Several Aspects Of Leadership Styles Management Essay

Organizational culture is the place of work environment formulated from the interface of the staff in the workplace. Organizational culture is defined by life experiences, weaknesses, strengths, education and others. Executive leaders play an enormous role in defining organizational culture through their leadership and actions. Employees also contribute to structuring an organizational culture. Effective organizational culture promotes efficient management of employees in the wider context of workplace environmental setting, changing patterns of the organization and attitudes to work. It is documented that the global economy increases business competitiveness that moves towards customer-driven markets, advances scientific knowledge, especially office automation and communication have led to constant change and requires greater organizational elasticity. This requires organizational culture that is open to change and can accommodate regular changes. The changing nature of individuals and organizations at the workplace has placed pressure on the awareness and significance of organizational culture. Increased attention on the leadership behaviors and leadership styles, underlies actions and decisions of staff and managers of an organization. Leadership styles and behaviors are essential components to any corporation. The dawn of globalization has necessitated that leaders develop models that are effective in guiding multicultural and global teams. This phenomenon of global leadership behaviors promoted innovativeness, productivity and cohesiveness among multicultural teams.

This paper discusses several aspects of leadership styles and behaviors, types of leadership styles, theories that explain leadership behaviors and effects of leadership styles on organizational culture. It also highlights on the effects of globalization on leadership behaviors and leaderships. This paper is instrumental in understanding types and approaches of leadership in organizations. It also informs leaders and managers on importance and the need to adopt a leadership style that suits the objectives, mission and vision of the organization.

2.0 Introduction

There have been vast amount of research that has been done on leadership styles and behaviors. The investigation of leadership behaviors and styles begun in the 19th century where focus was on “Great men” (Bass, 1985). This theory examined great leaders of the past. Such studies focused on men and some women leaders who had demonstrated excellent leadership models. Examples of these leaders included Winston Churchill, Moses and Thomas Jefferson. Other studies focused on traits that provide essence to leadership styles and promote frameworks of identifying excellent leaders (Moses & Cheney, 1989). The twentieth century researchers focused on theories that highlighted on the distinction between effective and non- effective leadership styles. These theories addressed leadership behaviors, situational leaderships and the relations between followers and leaders. Others examined on the leaders, the effect they have on their followers and effect of globalization on the processes of leadership. Leadership styles and behaviors continue to attract attention of leaders in the contemporary world (Zaccaro, 2007). It should be noted that new aspects of leadership continue to emerge and opens a gap that requires further studies in the subject.

Organizational culture is collective behavior of people that are part and parcel of an organization. It is characterized by organization’s visions, values, norms, and symbols, systems, working language, habits and beliefs. It is also a pattern of collective assumptions and behaviors that are taught to organizational members as a means of perceiving the organization. According to Cartwright (1999), organizational culture is the system of managerial authority. Organizational culture determines the way groups and people interact with themselves, with clients and with shareholders. Organizational culture also focuses on manifestations villains and heroes, rituals, rites, legends and myths that define that define an organization. Organization culture is socially constituted and reflects the interpretations in interactions and that constitutes commonly accepted interpretations of situations. Organizational culture is symbolic in that it defines how organizational staff feels about the organization. A symbol stands for many things and expresses understanding of past collective experiences. The sociological perspective is that an organization is embedded in the minds of members of an organization. Organizational culture is a unifying factor as it refers to processes that unite the organization together. The concept of organizational culture strengthens the unifying strengths of objectives and creates a sense of collective responsibility.

Organizational culture is also holistic, as it represents a reality of the organization: what it feels to work there, how people relate to each other and expected behaviors. According to Ravasi and Schultz, organizational culture is a set shared mental assumptions that should guide actions and interpretation in organizations through defining suitable behaviors for different situations (Ravasi & Schultz 2006). An organization may have its own specific culture, which is diverse and sometimes conflict with other cultures because of dissimilar characteristics of management crew. The above elements of organizational culture are interlocking, as culture is deeply rooted in unconscious sources and represented in behavioral codes and superficial practices. Because organizations are social structures, the whole is present in symbolic events and parts. Using the Computer business of Bill Gates, this paper discusses the organizational culture, management models and leadership behaviors of the company. Bill Gates is internationally known because of his multinational computer business empire, which is defined as a legacy of software, innovations and personal computing systems. Based on Bill Gates’ Computer Company, it is evident that organizational culture can be effective, as it can mould behavioral tendencies of members of an organization. It is also evident that different categories of organizational culture can promote different levels of reception of attitudes towards organizational change. This means that specific types of organizational culture can facilitate acceptability of organizational change, while other does not facilitate organizational change (Gates, 1996).

3.0 Aims and Objectives

Examine leadership styles as an exemplary aspect of organizational culture

Assess the contingency theories of leadership and situational characteristics which determine the nature of leaderships in organizations.

Examine the effects of globalization on processes of leadership.

4.0 Literature Review

Organizational culture consists of artifacts (expressive symbols and practices), beliefs and values and assumptions that organizational members share in regards to appropriate behavior (Gordon and DiTomaso, 1992; Davis, 1981). Although there are various definitions of organizational culture, it has been viewed as historically determined, socially constructed and holistic in nature. Organizational culture includes behaviors and believes that exists in different levels and manifests itself through a wide range of organizational features (Hofstede et al., 1990). This means that organizational culture consists of shared beliefs, values, norms, practices and assumptions and behaviors in a company or organization (Davis, 1984; Kotter and Heskett, 1992).

