Personal Model of Leadership. Management Term Paper

Personal Model of Leadership
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Personal Model of Leadership
Introduction
As time has changed and technology has taken over, the organizations have become customer-centric. In this way, the significance of leaders and successful leadership has become the need of organizations to become effective and efficient. Therefore, Leadership is known as “the relationship in which one person, the leader, influences others to work together willingly on related tasks to attain that which the leader desires”. According to various sources, economic analysis and records of successful companies, the recognition for a company’s success are being given to the leaders at all levels and in all decisions. Despite the fact that leadership plays a crucial role in organizations and in management, it is also to be highlighted that leaders and leadership can be beneficial in all walks of life. By considering the importance and functionality of leadership, it is also important to present the leadership models that can be used by the managers to influence and motivate their teams in a best possible way (Daft, 2018). Therefore, this essay is going to highlight a leadership model (Situational Leadership), its trait, application and barriers related to a specific leadership model in context of Toyota and how it is being implemented in Toyota.
Situational Leadership as Leadership Model in Toyota
A leadership model is basically a leadership style which can be defined as “theories or ideas on how to lead effectively and/or become a better leader”. Therefore, in this study, the selected leadership model is “Situational Leadership”. As described in the annual reports, Toyota faced a good gain as well as improved its internal organizational environment and working procedures by following the “Situational Leadership” as a model (Annual Reports, 2018). According to a leadership theorist Ken Blanchard “In the past a leader was a boss. Today’s leaders can no longer lead solely based on positional power”. The management situational approach consists of concepts that can be easily understood and can be applied to a variety of business situations. Many Fortune 500 companies use it as the basis for leadership programs. Additionally, Toyota has also used it and has made the working environment more productive with higher profits (Annual Reports, 2018).
Situational Leadership is an adaptive leadership style. However, the leadership styles used in situational leadership i.e: Delegating, Supporting, Coaching and Directing are appropriate and most supportive in terms of motivating and encouraging the employees, dealing effectively with difficult or new situations, providing best conclusion and outcomes and giving knowledge to subordinates. This strategy encourages management to evaluate team members, evaluate many variables in the workplace, and select the management style that best suits their goals and circumstances. Furthermore, Situational leadership is a type of relationship-oriented leadership. He relies on the commander to control the will and ability of the believers. It is therefore considered a “flexible method”. Leaders do not use a unified leadership approach across all members of the team. Leaders need to build relationships with team members and understand their mental state when receiving instructions on the tasks they need to accomplish in order to work (World Economic Forum, 2008).
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Figure 1: Situational Leadership
Source: (Daft, 2018)
Traits of Situational Leadership and Usage by Leaders
In recent developments, the leaders have been given more importance than managers. The reason for this is that while managers seek to set the operational goals, allocate resource and develop establish plans, the leaders focus on establishing the vision of the company and start designing the effective strategies to achieve long term vision and goals. While managers are indulged in staffing, assigning resources or task and monitoring, the leaders focus on strengthening the communication by explaining the vision as well as by inspiring and motivating the employees which work as a powerful dose for attaining the goals (Toyota, 2018).
So, as the roles and importance of leaders are defined, it is also necessary to highlight how leaders can use the leadership models that best fit the situation or their personal style. Traits of any model or style are what makes it successful and adaptive. With regard to the situational leadership traits, it is presented by the successful leaders working in Toyota that situational leadership is more flexible and also persuades collaboration in teams. In addition, the usage of situational leadership as defined by Richard L. Daft (2018) in “The Leadership Experience”, following are some of the uses of situational leadership utilized by the leaders:
1 Leaders use it to encourage adaptability in subordinates so that past, present and future are fit.
2 Apart from its major usage in motivating and supporting employees, leaders use it to encourage socio-emotional support and providing direction to employees.
3 It is used to enhance work productivity and also boosting the employee motivation towards achieving business goals.
4 The critical purpose of using it by leaders is to increase awareness about current organizational situations among the subordinates so that teams work towards organizational success.
5 Another most crucial usage of situational leadership by the leaders is to counter volatility and uncertainty in various situational complexities.
Types of Leaders Emulating Situational Leadership
As the situational leadership also has the psychological development of the subordinates by influencing them to stay motivated and work dedicatedly, the leaders can be categorised who follow the situational leadership in different problem-solving and situations. The author of “The Leadership Experience” Daft (2018) discusse...