Comparison of Leadership Styles in Group Work

Comparing Leadership Styles

How leadership style affects being part of a team?

 Leadership style is sometimes determined by the situation that you are put into or the type of company you are working for. With that being said, sometimes you will have to switch your style.  Something that can affect your style can be the culture, the experience, the size and how motivated the employees are within the organization.  My styles are Participative and Delegative leadership style.  As I said sometimes it can depend on the situation you are put into, which will determine what style you may have to use.

Participative Leadership Effects

One of my styles is being a participative leader, this seems to work best for me, for I can evaluate my employees and see how they feel working with their boss (Pirraglia, 2011). While working with your team, you can see who is that take charge type of individual, and who could possibly be the next leader for when you are not available. In this type of style, I can manage and guide the department and the team while accepting feedback and input from them to better the department. This can let the leader accept their input and give him the right to make the final decision. If you have worked with your team, you can know if they know their job, and this will let you value their opinion much more then if you have never work with them before. This can lead you to delegate more to some of the employees that you see may have leadership potential.

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Delegative Leadership Effects

Delegative style can be considered the laissez-faire of leadership, and some consider it to be the least effective (Pirraglia, 2011).  But for me, with a combination of participative style, it can be a very effective style of leadership. If you work with your employees then you can know who can handle more tasks and still get the job done. I will not be able to work or monitor all of the employees every day, so you will need someone else to take that leadership role when you are not around. This way you will feel comfortable that the mission/task will still be completed.

A good example of both types of leadership styles is when the war started in Somalia, Africa, I was one of the lead supervisors in my unit, but as we say, “duty calls.”.I had to drop everything I was working on, to prepare to go off to war, and I only had three days to transition. Since I had been a participative leader and delegated and trained someone to take over for me if I was not available. They knew exactly what need to be done had no problem with who was left in charge, and their mission and task were not affected at all by me moving on off to war.

How leadership style affects building organizational human relations?

 Today, we look at our human worker as people that like to be noticed and known for what they can do. They are thinker with needs, and they like to be rewarded for what they do and this can be seen as a motivating factor for the employee.  Rewards can be a benefit and a way to let the employee know that you do recognize them for a job well done, or a job that was not so good.

 As a participative leader, you work closely with your employee, and you get to know their worth at work, and you should reward them for a job well done. When an employee notice that you have noticed their contribution to the team and organization, it makes them feel good, and a good worker will do their best work for the team and the organization.  While working with the team, you get to know them as well as their family, and their problems.  You as their leader should try your best to help and assist them if they need or want any advice.  A family member should be part of your team also, for a happy home life, can make for a great worker. A bad and hostile family life can also make for a bad worker, as well as a dis-orientated worker, which can lead to a mistake on the job. So we should make sure that our employees balance their work time with their family time, so we have to make sure they get enough time off and vacation to be with their family member.

 Each day we work with many different cultures at work, and we sometimes have to be sensitive to their needs. Some speak a different language, some have different religious believes and some even eat different types of food. These are some of the things that we as leaders have to learn to deal with. If you don’t know about their culture, please ask, for some employee take their culture very seriously.  This can bring down team and organization morale, which can affect the work environment.               A good leader should know how to resolve conflicts in a work environment.  This will be good for the work environment, team and organization and we all should be able to get alone.  If we all can not get alone, this could cause for bad work results.

 An example is, I use to work with a group of multiple cultural employees, blacks, whites, Mexican and Asian. The black and Mexican got alone pretty good until one of the black guys asked the Mexican guy what type of car he drove and what color. The Mexican guy told him he drove a Mustang and su negro, meaning “its black”, and the black guy thought he was calling him the N-word, he thought he said “you negro”. So I had to explain it to them about the language barrier and word meaning. Once I talk to both of them, they seem to have a better understand, and asked for clarification the next time there was a misunderstanding.

How leadership style affects participating in group work?

 As I said earlier, I am used to working with multiple groups of culture, and you need to know your people and something about their culture. Some people like to have certain holidays off, and most of their holidays are not the same as ours.  When working with a group, it is very important that the whole group knows about the different holidays and cultural ways.  In a group, many people may ask, why does this person have to have a certain day off, and they do not have that day off.  The more everybody within the group knows about others, the better the group will perform and do their job.  You need teamwork in order to get a job done and done on time, so the group needs to learn to work together.

 As a participative and delegation style leader, you have to get your team to learn to work together and trust whoever is in charge (Nayab, 2018). While working with the team, you can access who the problem employee is, and what will be the best way to handle them in a bad situation, and pull the team back together.  I like to keep a close net workgroup, for sometimes we need to get a product out quickly, and a team that works together as a group can get the job done quickly and easily.

 Example of group working is when we had to complete a job of 100 motherboards for Dell computers and we finished early ahead of schedule.  They asked part of my team to help with another task, which would take a half of day, but my team said if one goes we all go. As the team went, they finish the other team’s task in half that time.  I rewarded my team with a half day off, to relax and enjoy some family time.  They came into work with a fresh head and ready to get some work done.  This was what teamwork is supposed to be like, all pulling together for one cost, to get the job done.

How leadership style affects participating in individual change?