In order to understand organizational culture of a business, several typologies must be considered. Of the recently developed typology was developed in Goffee and Jones. Goffee and Jones categorized organizational culture in two dimensions: solidarity and sociability. Solidarity generates single-minded commitment to the organization’s goals and mission, fast response to change in the workplace environment and ability to accept poor performance. In organizational culture, duties and responsibilities of members are understood and defined as working for the general excellence and every member held to high standards. People in high-solidarity companies often trust their employers and treat them fairly, based on their performance and merit, with resulting dedication and royalty to the firm. On the other hand, sociability is defined as friendliness in relations between members of an organization. Sociability is independent on the performance of the company. It should be noted that through friendships in the workplace, ideas, interests, attitudes and values are shared. Organizations that upholds high solidarity and high sociability have their employees driven by common objectives and are united by social bonds. Fragmented organizations or companies appear to be totally dysfunctional. The low solidarity and low sociability of such organizational cultures are ungovernable.

Several past studies have focused on organizational culture focused on its relationship with performance (Denison, 1990; Denison and Mishra, 1995; Gordon, 1985; Kotter and Heskett, 1992). Some also have focused on the relationship between cultural change and organizational culture. Moreover, other studies have focused on the relationship between organizational strategies and organization culture (Choe, 1993) and the relationship between industry features and organizational culture (Christensen and Gordon, 1999; Gordon, 1991; Hofstede et al., 1990). Organizational culture has been recognized to have a significant role in assuring efforts in organizational change (Lorenzo, 1998). From the above studies, it is expected that there beliefs, values and assumptions shape and guide the people’s attitudes towards organizational culture and change. This means that organizational culture is part of organization’s internal environment (organizational climate), which embeds a set of beliefs, values and assumptions that organizational members use and share to guise their functions (Kilmann et al., 1985). Organizational culture has some direct influence on attitudes towards organizational change (Ahmed, 1998; Lorenzo, 1998). According to Ahmed, innovation is the hallmark of change and the ownership of positive cultural; features provide the company with necessary ingredients to create or innovate. It should also be noted that organizational culture can enhance or inhibit the tendency to innovate (Ahmed, 1998). Organizational culture allows companies to address changing problems of adaptation to internal and external environments, personnel, resources and company’s policies that support adaption. Thus, it is expected that specific organizational culture can facilitate the change process while others might not. One of the key concerns that managers should do is to determine the type of organizational culture that promotes organizational change. Some scholars have argued that the process should follow bottom-up approach, rather than top-bottom methodology (Lupton, 1971).

Leadership is an essential aspect of organizational culture. Leadership is has dynamic effects in terms of organizational and individual interaction. According to Lee and Chuang and excellent leader works towards achieving organizational objectives. Studies have shown that effective leadership behaviors and studies can lead to improvement of organizational performance. Thus, it is vital to understand the consequence of leadership styles as it is the motivating force for improving organizational performance (Bass & Avolio, 1993) .Effective leadership styles are sources of competitive advantage and organizational growth. For example, transactional leadership styles are instrumental in achieving objectives through reward systems and ensuring the there are needed resources for task completion. On the other hand, a visionary leadership style ensures that leaders create a vision and mission statement and instigate commitment towards these statements. .

5.3.1 Traditional Styles

5.3.1.1 Autocratic Leadership

An autocrat leader is a highly authoritarian person. He imposes his power and will upon his followers or subordinates. Based on the hierarchy of needs, an autocrat believes that his followers fit on the low ranks. According to Douglas McGregor, autocratic leadership styles are based on some assumptions about the followers (McGregor 1960).

People do not like working and can avoid it when necessary.

People have little aspirations and then to avoid responsibility.

Above all use of coercion, threats and control to get people to work is necessary.

This means that autocrat leader have the power to centralize authority and should supervise his subordinates so as to ensure that work is done. Autocratic leadership styles are also called authoritarian leadership as the leaders take control over decision making and members put little input in any plans, procedures and decisions of the organization. Simply, autocratic leaders make decisions based on their own judgments and ideologies. It involves absolute authoritarian, control over a group. Autocratic leadership styles are beneficial in some situations like when decisions should be made quickly without consulting the whole group. This is based on the fact that some projects require strong leadership so as to complete tasks efficiently and quickly. In addition, this leadership model allows a group of people to work without worrying of any decision-making processes. While autocratic leadership styles maybe beneficial, there are situations where this leadership can be problematic.

Organizations that employ autocratic leadership styles are dictatorial and bossy that cause resentment among members. Because autocratic leaders make organizational decisions without any consultations to the group members; hence, people are unable to contribute their ideas. Researchers have proposed that autocratic leadership lack creative solutions to problems, which can affect the group’s performance. Despite the fact that autocratic leadership styles have potential pitfalls, leaders can employ elements of this leadership style wisely. For instance, autocratic leadership styles are effective especially where the leader has the most knowledge in the group. A benevolent autocratic leader uses reward system to influence his followers rather than coercion. He is focused with the well being of his followers and allows participation in planning of the organizational activities.

According to Mc Greggor, there are things that can make an autocratic leader successful. These are:

Respect for subordinates: a leader can be fair and allow the group members to contribute to some ideas to them. The subordinates should also keep their resentment low and express some respect to their leaders.

Explaining the rules: members of an organization should follow the correct procedures, and policies that are set by the management.

Being consistent: an autocratic leader should be objective and consistent in applying organizational policies and procedures.

Educating before enforcing: an autocratic leader can also focus on educating his group members on his or expectations so that members can understand what it is expected from them.

Listening: it is common for people to want their opinion to be appreciated. It is necessary that autocratic leaders listen to the team’s ideas and contributions.

