Improving Employee Turnover And Retention

In 2013 the Bureau of Labor Statistics (2018) reported that close to two million employees quit per month; however, now that number has risen to over three million. Turnover in the U.S is an increasing problem. Researchers are spending extensive time on studies associated with turnover, retention, and the possible variables involved. Leadership has been found to be one of the main variables associated with turnover and retention studies. This review of literature will show how effective leadership is crucial to improving employee retention. When considering how effective leadership improves employee retention, it is helpful to start by looking at leadership. Leadership behaviors have been studied extensively over the past century. Leadership

In other words, it is not a one-size-fits-all scenario. Different situations call for different styles of leadership in order to be effective. The first part of Fiedler's model involves assessing one's leadership style by using the Least Preferred Co-Worker (LPC) scale (Rice & Kastenbaum, 1983). This scale requires rating a co-worker one does not like working with on a scale of one to eight, essentially from undesirable to desirable in sixteen different traits. Individuals with high scores are considered relationship-oriented leaders and those with low scores are considered task-oriented leaders. Determining "situational favorableness" is the next part of his model, which is the situation the leader is in and the degree that the leader can influence his followers. The situational favorableness is dependent upon three factors - leader-member relations, task structure, and the leader's position of power. After identifying the leadership style and situational favorableness, one can determine the most effective leadership style. With this model, in very favorable and unfavorable situations, people with low LPC are most effective. In situations of intermediate favorableness, high LPC leaders are most effective (Rice & Kastenbaum, 1983). This has been a fundamental basis for understanding leadership situations. For example, leadership within companies often changes after a few years. It is

Maxwell is an internationally recognized expert on leadership. He is a successful businessman and author who has dedicated his life to studying leadership and helping others develop leadership skills in order to improve their businesses. In his book The Five Levels of Leadership (2013), Maxwell explains that in order to be the most effective leader, one must move up the different levels. The first level of leadership is Position, which means people only follow because they have to. The second level is Position, which is where relationships are built, and people follow because they want to. The third level is Production, where results are evident as people begin to follow because of what the leader has done for the organization. The fourth level is People Development where it starts circling back around and people follow because of what the leader has done for them. The last level is the Pinnacle, where respect is firmly established, and people follow because of who the leader is and what they represent (Maxwell, 2013). While Maxwell tends to take a relation-oriented approach in his leadership, he also understands the importance of performance. He focuses on creating teams that people want to be a part of in order to get results. This is because he has recognized that people tend to quit people, not companies. As he points out, "The 'company' doesn't do anything negative to them. People do." (Maxwell, 2009, p.145). Maxwell's leadership lessons have been