The Effectiveness of Leadership Strategies - Case Study Example

Running header: Leadership Student’s name: Instructor’s name: Subject code: Date of submission: The effectiveness of leadership strategies Leadership is the practice of societal influence where one can secure the support and help of others in accomplishing a general task. In other words leadership involves creating a strategy for other’s contribution to make an extraordinary thing to happen. As such, leadership is of crucial importance to the success of a project since it is essentially about motivating people and eventually getting things done through them. Leadership must therefore be incorporated in project management if a given project is to succeed. Leadership must be applied right from project planning to the conclusion of the whole project. During the various project phases, the project leader will conduct the project team and the stakeholders through formal and informal decision making so as to arrive at agreed goals and objectives. The process usually involves a high level of interaction and formulation of various strategies aimed at successful completion of the project (Lussier, 2010). This is a time consuming and challenging task which calls for effective leadership. Leadership is therefore important for visioning, intelligence gathering and development of appropriate strategies- issues which form an essential basis for effective project team development and the eventual success of the project. This paper aims at analyzing the various aspects of leadership necessary for the success of a project (Kouzes, 2007). The paper will provide a review of literature concerning leadership with emphasis on leadership styles theory, leadership strategies theory, management strategies theory and the teamwork theory. Review of leadership styles theory For a project to be successful, both the team leader and the members have to be in good terms. This greatly depends on the kind of leadership style that such a leader adopts. In 1939, Kurt Lewin and others carried out a very influential study to identify different styles of leadership. During the study, groups of school children were assigned to different types of leaders who led them in arts and crafts projects (Lussier, 2010). Kurt Lewin observed the behavior of the children in response to the different leadership styles. The study revealed three styles of leadership as follows; Authoritarian (autocratic leadership) Leaders using this style provide clear expectations for what is to be done, when and how it should be done. There exists a clear separation between the followers and the leader. The leaders make decisions independently with little or no input from the followers and hence decision making is less creative. However, the study by Lewin found that decision making is less creative under this style of leadership. It is also very difficult to move from an authoritarian style to democratic style than it is to move from democratic style to authoritarian style. The style was also found to be open to abuse by being bossy and dictatorial (Charity, 2008). The style is most applicable in situations of limited time for group decision making and the leader is the most knowledgeable person in the group. Democratic (participative leadership) Lewin found this to be the most effective leadership style. In this style, the leaders offer guidance to the followers and also participate in the group and allow input from the followers. Although, the output of the children in the group was less compared to those under authoritarian leadership, their contributions were of higher quality. Democratic leaders usually encourage members to participate in making of decisions though they have the final say over the process of decision making. Thus, the members feel engaged and are hence more motivated and have high levels of creativity. Delegative (leissez faire) leadership The study by Lewin found out that the children under this style of leadership were the least productive of all the three groups. Members under this style also made numerous demands to the leader and showed a lot of resistance and could also not work independently. Leaders under this group offer very much limited or no guidance to their followers as well as leave the decision making process to the group members (Bernard, and Bass, 2005). The style can be very much effective in situations where the members are highly experienced in the project area. However, the style can lead to very poorly defined roles and lack of motivation. Although later studies have identified more leadership styles, it is clear that the leadership style adopted by the project leader will greatly influence the success of the project from the Lewin’s study. However, no single leadership style can be fitting to all situations and hence the leadership style adopted for a given project will depend on the project requirements as well as the qualifications of the members participating in the project. Leadership Strategies Theory The earliest leadership theories are referred to as Great Man theories that were based on a premise that leaders are outstanding people who have inborn traits predestined to lead. The term Man was used intentionally as leadership was thought to exceptionally belong to men. However, critics of the theory led to the development of the traits theories which argued that traits and