Leadership Styles and Communication in Organizations - Prof. Onyango, Lecture notes of Education Planning And Management

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STYLES OF LEADERSHIP

The method or style used by a leader greatly influences his effectiveness as a leader as well as the extent to which organizational goals are achieved. It is therefore important that leaders gain knowledge of the various leadership styles that have been used by leaders in various organization so that they can know the strengths/advantages and the weaknesses/disadvantages of using a given leadership style. This section therefore examines the nature and the characteristics of three leadership styles, namely, authoritarian, democratic and the leissez feire styles of leadership.

Types of Leadership styles

(a) Autocratic leadership style (b) Democratic leadership style (c) Leissez Feire leadership style Autocratic/Authoritarian Style of Leadership

Autocratic leadership is also known as authoritarian leadership. An autocratic leader more often than not has absolute power and as a result he tends to be dictatorial. The autocratic leader wields a lot of power over the subordinates for he is in a position to use ‘rewards, praise, or fear of criticism or punishment.’ ( see Hikes & Gullet, 1981:301).

Characteristics of an Autocratic Leader

As D’Souza (1989) has noted about the characteristics of authoritarian-style leaders, they:

1. Are generally strong-willed, domineering, and to some extent, aggressive.
2. Must have their own way, which for them, seems the only way.
3. Look upon subordinates more as functionaries than as persons, and the best subordinates, in their estimation, follow directions without questions
4. Ordinarily are not ready to listen to views and suggestions of others (although may pretend to), if they are different opinions.
5. Do not encourage equal relationships (i.e. adult to adult) with underlings. As a rule they do not allow themselves to get close to employees. They do not like to see employees get close

to one another, for such cliques, as authoritarian leaders perceive them, might endanger their authority.

6. Have business-like and task-oriented attitudes. The job comes first.
7. Generally blame poor results on the inability of others to carry out instructions correctly.

Characteristics of an Organization with autocratic Leadership

An organization where authoritarian/autocratic style of leadership is being used one therefore tends to find that:

(i) Power and authority is centralised on the leader (ii) The leader tends to be dictatorial, that is, he issues orders and instructions to the employees and expects them to obey without any questioning. Violation of orders is heavily punished. (iii) The leader sets policy, structures, interprets, and modifies tasks as he wishes. (iv) The leader does not consult his followers on important matters e.g. policies, rules, definition of tasks, structure. (v) The leader makes decisions without any consultations. (vi) Rules are very harsh. (vii) Employees are closely supervised controlled and directed. (viii) The flow of communication tends to flow from the top to bottom. (ix) There is little consideration for employees needs and interests e.g. when issuing responsibility.

Merits of Autocratic style

(a) Decisions are made without any delays as leader does not consult or consider the employees opinions needs, desires, interest. (b) Work is accomplished quickly because employee is expected to perform work without questioning. Employees are also dealt with harshly when they fail to perform work as expected. (c) This type of leadership is suitable for uncommitted workers e.g. those who neglect their work, come to school drunk are frequently absent from work.

Demerits

(a) Creates low jobs morale. Workers feel frustrated and demoralized as the leader has little regard for their interests and needs (b) Workers are expected to give unquestionable support to leader and whether they agree with him or not. Failure to support the leader results in punishment. (c) Leaders tend to over control and direct employees even when it is not necessary. This may lead to feelings of dissatisfaction and they may even rebel against the leader. (d) The leader also set policies regulations, structure etc. He also sets and modifies tasks without consulting others in the organization for school. This may result in harsh rules, policies and working conditions. (e) Decisions may be poor as leader may not consult others even though he may lack information, expertise, knowledge on the matter (e.g. buying of computer hardware) (f) This may result in a high turnover (transfers) of staff and as a result it may be difficult to achieve organizational objectiveness. In a school situation students may fail to learn well due to frequent transfers and turnover of staff leading to failure in national examinations.

Democratic/ participative style

Democratic leadership is also known as participative leadership. In a democratic organization all members are involved in decision making and all other matters concerning the organization and as a result the leader receives more cooperation from employees in the achievement of organizational goals. D’Souza (1989) summarizes the characteristics of democratic leaders as being:

1. They are generally concerned with maintaining group effectiveness as with completing the task to be done.
2. They encourage members in their groups to express their ideas and feelings, because they believe that such a climate leads to greater creativity and commitment.
3. If they encounter resistance or conflicts, they allow them to surface and they seek the help of these groups in removing the resistance or resolving the conflicts.
4. They encourage joint decision-making as well as shared goal-setting.

