Understanding Leadership: Role Of A Leader In Directing A Team

Theories of Leadership

Discuss about the Leadership and Management for Behavioural Theories.

Leadership is not a method or a process. Leadership, according to me can be defined as a criteria, an essential articulation that is possessed some people. Leadership is not a training that can be trained with (Landis et al. 2014). It can be simply called a quality that can be nurtured through training and development programs. Leadership if acquired properly can many too many scope. Most of the scopes are related to organizational structure. Leadership if possessed in the correct form would enable a leader to develop the ethics related to work in an organizational context (Latham 2014). The objective of this reflective study is to analyse the role of a leader in directing a team. Therefore, the challenges of the leadership will be addressed in this study.

As discussed earlier, leadership refers to an action of instructing, leading or directing a team or group by an individual (Anderson et al 2017). The individual that leads the team is known as the leader. Leadership has various theories. Those are trait theories, behavioural theories, contingency theories and theories related to power and influence. Trait theory, as the very term suggests, focuses on the individual traits of leadership that are possessed by leaders (McCleskey 2014). The essential qualities that fall under trait theory of leadership are integrity, empathy, assertiveness, likeability and good decision making skills by the leader. Trait theory suggests that a leader needs to possess these qualities mandatorily in order to lead a team. Leading a team is not about command only. Compassion plays an equally important role. Kurt Lewin developed behavioural theory in the year 1930. This particular theory is divided into three subdivisions of leaders, namely, the autocratic leaders, democratic leaders and laissez-faire leaders (Certo 2018). The autocratic leadership focuses on decision making that are autocratic, that is without consultation of the team. The leaders take this particular type of leadership approach when urgent decisions need to be made. Democratic leadership style on the other hand focuses on individual input. That is, in this particular style of leadership, the leaders always considers the opinion of the team members, though the final decision remains on the judgement of the leaders (Hannah et al. 2014). The team leaders can undertake this particular method only when the team is well coordinated and there is less number of members in the team. Too much of members in a team would lead to chaos and the leader would not be able to reach to a particular decision, since, there would be too much of variation. Laissez-faire leadership focuses on the perspective of non-interference within a team (Ehrhart 2015). That is, the leaders those who follow this particular leadership style allow the members of the group or the team to take frequent decisions regarding minor matters. Not all the decisions of the group members are interfered by the team leaders. In this particular process the team leaders motivate the members of the employees enough so that the employees are self-dependent and can take decisions.  

Challenges of Leadership

I was appointed as a team leader to make a campaign during my internship. The main purpose of this activity is to understand the role of the leadership and the process to direct a team. I had a clear purpose about this activity, which helped me to understand the role and function of the leadership clearly. During the internship, I came to know about the role of a leader within an organisation.

During the class activity, I have conducted Big Five Personality test and in this test, there are questions which I had to answer. I have answered all the questions and the score came to me in five different aspects; openness, consciousness, extraversion and agreeableness and neuroticism. Openness came as 35% and it proved that I think myself as practical and down-to-earth. I always appreciate tradition and I think myself as conventional. Conscientiousness came as 56% and this score is in moderate range. I am average in tendency in order to respond to impulse. I may have long-term goal as conscientiousness tells that. Extraversion score came as 48% and it proved that this dimension indicates about fairly average motivation and that seeks social awards. My agreeableness touches the figure of 44% and this score was low. I might see the people to be threat to the ability and I often suspect the people about ulterior motive. Neuroticism scored as 50% and it shows that I am empathetic and I feel sorry for the people.

During my class, I went through a number of activities that helped me to enhance my leadership skills. My teacher asked me to communicate with my group about a particular topic. It was more like a debate. In this team activity my role was a team leader. I have tries to build an effective communication with my team members. I have focused on the autocratic leadership style to develop myself as a leader. Therefore, I have tried to align my leadership style based on the situation. I have identified the areas that need to improve. I empowered my team mates to involve in decision-making process. I always tried to motivate my team members to take challenges and to share their idea regarding any topic. The teacher showed us videos and after watching the videos; we had to share our thoughts. We had to make comments on the following classmates who were sitting beside us. My group was a dynamic group and each member participates in every work. As for example, the team member A was able to generate new idea while dealing with the critical situation. Team member B was able to make an effective communication with the co-workers while sharing any work related information. However, all the team members of my team try to participate equally in every activity. Rather I have chosen leadership style according to the current situations that I was in. In the process of the activities, the few main criteria that I have learnt about leadership are communication activities, problem solving approach, issues regarding making of decisions and building trust factor within the team. Perhaps, the hardest of all was to coordinate the team members and direct them towards a particular channel. My team has interacted effectively and they have tried to make a clear communication with their co-workers. I tried to share the information about the team work clearly. This helped my team members to work in an effective way. However, the team members shared their opinions regarding various topics and I had to listen their view-points properly. The group members did their work with full of enjoyment. They took the task with much interest and tried to complete them within the time.

