Introduction to Managing and Leading People: A Report

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Introduction to Managing and Leading People
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Main Body.......................................................................................................................................4
Leadership approaches.................................................................................................................4
Leadership Styles.......................................................................................................................10
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................16
Reference List................................................................................................................................17
Appendix........................................................................................................................................19
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Introduction
The study is focused towards management and leading people in recent organisational context.
At the exact part of the study, leadership and its different approaches as well as styles will be
taken into consideration for educating different types of managers regarding the core importance
of different leadership theories as well as approaches at certain extension. Moreover, a poster
will also be constructed from the perspective of different theories as well as models regarding
leadership, which will be quite informative from the perspective of the managers. Five different
theories as well as five different approaches regarding leadership will be described at the part of
this existing study at certain extension.
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Great man theory of leadership
Contingency
Leadership behavior Transformation of leadership style
Situation
Main Body
Leadership approaches
Great man theory
Great man theory regarding leadership described that there are some people in the world who has
been born with leadership quality as well as talent. These leadership attributes as well as
characteristics make these people set apart from other normal people. Spector (2016) described
that these traits are quite useful for such persons as it assist them towards gaining authority as
well as power in different circumstances. According to the theory, a leader can be demonstrated
as such a man who is adequately responsible for accomplishing their regular goals and objectives
despite of facing numerous odds from their followers. As per the consideration of Amanchukwu
et al. (2015), the theory further develop towards signifies the key importance of leaders from the
perspective of a regulated organisation since leaders are responsible for making grater revenue
from a primary investment.
Figure 1: Great man theory
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(Source: Created by the learner)
The theory also describes those leaders who are responsible for controlling the production as
well as revenue generation of an organisation deserves power at their control since they have
some special endowment at certain extension. According to the description of Spector (2016),
the theory also signifies that traits of leadership generally stay same over the time and it does not
chance even after changing the working location. Therefore, it has been suggested that all of
greater leader generally share their entire characteristics regardless of any situation they are
thriving for. As per great man theory, leaders always conduct their precious roles as well as
responsibilities in order to be effective at their job role and the excellence level of an
organisation generally depends at the affectivity of their leaders at certain extension.
However, despite the fact that great man theory is quite useful as well as important towards
getting the definition as well as characteristics of a great leader, it has also been criticised for a
number of reasons. As an instance, in recent circumstances it has been observed that there is a
huge change at the basic mentality of leaders.
Trait theory
Trait theory regarding leadership is actually based into the basic characteristics traits of a number
of different successful as well as unsuccessful leaders. The theory is mostly important towards
making some prediction regarding the key effectiveness of leadership attributes. The overall list
of leadership traits are generally being measured with the basic trait of a potential leader for
guessing the likelihood of their success or failure rate.
As per the consideration of Wyatt and Silvester, (2018), trait related approaches of leaders
mainly attempts towards identifying the basic physiological, socio economical, demographic as
well as effectiveness of successful leader. The theory clearly describes that there are some
characteristics, traits, ability as well interest of successful leaders that clearly differentiate them
from unsuccessful leaders. Therefore, the leadership theory is quite helpful towards attaining a
perfect leader in context to any organisation of recent context.
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Figure 2: Trait theory of leadership
(Source: Wyatt and Silvester, 2018)
According to the leadership theory, leaders generally needed to be achievement driven as well as
motivated so that they can further accomplish their organisational tasks at their full extension. As
per the description of Meuser et al. (2016), leaders need to be self confident so that they can
implement such process that will ultimately be beneficial for their organisation. The trait theory
also describes that effective as well as efficient leaders needed to have some basic knowledge
regarding their regulated business industry so that they can control their workforce in accordance
with the choice at certain extension. Moreover, trait theory also describes that leaders are needed
to be mature emotionally so that they can handle diversified as well as conflicted situation with
ease. However, trait theory of leadership also has some limitation. As an instance, the judgment
that makes a leader successful and makes someone unsuccessful is quite contradicting.
Contingency theory
On the other hand, Fiedler’s contingency theory of leadership states that leadership is actually a
special form of approach that is quite helpful towards declaring the fact that the success rate of a
leader does not depend into only his/her abilities. According to Fiedler (2015), there are some
other factors also that contribute greatly towards making a leader successful at their respective
job role. These factors are closely associated with organisational culture, working environment,
organisational employees and some others at certain extension. Contribution of all of these
factors enhances the leadership trait of an individual. Contingency theory regarding leadership
can be described as the special kind of leadership approach that not only depends into leader’s
ability but also on their associated factors.
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The basic of contingency theory is quiet simple and easy to understand. As per the description of
Lord et al. (2017), the theory described that diverse people with diverse abilities might has the
ability of performing better in respective fields. As an instance, a person who has adequate skill
in education as well as training can become a great leader of any educational institute. However,
the person cannot be effective as the leader of a manufacturing organisation. As per the
consideration of Oreg and Berson (2015), it can illustrate that contingency theory of leadership is
quite helpful towards making adequate leader for adequate job roles and perceptions.
Figure 3: Contingency theory of leadership
(Source: Lord et al., 2017)
The theory also signifies that there are four different contingent factors that can affect leadership
attributes. As of the very first contingent factor, the power of leaders generally influences them
towards following their chosen path in order to achieve their goals. Moreover, Knogler et al.
(2017) described that leaders generally make their followers to choose a specific direction for
being effective towards their leaders. Lastly, the theory also describes that affectivity of a leader
mostly depends into the complexity of their organisation as well as the uncertainty of their tasks.
