More handpicked essays just for you.
The importance of effective communication in the workplace
Revised refined and revised paper leadership philosophy
Leadership philosophies
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Introduction:
John Terrill, an experienced professional with a unique approach to managing, was brought into to DGL International to correct the productivity issues evident in the technical services division. As a leader, his approach would require professionalism, as well as an alternative method of management to restore the lacking work ethic of the engineers. Through investigative research into well-defined leadership styles, behaviours and power types, the following case study questions are discussed below. Using Paul Hershey and Ken Blanchard’s situational leadership theory, I compare the autocratic with the democratic approaches to leadership, as well as discuss the four styles of leading: telling, selling, participative or delegating. I also address the type of power Terrill appears to possess over his followers and compare multiple options. Though Terrill proved to be a successful development to the company’s management team, the repercussions and advantages of alternative approaches are also addressed in conjunction with Robert House’s path-goal theory.
Q1.
With supportive research, one could consider John Terrill’s leadership style to be a combination of democratic consultative and participative. Robbins, DeCenzo, Coulter & Woods explain that democratic leaders ‘tend to involve employees in decision making, delegates authority, encourages participation…uses feedback’ (2011 p. 297). The authors further elaborate on the two subcategories of demographic leadership, which are consultative and participative. When Terrill was appointed to manage the technical services division of DGL International, he actively addressed the issues with the employees he managed. Reflecting his democratic approach, he consulted with them abou...
... middle of paper ...
...et, M, Dobbins, G, Rush, M & Russell, J 1995, ‘Expert power, referent power, and charisma: Toward the resolution of a theoretical debate’, Journal of Business and Psychology, vol. 10, no. 2, pp.178-179
Lindskold, S, Banoma, T, Schlenker, B & Tedeschi, J 1972, ‘Factors affecting the effectiveness of reward power’, Psychonomic Science, Springer-Verlag, vol. 26, no, 2, pp. 68-70
Robbins, S, DeCenzo, D, Coulter, M & Woods, M 2011, Management: The Essentials, Pearson Australia, NSW, Australia, 1st Edition
Tannenbaum, R & Schmidt, W 1973, ‘How to choose a leadership pattern’, Harvard Business Review (p. 298 of Robbins et al Management: The Essentials)
Willer, R, Youngreen, R, Troyer, L & Lovaglia, M.J 2012, ‘How Do the Powerful Attain Status? The Roots of Legitimate Power Inequalities’, Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 33, no. 5, pp. 355-367
Raven, Bertram, and John French. Jr. "Legitimate Power, Coercive Power, and Observability in Social Influence ." Sociometry Vol. 21.No. 2 (1958): 83. Web. 2 Aug 2010. .
The theory is based on the premise that leader behaviors are learned and not inherent traits in a leader’s personality (Kreitner & Kinick, 2014). As an example, the manner in which the leader communicates the tasks that need to be done is a learned behavior compared to the vocal tone of the leader’s voice which is an inherent trait. Ohio State University had a team of researchers study the behaviors of leaders beginning in 1946 and continued for ten years. The team developed a Leader Behavior Description Questionnaire with 150 descriptive leadership processes and asked how often the leader performed the process utilizing a scale of always to never (Halpin, 1956). From the results the team identified that there were two elements of leader behavior, consideration and initiating structure (Kreitner & Kinick,
Ewens A (2002). The nature and purpose of leadership. In E Hawkins, C Thornton (Eds). Six
Yukl, G. (2002). Leadership in organizations. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. p. 1-19. Retrieved from http://www.blackdiamond.dk/HDO/Organisation_Gary_Yukl_Leadership_in_Organizations.pdf
Mlls, D. Q. (2005). Leadership How to Lead, How to Live. Boston: Harvad Business School Press.
Robbins, S.P., & Coulter, M. (2009). Management (10th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Robbins, S. P., & Coulter. M. (2014). Management (12th ed.). Retrieved from: Colorado Technical University eBook Collection database.
Robbins, S. P., & Coulter, M. (2009). Management (10th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson
Jones, G. R., & George, J. M. (2011). Contemporary management. (7 ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Robbins, S, DeCenzo, D, Coulter, M and Woods, M 2014, Management: The Essentials, 2nd ed, Pearson, Frenchs Forest, NSW.
Robbins, S., Decenzo, D., & Coulter, M. (2013). Fundamentals of management. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
In French and Raven’s initial papers (French & Raven, 1959; Raven, 1965), they defined social influence as a change in the belief, attitude, or behavior of a person (the target of influence), which results from the action of another person (an influencing agent). Their six bases of power are widely cited in the organizational literature and they include: informational, reward, coercion, legitimate, expert and referent (Raven, B. 2008). Expert power is a personal characteristic, while legitimate, reward and coercive powers are largely prescribed by the organization (Ivancevich, et.al, p.342). In the original 1959 paper, the authors disagreed on whether “informational” should be an influence or a power resulting in only five bases of power included in the paper. Raven explains that expert power results from the target’s faith that the agent has some superior insight or knowledge about what behavior is best under the circumstances (Raven, B. 200...
Chan, K. W. & Maubourgne, R. A. 1992, Parables of leadership, Harvard Business Review, July-August.
Robbins, S., Bergman, R., Stagg, I. & Coulter, M. (2003), Management, (3rd edn.), Pearson Education Australia, Frenchs Forest.
OLLIER-MALATERRE, ARIANE; ROTHBARD, NANCY P.; BERG, JUSTIN M. Academy of Management Review (Oct2013), Vol. 38 Issue 4