Leadership Theories Expert Answer

The role of a leader and leadership has become one of the most concerning problems for the organizations and for the business itself. The “Leaders are individuals who establish a direction for a working group of individuals and who gain commitment from this group of members to the established direction and who then motivate members to achieve the directions’ outcomes” (Bhatti, 2019). To get long-term success and sustainability it is very important for the organization to have some change and for this they need to take practical steps. They should accept, adopt, and execute alterations in their business pattern according to the need, changing styles, technologies, priorities of the customer, and future requirements. Here comes the role of a leader that becomes very significant while dealing with an organization or handling the issue of organizational change. According to Kennedy the role of a leader is very important when it comes to bringing an effective change in the organization (Grasmick, 2019). In their book ‘Organizational Change’, Senior and Fleming talked about the effective part of leadership and declare that a good leader is the one who can act as a change agent and is brave enough to take initiative. What kind of leadership is required to bring an innovative change in the organization? Leaders with charisma, passion, vision, knowledge, and skills are the ones who can bring about changes in the organization.

The role of good leadership is being researched based on their capabilities and competencies and skills to address different problems (Catherine K. Lam, 2015). Many scholars and researchers have presented various leadership theories and styles to handle different situations that occur in the organization. In modern-day, the organizations are all living in a disrupting era. The changes in technology go from alteration to adaptation to distraction (Busse, 2018). Living in this age of disruptive technologies the organization needs to be very mindful regarding the surrounding changes. If there is any change that appears as a big threat for the organization demands proactive steps be taken or else it will have to face a severe crisis. To face this, the leader should be the one who can foresee and is focused on being an effective and successful leader instead of being a traditional leader (Grasmick, 2019). This means that the leader needs to be more prompt and responsive and not to be a traditional leader and adopt a modern style of leadership (Iqbal N, 2015).

The traditional and inward type of theories includes the Great man, the trait theory, and the Transactional theory (Grasmick, 2019). These theories have requested from the individual and impose a narrow leadership style on individuals and provide an unhealthy situation for the modern growth of an organization (Iqbal N, 2015). While, the contemporary and emerging theories are very progressive and suitable for any type of organization because they give more independence and instruct the decision depending on rational thinking (Halaychik, 2016). This theory is mostly participative and it involves the circumstances that are critical to adopt modern technologies. Here the leaders need to be proactive and knowledgeable about the changes occurring in their surroundings and develop a need-based relationship (Grasmick, 2019).

Living in this changing modern world there is a need to adopt modern leadership style so that the organization fulfills the requirement of the modern need and satisfy its customer because now the organizations are no more directed by hierarchical circulation based on authority and subservience (Tasneem Fatima, 2017). Contemporary organizations have converted into a more organic approach and have observed an era of merging of the traditional part as the scientific distractions force invention instead of the approval of the normal rules (Busse, 2018).

There are number of leadership theories that come under the heading of traditional and inward types of theories. Firstly,  the great man and trait theory states that few people are born with special qualities and make them different from other individuals. Due to such attributes, these individuals attain a position of power and influence. This theory states that such people who have power deserve to attain that position because of those special qualities they acquire. Thus, it recommends that such great people have these features regardless of wherever they live  (Bhatti, 2019). These theories contend that the leaders are born and not made (Grasmick, 2019). And they have confidence in the divineness of the leader (Tasneem Fatima, 2017). Secondly, the contingency theory ascribes the initiative style to be dependent upon two styles guided by the circumstance which incorporate relationship and assignment needs (Iqbal N, 2015). The administration styles utilized relies upon the circumstance and the leader (Tasneem Fatima, 2017). A pioneer might be a relationship based, taking choices dependent on the individuals he is managing. And an undertaking focused would put together his choices concerning the errands (Busse, 2018). Lastly, the transactional theory investigates and depends on the customary administration idea of carrot and stick and the necessities satisfaction dependent on the progressive system of needs, the need that is most grounded guides the conduct utilized (Bhatti, 2019).

Besides, evolving working environment has also paved the way for emergence of numerous new leadership theories. In this regard, situational theory controls the conduct of the leaders to be founded on the current circumstance and orders the sorts into a few. This leadership style suggests that all the styles of leadership are best. Instead, it just depends on the situation and type of leader who handles the situations accordingly by using different strategies (Bhatti, 2019). Furthermore, the conduct theory has more to do with the conduct of the pioneer and not the attributes he possesses. The fundamental conviction is that the conduct of the pioneer can be prepped to make him a decent pioneer (Busse, 2018). Here the actions are observed not the qualities of the leader. As per this theory, people can tend to learn to become managers and leaders by learning, observing, and teaching. Moreover, the participative type of leader incorporates the assessment of others and bases his choices on conversations thereby taking multiple feelings into improving information (Catherine K. Lam, 2015). This kind of leadership style is very effective in this modern era as it involves all the employees in the decision-making process that in return motivates and gives a sense of confidence to the employees. Adding to this, the relationship theory depicts a kind of leader who keeps his team involved with his decision making and such a leader believes in a progressive approach (Iqbal N, 2015). These leaders motivate and inspire people by helping them and their group members. They are focused on the performance of their team but also demand every member to fulfill their capability. Such leaders often have high moral standards and ethics (Eva, 2018).

