Leadership and Motivation: Autocratic vs. Transformational Report

This report delves into the intricacies of leadership, exploring various styles and their impact on employee motivation. It examines the importance of building relationships and utilizing emotional intelligence in leadership, contrasting transformational and autocratic approaches through real-world examples. The report analyzes the application of McGregor's Theory X and Theory Y in understanding and addressing diverse employee needs and behaviors, highlighting the use of rewards, recognition, and disciplinary strategies. It discusses how leaders can adapt their approaches to different situations and employee types to foster productivity, engagement, and overall organizational success, offering a comprehensive view of effective leadership practices. The report provides insights into the complexities of human nature and the challenges leaders face in motivating their followers, emphasizing the significance of understanding individual expectations and employing tailored motivational strategies.

Running head: LEADERSHIP
Leadership
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

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Part A
Leadership is the ability of a person towards making sound decision and leading others
towards performing well as per that decision. Leadership is always associated with inspiring the
followers towards achieving challenging goals through providing adequate support. However,
the impact of leadership style often manifests in the quality of relationships which a leader
builds over time with others, in particular subordinates and peers. The more the leaders will
build relationship with their followers, the more the followers will be able influenced by their
leaders. According to Willems (2016), the leaders cannot lead their followers unless they
understand the perspectives of their followers. In other words, the leaders can effectively lead
and guide the followers, who are having same values and principles. Therefore, the leaders need
to build effective relationship and create communities with their followers for understanding
their values and perspective properly. Apart from that, building effective relationship also
facilitates the leaders to build trustable relationship with the followers. Such trustable
relationship with the leaders also encourages the followers towards performing well as per the
instruction of their leaders.
While considering the example of a particular situation, I can exemplify my experience
as being a leader, where I have used high level of emotional intelligence for building
relationship with the followers. One year back, I used to work in a reputed retail organization of
Australia, where I was playing the role of a leader. My role was to direct and lead the people
towards performing well and achieving the set target of the organization. Moreover, my role was
to lead the team of customer representatives, where the employees need more of inspiration
rather than pushing them towards dealing with customers effectively. Therefore, that time, I
realized that I would be better able to influence on my followers, when I would build effective

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and collaborative relationship with them. Moreover, I also identified the importance of emotional
intelligence for building effective relationship with the followers.
According to Bassi and McMurrer (2016), collaborative relationship with the followers
facilitates the leaders towards identifying their strengths and weakness at the workplace. In this
way, the leaders can identify the key areas of competencies of their followers and utilizing them
in achieving organizational success. On the other hand, Peng (2014) opined that high level of
emotional intelligence facilitates the leaders in understanding the deeper values and needs of the
followers. Therefore, such high level of emotional intelligence also helped me in identifying the
individual core needs and values of my followers. In this way, based on this understanding, I
became able to encourage the followers individually towards performing well. Furthermore, it is
also worth mentioning that I chose transformational leadership style for leading and
motivating the team towards providing better customer service. Performance in customer service
is not measured much in terms of quantitative measures, but it is all about the quality of the
customer handling. It requires high level of involvement on the part of customer representatives
towards effectively handling the customer queries.
Hwang and Lee (2015) opined that transformational leadership style suggests the leaders
to involve the followers in the organizational decision making process. Moreover, they allow
some sense of ownership to the followers so that they can complete their task in their own ways.
Therefore, such leadership assisted me in encouraging my followers with high level of
autonomy. The followers were also encouraged towards fulfilling their assigned task, as they
were provided with high level of work flexibility. On the other hand, Paustian-Underdahl,
Walker and Woehr (2014) opined that transformational leaders are always willing to adopt
innovative approach for achieving organizational goals. Likewise, I also became capable of

