Situational Leadership Essay

Leaders are instrumental to the success or failure of an organization as they have significant influence on the individuals which determines the outcome. A leader’s vision and leadership style relate to the employees and subsequently employees relate to their work. From this connection, the leadership style and behaviours and individual uses may have an influence on important subordinate outcomes, such as performance, satisfaction, and perception of that leader’s effectiveness (Bass, 1997; Bass & Avolio, 1993).

There are various ways to of determining a certain leadership characteristic such as traits, where the personal characteristics of leaders are emphasized to situational leadership theory, proposing that leaders attune their behavior to fit with the development level of their team as a whole (Den Hartog & Koopman, 2002). The research will evaluate the different styles adopted by highly effective leaders in business organisations that focus on a low cost position such as, Walmart and a business organization with a focus on innovation and technology development such as Google. Both organisations are highly successful in their respective industries however they take on a very different approach of managing their employees.

Walmart

Walmart adopts both a transformational and transactional leadership. Transformational leadership can be defined as a leadership style which focuses on the theory that employees function most effective when led in a way that is beyond simple transactions (Burns, 1978). Further research also suggest that transformational leadership motivates workers to go beyond what is expected of them, while also seeking large shifts in their followers’ attitudes, values, morals, and needs (Bass, 19...

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...s (Den Hartog & Koopman, 2002). In exchange for this supervisory actions, employees are expected to perform duties assigned to them in order to meet the requirements of their leaders. In the case of Walmart, this form is leadership was required for executing strategy and achieving goals. The varied ways of motivation were the promotion of individuals who had done exceedingly well. Take for example, Mike Duke who was promoted to become CEO after the successful tenure in his previous role of handling international operations. The culture was as such that staff were rewarded for good performance at Walmart. There was also some freedom for store managers to make decisions to improve stores which could make it more profitable. Walmart also took steps to fortify relationships with suppliers over a long term period and is always looking to improve supply chain efficiency.