M3. 10 Introduction to Leadership The website http://www. nwlink.
com/~donclark/leader/leadstl. html describes leadership styles as; ‘Leadership style is the manner and approach of providing direction, implementing plans, and motivating people. Kurt Lewin (1939) led a group of researchers to identify different styles of leadership. This early study has been very influential and established three major leadership styles.
The three major styles of leadership are (U. S.Army Handbook, 1973): Authoritarian or autocratic Participative or democratic Delegative or Free Reign Although good leaders use all three styles, with one of them normally dominant, bad leaders tend to stick with one style. ’ When doing my own research into leadership styles I found that we now recognise and use four main subtitles which are, authoritative, consultative, supportive and delegative styles I have gone on to extend and explain these four different leadership styes.Authoritative Style is a type of leader who overlooks the whole activity, from giving instruction on what and how to do the activity to allocating roles and responsibility for other members of staff, the information is controlled and they supervise all aspects of the team activity and interactivity. The good points about this style is that everybody understands what they have got to be doing and where they should be however the bad points are that others can not express there ideas or put there own twist on a good idea to make it better.
I don’t believe I am this type of leader as I like to listen to others ideas and extend on my own however some people do need this type of leader especially when they are starting there career. Consultative style is a type of leader who gives instruction but offers feedback to the team to boost performance and self esteem, they take occasional notice of a team members idea, but closely monitor performance. The positive with this is that the team is getting involved even though it isn’t much, feedback is being given to them and they do take occasional notice of a team members idea.I do try and get the team more involved and like ideas to be shared altered and expanded to be the best they can be therefore I see only occasionally taking notice of there ideas as a negative.
Supportive style is a type of leader that becomes an active team member who involves all the team in making decisions and shares responsibility for decision making, they re-allocate roles and responsibilities where evidence supports change; they allow the team to take decisions they exchange feedback with there team to improve performance.The positive point of this type of leader is that they are getting the whole team involved, everybody makes there contribution depending on what situation they are in. the negative point of this type of leader is that some members of staff need direct jobs given to them they like to do these jobs to the best of there ability however they struggle with putting there point forward. I would like to think I am this type of leader as I believe in these principles.Delegative style is a type of leader who takes themselves away from the team they put there input in where appropriate and relevant however they mainly devolves team management to the team itself. I think this is a too laid back method and some of the staff can become laid back like the leader.
Everybody is a different type of leader depending on the type of person they are, the situation they are in and the people around them.To be an effective leader you need to be able to recognise these different types of leader; the leadership styles are put into to main groups authoritative and supportive; authoritative and consultative style tends to be linked with the authoritative behaviour and supportive and Delegative tend to be linked with Supportive behaviour. these to sets of behaviour are described as overlaying two leadership styles each as shown below Authoritative behaviourSupportive behaviourAuthoritative style Consultative style Supportive style Delegative style Review of own leadership styles Factors that will influence my choice of leadership styles are the people around me and the type of situation I am in at that time; for example if it was myself and another member of staff I would take a backseat be there to support and encourage but help that member of staff take control and responsibility therefore they would gain confidence and belief in themselves.If I was in a busier environment with a larger amount of staff, where a leader was needed to make straight decisions and to keep the workplace flowing calmly I would take control making sure I was listening to everybody’s wishes but doing what is best for the situation, there’s no need to flustered as that will solve nothing. All members of staff act differently in different situations, you need to know your colleges so you can use them to the best of there abilities; you don’t need somebody who is likely to over-react in a stressful situation.
Your colleges need to have respect for you to listen to what you have to say and to do what you ask for them, this works both ways and you have to listen to your colleges, you have to show willing to prepared to do what they ask of you. Holding a good working relationship with the people around you is very important they are the ones who support you and who help you whether they are above you or below you.The reasons why these leadership styles are likely to have a positive effect on individual and group behaviour is they are able to come to you if they have a problem, they are also likely to be able to talk to you and hold some level of trust; this makes it easier to highlight where there is an issue and deal with the problem before it gets out of hand. Noticing early signs of stress is also an important factor in working closely with your colleges nd encouraging them to seek help within the workplace, whether its making there workload lighter or giving them less responsibilities.
By being aware off the people around you helps you to move forward with the business. I would describe myself as a Supportive leader, somebody who has input and a clear leader that can make clear decisions and they also value the input of other members of their team. However when doing a Leadership style quiz on ‘www. psychology. about. com/library/quiz/bl-leadershipquiz.
htm? uestnum=12aa=951&bb=957&cc=954&dd=950’ This website described me as both a participative and Delegative leader. They described these leadership styles as; www. psychology. about. com/library/quiz/bl-leadershipquizbc. htm I am pleased with these results as I do care about other people and there opinions and I believe for a business to be successful there staff need to be working as a team successfully everybody needs to have an input, there need to have both the positive and negative side to the job and see it from each others point of view.
Emily Chadwick
