Contemporary Leadership Styles: How relevant are they in today’s changing world?（737）

Psychologist Kurt Lewin developed his leadership theory framework in the 1930s, which contains three major leadership theories(Mindtools.com, 2019). The first is the autocratic leader, whose leadership style is very aggressive. The leader usually makes his own decisions without consulting other team members, even if their opinions are reasonable. The benefit of this style of leadership is that decisions can be made quickly, when the situation calls for it, and when the team’s opinions are not aligned with the underlying goals. The disadvantage is that this style is very autocratic, easy to demolish the enthusiasm of employees. The second is democratic leaders, who tend to make decisions with their team members in mind, want employees to participate in the decision-making of projects, and encourage employees to participate actively. The advantage of this kind of leadership style is that it is a good practice and exercise for employees, so it can improve their enthusiasm and enhance their teamwork ability. The disadvantage is that when the decision needs to be made in a short time, the long time and tedious process may delay the project. Third, laissez-faire leaders give more freedom to their employees. Even about the start and end time of work, they let employees make their own decisions and give them much support and help. This kind of leadership style pays more attention to the self-improvement of employees, and the advantage is that it can improve more job satisfaction and enable employees to complete the work according to their own wishes to the greatest extent. The disadvantage is that this leadership style will lead to a lot of uncertainty. If employees do not have a good grasp of time or some lack of work skills and experience, it will eventually lead to the failure of the project, which is a very big threat.

Main leadership issues in a changing world

Feedback from employees is crucial. In the retail industry, customer satisfaction is a major measure. If an employee communicates with customers in an unprofessional way for a long time, it will lead to some potential problems. It is possible that this kind of problem will not show up in the performance of employees, but if the leader discovers the problem very late, the problem will last longer. Leaders should prepare time for the team. As we all know, leaders are not only responsible for managing the team, but also have their own work to do. If the leader is caught in his own work time in the first time, it will lead to the team members do not know what to do, do not know how to get the support and help should be. Leaders should put the team first, prepare their own schedule to give support and help to the problems of the team, walk around the team frequently, take the initiative to understand the needs of the team and maintain good contact with the team. Leaders should not be too friendly, although most people prefer approachable leaders, which makes employees like the leader more and work hard to get the job done. However, there are still many difficult decisions to be made in a team. Being too approachable will make employees want to take advantage of this situation to pursue their own interests, and there will be more complicated problems in making decisions. However, this does not mean that the leader does not need to have a good relationship with employees. What the leader should do is to find a good position among friends and superiors and subordinates and set a clear boundary, which can encourage employees to finish their work efficiently and prevent them from taking advantage of this relationship.

Contemporary leadership styles

In the current business context that is featured in challenges, opportunities, and uncertainties, leaders need to pay sufficient attention to the importance of assessing the nature of their businesses and the optimal solutions to identified and potential problems in management (Lipmanblumen, 2018). Due to the current development trend of the global economy, the leadership style should be diversified and not limited to a specific leadership style. Leaders should balance the leadership style with high eq and responsibility for team and project. In future discussions on leadership styles, there will be more discussions on a leadership style that can integrate the actual situation and be flexible. This leadership style is called transformational leadership, which will be explained in detail in my third blog.

Lipmanblumen, J. (2018). Connective leadership:. Change the Magazine of Higher Learning, 30(1), 49-53.

Mindtools.com. (2019). Leadership StylesChoosing the Right Approach for the Situation. [online] Available at: https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_84.htm [Accessed 28 Apr. 2019].