Leadership Management: Commonwealth Bank's Leadership Approaches

This essay provides an in-depth analysis of the leadership approaches employed at Commonwealth Bank. It begins with an introduction highlighting the significance of effective leadership in the workplace and the varying styles adopted by different organizations. The essay then examines the leadership style of the current CEO, identifying a directive approach primarily focused on addressing financial fraud. It contrasts this with the consideration of employee factors, suggesting an employee-oriented approach, and ultimately concludes that a situational leadership style is most evident, adapting to different business scenarios. The essay further recommends that the bank's leaders should adopt a transformational and charismatic approach, along with fostering stronger relationships with their subordinates. The essay concludes by summarizing the positive and negative aspects of the identified leadership styles and reiterates the recommendations for enhancing the bank's internal effectiveness.

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

1LEADERSHIP MANAGEMENT
Introduction
Leadership roles are important to be determined due to the reason that the more effective
will be the leadership styles in the workplace, the more efficient and fruitful will be the internal
management. However, it should be noted that different organizations are having different sets of
leadership approaches according to the respective business situations. Each of these leadership
styles is having the different levels of effectiveness (Nanjundeswaraswamy and Swamy, 2014).
In the case of Commonwealth bank, it is identified that the leadership approaches of them got
evolved in the recent time. It is identified that the current CEO of Commonwealth bank is having
different style of leadership compared to his former.
This essay will discuss about the positive and negative factors associated with the
leadership approaches followed in Commonwealth bank. On the basis of the identified factors, a
few recommended steps will also be discussed in this paper.
Analysis of the leadership approaches
It is identified that the current CEO of Commonwealth bank is selected internally and
thus he is having the extensive understanding about the organizational culture in the workplace.
According to the reports, the current CEO of Commonwealth bank is following majorly directive
approach of leadership. This is due to the reason that the first objective of the new CEO of the
Commonwealth bank was to quash the financial fraud related cases of the brand. In this case, he
was entitled to accomplish the given the objectives and less participation of the stakeholders is
detected. The stakeholder participation was mainly in the form of the upper level management is
noted rather than the entire group of the internal stakeholder (Saeed et al. 2014). Thus, it can be
concluded that directive style of leadership is being followed by the CEO of Commonwealth

2LEADERSHIP MANAGEMENT
bank. According to the theory of directive type of leadership, it is less different with the
authoritative style of leadership. This is due to the fact that according to the authoritative style of
leadership, the subordinates are not having higher sets of participation in the decision making
process. In this case, the leaders are having the last call in the decision process. The major
advantage of following this leadership style is lower time consumption and on the other hand, the
major disadvantage is the possible resistances from the side of the subordinates (Yahaya and
Ebrahim 2016). In the case of the Commonwealth bank, directive style of leadership is
applicable to overcome the challenge being faced due to the fraud activities related cases.
On the other hand, it is also identified that in the current time, the employee factors are
also being considered in the workplace management. This is due to the reason that employees in
the Commonwealth bank are entitled for different benefits and welfare activities. In addition,
they also enjoy fair deal of decision making power in the workplace. This denotes to the fact that
employee oriented approach is also being followed in the Commonwealth bank. Under the new
CEO, Commonwealth bank is following employee orientation in their leadership style. This
approach can be compared with the transactional style of leadership due to the reason that
transactional leadership style refers to the involvement of the employee in the decision making
process along with provision of the leaders in motivating and guiding the employees in their job
role (Arnold et al. 2015. The presence of the extensive process of training and development for
the employees in the Commonwealth bank is referring to the fact that employee factors and
interests are being considered in the workplace and transactional style of leadership is being
followed.
However, it should be noted that situational style of leadership is the most applicable
style of leadership evident in the process of Commonwealth bank. This is due to the fact that

3LEADERSHIP MANAGEMENT
different approaches are evident in the workplace. Both the directive as well as participative style
of leadership is identified. This is denoting the fact that the approaches of the leadership styles in
Commonwealth bank are changing according to the business situations. This is helping them to
adjust with different situations and maximizing the return from the business (Saleem 2015).
Thus, it can be concluded that situational style of leadership is well evident in the case of
Commonwealth bank.
Recommendations
Based on the above identified factors, it is recommended that the leader of the
Commonwealth bank should be transformational and charismatic. This is due to the reason that
Commonwealth bank is a multinational brand and thus they should have enough influential
leaders who can have authority and power to control the global activities. In this case, the current
leadership of the Commonwealth bank is nowhere close to be charismatic. Hence, this style of
leadership will be effective for them and will also help in enhancing the long term growth of the
firm. On the other hand, it is also recommended that employee the leader of Commonwealth
bank should gain more relationship with their subordinates due to the reason that if the
relationship between the leaders and the subordinates is positive and favorable, then it will be
easier for influencing the later along with exercising the power and authority. Proper and
favorable relationship between the employees and the leaders will also be effective in identifying
the issues from the both sides. Hence, the entire process and approaches of leadership will get
more efficient.
Conclusion

4LEADERSHIP MANAGEMENT
This can be concluded that there are number of positive and negative factors identified in
terms of the leadership styles of the Commonwealth bank. The major positive factor is the
application of different leadership styles according to the different situations. On the other hand,
the major negative factor identified is the lack of participation of the employees and other
internal stakeholders in the internal decision making process and activities. Based on these
identified factors, this essay recommended a few steps that can help Commonwealth bank in
enhancing and improving their internal effectiveness. It is recommended that transformational
style of leadership should be followed in the workplace along with having the higher degree of
relationship with the employees.

5LEADERSHIP MANAGEMENT
Reference
Arnold, K.A., Connelly, C.E., Walsh, M.M. and Martin Ginis, K.A., 2015. Leadership styles,
emotion regulation, and burnout. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 20(4), p.481.
Nanjundeswaraswamy, T.S. and Swamy, D.R., 2014. Leadership styles. Advances in
management, 7(2), p.57.
Saeed, T., Almas, S., Anis-ul-Haq, M. and Niazi, G.S.K., 2014. Leadership styles: relationship
with conflict management styles. International Journal of Conflict Management, 25(3), pp.214-
225.
Saleem, H., 2015. The impact of leadership styles on job satisfaction and mediating role of
perceived organizational politics. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 172, pp.563-569.
Yahaya, R. and Ebrahim, F., 2016. Leadership styles and organizational commitment: literature
review. Journal of Management Development, 35(2), pp.190-216.