Leadership Interview Analysis: Applying Leadership Theories

This report presents an analysis of a leadership interview conducted with a healthcare manager, examining the practical application of various leadership theories. The interviewee, with nearly 20 years of experience, shared insights into their daily responsibilities, which include staff supervision, grievance management, and fostering a culture of continuous improvement. The report identifies the application of transformational, situational, and servant leadership styles based on the manager's responses. The manager's emphasis on positive change, employee empowerment, and adaptability aligns with transformational leadership, while the situational leadership style is evident in the manager's approach to tailoring responses to specific circumstances. Furthermore, the report highlights servant leadership through the manager's emphasis on employee needs and development. The report critically evaluates the strengths and limitations of each leadership style, referencing relevant literature. It also provides recommendations for future improvements in leadership practice, emphasizing the importance of individualized consideration within transformational leadership and the need to balance different leadership approaches for effective outcomes. The report concludes by underscoring the multifaceted nature of effective leadership and the value of integrating various theories to address organizational challenges.

Running head: LEADERSHIP INTERVIEW
LEADERSHIP INTERVIEW
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

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Introduction
Though there exist a number of comprehensive definitions, in simple terms, leadership
can be defined as the act of guiding and directing followers of a team or organization for the
collective fulfilment of organizational objectives (Bolman and Deal 2017). There exist a number
of theories, styles and models guiding leaders on effective strategies with which leadership can
be practiced. However, theoretical knowledge may differ from practical application – due to
which, the implementation of an interview with a real life leader was useful and thus have been
outlined in the following sections. Practical leadership practice generally comprise of not one but
several leadership theories and styles in conjunction (Grint et al. 2016). Thus some of the key
leadership theories which have been considered for exploration include: transformational,
situational and servant styles of leadership.
Thus, with respect to the above, the following paper will provide an extensive and
elaborate discussion on the significant responses which were identified during an interview with
a manager as well as the ways in which these key responses can be correlated with notable
leadership styles and theories. In addition to expounding upon application of leadership theory in
practice, this paper will also provide recommendations on future improvements in leadership
practice, which were drawn after critically correlating responses with current evidence based
literature.
Discussion
Summary of Responses
The interview was conducted with a 45 year old healthcare manager heading the
administrative department in a notable healthcare organization and holding an experience of

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almost 20 years in the clinical field. The interview first comprised of inquiring the daily
responsibilities of the manager, upon which it was responded that these included: overall inter-
departmental supervision and interaction with both staff and clients, management of grievances
and implementation of debriefing sessions for identifying issues and motivating staff towards
overall change and improvement. The interviewee also shared on how he feels that effective
leadership lies in encouraging staff to continuously improve as well as empathize with them in
their grievances. Additionally, the interviewee also focused on the importance of mediating
between both clients as well as staff and how engagement in daily supervisions and interactions
make him feel fulfilled. The interviewee also emphasized on the idea of not compelling but
rather encouraging staff to perform to the fullest. Lastly, the interviewee believed that there are
no set rules for leaderships and that leaders must adapt to the situation accordingly (Appendices).
Identified Theories
Throughout the interview some of the key significant responses which seemed to emerge
repeatedly in the interviewee’s responses, is his need to instil ‘positive change’ and feel
‘fulfilled’ after he has heard everybody’s concerns. Some significant responses include
(Appendices):
‘At the end of the day, I feel fulfilled that I could listen to everybody and
recommend areas of positive ‘change’,’
‘I believe that the essence in leadership lies in bringing about a change in current
operations.’
The above statements clearly demonstrate the practice of transformational leadership – a
leadership style, as postulated by Hawkins (2017), which comprises of leaders working with

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collectively with team members for the purpose of identifying changes and improvement areas as
well as inspiring followers to develop and adhere to a vision for professional, organizational and
most importantly personal change. The need to encourage positive change across the
organization as well as by the team members themselves can be observed in the interviewee’s
following statements (Appendices):
‘I encourage staff to share what they think must be improved – both within their
own practice as well as the organization.’
Indeed, it has been evidenced by Banks et al. (2016), that the need to outline key
organizational priorities and encouraging employees to practice self-reflection beyond personal
interests are prevalent aspects of transformational leadership theory to practice – as heavily
observed in the interview. Such practice aspects can further be collectively categorized under the
characteristic of ‘extraversion’ - a key trait in this leadership style, comprising of
transformational leaders feeling the need to be affiliated or ‘involved’ or ‘belonging’ to the daily
staff activities of the organization, and is a way by which transformational leaders seek to listen
to team concerns, demonstrate motivation and project themselves as someone to be trustworthy
and inspirational (Lanaj, Johnson and Lee 2016). Such leadership practices, as evidenced by
Koveshnikov and Ehrnrooth (2018), are collectively termed as the characteristic principle of
‘idealized influence’ in transformational leadership, that is, the practice of ‘walking the talk’ or
setting an influence or example to their team members. The above application of
transformational leadership theories to practice can be observed extensively in the interviewee’s
responses where he claims to feel fulfilled after engaging in his favorite daily supervision
rounds, his attempts of making daily debriefing session and enjoyable practice and his belief that

