Managing Organizations and Leading People

This article discusses the qualities of a good leader, the five practices of exemplary leadership, and the three types of leadership styles. It also covers the Vertical Dyad Linkage theory and the Fiedler Contingency Model.

Running head: MANAGING ORGANIZATIONS AND LEADING PEOPLE
Managing Organizations and Leading People
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1MANAGING ORGANIZATIONS AND LEADING PEOPLE
A true leader is a person who is honest and credible. Honesty and integrity of character is
extremely important for being a good leader. A good leader leads by example and if a leader is
credible and honest, then people who work under him, will more often than not try to imbibe the
good qualities of the leader. A good honest leader will always be successful because his vision,
goals and strategies will always be guided by honesty. A true leader should thus be a good
person from within who is honest and credible.
A leader should be forward looking and have a sense of direction and vision. He should
be progressive in his thoughts and actions and should be able to guide his team in achieving the
vision of his organization.
A good leader should be able to inspire those who work with him and under him. A good
leader should be enthusiastic, energetic and positive. He should be brimming with energy and
should be able to approach every task with enthusiasm and energy. A leader should always be
positive in his thoughts and actions. A good leader should also be an optimistic person.
A good leader should be competent and be able to make things happen. He should be
competent enough to solve every hurdle and obstacles that come his way and be competent
enough to get the work done. A good leader should also be competent enough to take care of his
employees and help and guide them in their work.
The five practices of exemplary leadership are, to Inspire a shared vision, Model the way,
Challenge the process, Enable Others to Act and Encourage the Heart (Cashman 2017).

2MANAGING ORGANIZATIONS AND LEADING PEOPLE
A leader has a vision in mind and this vision is about the success and glory of the
company. A good leader has a dream of making their organization extremely successful. Idea is
extremely important and everything in this world starts with an idea or a vision. It is the
responsibility of the leader to communicate this vision to his colleagues and include them in the
journey to achieve the goals for the company. A good leader is one who is a good team player.
Examples of such leaders are Bill Gates and Melinda Gates whose vision for their organization
include Global development, U.S. programs, Global Health, Advocacy and Global Policy. Bill
Gates and Melinda Gates have also requested other wealthy people like Warren Buffet to donate
some money to the ‘Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’.
A good leader models and paves the way for others to follow. It is very pertinent to find
one’s voice and to share one’s values with one’s colleagues. A good leader does that and also
shows the way and helps and guides his colleagues to achieve their goals. A good leader sets
standards for excellence and by their own dint of knowledge and hard work they achieve those
standards and sets an example for his colleagues. An example of such a leader is Angelina Jolie,
who after having a double mastectomy used her knowledge and experience to educate others in
the world, especially women about mastectomy.
A good leader challenges the process. A good leader is never satisfied with the status quo
and always challenges it. A good leader searches for opportunities, takes risks, experiments,
makes mistakes at times, learns from the mistakes and in doing so, challenge the process. An
example of such a leader is Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple. Had he had not challenged the
process and searched for opportunities and had not experimented or taken risks, innovation of
Apple products would not have been possible.

3MANAGING ORGANIZATIONS AND LEADING PEOPLE
A good leader enables others to act. A good leader knows dreams do not always
materialize by a single person’s efforts. Hence, a good leader ropes in the support of others to
help them achieve his dream for the company. A good leader knows that leadership is a team
effort and he or she needs the support of his colleagues. Hence, a good leader always involves
others in his work and seeks the opinion of others while taking important decisions. An example
of such a leader is Nelson Mandela. By uniting with others and strengthening others, he
dismantled apartheid in South Africa.
A good leader encourages the heart. Sometimes work can be extremely challenging with
employees wanting to give up. In such a scenario the leader steps in and encourages his
colleagues to carry on by showing genuine concern and care for their welfare. A good leader
acknowledges the effort that people working under him put it into their work and offers them
rewards and benefits. A good example of such a leader is Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google,
who praise those who work under him and offers them rewards, incentives and benefits when
they achieve their goals. (Daniel 2018)
There are three kinds of leadership styles that include Autocratic, Laissez-fare and
Democratic.
Autocratic leadership is a type of leadership wherein the leader exercises complete
control and power over those people who work under him. An autocratic leader also dictates
work methods and does not seek the opinion of his colleagues while taking a decision. Unlike a
democratic leadership style where the leader seeks the opinions and advice of his colleagues
while taking an important decision, under an autocratic leadership, the right to make suggestions