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suggesting unique way of customer handling process, which was quite motivating to the
followers. In this way, such transformational leadership was highly influential on my
followers, which explore their skills and competencies through an innovative ways of customer
handling process.
While considering another example a particular situation, I can exemplify my
experience as being a leader, where I use dark side of leadership for leading my team leaders.
Six months back, I used to work in a clothing manufacturing company of Australia. Moreover,
my role was to lead the production team, where the productivity of the team members used to be
measured in terms quantitative measures. Oftentimes, I had to push the team members for
enhancing their productivity as per the organizational standards. I was unable to take the risk of
being flexible in leadership style with the fear of any deviation in the team performance as per
organizational standard. Therefore, I selected autocratic leadership style in managing the
production team of the organization.
According to Khoreva and Vaiman (2015), autocratic leaders always tend to be highly
structured and they remain extremely rigid in leading the people towards achieving the
predetermined organizational goals. Likewise, I started to use perfectionism attitude for keeping
the performance of my team members intact with the organizational standard. Such attitude led
me in micro managing the work of the team members, so that there is no deviation between the
organizational overall target and the team target. Such attitude helped me in meeting the team
target in each month as per the organizational standard. However, the team members were
sometimes discouraged with such leadership style. On the other hand, Seibert et al. (2017)
opined that autocratic leaders always dictate the working methods and process for effectively
achieving the organizational goals. In some situation, I felt that the employees are unnecessarily

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reluctant to work at their peak level, while they are provided with some space. It was actually
hampering the overall productivity of the organization. Therefore, I decided to be arrogant in my
leadership style for strictly dictating the working method to the employees for keeping them
engaged with their job roles. It facilitated me in getting things done by the employees properly as
per organizational standard.
Colbert, Barrick and Bradley (2014) pointed out that autocratic leaders always lead their
followers with strict rules and regulation. Likewise, I never provided my followers any flexibility
and never blindly trust on them. However, such attitude facilitated me to keep monitoring over
the performance of the employees and achieve the predetermined organizational target.
Part B
Employee motivation is a critical aspect at the workplace, which lead to highly
performing workforces in an organization. According to Dobre (2013), motivated employees can
always lead to increased productivity and allow organizations towards achieving higher level of
output. Moreover, employees are highly encouraged towards putting their best efforts towards
completing their assigned task, when they are motivated at their organization. On the other hand,
Lau and Roopnarain (2014) motivated employees are highly efficient at their work, which
enhances overall organizational efficiencies. Moreover, the employees having high level of
motivation have a good balance between their ability to do their job and their willingness to do
their jobs. Therefore, such good balance between the ability and willingness to do their jobs
fosters efficiency at their job role. Furthermore, Mikkelsen, Jacobsen and Andersen (2017)
opined that satisfied and motivated employees are less likely to leave their current company and
seek for new and better job options. In this way, high level of employee motivation also

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enhances the retention rate of their organization. However, the leaders seem to have the
greatest difficulty in motivating their followers because of the complexity of human nature
and the diversity of followers’ needs, differences, expectations, interests and responsiveness
to rewards and punishment.
While considering the working situation, I can highlight my work experience as a leader
in a clothing company of Australia, where I used to work 6 months back. There were wide
varieties of employees having different backgrounds. In such situation, it was quite tough for me
to understand the individual needs for the employees. According to Kim and Scullion (2013),
human nature is highly complex and it highly differs from one another in regards to the way of
thinking, ways of feeling, way of enthusiasm and the way of their acting. Therefore, it becomes
very tough for the leaders to understand the inner motivational factors of individual employees.
It is also quite difficult for the leaders towards understanding the individual expectation level of
the employees. On the other hand, Gupta and Shaw (2014) opined that the complex human
nature of the employees also make it difficult for the leaders towards identifying the actual
rewards and punishment strategy for changing employee behavior. Likewise, it was also difficult
for me to understand the individual motivational factors for my organization.
In my working situation, I observed that some employees do not intrinsically like to work
and try to escape from their responsibilities. On the other hand, there are some other people also,
who are self-motivated towards completing their own work. In such situation, I realized that I
would require two types of motivational strategies towards motivating the employees having
two different perspectives at their work. Moreover, some people needed external treats for
engaging with their own work, whereas some people needed more recognition and rewards for
being more loyal at the workplace. Therefore, I used punishing strategies for employees, who

