Draft Leadership Critique - Assignment Example

Draft Leadership Critique Introduction Leadership is an intricate phenomenon, which involves constant interaction among three main elements: the leader, the followers and the surrounding environment or context. Enhancing the idea of leadership involves extensive understanding about all the three elements and how they relate to relate to each other (Bolden, Hawkins & Gosling, 2011, 71). How a person puts this knowledge into use determines the kind of leadership skills that a leader applies and the general success of the organization.

Effective leadership has an effect on the employees in the organization and determines their performance hence making a difference about whether the organization success or fails (Rost, 2009, 96). Leadership Theories and their Criticisms One of the theories on leadership is by James Burns known as transformational theory of leadership. This theory is based on the belief that leaders and their followers work mutually in order to grow each other to higher levels of morality and motivation. It mostly involves engaging the minds and hearts of the employees (Ray, 2013, 59).

It is beneficial in ensuring that everyone in the organization eventually reaches a higher sense of motivation, satisfaction with their work and a greater sense of achievement. In order for this kind of leadership to be successful, there is a need for a certain level of trust and concern rather than having control over the employees. This theory implies that leaders can only make employees follow in their footsteps of they also follow what they preach.Some of the main criticism of this theory is that it is too enlist and places too much emphasis on heroic aspects of leadership.

The expected end result of this is that the followers are bound to be oppressed in a certain way. Transformational leaders rule under the notion that they have some sort of special abilities that their employees have no access to. Consequently, the destiny of their followers is tightly linked to the ambitions of their leaders. Secondly, in this kind of leadership, there is a likelihood that followers by be manipulated by their leaders and eventually end up losing more than they gain (Lussier & Achua, 2010, 39).

Transactional theory of leadership, on the other hand, is based on the idea that the relationship that exists between leaders and their employees develops from the exchange of some form of reward (Bertocci, 2009, 56). The reward could be in terms of salary, praise, recognition or performance ratings. The main limitation of this form of leadership is that it implies that leaders will only reward employees when their performance is exceptionally good. Therefore, this means that in an instance where an employee completes their task, there is no form of reward or recognition if it is not exceptional (Lumby & Coleman, 2007, 26).

This may demoralise the employees and make them lack the motivation to perform their tasks. Secondly, hierarchy is very important in this kind of leadership. The leaders often confine themselves to their own way of thinking and simply imagine that employees are expected to do as they are told without any questions. This will consequently result in the leaders’ creativity being limited and they may not be able to adjust if at all things go wrong (Northouse, 2010, 124). As a CEO who deals with a large number of people, transformational leadership is more applicable as compared to transactional leadership.

This is because as the overall managers, how one related with the employees determines their motivation to perform their assigned tasks and the culture that exists in the organization (Gill, 2010, 102). Transformational leadership ensures that a relationship exists between the employees and their leaders, and the relationship is not only dependent on the rewards that the employees expect if they perform their tasks well. ConclusionIn conclusion, the kind of leader that a person chooses to be will be dependent on the environment or industry in which one operates in and the size of the group.

However, this does not mean that a leader should only confine themselves to one form of leadership. The leadership styles can be used together in order to achieve better results in the attainment of the goals and objectives set (Daft, 2010, 83). BibliographyBertocci, D. I. (2009). Leadership in organizations there is a difference between leaders and managers. Lanham, Md, University Press of America. Bolden, R., Hawkins, B., & Gosling, J. (2011). Exploring Leadership Individual, Organizational, and Societal Perspectives.

Oxford, OUP Oxford. http://public.eblib.com/EBLPublic/PublicView.do?ptiID=800815.Daft, R. L. (2010). Management. Mason, Ohio, South-Western Cengage Learning.Gill, R. (2010). Theory and Practice of Leadership. London, SAGE Publications Ltd.Lumby, J., & coleman, M. (2007). Leadership and Diversity Challenging Theory and Practice in Education. London, Sage Publications. Lussier, R. N., & Achua, C. F. (2010). Leadership: theory, application, skill development. Australia, SouthWestern/Cengage Learning.

Northouse, P. G. (2010). Leadership: theory and practice. Thousand Oaks, Sage Publications.Ray, A. (2013). Important leadership theories in the realm of management sciences. [S.l.], Grin Verlag.Rost, J. C. (2009). Leadership for the twenty-first century. New York, Praeger.Winkler, I. (2010). Contemporary leadership theories enhancing the understanding of the complexity, subjectivity and dynamic of leadership. Berlin, Springer.