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Leadership styles can be divided, primarily, into the two categories of democratic and authoritarian leadership styles. This study will examine the three democratic styles of transformational, servant, and charismatic leadership. The study will both broaden the knowledge of these forms of leadership and examine their effect on performance, engagement, and job satisfaction. The research will further attempt to properly define each style, identify their goals, and effect on innovation. The styles will ultimately be compared and measured against one another to determine their merits and perils. This review will add to the discourse of democratic leadership styles and serve to establish a framework whereby charismatic, transformational, and …show more content…
“Servant leaders act in the best interest of the employee and prioritize their individual growth and development. These actions result in higher levels of organizational commitment” (Jaramillo, Bande, & Varela, 2014, p. 108). In continuing the theme of ethics and ethical leaders, the servant leader is principled and adheres to a high values system. According to Jaramillo, Bande, and Varela, the high ethical standards established by the servant leader aims to improve employee and follower performance through genuine concern (Jaramillo, Bande, & Varela, 3014, p. …show more content…
As stated in Discourses of Charisma: Barack Obama’s First 6 Months as President of the USA, “charismatic leadership can be divided into ethical and unethical charisma” (Takala, Tanttu, Lamsa, & Virtanan, 2013, p. 155). For the above noted reason, the charismatic leader is heavily reliant on impression management, resourcefulness, and manipulation. When considering methods to garner production and increase performance, then, the charismatic leader seeks domination as a means to complete self-interest for their own purposes. This observation is in stark contrast to the individual consideration exhibited by the transformational leader and the characteristic of servitude from the servant
Servant leadership, as defined by Kretiner and Kinkicki (2015, p.486), is putting the needs of others, including employees, customers, and community ahead of one’s own needs. This management style requires selflessness and humility from management so the organization can focus on serving key stakeholders. There are ten characteristics of a servant-leader as identified in the text
There has been a bit of research done on the nature of servant leadership. The belief is that many organizations are moving from the traditional style of leadership to a more servant based style. Larry C. Spears (2010) and Kent Keith (2016) note a few characteristics of one who is a servant leader. The characteristics proposed by Spears (2010) are listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to others growth, and community building. These traits will often manifest naturally becoming more enriched as time goes by through experience. Keith (2016) references only four elements of servant leadership. He begins with an element of morality, then of the servant focus, concern for others’
Servant leadership is a philosophy and set of practices that augments the lives of individuals, builds better organizations, and creates a more just and caring world, they put the team first, and themselves second (MindTools, 2015). Servant leaders are able to demonstrate their traits through interaction with followers and other leaders within the organization. The characteristics of servant leaders include their commitment to the growth of people, stewardship, and building community, and provide leaders with the opportunity to experience change and to invite followers to change (Savage-Austin & Honeycutt 2011). Servant leadership encourages leaders and followers to ‘raise one another to higher levels of motivation and morality’, and set their leadership focus: follower’s first, organizations second, their own needs last (Sendjaya, Sarros, & Santora, 2008). The servant leader focuses on the needs of others to include team members. They acknowledge people’s perspectives, and give them the support needed to meet their goals. Servant leaders involve members when decisions are appropriate helping build a stronger commitment within the team. Strong qualities of servant leadership are trust, appreciation for others, and empowerment. Honesty and integrity form the moral foundation of effective leadership through the four values of truth telling, promise
Idealized influence. Idealized influence includes leaders’ charisma, or their ability to generate strong emotions in followers, and is considered the most important of the four characteristics of transformational leaders (Avolio, Bass, & Jung, 1999). Charismatic leaders are confident in themselves and hold a strong conviction in their beliefs, evoking passion in their followers (Bass, 1985). They many times place the team’s needs before their own, and they guide the organizational culture into the change envisioned (Bass et al., 2003). Bass (1985) suggested that charismatic leadership strongly influences followers, thus positively influencing organizational performance. This ability to influence is due largely in part to the charisma exhibited by the leader (Bass & Avolio, 1994). Ehrhart and Klein’s (2001) review of literature concerning charismatic leadership found four behaviors repeatedly referred to as “charismatic”: (a) communicating high performance expectations, (b) exhibiting confidence in followers’ ability to reach goals, (c) taking calculated risks, and (d) articulating a value-based vision of the future (Kark & Van Dijk, 2007). Accumulated evidence points to transformational and charismatic leadership as influential modes of leadership that are associated with high levels of individual and organizational performance (Dvir, Eden, Avolio, & Shamir, 2002; Kark & Van Dijk, 2007; Lowe, Kroeck, & Sivasubramaniam, 1996).
