LCBB6003
Component 1: Coursework: Essay
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Introduction
This essay aims at critically analysing and reflecting on the leadership and management experience of a colleague; the case study occupies a crucial managerial post within a candidate organisation. From the essay, aspects of their leadership style, some difficulties that they face in carrying out their functions, consequences of decision-making, and those pleasant and unpleasant, will be discussed. It will then discuss other alternative approaches that may have enhanced leadership effectiveness by using relevant leadership theories and concepts to serve such an evaluation.
The case study is about a colleague who leads a team in one of the large departments for which they take care of all the strategic and operational aspects of their unit. They allocate resources as they manage the performance of the team and ensure initiatives are taken to meet all the objectives within the department. They are both a leader and managers, so their experiences are fantastic to reflect on.
In the literature, leadership and management are used almost interchangeably, but on very close observation they tend to differ. While leadership is about inspiring, motivating, and guiding people toward a vision or goal, management has to do with planning, organising, and controlling resources with the view of attaining certain goals.
Questions raised during the interview:
What is your leadership style?
What issues do you face as a leader or while managing your team?
How do you handle conflicting circumstances or a difficult decision?
What are the positive outcomes of your leadership style?
In retrospect, what would you have done differently?
Case Study Overview of Issues
Leadership/Management Style
Candidate management style is a combination of both the transformational and the transactional style of management. Since, the role of a transforming leader involves the support for inspiration of the team, the Candidate working towards supporting creativity within the team. They stress the concept of the individual accountability of each member to the overall objectives of the organisation and sometimes encourage each employee to deviate from his/her standard responsibilities and participate in other organisational activities. For example, the Candidate continuously sets up meetings where team members are encouraged to perform a current activity in cases where they are to come up with new solutions, encouraging teamwork. This corresponds with Transformational leadership that aims at encouraging people towards increased levels of performance through vision (Kapur, 2022).
On the Candidate's note, the Candidate uses transactional leadership, especially in the aspect of delegation and assignment of tasks. They outline behavioural expectations and then compensate based on the accomplishment of stated tasks. This is best illustrated in his/her handling of project schedules and most specifically, whether or not the budget is efficiently utilised to achieve pertinent objectives on time. He makes use of performance appraisal and measures, specifically KPIs, tracking and giving incentives where objectives have been met and giving feedback where there is a need to improve on the outcome. The general structure of work means that daily work processes are well coordinated (Biewenga, 2021).
For control of operative tasks, Candidate is also authoritative but he is not too strict to be controlling all the time since he sometimes inspires the team. The process dimension of Candidate leadership relates to rewarding and encouraging employees based on their inspirational interests. On the other hand, the transactional aspects are about the preservation of order, and smooth operations by focusing on the concept of reward power.
Such a combination of leadership typology enables the Candidate to address the issues of innovation and team building as well as other practical organisational management activities. In this sense, it shows an ability to fit different requirements in the team and be able to offer the motivation most often needed when required and also impose the structure that ensures goals are achieved efficiently in other cases. Thus, by Synthesising key characteristics of both transformational and transactional leadership styles, the Candidate makes it possible for inspiration to work hand in hand with performance as a means of strengthening positive impacts on the team and the company (Dimopoulos, 2020).
Challenges Experienced
There are many challenges that the Candidate faces as a leader: the most predominant one is the team members' resistance to change. As the industry keeps changing, the Candidate suggests several initiatives to improve processes and introduce new technologies. Many people in the teams prefer to go for routine practices with which they are familiar; thus, the reluctance grows to embrace such changes. This usually results in the team being shifted back when new strategies are implemented. Hence, more time is spent by the Candidate in coaching and urging the team to embrace the change and adapt to these developments (Chanland and Murphy, 2018).
Another major challenge is how to manage the workload distribution in a managing style. The candidate has a relatively diverse team with wide talents that make task delegation quite challenging. Some employees are given too much responsibility that they eventually burn out while others are given so little that it does not make the best of their capabilities. The constant struggle has been how to balance giving the team a chance to exploit their strengths without overworking them. Candidate therefore has to intervene mid-project at times to rebalance the workload to ensure productivity and team morale are protected.
