Different Styles of Leadership

There are different types of leadership depending on the occupation and communication skills of the leaders. Leadership directs an organization’s resources hence vital to improve efficiency and performance. Authoritative, coaching, affiliate, visionary, participative, and pacesetting are the six Golemans’ leadership styles. Leadership influences the efforts, social interactions, and productivity of a team; hence the type of leadership applied is essential in organizational performance.

The first vignette represents an authoritative or directive leadership style. In an authoritarian model, the leader has all the power and authority to make decisions by giving the workers a “my way or the highway” kind of ultimatum. Therefore, team members are not willing to engage in decision-making and work in fear of mistakes and losing their jobs. The local managers and the junior team members fear the senior visitor from Munich and are not willing to make decisions in his presence despite a fire alarm. The highest person in a chain of command has control of all the other people. In authoritarian leadership, everyone relies on the experience of the most ranked leader hence sidelining the inputs of all the other stakeholders in decision-making.

The second anecdote highlights the coaching leadership style. Coaching leaders identify the skills of every employee and work towards improving them for the success of the organization. Through coaching, leaders learn many insights into daily responsibility and hence have extensive knowledge of the worker’s duties (Vasilescu, 2019). Michael trusts only a selected few workers whom he trusts with the most crucial tasks. Leaders should, however, be careful not to focus on only one group abandoning the rest of the people. Michael is unwilling to give a shot to the newcomer when one of his team members is off on medication left. Coach leaders are more involved in workers’ training and understand team members’ roles, but they can favor a group of employees they deem better.

Vignette three is an example of an affiliate leadership style. Affiliative leadership seeks to establish success by creating social and emotional bonds between team members. The emotional need of workers and peaceful coexistence within the organization are vital aspects of affiliative leadership. Manager B is an example of an affiliate leader since he is dedicated to mediating peace between team members. When convinced by manager A to dismiss the disputing workers, manager B analyzes their emotional needs to identify the pressure put on them as the cause of the problem. The proactive approach in affiliative leadership helps managers resolve conflicts before they manifest.

Participative or democratic leadership is the most popular type of leadership that values every team member’s voice demonstrated in vignette four. Democratic leaders are great listeners to everyone’s opinions and believe visions cannot be accomplished without employees’ acceptance. In vignette four, all members raise their suggestions, although they vary. In case of opposing viewpoints, a democratic leader should seek common grounds to attune to people’s needs. Democratic leadership is important because when team members participate in decision-making, they feel accountable for the outcomes, but leaders need to find a common understanding with different viewpoints.

Visionary leadership involves leadership guided by the organization’s visions with a mapped-out path in mind, as evident in vignette five. Visionary leaders take charge of the situation by mobilizing the team to achieve defined goals. The risks and consequences following a decision are ascertained in visionary leadership. Team members with a common vision have more motivation, inspiration, and unity essential for performance. For visionary leadership to succeed, managers should recognize all the small details affecting the company and avoid being distracted by the big picture. Unrealistic optimism occurs when visionary leaders have great ambitions that are practically impossible.

Vignette 6 illustrates the pacesetting type of leadership marked by very high expectations of the team members by the leaders. Margarita sets very high work expectations that are challenging to achieve for the workers. Managers using the pacesetting style are obsessed with perfection and continually stretch their expectations. Margarita would spend much time with Nicholas reworking the reports to ensure they matched her expectations. In pacesetting, leaders set an example for their subordinates by producing the best standards to guide the rest. Margarita is concerned about time wasted whenever Nicholas completes a task and consistently looks for mistakes. Underperforming workers with lower pressure thresholds often feel burnout and are branded as poor performers. Margarita considers Eugene an underperformer because he is not willing to go beyond his job description. The pacesetting style of leadership values short-term results more than anything else and negatively affects employee relationships.

Leaders have a responsibility to influence members’ efficiency in an organization to achieve goals. A leader’s characteristic behavior when guiding and managing groups of people determines their leadership style. Authoritative, coaching, affiliate, visionary, participative, and pacesetting are the six types of leadership. Leaders can mix visionary, coaching, and democratic leadership styles to come up with a transformational leadership style. Pacesetting and authoritative leadership styles have detrimental effects on employee performance, relations, and output.

Reference

Vasilescu, M. (2019). Leadership styles and theories in an effective management activity. Annals-Economy Series, 4, 47-52. Web.

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