Write an essay about one of the leadership styles we have learnt.
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“A leader is one who sees more than others see, who sees farther than others see and who sees before others see.” Is a famous quote by Leroy Eimes. L eadership is the process of leading people, a group of people or a country. According to Bennis (2020) “leadership effectiveness depends on the environment for leadership, the context, three aspects of the context are significant and the first is the general level of acceptance and respect accorded to those seeking to influence; The second aspect is the degree of structure of the intended objective of the leadership” (p.2). According to Nedelko et al. (2021) “A significant body of research investigates the extent to which leaders’ personal behavior characteristics affect their behavior and the factors explaining these relationships” (p.2). Leaders influence other people and guide them on how to achieve a common goal. “The third aspect is the authority of the person influencing. Favorable contexts for the leadership process are where all three of these aspects are at a high level and regardless of the favorability of the environment, those influencing do not necessarily carry the responsibility for the system in which they are influencing” (Bennis 2020 p.2). According to Fiaz et al. (2017) “Leaders play a pivotal role in leading their followers to fulfill organizational goals effectively” (p.2). According to Khajeh (2018) “Leadership is one of the key determinants associated with the success and failure of any organization or community” (p.1). Leaders motivate people to perform at their level best whether it is in a professional context or in their private lives. Effective leadership makes an organization succeed. Khajeh (2018) also stated that “the role of leadership in an organization is crucial in terms of creating a vision, mission, determination and establishment of objectives, designing strategies, policies, and methods to achieve the organizational objectives effectively and efficiently along with directing and coordinating the efforts and organizational activities (p.2). Leaders have natural qualities while others go to an educational setting in order to acquire the skills through training. One of the leadership styles is Transformational leadership.
One of the leadership styles is transformational leadership. According to Anderson (2017) “Transformational leadership is characterized by a leader who works with subordinates to identify needed change, create a vision to guide the change through inspiration, and execute the change in unison with committed members of a group” (p.3). According to Khajeh (2018) “Transformational leadership style focuses on developing the followers and considering their needs” (p.3). According to Connolly et al. (2019) “Transformational leadership developed in the late 20th century, partly as a response to a changing and challenging economic and technological environment” (8). Connolly et al. (2019) also stated that “Transformational leadership seeks to call up people’s inner motivation to work on an intrinsically motivating task; Transactional leadership on the other hand relies on an external stimulus and at the heart of transactional leadership is an exchange, a transaction, which seeks to engender extrinsic motivation. Interestingly and perhaps surprisingly, transactional leadership in a framework for the analysis of transformational leadership and view it as synonymous with management practices” (p.3). “The need for a leadership model that inspired and intrinsically motivated the workforce transformational leadership and transformational leadership has been widely advocated as an appropriate model of educational leadership although clarity around the concept has been a casualty of such advocacy” (Khajeh 2018 p.8). Khajeh (2018) also stated that “Transformational leadership can relatively easily connect with this intrinsic motivation and enhance it for example, the transformational leadership component ‘intellectual stimulation’ would seek to deepen and enhance knowledge about and practice” (p.8). Thus, one of the leadership styles is transactional leadership where leaders style focuses on developing the followers and considering their needs.
In conclusion, leaders should have the ability to effectively communicate; This is because they need to communicate to their followers what they require from them. Leaders need to articulate their expectations to their followers so that their followers can know what is expected from them. Leaders should also seek feedback from their followers and respond to them complains. Leaders are required to make tough decisions and they should take risks for the greater good. They should also look and the bad and good in all the potential options and ensure that their decions are for the good of their followers. a good leader should gain trust from their followers in order to follow them and build relationships with them. L eaders should be willing to learn from their mistakes and make better decisions next time. Leaders should also be able to encourage and motivate their followers and they should also lead by example and not be hypocrites.
Al Khajeh, E. H. (2018). Impact of leadership styles on organizational performance. Journal of Human Resources Management Research, 2018, 1-10.
Anderson, M. (2017). Transformational leadership in education: A review of existing literature. International Social Science Review, 93(1), 1-13.
Bennis, W. G., & Thomas, R. J. (2020). Crucibles of leadership. Harvard business review, 80.
Connolly, M., James, C., & Fertig, M. (2019). The difference between educational management and educational leadership and the importance of educational responsibility. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 47(4), 504-519.
Fiaz, M., Su, Q., Ikram, A., & Saqib, A. (2017). Leadership styles and employee motivation. The Journal of Developing Areas, 51(4), 143-156.
Nedelko, Z., & Potocan, V. (2021). Sustainability of organizations: The contribution of personal values to democratic leadership behavior focused on the sustainability of organizations. Sustainability, 13(8), 4207.