Order Number |
457980089867 |
Type of Project |
ESSAY |
Writer Level |
PHD VERIFIED |
Format |
APA |
Academic Sources |
10 |
Page Count |
3-12 PAGES |
How a leader’s personality traits are essential in adapting a leadership style.
Ideally, the first influence on the leadership style is the leader’s personality. For instance, a competitive person is naturally inclined to become a pacesetter because they strive to demonstrate to their teams that it is possible to attain high output levels. Hence, in this case, when assessing a leadership style it is important to consider the leadership style.
Such is because not all leaders can instill or foster change (Robbins & Judge 2019). In order for leaders to foster change, they should be self-confident and lead others confidently towards changes. Traditionally, a leader was perceived to be someone in charge of subordinates rather than someone in charge of the overall success of an organization.
Hence, organizations were rooted in the idea that the leader is both in charge and in control of the subordinates, something that would see an organization become successful (Robbins & Judge 2019). Therefore, the subordinates were mainly passive. However, this has since changes, where the employees are also encouraged to put in their efforts into the organization through aspects like suggesting programs and participating in groups as this enhances the success of any organization.
With such retrospect, the personality of the leaders bears such a profound effect on the behaviors of the subordinates. Such is because, personality poses a great effect on how people think, feel and even relate with each other. According to Simic et. al., (2017), a leader’s cognitive abilities refer to the threshold competencies needed in getting certain jobs done, whereas the personality and emotional attributes are the key factors that enable a leader to be truly successful.
Simic et. al., (2017), goes further to note that there is no standard personality type for all leaders, however different literatures have suggested that there are certain personality traits that are crucial for one’s success and that have been repeatedly correlated with leadership success among them extraversion, openness to experience and conscientiousness. These traits have been shown to foster motivation among the employees and also to attract positive energy that makes the subordinates to easily submit to the leadership.
Compare and Contrast Behavior Attributes of the Behavioral Leadership Theory to a Contingency Leadership theory
The behavioral theory highlights the nature and complexity of the work that a leader handles which involves testing the leader’s capacity to handle tasks. The contingency theory on the other hand, tests the impact of the load and the nature of the work on the leader, the effect on subordinates as well as the leader’s environment.
Ayman & Lauritsen (2018), establish that the behavioral theory tend to assess the entire organization by dividing the organization into different compartments. Each of the compartment is evaluated for appropriate management framework. Such is different with the contingency theory which identifies the variables for proper leadership style in a given circumstance.
In this case Ayman & Lauritsen (2018), denote that the behavioral theory hence largely attempts to identify the best leadership style for all situations whereas the contingency theory maintains that there is no one compatible leadership style for any situation as it is rooted on three aspects; the leaders, the followers and the situation.
According to McCleskey (2014), the behavioral theory terms the specific behavior of the leaders as the best predictor for effective leadership. Behavioral theory is hence rooted in the premise that a leader’s response to a situation is the predictor of the leadership’s success. McCleskey (2014), adds that when it comes to assessing the behaviors of the leaders they can be categorized into either task-oriented leaders or people-oriented leaders.
The task-oriented leaders tend to focus on motivating the employees in meeting organizational procedures. In this case, they access the success of the leaders is based on how they initiate, organize tasks and collect data. On the other hand, the people-oriented leaders tend to pinpoint the interaction among people for motivation where their focus is on encouraging the staff, listening to their concerns and even training the staff members.
According to, Robbins & Judge (2019), the contingency theory on the other hand, identifies and assesses the specific situation of the leader since the theory is largely a leader-led case. The theory hence emphasizes that there cannot be one leadership format for the leaders and that there exist different leadership styles for different situations.
Hence, the theory accesses the conduct of the leaders when assigned tasks, when under pressure, how well they integrate with the system and environmental influence. Also, the contingency theory notes that a leader must be dependent on the situation and must adjust accordingly.
Effective Communication Strategies for Leaders
Effective communication skills are essential when it comes to the success of any organization. In any organization where the staff are working effectively, high chances are that it stems from their ability to communicate well. Communication is a very key consideration as it determines how the staff in an organization interact and how well the projects will run in an organization (Robbins & Judge, 2019).
Hence, good leaders must be excellent communicators, since they interact with their staff every day and the manner in which a leader communicates sets the pace for the rest of the organization. Over the years, great leaders have been deemed to be great motivators, who encourage others to work hard towards meeting a common goal as evidenced in historical leaders like Lincoln and Churchill. Woodward (2017), notes that good communication is the engine that makes business processes to be conducted effectively.
Through effective communication, leaders are able to ensure that the different teams work in unison for the success of the organization. According to communication lines must always remain open as this helps in the interaction with clients and to improve customer feedback. Woodward (2017), further establishes that an organization with a defined hierarchical structure for communication creates an overall positive atmosphere where internal problems are easily addressed and chances of a fallout are severely minimized.
References
Ayman, R., & Lauritsen, M. (2018). Contingencies, context, situation, and leadership.
McCleskey, J. A. (2014). Situational, transformational, and transactional leadership and leadership development. Journal of Business Studies Quarterly, 5(4), 117.
Robbins, S. P., & Judge T. A. (2019). Organizational behavior [VitalSource Bookshelf version] (18th ed.).
Simic, J., Ristic, M. R., Milosevic, T. K., & Ristic, D. (2017). The Relationship Between Personality Traits and Managers Leadership Styles. European Journal of Social Science Education and Research, 4(6), 194-199.
Woodward, I. C. (2017). ‘The leadership interface’: effective leadership communication for contemporary global leaders.
For the leadership theory project, I will work with the behavioral leadership theory. According to the behavioral leadership theory, leadership is not inherent rather it is an aspect that can be learned. The behavioral theory is based on the notion that behaviors can be conditioned in relation to specific stimuli (Robbins & Judge, 2019).
Such is acquired through interactions with the environment and the responses to the stimuli in the environment. There are three types of leadership styles that can fall under the behavioral leadership theory among them autocratic leadership, democratic leadership and laissez-faire leadership (Tannenbaum, 1961).
I think that the behavioral leadership theory can be applied to my current place of work since the leadership style can be tailored to specific situations. As a person working in construction the work environment is often characterized by rigid rules, and control is mandatory as a means of keeping people out of harm.
In such a scenario, autocratic leadership would be effective where the leaders could be responsible for making all major decisions without necessarily consulting with the peers of company teams (Behrendt, Matz & Göritz, 2017). The behavioral leadership theory can be used to improve organizational behavior and increase diversity in organizations specifically through the application of the democratic leadership style.
The democratic leadership style is one where the leaders work with their employees to make decisions, this will help the employees to feel valued, to have a better ownership sense and to feel motivated hence resulting in higher productivity (Yukl et. al., 2019). In relation to application of the behavioral leadership theory there are two possible research questions that I would investigate:
References
Behrendt, P., Matz, S., & Göritz, A. S. (2017). An integrative model of leadership behavior. The leadership quarterly, 28(1), 229-244.
Robbins, S. P., & Judge T. A. (2019). Organizational behavior [VitalSource Bookshelf version] (18th ed.). Retrieved from https://online.vitalsource.com/#/books/ 9780134729749
Tannenbaum, R. (1961). Leadership and organization : a behavioral approach. New York : McGraw-Hill.
Yukl, G., Mahsud, R., Prussia, G., & Hassan, S. (2019). Effectiveness of broad and specific leadership behaviors. Personnel Review.