Business Organisations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Business Organisations - Essay Example This leadership is not about taking turns running the meeting. It is rather about promoting a better way of doing things or a new product." Many studies have shown that good leaders tend to have certain qualities such as: they have technical and specific skill of some task, have a clear sense of purpose, they are optimistic, work well with others, and believe that they can make a difference, can nurture the people around them i.e. delegate tasks, aware of the environment and themselves, are empathetic, direct all actions towards the goals and the mission and are role models for others. There are many theories on which leadership style should be adopted, but each leadership style or approach used depends on the culture of the organisation and the task at hand. As all things, these approaches have their advantages and disadvantages, and in some situations it is better to use a particular type of approach over another. Leadership has been broadly categorized into classical approaches, behavioural approaches, trait approaches, transformational approaches and contingency approaches. Each approach has many theories within it. The classical approach contains the autocratic style, bureaucratic style, democratic style and the Laissez-faire. The autocratic style is the one in which the leader or manager retains control and power of decision making. Studies have shown that an autocratic leadership style leads to high absenteeism and labour turnover. There is low employee morale and the employees become dependent on the manager for decision making. Bureaucratic is when the manager goes by the book, follows procedure and policy, and if something is not in the book than he refers to his senior. This type of leadership style can be used when the job is routine, or when working with dangerous equipment and hazardous chemicals. It should not be used when employees start to lose interest in their job and do only what is expected of them and no more. A democratic style encourages participation, sharing of information and problem solving responsibilities. It is a way of coaching the employees to reach their full potential, although the final say lies with the coach. It is appropriate to use this style when the employee is skilled and the leader wants to provide the employees with opportunities, encourage team work, the task is very complex and requires input form all employees or when an organisational change needs to be made. It is not effective when there is a lack of time, it costs more to get everybody's input, the business in not in a condition to make mistakes, employee safety is vital and the manager feels insecure about delegating. Laissez-faire style is a do it yourself style. The leader provides no guidance. This is effective when the employees are highly skilled and know what they are doing. They are trustworthy and have experience in the field, and are experts. An example of this can be engineers and scientists working in the research and development department. They know what they want and how they want the end result to look like. It should not be used when the manager himself is unclear about his responsibilities and wants the employees to do his work, when the manager can not provide feedback; managers are unable to thank their employees and when the employees need the presence of the manager to guide them. Each of these