Leadership Style and Approach - Essay Example

? Case Study: Leadership Style and Approach al Affiliation) Leadership Style and Approach Leadership styles are the different styles used by leaders in certain positions to help in motivating people to implement the set goals and objectives (Mahe 2010). Leaders may be found in different fields such as business and political fields (Marques 2007). However, the above case study is about a business venture, Mountain West, and its leaders together with their leadership styles. An analysis of leadership style and theoretical backgrounds Evelyn Gustafson In the case of Mountain West, Evelyn Gustafson is an experienced leader who has served for a long period at Mountain West business entity. She is a focused, reliable worker who has gone through all stages of management to get to her position in the organization. Her type of leadership style is democratic. According to scholars and scientists, democratic leaders have certain attributes that include the senior workers in decision-making processes (Marques 2007). Democracy facilitates creativity and brainstorming which provides ideas to the whole management process. This type of leadership enhances productivity and satisfaction of both the junior members of management and customers at large. Increase in productivity increase the rate of profit maximization in an organization. Evelyn in her case included her employees in decision-making processes. She also emphasized on workers using their recommended time with customers on the phones lines to satisfy all questions that a customer would have on their products. This type of leadership style can be explained in detail by leadership theories. There are the situational theories that explain that a leader should choose the type of leadership style that suits his/her situation. In most cases, the democratic style of leadership has been proved to obtain the best results. Team members also feel free to express their feelings in case of any new situations. For example in Evelyn’s case, she could spend time with her team members while performing their chores. In case of any problems such as fatigue or rude customers, she would support the members by team members by telling them that she was at the same situation some time but later made it in life. The functional theory explains that a leader should have contingency plans, which are used by the leaders in certain situations (Igbal 2011). Erik Rasmussen Erik Rasmussen on the other hand, has a different type of leadership style. His style consists of two styles namely people-oriented leadership and autocratic type of leadership (Daenzer 2009). He is young, bright and energetic and a no nonsense person when it comes to his areas of supervision. The people-oriented style deals with leaders who are focused in their positions at work and providing the irrespective results. However, they may do this to the extent of some team members where decisions made by the leader are final. Erik in this case is a graduate and is expected to deliver the expected results. He does not consider the other team members in making decisions. From the case, it is clear that at some point, he deals with cost cutting strategies without considering ideas from the workers. Alternatively, this leadership style without being monitored may be taken too far by leaders who are so much focused on results rather than the welfare of workers and customers. With the autocratic style of leadership, the leaders possess most power and their decisions could be final. In Erik’s case, he seems to have all the powers and his orders are final. He does not care what the previous leaders had put in place to help boost production and profits. However, this style has some advantages such as fast and effective decision-making processes where leaders can make final decisions. On the other hand, team members do not want this type of leadership since their ideas are not included in the decision-making process (Peggy 2006). Evaluation / Judgment Evelyn Gustafson used the democratic type of leadership during her period as a boss at Mountain West. Her attributes were also charismatic in cases where she was calm and patient. When her junior team members faced difficulties making calls with clients, she showed them concern and warmth. This helped motivate most of the workers who were aware that their leader had also gone through the same situation. She was friendly to her workers. This action led the workers to open up and come up with ideas that Evelyn would use in the decision-making. However, despite her efforts, she did not cut down on the operational costs of the firm as compared to her successor. The main reason was that she advised her juniors to take their times on phones with customers to satisfy their needs. This action made her focus on some of the issues that did not lead to profit maximization. She was not strict at all leading to a smaller turnover as compared to Erik. In such cases, to obtain balanced results, she should have concentrated on all the departments together with the financial sectors. She should have come up with strategies where operations would have been held with the minimum resources leading to low costs of operations. Evelyn did not also check on the time used by the workers on the phones. Her actions later led to complaints by some customers that the lines were always busy when they tried to contact the facility. She should have trained her workers to be situational