After reading about the style approach, I couldn’t help but notice how much this style is more involved with the followers’ relationship with their leader. The style approach studies leadership by analyzing the leaders’ behavior and how they interact with the followers using task and relationship dimensions (PSU WC, L5). What I found more interesting is discussion of the leadership grid which is shown below. The leadership grid takes the concerns leader’s concerns for people and results at two different axes and scores each leadership style based on their location on the grid (PSU WC, L5). By looking at the grid below, there is no doubt that a team leader is the most successful leadership style because it is focused on both the followers and the results. Team leaders are determined; they help the employees to get involved and committed to the work, they are not afraid to face confrontations, they are open minded, and they enjoy their job (PSU WC, L5).
By looking at the team leader description, it is easy to conclude that this type of leadership is the most welcome in the building construction industry. Team environment is integral to successfully designing and constructing a building. Therefore, having a leader with a team leader style is necessary in order to keep everyone in the team satisfied and engaged in the project. The team leader needs to be able to make unpopular decisions regarding the design while maintaining a good relationship with the team members. It is important to have a team leader during the building design and construction because this style allows for the team members to be as creative and innovative as possible because the leader is open minded and willing to hear the followers’ ideas.
This type of leadership is a great reminder of my internship during the summer and how my boss was an ideal team leader. My boss was able to balance good results with his relationships with the followers. He did this by letting people know exactly what was expected from them in term of the building design while constantly accepting new design ideas from the team to insure a successful building design for the client.
References:
Penn State World Campus (2013). PSYCH 485 Lesson 1: Introduction to leadership.
Retrieved on Jan 27, 2013, from https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/sp13/psych485/003/content/01_lesson/01_page.html.
GLENN J FERENCE JR says
The leadership grid that you presented in your article clearly shows how the team leader style of leadership is the most effective. In my personal life, the most effective leaders that I’ve encountered have been highly concerned with both people and results. Although this leader may not be effective in all conditions, it is hard to imagine a circumstance where a team leader would not be effective. The jobs that I have worked in the past have been in desperate need of a leader concerned with both domains. The many retails jobs that I have worked in the past had a manager that was only concerned with either results OR people. As most of us know, this type of leadership is rarely effective. I have never personally worked construction, but I can clearly understand how a team leader would be the most successful type of leadership. Handling unpopular decisions is a common theme in many professions and having the right leader is key to getting through tough situations while maintaining a solid relationship structure between team members.
LIN YAO says
It is true that a good team leader requires to concern of both people and results. As the result, I agree that team leadership is the most challenging type of leadership just shown in the Leadership grid. Every team has its own co-culture, where a leader needs to deal with the team members in different background, characteristic and culture. Besides, a team leader also has to satisfy their bosses’ need. Thus, a good team leader should make decisions elegantly upon project’s requirement and followers’ ideas. The example you mentioned about your intern is a good example to show that a team leader should keep a good balance between results and the relationships with the followers.