5. They rarely set policies without explaining the reasons, and proposing them to their groups, when they can, for suggestions and criticism.
6. They believe that responsibility for getting a job done depends as much on the group as upon themselves. They try to have this attitude shared by all group members.
7. They allow group members a good deal of freedom in their work, once they have shown their ability to do it.
8. They keep looking for better ways to do things, and are open to change when convinced that such changes would lead to greater effectiveness.
9. They believe in the effectiveness of group work. They also believe that groups of concerned individuals working together have greater potential than when those same members work as individuals.

(D’Souza, 1989:49-50).

Characteristics of an Organization with Democratic Leadership

An organization where democratic leadership is being exercised has the following identifiable characteristics:

(i) A democratic leader is chosen through popular election or is appointed because of ability and qualifications. (ii) The peoples’ basic needs, rights and freedoms are guaranteed and respected by the organization. The leader is therefore able to obtain workers co-operation in achieving of organizational goals. (iii) The democratic leader recognises the fact his followers are capable of making good decisions and suggestions based on the followers training and experiences. Hence he allows workers to participate in decision making. It is therefore assumed that workers will support decisions that they have helped to make and that consequently this will lead to the achievement of organizational goals. (iv) Ideas are exchanged between a democratic leader and his workers and also between the workers themselves. A democratic organization is more likely to be better organised

and more effectively run than an autocratic one for ideas are contributed by many people and not just a selected few. (v) In democratic style of leadership, power and authority are decentralised unlike with autocratic leadership style. In other words, power and authority is derived from both the governor and the governed. (vi) Followers are consulted on important matters concerning decisions, policies, rules, and structure, definition of tasks and all other important matters. They are also generally informed about their working conditions. (vii) There is a good interpersonal relation between leader and workers. The morale is high and there is job satisfaction. Workers do not also over depend on the leader. (viii) Decisions on organizational matters are reached after necessary consultations and communications with various section / people in organization.

Merits of Democratic leadership style

(a) Job morale is high. (b) There is commitment and team effort towards achievement of organizational goals. (c) Eemployees are allowed to participate in decision making and their ideas are appreciated and considered in all matters. (d) Interpersonal relations between the leader and other workers are good. (e) Communication is good (f) There is delegation of authority.

Limitations

(a) Employees with weak self-motivation tendencies may relax (b) Decisions may be delayed due to too many consultations. (c) Production may be low if there are too many considerations e.g. if teachers requests to teach his preferred subject and not one which the school authorities would prefer (d) Students may fail examination if weak teachers are not controlled and directed to some extent e.g. if teachers are not closely supervised by ensuring schemes of work and lecture plans are well written

(e) However there may be low productivity or poor decisions may be made of when everyone’s wishes is taken into account

Leissez Feire style of leadership

This leadership is also referred to as free rein, meaning ‘free’ style of leadership. In this type of style, the leader does not provide external motivation as is the case with autocratic or democratic leadership styles but instead workers are left to ‘motivate themselves based on their needs, wants, and desires. They are given a goal and left mostly up to their own to achieve it, using their ingenuity.’ (See Hicks & Gullet, 1975:303).

Characteristics of an Organization with a Leissez Feire Leader

(i) The leader has very little authority and power over the workers and he tends to be very tolerant (ii) There are very few rules or regulations and there is no code of conduct for employees. (iii) The leader assumes the role of group member rather than that of a leader, that is, the employees see him/her as being on the same organizational level and consequently he has very little influence on them. (iv) The leader does not provide external motivation but instead workers are left to motivate themselves according to their ability, needs, interests, desires etc. (v) Employees tend to work independently of the leader and there are also very few committed workers. At best, the leader only assigns tasks and then leaves employees to accomplish work on their own. (vi) Accomplishment of goals work depends on individual effort expertise and knowledge.

Merits of the Leissez Feire style

(a) It increases the workers independence, expression and makes them function as members of a group (b) Makes employees (especially those at the self-actualisation level) to be creative for they are allowed to work independently without unnecessary controls

Demerits

(a) Lack of a strong leader can result in lack of direction and control and can easily result in chaos (b) Workers can easily become frustrated, insecure, demoralised etc. due to lack of guidance from the leader (c) Organizational goals may never be achieved

COMMUNICATION

INTRODUCTION

No organization can achieve its Learning outcomes without communication and in fact an organization whose communication in ineffective is bound to collapse sooner or later. Any serious study of educational would indeed be incomplete if due consideration is not given to communication. This lecture therefore examines some of the important aspects of communication.

DEFINITION

It is important that we first define communication so that we understand this important concept better.

 Communication is the transfer of information and knowledge from one person to another. This is accomplished in the communication process in which the source encodes a thought into a message which is transmitted through a channel to a receiver who decodes the message. (Hicks and Gullett 1981).  Communication is the means by which people are linked together in an organization to achieve a common purpose. (Chester Bernard in Koontz & Weihrich, 1990).  Communication means a mutual exchange of information and understanding by any effective means. Unless the flow goes both ways, no real communication takes place. (D’Souza, 1989).

