Session Paper HR 587 Fall ‘09 | Leadership Styles | Vanessa Bradford |
The purpose of this paper is to use the course concepts to expand upon the topic of leadership styles. I will define leadership and management; explain how the two play a role during organizational change management and how this information can be used by practicing managers. Lewin’s change model combined with Kotter’s eight step change model will be used to present an understanding of and emphasize the importance of leadership through the stages of change.
Change is inevitable. Changing is not always welcomed but it is necessary for organizations to maintain their place in the world. Successful organizations thrive because they have a vision, a mission
…show more content…
Out of these three Lewin found that the best style of leadership is Democratic, Autocratic leads to an upheaval where the Liaises-Faire approach creates unmotivated individuals who lack effort. (Lewin, LIippit and White, 1939).
Other forms of leadership styles that are known to exist derive from the Leadership Style Inventory (LSI) developed by Rowe, Reardon, and Bennis (1995). The inventory identifies four basic styles; commanding, logical, inspirational and supportive. The differences in style used by leaders are based on the following two questions: How adaptive are leaders when dealing with the issues they face? How do leaders communicate with, persuade, and energize employees in the process of change?
Leadership is critical when executing a strategic change initiative. By differentiating leadership and management, leadership styles and the key factors of change we can better understand what should be done to successfully lead change. Success is not obtained through leadership alone but by developing a group of individuals from all levels of the organization who work together as a team. . (Leban and Stone, 2007) The change models discussed in class provide a pattern for change and presents a picture of what will occur
An authoritative leader addresses the end but generally gives workers freedom to innovate, experiment and take risks. The authoritative style works best for organizations that are off track, it helps in creating a new course and fresh long-term vision. The affiliative style strives to keep employees happy to create harmony among. The style has a positive effect on communication. People who like one another a lot talk lot. They share ideas, inspirations leading to flexibility, innovation and risk taking. This style should only be employed when trying to build team harmony. The democratic style allows leaders to build consensus through participation. By spending time getting people’s ideas, a leader is able to build trust, respect and commitment. This style works best when a leader is uncertain about best direction however, it does not make sense if employees are not competent. Pacesetting is a leadership style that expects excellence and self-direction. The leader is obsessive about doing things better and faster, and expects the same of everyone around
Step 2 is forming a powerful guiding coalition. Leadership will have to be on board and on the same page in regards to the change. Kotter and Cohen reveal the core problems people face when leading change. Their main findings are that the central issue concerns not structure or systems but behavior and how to alter it (Farris, 2008). The success of the changes will depend on the ability of the managers to show their commitment to change and motivate the employees to do the same. Without any process to track the implementation, the change can also fail.
Leaders are some of the most influential individuals in any society. They have the ability to influence those around them with various leadership styles including coercive, authoritative, affiliative, democratic, pacesetting, and coaching. Effective leaders consistently adapt to the environment around them to either enhance or correct any situation facing them. Within these leadership styles the most effective style has been considered that of the authoritative style. This style brings individuals together, builds self-confidence, and easily adapts to the environment around it.
When we first started this course, I was not quite sure what leading organization change meant and what we would accomplish during this time together. Over the next two months, this course presented us with different resources about the process of developing a leadership philosophy regarding organizational change, plus integrating our own workplace organizational context with concepts of vocation, organizational culture, differentiation, and progress. My favorite thing about this course was the many ways I was able to apply what we learned to my vocation and our agency’s organizational culture.
Organizations must respond to their internal and external environment. Therefore, organizational success heavily relies on leaderships ability to manage change. Unfortunately, many leaders struggle to effectively lead change initiatives. In fact, Ashkenas (2013, para. 1) reported 60 – 70% of organizational change initiatives fail to meet their objectives.
