Leadership Types Essay, Research Paper

Every one of us is a leader in our own way, somehow or somewhat in some form or another. Whether that is in the form of a leader of a sports team, a social club, a class, the family, at work or anything else we participate or interact with in our lives. We are all natural leaders and followers; it is a part of our instinct to gather in social groups for strength, protection and survival. Once in these groups certain individuals take certain roles as the leaders of the group while the others become the followers. A truly successful leader is only as good as his or hers follower s allow because you cannot lead people that do not want to follow. You cannot be a good leader without first being a good follower. So in order to become a good leader you must know how to follow a good leader s example. That means being able to listen empathetically, being able to communicate back empathetically with a clear message of understanding and being able to coordinate the resources and desires of the group. The great leaders set examples for the rest of the group to follow and behave.

Growing up as children we all want to become a leader of some type whether it is the leader of the nation such as the president, a leader of the community such as a police officer or doctor, or a leader of a team such as baseball player. No one ever says they want to be a follower like an assembly line worker. But as we grow older we start to fall in place with are roles in leadership and follower ship which are determined by our social interaction, opportunities, intelligence and variety of other factors. There are plenty more roles in life that require followers than roles for leaders because this is the natural law of our world. But we all take on roles as followers in most situations and leaders in some situations within our lives.

The type of leader I always dreamed of being as a youth was a military leader such as Hitler or Napoleon who were feared and respected and had the magnificent ability to speak empathetically and passionally to their followers. They spoke on great podiums in front of great numbers of masses of people all of who were obeying and praising their word. But as grew older I realized I did not have the ability, or the opportunity or the desire to be a leader such as Napoleon or Hitler. Today I would still like to become an effective leader that uses all the resources and tactics available to lead people within the community in a way that gets the job done effectively and benefits my superiors as well as my followers.

I have never been in much of a leadership role through out my life other than the typical situations growing up. But just recently this semester in the work program I was promoted from general worker status to head of field maintenance in the Athletics Department. This truly is not much of a position because I only have two other workers under my leadership but it still is a leadership role. The position does contain a lot of work and responsibility though and includes making sure the football; soccer, baseball and softball fields are ready for play. The type of leadership that I use is not really any one of Howell and Costley s five types in particular. Because I due the majority of the work myself and the others pick up the rest in assisting. It closely resembles the participative leadership type because I define the goals and roles and then we all equally participate in getting the job done. On a typical day I will call the workers to go to the field and then I will assign each of us a task. A majority of the time I will take the hardest and most important job such as the painting of the lines and the others will be assigned to setting the string, mixing the paint etc. The reason for me taking the hardest job is first so I know it is done right and if I do the hardest job the others will feel more obligated in doing their jobs with more motivation and pride. They know I m not out there to give orders but only to accomplish the job gave from the General Manager. This enables us to all come together in a tight group and equally share in completing the project. In my department of field maintenance we share the work load equally except I have more responsibility and receive paid hours while the general workers only tuition hours.

The five types of leadership described by Howell and Costley are 1) Supportive Leadership Behavior 2) Directive Leadership Behavior 3) Participative Leadership Behavior 4) Leader Reward and Punishment 5) Charismatic Leadership Behavior.

Supportive Leadership Behavior involves showing concern for the status, well-being, and needs of followers; demonstrating a kind, considerate, and understanding attitude regarding followers professional development (Howell p.56). Supportive leaders play the nice guy role and are friendly, and they encourage follower feed back not only on the issue at matter but also their personal feelings. Supportive leaders are concerned with making the followers feel wanted and important in matters of the group.

If one of my workers is not feeling good, or is having problems with issues work related or personal I will normally talk to them on a friend to friend bases since we are close to one another and try to offer some comfort. If they are still having trouble say with their girl friend then I will tell them to go home and relax. If it is work related I will call on some other people to help sort the problem out such as the General Manager, other workers etc.

Directive Leadership involves leader activities that guide and structure the actions of group members (Howell 92). A directive leader will define goals to the group, provide guidance and information to the group and basically direct the group like a quarterback of an offense.

I really don t use directive leadership in field maintenance. I will let the other workers know what their tasks and how and when it needs to completed but other than that I allow them to direct themselves. The only time I try to be a boss is when I know it is necessary because I hate when somebody is always telling me how to do something I already know how to do.

(Howell 131) Participative leadership refers to numerous behaviors by leaders that involve an include followers in various aspects of the decision process. These behaviors include group discussions sessions or individualized one-on-one meetings in which leaders share decision-making power with followers. It also includes leader actions such as obtaining information from followers, asking their opinions about decision alternatives, or obtaining their ideas about how particular strategies might be implemented (Howell 131). This means the leader will individually or as a group ask his followers how they think the job or problem should be done. Hence the leader is sharing his power on how things are done, and carryout by offering a democratic opinion of each member.

Of all of the types this is the one I most closely practice while at work. We are all equals in my department so if someone has a better idea or way of getting something done we do it that way. The bottom line is the job gets done and I don t care how are by who.

The fourth type is Leader Reward and Punishment Behavior, which is pretty much self-explanatory. When a follower does something desirable he is rewarded by the leader by being promoted, raise of pay, praised or any other form of reward. When the follower does something non-desirable then the leader will issue a punishment such as: demotion, decrease in pay, being fired, warnings and many other forms. This is one of the oldest and most effective form for a leader to get what he wants from his followers.

I personally don t use rewards and punishment other than praise with my workers because I don t have the power or resources to do so.

The last type is the Charismatic Leadership Behavior which involves the leader communicating a vision of the future that has ideological significance to followers (often through the use of powerful imagery and metaphors), arousing follower needs which are relevant to goal accomplishment, serving as a role model, expressing high expectations and confidence in followers capabilities, and projecting a high degree of self-confidence (Howell 23). Adolf Hitler the leader of the Nazi party in Germany during World War II is an example of a charismatic leader. He had a dream of making Germany one large Aryan Race State. He gave elaborate speeches that inspired and motivated masses of people to go to war and kill millions and millions of people for his vision of a perfect race. He failed because his vision was to insane and devilish but he was able to fight the world by giving energetic speeches of hatred for others.