Leadership Styles (Essay/Paper Sample)

LEADERSHIP STYLES AND ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

Leadership is a skill that is practiced and entails a person being able to give directions to an organization, group of individuals or a department.  It involves the ability to define a vision, sharing the defined vision with others, giving additional information so that the others can realize the vision and coordinating the group to minimize any conflicts of interests that may arise. It also involves getting creative solutions for any problem that a group may face. Leadership is mostly confused with management. While management is taught, leadership is learned and enhanced through coaching and mentoring. Leadership style is the means to which a leader achieves the set goals.  It entails how a leader can motivate a team towards the realization of certain set objectives. Different leadership styles are adapted to different situations. The leadership styles include authoritarian and relational leadership styles. An ideal leadership style is important for any organization. The paper focusses on various leadership styles and how they can be used to effect an excellent organizational culture for a business through internal communication.

Authoritarian leadership style

Authoritarian leadership styles is a method employed by leaders when implementing policies. A leader who uses this leadership style solely decides the policies that are to be applied and directs on the goals of the organization. The subordinates are left to take and act on what the leader prescribes and have little or no role in decision making. The leader has total control over the group, and the subjects have a little freedom. Autocratic leaders employ the leadership style. Authoritarian leaders have to direct on the vision and ways in which the organization can achieve the mission effectively. Authoritarian leaders also enforce strictness by ensuring that there are set rules to be followed. Under this leadership style, there is a huge gap between the leader and the followers. It was invented in the early days when the world was divided into tribes and empires. During this times, the emperor or the tribal head had total control of his or her subjects. The leader directed his subjects solely and had no room for the subjects to participate.

The leadership style is employed today in industries that require minimal errors. Such industries include the construction sector, the healthcare industry, and some manufacturing industries. When all the power rests with the leaders, the followers have no room for making errors.  The leaders who employ this style makes independent decisions. The rest of the group plays no role in the decision-making. There is little creativity in the decisions made because the decisions solely rely on the leader alone. The style can be easily abused by leaders since they can adopt dictatorial tendencies. The style is, however, effective since it reduced the time spent making decisions. Instead of the decisions being discussed the method proposes that the leader imposes decisions based on his or her judgment. It reduces bureaucracy and enhances fast decision making.

Authoritarian leaders subscribe to the view that followers have to be supervised at all times. It hence aligns with Theory X leadership theory. The style suggests that people must be intimidated and forced to work at all times. The method employs downward communication pattern where the leader communicates one way to the subordinates. The manager controls the subordinates and dominates any discussions held. He or she sets policies independently and directs on how each task should be completed.

Authoritarian leadership styles can enhance organizational culture at an organization by enhancing downward communication. The leader has to explain rules to subordinates to ensure that they complete the tasks given effectively. The manager also needs to be very consistent so that the subordinates will take tasks given seriously. Consistency will also ensure that employees at an organization trust their leaders. The belief transforms the organizational culture in the port by ensuring that employees attend to their tasks. The leader also needs to respect his or her subordinates. The respect provides that the subordinates get recognized for tasks they accomplish efficiently. The assistants also need to be effectively educated. The education ensures that they are no surprises which may be an obstacle to communication. The leader needs also to hear the contribution of his or her subordinates even if he or she does not necessarily use them in the decision-making process. Listening to the subordinates eliminates the feeling of dictatorship and ensures that the subordinates are motivated. Active application of authoritarian Leadership style will ensure that the organization is transformed through an increase in productivity and fast decision making since it is a large organization.

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Relational leadership style

Relational leadership style is the style that aims at building relationship among team members.  A leader who employs this technique aims at motivating and satisfying team members with the aim of achieving the set goals as a team. The leadership style aims at making the best of teamwork within an organization. The welfare of individual members is prioritized by the leader of the team. The leader hence makes decisions weighing on everyone’s opinion in the team. The style also entails giving of incentives to the subordinates. The manager also provides mediation in case of work-related conflicts and creates a conducive environment for every worker. He or she encourages the workers to learn from each other’s strengths and weaknesses. The leader helps the workers to perform the given duties diligently.