leaders of their own whereby if a situation needed quick answers, the workers would have provided them to prevent lengthy phone calls. However, she should have increased the number of workers dealing with customers to reduce cases of inaccessibility. She also facilitated training of her workers, an initiative that increased worker’s skills. Advanced skills led to effectiveness and efficiency in job operations (Erasto 2013). The current leader, Mr. Erik, should also offer training programs to help in boosting a worker’s skills. Erik on the other hand in his leadership styles did not include workers in most decision-making processes. Since he was a graduate, he uses his skills to make final decisions. He was hardworking and a no nonsense leader. However, he needs to be flexible at the workplace. Flexibility helps the leader to listen to what the workers have to offer and later analyse the ideas to come up with a perfect decision. His leadership style saves time used for consultations, and this has also helped in his strategy to cut down on operational costs. He has being able to increase the turnover on the firm and cut down on costs. Irrespective of his style of leadership, Erik made a mistake preventing workers to attending on board training sessions. The sessions would help increase the worker’s skills making them to serve their clients better. We can find from the case that after his take over, there were complaints that workers did not offer the right answers and knowledge to customers on the phone. Training in most cases provides a worker with an experience of the job surroundings. A worker may be learned but does not have the experience to work in a certain workplace. Training helps such workers to familiarize themselves with working conditions (Charles 2011). Erik does not have any experience on the conditions of the workplace unlike Evelyn who had worked in the facility since her position as a junior staff. Recommendations and Justification From the above comparison, it is clear that the best type of leadership style is one where a leader is flexible and able to cope up with the emerging situations. The best type of combination is the democratic and situational leadership style. In this situation, the leader is able to run a work place where all the members’ rights are respected during decision-making processes. Additionally, the leaders should be all round and able to cope with any situation that comes up at the work place. For example, Evelyn was able to cope with any situation at the workplace. This is due to her experience that made her have detailed knowledge on how operations run at the workstation. Skills In situational leadership will help the leaders to make vital decisions in situations, which could come up any times. This is the type of leader to be employed in a business facility due to the frequency in the customer’s complaints. The leaders will be able to assess and analyze the situation before coming up with the best solution (Karsten 2006). The business should choose an experienced and educated leader to run its operations. This makes a combination of Erik and Evelyn’s types of leadership styles. Erik is a learned worker but is not good in decision-making. On the other hand, Evelyn is experienced and is able to make decisions. A combination of a learned and experienced worker is the best since he/she has the knowledge and capacity to make important decisions. . Communication and interpersonal relationships in the workplace have a great contribution in the success of a business entity (Mehrotra 2005). According to Evelyn, she invested in communication with the workers, a strategy that would help her get ideas. She also emphasized interpersonal relationships with the workers. They help workers to bring up problems that come up at workstations. This ensures that worker’s problems are checked on the management. It also motivated employees to work extra hard in providing services. She also treasured her employees and claimed that a leader should always put him/herself in the shoes of a worker. It helps share emotions and feelings. A good leader should be task and relationship oriented (Anju 2005). He/she should respond to the subordinate staff to help them achieve the set goals and objectives. Reference List Anju Mehrotra., 2005. Leadership Styles Of Principals. New Delhi: Mittal Publications Charles A. Bonnici., 2011. Creating a Successful Leadership Style: Principles of Personal Strategic Planning. Lanham: R&L Education. Daenzer E. Brian., 2009. Quantitative Correlation of Leadership Styles and Job Stress in a Midwest United States Auto Company. Ann Arbor: ProQuest. Erasto Kano., 2013. Leadership Styles and School Performance. Munich: GRIN Verlag Igbal Talha., 2011. The Impact of Leadership Styles on Organizational Effectiveness. Munich: GRIN Verlag Karsten Margaret Foegen., 2006. Gender, Race, and Ethnicity in the Workplace: Legal, psychological, and power issues affecting women and minorities in business. Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group Mahe Dereli., 2010. Leadership Styles. Berlin: VDM Publishing Marques Joan., 2007. The Awakened Leader: One Simple Leadership Style That Works Every Time, Everywhere. Fawnskin, CA: Personhood Press Mehrotra Anju., 2005. Leadership Styles Of Principals. New Delhi: Mittal Publications Peggy Sibley Scope., 2006. Relationship Between Leadership Styles of Middle School Principals and School Culture. Ann Arbor: ProQuest. Read More