Leadership Report: Theoretical and Practical Approaches Analysis

This report delves into the multifaceted realm of leadership, exploring both theoretical and practical approaches. It begins by outlining various theoretical frameworks, including trait theory, great man theories, behavioral theory, contingency theories, transactional theories, and transformational theories, providing a comprehensive understanding of different leadership perspectives. The report then examines practical approaches to leadership, emphasizing the importance of productivity, customer service, and employee satisfaction. It stresses the significance of clear communication, trust, and fair treatment within a team. Furthermore, the report analyzes prominent leadership theories, such as trait and behavioral theories, highlighting their strengths and limitations. It reflects on the application of different leadership styles, including democratic, transformational, and transactional approaches, and discusses the need for adaptability in various situations. Finally, the report concludes by identifying areas for leadership style development, such as coaching and autocratic leadership, to enhance overall effectiveness and prepare for future challenges. This document is contributed by a student and available on Desklib, a platform offering AI-based study tools.

LEADERSHIP

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY:.................................................................................................................................1
Theoretical approaches of leadership:.........................................................................................1
Practical approaches of the leadership:........................................................................................2
Analysis of theories......................................................................................................................3
Reflection on leadership styles....................................................................................................4
Development of leadership style..................................................................................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
It is the process in the which the manager and the leader of the company guides,
motivates, directs and controls the activities of the team to achieve the objectives of the business
in the future. It involves the ability of the of leader to enhance their team members that they will
work with proper confidence. Leadership quality increase the morale of the employees in the
company so that they will increase the productivity of the organization. It includes making the
perfect vision and share them to the ream members of the company. Leadership is the style of the
person which handle the team of the company for the success and growth in the future. There are
various theories and critical approaches of the leadership that helps the leader to achieve the
success.
MAIN BODY:
Theoretical approaches of leadership:
In the process of the leadership the leader performs various theories for the success of the
business. These theories help the leader to make the better decisions for their subordinates in the
company. The most important and famous theories of the leadership is trait theory, great man
theories, behavioural theory, contingency theories, transactional theories and transformational
theories are discussed below.
Great man theories: this theory believes that the great leader and the manager are born not
made. This theory says that the person have the ability and quality of leadership by their birth he
leads to the success. The great man theory says that the people have the proper attributes power
of authority from their birth are the perfect leader. The leader is seemed to be the hero if he
achieves the success. This theory includes that the needs of the leaders is great that why the great
leader is arises (Alvesson, Blom and Sveningsson, 2016). This theory explains the biographies of
the leader who is great in the past and achieve the greater success.
Trait theory: this theory states the difference between successful leader and the unsuccessful
leader for measure the effectiveness and efficiency of the leadership. Success and growth of the
leader is all depend on their ability, interest and their personal traits which have to be different
from the ineffective leaders (Renko, and et.al., 2015). These approach is apply to find the
physiological, demographic, confidence and social characteristics of the effective leader. This
theory involves the proper understanding and knowledge of the leader that they could perform
the functions of the leadership effectively. The trait theory will also help to identify the traits of
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the team members. There are lots of limitations in this theory like it very complex in the nature.
This theory also includes physical traits for good leadership styles like height weight according
to the situations. This theory helps the manager to identify their weakness and strength so that
they have to know how to develop the qualities of the leadership. Development of self-
confidence, honesty comes from the trait theory. Proper motivation given to the team members
for making the organization stronger from the working of the team members. This theory states
that the leader have to acquire and develop the personal skills and knowledge.
Contingency theory: this theory relates with the style of the leader according to the situation. It
states that the leaders success and growth is not relates with their abilities. The effectiveness of
the leader or manager defines how their style matches with given situation. This theory explains
that various factors like working environment, culture and atmosphere of the business and
employees affect the success of the leader in the leadership process. There are different theories
included in the contingency theories such as Fiedler's contingency theory says that the success of
the leader is not only because of the style but with their full control over the situations in the
environment. This theory explains the ability of the leader to lead the team. Situational
leadership theory explains that the style of the leader is based on these behaviours such as
communicating sales, participating and delegating. Path goal theory connects the goal and
expectancy theory to form the one theory (Blanchard, 2018). It states that the leader makes the
path to provide help for their team members to achieve the goals. Decision making theory
involves the leader makes the proper and accurate decision for their subordinates to achieve the
success .
Practical approaches of the leadership:
There are various practical approaches of the leadership followed by the leader and the
manager that will leads to the success and growth of the company. Practical approaches focus to
increase the productivity of the company rather to give motivation to the people. It aims to
provide better quality products, improves the services of the customers, solving the problems of
the customer. Practical approaches focus on to get the work done accurately. In the process of the
leadership the leader must have to find the difference between the skill and will of the team
members. Maintain better trust with their subordinates and gives them support if they need so
that they do the great job. For the fast success and growth the leader must work with their
compassion rather to take decisions directly in the organization. Satisfying employees are much
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better to achieve the business objective and work according top the future needs and wants of the
company. The good leader will be the good listener and communicator with the subordinates, by