Indubitably there are a large number of leadership theories, but the theory that is one of the most appropriate theories is the participative theory. A participative leader is an approach to elaborate on job satisfaction amongst highly skilled employees (Mouji, 2018). An individual who is highly skilled and highly motivated when performing his job he does it all well and when leaders meet such motivated individuals their expectations are higher from them (Sinani, 2016). Hence, this leads to a positive outcome and a better association amongst the organization and the employee which results in job satisfaction (Fox, 2017). This kind of leader gives more importance to his team and keep them involved in the decision making process for the organization. The data and information are given to the employees so that they are motivated and work collectively to achieve the objective of the organization. Not only is this, but the company’s profit is also shared amongst all the employees. Participative leadership has many advantages (Catherine K. Lam, 2015).

Participative theory provides number of benefits not only to leaders or their team members, but also to the organization as a whole. There are many organizations where employees feel deprived and unheard (Shutterstock, 2016). If they try to participate in any kind of decision-making process they are not encouraged and this disregard makes them demotivated. But in participation leadership, they tend to have a separate forum for the employee where they are involved in decision making (Catherine K. Lam, 2015) during a time where more investigation is set on how organizations work, this is particularly significant. Including workers in choices implies more straightforwardness. Every representative has something to contribute. While all commitments may not be important or significant, making a situation in which they can be talked about welcomes others to contribute their thoughts: things would then be able to be refined, assessed, and implemented (Catherine K. Lam, 2015). Additionally, on the off chance that employees realize that thoughts will be assessed by a gathering and perhaps fused into organization practice, there is less worry about unique responsibility for thought (Busse, 2018). The individuals realize they will be heard, they are bound to contribute and to feel like their commitment is esteemed (Shelley D.DionneaHirokiSayamab, 2019). This is an essential imperative for a cheerful, roused workforce (Eva, 2018). Further, the entirety of the elements above joins to make a working environment where individuals feel esteemed, feel less strain to stick out, and feel a piece of their association (Grasmick, 2019). Individuals are less enticed to leave a working environment with such characteristics (Halaychik, 2016).

There is no denying a fact that participative leadership works best because when the team is fully aware of the internal scenario of the organization and its objective hence the responsibility falls on both the team and the organization (Halaychik, 2016). The employee needs to express readiness and capability to learn but the data and the information must be kept readily available for the employees (Halaychik, 2016). For instance, if the team fails to understand the problem, it is unlikely that they will be equipped enough to handle the situation and make any good decisions (Mouji, 2018). If this worst situation arises, it will become difficult for the participative leader to help (Grasmick, 2019). Hence it is very important for the leader to be aware of such risks and should be capable enough to take the necessary steps to stop these things to occur (Mouji, 2018). Participative leadership is successful only when both the leader and the team member’s relationship are nurtured (Sinani, 2016). Participative leadership also progressed from the authorization and concept of human motivation that was initiated with the Hawthorne Studies initiated in an electrical plant in 1927-1932 (Bhatti, 2019). His study showed that a positive and supportive work environment provided to the team members affected their job satisfaction (Eva, 2018). He continues to believe that such leaders having a high level of satisfied employees produce the best outcomes for the organization (Iqbal N, 2015). Participative leaders constantly provided improved employee outcomes for organizations (Yousef, 2000). Davis (1968) late established the methodology, closing that enlarged participation produced improved devotion and work morals among workers. For example, an individual at a lower rung, if he is in a traditional firm, he will find it very difficult to express his idea to his seniors and top management, even if there is no doubt about his brilliance (Iqbal N, 2015). A leader who believes in participative theory will always value the opinion of his employee and will also implement it. Hence, the participation theory is best for organizational change (Bhatti, 2019).

To conclude, I agree on the fact that in today’s working circumstances the speed of disruptive innovation is a big threat for the organizations’ to bring in change by inculcating new innovative leadership theories and to produce such leaders who are capable enough to handle the tough situation by adopting different leadership styles and theories. Participative leadership can carry a bunch of advantages to an association. A leader who utilizes this style adequately will have the option to include their whole group in the running of the association. By publicly supporting sentiments and commitments, dynamic turns into an aggregate undertaking that takes advantage of the aptitudes, thoughts, and skills of each part. Even though there are dangers to the sending of participative leadership, these can be stopped from the beginning by a successful leader. The consciousness of the potential shortcomings of a leadership style is similarly as significant as comprehension of its qualities.

References

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Catherine K. Lam, X. H. S. C. H. C., 2015. The Threshold Effect of Participative Leadership and the Role of Leader Information Sharing. [Online] Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282603080_The_Threshold_Effect_of_Participative_Leadership_and_the_Role_of_Leader_Information_Sharing
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