Report: Leadership Styles, Management, and Challenges in Australia

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of leadership styles and management practices within the Australian community service sector. It delves into three primary leadership styles: transformational, autocratic, and democratic, examining their applications and implications. The report highlights the distinctions between leadership and management, exploring how each contributes to organizational success. Furthermore, it identifies key challenges faced by leaders and managers in this sector, particularly focusing on human resource management issues and staff development. The analysis includes insights into the importance of leadership in achieving community service goals and the impact of various leadership approaches on organizational outcomes and the delivery of quality services to the community. The report emphasizes the need for effective leadership to navigate challenges and enhance community well-being.

Running head: MANAGEMENT
Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction:...............................................................................................................................2
Leadership Styles:......................................................................................................................2
Transformational Leadership:................................................................................................3
Autocratic Leadership:...........................................................................................................4
Democratic Leadership:.........................................................................................................5
Differences between Leadership and Management:..................................................................5
Key Challenges faced by the leaders and managers in the community service section of
Australia:....................................................................................................................................7
Conclusion:................................................................................................................................9
References:...............................................................................................................................10

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Introduction:
The implication of the community services is observed to rise in a prominent manner
in Australian society and that reflects the urge of the citizens of the society and the
government for the improvement of the socio cultural condition of the nation. Though the
nation is observed to score high in the individualistic dimension in the hofstede parameters,
the importance of the community services has certainly increased and that is visible with the
participation of increasing number of organizations entering the community services industry.
According to Eisenchlas, Schalley and Guillemin (2013), the increasing rate of literacy in the
Australian society is an influential factor for the enhanced urge amongst the people of
Australia for the much required achievement of the sustainability in their society. The role of
the organizations working in the community services of the nation is crucial in the
improvement of the social sustainability. Having said that, Sotarauta and Beer (2017) claimed
that the success of the companies in achieving the ultimate goal of enhancing the quality of
community life style, is seen to be dependent to the application of the leadership styles from
the part of the leaders of the organizations operating in the community service industry of
Australia. The study is based on three different styles of leadership such as democratic style
of leadership, autocratic style of leadership and transformational leadership style which are
widely applied by the leaders of these organizations. Along with that, the study highlights the
differences between the leadership and the management. Apart from this, the study focuses
on the efficient identification of the key challenges that the leaders and the managers are
expected to face during their operations in the Australian community services.
Leadership Styles:
With a precise consideration towards the leadership practices taking place in the
community services of the nation, it is evident that the practice of three diverse leadership

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styles which are the transformational leadership, autocratic leadership and democratic
leadership, is largely prominent. The application of the above mentioned three different
leadership styles, is largely dependent on the leadership skills of the leaders along with the
soft skills that they possess.
Transformational Leadership:
With an exact look at the application of the mentioned leadership style in the
community services of Australia, it is evident that the leaders practicing the mentioned form
of leadership have the tendency of becoming a model of integrity and fairness. Along with
that, Antonakis and Robert (2013) claimed that the leaders who have the tendency of
practicing the mentioned from of leadership, are seen to have sufficient competency in setting
clear goals and usually have high expectations from the part of their subordinate employees.
According to the esteemed opinion of Odumeru and Ogbonna (2013), the transformational
leaders are seen to possess the quality of encouraging the minor employees and provides
excellent support for the efficient management of their operational activities and for the
achievement of the business objectives. Apart from this, Breevaart et al., (2014) claimed that
the transformational leaders have the capability to stir the emotions of other individuals
which provide considerable amount of competitive advantage to them in managing the
operational activities of their companies without any sort of detrimental impact of destructive
conflict.
Apart from this, Antonakis and Robert (2013) claimed that the transformational
leaders have the ability to manage several operations which starts from creating vision that
has the possibility to inspire the employees for a better future. At the same time, Odumeru
and Ogbonna (2013) claimed that the transformational leaders are largely inclined towards
motivating the people for the accomplishment of a common objective and that provides
significant amount of ease to the individuals in handling their professional activities in the

