Leadership and Conflict Resolution
Theories of Leadership
A public leader is a selfless person who lives for the welfare of his people and does not prioritize his own needs rather he is concerned about the needs of people. A public leader is dedicated to resolving the crises using a pragmatic approach which brings transformation and solution to the problem. There have been several leadership theories and each one of them is unique in its approach.
Two Leadership Theories
1. Great Man Theory
In 1840’s Thomas Carlyle has presented the Great man theory. ” Leaders are born not made” is the ideology developed by this theory. Great man theory proposes that the leaders are born usually at the time where there is a great need and they are born to rescue organizations and people with their leading skills. Examples of this kind of leaders are Napoleon, Buddha, and Gandhi. These leaders have not considered their own luxuries and comforts for the purpose of serving the mankind. Therefore these leaders are gifted with the leadership qualities that include persuasiveness, charm, intelligence, and courage (Ariguzo, 2018).
Regardless of their entrance into any social group with their qualities these leaders usually obtain the most dignified status in the society.
2. Trait Theory
The other theory is called “trait theory” that is a modification of the original Great Man Theory. As per the trait theory, the features or the different qualities of a leader could be achieved as these might be developed with certain training. According to this theory, it does not matter to have the inborn characteristic of leader there is an option to build those qualities. The trait theory also features the concept that it is true that specific qualities are unique to the leaders and these qualities could be obtained with practice and training (Ariguzo, 2018).
Even though, the trait theory deal with the limitation as there is no certain proof of research behind it but on the other hand it also supports the public leadership theory and these traits support the concept of bringing transformation for the nation with efforts of leaders. This can be explained with the example of World War II in which people were focused on what enabled individuals like Hitler and Mussolini to become so popular. The most immediate observation was charisma; Hitler was electrifying. Another example is of Steve Jobs , who was very well known for the charisma he has.
Leadership Styles
For the purpose of reducing the abrasion rate, effective leadership reduces the disturbances held in any working entity working in their competitive global environment. For sure any organization can achieve its goal by following the effective leadership style as it directly affects the productivity and performance of workers. As organizational needs proper planning and leading personalities who support the workforce to remain on track (Nanjundeswaraswamy, 2014).
Transformational Leadership Style
On a group and individual level knowledge is created and shared with the transformational leadership theory. Both charismatic and the transformational leadership theories provide a thorough understanding of the knowledge of leaders on the organizational and management knowledge (Nanjundeswaraswamy, 2014). In particular transformational leaders have got the characteristic such as individualized consideration, inspiration, charisma and intellectual stimulation. Charisma is the trait through which the leaders support their workers to have faith, respect, and pride for their organization, for themselves and for their leaders.
However, individualized consideration is the characteristic in which the needs of individual workers are given importance and are fulfilled. Moreover, inspiration is considered as the ability to support the workers with highest possible expectation. Last but not the least intellectual simulation is considered as the trait through which employees are encouraged to have an innovative approach as a problem-solving ability.
Transformational leadership theory mainly aims to have a transforming style of managing knowledge. As per this theory employees are productive when their new/innovative ideas are appreciated and have the freedom to share whatever they have as an ideology. Through the transformational leading approach, an atmosphere is developed to create knowledge; it is sharing, and execution. Talented individuals are attracted by transformational leaders as they provide strategic goals and a challenging vision for the organization (Nanjundeswaraswamy, 2014). Therefore transformational leaders are considered perfect who brought productivity by providing vision and motivation to the workforce. As per the concept, the workforce must be engaged in the process and should be motivated and encourage in this way they perform best in the workplace that eventually brings revenue for the working entity. Example includes Meg Whitman who is a transformational leader; her principle is that employees should be motivated and inspired so they can perform at the best. She is a perfect example of a leader who would rather set a good example for her subordinates and let encourage them to be productive and assertive than force them to report to work every day. For her, it is more important to keep employees engaged and happy because this way, they will be more productive and enthusiastic at the workplace. Another example is Mahatma Gandhi who gave a sense of direction to people during Indian freedom struggle and also preached the theory of non-violence.
Transactional Leadership Style
A transactional leadership approach is considered as a kind of management that brings attention to assessing performance, supervising, short-term planning and organizing. In 1947 Max Weber has described transactional leadership theory and in 1981 it was further elaborated by Bernard bass (Nur, 2018). At the organizational level transactional approach is effective in the application of knowledge.
Three features are highlighted by the transactional leaders. First of all transactional leaders mainly work by adding up the entire workforce they develop the specific and clear goals with which the reward is given to the workers for their efforts. Secondly, a proper and systemized reward system is maintained in return to the efforts of workers. Thirdly transactional leaders are responsive to their self-interest as the needs are met and the work is done side by side. Through the transactional leadership exchanges and the better connection is encouraged between the rewards and goals. As a result, workers do not have the motivation to do what is not mentioned in their contract (Amanchukwu, 2015). Therefore the problem only occurs where the workers are not provided with the clear description of their jobs.
However, in certain cases, the workers choose to use their skills and experiences along with their intellectual level by establishing their own venture as they feel more satisfied doing their own work. It all happens when they feel that they are not rewarded with the efforts they do for the firm (Ariguzo, 2018). In this instance by creating their own business capacity they use their brain capacity. For example Charles de Gaulle and Joseph McCarthy who are examples of transactional leaders. In 1955 in Seattle Bill Gates was born however in the early years of his teen he has got a chance at the Lakeside School to meet Paul Allen and they with their combined efforts have created computer programs.
However, at the time when Gates joined Harvard for studies at that time, Allen chose to work for Honeywell as a programmer in Boston. In the year 1975 they have developed Microsoft and within three-year, in 1978 the company has achieved around $2.5 million. At that time gates was only 23. Windows was launched in 1985. However at present Bill Gates is the richest person and is considered as one of the most influential personalities in the world. He is basically a transactional leader and he has adopted the approach of meeting the new teams and he used to ask questions till his satisfaction in this way he got to know that everyone is on track and has got understanding of the goal.
In conclusion the theories of leadership are unique at their own level. In different organization there is a need to have proper leadership approach to align the business goals and vision and lead the entire workforce accordingly. It has been observed that the organizations having the most appropriate leadership approach either transformation or transactional obtain the highest possible success henceforth leadership is most important for brining organizational success.
References
Amanchukwu, R. N. (2015). A review of leadership theories, principles and styles and their relevance to educational management. Management , 5 (1), 6-14.
Ariguzo, V. A. (2018). Leadership: A Theoretical and Empirical Discourse. International Journal of Innovative Research and Knowledge, 3 (6), 58-65.
Nanjundeswaraswamy, T. S. (2014). Leadership styles. Advances in management, 7 (2), 57.
Nur, M. A. (2018). The Influence of transformational and transactional leadership and also motivation on employee’s performance. Journal of Management and Business, 14 (2).
