Liberty University Importance of Group Recommendations for Biotech Future Summary Week 2: Leadership Styles, Traits, Attributes, and Competencies Theme 1:

Liberty University Importance of Group Recommendations for Biotech Future Summary Week 2: Leadership Styles, Traits, Attributes, and Competencies

Theme 1: Leadership characteristics are demonstrated in a leader’s style.

Traits are characteristics that are ingrained in an individual. Traits are not easily learned or unlearned. For example, the introvert is unlikely to become the life of the party. On the other hand, leadership attributes are personal qualities or characteristics that can be learned and are typically described in the context of behaviors – values, habits, character, or motives. Leadership competence is a mix of leadership skills and behaviors that lead to an increase in performance.

Read:

Leadership: Do traits matter?

Critical Skills: Leadership – In the Library search under Comstock (author) and Critical Skills: Leadership (title).

Leadership Competencies

10 Traits of Great Business Leaders

Leaders at all Levels

Theme 2: Leadership style should fit the person, the organization, and the job. It should be situational in nature.

The way a leader sets the direction, implements plans and motivates people to accomplish a task is known as a leadership style. It cannot be emphasized enough that leadership style is not a one size fits all type of cloak. A leadership style must fit those that are led, the company and the job. The following story about leadership style illustrates theme two.

Alan Robbins started Plastic Lumber Company when he saw a way to help the planet by converting plastic milk and soda bottles into fake lumber while still making money in doing so. Robbins had strong opinions on how to run his company. He had an expectation that decisions be made in teams with participation from everyone. Sound familiar? To accomplish this goal, Robbins spent a long time on the factory floor chatting with employees, sounding them out on how best to get the job done. Robbins soon learned that this was not working. Most of his low-skilled employees simply wanted clear direction and a set of standards and expectations for doing the work. The freedom that Robbins’ laissez-faire leadership style encouraged led to frequent confusion, employee absences, tardiness, and fights on the factory floor. Employees came to work under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol. Robbins’ style undermined his authority in the eyes of many workers (Aeppel, 1998).

Although Robbins believed in his laissez-faire leadership style, he had to force himself to adapt a direct style with factory workers to save the business and instill order.

Would Robbins style fit better at Google than on the factory floor? While reading and preparing for this week, consider the aspects of style that relate to a leader’s ability to build relationships and keep the organization competitive.

Reference:

Aeppel, T. (1998, Jan 14). Losing faith: Personnel disorders sap a factory owner of his early idealism. The Wall Street Journal, A1-A14. Retrieved from http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cac…

In week one, we learned that a leader must define leadership both personally and within the context of the organization. A successful leader should adopt a leadership style that fits his or her definition and the organization’s definition of leader. The choice of leadership style should enhance the point of view of the leader, the culture of the organization as well as the job and situation at hand.

The following notable leadership styles will be examined this week:

Leadership Styles

Charismatic

Laissez-Faire

Situational

Visionary/Innovative

Steward

Transactional

Pace Setter

Democratic

Transformational

Command/Coercive

Servant

Participative

Many of the leadership styles have emerged from the theories discussed in week 1. Others have evolved from combined elements of different theories to create the characteristics, behaviors, attitude and values of the successful leader.

Read:

Pages 22-28 of (continued from last week):Gandolfi, F., & Stone, S. (2017). The Emergence of Leadership Styles: A Clarified Categorization. Review Of International Comparative Management / Revista De Management Comparat International, 18(1),

Are Leaders Born or Made?

8 Most Common Leadership Styles

The Impact of Leadership Style on Employee Commitment

Leadership Style, Emotional Intelligence, and Organizational Effectiveness

Organizational Effectiveness

The Effective Organization: Five Questions to Translate Leadership into Strong Management