4MANAGING ORGANIZATIONS AND LEADING PEOPLE
and voice one’s opinions are completely denied even if it is good and in the interest of the
company.
The Pros of Autocratic Leadership includes getting a job done quickly without any
interference. This kind of style is good for getting jobs that require constant monitoring and
supervision and also when decisions need to be made quickly. Autocratic leadership is also good
for tasks that require low skills, such as directing the employees of an organization to file papers
etc. Autocratic leadership is also good for situations where the employees are not motivated.
The Cons of Autocratic Leadership include limitations on one’s creativity. An autocratic
leadership also limits productivity because an autocratic leader dampens the morale of his
employees by delegating tasks and dictating instructions in an autocratic way. An autocratic
leadership may also cause a lot of stress to a leader since the entire responsibility of his team and
the work they do lies with him, unlike in a democratic leadership. Adolf Hitler exemplified this
kind of autocratic leadership style. A leader practicing an autocratic leadership may not make the
best decisions as he lacks the creative input from his employees. Leader dependence is another
drawback of autocratic leadership because once the leader, there is no guarantee that the
employees will continue working with the same zest and motivation.
Under a Laissez-faire leadership, a leader has very little contribution in the decision
making process and leaves the decision making responsibility to his team.
The Pros of Laissez- faire leadership include improving the thinking skills of people who
are working under a leader. Laissez – faire leadership is also conducive to creativity. This kind of
leadership can work if members of a team are highly trained, reliable, capable and motivated, but
if not, then it can create serious problems for an organization. This kind of leadership is

5MANAGING ORGANIZATIONS AND LEADING PEOPLE
exercised upon those people who are extremely passionate as well as knowledgeable in their
respective fields. Warren Buffet who knows that his employees can work without his supervision
since they are very knowledgeable about their field intervenes when he absolutely have to, and
exemplifies this kind of laissez-faire leadership (Joseph et al. 2015).
The Cons of Laissez-faire leadership include lack of role awareness wherein members of
a team may not be aware of what they are supposed to do, what their role is etc. Less
involvement with the group is another disadvantage of laissez-faire leadership. Since the leader
to seems to be withdrawn, members may not take an active role in completing their tasks. It also
leads to low accountability wherein the leader may refuse to take responsibilities in case of any
problem and hold the entire team responsible for the mistake.
Under a Democratic Leadership, a leader takes the role in the decision making process,
but unlike in an autocratic leadership, the leader consults his peers and people working under
him.
The Pros of a Democratic Leadership include an encouragement of creativity. It also
promotes free thinking as people are encouraged to voice their opinions and views. A democratic
leader consults his team members while making decisions but ensures that the decisions that are
made is good and responsible and they achieve the preferred outcome. Democratic Leadership
also leads to the building of strong teams. In a democratic leadership, more collective work is
done as every member opinions are acknowledged and valued. A democratic leadership is useful
when trying to solve a complex problem. A leader may not be able to solve the problem himself
and thus would be very thankful if his team members come forward with problem – solving
decisions. It increases job satisfaction and strengthens the bonds of a team. It increase team

6MANAGING ORGANIZATIONS AND LEADING PEOPLE
knowledge because every member has something new to contribute to his team. Mohandas
Karamchand Gandhi also known as Mahatma Gandhi exemplified this kind of democratic
leadership.
The Cons of a democratic leadership include consumption of time. When time is of
utmost importance then leaders do not have the luxury to talk to every individual in his team
separately in order to take their opinions because in such a situation time is of utmost
importance. Democratic leadership can also lead to a feeling of negativity. In a team, if one
person’s views are continuously being taken, then it may create resentment and jealousy in other
members who may then refuse to contribute their ideas. The productivity of a team then fails.
Democratic leadership is the most effective kind of leadership and is recommended over
the other two forms of leadership Democratic leadership is the best kind of leadership. An
autocratic leadership often gives rise to revolt, unrest, revolution etc because of the autocratic
rule exercised by the leader, while in a Laissez-faire type of leadership, it was noticed that people
did not really gel and work together and did not put in the requisite amount of effort. People in a
Laissez-faire leadership did not work as hard as they did when they were led by a leader.
The Vertical Dyad Linkage theory deals with the dyadic relationship between leaders and
those people who work under the leader. “The Vertical Dyad Linkage theory is also known as
the Leadership Member Exchange Theory. Fred Dansereau, George Graen and William J. Haga
are credited to developing this theory in 1975.” (Skogstad et al. 2015)
This theory focuses on the types of relationships between a leader and his or her
subordinates. “These relationships are classified into two groups called the in-group and the out-
group” (Maxwell 2018). Members of the former group get more responsibilities and are

