Leadership Styles
As I reviewed this week’s assigned reading, I was drawn to the topic of genetics and social psychology and the connection to personality and leadership styles. I recently facilitated a workshop that focused on three leadership styles; Traditional, Passive and Facilitative. To explore the different styles in an interactive way, I had the class engage in a group activity. Breaking the class into three groups, a leader for each team was identified and secretly given a leadership style role to portray. The goal of each group is to build an ATV, concluding the activity with a race to see which group’s ATV was the fastest. The following leadership styles are portrayed:
Traditional Leadership Style
During the activity the individual portraying the Traditional leader is instructed to be direct and controlling, having a ‘my way of the highway’ mentality. A style based on control, the members of the traditional leader’s team are made to feel that they are there to support and carry out the leaders decisions, and are in no way to be a part of the decision making process. In reality, this style of leadership often leads to high employee turnover and low overall employee satisfaction (Chron, 2018).
Passive Leadership Style
The individual portraying the Passive leader has made employee empowerment their top priority (and not in a positive way). This leader is instructed to be completely dis-involved in the activity and is to leave the decision making to the group. Often coming across as merely a figurehead, this style of leadership does not provide guidance and often takes credit for the hard work of those they lead. In the real world this style of leadership can be successful “in creative environments, but it also lacks discipline and structure that is often required in a business environment.” (Chron, 2018).
Facilitative Leadership Style
The third leadership style portrayed in this activity is the facilitative leader. The individual in this role is instructed to create an open environment for their team, encouraging suggestions, actively contributing and involving the team in all facets of the decision making process. This style could be compared to the Hands-On, Participant Leadership Style outlined in the Chron article, 5 Different Types of Leadership Styles (Chron, 2018), and is the style the activity is attempting to positively highlight.
Often the team with the facilitative leader ends up winning the race, but that is not the only factor that decides the ultimate winner of the activity. Each of the leadership styles portrayed have the potential for success in certain situations, the goal of this activity is to combine not only the success of the race but the measures the satisfaction of the team members in each group.
Making the Connection
The early 1900’s found the USSR ruled by the Communist Party who embodies the Traditional style of leadership by “enforcing its doctrine of centralism, requiring that decisions made at the top not be questioned by the lower echelons.” (Moran, Abramson, & Moran, 2011). When it comes to leadership styles, it is my opinion that current Russian president Vladimir Putin, primarily utilizes the traditional or autocratic style of leadership and has been described as the “product of the harsh geopolitical reality of Russia, a country in political and strategic retreat in the vast Eurasian theater.” (Global Security, 2016). So if “one’s personality and temperament is determined by one’s biological makeup” (PSU, 2018), then is one’s leadership style impacted by genetics as well? I found this to be a key takeaway and one that I look forward to exploring further.
References:
Lazzari, Z. (2018, August 14). 5 Different Types of Leadership Styles. Retrieved from https://smallbusiness.chron.com/5-different-types-leadership-styles-17584.html
Moran, R. A., Abramson, N. R., & Moran, S. V. (2011) Managing cultural differences (9th ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.
Pike, J. (n.d.). Military. Retrieved from https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/russia/putin-style.htm
OLEAD 410: Lesson 13 Eastern Europe and Russia (2018) https://psu.instructure.com/cources/1942644/modules/items/24935452
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