Leadership and Teamwork: Analysis of Leadership Theories and Styles

This report analyzes leadership theories, including trait theory, transformational leadership, behavioral theory, and contingency theory, within the context of a digital marketing company, CT NZ limited, and the ANZ bank case. The report explores internal and external challenges such as employee conflicts, tough competition, and employee attrition. It examines the application of transformational and transactional leadership styles, emphasizing the importance of communication and ethical leadership. The report also provides insights into the consequences of poor leadership, as exemplified by David Hisco's behavior, and suggests the adoption of team-centered decision-making and participative leadership to foster trust and transparency. References are provided to support the analysis.

Running head: MANAGEMENT
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Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

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Leadership is the building block of a sound organizational system. This is mainly because
for the proper working of any organization leaders have to guide his followers in the right
direction. There must be a very sound and free-flowing communication system among the team
members and the leaders. Leadership system will help the leaders and the followers or the
employees to put forward a joint collaborative effort so that they can accomplish all the
organizational objectives (Masa'deh, Obeidat & Tarhini, 2016). The given scenario talks about
the company called CT NZ limited, which a digital marketing service provider is working in
New Zeland. They have approached the SME-success Consulting Group (SCG) to get through
workplace training and development service. The CEO of the client company that is CT NZ
limited is Andy who is an SEO expert. He has to look after a large number of employees and as
they have a very big client base it is a tough work for him to manage (Lam, Huang & Chan,
2015). Some leadership theories must be followed by Andy to carry on the leadership properly in
his company
Trait theory of leadership
As per this theory, people are either born or are made with some specific qualities that
help them to become a great leader. It has been found that these traits include self-reliance,
agreeableness, dominance, persuasiveness, and others to be recognized as a true leader.
However, the traits of Andy are not properly mentioned.
Transformational leader
This leadership theory is based on creating a change or a transformation within the
organization. Andy can be considered as a transformational leader as he is trying to develop a
new set of skills and workplace training within his employees so that they can give a tough
competition to their competitors in the market (Afsar & Umrani, 2019).
Behavioral theory
This is the theory that helps in understanding the different ways in which a leader can
react, In other words, the leader has to adjust his behavior with the changing situations and the
scenarios around him.

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Contingency theory
Leaders must be able to act as per the demand of the situations. In other words, they must not be
sticking to any particular style of leading but must make sure that they are taking the right
strategies as per the satiations that are in front of them.
The different challenges that the organization can face are as follows
Internal challenges
The internal challenges that can be faced are conflicts among employees. Employees from
different cultural and social backgrounds might feel that there are several mismatches between
their thinking pattern and also in their decision-making system.
There can be feelings of insecurity among the employees on account of the promotions. They
might feel that their management is being biased while taking the decisions’ regarding the
promotion of the employees and also other kinds of allowances (Mesu, Sanders & Riemsdijk,
2015).
External challenges
Tough competition
Many other companies are working in the same domain of digital marketing, they might
try to bring the most upgraded and modern technologies to make sure that they can attract the
attention of the customers. As Andy wants proper workplace training for his employees it is
evident that his employees are yet to be groomed properly. Therefore they can face very tough
competition from outside (Avolio et al., 2016). Therefore they have to make sure that all the
latest and modern technologies are brought to use so that they can get the best technologies
Employee attrition
As Andy has approached for a leadership training seminar from SME-success Consulting Group
(SCG), it shows that there is a lack of cooperation among employees. Andy is also aware of the
fact that he is not being able to look after the needs and demands of his employees’ properly

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Thus there is a fear that the employees might get attracted towards the other companies offering
better facilities.
Transformational leadership and transactional leadership are the two styles that must
be used by Andy to develop an effective leadership system in his company. Transformational
leadership is one that helps in focusing on the changes or the transformations that can be brought
within the company. This is advantageous as it helps in focusing on the qualities of the
employees and also helps in overcoming their skill gaps
Andy must try to bring about a change by developing a horizontal communication
system. He must take the opinion of all his employees before taking any business decisions.
Transactional leadership is one that helps in developing a strategic and economic balanced
relationship between the leader and the employees. This helps in working with a certain speed
and also in achieving the company goals within a certain period. It is based on the usage of
rewards and also punishments to maintaining proper control.
Thus it is advantageous to use this leadership style as it will help in speeding up the rate
of achieving the company goals. However, at the same time, transactional leadership is
disadvantageous as it lacks the touch of affection and empathy. Andy has to make himself
approachable among all his employees so that there is a free, smooth and two-way conversation
and communication system. Transformational leadership may often get some negative outcomes.
As transformational leadership is based on creating a vision, the leader must be taking the
updates from their employees. Andy might face a problem here as his organization works over a
large stretch both in Auckland and in Willington with some onsite and some offsite employees,
communication can become major problems. However, he has to take the feedbacks from all his
employees by keeping open lines of communication.
Leadership is essential for the leaders and the followers as well. This is because just as a leader
has to lead all the followers or team members in the right path it is the duty of the team members
to cooperate with their leaders and make sure that they are being able to act as the support system
of each other.

