Reflective Essay on Leadership Approach and Styles

This essay offers a reflective analysis of various leadership approaches, drawing upon personal experiences and theoretical frameworks. The author explores transformational, authoritarian, and laissez-faire leadership styles, examining their impact on teamwork and organizational outcomes. The essay highlights the importance of adapting leadership behavior to different situations, considering the strengths and weaknesses of each style. The author reflects on their own leadership style, identifying areas for development and emphasizing the significance of effective communication, emotional intelligence, and strategic thinking in leadership. The essay also discusses the role of teamwork and the need for a strong organizational culture to achieve strategic goals. The author concludes by advocating for a flexible leadership approach that combines elements of different styles to meet the evolving demands of the workplace.

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Student name:
Institutional Affiliation(S):
Course title:

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The reflective writing has positioned itself as an upsurge among educational
institutions as well as researchers. Even, Lew & Schmid (2011) says that ground-breaking
work aids in emphasizing positive roles in which our reflections might foster critical thinking,
self-worth and demonstrable development required for personal and professional skills.
During my course learning, I found that leaders are among those people who remain
indifferent from others and thinks diversely. Such people always show eagerness to learn new
things and are ready to share their ideas and knowledge with others. In literature and course
books, it has been very well cited that leaders are believed to be the creator of smart goals for
followers or subordinates and empowers them through motivational and inspirational
techniques to achieve desired goals. The behaviour in leadership approach which was focused
majorly by me is their influential style while they manage team effectiveness to develop key
organizational areas. Since the role of a leader is critical in developing and managing team, I
will further analyze the leadership role in the teamwork concept alongside analyzing my
leadership approach from theoretical perspectives using credible sources and concrete
examples.
Leadership can be described as a power in which a person gains the ability to
stimulate or transform the belief, value, behavior, and perception of another person. An
effective leader is one who sets a good example in front of the others as he/she can
accomplish superior results along with gaining admiration and confidence from their
subordinates. This view can be supported by statement made by Hao & Yazdanifard (2015)
where the authors state “leaders who possess strong leadership have the strength to influence
others to achieve the goals and objectives of the organization" (p. 1). I believe that the best
way to define a leader is that he/she is a person who follows a strong leadership approach.
Nevertheless, analyzing characteristics of a strong leader is also significant as it reflects how

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they give directions to subordinates with the help of enhanced communication skills so that
tasks are performed effectively to meet work objectives. In literature, communication skills
remain central to leadership behaviour. Perhaps, it is one of the key challenges faced by most
of the managers today, especially while they work in a globalized work environment.
Regarding my approach to leadership communication, I lack communication skills
somehow, particularly while performing in groups. This I can say because while I studied in
high school, along with four other classmates, I was given a group work where we were
supposed to make a presentation on a social topic about global pollution. Though I was able
to manage every critical aspect required in teamwork like information gathering, managing
data, interacting with my team members and performing in a shared basis, I found myself
fumbling in front of the teacher while explaining our project work. Although in personal life,
I have always shown affectionate and caring attitude, while communicating our team project
in front of several people seemed much difficult for me. Clack (2017) suggests that thinking
strategically is one quality through which leaders are differentiated from others. Vision, on
the other hand, acts as a strong driver behind every leader's strategy. For me, decision
making, time management, and emotional intelligence are the key approaches that can help
us in knowing our behavioral style and for analyzing our weaknesses to mitigate them and
turn out to be a good leader.
Great man’s behavioral theory in leadership approach is based on the premises that
good leaders are made and not born. Such notion focuses on actions performed by leaders
which reflect their intellect and internal qualification rather judging them from rank or
authority. According to Uzohue, Yaya, & Akintayo (2016), behavioural theory in leadership
reveals that a person can learn to lead if they are provided with proper training and education.
The authors noted that leader' behavior can be stimulated by making a systematic comparison
between democratic and autocratic leadership style. Since both the approaches reveal

