Leadership Theories From Mahatma Gandhi To Winston Management Essay

Leadership Theories From Mahatma Gandhi To Winston Management EssayFrom Mahatma Gandhi to Winston Churchill to Martin Luther King, there be as umpteen attractership looks as there are loss leading. Fortunately, business tribe and psychologists have unquestionable useful and simple shipway to describe the main dahs of loss leading, and these plunder protagonist aspiring leaders understand which styles they should use.So, whether you manage a squad at work, captain a sports aggroup, or lead a major corporation, which flack is dress hat? Consciously, or subconsciously, youll probably use most of the lead styles in this article at or so point. Understanding these styles and their bear on potentiometer help you develop your own, personal leadership style and help you become a to a greater extent effective leader.With this in mind, there are m each different frameworks that have shaped our current concord of leadership, and many of these have their place, just a s long as theyre used appropriately. This article looks at some of the most common frameworks, and then looks at popular styles of leadership.Leadership TheoriesResearchers have developed a follow of leadership theories over the years. These f all told into four main groups1. Behavioral theories What does a good leader do?Behavioral theories tension on how leaders behave. Do they dictate what involves to be through and turn out cooperation? Or do they involve the group up in decisions to supercharge acceptance and support?In the 1930s, Kurt Lewin developed a leadership framework based on a leaders decision-making behavior. Lewin argued that there are trine oddballs of leadersoverlooking leaders make decisions without consulting their teams. This is considered appropriate when decisions genuinely occupy to be thrown quickly, when theres no need for input, and when team agreement isnt necessary for a succeederful outcome.Democratic leaders allow the team to provide input before making a decision, although the degree of input screwing vary from leader to leader. This type of style is all important(predicate) when team agreement matters, but it can be quite operose to manage when there are lots of different perspectives and ideas. laissez faire leaders dont interfere they allow people within the team to make many of the decisions. This works well when the team is highly capable and incite, and when it doesnt need close monitoring or supervision. However, this style can arise because the leader is lazy or distracted, and, here, this go up can fail.Similar to Lewins model, the Blake-Mouton Managerial Grid helps you decide how best to lead, depending on your reverence for people versus your concern for production. The model describes five different leadership styles impoverished, coun enterprise club, team leader, produce or perish, or pose of the road. The descriptions of these will help you understand your own leadership habits and adapt them t o meet your teams needs.Clearly, then, how leaders behave impacts on their effectiveness. Researchers have realized, though, that many of these leadership behaviors are appropriate at different times. So, the best leaders are those who can use many different behavioral styles and use the right style for each situation.2. contingence theories How does the situation set good leadership?The realization that there isnt one correct type of leader led to theories that the best leadership style is contingent on, or depends on, the situation. These theories try to predict which leadership style is best in which circumstance.When a decision is needed fast, which style is favorite(a)? When the leader needs the spacious support of the team, is there a better way to lead? Should a leader be more than people oriented or task oriented? These are all examples of questions that contingency leadership theories try to address.A popular contingency-based framework is the Hersey-Blanchard Situati onal Leadership Theory, which links leadership style with the maturity of individual members of the leaders team.3. Trait theories What type of person makes a good leader?Trait theories argue that leaders parcel of land a number of common personality traits and characteristics, and that leadership emerges from these traits. Early trait theories promoted the idea that leadership is an innate, instinctive quality that you either have or dont have. Thankfully, weve moved on from this approach, and were learning more close what we can do as individuals to develop leadership qualities within ourselves and others.Whats more, traits are external behaviors that emerge from things going on within the leaders mind and its these internal beliefs and processes that are important for effective leadership.Trait theory does, but, help us identify some qualities that are helpful when leading others and, together, these emerge as a generalised leadership style. Examples include empathy, assert iveness, good decision-making, and likability. In our article Building TomorrowHYPERLINK http//www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_62.htmHYPERLINK http//www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_62.htms Leaders, we discuss a series of attributes that are important for all types of leaders to develop. However, none of these traits, nor any confederacy of them, will indorsement success as a leader. You need more than that.4. Power and influence theories What is the source of the leaders spot?Power and influence theories of leadership take an entirely different approach. Theyre based on the different ways in which leaders use power and influence to get things done, and the leadership styles that emerge as a result. Perhaps the most well known of these theories is French and RavenHYPERLINK http//www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_56.htmHYPERLINK http//www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_56.htms Five Forms of Power. This model distinguishes amongst using your position to exer t power, and using your personal attributes to be powerful.French and Raven identified ternion types of positional power legitimate, abide by, and coercive and two sources of personal power expert and referent (your personal approach and charm). The model suggests that using personal power is the better alternative and, because Expert Power (the power that comes with beingness a real expert in the job) is the most legitimate of these, that you should actively work on building this. Similarly, leading by example is another highly effective way to establish and sustain a positive influence with your team.Another valid leadership style thats supported by power and influence theories is Transactional Leadership. This approach assumes that work is done only because it is rewarded, and for no other reason, and it therefore focuses on designing tasks and reward structures. While it may not be the most appealing leadership strategy in equipment casualty of building relationships an d developing a long-term motivating work environment, it does work, and its used in most organizations on a daily basis to get things done.An Up-to-Date Understanding of LeadershipWithin all of these theories, frameworks, and approaches to leadership, theres an underlie message that leaders need to have a variety of factors working in their favor. Effective leadership is not simply based on a set of attributes, behaviors, or influences. You must have a wide range of abilities and approaches that you can draw upon.Having said this, however, theres one leadership style that is appropriate in very many corporate situations that of Transformational Leadership. A leader using this styleHas integrity.Sets clear goals.Clearly communicates a vision.Sets a good example.Expects the best from the team.Encourages.Supports.Recognizes good work and