THE COMMUNICATION PROCESS

The communication process according to David K Berlo’s communication model in Hicks and Gullett (1981) involves the following elements:

(i) The source (ii) Encode (iii) Message (iv) Channel (v) Decoder- Receiver (vi) Feed back (vii) Noise The model of the communication process and the elements involved in the process are discussed in the section below.

Model of the Communication Process

Communication proces s Noise

Source or sender

Encoding Channel^ Decoding

Feedback

Receiver

Source: Nzuve (1999). Elements of organizational behavior p 54

Source

The source or sender is the originator of the process of communication. A newspaper, magazine or a journal can also be sources. One initiates the message when he/she has a thought, need, idea or information he wishes to transmit to another person or persons.

Encode

To be able to transmit mental perceptions or thoughts, the source encodes ideas, that is, organizes the ideas into a code or set of symbols such as words, pictures etc. Language is the most popular code that is used to express mental perceptions.

Message

The ideas/ purpose is expressed as message. The message is therefore a physical product such as spoken words, printed words in e.g. a letter, a graphic drawing, a facial expression, a body movement, a gesture etc.

Channel

The channel is the medium used to relay or transmit the message from the source to the receiver. The most commonly used channels involve use of sight and sound. Letters, television, radio, telegram, memo, telephone, fax machine, newspapers, face to face conversations etc.

Decoder-Receiver

The receiver decodes the message from the source. That is, he /she decodes the message and attaches a certain meaning (which is an exact or an approximation of message the source wished to convey). The message is more successfully transmitted when the source and the receiver have common things or experiences than otherwise.

Feed back

Feedback is the response that enables the source to determine or evaluate whether or not the message was received and understood as he/she had intended. Feedback also enables a two-way communication process to take place.

Two-way communication is a reciprocal process; each participant initiates and receives messages. Each is a source or receiver temporarily, with the roles shifting as messages are passed. Unlike one-way communication, two-way communication requires channels that form a continuous loop in a two-way exchanges, or mutual feedback. This means that each participant initiates messages and that each message affects the next one. (Hoy & Miskel, 1987:364).

If he/she finds that message was received incorrectly, he is able to correct it by using the same means or another different one. In a classroom situation, the teachers use examination performance to get a feedback on individual or group performance.

Noise

Noise is also an element of the communication process. Noise is anything that distracts or interferes or reduces the accuracy or fidelity of the message. Noise can occur in any point or element of the communication process. The source may perceive an event incorrectly e.g. cause of an accident, the encoding process can be erroneous and thus end up conveying the wrong information, e.g. when the wrong date is written, when the channel such as the telephone is noisy because it is faulty. When the receiver decodes the message incorrectly or distorts its meaning, then he interferes with the fidelity of the message and this is termed as noise.

FORMAL AND INFORMAL COMMUNICATION

It is significant to note that there is both formal and informal communication in organizations and that both these types of communication are equally important. Hence both formal and informal systems of communication should be established.

School administrators should therefore not ignore nor take informal communication to be unimportant.

Formal Communication

Formal communication is any official information that is passed on through the chains of command of the organization. Most of formal communication is vertical, that is, both ‘upwards’ and ‘downwards’ communication (although it can also be passed horizontally). ‘Downwards’ communication is from those in managerial positions to other employees in lower positions whilst ‘upwards’, that is, from those in lower ranks to those in upper ranks. The information that is formally passed from the superiors to subordinates includes instructions, organizational Learning outcomes, policies, specification of employees’ tasks and expectations etc. The information from subordinates to superiors that can be communicated formally includes reports of work done, decisions made e.g. in a departmental meeting, student performance reports etc.

FLOW OF COMMUNICATION IN ORGANIZATIONS

Formal communication in organizations either flows vertically or laterally. Vertical communication can flow in the downwards and upwards directions (see Simpons (1959) in Robbins (2003). Lateral (horizontal) communication on the other hand, flows across (sideways) the organization e.g. between various departments in the school.

(a) Downwards (b) Upwards (c) Horizontal

Downwards Communication

In ‘downwards communication’, information and instructions is passed downwards from those in management positions to those in lower ranks or positions. Robert Katz & Daniel L. Kahn in Hoy & Miskel (1987: 372) have identified five types of ‘downward’ communication, that is, from the superior to the subordinates, as being:

(i) Instruction about specific tasks (ii) A rationale about why the task needs to be done and how it relates to other task (iii) Information about organizational procedures and practices

(iv) Feedback about the individual’s performance level (v) Information about the need for individual commitment to the organization’s goals.