Styles in leadership

Introduction

It is possible to think of leadership as a concept that has been transformed into the art of both managing and leading. In an organization, there is a need for guidance and the assignment of too challenging tasks, for which they would require training in order to complete them and locate the necessary resources (Goetsch & Davis, 2014). To be a good leader, one must see to it that they foster an atmosphere that fosters subordinates’ feelings of trust, understanding, and encouragement. Military leadership requires both direct and indirect influence, as well as the ability to set up the right environment for the accomplish the missions effectively and efficiently. With respect to this, the Airforce comprises one of the highly dynamic and demanding jobs globally. The fluid aspect of the job and the constantly changing conditions in the air traffic control among other ground military requirements dictate that the perfect model of leadership is the situational leadership in this military wing.

Importance of Leadership in Air Traffic Control

In most instances, personnel in the Airforce are usually responsible for hundreds of lives and millions of dollars. This is the case of the air traffic controllers who have to man multimillion aircraft with hundreds of military personnel. Therefore, the leadership when it comes to the control towers is essential to maintain the orderly, safe, and the effective air traffic flow. The supervisors in these departments have to be in a position to provide solitary leadership styles with delegations and directing responsibilities waiting for the split second. The Air Force covers broad aspects of executions by catering for the international, domestic and the combat aircraft. This nature of the organization shows how demanding the profession becomes to the military personnel (Abbe & Halpin, 2009). The leadership concept of the Airforce highlights two key elements under leadership that include; those who accomplish the missions and secondly the mission, task and the objective that needs to be accomplished.

Concept of Leadership in the Military

Leadership entails the concept of influencing people through the provision of purpose, motivation, and direction. This is usually guided by the direction of the core objectives of accomplishment of the mission as well as improving that organization. The true nature of a leader is to aim higher rather than being aware of the requirements of getting the organization through each day, but it is also necessary to appropriate for the unforeseen future. The Air Force is the branch of the military that can be described as the core guiding unit and requires the leaders to be more than phenomenal. The true and competitive leaders are the ones who seek out the opportunities and can be said to be always looking developing their professional skills and knowledge.

Situational Leadership Theory Application

The military is guided by some basic principles that cover all their other engagements and activities. The mission of the military is a paramount and every other engagement that the military conducts should be subordinated. Execution of the mission is the primary and the core task in any military organization. This makes it the primary responsibility of the leaders to ensure that they lead their people in a bid to fulfill the mission of the respective units successfully (Lorinkova, Pearsall & Sims, 2013). Leadership skills need to be precise and exemplary to see to the accomplishment of the mission; otherwise, the mission is doomed despite the experience and the determination in the team. The people are the second key aspect to consider; these are the people who engage in performing the mission. This means that the personnel is the center of the organization and if they do not show and provide their support the unit and the mission are doomed to fail. The leaders are expected to remember and keep in mind the importance of the personnel in the unit as well as their responsibilities that comprise of support and care to the personnel. Good leaders continually ensure that the needs of the unit are properly and promptly met. Mission and people are the two fundamental elements under the leadership concept in the military. However, for the leaders in the military and especially the Ari Force need to identify the most effective leadership styles and for the leadership theories, situational leadership theory has been the most applicable in the military and the Air Force.

Leadership Styles in the Military

The military comprises of different power levels, and the best way to analyze the different leadership styles regarding power allocation is the Situational Leadership. This theory was developed by two theorists Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard. According to this model, leadership can be modified to the job maturity and the level of the skills in that individual commander and furthermore, there is no single method of leadership that can be termed as the best model. This model emphasizes mostly on the fact that, the leaders should provide support to their followers on the basis of the needs and the capabilities of the followers. Through this strategy, the followers can become more skilled through a gradual development and eventually become more independent and mature. The situational model comprises of four main leadership styles and four maturity levels.