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a key solution to solving a challenging situation is to seek for scope of future improvement.
These can be observed in the following (Appendices):
‘Next is my favourite part – my supervisory rounds… After lunch I communicate
with the quality control department on issues I identified and then we I engage in
debriefing sessions with my team leaders. At the end of the day, I feel fulfilled that I could
listen to everybody…’
‘Interact! Interact! Interact! That’s why I take debriefing sessions – to identify and
resolve employee issues …… I try to make it as fun and interactive as possible. I goof
around, make them comfortable’
Indeed, transformational leadership style is considered has one of the most effective and
prevalently used theories for instilling multifaceted improvements within the organization as
well as across team members. A transformational leader’s charismatic style of leadership
practice is a key reasons why such leaders can be trusted and are enjoyable to work with
(Zineldin 2017). However, transformational leadership styles are not without limitations and
criticisms. The transformational theory of leadership has been criticized by Fourie and Höhne
(2019), as one which is impulsive and emotional since leaders are almost always focusing on
long term change and on ways in which change can be achieved rather than focusing on current
issues at hand, such as the actual levels of motivation or competencies held by employees.
Transformational leaders are criticized to always expect employees to have the same levels of
motivation and thus, end up placing unrealistic responsibilities on grounds of long term change
(Matjie 2018). While the emphasis on change by transformational leaders is useful for long term
improvement – lack of engaging in an in-depth exploration of employee perceptions can
contribute to burnout, stress, fatigue, frustration, loss of motivation across employees and

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misperceptions where employees feel that they are being taken advantage of (Ghasabeh and
Provitera 2017).
However, it has been recommended by Martínez-Córcoles, Stephanou and Schöbel
(2020), that a key way by which transformational leaders can address the above critical aspects
of this leadership style is via the practice of the principle of ‘Individualized Consideration’. As
per the principle of ‘Individualized Consideration’ transformational leaders empathize with the
problems, concerns and issues faced by the employees and staff members, identify the
underlying causative factors of such problems, collaboratively communicate the same to the
employee and encourage them to work towards resolution of the issue (Jin, Seo and Shapiro
2016). The practice of individualized consideration is especially important in transformational
leadership due to multifaceted reasons. Not only does this principle instil positive perceptions
where employees feel that they are being respected and empathized with, but it also encourages
the leader to keep a check on potential grievances of employees and how the same can be
corrected for future long term improvement (Phaneuf et al. 2016). Indeed, the practice of
individualized consideration can be observed in the interview where the interviewee shares a key
personal experience, as enlisted below (Appendices):
‘A few years back, one of my team leaders was reported to perform poorly at
work…. I found about regarding the recent death of her husband. I empathized,
complemented her for her efforts and gave her a few days off. And voila! She was back
better than ever!’
In addition to transformational style of leadership, a close examination of responses from
the interview demonstrate the application of a situational style of leadership by the interviewee.
To expound upon the same, the following statement from the interview is useful (Appendices):

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‘I know that my team gives their best every day and that each situation needs a ‘best
fit’ response as per the emergency! …. I believe in two questions: ‘What’s best for the
situation now?’ and ‘How can we prevent or even make things better in the future?’…
There no single rule. You adapt to the situation and make the best out of it!’
A situational style of leadership is one which is characterized by leaders not
implementing a rigid, single style of leadership but rather, fitting their responses to the issue or
employees, based on the specific situation at hand (Lynch et al. 2018). A situational style of
leadership is particularly useful since each employee possesses their own set of competencies,
skills and willingness to take part in resolving the situation at hand, and thus, moulding the
leadership style accordingly paves the way for increased comfort, confidence and motivation
within employees (Shonhiwa 2016). Additionally, upon close examination of the responses
engaged by the interviewee, glimpses of a servant style of leadership can also be observed. The
following statements are noteworthy (Appendices):
‘I encourage staff to share what they think must be improved – both within their
own practice as well as the organization. I personally maintain my own reflective journal
and seek to take feedback from my staff on what they think I should change.’
A servant style of leadership is one which is characterized by the leader practicing
altruism in the form of prioritizing the needs of the employee first and thus, seek to provide an
environment of continuous growth, development and improvement for employees. One of the
most important constructs of a servant style of leadership is empathy and awareness - the
practice of placing oneself in the shoes of others and the act of being aware of the scope of
improvement, limitations and strengths across organizational staff members (Green et al. 2016).
Such application of leadership theory in practice can be repeatedly observed in the personal