Situational theory
Situational theory generally referred towards such leaders who mainly adopt diversified
leadership styles in accordance with the situation that they have been thriving for. It is quite
effective from the perspective of other leadership theories since while adopting the leadership
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approach it will be possible for any leader to become effective at any situational context. It is
adequately possible for any situational leader to get adopted with their organisation so that they
can solve any form of problem. According to Hagger et al. (2016), there are mainly two different
types of behaviour that has been expected from a situational leader. These are management
related behaviour and supportive leader.
In context to management behaviour, leaders are generally focused towards making subsequent
definition of different tasks so that they can become effective as well as efficient towards
allocating work. Management focused leaders from the perspective of situational leaders
generally establish when, what as well as how to perform a designed task by their employee
base. On the other hand, Storey (2016) described that supportive behaviour of leaders mostly
focused towards making team development. Moreover, it is also directly emphasise towards the
participation rate of different employees at certain extension.
Figure 4: Situational theory of leadership
(Source: Storey, 2016)
According to the situational theory, there are four different levels that can be comprised of
leadership goals. These are leader tells, leader sells, leader advices and leader delegates. As per
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leader tells, the key functionality of a leader is associated with encouraging as well as motivating
their subordinates so that they can become even more productive than before. As per the second
role, leaders need to supervise their subordinates in order to make them effective as well as
efficient towards their described job role. According to Storey (2016), effective leaders should
inherit the adhocracy of advising as well as facilitating their employee base in order to ensure
that their subordinates are working effectively. Lastly, leaders should delegate tasks in context to
their team so that they can complete it successfully.
Path goal theory
On the other hand, path goal theory is actually based into the specific behaviour of a leader that
fits with their regulated business environment and that assists at achieving organisational goals
as well as objectives at certain extension. The entire path goal theory is actually based into
Vroom’s expectancy theory. Expectancy theory described that one individual mainly control
their actions based into their act that they has been following for getting success. Path goal
theory describes that success rate of any individual leader generally depends into their overall job
expectation as well as the level of their attractiveness.
According to Banks et al. (2016), path goal theory is mostly used for different leaders that inherit
different behavioural characteristics in different situations. In addition to that, it has also been
observed that leaders generally work on different paths in order to be effective at their daily
activities at certain extension.
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Figure 5: Path goal theory of leadership
(Source: Banks et al., 2016))
Path goal theory is easily described as such a process where leaders generally set up specific
behavioural characteristics that are well suited for managing their extensive workforce. While
using path goal theory, most leaders create such a working environment where they can
effectively guide their employees by their previously settled path for achieving their personal as
well as professional goal. Hoch et al. (2018) argued despite the fact that path goal theory is not a
broad process, most of the time it follows three basic steps, which includes selection of effective
leadership style, determination of environmental as well as employee characteristics and lastly
making more focus towards enhancing motivational factors, which will inevitably assist
employees to gain success.
Leadership Styles
Laissez-faire leadership
Laissez-faire leadership also called as delegative leadership includes less participation of the
leader in making decision of the organisation. The team members are responsible for their work
as well as in making decision in determining the ways of performing the tasks. Motivation of the
individual is needed in this form of leadership so that can take responsibility of the work they
have been assigned with. This leadership style can be applied in the organisation in the situation
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when the workers are trustworthy as well as capable of working efficiently (Carswell et al.,
2017). The knowledgeable and experienced employees would be able to handle the tasks without
much guidance. However, this leadership style is not applicable in the organisation where the
employees lack experience and have quite little knowledge in managing the tasks on their own.
The people who lack decision-making or problem-solving skill should not be given the freedom
of working on their own without guidance and monitoring.
Figure 6: Laissez-faire leadership
(Source: Carswell et al., 2017)
In this form of leadership, the employees are given freedom of expressing their views as well as
creativity in the services and activities of the company. Therefore, the workers should be loyal
and intellectual in performing the essential tasks of the organisation without much control over
the actions. Otherwise, this would affect the business profit in a negative way by reducing its
productivity level and quality. Wrong decision taken by the members can ruin the business and
disputes among the team members without the administering of the leader can result in failure of
completing the tasks within the deadline. Irresponsible workers would delay the work and put no
effort in increasing the quality as well as quantity of goods produced in the corporation. In order
to solve this problem, the leaders should regularly oversee the tasks done by the team members
and evaluate the outcomes of their decision in the context of business’ profit.
Democratic leadership
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Democratic leadership style involves the leader in making final decision of the firm after
considering the views of the employees. This leadership is also called as participative leadership
as it includes participation of the members of the organisation in decision making for enhancing
the business’ activities (Khan et al., 2015). The democratic leader inspires the team members and
supports them throughout their tasks to influence the quality of the workers’ performance. It
collaborates with the members of team as well as guides them throughout the work to enhance
their skills. Communication is improved with the application of this leadership style in
management of people therefore; the employees can share their problems and ideas freely with
the leaders and manager. Organisational culture enhances with the utilisation of this style as
enhanced behaviour and team collaboration improves the working environments. The barrier of
hierarchy does not exist with the use of this leadership style in leading personnel.
Figure 7: Democratic leadership
(Source: Khan et al., 2015)
The leader also acts as consultant and guide in improving the capabilities of the workers through
motivating them and supporting them in their need. The democratic leadership style would be
successful if the leader would be able to make effective decision and does not get swayed by the
bond with the people in making decision of the firm. The application of this theory has negative
influences as well (Cunningham et al., 2015). For instance, the workers can become
irresponsible and don not take their role seriously due to the connection with the leaders. This
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