INTRODUCTION
Making the organization live and become dynamic depends upon leadership. Although providing supervisors with formal authority is important, they must foster group enthusiasm by their personality, inspiring subordinates to achieve higher levels of performance. Leadership is an elusive quality, which in supervision has great potential for stimulating productivity. Organizational performance is closely related to quality of leadership. Competent leadership is an essential ingredient for a successful operation. A bungling leader can wreck morale and destroy efficiency. Strong leadership, on the other hand, can transform a lackluster group into a strong, aggressive, successful organization.
DEFINING LEADERSHIP
Leadership can be defined as a person's ability to bring people to work together efficiently and follow him willingly for the achievement of a common goal. It is the process of influencing others to act in a way that will accomplish the objectives of the leader or the organization. There are three important implications of this definition.
First, leadership must involve other people-subordinates or followers who must willingly accept the directions from the leader. Second, leadership involves unequal distribution of power among leaders and group members. Leaders have the authority to direct the activities of the group members. Third, leaders influence subordinates in a variety of ways.
Effective leadership is a function of the leader's style, the nature of the followers, and the characteristics of the situation. All these factors of leadership place emphasis on the interaction of many elements that determine leadership effectiveness in a specific situation. Supervisors can improve their chances of success when they get an opportunity to lead by cultivating certain behavior.
MOTIVATIONAL LEADERSHIP TRAITS
The style of leadership employed by a supervisor undoubtedly affects motivation and employee behavior. Actions that foster motivation are listed below:
1. Gain the confidence and respect of your team by demonstrating loyalty and trust without sacrificing your identity as the supervisor.
2. Discuss frequently individual and group performance with all members of the team to keep them informed of their progress.
3. Include group members in the planning of operations which affect them whenever possible, and explain the reason when something needs to be done by relating it to overall objectives.
4. Inform team members of changes in plans as soon as possible.
5. Suggest or request, rather than issue commands, when making assignments in order to foster greater commitment to a course of action.
6. Utilize the knowledge of the team by knowing the members personally. Familiarity with their interests, habits, sensitivities, and specialized skills contributes to cooperation and ideas about how to do things better. Give credit to the contributors.
7. Develop sensitivity to the behavior of others. Notice unusual behavior and attempt to discover its cause in order to anticipate future difficulties. The gripe of one may represent the feelings of many.
8. Freely give recognition when it is deserved and try to precede criticism with understanding appreciation.
9. Criticize carefully and constructively. Give reasons and accompany your criticism with suggestions for improvement.
10. Be consistent in dealing with all team members, but insist that they accept and exercise responsibility according to individual ability. Give them a chance to participate and support to do so.
11. Set measurable goals, communicating them clearly, assessing progress often, and monitoring to stay on schedule.
12. Demonstrate pride in your team on every possible occasion.
LEADERSHIP STYLES
Leadership styles are based on the types of control leaders use in a group and their behavior towards group members. They can be categorized as follows:
1. Autocratic leadership;
2. Participative (Democratic) leadership;
3. Free-rein leadership;
4. Other leadership styles:
- Manipulative leadership;
- Expert leadership.
Autocratic Leadership
The autocratic leader is work centered. He wants to get the work done and to reach the firm's goals. He uses the power he has acquired through rank, knowledge, or skill to reward and punish as he sees fit. Authoritarian leaders give orders and assume that people will respond obediently. There are two different types of autocrats: the "tough" autocrat and the “benevolent" autocrat.
1. The tough autocrat views leadership as a means of giving orders. The follower’s role is to take orders and obey without question. Tough leaders feel insecure and lack confidence in their employees or in them. They rely on many as enough of a reward and as a lever for punishment or for changing behavior.
2. The benevolent autocrat sees his role in the workgroup as that of a “parent figure”. He praises employees for work well done, and encourages them to consult him for solution to their work problems. He develops effective human relations and deals with the workers effectively. Some of them would derive a sense of security and satisfaction working under this style of leadership.
The autocratic style is efficient. Little time is allowed for subordinate’s people to influence the decision-making process. The style works particularly well in crises, when decisions must be made quickly and carried through without question.
Participative (Democratic) Leadership
Participative leaders invite decision sharing. This style calls for subordinates to exercise high degrees of both responsibility and freedom. They use as little authoritarian control as possible and are concerned with relationships within the group as well as with getting the job done. There are two types of participative leaders:
1. Democratic leaders confer final authority on the group; they abide by whatever the group decides, with no exception. They develop a certain sense of responsibility in the group for their accomplishments. They may use both praise and criticism and provide a work environment that allows the worker to satisfy higher-level needs.
2. Consultative leaders require a high degree of involvement from employees but make clear they alone have the authority to make final decisions.
Participative leaders encourage employees to contribute opinions and information, and to participate in the decision-making process as much as possible. When people participate in making the decisions that affect their lives, they support those decisions more enthusiastically and try larder to make them work.
Participative leadership can be time consuming and requires a great deal of energy. Participation sometimes means that little or no planning gets done at all, and a situation can go out of control. Supervisors can also use participation as a disguise for shirking their responsibilities and passing the buck to others.
Free-Rein (Laissez-Faire) Leadership
The free-rein leadership is often described as no leadership at all. Some supervisors have very little ability to make decisions. They are completely non-directive and depend on employees to make decisions and take action. Discipline and control are not enforced because it is hoped that employees will act in a mature banner by them. In this situation, group goals are often not clearly stated or understood, and confusion develops among employees.