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experiences shared by the interviewee, as mentioned previously, as well as in his attempts to
conduct an enjoyable and interactive debriefing session. Indeed, a servant style of leadership has
been evidenced by Eva et al. (2019), to be associated with a range of organizational advantages
such as: increased loyalty from team members, greater levels of motivation and cohesiveness
across team members and thus, resultant higher team productivity.
However, despite their evidenced advantages, both situational as well as servant styles of
leadership have been criticized for several limitations. According to Chiniara and Bentein
(2016), prolonged engagement in an ‘employee first’ attitude by leaders adhering to servant
leadership theories have rather been associated with reduced rates of productivity and motivation
across employees since employees are likely to misperceive this leadership style as one where
the leader addresses all their needs with little effort required from their behalf. Additionally,
situational style of leadership has been criticized by Shonhiwa (2016) to be one which is
inconsiderate of long term needs of the employees due to its greater emphasis on the immediate,
short term needs of the situation. This may be a key concern in healthcare environment since a
situational leadership theory may provide solution to immediate mitigation of clinical
emergencies but may not be sufficient to provide strategies for preventing future such
emergencies. Additionally, situational leadership theory and style are often perceived as
confusing to employees since no leader exercise multiple leadership strategies rather than a fixed
one (Ali 2017). With this respect, leaders are often recommended to combine situational or
servant styles of leadership with principles of transformational style of leadership. To address the
need to induce long term changes as well as employee involvement, unlike situational or servant
styles of leaderships, practicing the principle of ‘Intellectual Stimulation’ can be prove to be
useful (Tepper et al. 2018). The transformational principle of intellectual stimulation is

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characterized by the leader encouraging the employees to challenge their capabilities and take
the responsibility of finding solutions for resolution of the same (Suifan and Al-Janini 2017).
This practice can indeed be observed to be demonstrated by the interviewee during debriefing
sessions as quoted below (Appendices):
‘I allow them to share all issues they face without inhibition and then, suggest them
to provide me what they think is the best solution. Debriefing sessions are useless if you do
not allow let your staff take the lead.’
Indeed, it is this principle of transformational leadership which allows employees to take
responsibility and accountability of their own actions and in turn, collaborate with the leader and
team members to focus on future long term improvements. Such principles in turn, develop team
cohesiveness, harmony and collective motivation to fulfil short as well as long term
organizational objectives (Suifan and Al-Janini 2017).
Recommendations
Thus, the above interview provided interesting insights into application of theory to
practice which in turn, can be used to provide key recommendations on improved future practice
of leadership. Firstly, while practicing transformational styles of leadership, it is recommended
that leaders empathize with the unique perceptions and expectations held by employees rather
than focusing only on organizational change interventions (Rahman 2017). Additionally, while
practicing servant and situational theories of leadership, it is recommended that leaders must
strike a balance between serving employees, focusing on the situation as well as providing plenty
of opportunities for employees to resolve identified challenges (Yasir and Mohamad 2016).
Lastly, every leadership theory and style has their own set of strengths and limitations and cannot
be single handily cover complex organizational and staff needs. Leaders are thus recommended

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to practice a combination of multiple theories and styles suited to organizational and staff needs
(Anderson and Sun 2017).
Conclusion
This paper thus provides a detailed and comprehensive insight into the key responses
which were considered significant during the interview with a manager as well as an
identification of the possible areas demonstrating application of leadership theory in practice. It
can thus be implied that leadership is not merely about the collective fulfilment of objectives but
also on motivating employees to engage in professional and personal improvements for
improved future practice. Additionally, this paper emphasized on the importance of leaders
reflecting upon their own actions as well as empathizing with perceptions held by employees. To
conclude, effective leadership must not be limited to just one theory but implementation of
positive aspects of multiple theories and styles based on the issue at hand.

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