Leadership and Motivation Paper Example

Task One: Article Critique

Leadership is an integral part of streamlining the performance and productivity of employees in an organization (Mango, 2018, p. 59). Researches have found the need to explore the significance of the type of leadership style in enhancing employee motivation and performance (Purkayastha and Gupta, 2015, p. 5). Kelloway et al., (2012, p. 111) states that employee motivation is directly related to positive performance. Motivated employees, therefore, focus on using their skills to devise creative strategies that enhance organization performance (Andersen et al., 2016, P. 678). In this case, Derecskei (2016) conducted a study to determine the factors that influence the creativity of employees in the workplace. In this study, the authors focused on leadership styles as an influential element in determining the creativity of workers. Although the research presents significant findings that democratic leadership style stimulates creativity while authoritative leadership style hinders creativity, the study has various limitations related to the organization and presentation of the research elements.

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Using a sample of 612 Hungarian employees with 572 valid answers, Derecskei, explored the impact of leadership styles in influencing employee creativity. The researcher collected data through an online survey where the respondents were asked to group their leaders based on the best Lewin's leadership style that suits them including democratic, authoritative, and laissez-faire (Derecskei, 2016, p. 105). Further, the respondents were requested to provide their perception of how the leadership style that their leaders employed impacted their level of creativity. Using the Kruskal-Wallis test, it was found that while the democratic leadership style enhances creativity, authoritative leadership inhibits creativity among employees.

Derecskei, (2016), explores the significance aspect in today organizations. Exploring the link between the style of leadership and employee creativity in the Hungarian labor market would help leaders to identify the most effective leadership style that they ought to use to enhance organizational effectiveness (Derecskei, 2016, p. 108). While the study presents the key elements required in a study, the organization is poor. For instance, it presents the literature review before stating the key objective and hypotheses. Presenting the research hypotheses at the early stages of the study helps in providing the reader with the key aim of the study. In presenting the results, the researchers have not provided the distribution of the responses to in each of the questions. Lastly, it is also evident that the researchers have not outlined the research gaps and the factors limiting their study. These elements are vital in conducting a sufficient research.

The article presents an essential topic that is useful in the contemporary world. According to, Mango, (2018, p. 61), leaders face a dilemma in determining the most effective leadership style to enhance employee performance. The study asserts that based on the three Lewin's types of leadership, democratic leadership is the most effective in enhancing employee creativity, while authoritative leadership is detrimental since it inhibits creativity. However, the authors fail to present the research efficiently, do not highlight the gaps of the study nor the factors that limited the study.

Task Two: Question One

Leaders have the mandate to create a productive environment for their employees as a way to catalyze their productivity. The type of leadership is therefore vital to determining the attractiveness of the working environment. Leaders should view workers as valuable assets in the organization and in doing so provide a good working environment. In this case, Derecskei (2016) and Sy, Horton and Riggio, (2018) present their insights and theoretical phenomenon on leaders and followers (employees) in the workplace. They discuss the various leadership styles and how they impact employees in the workplace.

Derecskei (2016) focuses on exploring the three Lewin's leadership style in enhancing employee creativity. A democratic leader allows their employees to participate in decision making, an authoritative leader makes decisions without necessarily seeking any help or view from the workers, and a laissez-faire leader lets their workers to do their tasks freely without close supervision (Derecskei 2016, p. 106). In this article, it is evident that employee creativity is linked to the level of innovation in the company. When employees have a good environment that supports creativity, it means that the level of innovation within the company will also be very high. The article further stresses that employees are human beings and therefore, they will often practice what they see. This means that employees tend to replicate the behaviors that their leaders portray. Employees who work in an environment with effective communicative systems, are open to new ideas, create value to the company in decision making, and maintain active interactions with their leaders tend to be more creative enhancing the degree of innovation in the organization therein. These factors are present in the democratic leadership style.

While Derecskei (2016) uses three types of leadership Sy, Horton and Riggio, (2018) use the charismatic leadership style influence the employee emotions in the workplace. This article also stresses that employees are human beings and therefore follow what the instructions of their leaders. While charismatic leadership has faced various criticisms, it is evident that it is useful in elicit particular emotions among the employees. For instance, the leaders employing a charismatic leadership style often praise employees that exhibit excellent performance while shaming the worker that fail to meet the targets. These actions may elicit strong emotions that influence employee performance (Sy, Horton and Riggio, 2018, p. 60). For example, praising workers for good work elicits the feeling of happiness motivating them to maintain this excellent performance. On the other hand, shaming elicits the feeling of anger which also makes these workers work harder to avoid facing the same humiliation in the future.

