BUS640 Study Guide
Unit 1: Leadership
1a. Compare and contrast the different leadership styles, such as autocratic, servant, and transformational, and the most appropriate one for a given situation
- What are the different leadership styles?
- Can you compare autocratic and transformational leadership styles?
- How can you tell which leadership style is best in certain business situations?
Understanding leadership styles can be useful to you, and understanding how other people lead is important in business today. There are numerous different leadership styles, and each style may be useful in a specific situation. Understanding all leadership styles and being able to compare and contrast different leadership styles in a given situation is ideal for any good manager today.
Transformational leaders seem to guide any situation easily and get people to follow their lead. While autocratic leaders may not be the best in day-to-day operations and dealing regularly with employees, they can be excellent during business crises because they can make decisions quickly and without entanglements. Servant leaders tend to serve the people who work on their team, and before making any decision, they will consider all opinions of their team. While servant leaders support the team, this type of decision-making can create issues for the business when quick decisions are needed.
To review, see:
1b. Critique how leadership values contribute to the overall organizational culture and achievement of business outcomes
- Why is it important to critique leadership values?
- How can you critique leadership values when compared to organizational culture?
- Is it important to consider business outcomes and leadership? If so, why?
Today, it is important to consider leadership values and how they may affect business outcomes. While most leaders may have the business' best interest, company culture, and overall growth in mind when making business decisions, not all leaders feel this way. Some leaders are more concerned with personal interests and not the company's best interest; sometimes, this is not known until the leader is doing the job.
When hiring new managers, it's important to consider their leadership styles and the positions they've been asked to fill. As a manager, you may ask yourself if a person has the leadership skills required for the job they're asked to do. A good leader with similar company values and goals that are in alignment can affect business outcomes and assist in company growth. When hiring a new manager, it is important to take into consideration the company culture, and it's important to hire and promote people who share those same values.
To review, see:
1c. Analyze the qualities of a good leader and their importance to organizational results
- How can you evaluate the qualities of a good leader?
- What is an example of a good leader affecting organizational results?
- How might a bad leader affect the bottom line of an organization?
By analyzing the qualities of a good leader, you may see their value and how they affect a business' bottom line. It's very easy to see how a bad leader affects an organization, but very few will analyze the leadership in that situation when an organization is doing well. There are a few different ways you can analyze the qualities of a good leader. These might include requiring employees to take a leadership style test, observing the leader over time with their team, or even asking for specific examples from someone you may hire from outside the company.
As a manager who may hire others, it will be important that you understand the leadership qualities of the people you interview. This ability is easier when you promote from within, have worked with a good leader, and can watch their interactions with their team. It can become more difficult when hiring a leader from outside your company.
To review, see:
1d. Appraise the relationship between leadership style and effectively managing change
- What types of leadership styles are effective in managing change?
- Which leadership style might be best at managing change, and why?
- Which leadership style might be worse at managing change, and why?
Change occurs frequently in business today, and leaders must be hired to manage that change effectively. By understanding what change is required and analyzing which leadership style might be best to manage that change, you may effectively match the leader to the situation at hand. Because of this, understanding the various leadership styles and the strengths and weaknesses of those styles is important in management today.
Certain leadership styles are excellent at managing change. For example, a transformational leadership style is a great example of a manager who can watch over change and effectively have employees follow their lead. Transformational leaders tend to look on the positive side, understand the change required, and move people to make change.
To review, see:
Unit 1 Vocabulary
This vocabulary list includes terms you will need to know to successfully complete the final exam.
- autocratic leaders
- company values
- servant leaders
- transformational leaders