Importance of Communication

It is also noteworthy to assert that there are also certain areas where I have developed myself. From the findings of the personality test during the process, I came through a number of loopholes that I had and rectified them. The areas that I developed are my lack of trust in members, less connectivity, getting static at times and urge for being liked by all my members. At the very initial stage, I could not trust all my team members. I kept on constant monitoring them, which perhaps made them feel that they were being scrutinized (Theisohn 2013). I could not let them do a particular task on their own, even while they made decisions I kept monitoring, though I did not interfere. This approach perhaps made my team feel that I was too much dominant. The members of my group were different and they expressed different opinions towards a particular topic. I had to take care that none of the members were hurt and I took special concern that the members do not feel neglected. I have made all possible attempts to make each of the members feel wanted and important to the project. Yet, there were difference in opinions.

This approach made some of my team members feel that I did not prioritize them, though I did not want to that deliberately. My communication skills are also not apt. I cannot communicate with too many members at a time as I go out of focus and lose confidence. This area also needed development. My less connectivity with my team hampered the overall performance of my team and at the same time, we were delayed by a day of our final submission. The last area that I feel needed development being static. At times, I felt like the overall focus of the team was lost somewhere. That is, I was being static. I was failing to motivate my members repeatedly. Apart from that, I wanted my team members to like me from the very staring of the team. This was my over expectation that I needed to work upon. I understood that in order to like me and accept me as a team leader it was imperative that I communicate and work with my team members. I cannot expect my team members to like me until and unless I communicate and work with them. That was my over expectation.

Problem-Solving Approach

For instance, during our class activity while all my team members were taking about the list of the activities and events that they would likely hold during the days of the event or feast, they could not come to a proper conclusion. They kept on talking and deciding and I finally selected the activities and the events that need to be done and performed and made the final list. However, there were cases when I could not interfere and take up a stand as I was myself confused since I knew less about the topic. These are few aspects that I think I should work upon in order to improve my traits and qualities as a leader. In the context of the criteria “need a lot of time to do things”, I would rate myself at very inaccurate. It is true that there were time when I was confused about a particular topic and could not make decisions shortly.

According to my viewpoints it the whole exercise is a good activity for me and my team members. However, I have felt lack of confidence often, which I tried to improve. Despite this I have given my entire effort to complete the activities. I have shown much accountability to complete the activity. My major activity was to influence the team members to take part in every activity. Therefore, I have identified the loophole and shown and tried to direct the team properly. Apart from these areas, there are also very few areas that are seldom noticed by people that I need to work upon. The first thing that I would like to focus on is my lack of confidence. However, I did not take too much of time for any particular decision and I made sure that I complete all my work within time or by the deadlines. In the context of “Panic easily”, it is a very inaccurate statement. I don’t get easily panicked. In the context of “Demand quality”, I would like to assert that I demand quality and I pay less attention to the quantity of work. Again, in the context of ‘call for action while others talk’, I will rate myself as moderately accurate since I feel that not all the time I have been able to raise up my voice and call for an action, yet most of the time I did do that. Therefore, I need to come round my introvert nature through make new contacts. I need to improve my confidence level through become an orator. I need to put my need on first hand so that I can make the work done on time.

In the concluding part, I would like to assert that my class activities have helped me a lot to understand the concept of leadership and the various theories and approaches of leadership. It has help me to understand that how practically different leadership styles and approaches can be incorporated in real life situations and how to take decisions using those leadership approaches and theories. At the end, I am more of the democratic leader in style as I always take the decision after discussing with my peers and team members.

Reference List

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Certo, S.C., 2018. Supervision: Concepts and skill-building. McGraw-Hill Education.

Ehrhart, M.G., 2015. Self-concept, implicit leadership theories, and follower preferences for leadership. Zeitschrift für Psychologie.

Giltinane, C.L., 2013. Leadership styles and theories. Nursing Standard (through 2013), 27(41), p.35.

Hannah, S.T., Sumanth, J.J., Lester, P. and Cavarretta, F., 2014. Debunking the false dichotomy of leadership idealism and pragmatism: Critical evaluation and support of newer genre leadership theories. Journal of organizational behavior, 35(5), pp.598-621.

Landis, E.A., Hill, D. and Harvey, M.R., 2014. A synthesis of leadership theories and styles. Journal of Management Policy and Practice, 15(2), p.97.

Latham, J.R., 2014. Leadership for quality and innovation: Challenges, theories, and a framework for future research. Quality Management Journal, 21(1), pp.11-15.

McCleskey, J.A., 2014. Situational, transformational, and transactional leadership and leadership development. Journal of Business Studies Quarterly, 5(4), p.117.

Theisohn, T., 2013. Ownership leadership and transformation: Can we do better for capacity development. Routledge.

Washington, R.R., Sutton, C.D. and Sauser Jr, W.I., 2014. How distinct is servant leadership theory? Empirical comparisons with competing theories. Journal of Leadership, Accountability and Ethics, 11(1), p.11.