5.3.1.2 Democratic Leadership

Democratic leadership is a form of leadership that promotes sharing of organizational responsibility, delegation and consultation. The styles focus on the leader’s ability to seek for regular consultations and contributions from their subordinates. A leader also task their subordinates and gives them full control over duties and organizational activities. Additionally, the leaders engage in the feedback mechanisms especially with regard to the overall work environment and activities. Democratic leadership style is inculcated in organizational culture where employees are given the fair share of duties and responsibility and are allowed to challenge their abilities. The process of feedback and consultation mechanism results in better decision making. Thus, organizations that employs democratic leadership styles fall into fewer mistakes. This style also promotes the flow of ideas and positive work environment, which is a catalyst for creative thinking. This benefits creative industries as creative thinking is essential in solving problems (McGregor, 1960).

According to Douglas McGregor, a democratic leader believes that:

Work is a natural aspect of human life and human beings like working when conditions are favorable.

People who are committed to organizational goals exercise self control and self direction.

Committed people attain their personal and organizational goals easily.

Democratic leaders emphasize on creativity as a means of solving problems; thus, the individual abilities of individuals are partially utilized in such systems. These leaders employ influence, allow independence and participate in decision making. They also believe motivation is essential in building the relationship between leaders and subordinates. This is done through focusing on social interaction and self-actualization needs of the workforce.

Democratic or participative leadership styles are flexible and allows for remarkable levels of adjustment to organizational changes. This form of leadership can bring the best from professional and experienced group, as it capitalize on talents and skills and allows sharing of ideas. This is based on the fact that a complex decision requires different areas of expertise, which can be presented by the diverse work force. It should also be noted that the democratic leadership styles have some drawbacks as the consultation process can take a lot of tome which can be slow; thus, opportunities can be missed.

5.3.1.3 Bureaucratic Leadership Styles

The bureaucratic leadership style focus on ensuring that rules and procedures of an organization are accurately and consistently followed. In turn, leaders expect their followers to be formal personalities in the workplace. Managers gain instant power and authority as policies require that employees accord them with privileges. According to Douglas McGregor these leaders suffer from “position power” as tittles and roles are the absolute mechanism for controlling others. In addition, this style allows employees to be rewarded based on the ability to follow the correct procedures and policies. It should be known that bureaucratic leadership models take a long time to develop; thus, they are common in old and large- scale organizations (McGregor 1960). In bureaucratic systems, there is evident increased employee safety, as the management put in place safety and health precautions. Quality work is ensured ad tasks are completed in a meticulous and professional manner. An environment where employees are motivated to adhere to procedures and this can improve productivity. In bureaucratic organizations, there is self-fulfillment as employees advance to become successful are hindered, and the system is constraining. Position power obsession can also cause problems in bureaucratic organizations. This may lead to slow growth of the organization because employees depend on one person to think for them. A common feature in bureaucratic systems is the complicated communication channels. Managers who do not want to be consulted create a procedure that limits communication with them. A communication barrier hinders success of an organization.

5.3.1.4 Laissez-Faire Leadership Style

The laissez-faire leadership is called “hands-off style”. The leader does not provide any direction to the employees. The employees are at freedom to exercise their rights and disseminate their duties. All the power and authority is vested in the employees who determine their objectives, make decisions and provide solutions to any problems that face them. This leadership model is effective in highly skilled, trustworthy and educated. It is also efficient when an organization is employing outside experts like staff specialists or consultants. This leadership model is not effective as employees may feel insecure when the manager is unavailable.

5.3.2 Modern Styles of Leadership

There are six leadership styles that can be considered “modern”: charismatic, transformational, visionary, transactional, participative and servant leadership.

5.3.2.1 Transformational Leadership Style

A transformational leadership style employs enthusiasms and passion and constitutes an uplifting experience to a group of members. This model commences with the creation of a mission and vision that should excite a group, and convert them. The vision can be developed by the leader after a series of deliberations. Selling the vision follows as this allows members of a group to renew their commitment to the organization. Transformational leaders show attitude and actions that should be emulated by the followers. Their remarkable efforts in motivating their followers through listening and enthusing are a clear indication that these leaders are committed to changing the organizational structures. In addition, these leaders are people-oriented and believe in success through sustained commitment. Transformational leadership style seeks to transform the organization. Transformational leaders are charismatic and enthusiastic as they believe in themselves. They are also passionate people as exhibited in the way they do their work (Bass 1990).

Transformational leadership style was first introduced by descriptive study done by James MacGregor Burns. According to Burns, transforming leadership is a procedure that requires that followers and leaders motivate each other in their daily activities. This will bring changes in the people and in the organization, as this leadership model redesigns the values, beliefs, ideologies, expectations and aspirations of a group of people. Transforming leaders work towards benefiting the team, organization and the community at large (Burns 1978). Later in 1985, Bernard Bass expanded the transformational leadership model by incorporating psychological mechanisms that inspire transformational leadership (Bass, 1985). According to Bass, the impact of employee performance and motivation determine the success of a transformational leader. This means that the followers of such leaders exhibit some high levels of admiration, trust, loyalty and reverence because their leaders have exemplary transformational leaders who work hard to produce better results (Bass & Riggio, 2006). A transformational leader provides followers with identity through inspiring them to work hard and improve on their skills. This leader motivates and transforms followers through idealized influence and intellectual stimulation. Moreover, a transformational leader designs challenging projects that can change work environment to accommodate creative thinking and risk undertakings.

