Leadership Management: Reviewing Theories and HRM Implications

This essay provides a critical review of leadership management, examining transformational, authoritarian, and situational leadership styles. It discusses the implications of these styles from a Human Resource Management (HRM) perspective, referencing various authors and their opinions on leadership concepts. The essay highlights the benefits and limitations of each leadership style, emphasizing the importance of situational leadership in adapting to rapidly changing business environments. It also points out the need for managers to be flexible and mobile in their leadership approaches to effectively address contemporary HRM challenges. Desklib provides this assignment as a solved example for students.

Running head: LEADERSHIP MANAGEMENT
Leadership management
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

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PART: A (Critical review of leadership)
Introduction
It is a well known fact that leadership determines the organizational effectiveness in the
contemporary business scenario. Traditionally, leadership holds an important position in the
current organizational affairs but in the recent time, utility of leadership is more than just
motivating the employees. Hence, in the current time, leadership covers different aspects and
factors in the organizational affairs (Dinh et al. 2014). However, with time, the complexities
regarding the concept of leadership got increased and different forms and types of leadership are
being introduced. Thus, it is also initiating the issue of how to align the different types of
leadership with that of the respective organizational situation. In addition, it is also a major
argument in the recent time that if the leadership approach should be variable in nature or they
should have singular approach in different organizational situations (Meuser et al. 2016).
In order to discuss over the above argument, it is important to first identify the different
leadership theories and concepts in determining their elements. This essay will discuss about the
opinions of different authors regarding leadership concepts along with discussion on the
implications of the concepts in the workplace from the perspective of HRM. In addition, the
limitations and benefits of using the particular article will also be discussed in this essay.
Transformational leadership
Transformational leadership is one of the most common and critically acclaimed concepts
of leadership in the current time. This concept refers to the visionary skills of the leaders along
with their ability to influence on the larger section of the stakeholders (Drenkard 2013). In
addition, transformational style of leadership is being adopted by the organizations in order to

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have the involvement of the employees in the decision making process and higher degree of
innovative orientation in the workplace. According to Bush (2018), some of the major
multinational brands in the recent are adopting transformational style of leadership in order to
have the competitive edge in the market by the forms of innovation. The author has also stated
that with the help of the transformational leadership approach, employee motivation is being
given the major focus along with concentrating more on their workplace satisfaction and
productivity. Thus, HRM approaches with having this mode of leadership will have lower
probability of employee issues in the workplace.
On the basis of this theory, Saleh, Khine and Asghar (2014) further stated that initiation
of the transformation leadership is having positive impact on the leading, managing and
developing people in the workplace. This is due to the reason that according to the Maslow’s
theory of motivation, it is important for the leaders to meet the needs of the employees to keep
them motivated. Thus, as per the authors, transformational leaders are more employees oriented
and they prefer the welfare of the employees more over the output. This led to fulfillment of the
needs of the employees and enhances the level of motivation among the employees. In addition,
the authors have also stated that with the effective fulfillment of the needs of the employees, the
level of engagement and involvement in also more and this is helping in managing them. Thus,
the effectiveness of the entire HRD will get enhanced.
Thompson et al. (2016) stated that as transformational leadership is more centered
towards the welfare of the employees, thus staff training and development is also given an added
concentration. Hence, the more effective process of training and development program for the
employees is ensuring that people development in the workplace is proper and efficient. In the
workplace, if the employees are properly trained and skilled then their productivity will also get

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increased along with their enhanced level of motivation. However, it is identified that each of
these authors has only one sided approach in discussing the concept of leadership. This is due to
the reason that the current business situation is much diverse in nature and evolving rapidly.
Thus, discussion of the leadership concepts based on one sided organizational affair will not
have much effectiveness in the real world situation. In this case, the authors have discussed about
the transformational leadership based on favorable business condition only.
There are some others authors such as Tourish (2013) stated about the drawbacks of
initiating transformational leadership. This is due to the reason that, in the case of this leadership
style, decision making process becomes more complex and time consuming. Transformational
style of leadership engages all the internal stakeholders in the decision making process and thus
it will consume more time in the process. In addition, contrary to the above theories of other
authors, it is stated by Tourish (2013) that in the case of challenging organizational situation,
transformational leadership may not have the similar level of effectiveness due to the fact that
quick and efficient decisions are required at that point of time. Thus HRD will face the issue of
managing their employee accordingly.
Authoritarian Leadership
Opposite to the concept of the transformational leadership style, authoritarian style of
leadership is also being relevant in the current business scenario. This refers to the concept of
initiating leadership in the workplace without being consulted with the different internal
stakeholders (Chen, Zhou and Klyver 2018). Thus, in this case, upper level managers initiate the
decision making process by their own and lower level employees follow them. Regarding this
concept also, there are different opinions being given by different authors in terms of its utility.

