In order to understand ‘leadership’, this essay will first define the term. Many theorists suggest leadership is elusive, misunderstood and there are no guaranteed models (Parker 1994, Crainer 1995). However, Mullins (1999) believes leadership is essential to the management of people within an organisation in order for them to achieve their goal(s). This encompasses a leader’s behaviour, style and characteristics.
Understand leadership styles
Mullins (1999) believes there are many dimensions to describe leadership, for example, dictatorial, charismatic and consultative to name but a few .These styles can be classified in to 3 main headings, the autocratic leader, the democratic leader and the laissez-faire leader.
The autocratic leadership style is similar to Belbin’s (1993) description of a solo leader. The focus of power is with the leader, who acts alone in decision making, setting tasks, policies and controls rewards and punishments (Mullins 1999). This style of leadership may be useful in a work place situation where the team being managed are possibly immature, or newly trained or even inexperienced, and/or when goals must be achieved within a time frame and there is no flexibility in the goals. An example of this would be a leader, managing apprentices, could use this approach to help teach and encourage the Employee, whilst still achieving the onsite Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) set by the client in line with health and safety.
The Democratic leadership style is also a common type of leadership style used in the work place. In contrast, the focus of power is with the group. The leaders shares decisions with team members. It may be used with a more experienced workforce. It requires a greater input from their own team, this may also include or produce a greater feeling of morale .Team members are given the opportunity to share ideas and allows them to feel more engaged in the whole process. In the working environment this is useful when, for example, the contract manager needs to integrate on a better level, with their team. This allows a more effective method of time management with the team as more responsibility is placed on the team members, reducing the need to constantly chase their team.
The final common style of leadership is the Lassiez-faire style. This style of leadership can be defined in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as:
“ A philosophy or practice characterized by a usually deliberate abstention from direction or interference, especially with individual freedom of choice and action “
Kurt Lewin is often credited with developing the concept of lassiez-faire leadership. This style of leadership is useful in a workplace situation where the team being managed are, for example, highly skilled or may have an extensive range of experience, and are comfortable working without close supervision and are perhaps more self-motivated or driven.
An example of this in the work place environment would be when a team on site is built of a selection of shift managers, the shift managers are required to run various electrical shutdowns on site and are required to run the tasks from start to finish without the need for the main contract manager to constantly oversee the on-going task or have to have too much intervention.
In any given leadership style there are always positive and negative outcomes from their use.
Autocratic leadership style depicts that the leader or manager retains most or if not all decision making authority. The positives to this can be effective supervision by use of detailed orders or instructions or when an organisation has high-volume needs on a daily basis. The negative points to this can be a manager or leader does not trust their employee’s, or employees’ do not feel motivated or trusted. From this, the organisation may suffer from higher absenteeism or may suffer a higher turnover of staff.
Democratic leadership style depicts that the leader or manager keeps their employees more informed regarding anything that may affect their work. This could mean that the leader takes on a type of coaching role and includes the staff in information gathering but has the last say on decision making. The positive to this is it allows the leader to provide employees opportunities to develop a sense of self job satisfaction, and is useful if there is a task that requires lots of input to solve it. The negative side to this type of leadership style is time, there may not be time to gather everyone’s input or it may be cost effective for the leader to make the final decision.
Lassiez-faire leadership style is depicted as a “hands-off “style. In this case the manager takes a’ back seat’ approach to their team. A positive factor to this approach is that the Employees are more likely to be highly skilled or experienced and have a sense of self-pride in their work. It also allows for more freedom and authority to the employees. The negative points associated with this type of leadership style is that it may make employees feel excluded due to the unavailability of a manager, this may cause a drop in moral in individuals or as a joint team.
Understand leadership qualities and review own leadership qualities and potential
One way of assessing behaviour associated with leadership is to use a model of management/leadership. All leaders possess a range of skill sets, and it is useful to use a model when evaluating your own style to have a framework for assessment. The model I have chosen is “The leadership grid “Blake and Mouton (1985). (See appendix 1)
This model allows a manager to complete a self-assessment questionnaire, to evaluate his/her own leadership behaviour, and this can be compared to feedback from own staff. On completion of the questionnaire, my score of duel 6 in task and people indicated a “team leader”. (See appendix 2)
This type of person leads by example, fostering a team environment so that all staff can meet their potential. This contrasts to some feedback received from staff members who stated that at times, I focus on achieving tasks by taking control, rather than including team members. (See appendix 3)
I currently run a team in the Data Centre environment, where this is very critical task orientated. On a shift orientation I have to personally manage 3 other staff members, my daily tasks consist of daily briefings, and management of any contractors that may be on site along with any critical equipment maintenance. There is a great emphasis placed on how tasks are managed as there is little room for error in this environment, due to the high health and safety risks and financial costs to the client. My team mentioned that they felt my greatest attribute was my ability to deal with critical and stressful situations, confidently and precisely and that I always keep a level head, and this in turn gives them reassurance and confidence. They felt however that at times, I become so involved in tasks, that there is sometimes little or no allowance’s for collaboration or outside cooperation. According to Blake and Mouton’s “leadership Grid” this places me more towards a high task, low relationship, Autocratic style of leadership rather than Team leader.
When comparing the 2 styles of leadership I can then look at addressing a change in the way I approach my leadership. Firstly it would be beneficial to assess the strengths and weaknesses of individual members of my team, thus enabling me to use my own delegation skills more responsibly. This will involve me spending quality time with my team, strengthen team bonds, and drawing out ideas. This change in behaviour towards my staff moves me more towards Team leader, in the leadership grid. This change will allow staff to feel more included but also supported by their team leader. It also allows me to retain a level of control when dealing with stressful situations, as I would have identified and chosen the most appropriate team member to work with in any given situation.
In conclusion it is essential that any leader understands that there are a number of leadership styles that can be explored and utilised in a work environment. These leadership styles may vary depending on the task in hand, the personalities within the team and the outcomes required by the client. It is important that any leader has the ability to adapt and change styles to their workforce to ensure that goals can be achieved, members feel included, the leader feels over all control and outcomes are successful.