Free-rain leadership can be found to some degree with certain professional workers such as engineers, scientist, and teachers; there is limited amount of supervision of people in these areas. The laissez-faire atmosphere can motivate people to initiate and carry out complex work plans efficiently and responsibly.
Other Leadership Styles
1. Manipulative Leadership
Manipulative leadership exploits the aspirations of each employee by trading-off performance for reward (or promises of rewards). Under this kind of leadership, employees who recognize that they are being manipulated can become bitter and resentful of the leader. The manipulative leader is usually very sensitive to the needs and desire of the employees as individuals. However, this sensitivity is not used for the well being of the employees unless the leader is able to find some personal “gain” in using it.
2. Expert Leadership
Expert leadership is based on the individual leader’s knowledge and ability and the leader’s ability to use his expertise. It depends on the appropriate mix of the individual skills and the needs of the others in a problem situation. Once the situation changes, another person with expertise for that challenge would become the leader.
ANALYSIS OF LEADERSHIP STYLES
In actual practice, no one uses any of the above styles exclusively. The ideal style is the one that utilizes all leadership types to the best advantage. We may use autocratic management when necessary. We may use participative management to best develop the talents of our employees. We use the democratic style because it is the only system that recognizes and takes advantages of individual differences and capabilities. An example might help to clarify how the manager uses all three types under different situation.
Suppose James is a successful plat manager. He may direct his secretary to prepare a report on all overtime work on a specific order till the order completed. In doing this John has employed the autocratic approach. He may consult with his five department heads on the best way to push this special order through their departments with a minimum of disruption of regular production. In doing this he has used the democratic approach, or participative method, in that he has allowed the live department heads to participative in the decision.
James may suggest to the assistants that it would be a good idea to figure out ways in which they could handle special orders a little more smoothly in the future. In doing this he is using the free-rein, or laissez-faire, style of leadership.
The skill of leadership, then, lies largely in knowing when to use which method. Effective leadership is not he function of any one particular management style, but rather of matching the right style to the right job at the time. Your Problem as a supervisor is to vary the techniques to fit the changing positions under which your people are working.
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DELEGATION
The supervisor’s most common organization problem is delegation. Supervisors must learn to delegate. Delegation does not mean giving up leadership. It is the assignment of a task to another person and that person‘s acceptance of the task. Delegation means that you get most from each employee, who is given authority to perform well and reach certain objectives.
Why and When Supervisor Should Delegate
Why?
1. You cannot do everyone’s job.
It is not possible to work as efficiently as a group of employees working together.
2. Your job is to manage.
Supervisors are responsible for management functions. The operational activities of a job should be left to the employees.
3. Employees are close to problems and often they can make better decision.
Employees have first-hand information available. No matter how closely you supervise, it is just not possible for you to be closer than employees to a situation. Without delegation of authority to make decision, employees have to wait for the supervisor to appear. Meanwhile, the problem may get out of hand.
4. Delegation demonstrates a trust of and respect for the individual.
You show your employees that you respect their judgment and trust them to make correct decisions. This creates an atmosphere of participation and commitment to the organizational goals.
5. Delegation is a step towards employee development.
Employees permitted and encouraged to act on their own have an opportunity to explore their abilities. This is valuable training. By making mistakes and having supervisory support and instruction, employees learn and their confidence is built up.
When to Delegate?
1. When there is not enough time to complete all the supervisory tasks assigned to you.
2. When the quality of the decision-making would be improved by having the people who are closer to the actual problem directly involve in the decision.
3. When the supervisor is serious about the development of subordinates.
4. When the work group is willing to accept the obligations, and where a harmonious relation between supervisor and employees.
Why Subordinates Do Not Respond to Delegation
Some employees are unwilling to involved in the delegation process for a variety of reason. Perhaps it is because there is lack of trust in management. Employees who do not trust their supervisor may have previously been in situations where they were poorly delegated to or managed. Because they have become resentful from past experiences, these subordinates need to see that your delegation is not a trick or gimmick. New employees may lack confidence in their skills. They may fear failure and criticism. If they believe they will fail, they will choose not to accept delegation. Employees who feel that the big rewards go to employees who follow orders are unlikely to accept delegation.
Action Guidelines for Leadership And Delegation
1. Recognize that a leader possesses many personality traits but no individual leader can have them all. There is no formula equating leadership traits with successful supervision.
2. Leadership patterns reveal that every leadership style can be effective in some situations and with certain kinds of employees.
3. The most important thing a supervisor can learn is to become more sensitive to all the factors that influence leadership effectiveness in the work environment.
4. Delegation is not a sign of weakness. It is a way of management that is based on the opportunity for each employee to develop maximum commitment to the organization. Delegation is an important form of motivational leadership.
CONCLUSION
Leadership is a process of influencing and directing the task-related activities of group members. Many people admire of fear leadership and do not recognize the leadership potential in themselves. Few supervisors are successful without first demonstrating good leadership skills. All good leaders posses three core qualification: (1) competency or expertise, (2) trustworthy behavior, and (3) an absence of excessive manipulation.
Leaders should choose leadership behavior patterns that are most consistent with their personalities, the function to be performed, and the situation at hand.