Leadership Styles in the Military and Air Force

The leadership styles of Situational Leadership comprise of two other contrasting categories. These include the directive and supportive or the autocratic and permissive. Once these two styles are combined, then they make up the four categories under management. Directive behavior implies the one-way mode of communication, dictating for the followers what to do, where and closely supervise their performance (Lorinkova, Pearsall & Sims, 2013). Supportive behavior is the case where the communication is two-way, there is listening, frequent interaction, encouragement, and support as well as the involvement of the follower when it comes to decision making. The low directive behavior also referred to as the low supportive does not entail of a complete void in the leadership process. The leaders may provide and display behaviors that are highly directive and ones that are perceived as cold, insensitive or callous. A close attention shows the manner in which the above four are applicable in the military. When it comes to a branch such as the Air Force, there is the need for directive leadership where the trainees are expected to be highly independent in the future while support must be present to assist in step by step learning. Some of the departments in the Air Force need to have zero margins of error, and therefore autocratic and permissive measures are put in place.

Effective Leadership Styles for the Military

The following leadership styles are most applicable when it comes to the Situational Leadership in the military. Directing is used in the case where the people involved have low competence and a high level of commitment. This style comprises of a one-way mode of communication where the leader stipulates everything. The style is considered as low supportive, highly directive and closely supervised. Coaching is used on the people who have some considerable level of commitment and competence. The leader under this style is expected to listen to the suggestions and the ideas while finally providing the final decision. This says that it is a two-way communication and can be considered to be highly supportive and directive. Supporting is used on the group of people who have high levels of competence and variable commitment. The followers of this style have the right competence towards the accomplishment of the tasks. The method is low directive and highly supportive since the leader listens and facilitates the process of decision-making. Finally, delegating is used for people who have high levels of competence and commitment. The leader and the follower identify the problems together while they dedicate the decision-making process to the followers.

Effectiveness of Situational Leadership in the Military

The Situational Leadership method has proven to be highly effective where its applicability in the military has been spectacular. The followers have proven complete receptiveness to the leadership styles of situational leadership and therefore show no need for change or modification. The military organization is a broad department with series of duties and roles, especially among the followers. The leaders are expected to be in a position to guide well and responsibly, and Situational Leadership theory provides the appropriate platform for guiding the Military Air Force. The situational leadership provides strategies that concentrate more on participating, directing, and delegating which provide an organizational climate under the transformational and the transactional leadership. This implies that military leadership does not only entail aspects of authoritarianism but for the military personnel to develop the right kind of responsibility and discipline qualities of transformational and transactional leadership styles are required in the military.

Role and Effectiveness of Transformational and Transactional Leadership

Transactional leadership usually aims at outcomes that are mutually satisfying through the provision of clear directions, instructions and holding the followers and the subordinates accountable for all of their actions. This style ensures that there is no guesswork and becomes highly effective to the military’s chain of command. For instance, the Air Force personnel usually have responsibilities over millions of dollars and hundreds of fellow military persons. This makes the decision-making process highly critical and reliant on the precision with no room for error, therefore by holding them responsible for their actions ensures that they are fully accountable and cautious. On the other hand, Transformational Leadership entails charismatic leaders. The leaders are expected to inspire and motivate with an intellect that augurs well with the military in times when they are engaged in action (Nagl et al. 2008). This ensures that the military personnel can be in a position to make fast decisions and act decisively in hostile situations for the sake of the survival, achievement of the mission and the welfare of the others in the team. In this case, the military leaders ensure that inspire and motivate their subordinates thus creating critical value in the soldiers.

Traits and Characteristics of an Effective Team Leader

The personal traits and characteristics of an effective leader manifest themselves in various ways. The leader’s personality and psychology play a crucial role in the manner in which the military leader interacts with his/her team. Characteristics and traits of a team leader include; having the ambition towards the attainment of specified goals and objectives. This is the desire to make an accomplishment significantly stimulates team leader and his/her team members to strive towards achieving their potential. The aspect of being ambitious it acts as a catalyst that motivates oneself and others in conducting a certain task. However, the aspect of being ambitious has been in line with showing acts of integrity. This is to prevent the leaders from making bad decisions, potentially risky tasks, and minding about the welfare of others.