people.Provides stimulating work.Helps people see beyond their self-interests and focus more on team interests and needs.Inspires.In short, transfo rmational leaders are exceptionally motivating, and theyre trusted. When your team trusts you, and is really discharged up by the way you lead, you can achieve great thingsThe transformational leadership style is the dominant leadership style taught in our How to Lead Discover the Leader Within You program, although we do recommend that other styles are brought in as the situation demands.Having said that Transformational Leadership suits very many circumstances in business, we need to remember that there may be situations where its not the best style. This is why its worth knowing about the other styles shown below so that you have a greater chance of finding the right combination for the situation you find yourself in.Popular Leadership Styles A GlossaryThe leadership theories and styles discussed so far hold in within formal theoretical frameworks. However, many more terms are used to describe leadership styles, even if these dont fit within a particular system. Its worth unde rstanding these1. Autocratic leadershipAutocratic leadership is an extreme form of transactional leadership, where leaders have absolute power over their workers or team. supply and team members have little opportunity to make suggestions, even if these would be in the teams or the organizations best interest. around people tend to resent being treated like this. Therefore, bossy leadership oft leads to high levels of absenteeism and staff turnover. However, for some routine and unskilled jobs, the style can remain effective because the advantages of reckon may outweigh the disadvantages.2. Bureaucratic leadershipBureaucratic leaders work by the book. They follow rules rigorously, and visualise that their staff follows procedures precisely. This is a very appropriate style for work involving serious safety seeks (such as working with machinery, with toxic substances, or at dangerous heights) or where large sums of money are involve (such as handling cash).3. Charismatic leade rshipA charismatic leadership style can seem quasi(prenominal) to transformational leadership, because these leaders inspire lots of enthusiasm in their teams and are very energetic in drive others forward. However, charismatic leaders can tend to believe more in themselves than in their teams, and this creates a risk that a project, or even an entire organization, might collapse if the leader leaves. In the eyes of the followers, success is directly connected to the presence of the charismatic leader. As such, charismatic leadership carries great responsibility, and it needs a long-term commitment from the leader.4. Democratic leadership or participative leadershipAlthough democratic leaders make the net decisions, they invite other members of the team to contribute to the decision-making process. This not only increases job satisfaction by involving team members, but it also helps to develop peoples skills. Team members feel in control of their own destiny, so theyre motivated to work hard by more than just a financial reward.Because participation takes time, this approach can take longer, but often the end result is better. The approach can be most adequate when working as a team is essential, and when quality is more important than speed to market, or productivity.5. Laissez-faire leadershipThis French phrase means leave it be, and its used to describe leaders who leave their team members to work on their own. It can be effective if the leader monitors whats being achieved and communicates this back to the team regularly. Most often, laissez-faire leadership is effective when individual team members are very experienced and skilled self-starters. Unfortunately, this type of leadership can also occur when managers dont apply sufficient control.6. People-oriented leadership or relations-oriented leadershipThis is the contrary of task-oriented leadership. With people-oriented leadership, leaders are totally focused on organizing, supporting, and developi ng the people in their teams. Its a participative style, and it tends to encourage good teamwork and creative collaboration.In practice, most leaders use both task-oriented and people-oriented styles of leadership.7. Servant leadershipThis term, created by Robert Greenleaf in the 1970s, describes a leader who is often not formally recognized as such. When someone, at any level within an organization, leads simply by meeting the needs of the team, he or she is described as a consideration leader.In many ways, servant leadership is a form of democratic leadership, because the unit of measurement team tends to be involved in decision making.Supporters of the servant leadership model suggest that its an important way to move ahead in a world where values are increasingly important, and where servant leaders achieve power on the basis of their values and ideals. Others believe that in competitive leadership situations, people who practice servant leadership can find themselves left beh ind by leaders using other leadership styles.8. Task-Oriented leadershipHighly task-oriented leaders focus only on getting the job done, and they can be quite autocratic. They actively define the work and the roles required, put structures in place, plan, organize, and monitor. However, because task-oriented leaders dont tend to think much about the well-being of their teams, this approach can suffer many of the flaws of autocratic leadership, with difficulties in motivating and retaining staff.9. Transactional leadershipThis style of leadership starts with the idea that team members agree to obey their leader totally when they accept a job. The transaction is usually the organization paying the team members in open for their effort and compliance. The leader has a right to punish team members if their work doesnt meet the pre-determined standard.Team members can do little to improve their job satisfaction under transactional leadership. The leader could give team members some con trol of their income/reward by using incentives that encourage even higher standards or greater productivity. Alternatively, a transactional leader could practice management by exception rather than rewarding better work, the leader could take corrective action if the required standards are not met.Transactional leadership is really a type of management, not a true leadership style, because the focus is on short-term tasks. It has serious limitations for knowledge-based or creative work, however it can be effective in other situations.10. Transformational leadershipAs we discussed earlier, people with this leadership style are true leaders who inspire their teams constantly with a shared vision of the future. While this leaders enthusiasm is often passed onto the team, he or she can need to be supported by expound people. Thats why, in many organizations, both transactional and transformational leadership are needed. The transactional leaders (or managers) ensure that routine work is done reliably, while the transformational leaders look after initiatives that add new value.Key PointsWhile the transformational leadership approach is often highly effective, theres no one right way to lead or manage that fits all situations. To choose the most effective approach for yourself, consider the followingThe skill levels and experience of your team.The work involved (routine, or new and creative).The organizational environment (stable or radically changing, conservative or adventurous).You own preferred or natural style.Good leaders often switch instinctively between styles, according to the people they lead and the work that needs to be done. Establish trust thats key to this process and remember to sense of balance the needs of the organization against the needs of your team.