Leadership and management serve distinct purposes with certain overlaps. The transformational style manager is focused on maintaining the vision, reducing the resistance to change, and implementation of
Leadership, according to John Kotter, is about “coping with change” (Kotter, 1990, p. 4). By this definition, leadership can be considered the product of change and the different ways that response to this change directs future
Leading and managing change require a solid theoretical foundation. This assignment will research the theoretical elements of change and change management. Addressed will be the following: Organic Evolution of Change, Formulating Strategic Development Approaches, Leadership and Management Skills and Gathering and Analyze Data. As societies continue to evolve and changing demand creates the need for new products and services, businesses often are forced to make changes to stay competitive. The businesses that continue to survive and even thrive are usually the ones that most readily adapt to change. A variety of factors can cause a business to reevaluate its methods of operation. According to literature from the past two
Fullan discusses five components of leadership in a culture of change, in the book Leading in a Culture of Change (2001). The first component is moral purpose – making a positive change on the life of employees. “To strive to improve the quality of how we live together is moral purpose of the highest order (Fullan, 2001, p. 14). The second component is the understanding change process. Fullan list six ideas that help understand the change process 1) the goal is not to innovate the most; 2) it is not enough to have the best ideas; 3) appreciate early difficulties of trying the best ideas; 4) redefine resistance as a potential positive force; 5) reculturing is the name of the game and 6) never a checklist, always complexity (Fullan, 2001).
Change is a double-edged sword (Fullan, 2001). Change is a word that might inspire or put fear into people. Leadership is challenging when it comes to dealing with change and how individuals react within the organization to the change. Marzano, McNulty, and Waters (2005) discuss two orders of change in their book School Leadership that Works; first and second. Fullan (2001) also adds to the discussion in his book Leading in a Culture of Change, with regard to understanding change. In Change Leadership, Keagan and Wagner (2006) discuss many factors of change and the systematic approach to change. Change affects people in different ways. Leaders need to be able to respond to the individuals throughout the change process.
One strength good leaders bring is to switch their leadership styles depending on the situation (Darling & Heller, 2012). This is like situational leadership and it is important in organizational change as well. Situational Leadership is a model designed by Dr. Paul Hershey in the 1960s which focuses on how managers can develop competencies to diagnose, adapt, communicate, and advance the situation they are in (The Center for Leadership Studies, n.d.). Hershey stresses the importance of relationship of the approach of the leader and the readiness of the followers for a specific task (The Center for Leadership Studies, n.d.). This is the same as a change manager. Although dominant forces are often the initial go-to for change managers, good change managers must assess the situation and apply the needed ideal change manager to the situation. Because of this, regardless of the dominant change manager, it behooves an effective organizational leader to understand the different images of change and how they can influence a change’s successful
Competitive imperatives of market forces and customer demands in today’s environment have led to the emergence of less hierarchical and more flexible organisations (Doyle, 2001). In working towards this paradigm shift, a distinction and clarification of the relationship between leadership and management in the change process needs to be addressed. According to Caldwell (2003), change leaders are executives or senior managers at the very top of the organisation who envision, initiate or sponsor strategic change of far-reaching or transformational nature by challenging the status quo, communicating a vision that employees believe in, and empowering them to act. In contrast, change managers are usually middle level managers and functional
As defined by Katzenbach (1995), change leadership is “the process whereby individuals who lead initiatives that influence dozens to hundreds of others to perform differently—and better—by applying multiple leadership and change approaches.” Leadership alone is defined as setting a direction and developing the strategies necessary to move in that direction – that is, creating and achieving a vision – leadership is thus a process to do with change (Kotter 1999). Change leadership is critically important to the continuing success of organizations everywhere. Tennant Company understands and invests in change leadership by employing a Sr. Organization Development Manager named Annelise Larson, M.B.A. whose efforts includes setting direction, developing strategies, and leading initiatives through organizational change efforts. An interview was conducted with Annelise Larson to discuss and learn about her change leadership abilities. For the purposes of this paper, the interview questions will be shared, a summary will be provided, and five recommendations are made for Annelise Larson as a change leader.
As an incoming leader to an organization that is in a state of stagnation, decisive and informed decision making needs to take place. One of the first things that will be looked at in this scenario is the different theories/change strategies that exists. The second thing we will be evaluated is how successful these change strategies are. The third and final thing we will look at is how different leadership styles effect the change strategy.
The impact of leadership style in the change process of an organization influences the performance; Leadership as stated by Martin, Liao and Campbell (2013) remains one of the most consequential contextual influencers of employee performance. Latson (2014) elucidated that some leaders may have the best intentions, but the impact will not be in alignment with the intension. But leadership trait is the ability to inspire, motivate and engage the followers to make the inspired vision happen beyond their normal capabilities (Mendez, Munoz & Munoz 2013). A change is the most frequent phenomenon of today's reality and a good understanding of how to manage the change process is very essential; Change is translation from one state into