5.3.2.2 Charismatic Leadership Styles

A charismatic leadership style employs organizational objectives that are devoted to

employee satisfaction. These leaders win people’s trust and respect through self-sacrifice and take personal risks. A charismatic leader transforms the entire organization, while concentrating on individual at one moment. Charismatic leaders focus on scrutinizing the work environment so as to analyze an individual’s moods and concerns. A charismatic leadership style employs several methodologies to manage organizational image and develop employees’ skills and knowledge. This model is commonly used by politicians who want an enormous number of followers. A charismatic leader improves his or her appeal through interacting with his or her followers. In addition, a charismatic leader builds the group, and focus on making the group distinct and clear. They then build on building the image of the group, specifically the mind set of the followers. Besides building on the employee’s image, a charismatic leader is attached to the group and they all become one entity. According to Conger and Kanungo, there are five main attributes of a charismatic leader: vision and articulation, sensitive to member’s needs, sensitive to the environment, risk taking and perform unconventional behavior (Conger and Kanungo 1998). On the other hand, Musser notes that a charismatic leader inculcate commitment to organizational objectives and devotion to themselves. A charismatic leader and transformational leader have some similarities as a transformational leader may also be charismatic. The difference is that transformational leader focus on changing the organization and the workforce while a charismatic leader may intend to maintain the status quo. Despite the appealing charm, a charismatic leader may be concerned with their own welfares and interest. Their self-confidence can lead to narcissism and their need for admiration can cause followers to question their credibility. The values of a charismatic leader are highly essential as they can alter an organization.

5.3.2.3 Transactional Leadership

Transactional leadership style works on the assumption that punishment and reward system as a means of motivating the employees. Transactional leaders conduct contracts with their followers that have explicit requirement and set policies of discipline and rewards. The employees are given salaries and benefits, and they should take full responsibility for the duties allocated to them. They are punished or rewarded based on the level of success or failure in the job. A transactional leader employs “management by exception” model whereby time is devoted to specific situations where outputs differ significantly from arranged results. An exception to expectation requires rewards for exceeding the contractual expectation and corrective measures is applied for performance below average. Thus, transactional leadership style is contingent to reward or punishment. Despite its drawbacks, transactional leadership style is a popular leadership methodology amongst many managers. The main demerit of this model is that it is based on the assumption of a “rational individual”, a person who is motivated by ordinary reward and money; thus, their behaviors are highly predictable.

5.3.2.4 Participative Leadership

Participative leadership style is entails a management system that allows members of a group to participate in decision-making and understanding organizational issues. The members of the group are committed to actions that are relevant in decision making processes. In such systems, members are less competitive and collaborative when they are working as a team. A participative leader involves people like followers, superiors, stakeholders and peers in decision-making. It is essential to state that this participative activity is prevalent within immediate teams. These leaders can also influence their followers based on the manager’s beliefs, preferences and the whole spectrum (McGregor, 1960).

5.3.2.5 Servant Leadership Styles

The servant leadership style necessitates that a leader is responsible for his or her followers. This means that leaders have a responsibility towards the organization. A servant leader serves others and helps them improve themselves. The people who are served by these leaders grow and become wise and can become servants themselves (Greenleaf, 1970).

There are various attributes that define a servant leadership styles.

Transformation; this leads to personal and organizational growth.

Personal growth; this is the best way to serve others.

Conducive environment that motivates and empowers the task force

Service is one of the fundamental objectives of a servant leader.

Trusting relationship, which is a basic footprint for service and collaboration.

Creating commitment is a means of promoting collaborative activity.

Community building creates an environment which people can trust each other.

Greenleaf highlights that true leadership styles are based on the motivation to help others. Servant leadership is a moral leadership model that put emphasis on the welfare of the followers. Individuals in this set are usually anticipated to make sacrifices for the good of all just as a servant leader would (Greenleaf 1970). In addition, servant leadership styles focus on less privileged people in the society. This means that servant leaders serve the whole society.

Servant leadership model is a natural leadership technique in the public sector. In the private sector, the model requires a more cautious interpretation in the private sector because the needs of customers and shareholders and the market competition requirements. A challenge to this model is that servant leadership is based on assumptions that a leader and a servant want to change.

5.3.2.6 Visionary Leadership Styles

The visionary leadership model involves a system where leaders translate their dreams, achieve their objectives and inspire others. Visionary leaders anticipate change in the organization. In contrast with traditional leadership styles of dominating people, a visionary leader creates a shared version of vision. They focus on opportunities and adopt different approaches in problem solving. In addition, visionary leaders balance the emotional, spiritual, mental and physical perspectives of leadership. In addition, visionary leaders share information and give others the power of knowledge. A visionary leadership style ensures that employees are empowered as they own vision of their leader. This is because a visionary leader implants the seeds of organizational vision in the followers. A powerful vision is cohesive and ensures that individuals are committed to the organization. The success of visionary leadership style is based on how powerful the vision of an organization is and the ability of individuals to pursue the vision. Visionary leaders work to achieve organizational objectives with joy, creativity and motivation.

Visionary leadership styles are beneficial as they promote integration of task and people oriented styles of leadership. Thus, people will perform their duties as they are happy and inspired by organizational vision. In some situations, the entire organization employs some cohesiveness and solidarity as they all share a common vision. A visionary leader makes his followers perform beyond their expectations. People in such organizations will be happy because they are capable of bringing out the best out of their followers. A visionary leader creates reward and punishment control mechanisms that can be internally or externally arranged. Visionary leadership styles surpass individual personality ideologies and differences that cause many organizational conflicts. The leaders have a sense of communion, as they are all bound by similar dreams, beliefs and visions. Each member contributes his or her ideas; thus, this creates a fruitful working environment. In addition, a visionary leadership style empowers members of a group to be strong and face their challenges courageously. The morale of the group is always high and everybody works towards improving themselves and uplifting the organization.

5.2 Leadership and Approaches

Leadership is the act of influencing people through providing purpose and direction while taking into consideration the mission and objectives of the organization. Leadership is instrumental in avoiding conflicts and arguments as leaders ensure there is law and order in the workplace. There exist a close relationship between organizational culture, leadership behavior and job satisfaction. Culture is socially learned and transmitted from one member to another and from generation to generation. This means in an organization the rules of behaviors are embedded in the culture. Based on the definition of organizational culture as the beliefs that guide members of an organization on the what to do and what not to do, values and practices, then leadership derives its values of organization from leadership styles. This also means that members of an organization are guided by behaviors and values of leaders. A strong organizational culture is developed in values and behaviors that are inculcated in leaders and subordinates of an organization.