7MANAGING ORGANIZATIONS AND LEADING PEOPLE
encouraged more than those people who are in the latter group. Members of an in-group are
allowed to voice their opinions. The leader considers the ideas of members in an in – group and
the members of an in-group more often than not influence the leader in his decision- making
process. If common characteristics are discovered between a leader and a member, then the
member is assigned to the in – group. Members in an in-group also have more access to
resources than members in an out-group. The relationship that the members of an out – group
share with the leader is formal which is based on the contract of employment. Members of an out
– group are delegated fewer responsibilities than the members of an in –group (Epitropaki and
Martin, 2015).
According to the Vertical Dyad Linkage Theory, the three phases over which the
relationship between a leader and those who work under him is built, are called the Role –
taking stage, Role-making stage and Role- routinization stage. (Kim and Mauborgne, 2017).
In the Role-taking stage, people first become members of the team following which they
are introduced to their leader. The leader talks to his team members and shares his expectations
and responsibilities with them. In the Role-making stage, people of a team who are new, start to
work with existing members. The new members get an opportunity to portray their work ethics,
their team spirit by interacting with the other members of the team contributing with ideas to
various team projects. This is a deciding stage because in this stage the team leader decide in
which sub- group to put a member into. In the Role-routinization stage, routine amongst the
member and leader takes place
In 1958, Professor F.E. Fiedler proposed the Fiedler Contingency Model, which stated
that there is no specific way to lead a company, and that the action that has to be taken depends

8MANAGING ORGANIZATIONS AND LEADING PEOPLE
on the contingent, i.e. the action depended on the internal and external part of a situation.
According to Fiedler, the leadership style of a leader is constant and does not change. Fiedler
also believed that leadership is unchanging and is measured using the scale he created called the
Least Preferred Co –Worker scale.
According to this model, a high score means that one is more relationship – oriented
while a low score means that one is more focused on getting a task done. One should then ask the
following questions to oneself, i.e is the relationship between a leader and a member good or
poor? Does a leader have strong or weak power over his team? Is the task that a person is doing
structured or unstructured? (Johnson 2017)
The Fielder’s model takes into account the relationship between a leader and a member to
recognize leadership situations. Since a leader cannot change his leadership style, it is best to put
managers in situations that suit the respective style of their leader in order to increase their
efficacy. (Maxwell 2018) To conclude one can say that there is no best way of doing things, and
that different situations call for a different approach.

9MANAGING ORGANIZATIONS AND LEADING PEOPLE
REFERENCES:
Cashman, K., 2017. Leadership from the inside out: Becoming a leader for life. Berrett-Koehler
Publishers.
Ciulla, J.B. ed., 2014. Ethics, the heart of leadership. ABC-CLIO.
Clinton, R., 2018. The making of a leader: Recognizing the lessons and stages of leadership
development. Tyndale House Publishers, Inc..
Daniel, G., 2018. What Makes a Leader?. In Contemporary issues in leadership (pp. 21-35).
Routledge.

10MANAGING ORGANIZATIONS AND LEADING PEOPLE
Day, D.V., Fleenor, J.W., Atwater, L.E., Sturm, R.E. and McKee, R.A., 2014. Advances in
leader and leadership development: A review of 25 years of research and theory. The Leadership
Quarterly, 25(1), pp.63-82.
Dinh, J.E., Lord, R.G., Gardner, W.L., Meuser, J.D., Liden, R.C. and Hu, J., 2014. Leadership
theory and research in the new millennium: Current theoretical trends and changing
perspectives. The Leadership
Epitropaki, O. and Martin, R., 2015. LMX and work attitudes: is there anything left unsaid or
unexamined?. The Oxford Handbook of Leader-Member Exchange, pp.139-156.
Iqbal, N., Anwar, S. and Haider, N., 2015. Effect of leadership style on employee
performance. Arabian Journal of Business and Management Review, 5(5), pp.1-6.
Johnson, C.E., 2017. Meeting the ethical challenges of leadership: Casting light or shadow. Sage
Publications.
Joseph, D.L., Dhanani, L.Y., Shen, W., McHugh, B.C. and McCord, M.A., 2015. Is a happy
leader a good leader? A meta-analytic investigation of leader trait affect and leadership. The
Leadership Quarterly, 26(4), pp.557-576.
Kim, W.C. and Mauborgne, R.A., 2017. Blue Ocean Leadership (Harvard Business Review
Classics). Harvard Business Review Press.
Maxwell, J.C., 2018. Developing the Leader Within You 2.0. HarperCollins Leadership.
Quarterly, 25(1), pp.36-62. Mayfield, M. and Mayfield, J., 2018. The role of leader-follower
relationships in leader communication: A test using the LMX and motivating language
models. The journal of business inquiry, 8(1), pp.65-82.

11MANAGING ORGANIZATIONS AND LEADING PEOPLE
Skogstad, A., Aasland, M.S., Nielsen, M.B., Hetland, J., Matthiesen, S.B. and Einarsen, S., 2015.
The relative effects of constructive, laissez-faire, and tyrannical leadership on subordinate job
satisfaction. Zeitschrift für Psychologie.