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According to Hogg and Adelman (2013), radical behavior of the managers is associated with the
authoritarian style of leadership. This is due to the reason that in the case of this leadership
approach, radical decisions are being taken by the leaders without having consent of other
stakeholders. The authors have also stated that in the case of authoritarian style of leadership,
power distance is more between the employees and managers and the employees act as the
followers to their leaders.
According to Duan et al. (2018), authoritarian style of leadership is having both positive
and negative impact on the employees. This is due to the reason that there are different types of
traits of employees relevant in the workplace and the effectiveness of this leadership style will
have different sets of impact. In this case, the authors have stated the McGregor’s two factors
theory, which states that there are two types of employees evident in the workplace namely X
and Y type. X types of the employees are more self-centered and avoid taking responsibilities. In
addition, they expect to be directed by their managers. On the other hand, the Y type of
employees is more responsible and accountable in the workplace and they prefer to take decision
by their own and involves in the organizational affairs. Thus, according to Duan et al. (2018),
authoritarian style of leadership is applicable for X type of employees. This will help the
managers to effectively directly these types of employees while on the other hand, these
employees will be motivated enough under this style of leadership.
Based on this theory, Guo et al. (2018) further elaborated that employee creativity and
authoritarian style of leadership is being direct relationship. This is due to the reason that in the
case of this style of leadership, employees are not being involved in the decision making process
and other organizational affairs. Thus, they are having more time in respect to their respective
job profile and can engaged more in initiating the creativity. In the HRM scenario, authoritarian

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style of leadership can help the managers in developing and leading the employees. This is due
to the reason that if the employees can be directed in favorable manner then the employees will
be engaged more in their workplace. In addition, with the help of the authoritarian style of
leadership, workplace environment can be made effective and cooperative without involving the
employees in every organizational affair. As per the authors, apart from the transformational
style of leadership, initiation of the authoritarian style of leadership can also enhance the level of
motivation among the employees. However, the articles used in this section are also having some
sort of limitations as identified. One of the major limitations being identified is the assumption of
the authors of having majority of the X type of employees. In the current business scenario,
employees are more skilled and trained and they tend to get motivated by having challenging
positions (Russ 2013). Thus, evaluating the effectiveness of authoritarian style of leadership by
assuming only the X type of employees is not relevant in the present era. In addition, it is also
identified that these journals are based on the secondary research and not on primary data. Thus,
the real world implications of the authoritarian style of leadership are not being identified by the
authors.
On the other hand, Jiang et al. (2017) have a contradictory view against the above
authors. They have stated that initiation of the authoritarian style of leadership may lead to
unsafe working conditions in the workplace. This is due to the reason that in this case, issues and
feedbacks of the employees are not being considered. Thus, the decision taken by the managers
may have negative impact on the employees. In addition, it is stated by Jiang et al. (2017) that
employees will have deviant behaviors due to the authoritarian leadership style. This is due to the
reason that, this approach may increase the gap between the leaders and employees, which will
have adverse impact on the workplace.

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Situational leadership
The above discussion of both the transformational style of leadership and authoritarian
style of leadership concluded that both the approaches are having different set of effectiveness in
different situations. Salehzadeh et al. (2015) stated that in this case, situational style of leadership
will be more effective. As per the authors, situational style of leadership refers to the initiation of
different leadership styles according to the different business situations. Thus, it includes
characteristics of both the transformational and authoritarian style of leadership and provides the
scope to the leaders to implement them in different situations. Thus, this leadership approach can
be opted as an alternative style of leadership to the mainstream concepts (Pyc, Meltzer and Liu
2017).
However, on the other hand, Lynch et al. (2018) stated that situational leadership style
may not be successful if the current business trends cannot get determined effectively. This is
due to the reason that if the initiated leadership approaches of the managers are not aligned with
the organizational situation and the requirement of the employees, and then this approach will
also not get effective in real world situation (Zigarmi and Roberts 2017). Thus, person
orientation should be considered in the initiation process of the situational style of leadership.
Conclusion
It is concluded that different types of leadership styles are effective considering the exact
organizational situation. In addition, in the current business scenario, the organizational situation
is changing at faster pace and it is important for the managers to change their leadership
approach accordingly. From the discussion of different leadership theories in this essay, it can be

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concluded that contemporary managers should follow the situational style of leadership in order
to have the required flexibility and mobility to deal with the rapidly changing scenario of HRM.