Relational leadership aims at building a strong relationship between the leader and the subordinates. Relationship-oriented leaders aim at less supervision of the team members and encourage team members to be self-driven. They hence aim at reducing conflicts and creating a positive environment where workers feel comfortable. Giving autonomy to the subordinates ensures that creative solutions are derived in the decision-making process. The leadership style can be used to transform a firm’s organizational culture by encouraging communication. The method encourages both upward and downward communication techniques. Subordinates can communicate to the team leaders, and team leaders can communicate to the subordinates. It also supports communication among employees by encouraging teamwork. Teamwork results in a better organizational culture and transforms productivity. The leadership style is employee oriented and hence encourages employees to be more productive. By focusing on employees the style creates a better organizational culture.

Internal communication and organizational culture

Internal communication in an organization refers to the effective communication among the members of an individual group. It involves the communication between employees themselves and also the communication between employees and the management. The main aim of internal communications is promoting the unity of purpose in an organization. It forms a backbone of any organization and ensures that all employees work towards a particular goal. Unity of purpose leads to the increase in productivity and profitability of a firm.

An organizational culture defines the values and beliefs that govern how people behave in an organization. The values dictate behaviors such as the dress code, the ethics while in the workplace and how effective one performs a task assigned to him or her. An effective organizational culture distinguishes an organization from other organizations. Corporate culture is influenced by the management style, effectiveness of internal communication, assumption and beliefs of a given group. An organization hence needs to adopt an active internal communication system to guarantee a better organizational culture.

A good corporate culture guarantees better results from the employees. Poor internal communications leads to the adoption of a bad corporate culture which affects the firm negatively. When the employees do not get sufficient information, they tend to make many errors which in turn results in wrong decisions. A weak internal communication system leads to the adoption of divisions within the workplace. The separate units cause lack of trust between the employees themselves or between employees and the management. The lack of trust leads to conflicts and dissatisfaction among employees. Weak internal communication can hence destroy the brand of a company.

An effective internal communication fosters the relationship between employees, the management and the desired results. The employees can communicate effectively and undertake their tasks efficiently. Through communication, employees take responsibility in the success of the organization. They can share common values and adopt a work related philosophy to attain this values. They adopt a shared cooperate culture, and this drives them in their daily undertaking of tasks. The philosophy hence leads to the adoption of a healthy organizational culture. When the employees communicate effectively, they build trust among themselves. The organization therefore adopts transparency as its corporate culture. The managers are also encouraged to communicate effectively with the employees leading to a better decision-making process.

A strong internal communication leads to the adoption of a clear goal-oriented process. Goals in an organization have to be achieved through a process. Internal communication designs a framework for the achievement of the vision of an organization. Since organizational culture entails values that are shared in a group, a clear internal communication influences values such as hard work. An organization that has an effective internal communication system encourages employees to work hard to realize their goals. With a clear work layout, people are more focused and more productive. It also enables employees to know where they fit in the production process. Awareness leads to employees being proud of their achievements and this impacts on the organizational culture. It enhances accountability and staff feel more responsible for the success of the firm. A culture where there is both upward and downward communication ensures that employees feel more involved in decision-making process. They hence work as a team towards the realization of the set goals .Teamwork is one of the important values in the organizational culture It encourages cooperation among employees as they work together in solving problems. It also promotes greater cohesiveness and transforms performance positively.

An organization that has an efficient internal communication system in place realizes many benefits. The organizational culture significantly improves, and the performance of the company improves. Internal communication dictates how employees behave under certain conditions. It ensures that subcultures in an organization are merged into one productive and positive culture.The effect of internal communication on cooperate culture will be analyzed and discussed in the next chapter. Budapest Port will be taken as a case study. The study will focuses on how internal communication can transform the organizational culture at Budapest Port.

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