 A good participative leader can work with his team, and this could have a great effect on the team as a whole or just one individual.  Some people can look at a good leader and say one day I would like to be a leader just like him. The leader can take that person under his wing and train him to be a great leader that he wants to be.  Or that one individual can look at a bad leader and say I hope I do not turn out to be like him.  There are a lot of employees that are looking for that edge to get ahead of the other, and someone to train him on what to do to advance.

 The leader can have one on one counseling with each of their team member. He can ask them where they want to be in the next 6 months to 1 year and give them what they need to do to get there.  Some might want to be transferred into another section but you as his leader can still give him the basic training to get him to where he wants to go.  Training, planning, and communication will play a big role in getting the employee to where they want to be (Prosci Change Management, n.d.).

You can always pick out one person who stands out, to be your number two guy, for he will take over once you are not available to lead your team and keep them on track. No one knows how the change of that one person will affect the team.  When you change a leader, you can sometimes come under a different type of leadership style, and it could and could not be what is right for the team.  The way I run thing might work great for me and the team, but my number two guy might not like my way and figure his authoritarian leadership style is better.  He does not want to participate with the team, he just wants to tell them what to do and how to do it.  This could disrupt the team and make it so that the employee does not care if they finish a task on time.  Different leadership styles can have a different outcome on how a job is done and can affect an individual in different ways.

Example of the individual leadership affect within an organization was while in the military, we have to pass a physical fitness test (PFT) once a year.  Before I arrived at the organization, there was one person that could not pass the run part of the test. No one else could get her to pass the test, so I worked with her for about two months doing various drills and timing her one mile at a time to see what her problem was.  The only thing I could see was she had a thing about timing her when it came down to taking a test.  I had to run with her, and give her false times, and I told the timekeeper not to call out the time when she passed by. When it was all over, she finished with one minute to spare, and that was the first time she had passed the test in over two years.  She was a very happy lady and just kept thanking me all day because if she did not pass the test at that time, I would have to put her out of the military.  I did not want to do that, for she was a good and hard worker.

How leadership style affects participating in organizational change?

 Organizations go through and deal with many changes, and everybody has to learn to adapt the changes and still maintain pace with other organization.  A good leader should know how to deal with changes and teach their employees how to deal with them also.  Sometimes the leaders do not have any control over the change, but he must learn how to adapt and overcome the issue.  Once everybody knows the changes and why the changes are made, the better equipped we are to deal with it and get back to business and usual.  Training with their leader as a team can help everyone deal with change  (Prosci Change Management, n.d.).

 A good leader will have to know how and when to communicate, plan and educate those who work under him.  He will need to set aside time for each person, which can be done one on one or in a group setting.  As with all changes, there will be some that will take longer to adjust, but a good leader can work with that person one on one to get them up to standard. The leader must make sure everyone within the organization understands all changes, and that they must comply with the change. If everyone does not understand the changes, then that could be leading up to failure if not corrected quickly.

 Example of organization changes for a leader is when there is a change in your benefits package, and you need to update your package between a certain date.  Some benefits will change, and some will stay the same, and each leader needs to know what these are and how they will affect their employee.  They should let the employee know that they have about a 30 days to look at, change and update their plan if they wish to take advantage of the changes.  If they do not do this within that 30 days timeframe, then they can not make any changes after that.

Which leadership skill you believe would benefit from improvement?

 For me, I am a participative leader, for I am a worker leader, and I have a laissez-faire typestyle. I like to keep track of my guys and let them run things, but let them know who’s in charge.  I like to give them just enough rope to hang themselves, but cut it when needed.  A laissez-faire leader can be freed up to do other bigger and better things for to organization. This type of style should only be used if you have a lot of senior guys working on your team, who knows what they are doing.  When they get that freedom to do their thing, it gives them pride and power in doing their job. A laissez-faire leadership style gives workers flexibility to complete tasks without someone constantly looking over their shoulder and telling them what to do. It works well with employees who are knowledgeable and experienced in their roles.

That worker who does not have much job experience and skills in time management may lead to poor work performance and bad result when it comes to completing tasks.  This can lead to poor management and bad morale when the worker notices that you are not around to give them guidance when they are lost and do not know what the next step is (Reference, 2015).

To improve on this type of leadership is to train your people to do their job, and show them where to find information if you are not around, and let them know who to go to also.  Teach them how to set goals that they can reach with ease, and show them how to accomplish them.  Interact with your employee and teach them where they are wrong, and show them the correct way to complete the task.  Teach them to work as a team and communication with each other will be a great start to a better organization success.

References

• Nayab, N. (2018, November 18). Explaining: How Does Leadership Style Affect Group Communication. Retrieved from https://www.brighthubpm.com/resource-management/92791-how-does-leadership-affect-group-communication/
• Pirraglia, W. (2011, June 1). The Effects of Leadership Styles on the Organization. Retrieved from https://smallbusiness.chron.com/effects-leadership-styles-organization-10387.html
• Prosci Change Management. (n.d.). Individual and Organizational Change Integration. Retrieved from https://www.prosci.com/resources/articles/integrated-individual-organizational-cm-methodology
• Reference. (2015, August 4). What Are the Pros and Cons of Laissez-Faire Leadership? Retrieved from https://www.reference.com/government-politics/pros-cons-laissez-faire-leadership-35d9da8fd3fd04b5