The third problem was the lack of communication, mainly by remote workers. The pandemic has managed to set up barriers to effective communication about the challenge of working remotely. Some members of the team might feel isolated and out of touch with the rest of the team. This adverse-affected the team cohesion because the Candidate found it difficult to maintain the level of engagement and oversight present where they were working in person. Digital tools have only bridged some of the gaps, as lost face-to-face interactions cannot be regained; these, after all, were the times when collaboration was supported and advanced (Bolden, Gosling, and Hawkins, 2023).
Issues such as this are not new to Candidate's organisation but represent a larger trend in leadership in the UK. In general, many businesses face resistance to change, both due to technology and changing market needs. In addition, the post-pandemic work environment distributed the workload and maintained hybrid or remote communication as a common issue, as depicted in the Candidate's experiences. The contemporary leader must be able to adapt, communicate strongly with employees, and focus on the preservation of balance among different types of needs of the employees while adapting to the modern business environment (Finkelstein, Costanza, and Goodwin, 2018).
Positive and Negative Consequences
The candidate's leadership style had several advantages. The significant emphasis on transformational leadership meant that it was very well associated with team member involvement which, in turn, gave a great deal of creativity and involvement. Candidate, through open communication and decisions taken alongside employees, has fostered creativity to blossom in that environment, and open communication and hence collaboration is said to have led to the successful implementation of many new initiatives, including process improvements, which have increased productivity together with efficiency. The employees feel valued, and the motivation level among the team members has gone up, thereby creating a productive atmosphere at work and enhanced job satisfaction. This sense of involvement has further increased team cohesion; thus, it makes the employees even more committed to the organisation's overall goals (Northouse, 2021).
However, not all of the above effects have been positive. For instance, the Candidate sometimes often neglects the day-to-day operations in his pursuit of innovation and long-term strategic goals. Sometimes, the ultimate results overshadow the day-to-day activities, and the management of the Candidate goes astray; hence deadlines have been missed and the project got executed ineffectively since the Candidate has moments of focus on big-picture thinking rather than operational precision. Such lapses are not frequent but cause delays in the formation of short-term goals and affect the project timeline.
Another challenge has been that of team burnout. Candidate motivational leadership style always pushes employees to strive for excellence. However, sometimes it also tips over to overwork. High expectations in performance and constant innovation drive have at some point overwhelmed the team members. It was stressful to balance these new tasks with the still ongoing ones, in such a way that exhaustiveness and sometimes low morale were brought about among some of the members. Although demands on the leadership approach have caused moments of stress in the team, the Candidate has had to address these issues by adjusting workloads and providing additional support (Fries, Kammerlander, and Leitterstorf, 2021).
These results indicate the strengths and weaknesses of Candidate leadership. While results on the positive side are indicative of transformational leadership, where inspiration leads to higher engagement and innovation, negative results suggest that without more transactional elements of task management in the form of being stricter and setting clear benchmarks, operational efficiency and burnout due to overworking may decrease. In that way, ensuring success in the long run would not compromise productivity in the short run (Prochazka et al., 2018).
Alternative Approach
Another way in which a Candidate can improve his leadership is by using Servant Leadership. This type of leadership focuses on service to the team and looks at the development and betterment of people. In other words, he can zero in on the personal as well as professional requirements of members of his team to gain effective collaboration and minimise problems of burnout and resistance toward change. Servant leadership would appear to change the role of a leader, more from coordinating the team toward organisational goals to one that serves and develops team members. This will therefore result in a more nurturing condition (Pawar et al., 2020).
For instance, where the aim could be to inspire a group of employees toward high-level organisational objectives, the Candidate can instead ensure that workloads are equitably balanced and that resources are adequate for success. This can consequently aid in relieving burnout through the fostering of a more supportive and empathetic environment. If employees feel that their wellness is valued, they can less be overwhelmed and stand up for their rights. In addition, the Candidate can improve team engagement with Servant Leadership by listening actively to the input of his teams and allowing them to be part of decision-making processes. This will likely bring about ownership to team members and reduce resistance towards change, given the opportunity to contribute to new ideas. As long as they feel listened to, understood, and valued, they become much more likely to embrace changes and contribute positively to the evolution of the team (Eva et al., 2019).