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Reference
Bush, T. 2018. Transformational leadership: Exploring common conceptions. Educational
Management Administration & Leadership, 46(6), 883-887.
Chen, Y., Zhou, X. and Klyver, K. 2018, "Collective Efficacy: Linking Paternalistic Leadership
to Organizational Commitment", Journal of Business Ethics, , pp. 1-17.
Dinh, J. E., Lord, R. G., Gardner, W. L., Meuser, J. D., Liden, R. C., and Hu, J. 2014. Leadership
theory and research in the new millennium: Current theoretical trends and changing
perspectives.The Leadership Quarterly, 25(1), 36-62.
Drenkard, K. 2013, "Transformational Leadership: Unleashing the Potential", JONA: The
Journal of Nursing Administration, vol. 43, no. 2, pp. 57-58.
Duan, J., Bao, C., Huang, C., and Brinsfield, C. T. 2017;2018;. Authoritarian leadership and
employee silence in china. Journal of Management and Organization, 24(1), 1-19.
Guo, L., Decoster, S., Babalola, M. T., De Schutter, L., Garba, O. A., and Riisla, K. 2018.
Authoritarian leadership and employee creativity: The moderating role of psychological capital
and the mediating role of fear and defensive silence. Journal of Business Research, 92, 219-230.
Hogg, M. A., and Adelman, J. 2013. Uncertainty–Identity theory: Extreme groups, radical
behavior, and authoritarian leadership. Journal of Social Issues, 69(3), 436-454.
Jiang, H., Chen, Y., Sun, P., and Li, C. 2017. Authoritarian leadership and employees’ unsafe
behaviors: The mediating roles of organizational cynicism and work alienation. Current
Psychology, , 1-11.

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Jiang, H., Chen, Y., Sun, P., and Yang, J. 2017. The relationship between authoritarian
leadership and employees' deviant workplace behaviors: The mediating effects of psychological
contract violation and organizational cynicism. Frontiers in Psychology, 8
Lynch, B. M., McCance, T., McCormack, B., and Brown, D. 2018. The development of the
Person‐Centred situational leadership framework: Revealing the being of person‐centredness in
nursing homes. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 27(1-2), 427-440.
Meuser, J.D., Gardner, W.L., Dinh, J.E., Hu, J., Liden, R.C. and Lord, R.G. 2016, "A Network
Analysis of Leadership Theory: The Infancy of Integration", Journal of Management, vol. 42,
no. 5, pp. 1374-1403.
Pyc, L.S., Meltzer, D.P. and Liu, C. 2017, "Ineffective leadership and employees' negative
outcomes: The mediating effect of anxiety and depression", International Journal of Stress
Management, vol. 24, no. 2, pp. 196-215.
Russ, T.L. 2013, "The relationship between Theory X Y: assumptions and communication
apprehension", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, vol. 34, no. 3, pp. 238-249.
Saleh, I. M., Khine, M. S., and Asghar, A. 2014. Reframing transformational leadership new
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Thomson, Norman B., MD, MBA, Rawson, J. V., MD, Slade, C. P., PhD, and Bledsoe, M.,
MSPH RN. 2016. Transformation and transformational leadership. Academic Radiology, 23(5),
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PART: B (REFLECTION REPORT)
We have worked in a group for the class presentation. In our group, we have total 5
members from different social and cultural backgrounds. Thus cultural differences were evident
in our group. According to Gibbbs model of reflection, the first step is description. We have
faced minor issues such as communication problems and creation of consensus among the team
members. We have allocated the work on different members and it was done without having
issues. However, the problem was emerged during the accumulation of different works of all the
members. I was having the thinking that we will have issues in matching with one other’s
approach but that does not happened and majority of the works have been done smoothly.
The good aspects identified by me are effective networking between the members that
further helped in decision making process. In addition, the compromising attitude of the group
members also helped in overcoming potential issues in the group. From the very initial stage, I
personally focused on maintaining the effective relationship between the team members to have
the better understandings. It is concluded that relationship between the team members is
important for effective team working and development. However, in case of any future issues, I
will make sure that opinions of all the team members are being heard and considered in the
decision making process.