Leadership and Teams: Theoretical Leadership Models

Leadership and Teams – Theoretical Leadership Models
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Leadership and Teams – Theoretical Leadership Models
Within the last three decades, there has been an explosion of studies on the effectiveness of teams. This was as a result of the rise of teams in organizations, the studies are attempting to provide a better understanding of the processes and factors that facilitate effective teams. The area that has been the center of these studies is the role of leaders in creating effective teams. For long, the scholars have maintained that leaders play a critical role in facilitating effective teams, recent works have expanded to address the role of team leaders in facilitating higher performing teams. Despite the availability of this literature, it does not address the relationship between specific leadership models and team performance. This paper will attempt to breach this gap as well as integrate the relationship between leadership models and team performance.
The research on leadership has been focusing it from a behavioral perspective and this has experienced a wide acknowledgement from most scholars. In their studies, most scholars such as Fleishman identified a common theme across all classified systems to be a trend for behaviors that can be divided into two: behaviors that are focused on accomplishing tasks and those that facilitate team development and interaction. The rather has been proved to be effective in improving the performance of teams but it depends on the model that is adopted by the leader.
One of the model that integrates group interaction and development with its performance is the full range leadership (FRL) model. This model is characterized by important interaction between the leaders and their team members to promote a vision driven culture in them resulting in transformational leadership (Kirkbride, 2006). Transformational leadership leaders are believed to be taking calculated risks that utilize the available opportunities to solve any organizational problem. This model encourages leaders to adopt a balanced approach in order to influence the team members to achieve the objectives and solve organizational problems. It also develops the team members so that they can be able to solve any future problems within the organization. Transformational leaders’ focus is on transforming their team members by motivating them to achieve higher improving their performance. Most scholars assert that transformational leaders motivate their followers to move beyond their self-interests through “idealized influence (charisma), inspiration...