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community services. As per the comments of Breevaart et al., (2014), the application of the
transformational leadership enables the leaders in the efficient management of the changes
related to the processes, procedures and policies that the companies work through along with
the culture of the organizations. Braun et al., (2013) claimed that the ability of the
transformational leaders in motivating and inspiring other subordinate employees, is of great
significance for them in extracting the best out of the subordinate employees which is crucial
for the achievement of the high performances in the community services industry. Other than
this, Braun et al., (2013) mentioned that the transformational leaders usually portray the
capability to challenge the old techniques with better and effective strategies. Hence, it is
understandable that the top three skills of the transformational leaders are the ability of being
motivational, empathetic and skills of being innovative in the management of their
operational activities.
Autocratic Leadership:
According to the esteemed opinion of Rast III, Hogg and Giessner (2013), the
application of autocratic leadership style incorporates considerable amount of risk in the
efficient management of the human resources inside the organizations. De Hoogh, Greer and
Den Hartog (2015) claimed that the application of the autocratic form of leadership creates a
one point source of power inside the organizations. According to Akor (2014), the power of
decision making in the organizations that experience the autocratic form of leadership, is
centred to a particular figure who is the leader. The participation of other stakeholders of the
companies in the decision making is considerably limited and the main reason for such an
outcome, is the lack of openness of the leaders in considering the opinion of other leaders. In
addition to this, Rast III, Hogg and Giessner (2013) stated that the flow of communication in
the organizations that experience the autocratic leadership is largely limited. The low scope
that the employees and other stakeholders get, in providing any sort of effective feedback, is

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one of the main reason behind their apathy towards the application of the stated style of
leadership. Having said that, Akor (2014) claimed that the application of the autocratic style
of leadership is substantial for the leaders in taking the decisions with utmost urgency. Along
with that, De Hoogh, Greer and Den Hartog (2015) claimed that some important skills that
the autocratic leaders are required to possess are the skill of being decisive, confident and
disciplined as that is much required for the management of their operations in the community
services.
Democratic Leadership:
With an exact consideration towards the application of the democratic leadership
style, it is evident that the leaders following the mentioned form of leadership, have the
ability to create a productive environment inside the organizations. The leaders following
democratic leadership, have the tendency of sharing the freedom with the employees for the
decision making which in other way, increases their involvement with the organizations.
Along with that, the democratic leadership style plays an important role in establishing a free
flowing working environment that eradicates the existence of any sort of conflicts and at the
same time, the establishment of the fluent communication in the organizational context, adds
greater value for the leaders in managing the training and developmental requirements of the
employees in a professional manner. According to Nanjundeswaraswamy and Swamy (2014),
the important skills for the leaders applying the democratic or the participative management
style are the skill of being supportive to the subordinate employees, ability to engage with
other individuals and sense of accountability.
Differences between Leadership and Management:
The differences between the leadership and the management is observed to be unique
in nature. According to Algahtani (2014), the leadership is the ability of influencing the

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people for the efficient and enthusiastic achievement of a common objective. Ali (2013)
claimed that the leadership is not necessarily same as management rather it is a part of
management. On the other hand, Kolodziejczyk (2015), claimed that the management is
considered to be a discipline that contributes to the effective management of the activities.
The management is considered to be a structured process in which the business leaders
manage the processes. One of the significant changes between management and leadership is
that management is related to a formal and organized technique and on the other hand, the
leadership is associated with both formal and informal group settings ad processes.
According to McCaffery (2018), leadership is the ability of leading others by examples and
on the other hand, management is considered to be a systematic process of organizing and
coordinating things in an efficient manner for the much required achievement of a common
goal. Apart from this, Algahtani (2014) claimed that there is a significant difference in the
basis of the leadership and management and further added that the basis for leadership is trust
and on the other hand, the basis for the management is control. Other than this, Ali (2013)
stated that the leaders have the tendency of putting strong emphasis on the inspiring the
people and on the contrary of it, the managers have the tendency of putting emphasis on the
effective management of the operational and business activities. According to the esteemed
opinion of McCaffery (2018), the leaders usually apply the power in the form of influence
and the managers apply the power through the formed rules and regulations.
Having said that, Kolodziejczyk (2015), claimed that the leaders focus on the
effective encouragement of the changes whereas the managers have the tendency of focusing
on efficient management of the stability in the processes that they lead. As per the comments
of Ali (2013), the nature of strategy that the leaders apply, are observed to be proactive
whereas the nature of strategy generally applied by the managers, is seen to be reactive. The
responsibility of the leaders include the formulation of the guidelines and the principles and

