Categories: Management

Leadership Theories

&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad1" id&equals;"quads-ad1" style&equals;"float&colon;left&semi;margin&colon;0px 0px 0px 0&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<p align&equals;"justify">There are theories of leadership which define the qualities of leaders&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 align&equals;"justify">a&period; Trait Theories<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p align&equals;"justify">The idea shifted from people being born with leadership qualities and theorists came up with&comma; plethora of qualities that define the attributes or personality traits of successful and effective leaders&period;However&comma; nobody could come up with the right combination of qualities that would ensure success as human beings are so different and react according to the environment they are exposed to&period; There might be some common qualities among successful leaders but not everyone has same qualities&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;<p align&equals;"justify">Jeff Skilling’s most discussed personality trait is his egoism&comma; he was too proud to admit that he was wrong&comma; he lead the company towards downfall&period; He realized years ago that pace of business is not sustainable and it will not be too long since the business would start facing financial difficulties&comma; but his arrogance and ego prevented him from admitting his mistakes&period; He further continued pushing everyone into trouble&comma; until the business could take no more pressure and had to file for bankruptcy because no money was left&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p align&equals;"justify">Steve Jobs also possessed the attributes of arrogance and egoism and he was famous for his blunt criticism&comma; which he believed was necessary for the business they do&period; Innovation and excellence is all that is expected from them and the company could not afford to slouch down in performance even for a moment&period; But the earlier hardships in his career in which he was thrown out of his company actually taught him few lessons<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 align&equals;"justify">b&period; Behaviorist Theories<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p align&equals;"justify">These theories focus on what leaders do rather than their qualities and attributes&period; This theory focuses on the leadership styles&period; Kurt Lewin a Behaviorist theorist identified the following types of leaders based on behavioral theory&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 align&equals;"justify">c&period; Laissez Faire Leadership<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p align&equals;"justify">&lbrack;large&rsqb;This is the form of leadership in which a leader maintains minimum supervision and allows teams to work independently and reach the goal on their own This works for individuals and teams who are self motivated and driven&period; However this might result in a leader who is reluctant of taking decisions himself and relies too much on his team&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad2" id&equals;"quads-ad2" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px 0 0px 0&semi;text-align&colon;center&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;<p align&equals;"justify">Jeff Skilling used to give huge amount of autonomy to his workers in deciding about which deals to take&period; He even authorized them to final deals till &dollar;5 million without the approval from upper management&period; This shows the level of confidence he had in his employees&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p align&equals;"justify">Steve Jobs&comma; although very strict about deadlines and outcome and wanting his employees to produce what he wanted only&comma; never used to outline the course of actions for them&period; He just used to give them an idea about the final product but the remaining things have to be figured out by his employees on their own&period; There was autonomy given to them to make things as they wish them to be&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 align&equals;"justify">d&period; Situational Leadership<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p align&equals;"justify">This theory analyses leadership according to the situation at hand and believes that one leader may be required to adapt to different leadership styles based on the situations at hand&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;<p align&equals;"justify">Jeff Skilling lacked the skills of situational leadership&comma; his biggest mistake was assuming that the way gas business was turned into trading of this commodity and it turned out o be successful it would work for electricity&comma; paper&comma; water&comma; lumber etc&period; he should have analysed these domains separately and design their business models differently based on the nature of commodity&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;<p align&equals;"justify">Steve Jobs was a man of reading trends and needs&period; He started working on iPhone when the technology platforms were not ready for this kind of innovation and this gave them competitive advantage&period; They were the first movers and have patents and copyrights to their names<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 align&equals;"justify">e&period; Transactional Theory<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p align&equals;"justify">This theory talks about followers and what is in it for them to obey their leader&comma; there is a mutual contract of give and take where leader would reinforce the positive behavior of his workers through rewards and recognition&period; These could be either monetary or non monetary&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;<p align&equals;"justify">Jeff Skilling was great in developing transactional aspect of leadership&semi; he hired young professionals and gave them autonomy to design trading deals of about &dollar;5million without any approval from management&period; This encourages his managers to think creatively and take responsibility for their own actions&period; The appraisal system was also based on innovation&comma; ability to lead and learn&period; This enabled employees to perform beyond the expectations of management <&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 align&equals;"justify">f&period; Transformational Theory<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p align&equals;"justify">This theory captures the essence of change management in which leadership transforms the organization through revolutionary and visionary role&period;This requires dedication and unwavering faith from followers and open mindedness&comma; tolerance and patience from the leader&period; Kenneth Lay was a transformational person from the very start he believed in free economy and his obsession with deregulated systems led Enron into rapid business expansion once government lifted the regulation from market&period;Steve Jobs through his focus on core ideas only proved to be a transformational leader&period; He was known to simplify things and be able to highlight main areas to focus on&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p align&equals;"justify"><a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;mba-tutorials&period;com&sol;&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;06&sol;image&period;png"><img title&equals;"image" style&equals;"border-top&colon; 0px&semi; border-right&colon; 0px&semi; border-bottom&colon; 0px&semi; float&colon; none&semi; margin-left&colon; auto&semi; border-left&colon; 0px&semi; display&colon; block&semi; margin-right&colon; auto" border&equals;"0" alt&equals;"image" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;mba-tutorials&period;com&sol;&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;06&sol;image&lowbar;thumb&period;png" width&equals;"500" height&equals;"306"&sol;><&sol;a>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad3" id&equals;"quads-ad3" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;

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