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are intrinsically unwilling to perform their job roles. On the other hand, I used reward and
recognition strategies for motivating the employees, who are already self-motivated for doing
their own jobs.
I had selected my motivational strategies from the concept of Douglas McGregor’s
Theory X and Theory Y. Theory X and Theory Y suggests two types of human behavior at
work, which demonstrates two different aspects of people at their job roles. Moreover, the
perception of managers on the employees is created based on different assumptions. According
to Olafsen et al. (2015), the assumption of Theory X suggests that an average employee is not
intrinsically like to work. They are always indifferent about their job role and even try to escape
from their own job responsibilities. Such employees need to be persuaded, compelled and
warned with punishment for achieving organizational goals. Furthermore, Cherian and Jacob
(2013) opined that such employees need direct supervision from their managers for achieving
organizational success. It will keep direct control over the unwilling employees, which will help
in engaging them with their job roles. Likewise, I also adopted the punishing strategies for
engaging the employees with their job roles, who were intentionally unwilling to perform their
jobs well. Moreover, the fear of punishment was quite influential on the unwilling employees,
which kept them engaged with their job roles.
Dar et al. (2014) pointed out that Theory of Y assumption indicates the employees, who
are happy to work on their own initiatives. Moreover, such employees are more involved in the
organizational decision-making process and feel highly valued on their engagement in
organizational decision-making process. Furthermore, Olafsen et al. (2015) opined that the Y
assumption also indicated the employees, who want to enjoy the ownership of their own task.
They always seek to accept the responsibilities and need little direction from their supervisors.

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Such employees are also willing to apply creative and unique solution towards solving their own
job problems.
In my workplace, I used reward and recognition strategies for motivating the employees,
who were in Theory of Y category as per my assumption. The reward strategies encouraged such
employees towards being more responsible at their work. Moreover, the want of recognition
motivated the employees towards more hard working, which was actually enhanced their
productivity. The desire for more meaningful career encouraged them to be more effective and
productive at their workplace. The motivational strategy was quite influential on the employees
of the organization, as reward and recognition actually met their self-actualization needs.
Therefore, the employees were highly motivated towards working hard for fulfilling their
ultimate potential at their workplace. In this way, the selected motivational strategy was highly
influential on the employees of my organization.
Part C
Introduction
A reflective analysis will be provided based on the article ‘Servant leadership as a
framework for organizational change’ by Baldomir and Hood (2016) and the focus will be on
servant leadership approach. I will determine some of the points that are most crucial considering
the backdrop of journal article. I will focus on the emotional intelligence part that is extremely
required for a leader to elevate the followers while organizational change management comes
into effective. Some evaluation will be done considering examples and literature from own
works experience so that the effect of servant leadership on organizational change management
is justified.

8LEADERSHIP
Backdrop of the Article
Considering the article, it can be said that organizational leaders are the most vital
resources while change management takes place (Baldomir and Hood 2016). This is because
followers are directed and motivated to respect organizational decisions. I found that leaders
ensure the practicality of change by communicating with employees and mitigating the resistance
to change that might have occurred by healing their emotions. The article has clearly depicted
that Lewin’s change model is effective only when altruistic calling approach of leadership is
ensured along with emotional healing. I understood that leaders try to ensure benefits for others
without reward expectation and by ensuring harmony within group that brings out the positive
desire to change.
Relevant Literature and Examples
According to Baldomir and Hood (2016), servant leaders mostly listen to the emotional
needs of followers and by ensuring the mode of empathy, the disappointments are addressed. On
the other hand, Liden et al. (2014) pointed out the same thought that since an organization is
mostly people based, hence emotion is the only method that can address positivity and change.
Transformational leadership approach deals with the same notion where leaders become one
member among other teammates. While considering the viewpoint of Barbuto Jr, Gottfredson
and Searle(2014), it can be said that servant leaders are mostly found to be well aware of the
surrounding environment. Therefore, it becomes easy for them to guide actions for their
followers. While working in the workplace, I came to understand that often management fails to
communicate directly with every employee and therefore organizational change intentions are
not accurately communicated. In such a situation, servant leaders become the communicator and