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Task 2: Brief
David Hisco has been exhibiting a bad as irresponsible behavior, As a result of this all the
employees were irritated and they did not want to continue working on the organization. It must
be noted that this case shows a total lack of communication and transparency among the
stakeholders (Afsar & Umrani, 2019). It must be noted in this similar context that not only were
the internal stakeholders that is the employees were upset due to this illegal and irresponsible
behavior but also the external stakeholders were angered by this act. The banking clients or
customers kept on raising questions behind the abnormally high charges of the loams or the high
rates of interests. They wanted to know where this money was being transferred.
It must be said that David Hisco had a very high standard of lifestyle and he wanted to
lead his life lavishly. However, it is not at all; justified for a leader to think about his gains by
using the money or the hard work of one's employees. It is for this reason that the customers like
the banking customers wanted to get clear answers to their questions. This shows that the
leadership framework of the ANZ was really at a stake and was weak. No transparency or ethics
was being maintained in the organization. Customers and also the employees were being
exploited in a wrong way.
The bad publicity could have been avoided if there was a clear line of communication
maintained among the leaders and the stakeholders. To be a good leader's one has to set the right
goals and objectives and also set an example before his followers. The followers will naturally
follow the steps of their leader and try to move forward in the right direction. As per my
perception, David was following the autocratic leadership system as he wanted to carry on doing
whatever sired his demands without thinking about the welfare of his followers or his team
members. He did not bother to take the opinion or consider the feedbacks of his followers.
Thus to rectify such situations a good leader must use the team-centered decision-making
model. This will help in circulating the management decisions among all the team embers so that
they can understand the same and then give their opinions (Sagnak, 2016).
It will help in developing the trust factor among all the stakeholders. Both the employees and the
customers will know that they are not being cheated. Participative leadership must be followed
so that the central locus of control is not vested only in the hands of the leader hut all the

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employees of the organization are also having a proper say within the business decisions that are
being undertaken.

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References
Afsar, B., & Umrani, W. A. (2019). Transformational leadership and innovative work
behavior. European Journal of Innovation Management.
Avolio, B. J., Keng-Highberger, F. T., Schaubroeck, J., Trevino, L. K., & Kozlowski, S. W.
(2016). How follower attributes affect ratings of ethical and transformational leadership.
In Academy of Management Proceedings (Vol. 2016, No. 1, p. 16854). Briarcliff Manor,
NY 10510: Academy of Management.
Banks, G. C., McCauley, K. D., Gardner, W. L., & Guler, C. E. (2016). A meta-analytic review
of authentic and transformational leadership: A test for redundancy. The Leadership
Quarterly, 27(4), 634-652.
Cropp, M. (17 Jun, 2019). ANZ staff outraged at bosses expenses, says union. Retrieved on 30
July 2019 from: https://www.msn.com/en-nz/money/finance/anz-staff-outraged-at-
bosses-expenses-says-union/ar-AAD1atC.
Engelen, A., Gupta, V., Strenger, L., & Brettel, M. (2015). Entrepreneurial orientation, firm
performance, and the moderating role of transformational leadership behaviors. Journal
of Management, 41(4), 1069-1097.
Lam, C. K., Huang, X., & Chan, S. C. (2015). The threshold effect of participative leadership
and the role of leader information sharing. Academy of Management Journal, 58(3), 836-
855.
Masa'deh, R. E., Obeidat, B. Y., & Tarhini, A. (2016). A Jordanian empirical study of the
associations among transformational leadership, transactional leadership, knowledge
sharing, job performance, and firm performance: A structural equation modelling
approach. Journal of Management Development, 35(5), 681-705.
Mesu, J., Sanders, K., & Riemsdijk, M. V. (2015). Transformational leadership and
organisational commitment in manufacturing and service small to medium-sized
enterprises: The moderating effects of directive and participative leadership. Personnel
Review, 44(6), 970-990.

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Sagnak, M. (2016). Participative leadership and change-oriented organizational citizenship: The
mediating effect of intrinsic motivation. Eurasian Journal of Educational
Research, 16(62).
Tepper, B. J., Dimotakis, N., Lambert, L. S., Koopman, J., Matta, F. K., Man Park, H., & Goo,
W. (2018). Examining follower responses to transformational leadership from a dynamic,
person–environment fit perspective. Academy of Management Journal, 61(4), 1343-1368.