Mrigank_Shekhar_Tripathi_B55_C2_39_OB_Assign14

Application Exercise
Using examples from your own experience or the experiences of others, write an essay
that distinguishes effective from ineffective leadership behavior. In what way do you
think organizational factors (such as nature of business, environment, organizational
structure, culture, etc.) account for leadership effectiveness or ineffectiveness?
I have been working in L&T construction for last 6 years, came across 2 bosses who
influenced my way of working and perception about my organization as well as my industry.
Prior to this course I could not be able to analyses that whether they were having traits of
effective or ineffective leadership, but now, when I am having some insight of effective and
ineffective leadership ; I can highlight my observations towards them.
When I joined the organization, my project manager Mr. X was a sharp person, had very
strong team, in all the departments, at my project site; or I can say he had followers in the all
departments. One thing I have noticed he was very commanding was able to control almost
everything from his office itself; had very strong execution and financial skill. Most important
thing I observed was, all the staff under him, including me feared to face him. He had the
habit of insulting the staffs by demeaning his contribution; staffs were always asked to justify
their salary. I also observed favoritism in term of department and for the person who speaks
boldly. So over all I can say that he was more like boss, who is having very strong team to
obey his orders, but I never felt that he had any informal leadership traits.
After Mr. X got promoted as cluster project manager, my new project manager Mr. Y was very
honest person, very good by heart , always concerned about company work; but he is having
the habit of shouting if he find that an employee is not performing; or he may not be giving his
best. He rarely discuss personal thing to employee; always try to motivate the staff by
challenging their capabilities. He delegates complete responsibility to a staff and give him
freedom for learning and doing mistakes. He always wanted aggressive behavior towards the
work; never hesitated to call any staff in mid night also. He was very fair, while writing
appraisals to subordinates. He always promoted cross functional learnings. I also observed
that he is not a good listener; always try to dominate by his thoughts. From the first
impression, staffs misunderstand him a very strict and rude person; but those who had worked
with him, for some time, respect him and want to work for him. Over all I can say that being
an honest and down to earth person, he was able to get the work done more like transactional
leaders.
I have asked one of my office colleagues to tell me about your best boss till date; he told me
about his last project manager Mr. Y; as described by him he was a caring towards his staff,
never shouts over them, never blames for the mistakes; always try to resolves the origin of the
problem. He had clearly defined the roles and responsibilities of staff; due to his behavior,

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subordinates were self-motivated and not much follow-up required for completing the work.
He was very good listener; always listens problem of staff with empathy; therefore staffs were
open to share his problems, with him. He had clear plan for training and development of team
members; ensured that every team member must attend the training program decided by HR.
Always supported and protected their team members in front of client, as well as from our
higher management. He provided performance feedback to the subordinated separately. He
always involved team members in decision making & problem solving. To promote
innovation, he took advice of other department for the problem of department which is not
related to it. He believed in work life balance of subordinated; never ever rejected the genuine
leave applications of team members. Over all I can say that he worked more like informal
leader and less boss.
From the above examples we can identify following key difference between effective and
ineffective leadership behavior

Effective Leadership

Ineffective leadership

Very clear on what required most, able to

communicate, led by example by showing
the behavior and values expected from the
followers
Able to deal with important issues; even it
may be unpleasant to some followers.
Always focus on getting fact based picture
of reality; so that related person can be
called for conversion.
Deal with the sensitive issues in a way that
tends to build the self-esteem, confidence,
learning, and goodwill of their people
Can see the big picture and think for wellbeing of all stake holders inside and outside
the business
Anything wrong happens; they come on
front and take responsibility.
They are high on integrity
[1]

Not clear on what is required most, bad

communicator; They dont live the values
and behavior what they talk about
Short term approach to solve the sensitive
issues.
For them feelings are facts; therefore they
push their own agenda and views.
They issue orders and dont consider views of
their people and make threat; which leads to
rupture of emotional affinity and loyalty.
Only focus on what matters to them and their
favorite constituency/department.
They believe in blame game; and never come
in front.
For them integrity is optional.

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Effect of Organizational Factors on Leadership style:

Organizational Structure:
In this competitive world, every organization has to pass through continuous change and
innovation process; Fig-1 depicts about the organization structure (organic or mechanic) and
suitable leadership style (Transactional or transformational) from idea generation to
implementation stage. Now we can say that if an organization wants to promote innovation
they train their managers for transformational leadership and to implement the generated idea
in the stable environment, organization should focus of transactional leadership style. [2]

Organizational Culture:Any culture is socially learned and transmitted by members; in an organization it provides the
rules for behavior within organizations. Organizational culture is of the belief that can guide
staff in knowing what to do and what not to do, including practices, values, and assumptions
about their work. Leadership of an organization propagates the core values down the line
which evolves to a leadership style. Subordinates will be led by these values and the behavior
of leaders, such that the behavior of both leaders and followers should become increasingly in
line. When strong unified behavior, values and beliefs have been developed, a strong
organizational culture emerges. Leaders have to appreciate their function in maintaining an
organization's culture. This would in return ensure consistent behavior between members of

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the organization, reducing conflicts and creating a healthy working environment for
employees [3].
Conclusion
In any business organization different leadership style needed for different situation; each
leader should know when to follow a particular approach. Autocratic leadership style can be
used when staffs are new and untrained and there is only limited time; but same should not be
used when staffs are fearful and they expect their opinion to be heard. Bureaucratic
leadership style can be used when staff performing routine task over and over, but same
should be avoided when staff lose their interest in the job and only do what is expected.
Democratic leadership style can be used when organization wants to encourage team
building and participation but same is to be avoided when there is no enough time. LaissezFaire leadership (Hands off) style can be used when staff highly skilled, experience and
educated, but same should be avoided when staff feel insecure at the unavailability of the
manager. So we can say that a good leader should change between the leadership styles
according to the people and work they are dealing with; often referred as Situational
leadership style. [4]
References:
[1]https://thecustomerblog.co.uk/2013/06/12/are-these-the-7-key-difference-betweeneffective-and-ineffective-leaders/
[2] IOSR Journal of Business and Management (IOSR-JBM) ISSN: 2278-487X. Volume 6,
Issue 6 (Jan. - Feb. 2013), PP 56-63 www.iosrjournals.org www.iosrjournals.org ;The Impact
of Organizational Structure and Leadership Styles on InnovationKenneth Chukwujioke Agbim
Business Administration Department, College of Management Sciences, University of
Agricultural, Makurdi, Nigeria
[3]Relationship between Organizational Culture, Leadership Behavior and Job
Satisfaction;Yafang Tsai;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3123547/
[4]http://www.slideshare.net/chintu83/leadership-styles-with-examples