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different types of leaders, behavioral theory believes that effective leaders can be made,
unlike contingency theory approach that focuses upon specific components related to leader's
environment that governs which style is suited best for a particular situation. Nevertheless,
my approach towards leadership supports the situational framework as this approach provides
leaders with multiple choices through which leaders choose the best course of action
according to different situational circumstances. For example, in workplace there might be
situations where a leader requires to be more knowledgeable and enabled with experience to
perform tasks and authoritarian style may prove to be the best. Alternatively, if another group
comprises of much-skilled personnel's, leader requires being democratic to lead effectively
and without hurting other sentiments.
Various definitions and explanations have been made in the literature that classifies
leadership approaches. While many leadership approaches developed with time, none of the
theory or framework seems to be irrelevant entirely (Khan, Nawaz, & Khan, 2016). From my
view, a leader is one who influences others in terms of motivation and inspiration. Since I
usually make others feel good while they are around me, team members whom I led in my
previous workplace always showed faith in me as I always influenced them with good
suggestions along with supporting them while developing new ideas. As our team project
experienced online data sharing, I was able to share my knowledge of how things can work
effectively through online communication. I communicated with my team members regularly
and discussed matters regarding project requirements so that every member participated
equally and expectedly. From my observation to leadership approaches, I reflected the
transformational leadership style as I was the one who set overall directions for the project
work while encouraging participants to perform actively. Although our teamwork was based
on group discussions made, I had full authority to take major decisions and control. I think

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that my team was able to raise own concerns and ideas however, some of them wasted much
of the time by making irrelevant discussions and arguments.
According to Sohmen (2013), transformational leadership connects individuals with
positive outcomes by motivating followers to achieve higher-order needs such as self-esteem
and actualization. Leaders following the transformational leadership approach idealize
influence to demonstrate superior concerns for their followers and create an atmosphere of
shared thoughts and risk-taking. Inspirational motivation approach encourages by challenging
followers to accomplish desired objectives while intellectual stimulation approach inspires
others to become more innovative and creative in problem-solving skills. Mark Zuckerberg
and Jeff Bezos are two great examples which shows how their transformational leadership
approach has made them achieve new heights while gaining trust and respect from their
followers. Nevertheless, from my personal experience and the above teamwork example
shared, I can say that by adopting transformational leadership approach, our team lost the
most important resource which is time as it became out of control for me, therefore, at times
we need to show more authoritarian style especially when things turn to be out of control.
Since I admire both the leader's personality, I will further consider developing my
transformational leadership skills besides understanding how authoritarian leadership
approach works when situations become out of control.
While some of the scholars criticize that authoritarian leadership is ineffective and
undesirable in organizational management, others believe that it can impact employees
positively. A study conducted by Wang & Guan (2018) finds that in Taiwan, authoritarian
leadership approach proved conducive to employees and stated that authoritarian leadership
has a positive impact on the employer-employee relationship. Since authoritarian leaders
enhance their followers' sense of responsibility and individual identity, followers become
motivated to perform in a superior way. Moreover, authoritarian leaders provide a clear and

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explicit definition of work while describing prototypes to the followers. In return, followers
obey the prototypes completely out of the fear that they might get punished if any mistake is
made. Consequently, followers gain a better understanding of what they must do to attain the
desired goals (Al-Malki & Juan, 2018). However, I can personally relate one bad experience
realized while I tried being authoritarian leader during the exhibition feast conducted in my
locality. The stall in which I along with other five members contributed equally, everyone
gave me the responsibility to manage tasks and see that our stall performed well. I started
dictating individual task to my team members and as a result, they ignored my orders
gradually as well as showed cynicism towards me.
As I realized that our teamwork started showing negative outcomes as compared to
when it was in the beginning, laissez-faire leadership approach in leadership seemed more
suitable to bring back my team on track. Gradually, I allowed others to take decisions of their
own and showed contentment on their working style as well as did whatever I felt was
essential for task completion from my end. At that time, laissez-faire leadership approach was
not known to me, however, with time I realized that the leader's role must be more focused
upon developing trust and motivation within teams. Even Tosunoglu & Ekmekci (2016) cites
“If employees perceive that their organizations or supervisors fail to fulfill the promised
obligations, they experience a psychological contract breach” (p. 92). As laissez-faire
leadership approach can establish a culture of trust through delegation of authority and
credibility, team members tend to show consistency and inspiration to work more. Such
leadership approach can build shared purposes, vision, and direction by providing timely and
frequent communication along with ensuring enhanced interpersonal relationship and trust
within work atmosphere by supporting followers and articulating them towards a specific
direction. However, Chaudhry & Javed (2012) claims that people following laissez-faire
leadership often shows ineffectiveness while setting deadlines and managing projects