Leading by example is the main idea. Servant leaders do not want to be in the first line and they prefer to guide their employees from a distance. They distinguish because of their personality, their behavior and their values. The only disadvantage is that in a competitive financial environment it is difficult from them to be recognized.
A leadership theory is a clarification of some features of leadership; theories have practical importance as they are being used for better understanding, anticipating, and controlling successful leadership. Hence, the main principle of any theory is to inform practice(Lussier and Achua 2009). Leadership theories could be classified into eight main categories: Great man, trait, behavioral, contingency, Situational, Participative, Relationship , management (Cherry 2010).
"Many researchers postulated that charisma is a popular attribute of leaders who serve in the change agent or transformational roles. Others believe that charismatic leadership was the most exemplary form that transformational leaders could assume" (Conger
Yukl, G. (1999). An evaluation of conceptual weaknesses in transformational and charismatic leadership theories. The Leadership Quarterly, 10(2), 285-305.
The idea of approaching leadership from the standpoint of values has been echoed in several studies. O’Toole (1995) compared and contrasted contingency and situational approach to leadership with value-based leadership. He stated that all leadership styles eventually enforces the individuals to follow what their leader commands them to do rather than focusing on what is the will of the followers – this he called as disrespect for the individuals. It is important for the leader to understand, why people are resistant to change in reality and must make a personal commitment to overcome this resistance to changing environment or culture. He suggested that if the company wants to initiate change that is constructive, focus must be placed on the
Avolio, B. J., & Yammarino, F. J. (Eds.). (2013). Transformational and Charismatic Leadership:: the Road Ahead. Emerald Group Publishing.
Many leadership researchers and scholars have stated that leaders do not exist without followers. Leadership has been described as the process of influencing, in which a person can enlist the support of others to accomplish a task or goal (Nye, 2010 and Oc & Bashshur, 2013). A leader is one whom others agree to follow, but a follower must be willing to be led. In developing leaderships styles and theories, the traits and behavior of the leaders were considered by Bass (2008). Bass described these styles as transactional and transformational leadership (2008). For the purposes of this short essay, I will discuss two leadership styles, the types of followers, and the autocratic style being used by this organization’s new VP.
Has perception of charismatic leadership changed the playing field for the types of leaders that organizations are in search of? Many feel that the weight of the leader’s charisma as the focus of leadership needs to be re-examined. As a result, the charismatic leader may be viewed probably as one of the most contentious leadership styles because of the focus on the leader’s personal characteristics, often defining them as narcissists. Given the large number of narcissists at the helm or corporations today, the challenge facing organizations is to ensure that such leaders do not self-destruct or lead the company to disaster (Maccoby, 2000).
“The important word there is inspire. The key difference between managers and leaders is that managers tell people what to do, while leaders inspire them to do it. Inspiration comes from three things: clarity of one’s vision, courage of their conviction and the ability to effectively communicate both of those things”
Many great leaders have one thing in common and that is charisma. Charismatic leaders are those that have the capability to inspire and encourage people to do more than they would normally do, despite obstacles and personal sacrifice. (Daft, R.L, pg. 364) Charisma is what provokes energy and commitment out of its followers. These leaders possess the power to motivate their followers to do almost anything. They create an atmosphere of change and express an ideal vision of a better future. The most common characteristics of the charismatic leader involve maturity, communication, humility, and inspiration. These unique qualities impact their followers and conduct themselves in such a way that allows for remarkable results. Then one wonders, is charisma something you are born with? And if not, is it possible for it to be developed or even trained through life experiences?
Charismatic Power – The ability to influence followers based on the leaders personality. Politicians often use this kind of power to get follower’s to support them.