giving proper directions, giving feedback. Maintain the good working relations with the team
member in the company also motivates the employees to work for the high performance of the
company (Boyd, and et.al., 2017). Fair treatment is given to all by the perfect leader. The
practical theory defines that the leader must give valuable feedback so that they effectively and
efficiently in the company. The leader must practical while performing the style of leadership.
Giving responsibility to the employees makes them better problem solver and get the good result.
Makes the training and development programmes for their motivation to work according to
achieve the objective of the company.
Analysis of theories
There are various leadership theories which have emerged from time to time and two
important theories of leadership are Trait theories and behavioural theories. According to trait
theory of leadership, it assumes that people inherit some traits and qualities which make them
better suited for leadership. It also assumes that there are some traits of particular behavioural
characteristics and personality which are shared by leaders. A person may posses some traits like
self confidence, extroversion, courage, etc which can be linked to big leaders. The problem
associated with trait theory of leadership is that a person may be unaware of it traits of becoming
a leader. There are various people who posses the traits of leadership but yet these people never
seek the position of leadership (Senge, Hamilton and Kania, 2015). This is the greatest difficulty
for explaining the trait theory of leadership. On the other hand Behavioural theory of leadership
opposes trait theory of leadership, which is based on the belief that great leader can be made but
are not born. According to behaviourism, leadership theory does not focus on the mental
qualities or internal states but focuses on the actions of a leader. It is a behaviour of a person
which can make a person a great leader. This theory also suggests that people can learn how to
lead a people and can become a good leader through observation and teaching. There are some
limitation attached to this theory such as behavioural theory consists of leadership style but a
particular leadership style may not be suitable for different circumstances. Although behavioural
theories may help in developing a particular leadership behaviours but it does not provide a
proper guidance in relation to what constitutes an effective leadership for different situations.
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Reflection on leadership styles
For a leader to lead a group of people it is vital to use or implement a leadership style
which can help a leader to lead a team. There are various leadership style which I use while a
leading a team the most common leadership style which I use is democratic leadership style. I
believe that democratic leadership style is most effective leadership style as it allows the equal
participation in decision-making. This is one of the best way to keep team motivated and
engaged in the activities. Also, it encourages creativity in a team and also strengths a relationship
between the team. Another leadership which I use in order to leader a team is transformational
leadership style. It is one of the best leadership style as it can help a leader to bring a change and
implement the change. This type of leadership is highly encourages for growth and development,
and this leadership style helps me in promoting a good culture and modelling a positive
behaviours as well as holding on high performance expectation for the teammates. This type of
leadership also promotes responsive change and help in implementing a change. Also, another
leadership style which I implement is transactional leadership style, as it is helping me to
establish role and responsibilities for team members which is helping me to get the task done.
But there are some situations, where I feel that there are other leadership style which I need to
implement as there are some situations where none of these leadership work. So, I need to
develop a leadership styles which can help me dealing in those circumstances and which can
make me an effective leader in the future. Also, developing some other leadership style can help
me to face the future challenges as a leader, also it will increase my knowledge an experience as
an effective leader.
Development of leadership style
There are some leadership style I lack and which I need to develop that can help me in
leading a team effectively. The leadership styles which I lack are coaching style leadership and
autocratic leadership style. By developing a autocratic leader style will help me in improving my
decision-making power without taking any help from other. There will be not involvement of
any team-mates in decision-making. This style can be developed by taking self initiatives and
decisions without any support from other, this will help me to become an autocratic leader. By
adopting this style will improve the productivity of my teammates and will also reduce the stress
of teammates during stressful situations. Also, there may arise a situations which may involves
taking a fast decisions, so this leadership style will help me taking decision quickly. Another
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leadership style which I need to develop is coaching style leadership this is also an effective
leadership style (Ward, 2016). By developing this leadership style will help in me improving the
strengths of my team-mates which can prove effective for my leadership in the future. This
leadership style can be developed by assigning new tasks to team- and provide them guidance for
performing a task. Also, feedback will be provided to the team which will help them in their
development. One of the major strength of this style is that it will encourage more and more team
members for expanding their strengths. Also, by developing this leadership style will help me in
expanding the strengths of teammates as they will be able to learn new skills form other team-
mates in a team. So, by developing these leadership styles can help me in becoming a good
leader in the future also I will be able to face different challenges and use different leadership
style in different situations.
CONCLUSION
It can be summarised from the report that there are various theoretical and practical
approaches of leadership. Also, there are various theories of leadership and it is very important
for a leader to have knowledge of different theories of leadership. It can also be concluded that
there are various leadership style which can be implement by leader in order to lead a team
effectively. These leadership should be used by a leader depending on the different situations
faced by a leader and also it is important to improve and develop new leadership style in order to
be effective leader in the future.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Alvesson, M., Blom, M. and Sveningsson, S., 2016. Reflexive Leadership: Organising in an
imperfect world. Sage.
Blanchard, K., 2018. Leading at a higher level: Blanchard on leadership and creating high
performing organizations. FT Press.
Boyd, B., and et.al., 2017. Hybrid organizations: New business models for environmental
leadership. Routledge.
Renko, M., and et.al., 2015. Understanding and measuring entrepreneurial leadership
style. Journal of Small Business Management. 53(1). pp.54-74.
Senge, P., Hamilton, H. and Kania, J., 2015. The dawn of system leadership. Stanford Social
Innovation Review. 13(1). pp.27-33.
Ward, J., 2016. Keeping the family business healthy: How to plan for continuing growth,
profitability, and family leadership. Springer.
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