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including problem-solving on their own due to which projects can often exceed deadline or
go off-track as team members lack significant guidelines required for task completion.
In this sense, it can be said that if leadership and teamwork go hand in hand, it can
stimulate workplace atmosphere with necessary components required for successful
completion of work. Since the present dynamic workplace cannot exist without creating a
strong organizational culture, activating comprehensive team constellation becomes very
significant. According to Sohmen (2013), teams are considered as temporary organizations
that develop for particular goals, timeframe and resources. This is due to the fact
organizations accomplish strategic and tactic goals through team effort and if strong
leadership approach is driven by strategic and critical soft skills, the work tends to complete
in a balanced way. Arguably, Hassan, Asad, & Hoshino (2016) claims that teamwork
leadership style can be compared to participative leadership approach where a leader
considers its subordinates suggestions. Participative leaders seek power-sharing along with
decision making role with their followers and tries to maintain consensus between them.
Moreover, they create a conducive environment in which subordinate works with active and
engaging participation for making decisions while the leader themselves remain an active
participant among every work sphere. Here, I can say that participative leadership and
teamwork approach both suits well within contemporary workplaces and therefore, I will
make further in-depth research on both the types to develop my transformational leadership
approach according to present organizational requirement.
After analyzing present literature on leadership approach theories and framework, I
found that a leader plays a primary role in organizations as he/she is the one who motivates
and influence organizational people to achieve desired objectives. Great leaders are those
who adopt diversified leadership approach based on the situation faced rather than showing
rigidity in their leadership behavior. Due to my transformational leadership behavior, I gained

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many appreciations from the team members I worked with; however, my past experiences
reveal that I need to cultivate my leadership behavior according to present business demand
and consider showing stances of authoritarian as well as participative style as per situation
demands. Though laissez-faire can also be considered, personally it won't prove effective for
me as I lack communication skills that may hamper my team management and group
coordination. I will focus on developing a participatory approach in the future so that my
team members are communicated effectually and openly with the help of one another. Based
on my unit readings and literature review research, now I feel more learned through valuable
lessons that were learned by me during my course especially while I participated in-class
activities and the multifactor questionnaire that revealed my leadership behaviour.

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References
Al-Malki, M., & Juan, W. (2018). Leadership Styles and Job Performance: a Literature
Review. Journal of International Business Research and Marketing, 3(3), 40-49.
Chaudhry, A. Q., & Javed, H. (2012). Impact of Transactional and Laissez-Faire Leadership
Style on Motivation. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 3(7), 258-
264.
Clack, L. A. (2017). Examination of Leadership and Personality Traits on the Effectiveness
of Professional Communication in Healthcare. Journal of Healthcare
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Hao, M. J., & Yazdanifard, R. (2015). How Effective Leadership Can Facilitate Change in
Organizations through Improvement and Innovation. Global Journal of Management
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Hassan, H., Asad, S., & Hoshino, Y. (2016). Determinants of Leadership Style in Big Five
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Review. Journal of Resources Development and Management, 16, 1-7.
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Sohmen, V. S. (2013). Leadership and Teamwork: Two Sides of the Same Coin. Journal of
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Tosunoglu, H., & Ekmekci, O. T. (2016). Laissez-Faire leaders and organizations: how does
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Uzohue, C. E., Yaya, J. A., & Akintayo, O. A. (2016). A Review of Leadership Theories,
Principles, Styles and their Relevance to Management of Health Science Libraries in
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