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on the other hand, one of the prime responsibility of the managers is seen to be the
formulation of the procedures and policies. Hence, it is evident that the leadership is
considered as a skill for leading and inspiring a cluster of people for the accomplishment of a
mutual goal. In addition to this, it also turns out to be an interpersonal process that is
associated with involving a group or a person for ensuring enthusiastic and willingly
achievement of the objectives. Having said that, the concept of management is seen to be a
cyclic process of five stages which are planning, organizing, staffing, controlling and
coordinating along with leading and directing. In addition to this, Kolodziejczyk (2015),
claimed that the management is a process that creates a balance between the human
resources, material, machine, methods and the finance.
Key Challenges faced by the leaders and managers in the community
service section of Australia:
With a precise consideration towards the business activities of majority of the
community services organizations operating in various parts of Australia, it is evident that the
prime challenge for the leaders and managers is the inappropriate management of the human
resources. The companies are observed to suffer in various dimension of human resource
management and that is certainly affecting the countries in providing quality services to the
community. With a precise look at one of the business reports published by the NSW Council
of Social Service, it is understandable that the leaders and managers operating in the
mentioned industry are facing tremendous challenge in achieving appropriate number of
professionals for executing their operational activities (Ncoss.org.au., 2019). The scarcity of
professionals is certainly a concern for the managerial position holders as it is a major
constraint for them in delivering the desired quality and quantity in their work. Along with
that, a significant concern for the leaders and managers of the Australian community services,
is seen to be the incompetent procedures for the staff development. The ability of the

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companies in delivering the required quality is largely dependent on their efficiency in
developing the required infrastructure for the formulation of the training and developmental
activities that contribute to the improvement of skills and capabilities of the employees.
Having said that, the inappropriate availability of the infrastructure has certainly
limited the ability of the companies in enhancing the skills of their employees and that is
affecting the overall quality of performances of the companies in the community services
industry. The report of NSW Council of Social Services also made a significant claim that the
managers working in the mentioned industry is finding majority of the human resource
challenges due to the application of inappropriate recruitment procedures and their
incapability in retaining quality providing employees (Ncoss.org.au., 2019). According to the
esteemed opinion of Al Ariss, Cascio and Paauwe (2014), the challenge for the leaders in
retaining a talented workforces is seen to be incompetent wage characteristics offered to
majority of the employees. Along with that, the lack of flexibility in the formulation of the
work time characteristics is a major challenge for the leaders and managers working in the
industry, in attracting capable employees.
The mentioned incompetency plays a significant role in decreasing the capability of
the leaders in executing and allocating the operational activities of their companies in a
professional manner. As per the comments of Allen et al. (2013), the incorporation of the
desired flexible work arrangements is crucial for motivating and attracting larger number of
professionals in the community service industry of the nation. Along with that, the
incapability of the community service organizations in managing the workplace diversity is
also a major concern as the inaccurate management of the diversity has the potential of
affecting the team performances in the companies. The continuous improvement of the
quality of the team performances is a much required aspect for the effective management of
the community service industry. Hence, the formation of destructive conflict as a result of the

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inaccurate management of the workplace diversity can reduce the ability of the companies in
improving their performances.
Conclusion:
On an ending note, it is understandable that the widely used styles of leadership in the
community service industry of Australia are the democratic style, autocratic style and
transformational style. The leaders and managers are observed to be different on the basis of
application of power, strategy, focus and the perspective. Apart from this, the above analysis
is significant in stating the challenges faced in the management of the human resources to be
the ultimate concerns for the leaders and managers operating in the community service
industry of Australia.

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