Leadership Styles Analysis: Kate and Philip, Organizational Behaviour

This report provides an analysis of leadership styles, focusing on the leadership approaches of Kate and Philip within the context of organizational behaviour. The assignment begins by outlining various leadership theories, including the Great Man theory, Trait theory, Behavioral theory, Contingency theory, Transformational leadership, and Democratic leadership. It then applies these theories to the specific case of Birmingham Fitness Gym (BFGym). Kate, the gym's leader, is identified as employing a democratic leadership style, while Philip, a spinning instructor, is seen to be utilizing a paternalistic approach. The report then compares and contrasts these styles, offering recommendations for both leaders. Specifically, it suggests that Kate adopt a transformational leadership style for improved organizational outcomes. The report draws upon multiple academic sources to support its analysis and recommendations, providing a comprehensive overview of leadership principles and their practical application.

Running head: Organizational behaviour
Organizational behaviour, culture and leadership
Name of Student
Name of the University
Author notes

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1. In light of leadership theories, analyse the leadership of Kate and
Philip. Compare and contrast their leadership styles. What
recommendations would you give them to be better leaders?
Leadership styles can be expressed as the behaviour and attitude of a leader toward the
group members working for a particular organization having common aim and objectives
(Antonakis and House 2013). Moreover, the leadership style adopted by different leaders are
different and are the results of personality, experience, philosophy as well as value system of
a leader. Depending on the business or service provided by the organization, the leadership
style is varied. There exists different type of leadership theories such as, autocratic,
Participative or Democratic, transformational, transactional, partnership leadership and many
others (Odumeru and Ogbonna 2013). Following are some important leadership theories that
the organisational leaders follow to achieve success and fulfilling the goals and objectives of
an organization.
Great man theory of leadership
The Great Man theory of leadership come into focus around the middle of 19th century.
Even though there was no idea of identifying which human nature, characteristic or behaviour
are responsible for selecting a great leaders (Sethuraman and Suresh 2014). This theory of
leadership explains that the behavioural trait of leadership is intrinsic. In simple terms, it
describes that “great leaders are born… they are not made”. This theory assumes that
efficient or great leaders are destined by birth for becoming a leader. Moreover, this theory
also have a belief that all the great leaders will rise when the appropriate situation will be
confronted. However, the particular theory came in to focus by Thomas Carlyle.
Trait theory

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It is an important leadership theory which believes that individuals are either born and/or
made with different qualities for being exceptional leaders and playing successful roles. The
main qualities of becoming successful leader are sense of responsibility, intelligence,
creativity and values (Amanchukwu, Stanley and Ololube 2015). In addition to that, this
theory of leadership emphasizes on analysing the physical, mental as well as different social
characteristic for gathering higher understanding of what exactly needed to become a
successful leader. According to this theory, a person must have creativity, flexibility,
emotional and mental intelligence, confidence, integrity, honesty, energy, tenacity, charisma
and higher knowledge of the business for becoming an impactful leader (Sharma and Jain
2013).
Behavioural theory of leadership
In relation to the trait theory of leadership, behavioural theories provides a different
perspective towards successful leadership. This theory emphasizes on different behaviours of
leaders in contrast to their physical, social and mental characteristics. The concepts of this
theory totally discards the great man theory concept and according to this, leaders are made
not born. According to this theory, there are two kind of leaders: those individuals who were
concerned with the given tasks and those who are more concerned about the people (Nawaz
and Khan 2016). This theory shows concerns about the observable reaction and actions of the
leaders as well as the followers in a particular situation. It again emphasizes on how exactly
the leaders behave and thinks that a successful leadership mainly depends on learnable and
definable, behaviour of the person. It focuses on specific behaviours of the leaders. For the
behavioural theorists, the behaviour of a successful leader can be identified as the effective
predictor of the leadership influences (Orr and Cleveland-Innes 2015). Furthermore, this
theory focuses on what actually the leaders are doing rather than what are their qualities.

