Essay Example on High Performance Leadership: The Managerial Grid of Bill Gates

The Managerial GridIn the managerial grid type of leadership, a leader shows concern for his people. The grid measures the care for staff members on a scale of 1 to 9, representing low to a high level of interest in ascending order. Good business leaders will show a 9, 9 performance on the managerial grid. The grade represents a high production level that is accompanied by a high level of staff concern. In achieving this type of leadership, Bill Gates has managed to relate well with his employees (Blake & Mouton, 1964, p. 24). Gates emphasizes effective leadership in every docket by guiding employees to make the company goals and the YouTube video by Hassan (2014) illustrates. In the end, the production process produces substantial success, while employees achieve job satisfaction and competency skills.

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Six Traits Associated with LeadershipThe first trait is the inner drive that a leader shows with a commitment to achieve something. The second trait is the desire to lead in which a person shows interest in being influential to employees. Third, a leader shows honesty and integrity and encourages his staff to embrace these values. Self-confidence is an essential trait that a leader portrays to ensure that their team builds assurance in the rightfulness of the decisions they make. The fifth trait is intelligence, in which the leader shows professional knowledge of the operations of the business (Kirkpartrick & Locke, 1991, 23). Lastly, job-knowledge is a trait that leaders show to assure their employees of what is supposed to be done to achieve company goals.

The personal traits of Bill Gates are seen in the self-drive that he shows by dropping out of school to pursue a career he loves and enjoys. Honesty and integrity are demonstrated in the leader's association with his partner Paul Allen. Gates' cockiness shows self-confidence in what he wants to achieve. Gates is an intelligent leader who spends time in the computer laboratory to explore ideas and decide what he expects to receive from his employees as the YouTube video by the Harvard University shows (Harvard University, 2013). Gates also always seeks to influence his employees to gain these skills in their activities (Shah & Mulla, 2014, p. 160). Having self-confidence also helps him achieve his aims since it helps him determine the steps that he should use in his actions.

Fiedler ModelFielder's contingency model displays situations in which a leader's influence and control are tested (Fiedler, 1964, p. 18). It states that the performance of a group depends on the interaction between the style of leadership of a leader and the followers. A leader that has good level of control usually gets better performance than another one that lacks this level of control. The model describes the least preferred co-worker questionnaire. Specifically, the adjectives that a leader uses to describe the least favourite employee shows what the leader prefers, performance or relationship with the followers. For Gates, this model works best through his points of focus on the places that require proper follow-up just as the YouTube video by the Harvard University shows (Harvard University, 2013). In the case of Gates, the performance of his company is a result of how he interacts with his employees. Shah and Mulla (2014, p. 184) stated that he cares for his employees, and this fact is one of the main reasons for the success of Microsoft.

Conclusion

Hersey and Blanchard Situational Leadership TheorySituational Leadership involves identifying company issues and addressing them accordingly. A leader may delegate, sell, tell, or participate. This theory focuses on the willingness and ability for people to accomplish a task. Specifically, the theory focuses on four different cases. Firstly, it considers a case where a person is neither willing nor able to accomplish the task. The second case is where the person is willing, but unable to do it. Third situation is where a person is able, but unwilling, while the last case is where an individual is both able and willing to handle the task. For a leader to succeed when using this model, he or she should define the roles for the employees, the leader should also provide directive and supportive behaviour, participate in the activity, and delegate tasks....