Leadership Styles, Organizational Learning, and Steve Jobs Example

This essay delves into the multifaceted concept of leadership, exploring various approaches and their practical applications. It begins by defining leadership as the ability to guide and direct individuals, emphasizing the importance of leaders knowing the way, showing the way, and going the way. The essay then categorizes leadership into three primary areas: trait-based, situational, and behavioral approaches. The trait-based approach examines individual leader characteristics such as enterprising spirit, loyalty, integrity, self-confidence, and knowledge. The behavioral approach focuses on task performance behavior, group maintenance behavior, and participation in decision-making. The situational approach highlights the adaptation of leadership styles based on factors like follower characteristics and organizational structure. Furthermore, the essay discusses organizational learning, emphasizing its role in enhancing efficiency through knowledge transfer across departments. It provides examples of how organizations can improve production and investor relations. The essay concludes by examining Steve Jobs as an example of good leadership, highlighting his use of coercive power, legitimate power, and reward power to drive Apple's success. The importance of leaders at societal, organizational, and personal levels is also discussed, reinforcing the critical role of leadership in initiating action and motivating individuals to achieve desired outcomes. The essay references several academic sources to support its arguments.

Running Head: Leadership
Learning Organization

“A leader is one who knows the way, shows the way and goes the way”
Leadership is not about the great explorers or CEOs of big companies while leaders are mainly
responsible for guiding and leading people at middle and small levels for managing their work. A
good leader needs to adopt certain strategies which could help its subordinates to know the best
path to walk on, to get the clear understanding in relevance to the path through which expected
outcomes could be accomplished. The most important is leader should be present with its
subordinates in every situation and in the middle of task to guide them if they face any obstacle
or glitch in the process. This builds up the confidence amongst the subordinates as well as it also
helps the organization to acquire desired outcomes in an effective manner.
Leadership is a wide approach which is categorised into three areas such as trait-based,
situational and behavioural approach. With the help of these three approaches, leadership term
could easily be evaluated and understood (Aaker & Joachimsthaler, 2012).
Trait based approach
This theory focuses on individual leader and their perceptions. It also determines the personal
values shared by great leaders. Following are certain traits which an individual can adopt and
learn in order to increase its efficiency with passing time:
 Enterprising spirit: These are a set of characteristics which imitate the high level of
efforts. High commands for attainment, aspiration, persistence, energy, etc. are certain
elements of enterprising spirit (Allio, 2012).

 Loyalty: Loyalty is the honesty towards work and towards the teammates by leader. This
builds up the confidence level of the leader as well as of its teammates on each other.
This trait helps them to increase their efficiency in terms of accomplishment of the tasks.
 Integrity: It could be measured by an individual’s actions and words. Leader should be
on his words because the leader who promises but does not accomplish the same is not
considered as a good leader (Bel, 2010).
 Self-confidence: This is the most crucial quality of a good leader as it helps the leader to
tackle the obstacles raised during accomplishment of the task. Leader with self-
confidence is sufficient enough to motivate its employees in terms of accomplish the
desired targets.
 Knowledge: Leader should be knowledgeable enough about the company, industry and
technical matters in which he works. This type of knowledge helps the leaders to spread
awareness amongst its teammates as well as it is an essential tool in terms of increasing
the organizational efficiency (Bolman & Deal, 2014).
Above mentioned traits have significant impact over the leadership approach as well as these
elements prove that a leader with above traits fulfils such requirements i.e. ‘knows the way’,
‘goes the way’ and ‘shows the way’ (Drori & Honig, 2013).
Behavioural approach
This approach focuses on the actual performance of a leader rather focusing on the internal traits
and capabilities of a leader. Following are three crucial categories of leadership behaviour:
 Task performance behaviour: These are the efforts put by the leader and its teammates
in attainment of the organizational goals and the objectives. Under this category,

behavioural focus is made on the increasing the work efficiency, accuracy of work,
quantity to be delivered, adherence towards work, and quality (Northouse, 2015).
 Group maintenance behaviour: This is an important task for leaders as it helps the
organization to attain better results from team work and such practices. For maintaining
the connection amongst the team members along with developing interaction amongst
them, team leader needs to adopt various strategies such as team get-togethers, team
discussion, etc. This helps the teammates to exchange their views and better understating
amongst each other gets developed. This shows the capability of a leader (Northouse,
2017).
 Participation in decision making process: Decision making process of leader shows
its real qualities which can be classified in autocratic and a democratic leader. Autocratic
type of leaders takes their own decision without taking suggestions from any one and
without involving any one in the decision making process and then announces the
decision over the team members. While democratic leadership takes suggestions from its
team mates, studies the past performance attained, takes guidance from the management
of the organization, and then takes the most accurate and effective decision for the
benefit of the organization.
Situational approach
This approach differentiates amongst the leaders and the other persons on the basis of qualities,
practices, behaviour, etc. Leaders regulate their decision-making, motivational approaches, and
orientation based upon a unique mixture of factors in their individual conditions. These factors
include:

 Followers’ characteristics;
 Projects type;
 Structure of organization;
 Influence of upper-level management;
 Personal preferences; and
 The style of leadership managed and moulded on the basis of management’s
requirements.
Organizational learning approach
It is the approach used for increasing the efficiency of the organization through transferring the
knowledge amongst the different departments of the organization. With the passing time, an
organization becomes capable enough to gain a certain amount of experience along with
attaining the effective position in the market (Northouse, 2017). Examples for increasing the
efficiency of organization may include ways to enhance the production efficiency or to develop
beneficial investor dealings. Knowledge is created at four different units: individual, inter
organizational, group, and organizational.
With the help of learning curve, organizational learning could easily be measured. Learning
curves shows the relationship between the organizational functionalities with production of
goods and services. It increases the productivity, efficiency, reliability and the quality of the
product along with diminishing outcomes. Due to organizational learning rates, learning curves
vary. Learning rates of organization are affected by routines and procedures of coordination,
improvements in structures, technological improvements in organizational premises, and by
individual proficiency.

Example of good leadership in organization
Steve Jobs was one of the greatest leaders in the industry and his leadership style was also
unique. His attitude towards work and towards his teammates was effective as well as efficient
enough to extract the best work from them. With the help of his unique styles and strategies, he
uplifted the Apple INC. Company to a next level. Following leadership attributes were adopted
and implemented by Steve Jobs in his career to upgrade the company’s effectiveness and the
efficiency. This helps the company to become the most valuable and leader in the consumer
electronic goods manufacturing industry (Gladewell, 2011).
 Coercive power: With the help of this attribute, Steve Jobs was able to influence the
whole team over one decision in relation to attain the desired objectives for the
organization. He was capable enough to show the right path to his teammates. Along
with this, he was also able to direct them on the showed path through an effective way
which could help them in upgrading their efficiency as well as it also leads to the
attainment of personal objectives of leaders (Shah & Mulla, 2013).
 Legitimate power: These powers are available with a higher level leader and these are
also used for influencing and making all the employees of the organization agree on one
decision finalised by the upper level management (Isaacson, 2012).
 Reward Power: He used to implement this technique to motivate their friends,
employees and its partners to perform in the direction in which he wants. It was the
unique quality of Steve Jobs which tuned him as the great leader, innovator as well as an
effective manager who used to perform his duties for uplifting the organizational image

in the competitive business environment. Rewarding an employee for his or her good
performance is a good source to motivate them and it is useful resource to enhance the
organizational as well as of the employees’ efficiency.
Importance of leader
Leader plays an important role in every aspect of the life. Leader is required at the society level,
at organizational level as well as at the personal level. To guide a group of person in one
direction, a good leader is required which could help the group to attain effective results as per
the expectations.
 Initiates action: Leader initiates certain crucial actions which are required for acquiring
the desired outcomes by considering the plans, policies, rules and regulations of
performing the particular task.
 Motivation: It is the duty of a leader to motivate all members of the group at any level
towards the work. He is responsible for getting the work done by subordinates through
rewarding its teammates through economic and non-economic sources.
From the aforesaid information, it can be concluded that leaders and their leadership styles are
plays an important role for an organization, for society as well as at the personal level in order to
attain something good and effective. This essay reiterates the leadership styles and various other
aspects which are necessary for attaining the desired outcomes. The statement “A leader is one
who knows the way, shows the way and goes the way” has been thoroughly studied and
explained under this essay.

References
Aaker, D.A. & Joachimsthaler, E., 2012, “Simon and Schuster”, Brand leadership.
Allio, R.J., 2012, “Leaders and leadership–many theories, but what advice is
reliable”, Strategy & Leadership, vol. 41 (1), pp.4-14.
Bel, R., 2010, “Leadership and innovation: Learning from the best”, Global business and
organizational excellence, vol. 29 (2), pp.47-60.
Bolman, L. & Deal, T., 2014, “Leadership and management”, Christian Youth Work in
Theory and Practice: A Handbook, pp.245.
Drori, I. & Honig, B., 2013, “A process model of internal and external
legitimacy”, Organization Studies, vol. 34 (3), pp.345-376.
Gladewell, M., 2011, “The real genius of Steve Jobs”, The New Yorker.
Isaacson, W., 2012, “The real leadership lessons of Steve Jobs”, Harvard business
review, vol. 90 (4), pp.92-102.
Northouse, P.G., 2015, “Sage publications”, Leadership: Theory and practice.
Northouse, P.G., 2017, “Sage Publications”, Introduction to leadership: Concepts and
practice.
Shah, T. & Mulla, Z.R., 2013, “Leader Motives, Impression Management, and Charisma: A
Comparison of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates”, Management and Labour Studies, vol. 38 (3),
pp.155-184.