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Contingency theory of leadership
This is another impactful Leadership theory, which explains that there exists no single
way of leading a team or a group of people and hence, the leadership style need to be based
on the ongoing situations. Up to some extent the contingency leadership theories can said to
be an extension of the previous discussed trait theory. This is because, it believes that the
human traits are closely related to the current situation and according to the situation, the
leaders exercise their own leadership style. Under this theory, it is accepted that the leader
will show their leadership quality only when they believe that their followers are respondent.
It is an essential theory that helps to make impactful leadership profile for the organization
(D. Waters 2013). In addition to that, it also put higher focus on combining the recent
organizational situation and the leadership styles. Despite of being complex, it is a successful
and useful style and determines the suitable person for the suitable job. This theory also
recognized by the name situational leadership style. Overall, it believes that every leader is
effective while his/her style and quality of leadership best fits the recent organizational
situation.
Transformational leadership
Under this leadership style, the leaders mainly inspire, motivate as well as encourage,
the employees for undertaking innovate changes which will not only ensure their personal
growth, but also help the organization to achieve its goals. The effectiveness of this theory is
accomplished by setting a greater example at executive level by achievement of the employee
ownership, independence and corporate culture, inside the workplace (McCleskey 2014).
According to this Leadership theory efficient leaders are those who interacts with the team
for building trust and strong relationship with the employees. It helps in increasing
motivation in the workplace in both extrinsic and intrinsic, level and in both followers and

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leaders. The main idea behind transformational theories explains that the leaders transform or
change their followers by their charismatic personalities and inspirational nature. Under this
theory, there are flexible rules and regulations and these are guided by different group norms.
Without micromanaging, the leaders motivates and inspires their followers to complete a
work efficiently. In contrast to any other leadership style, this theory provides more
opportunities to the employees or the followers to be more creative (Drenkard 2013). It
exemplifies impactful moral standards inside the organization for encouraging and motivating
the leaders and followers. In addition, it also fosters friendly and ethical work environment,
enriched with transparent values, standards and priorities.
Democratic leadership
The Democratic Leadership is also identified by the name Participative Leadership.
Under this leadership theory, the persons who are considered to be unequal by hierarchal
standards can share power for making several decisions for the organization. Under this
leadership style, the leaders make final decision only after conducting a depth analysis of the
ongoing situation and also allows a shared participation in the decision making process.
Moreover, the leaders also focuses on collaboration as well as free flow of different
information and ideas. The responsibility is shared by all the followers or members with the
leader available to guide and keep control over the team.
Birmingham Fitness Gym (BFGym) is one popular medium sized gym placed in a
popular location of the Birmingham City Centre. The suitable location and friendly nature of
the staffs along with the service provided by this gym has made it popular among the
customers. The gym encompasses a main workout room and a studio in which the designated
courses take place. The entire working procedure of the gym falls into five categories, these

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are, personal trainers, administrators, class instructors, cleaners and managers. The gym
operates having a transparent operating structure. Following the hierarchy organizational
culture, the higher authority or management of the gym stays in the top and all other
department work according to the instruction provided by the higher authorities.
Kate, the leader of the gym is found following the democratic leadership. She was not
aware about the internal conflict and the ongoing situation of the gym. Therefore, she come
up with an idea of analysing the whole issue by consulting with the employees. This clearly
explains the democratic leadership style. The democratic leaders mainly give instructions to
the members only after analysing the issue and consulting it with the members (Parris and
Peachey 2013). According to this leadership theory, policies will only work while the entire
team will equally participate in solving it. Democratic leadership also solicits the
participation of the group members and respects their work and opinions. According to me, if
Kate should adopt transformational leadership. In this case, the leader is more humble,
authentic and self-aware of the ongoing issue of the organization.
In contrast to Kate, the spinning instructor of the gym Philip is found to be adopting the
Paternalistic leadership style. Like every other Paternalistic leaders, his intention is to build
an efficient trainee-instructor relationship and make the task easier (Aycan et al. 2013).
However, due to lack of appropriate circumstances and efficient management of the
organizational functionalities and culture, his leadership style is found to be affected.
However, this leadership style of Philip is one efficient style that allows the leader to guide,
help and protect the followers. Leaders under this trait create friendly environment and to get
their works done.

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Reference
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