Integrity and Confidence

As such an effective leader must show acts of integrity in his/her operations. This means that the leader is honest and transparent with the team members. The aspect of integrity is crucial because it enables the leader to gain trust and confidence from the team members and treat each other equally (Lorinkova et al. 2013). A military leader must be confident in his/her capabilities and abilities. The leader must also have confidence and faith in their group about their abilities, talents, and strengths. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the leader to reassure the team of his/her authority when in the field or in delegating duties. In this way, the team members also have confidence in the leader, and they believe that the decisions made are responsible, quality, and goal-oriented.

Realism and Selflessness

A military leader must portray the trait of realism, especially in difficult situations. Realism refers to the mid-point where there is the likelihood of optimistic results and pessimism results. The degree in which the leader will make a decision towards either consequence has a strong effect on his/her ability of know-hows. Being realistic to circumstances or situations refers to the ability to be open to the challenging aspects at hand and making the best decision out of the situation. In these circumstances, a realism military leader demands accurate and unfiltered information so as to be in a position of weighing, measuring, assessing and testing the options to determine the next step to be taken. The leader spends most of the time analyzing the situation looking for positive loopholes that may help bring about positive outcomes. A realism leader is bold in decision making and is patient to make informed decisions.

A crucial trait of a military leader is to be selfless, loyal and committed to the tasks. Loyalty involves the aspect of being faithful to peers, seniors, and tasks at hand. Display of loyalty enables the members of the team to be motivated and loyal to their tasks and responsibilities. An effective military leader must be devoted to their tasks and responsibility. Portraying a high level of commitment towards their assignments and tasks demonstrates an act of dedication to military combats and the team. Being selfless involves conducting sacrificial acts such as not attending to personal necessities for a greater cause. In dire situations, a military leader who is loyal to his/her country and duties is expected to show acts of selflessness so as to bring about a positive impact. The will to sacrifice is an intrinsic characteristic of the services of the military; it requires showing acts of courage and strength in confronting tough circumstances. The military leader should be decisive in all circumstances whether the impacts are negative or positive he/she has to be accountable for decisions made. Decisiveness goes hand in hand with the acceptance of responsibilities, self-confidence and having the will to take action.

Vision, Mission, and Strategy

The theory supports the vision of the Air Force in that, the vision of the Air Force is to get people who can be in a position to lead other and manage critical situations with decisiveness. Each of the situations that they are exposed to should be evaluated and approached through the close attention of the primary factors; people, mission, the leader, and the environment. For the purpose of the mission, the leader is expected to set the required priorities and define the mission for the various components within the military. The headquarters provide more missions that the leader is expected to transform into the goals that the followers can relate. The Air Force requires that there is total effort and thus it becomes essential to ensure that everyone is involved. Once the goals become too challenging and unrealistic, then this may discourage the dedicated subordinates. This requires that standards must be enforced to ensure that the goals are consistent with the stated mission as well defined for all the followers. This serves as the core strategy and mission execution for the military.

Conclusion

The above-discussed modes of leadership show that Situational Leadership is the most effective when it comes to the Air Force, and therefore nothing can be compromised or changed. Situational leadership provides a succinct dissection of the responsibilities and the various departments in the military. Through this, the military meets the expected goals and objectives through the two elements which are the people and the mission. There are critical traits that need to be portrayed among successful leaders, and these include those principles that define good management. The Air Force needs to be guided by highly positive and effective leaders to lead the organization towards the mission, and in this case, Situational Leadership provides the perfect basis for this.

References

Abbe, A., & Halpin, S. M. (2009). The cultural imperative for professional military education and leader development. Parameters, 39(4), 20.

Nagl, J. A., