My Leadership Style Analysis Essay

My Leadership Style Analysis WGU Leadership SAT2 Task 1 My Leadership Style Analysis A1. Leadership Style Evaluation There are many different leadership styles. After reading the assigned chapters for this task. I was able to identify my own leadership style as a result. In order to know my leadership style, I took a series of assessments in order to determine my personal leadership style. Assessments I took that helped me to determine my personal leadership style are: â€Å"the Emotional Expressive Scale, Personal Magnetism Deficit Inventory, Task Oriented Attitudinal and Behavior assessment, Clarifying your Work Values, What Style of Leader are you or would you be, What is your propensity of taking Risk, How Flexible are you, the Least Preferred Co-worker Scale for Measuring Leadership style, and Measuring your Situation and Perspective assessments (DuBrin, A. (2010). Leadership: Research findings, practice, and skills (6th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western, Cengage Learning. ISBN-13: 9780547143965). After taking the above assessments, I was able to determine that my personal leadership style is Participative. A Participative leader is â€Å"a person in charge who shares decision making with group members† (DuBrin, A. (2010). Leadership: Research findings, practice, and skills (6th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western, Cengage Learning. ISBN-13: 9780547143965). A1a. Strengths As a Participative leader, my leadership style advocates teamwork. Advocating teamwork is considered strength for my leadership style. This is strength for my leadership style because advocating teamwork gives team members opportunity to participate in the decision-making making process of developing team, and as a result, employees are empowered, and feel a sense of belonging as a result. Another strength that my leadership style has is that my leadership style strives for consensus. This is considered strength for my leadership style because having a consensus empowers employees, and provides them with a sense of belonging as a result. A1b. Weaknesses One weakness of my leadership style is that if team members do not agree on something, a decision cannot be made until all team members are in agreement with a specific decision. This can be considered a weakness for my learning style if team members are not able to Another weakness for my leadership style is the opportunity for wasting time. This is considered a weakness for my leadership style because if teams are not able to form a consensus for any reason, productivity stops, a valuable time is lost until a consensus is formed. A2. Comparison of Leadership Styles Other leadership Styles that I learned about and found interesting are the Autocratic Leadership Style, and the Entrepreneurial Leadership Style. The Autocratic Leadership Style is when the leader â€Å"retains most of the authority for himself or herself† (DuBrin, A. (2010). Leadership: Research findings, practice, and skills (6th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western, Cengage Learning. ISBN-13: 9780547143965). Unlike the Participative Leadership style, the Autocratic Leadership Style retains most of the authority, while Participative Leadership Style allow team members the ability to make decisions based on policies and procedures develop by teams, with the final approval of management. In addition, the Autocratic leadership style are not concerned with the concerns of team members. While the Participative leadership style allows for team members to develop and form their opinions, and as a result, this privilege implies that this leadership style is concerned with the concern of t eam members. The â€Å"Entrepreneurial leadership style stems from personality characteristics and circumstances of individuals† (DuBrin, A. (2010). Leadership: Research findings, practice, and skills (6th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western, Cengage Learning. ISBN-13: 9780547143965). The Entrepreneurial leadership style is a leadership style for individuals who are innovative enough to open and operate their own  business. The Entrepreneurial leadership style is completely different from the Participative leadership style. The Entrepreneurial leadership style tends to have higher achievement and is where the Participative leadership style tends to strive for consensus. The Entrepreneurial leadership style tends to be more creative and enthusiastic than the Participative leadership style. The Participative leadership style tends to negotiate demands of employees, and the Entrepreneurial leadership style responds immediately if a crisis presents. A3. Leadership Style Discussions Understanding different Leadership Styles can help me to become an effective leader by helping me to identify deficient areas in my personal leadership style. Being able to identify personal leadership deficiency will give me the opportunity of being aware. Being aware of deficiency in my leadership style will help me to gain new skills that will help me to improve and perfect deficient areas in my leadership style. This newfound awareness will allow me the opportunity to obtain knowledge, skills and abilities needed in order for me to become an effective leader. Another reason understanding different leadership styles can help me to become an effective leader is that it will give me the opportunity to think outside the box. This skill will help me to be more creative in my leadership style, and as a result, I will gain and implement new leadership skills to my personal leadership style. This new skill will allow me to future improve and perfect deficient areas of my leadership style , and will help me to become an effective leader as well. In addition, understanding the many different leadership style will also help me to become a effective leader by ultimately allowing me to understand the many different learning styles, this will allow me to improve my communication skills, which will allow me to effectively communicate with employees. This skill will improve my leadership skills, and help me to become an effective leader as a result. A4. Problems In order to minimize problems for leaders in the workplace, it is imperative that leaders are emotionally intelligent, know their own personal leadership  style, and understand the many different leadership styles in order to minimize problems for them in the workplace. Problems that can present for leaders in the workplace that do not have a complete understanding of differences in leadership styles are miscommunication, and a decrease in employee moral as a result. A4a. Overcoming Problems In order for leaders to improve miscommunications in the workplace, leaders should hold weekly meeting and encourage employee input. This will demonstrate to employees that the leader is concerned with team members and is accessible to employees when needed; this can improve communication in the workplace as a result. In addition, conducting weekly meetings will also establish an open door policy for employees. An open door policy demonstrates to employees that you are available, and as a result, communication can future be improved in the workplace. In order for leaders to increase moral in the work place, leaders should take the opportunity of the open door policy to get to know their employees personally, in addition, in an effort to increase employee moral, leaders should plan team building activities in an effort to increase employee moral as well. Taking the opportunity of the open door policy to get to know your employees personally will increase employee moral in the workplace. Employees will continue to believe that their organization appreciate them as employees, and as a result, communication will improve, and employee moral will increase as a result. Leaders can further improve employee moral by encouraging team-building activities. For example, leaders should incorporate quarterly activities such as employee luncheon, and or employee picnics in order to improve employee moral. These teambuilding activities will further demonstrate to employees that the company appreciates them and as a result, employee moral will increase as a result. A5. Synergies Three potential advantages that may be created between the Leadership styles are the ability to collaborate with other team members, obtaining a higher level of enthusiasm, and the ability to make decisions confidently. The Participative leadership style can create the advantage of allowing team members to obtain knowledge, and implement skills that are presented by  other team members as a result. . The ability to collaborate with team members will allow both employees and leaders opportunity to develop ideas as a result. The Entrepreneurial leadership style will give teams and leaders the opportunity to become enthusiastic while performing job descriptions. Being enthusiastic in the work place will allow both team member and leaders to become motivated while performing job descriptions as a result. The Autocratic leadership style will give leaders opportunity to make business decision more confidently. This ability for leaders to make business decisions confidently empowers leaders in the work place, when leaders are empowered, they develop self-confidence needed while making business decisions as a result. A5a. Increasing productivity The ability to obtain knowledge, and implement skills that are presented by other team members will increase productivity because employees will gain new ideas and skills that can help them to perform their job description with ease. When employees are confident with performing their job description, productivity will increase as a result. Being enthusiastic while performing duties in the workplace stimulates and motivates both team members and leaders the same, and as a result, team members are eager and happier while performing their job descriptions, and as a result, productivity increases when employees are happier in the workplace. When managers have the ability to make sound business decisions with confidence, leaders are empowered, employees become subordinate to their leaders, and as a result, productivity increase because leaders become responsible for administer employees performance appraisals that can provide raises for employees as a result. B. 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