One of the best leadership’s behaviors id appreciating and maintaining the function of an organizational culture. This will promote consistent leadership behaviors between all members of an organization while reducing conflicts and creating conducive working environments. Organizational behaviors are bound to cultural settings, though there are some universal theories that contain culturally-derived assumptions. Max Weber’s studied bureaucracy; Fredrick Taylor studied scientific management that represents societal concerns (Taylor, 1911).

One of the integral parts of social life is leadership. Indeed, in any circumstance where people come together to achieve a common objective, a leader is required to maintained peace and order during the process. It should be mentioned that informal settings also require some sort of leadership behavior as individual is required to take charge of the group activities. Sometimes, some certain change of circumstances or situations will require that a leader emerge to guide the crew. Some of the characteristics of a leader include being decisive assertive, dependable, persistent, confident and dependable. Various theories have been developed to explain the social phenomenon of leadership. These theories define leadership differently and give attributed and qualities of an excellent leader. All in all these theories project that leadership is the ability to influence a group of people who intend to achieve a common goal at the end. In these theories, they depict leadership behaviors as a process or an activity, involves both followers and leaders, entails a high degree of persuasion and requires an individual’s commitment. A committed leader always expects his followers to deliver exemplary performance in order to achieve organizational goals. There are many historical literatures that define excellent leaders in the society. A brief discussion of approaches of leadership and various characteristic of leadership behaviors is given below (Schein, 1985).

5.2 1 The Great Man Approach

This is the earliest approach of leadership behavior that emphasized on attention to prominent women and men in history and their characters. This is based on the fact that the route to effective leadership is through emulating the past successive leaders. This approach is widely employed by many contemporary leaders who intend to emulate successful leadership behaviors of leaders like Bill Gates. The great man theory is based on the fact there are exceptional people with inborn leadership skills and qualities. This leadership approach is associated with Hebert Spencer who proposed that leaders are a product of the cultural and social background they live. Thus, the genesis of the great man relies on complex influences of the social and racial state (Spencer, 1896).

5.2.2 Trait Approach

Trait leadership approach involves developing a list of characteristics that lead to successive leadership. It involves intellectual and social traits that contribute to the success of leaders. This list of traits includes such features like intelligence, perseverance, ambition, emotional stability, adaptability, and competency, skills in dealing with people, decisiveness, assertiveness, trustworthiness, courage, and motivation. This is based on the fact that leadership is dynamic activities that vary from situation to situation. This list is not exhaustive as some attributes can be added. Notable in this approach is the fact that individuals have features that can contribute to successful leadership in different situations. Trait approaches also involves identifying stable character traits that distinguishes between an effective leaders from non-leaders. The trait theory focuses on the leader’s personality traits. According to Stogdill leadership styles could not be defined by personality traits, as leadership is dependent upon situations and leader’s individual characteristics (Stogdill, 1948).

5.2.3 Behavioral Approaches to Leaderships

A significant research study on leadership was done by the Ohio State University. This study highlighted two factors that determine behavior leadership behaviors: initiating structure and consideration. Initiating structure refers a leader’s behavior of organizing work- group relations and establishing channels of communication. In this model, the leader defines the means of getting the projects done. The leader also specifies the procedures and tasks that should be done by the employees. They also determine who does what and how among the members of an organization. Initiating structure also includes behaviors, which organizes group activities and relationship to the group. This means that he defines what he expects from each member as he assigns tasks, plans, establishes a way of getting things done. Consideration entails creating a conducive environment that provides motivation, support, trust and friendship between leaders and their followers. This model put emphasis on human relations as it exhibits concern for group members needs. Thus, in this leadership style, subordinates have decision-making powers and are encouraged to communicate between themselves. Initiating structure and consideration describes leadership behavior in organizational settings. From the study, the Ohio researchers assessed leader’s perceptions of their behavior in leadership responsibilities and employee perception of leadership behaviors (McGregor, 1960).

There is a close correlation between leadership behavior and organizational cultures. Turnover, accidents, absenteeism and grievances in an organization leads low consideration and high structure. In productive organizations, there is a high correlation between initiating structure and proficiency and exhibits negative relations between proficiency and consideration. This means that leaders who offer proficient technical services to their followers have a high score on initiating structure while leaders who focus pm proficient public services score high on consideration.

Additionally, the University of Michigan researchers led by Rensis Likert conducted a set of studies on leadership behaviors. These studies were done in a broad range of industries and data was collected from many employees. From the study, two distinct leadership styles of management were identifies: job-centered and employee-centered. The job-centered leader supervises the subordinates so that they can perform their duties using the specified procedures and processes. Coercion, legitimate power and reward systems, are employed to create an effect on behavior and performance. Concerns for members of a group are essential, but it is not taken into consideration. The employee-centered behaviors attempts to build effective work teams with high performance objectives. In such a model, the leader delegates decision-making and assists followers to satisfy their individual needs through providing a supportive and conducive work environment. He or she is concerned with individual growth and attainment of subordinates. Likert collected data from 500 clerical employees from Morse and Reimer for a period of one year (Likert, 1967). These employees worked in different locations but employed the same technology, same kind of tasks. From his analysis, Likert concluded that employee-centered leadership management entails reduced size of the work force and high levels of procedural changes that increase productivity (Morse, Nancy, Reimer and Everett, 1956). In addition, the satisfaction of employees is exhibited by such attributes like absenteeism, attitudes and turnover. On the other hand, job-centered leadership, promotions and rewards systems are incorporated in production outputs, which is instrumental in attaining short-term improvement. Conclusively, Likert and other researchers concluded that employee-centered leadership is more effective (Likert 1967). In addition, Fielder considered job-centered leaders as the best in specific situations while employee- centered leaders function in other situations. The leader’s effectiveness is dependent on his or her ability to employ the best management style that is appropriate to the situation. For instance, a leader who has a strong position power should have exemplary relationship with the work team, which can be attained by job-centered leadership model. This is because this style emphasize on task completion and effective results. On the other hand, a leader with unstructured tasks to do employ weak position of power and have moderate relationship; thus, an employee-centered leadership style is appropriate (Fiedler, 1997).

