MGT301 Assignment 2: Leadership Styles and Organizational Behavior

This assignment solution for MGT301, Organizational Behavior, explores the core concepts of leadership, differentiating it from management. It delves into leadership styles, specifically examining the suitability of authoritarian approaches for blue-collar workers and contingency theory for white-collar workers. The document defines directive and supportive leadership, highlighting their importance in setting performance standards, supporting employees, and fostering positive organizational relationships. It further illustrates the benefits of supportive leadership through examples, emphasizing open communication and employee development. The assignment utilizes relevant academic sources to support its claims, providing a comprehensive analysis of leadership within an organizational context.

Running Head: Organizational Behavior
Leadership
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note

1LEADERSHIP
Define leadership and explain the difference between being a manager and being a
leader. Which boss would you rather have? Why?
A leadership can be defined as an art of motivating its employee or a group of people
who act to achieve the common goals (Beghetto, 2015). In a business it means to direct the
workers and its team members with a common strategy to meet the company’s goals and
objective.
The common difference between the leader and the manager can be stated as: for a leader
innovation is important as they embrace changes in the functioning of the management and
are aware to build a unique and differentiated brand. On the other hand the managers stick to
the refining system and proceed to make adjustment in the present functioning of the
management.
The leadership style theories, which you have learned in the chapter 13 & 14 based on
that determine which leadership styles are suitable for managers who are managing
workers both Blue collar &White collar) in the organizations.
The leadership style used for blue collar workers is the authoritarian approach because
the management follows the go to style of functioning. It is a non-inclusive method where the
thoughts and attitudes of the employee are generally not taken into consideration. The effects
of implementing the plans on the workforce are also not considered (Zhang & Xie, 2017). On
the other hand the theory used for white collar workers is contingency theory because it
advocates the choice of the best management and leaders to fit the individual workers and
situations. In case of making immediate decisions this approach is used to implement plans
and strategies.

2LEADERSHIP
Describe directive leadership and supportive leadership, explain their importance.
Directive leadership can be described as the autocratic style which is focused on high
or low relationships. The role of this kind of leadership describes about the employee about
when, how, what and where to do different kinds of task. The importance of this kind of
leadership caters to setting up clear standards of performance and refines the policy and
regulation (Ndubueze & Akanni, 2015). On the other hand the supportive leadership can be
defined as the leadership style where the manger not only delegate the task but also supports
the employee incompletion of the work. The importance of supportive leadership is
emphasized on the way he or she motivates the team and supports the members in
performance of the task.
How organizations are benefitted from supportive leadership?
Give an example of such organization which you might have come
across.
The organization benefits from the supportive leadership in the
following manner:
 The leaders in the organization are devoted towards their work which becomes a
positive aspect for the functioning of the management (Khalili, 2016).
 In this type of leadership style the leader focus in building a strong relationship
between the members so that the goals and objective of the company can be achieved.
 Apart from setting rules and regulation supportive leaders emphasize more on training
because it believes in quality work.

3LEADERSHIP
Lastly an example from supportive leadership can be examined from the way they
maintain an open door policy for the members to provides suggestions or grant any sort of
petitions. This helps in bridging the gap between the employees and facilitates
communication.

4LEADERSHIP
Reference
Beghetto, R. A. (2015). Creative leaders define themselves in the micromoments of
leadership. Journal of Leadership Studies, 9(3), 72-74.
Khalili, A. (2016). Linking transformational leadership, creativity, innovation, and
innovation-supportive climate. Management Decision.
Ndubueze, K. I., & Akanni, A. A. (2015). Leadership style and organisational citizenship
behaviour among employees of private companies in Abia State, Nigeria. IFE
PsychologIA: An International Journal, 23(2), 139-144.
Zhang, Y., & Xie, Y. H. (2017). Authoritarian leadership and extra-role behaviors: a role-
perception perspective. Management and Organization Review, 13(1), 147-166.