Describe various leadership styles.

Describe various leadership styles. Explain the present leadership style in
your organization or any organization you are acquainted with which leadership style in your opinion will improve efficiency of the organization and why? Discuss

INTRODUCTION:-
Leadership is defined as influence, that is the art or process of influencing people so that they will strive willingly and enthusiastically toward the achievement of group goals. Ideally people should be encouraged to develop not only willingness to work but also willingness to work with zeal and confidence.
Different leadership styles used by organization are:-
1. STYLES BASED ON USE OF AUTHORITY:-
Some Leaders were seen as applying three basic styles. The autocratic leader commands and expects compliance, is dogmatic and positive and leads by the ability to withhold or give rewards and punishment. The democratic, or participative, leader consults with subordinates’ Concurrence to the one who makes decisions but consults with subordinates before doing so. The free-rein leader uses his or her power very little, if at all, giving subordinates a high degree of independent in their operations. Such leaders depend largely on subordinates to set their own goals and the means of achieving them, and they see their role as one of aiding the operations of followers by furnishing them with information and acting primarily as a contact with the groups external environment.
2. LIKERTS FOUR SYSTEMS OF MANAGEMENT:-
Professor Rensis Likert and his associates at the University of Michigan have studied the patterns and styles of leaders and managers for three decades. In the course of this research, Likert has developed certain ideas approaches important to understanding leadership behavior.
• System 1:- System 1 management is described as “exploitive authoritative”, its managers are highly autocratic, have little trust in subordinates, motivate people through fear and punishment and only occasional rewards, engage in downward communication, and limit decision making to the top.
• System 2- System 2 management is called “benevolent-authoritative”, its managers have a patronizing confidence and trust in subordinates, motivate with rewards and some fear and punishment, permit dome upward communication, solicit some ideas and opinions from subordinates, and allow some delegation of decision making but with close policy control.
• System 3:- System 3 management is referred to as “Consultative” managers in this system have substantial but not complete confidence and trust in subordinates, usually try to make use of subordinates ideas and opinions use rewards for motivation with occasional punishment and some participation engage in communication flow both down and up, make broad policy and general decisions at the top while allowing specific decisions to be made at lower levels, and act consultatively in other ways.
• System 4:- System 4 management as the most participate of all and referred it as “participative-group” System 4 managers have complete trust and confidence in subordinates in all matters, they always get ideas and opinions from subordinate and constructively use them.
They also give economic rewards on the basis of group participation and involvement in such areas as setting goals and appraising progress towards goals.
3. THE MANAGERIAL GRID:-
A well- known approach to defining leadership styles is the management grid. developed some years ago by Robert Blake and Jane Mouton
(i) The grid dimensions:-
The grid has two dimensions: concern for people and concern for production. As Blake and Mouton have emphasized, their use of the phrase “concern for” is meant to convey “how” managers are concerned about production or “how” they are concerned about people, and not such things as “how much” production about getting out of a group.]
(ii) The four extreme styles:-
Blake and Mouton recognize four extremes of style. Under managers concern themselves very little with either people or production and have minimum involvement in their jobs; to all intents and purposes, they hae abandoned their jobs and only mark time or act as messengers communicating information from superiors to subordinates. They are the real “team managers” who are able to mesh the production needs of the enterprise with the needs of individuals.
• EXAMPLE OF ITALIAN ITALIEL:-
In 1981, when Marisa Bellisario become director and CEO of ITALTEL, a state-owned telecommunication equipment manufacturer in Italy, the company was in trouble high losses large debts insufficient research and development, and an over, unionized organization. Ms. Bellisario took some major steps to term the company around and a improve productivity.
Here are some examples of the new direction:-
Restructuring the organization into business units.
• Reducing the number of employees by more than one third between 1980 and 1985, which was accomplished through open communication and cooperation with the Union.
• Leading the company into electronics, which required retraining of employees.
• Developing a program to upgrade low-skilled women in the work force.
• Pushing for intra-European cooperation with companies in France, England, and what was when west Germany.
• Improving efficiency through innovation in products and manufacturing processes.
Leadership such as this has to be analyzed in terms of the characteristics of the leader (technical, human, conceptual, and design skills); good relations with the followers, specially the unionized workforce; and the situation which in the early 1980s demanded a strong leader to deal with the crisis.
Here, Likert’s Four system of management would be very beneficial and would improve efficiency of the ITALTEL because it would divide the entire organization carefully and system 4 would be the best for it.