Dilemmas of Leadership Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Dilemmas of Leadership - Term Paper Example The process of influencing others to attain a goal and also direct an organization in such a way that it becomes more cohesive and coherent is leadership. According to Kotter, leadership is how to deal with change. â€Å"Leadership focuses on change and innovation; it focuses on the big picture; it focuses on strategies that take calculated risks, and it focuses on people’s values†. (Gardner 1996) The path and goal model of leadership by Robert House expects the leader to encourage and motivate the followers in order to attain the desired objective. According to this model, the leader plays a big role in influencing the performance, satisfaction, and motivation of a group. According to Ashim Gupta (2009), when in a dilemma most leaders demonstrate a mix of leadership styles. There are four most commonly used leadership styles namely autocratic, bureaucratic, participative and the laissez - faire style of leadership. In an autocratic leadership style, the leader acts as the supreme commander and the followers have to obey him. This kind of leadership is required in factories when the work demands one to adhere to a series of systematic rules to attain the end product. For example; working in a sugar factory requires one to follow a series of methodical process to obtain sugar from sugarcane. One single mistake will result in one to repeat the process again. Hence, the best-suit ed leadership style for this case is autocratic. In bureaucratic leadership style, the leader acts as per the rules and regulations laid down by the company.