qualities associated with leadership exist in abundance and continued to be produced. According to this theory, individuals can and usually emerge as good leaders across a range of situations and tasks. Some of the traits associated with leadership include intelligence, extraversion, adjustment, contentiousness, openness to experience as well as general self efficacy. The behaviorist theory is another notable theory that concentrates on what leaders do as opposed to focusing on their qualities. Differing patterns of behavior of behavior are observed giving rise to what is known as the styles of leadership such as those identified by Lewin. Ken Blanchard and Paul Hersey developed what became situational leadership theory which stipulates that there is no one best style of leadership. According to them, the leadership style to be used depends on the situation or task at hand (Lussier, 2010). As such, the leader should assess the followers development level regarding completing a task and correctly match his leadership style with the followers development level. Blanchard organized the follower’s development levels into four categories as follows; D1- this is the bottom level of the maturity scale and people at this level lack knowledge and skills as well as confidence to work on their own and need to be pushed to do a given task D2- followers at this level may be willing to work on the given task although they lack the skills required to accomplish the task successfully. D3 – followers in this level are always ready and willing to work on the given project and possess more skills than those of D2 although they lack confidence in their abilities. D4 – followers in this category are able to work on their own without the intervention of the leader since they have the necessary skills, high level of confidence and are committed to the task at hand. The styles to be matched with the follower’s development include; S1 (Directing) – in this case, the leader directs what is to be done and closely supervises the followers. S2 (coaching) - the leader directs what is to be done but also seeks ideas from the followers S3 (supporting) –here, the leader focuses on motivating the followers but leaves task decisions to them S4 (delegating) – the leader only provides high level direction but further involvement and decision making is controlled by the follower. The model matches the leadership styles with maturity levels as follows Maturity level Most appropriate leadership style M1- low maturity S1 -telling M2- medium maturity and limited skills S2- selling M3- medium maturity and low confidence S3- participating M4- High maturity S4 - delegating Another notable model is the Fiedler contingency model which bases a leader’s effectiveness on situational contingency resulting from interaction of a leadership style and the favorableness of the situation- situational control. Fiedler identified two types of leaders in this model namely relationship oriented leaders or leaders who accomplish a given task by way of developing good relationships with the project team and task oriented leaders whose primary concern is that of carrying out the task itself. Therefore, there is no ideal leader as both the two groups of leaders can be effective if their leadership style (orientation) fits the given situation. For example, a favorable situation for a relationship oriented leader may be where there is good leader- follower relation, a high structured task and a high leader position power while a task oriented leader may be favored by an extremely favorable situation or extremely unfavorable situation. A closely related leadership theory is the path goal theory by Robert House. The theory stipulates that for leaders to be effective, they must engage in behaviors which complement their followers’ environments and abilities in a manner which compensates for deficiencies. The leader is therefore instrumental to followers’ satisfaction and individual as well as work unit performance and hence the success of the entire project. In this model, four leaders are identified who include achievement oriented leaders, directive leaders, participative leaders and supportive leaders (Gershenoff, and Foti, 2003). The leaders are contingent to the followers’ environmental factors and characteristics. Unlike the contingency theory, the theory suggests that the four types of leaders are fluid and therefore they can any leader can adopt any of the four styles depending on the demands of the situation. Hackman and Walton also developed the functional leadership model which stipulates that the main work of a leader is to ensure that all the followers’ needs are taken care of. Therefore, a leader is said to have done a perfect job when he has contributed to group effectiveness and cohesion. A leader therefore performs the functions of environmental monitoring, organizing followers’ activities, teaching and coaching the followers, motivating and intervening actively in the groups work (Lussier, 2010). Management Strategies Theory For a project to be successful, a leader should have influence on his followers (those involved in the project). This is because a leader who is unable to have influence on the entire project team is bound to meet a lot of resistance and is bound to fail (Miner, 2005). Thamhain and Wilemon identified nine ways in which a leader can have influence on projects