5.2.4 Attitudinal Approach

Attitudinal approaches focus on predispositions and attitudes towards leadership behaviors. This is done through following two postulations of leadership behaviors; consideration and initiation structure. Consideration involves showing concern to members of a group through creating mutual trust, defining relationships and nurturing self-confidence. Initiation structure defines leadership behaviors as the ability to organize the group, describe relationships, maintain quality and specify roles and duties. Studies have proved that leaders who focus on consideration and initiating structure achieve satisfaction and best performance. Attitudinal approach also focuses on production and employee orientation. Leaders who emphasize on employee orientation demonstrate that employees are significant people and accept personal needs and individualities. In relation to Bill Gates leadership behaviors, it is evident that his reign is based on employee training. Production orientation involves technical aspects and employees are instrumental in achieving the objectives of the organization (Yukl, 1989).

5.2.5 Situational Leadership Approach

Leaders should always exhibit some degree of adaptability in order to adjust to organizational changes. This is based on the ability of leaders to adapt to various situations. Leadership behavior is flexible, as the individuals have the capacity to adjust themselves to various circumstances. According to Fielder, effective leadership behavior relies on the capability of a leader to interact with his or her followers and the extent to which he or she can control situations. Situations may change based on the degree of confidence and respect the followers have in their leader. In addition, situations may change based on the extent to which a leader can influence such processes like recruiting, promotion, increments and discipline. Task -oriented leaders perform well in situations that are favorable. On the other hand, relationship -oriented leaders function well in moderate situations.

Situational contexts emphasize on the current context while contingency approach consider leadership influence on future situations. According to Edwin Hollander, the expectations of leaders are fulfilled by members of an organization in different situations. These expectations vary based on different characteristics of the setting and situation. Situational approaches are instrumental in organizational cultures as they highlight on the fact human beings have different needs that vary based on contexts, culture, size of companies and geography. These human needs influences the choices and decisions they make. Using Maslow hierarchy of needs, they concept of self- actualization highlights on the self-awareness and mutual respect, participation in decision making; elements that are essential in building effective organizational culture (McGregor 1960).

There are factors that affect situational decisions such as capability of followers and motivation. The relationship between leaders and followers may also affect the leadership behavior. According to Yukl, there are five variables that should be considered when analyzing situational leadership behaviors (Yukl 1989).

Subordinate effort: this considers motivational factors and efforts of the employees.

Subordinate ability: this involves followers knowing of what is expected them.

Organization of the work: this refers to utilization of resources and the structure of work.

Cohesiveness and cooperation: this entails the ability of a group to work together.

Resources and support: this refers to availability of materials, tools and people.

External coordination: this involves the need for collaboration with other groups. 

Tannenbaum and Schmidt, propose three forces that define a leader’s actions in different situations. These are the forces in situations, the forces in the leader and the forces in the followers. This is grounded on the fact that this leadership model is highly variable and requires a balancing of these variables (Tannenbaum and Schmidt (1958).

5.2.6 Contingency Leadership Approach

Another study on leadership behavior was done by Fred Fielder of the University of Illinois at Urbana. Fielder developed a model that considers the relationship between influence and power. This model is also dependent on group performance and situation favorableness. The first concern to Fiedler was highlighting the extent to which the situation offers the leader with influence and power needed to be efficient and effective (Fiedler, 1997). The second concern was determining the extent to which leaders predict the effects of leadership styles on the productivity and behaviors of employees. In his research, Fielder proposed three situational factors that can influence leader’s effectiveness: leader relations, task structure and position power. The interpersonal relations between leaders and employees are considered the most significant variable. The acceptance of the leader by employees is measures through socio-metric preference scale that whether or not employees accept their leaders. The group atmosphere scale consists of questions that are answered by employees. The task-structure is instrumental in measuring the favorableness of a situation in terms of goal charity, goal-path multiplicity, and decision specificity and decision variability. These four components determine the employees how the employees view their jobs or duties. Goal clarity refers to the ability of group members to understand their task’s requirements. Goal-path multiplicity determines the extent to which certain tasks can be completed by various procedures, techniques and possible solutions. Decision verifiability entails the appropriateness of solutions, which is determined by authority appeal and feedback mechanisms. Lastly, the decision specificity refers to the extent to which there exist many possible solutions to organizational problems (Stogdill, 1948).

The other concern that Fielder considered is position power and its relation to leadership behavior. This attribute considers reward and punishment that are associated with a leadership position and the official authority based on ranking in the hierarchical order. Position power also highlights on the support that a leader receives from employees and the entire organization. From his analysis, he concluded that leadership style is evaluated from the responses to a Least- Preferred Coworker (LPC). Leaders who rate their LPC in complimentary terms are deemed supportive and people-oriented. In addition, Fiedler does not promote leadership training, as he believed that training is not efficient. This made Fielder’s research be less feasible in the organizational setting (Fiedler, 1967).

5.2.7 Path-Goal Model

This leadership model is derived from expectancy theory of motivation (Evans, 1970). Expectancy theory is based on the fact that people will do things and expect to be rewarded. This is the primary basis of path-goal leadership theory. This theory proposes that leaders influence their followers by explaining what should be done so as to obtain rewards. According to House, leaders can assist subordinates understand what should be expected from them in order to get rewards. This is done through certain leadership styles like participative and achievement- oriented styles in several situations (House 1971). Path-goal theory is defined by various activities.

