is followed more in hospitals, banks,
and the universities. This leadership style is used to reduce corruption and increase security.
It has been also noticed that the self-motivated individuals feel frustrated due to the inability
to adapt to changing the environment (Day, et. al. 2014). There is no space to explore new
ways of solving issues.
Charismatic leadership: The charismatic leaders are visionary and work by imparting a high
level of energy and enthusiasm in the team. A role model is set for the team by the leader for
the higher level of performance (Komives, 2016). These leaders are committed to the
organizations and the followers have great faith in their leaders. It also involves
transformation of follower’s value and beliefs.
Laissez-Faire Leadership: In this type of leadership style, the leader does not exercise control
over employees directly. This leadership is connected with the leaders who do not supervise
their teams and not able to provide continuous feedback. It gives authority to employees. The
subordinates can work with the minimal interference. This is the least effective leadership
style (Moore, Odom & Boyd, 2017).
The leadership helps to maximize efficiency and achieve goals of an organization.
Initiates action: The leadership initiates the work by communicating policies and plans to the
subordinates. The subordinates have the main role in starting the work. The vision and

The Leadership Experience 4
mission provide an understanding of the organizational goals and responsibilities and an
understanding of achieving them.
Motivation: The leadership plays an incentive role in the working of managers. The managers
are motivated by the economic and noneconomic rewards. It is also helpful for the employees
to get the work done by it’s subordinates (Guillén, Mayo & Korotov, 2015).
Guidance: The leadership has not the only role in supervising but also guides to the managers
regarding the important decisions. Here guidance means guiding managers regarding their
authority and responsibility towards an organization. It also guides the way to perform work
efficiently and successfully.
Creates confidence: The confidence is a significant factor in stating efforts to the managers.
The leaders clearly define the role and provide guidelines to achieve the organizational goals
effectively. It also provides confidence to managers to tackle complaint and the problem of
employees.
Building morale: The morale represents to easing cooperation of managers towards works
and getting employees into confidence and winning their trust (Dinh, et. al. 2014). It helps in
achieving full cooperation by boosting the morale of managers. It enables managers to
perform their best in order to achieve organizational goals.
Coordination: The coordination is achieved through reuniting personal interests with the
organizational goals. The effective coordination is a major motive of a leader and leads to
achieve synchronization.
The application of leadership in a team has a major role in the success and failure of a team.
Before applying leadership to a team it is required to unite a team in the fast-changing
environment to achieve goals. The views are strongly held among trustees, staff, service users
and partners in developing strategies. The leadership develops innovative teams who can take
advantage of new opportunities. The leadership can be applied in the teams by adopting it’s
various styles. The styles adopted by leaders have a major influence on the team. According
to Iqbal, Anwar & Haider, 2015, the leadership style should be adopted as per the situation
and development level of the team. The leadership skills required for developing teams are
building trust, demonstrating courage, challenging, focus and effective communication
(Iqbal, Anwar & Haider, 2015).

The Leadership Experience 5
The leadership is the ability to influence people in an organization in order to achieve goals.
The application of leadership in organizations is made possible by the following steps:
 Leading people: The leaders evaluate the strength of employees in an organization
and empower them by delegating responsibilities. Fostering communication and
providing opportunities to the employees brings success to an organization (Landis,
Hill & Harvey, 2014).
 Strategic decision making: A leader is required to make a decision which is in the
interest of company’s short and long-term goals. The strategic decision maker relies
on the organizational members with expertise to help and support their decisions.
 Conflict management: The leaders’ manage conflict at the workplace by resolving
them in an effective way. An efficient conflict management is a cost-saving measure.
The conflicts are a financial burden to a business which causes high employee
turnover.
 Participative management: The progressive business models reflect participative
management in which employees are included in the decision-making process. It can
assist a business greatly.
 Challenging status quo: To promote the growth of an organization, it needs to go
beyond the status quo (Mumford, Campion & Morgeson, 2007). The leader critically
reflects goals of an organization and identifies the innovative ways to uplift the
business.
The leadership can be developed by the skills given below:
Formal training: The leadership can be developed by offering formal training programmes to
the leaders in an organization. It provides leaders with enough knowledge and skills. It is a
classroom-based training and includes questions of leader’s ability to transfer information.
Developmental job assignment: The organizations allocate leaders to the developmental jobs
which target the newly attained talent. In the developmental, leaders learn, undergo personal
change and gain leadership roles (Mumford, et. al.2000). The focus is giving on pushing
employees out of their comfort zone so that they can operate in a complex environment.
Coaching: The coaching embraces the effectiveness of leaders. It aims at teaching important
lessons by assessment, challenge, and support. It is also the aim of coaching to correct the
fault. It is used to assist leaders to move next level and face complex challenges.

The Leadership Experience 6
Self-directed learning: The leaders teach themselves by making use of self-directed learning.
It can be done by selecting areas of development and choosing knowledge avenues. It aims to
acquire new skills along with the perspective on the leadership responsibilities.
Leadership development models: There are two models for the development of leaders. The
first model evaluates three models such as assessment, challenge, and support to make
developmental experience stronger. The second model assesses that development process
includes factors such as economic conditions, population, culture, business strategy and more
(Rees & Porter, 2015).
The leadership emphasizes on developing leadership skills and abilities. It is imperative for
molding a group of people into the team. The concepts and theories of leadership are helpful
in understanding role of leadership in an organization. The leadership styles defined above
explains the importance of leadership in varying business situations. The leadership is
important in enhancing qualities of managers. The application of leadership in teams and
organizations develops an organization.

The Leadership Experience 7
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