that include; 1. Authority- the leader ought to have legitimate hierarchical right to issue orders to his subordinates’ 2. Assignment – this is the project leader’s perceived ability to influence a subordinate’s later assignments 3. Budgeting – the project leader should have a legitimate authority to authorize his subordinates’ use of discretionary funds 4. Promotion – the leader should have the ability to improve a subordinate’s position 5. Money- a good leader should have the ability to increase a subordinate’s pay and other benefits 6. Penalty – the project leader has the ability to cause punishment upon subordinates 7. Work challenge – this is the ability of a project leader to assign work which capitalizes on the subordinate’s enjoyment of doing the given task 8. Expertise – this is the manager’s perceived special knowledge which others deem important 9. Friendship – it is the ability to establish friendly relationships between a project leader and the followers (Lussier, 2010). Teamwork theory In late 1960s Bruce Tuckman came up with a group development model which is a stylish and helpful elucidation of group development and conduct. The model explains that as a team develops maturity and ability, relationships establish and the leader changes his leadership style from directing style to coaching, participating and finally to delegating style. At such a point, the team may produce a successor leader while the previous leader moves on to develop a new team (Montana, 2008). In other words, the authority and freedom extended by the team leader increases while the leader’s control reduces as the group progresses to maturity. According to Tuckman, a group progresses through the following stages to maturity; 1. Forming – in this case, the group highly depends on the leader for guidance and direction. There is little agreement on group’s aims other than those from the leader. There are no clear individual roles and responsibilities and the leader is usually faced with a lot of questions from the followers on the purpose of the group, objectives as well as external relationships. 2. Storming – decisions don’t easily come from the group although the leader gradually welcomes group ideas. The members compete for positions in their bid to found themselves in relative to other group members who may have challenges from group members. There is increased clarity of purpose although there are a lot of uncertainties and power struggles are evident. Therefore, leadership is required to keep the group focused on its goals and hence avoid distractions that may result from relationship and emotional issues (Mumford, 2007). 3. Norming – the group is gradually approaching maturity and agreement and consensus largely come from the members though the leader plays a facilitation role. The leader therefore employs a participative mode. Roles and responsibilities become clear and small decisions are now delegated to individuals or small teams within the project team as commitment and unity is very strong. The group also discusses and develops its work processes and working styles. The leader is respected by the followers but he also delegates some of the leadership to the followers. 4. Performing – the group is mature and has a shared vision and can stand on its own without influence from the leader (Lussier, 2010).the group becomes more strategically aware and knows clearly why it does what it does. The group mainly focuses on the goal achievement and makes most of the decisions against the criteria the leader has set as there is a high degree of autonomy. Although disagreements occur, they are solved positively by the team and necessary changes to processes and structures made by the team. The leader delegates tasks and projects to the team as the team does not need to be instructed and assisted although at times, the team asks for assistance from the leader with personal as well as interpersonal development. Conclusion From the analysis of leadership literature above, it is clear that leadership is an integral part of a project’s success. The leader should be able to learn the needs of the project team so that he can apply the leadership style that best suits the project team. Without proper cooperation between the group and the leader, any project started is bound to fail regardless of the leadership style adopted by the leader. It is therefore incumbent upon the group leader to cultivate cooperation from the group members by employing the right leadership skills and styles. References: Lussier, R 2010, Leadership theory, application, and skill development, Mason, OH: South- Western Cengage learning. Kouzes, J 2007, The leadership challenges, Cambridge: Cambridge university press. Charity, M 2008, Trait based leadership, American psychologist, vol.62 no.6 pp.16-32. Bernard, G & Bass, R 2005, A hand book of leadership: theory, research, and managerial applications, New York: Free Press. Gershenoff, A & Foti, R 2003, Leader emergence, Small group research ,vol.34, pp 347-355. Miner, J 2005, Organizational behavior: behavior 1: Essential theories of motivation and leadership, Amonk: M.E. Sharpe. Montana, P 2008, Management, New York: Barron’s educational Series, Inc. Mumford, M 2007, Leadership in the organizational context: conceptual approach and its application, Journal of applied social psychology, Vol. 16, no. 6, pp.508-531. Read More