Situational Leadership might also add value to the leadership toolkit of the Candidate. Such a model is an adaptation of leadership style according to the levels of competency and confidence among the team members (Seidel et al., 2019). For instance, while the Candidate must be able to exercise more coaching and guidance from the least experienced team members, he can offer more delegation and great freedom to seasoned professionals. This will enable Candidate to manage the varied capabilities within the team and ensure that tasks get assigned to the right individuals who will suit their strengths and developmental needs.
Combining both Servant and Situational Leadership could be instrumental in helping candidates develop a more dynamic, responsive leadership style. Servant Leadership would create a supportive, team-centred environment while being flexible with Situational Leadership to adjust to the needs of people. In that way, it will be possible for the Candidate to motivate and develop the team better, reducing burnout or a show of resistance.
Conclusion
In summary, Candidate's leadership is transformational and transactional. It fuels innovation and energises the team to work while keeping task management in check by having expectations clearly outlined and rewards available. Issues with resistance to change, distribution of workload, and communication barriers have marred the effectiveness of this type of leadership. Such has resulted in positive outcomes, such as the engagement of the team and innovation, and negative outcomes, including operational inefficiency and burnout.
This alternative solution of Servant Leadership will help the team's collaboration, reduce burnout, and increase employee buy-in on new initiatives. Attached with Situational Leadership, it will allow the Candidate to adjust their leadership style according to their team members' needs so that the Candidate can foster all levels of personal and professional growth in the team.
This case shows that there is an aspect of flexibility in leadership which must be developed for the challenges of the new workplace. If applied appropriately and based on theories like Servant and Situational Leadership, then leaders would be well-positioned to make a more practical and informed decision, taking into account organisational objectives and their team's well-being as they strive for increased long-term success.
References
Biewenga, Z., (2021). Career anchors and leadership style for Senior Management Service: the case of the National School of Government.
Bolden, R., Gosling, J. and Hawkins, B., (2023). Exploring leadership: Individual, organizational, and societal perspectives. Oxford University Press.
Chanland, D.E. and Murphy, W.M., (2018). Propelling diverse leaders to the top: A developmental network approach. Human Resource Management, 57(1), pp.111-126.
Dimopoulos, A., (2020). Educational leadership effectiveness. Is it a matter of a leader’s characteristics, behaviours, or leadership style? Journal of Economics and Management Sciences, 3(1), pp.p13-p13.
Eva, N., Robin, M., Sendjaya, S., Van Dierendonck, D. and Liden, R.C., (2019). Servant leadership: A systematic review and call for future research. The Leadership Quarterly, 30(1), pp.111-132.
Finkelstein, L.M., Costanza, D.P. and Goodwin, G.F., (2018). Do your high potentials have potential? The impact of individual differences and designation on leader success. Personnel Psychology, 71(1), pp.3-22.
Fries, A., Kammerlander, N. and Leitterstorf, M., (2021). Leadership styles and leadership behaviors in family firms: A systematic literature review. Journal of Family Business Strategy, 12(1), p.100374.
Kapur, R., (2022). Leadership management and development in organizations. International Journal of Information, Business and Management, 14(2), pp.47-57.
Northouse, P.G., (2021). Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage publications.
Pawar, A., Sudan, K., Satini, S. and Sunarsi, D., (2020). Organizational servant leadership. International Journal of Educational Administration, Management, and Leadership, pp.63-76.
Prochazka, J., Vaculik, M., Smutny, P. and Jezek, S., (2018). Leader traits, transformational leadership and leader effectiveness. Journal of East European Management Studies, 23(3), pp.474-501.
Seidel, A., Saurin, T.A., Tortorella, G.L. and Marodin, G.A., (2019). How can general leadership theories help to expand the knowledge of lean leadership?. Production Planning & Control, 30(16), pp.1322-1336.