Both articles show the significance of leadership styles in enhancing employee performance. However, the different leadership styles to support their argument.

Task Three

Part One

Leadership development is undoubtedly a debatable topic in the contemporary world. Organizations are seeking to determine the most significant attributes define a good leadership model and well as the elements of leadership that translate to organizational effectiveness (Yang and Wei, 2017, p. 1509). Precisely, workers depend on the type of leadership to mold their operational efficiency. Therefore, leaders need to understand the process of developing good leadership as an avenue towards achieving the core goals and objectives of the firm (Yukl, 2008, p.112). The discussion will utilize trait and behavioral approaches to understand how leadership can be developed.

The trait theory of leadership focuses on the belief that leaders are born and not made. It identifies the various personality traits that define where a person is an effective leader or not. Derue et al., (2011, p. 11), categorizes the traits of an effective leader relating to their competence, demographics, and interpersonal attributes. Collectively, the personality traits that define a good leader include openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. Further, Fleenor, (2006, p. 831) outlines other traits that define an effective leader including intelligence, creativity, perseverance, confidence, motivation, ambitious, and emotional stability.

The behavioral theory of leadership also outlines the behavioral patterns that define a good leader. According to Derue et al., (2011, p. 11), effective leaders acknowledge the dynamics that exist among the employees and in the business world. They focus on improving task processes and are geared toward administering change to meet the dynamic business environment. Kantabutra, (2009, p. 321), supports this argument by stating that effective leaders are often visionary and focus on enhancing organizational performance. Effective leaders determine and communicate the vision to their employees to ensure that they together focus towards achieving this vision.

Part Two

In my life, I have experienced various instances that exhibit the trait and behavioral leadership attributes. For example, at home, I have participated in various family gatherings. In this particular event, we had to organize a meeting for all the family members. As one of the people tasked to organize, I mobilized and coordinated other members to ensure that everything was set as required. I did this because as an elder member, I had to show an example to the younger siblings by volunteering to lead and control the group. I, therefore, engaged the people involved in planning whereby we determined the major requirements for the meeting, where to acquire them, and how to get these requirements. I have to coordinate the process by keeping recording and communicating with the various vendors to make orders for these requirements. Through this planning process, I learned that the type of leadership style is vital in determining team effectiveness (Colbert et al., 2012, P. 673). Engaging all the team members in planning provides room for better ideas and the general effectiveness of the entire group.

The analysis in this task shows that personality traits and behavioral patterns of a leader are vital in determining the effectiveness of the team therein. Besides, in my experience as a leader in the family, I was able to prove this argument by understanding that the team members' opinions matter in ensuring that the team meets their set objectives.

References

Andersen, L. B., Bjornholt, B., Bro, L. and Holm-Petersen, C. (2016). Leadership and motivation: a qualitative study of transformational leadership and public service motivation. International Review of Administrative Sciences, 84(4), pp.675-691.

Colbert, A. E., Judge, T. A., Choi, D. and Wang, G. (2012). Assessing the trait theory of leadership using self and observer ratings of personality: The mediating role of contributions to group success. The Leadership Quarterly, 23(4), pp.670-685.

Derecskei, A. (2016). How do leadership styles influence the creativity of employees?. Society and Economy, 38(1), pp.103-118.

Derue, D. S., Nahrgang, J. D., Wellman, N. and Humphrey, S. E. (2011). Trait and behavioral theories of leadership: An integration and meta-analytic test of their relative validity. Personnel Psychology, 64(1), pp.7-52.

Fleenor, J. W. (2006). In book: Encyclopedia of industrial and organizational psychology, Edition: 1st, Chapter: Trait Approach to Leadership, Publisher: Sage, Editors: SG Rogelberg., pp.831-833.

Kantabutra, S. (2009). Toward a behavioral theory of vision in organizational settings. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 30(4), pp.319-337.

Kelloway, E. K., Weigand, H., McKee, M. C. and Das, H. (2012). Positive Leadership and Employee Well-Being. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 20(1), pp.107-117.

Mango, E. (2018). Rethinking Leadership Theories. Open Journal of Leadership, 07(01), pp.57-88.

Purkayastha, A. and Gupta, V. K. (2015). How do Personality and Leadership Styles of Top Managers Influence Organization Effectiveness?. Academy of Management Perspectives, 29(2), pp.4-6.

Sy, T., Horton, C. and Riggio, R. (2018). Charismatic leadership: Eliciting and channeling follower emotions. The Leadership Quarterly...