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mental invader to create greater opportunities for employees. Eventually, employees become
satisfied with organizational change management. Therefore, I agree with the point that servant
leadership approach creates a positive mindset among followers, due to which resistance to
change becomes limited.
Baldomir and Hood (2016) pointed out that servant leadership creates a powerful positive
approach of implementing change within an organization and same has been proposed by Parris
and Peachey (2013)where it is clear that follower-focused approach makes an environment of
employee career growth. I, while working in the organization, came across that servant leaders
create a powerful communication approach that influences stress or anxiety towards a positive
direction, which adhere to change management. Therefore, according to me, before the
application of change management, leaders must create an emotional healing so that employees
respect change management.
Role of Emotional Intelligence (EI)
Focusing on the article by Baldomir and Hood (2016), it is prominent that emotional
healing creates a mindset of willingness and ability among the followers with respect to change
management. On the other hand, similar view has been placed by Yoshida et al. (2014) where it
is clear that the ability of servant leaders to listen, learns, share and communicate with the
followers’ concerns help in creating and characterizing emotional healing. This ultimately helps
in initiating the unfreezing step from Lewin’s model. Furthermore, while considering the
viewpoint of Van Dierendoncket al. (2014), I understand that through the servant leadership
approach, followers become able to express their thoughts, reasons for anxiety, and feeling of
distress with leaders. Therefore, it is evident that change management is the most effective when

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servant leadership is followed, as I believe that when employees are communicated emotionally,
they can surely be guided towards positivity.
Dark side Manifestations in Servant Leadership
Parris and Peachey (2013) pointed out that servant leaders mostly try to satisfy
management by creating false promise among the employees. Even though before change
management, leaders communicate plenty of benefits for employees however finally most of the
followers gain a little. This creates biasness among team and finally leadership issues generate.
On the other hand, Liet al. (2016) highlighted that in servant leadership approach, followers
become too much dependent on leaders and they feel that issues, shortcomings and concerns will
be surely mitigated by the leaders without even highlighting those. This affects employee
performance and more stress among leaders. Furthermore, Winston and Fields (2015) opined that
servant leaders tend to lose authority with progress of time as followers feel that no matter what
the situation will be, leader will surely make a way out for employee benefit. However, this
ultimately impacts leadership approach. Therefore, I feel that servant leadership has certain
negative manifestations that might not be suitable for continuous future change management.
Servant Leadership a strong Motivating Factor
Servant leadership is the most effective before unfreezing stage of Lewin model
(Baldomir and Hood 2016). Leaders become able to address employee grievances and satisfy
them with communicating new objectives of change that might eventually tend to career growth
(Barbuto Jr, Gottfredson and Searle 2014). When employee grievances are not addressed before
change management initiation, it leads to more dissatisfaction and resistance to change.

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Therefore, according to me, motivation before change initiation will surely entrust positivity
among employees, which is only possible before unfreezing stage.
Conclusion
While concluding, I must highlight that organizational change management is mostly
effective when leaders have justified the reason for change and the new objectives that might
lead to career growth. I have understood that followers can be guided and directly emotionally
only through servant leadership approach. Altruistic Calling will help in creating harmony
among team members and emotional healing will justify positive mindset among employees.
Therefore, I have analyzed that servant leadership guides, motivates, directs, educates and
communicates a follower towards accepting change management. Ultimately, it becomes
beneficial for the management to justify change within the organization with limited resistance.

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Reference List
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