Directive behavior: this involves leadership models that focus on scheduling work, establishing performance standards and explaining expectations about the employee’s performance.

Supportive behavior: this is based on leadership behavior that aims at improving interpersonal relationships. This model considers situational and behavioral factors in its analysis of appropriate leadership models. This means that the leader is charged with the responsibility of employing the leadership style that suits a situation and the demands of the job.

Participative behavior: this is based on the fact leadership behavior focus on promoting consultations among a group of members.

Achievement oriented- behavior: this model is based on setting challenging objectives and producing excellent results.

The path-goal theory is grounded on the assumption that the four behavioral styles can be employed by the same leader in several situations. The directive style is based on assigning specific duties and specifying the processes and procedures that should be followed. A supportive leader reduces barriers to task completion, especially during depressing moments. The participative style recognizes the involvement of subordinates in working on projects, designing processes and procedures to be followed and other decision-making processes. The achievement-oriented leader considers that a task have to be completed with little attention to the needs and feelings of subordinates (Fiedler 1967).

5.2.8 Vroom-Yetton Leadership Model

The last model is the Vroom and Yetton that was developed by Vroom-Yetton. This model is based on a quest to select appropriate leadership style for specific situations. It involves allowing subordinates to participate in decision making processes of an organization. Of much importance is that in this model, the leader makes the ultimate decision and the rest shall arrive at a consensus decision. According to this model, there are five styles that can be used by a leader when making organizational decisions (Vroom- Yetton 1973).

A leader should solve problems using available information.

A leader ought to obtain necessary information from subordinates and make the decision himself or herself.

A leader can also consider sharing the problem relevant subordinates at the individual level and getting their contributions concerning the problem at hand.

He or she should consider sharing the problem with the subordinates collectively so as to gather their contributions.

As a leader shares the problem with the subordinates, he or she generates alternative solutions to the problem.

6.0 The Management Grid

The management Grid was developed by Jane Mouton and Robert Blake in 1964 and focus on production and people orientations. The combination of these two variables make up the extremes, as the production is represented on the horizontal axis and the people is represented on the vertical axis. This leadership style is used by managers who intend to maintain the status quo, while protecting themselves and avoiding problems. The style is also used by leaders focus on job security and comfort of employee and hope of increased performance. Thus, in the management grid, the work environment remains friendly and less productive (Blake and Mouton, 1964).

In addition, the management grid can also identify some elements of dictatorial leadership models based on low concern of employees and high concern of production. The dictatorial style focus on the success of organizational goals by offering them rewards in exchange of performance. The management grid also highlights on the team work and commitment to work by employees as this model focus on making the employees believe in themselves as significant members of an organization. Moreover, opportunistic style is represented also in management grid as it focuses on manipulation and personal interest of some leaders (Blake and Mouton, 1999). Lastly, the management grid can highlight on paternalistic leadership models, which embraces motivation and support of employees.

Discussion

Discussion A

The study of leadership styles and leadership behaviors is a broad subject area. There are many approaches and theories that have explored the several aspects of leadership. Some of focused on the significance of leaders, leadership abilities, skills and behavior. Other studies focused on the leadership environments and situations where leaders find themselves. Other investigations look on the relationship between performance and leadership styles. Of particular interest is the charismatic leadership model that was describes a transformational leadership style by (Bass and Avolio, 1993). Transformational and charismatic leaders are visionary and motivate subordinates to deliver excellent performance (Nicholls, 1988). In the summary of the above studies, it is evident that transformational leadership style is instrumental in promoting organizational success.

The leadership paradigms of an organization affect influences organizations and all activities and play a key role in the foundation of organizational culture. This is based on the fact that organizational culture determines the authority structure of an organization (Mullins, 2008). The authority structure of an organization impacts on the organization’s “actual” culture. Organizational culture influences leadership personality, values and beliefs. Thus, a leader can be a key determinant of organizational culture.

Moreover, leaders shape organizational cultures by influencing behavioral patterns of new comers in an organization. Therefore, the influence and the personality of a leader determine the kind of culture that is present in an organization. Effective leadership styles and behaviors determine an appropriate organizational culture that can solve problems in the work environment. This culture is strengthened by leadership styles that employ systems like policies, procedure and rules that define the acceptable ways of carrying out activities in an organization. Societal culture determines organizational relationships, rules, beliefs, values and collectively makes an organization distinct. The culture of an organization enhances learning of norms and values of the organization (Mullins, 2008). Brown, 2005).Organizational culture also determines how leaders and subordinates should serve their customers and how they should interact with other organizations (Mullins, 2008; Brown, 2005).

Discussion B

Early studies in leadership models and behaviors developed trait approaches that identified leadership qualities and personality traits. Trait theories assumed that leaders are born with innate abilities to guide people (Stodgill, 148). The emergence of behavioral leadership models that described two leadership styles followed; participative and democratic leadership behaviors (Likert, 1961). The conclusion of these studies stated that the participative and democratic leadership styles are more effective than trait leadership styles. The major weakness with behavioral approaches is that they ignored situational analysis of leadership behaviors (Mullins, 1999). Its limitation led to development of contingency theories of leadership models (Fiedler, 1967; House, 1971; Vroom and Yetton, 1974).

This study focuses on the importance of situational factors of leadership as leadership was dependent on leader’s ability to understand situational factors and adoption of appropriate leadership styles. However, recent studies have transactional and transactional leadership styles. Transactional leaders focus on exchange (Bass and Avolio, 1993). On the other hand, transformational style of leadership promotes enthusiasm and motivates the subordinates. From the above studies, it is evident that leadership styles have gone through skepticism; thus, recent studies have focused on the importance of leadership models. Fred Fiedler is one of the respectable researchers who focused on the importance of leadership and the effectiveness of a leader a determinant in failure or success of an organization (Fieldler, 1967). With the emergence of globalization, many organizations seek to maintain stability and increase volatility in the market. This can be achieved by developing effective leadership system and equipping them with organizational skills (Darcy and Kleiner, 1991). This is based on the assumption that leadership styles accounts for organizational performance (Nicholls, 1988).

Organizations should develop long-lasting approaches to leadership behaviors. Leaders play an essential role in shaping norms and assisting teams to adjust to work environments. The leader-centered model provides considerable insights into the relationship between team performance and leadership. Some studies have concentrated on the function of leadership, leadership behaviors and leadership paradigms that can promote organizational growth (Yukl, 2006). This is based on the fact that intangible aspects like leadership styles, motivation, competence and leadership behaviors are the main sources of organizational strength that are integrated in the organizational culture and processes. Recent studies have proved that leadership paradigms have a direct relationship with customer satisfaction, staff satisfaction and general performance of the organization (House et al, 2004). From this review of literature, it is evident that a leadership style enhances organizational performances while others offer contradictory comments (Nicholls, 1988, Fielder, 1967, House, 2004). Consequently, this study examines leadership approaches, styles, behaviors and the impact of globalization on organizational leaderships.

Leadership styles define how leaders interact and behave with their followers. It expounds on the ability of the manager to delegate authority to his subordinates and his concern for task orientation. Each company has a unique composition of individuals, goals and activities. There exists a relationship between leadership approaches and styles. Distinctive leadership approaches propose that characteristics of a leader are dependable on prevalent situations. Leadership styles are divided into three categories namely traditional styles, modern styles and contingency approach. The most common leadership styles in organizations are transformational and transactional. Transactional styles is based on exchange relationship, which necessitates that employees are productive and loyal and given their rewards. A transformational leadership style involves the process of influencing employee’s attitudes and values so as to achieve the organizational goals. Transformational leadership styles motivate followers to work towards fulfilling the mission and vision of the organization (Bass, 1985). Thus, transformational leaders alter the organizational cultures based on shared values, beliefs and assumptions while transactional leaders focus on working on existing cultures and adhering to rules and procedures.

Discussion C

7.0 The Relationship between Leadership Styles and Globalization and Diversity.

Globalization refers to increased economic, political and social integration and economic reliance in the world economy. Levitt predicted that with the increased forces of globalization, there shall be the emergence of firms around the globe (Levitt 1983). Thus,a globalized world requires certain leadership styles because the globalized word demands a set of leadership behaviors and skills that are different from those of a bounded world. This is based on the fact that global connotes diversity, which a challenge to many global leaders. Corporate leaders need work in markets in different countries and have to develop an organizational culture that works for the majority. According to Sinha and Mohanty, this organizational culture drives initiative and skills that can operate in diverse communities (Sinha and Mohanty 2004). Globalization is linked with leadership styles as social, cultural and ethical standards of people differ from one country to another. For example, less developed countries adopt democratic styles while autocratic leadership model is common with countries with poor economic growth. Globalization impact on leadership styles through market expansion, utilization of opportunities, competition and transfer of employees to various countries with diverse political and cultural background.

The forces of globalization have demonstrated an enormous need the for global leadership models. A foremost challenge to global organizations is creating an organizational culture that can effectively mobilize teams from different cultural backgrounds and cultures (Javidan, Dorfman, de Luque, & House, 2004). A common feature in organizations is the use of multicultural teams as a management strategy to attain competitive advantage (Friedman, 2006). Global and multicultural teams are beneficial to organizations that strive to serve their customers in a unique perspective. Leaders struggle in determining the effective way to guide the multicultural and global teams; thereby, leaders face numerous challenges, concerns and responsibilities (Friedman, 2006). This means that in the global society leader has to be innovative, productive competitive and able to establish a cohesive and capable work force (Macik-Frey, Quick, & Cooper, 2007; Yitzhak, Lachel, Hadani, & Levi, 2007). Managing multicultural teams requires in global corporations is a common phenomenon for leaders. Some of these challenges are associated with the differential gap between language and culture that cause disruptions among the team members (Mercer, Bing, & Laroche, 2002). Thus, leaders in global corporations ought to manage these teams so as to promote organizational success. For global organizations, a leader with excellent leadership competency is not sufficient to cause organizational productivity. This is because these leaders should employ a broad range of skills that shows their competence and abilities for managing globally diverse workforce (House, Hanges, Javidan, Dorfman, & Gupta, 2004). These leaders employ effective leadership styles for multicultural teams and consider the challenges that inhibit the success of the leaders. Leaders who exhibit effective leadership behaviors guide their teams into attaining success on a global scale (Grundy & Ginger, 1998). 

Organizations that compete for global marketplace can be beneficial in understanding factors that can promote productivity and cohesiveness of the work force. Global teams can be managed by corporate leaders who focus in increasing productivity, resource utilization and expand their market operations (Mercer et al., 2002). Leaders who understand different leadership styles can promote productivity and build confidence and trust among the members of the group. Studies have demonstrated that leaders who build trust and confidence in their subordinates promote employees’ job satisfaction and productivity of the organization (Wallace & Trinka, 2009).

Global and multicultural workforce requires a distinct leadership model. Some leaders in the global organizations fail to manage the multicultural workforce efficiently and effectively as they have little or no understanding of the cultures of their workforce and the motivators of employee satisfaction (House et al, 2004). Culture is significant as it influences the values, attitudes and tasks of individuals (Williamson 2007). Multicultural teams offer organizations the opportunity to be innovative, cohesive and productive. Thus, when organizations promote creativity and innovation among the work fo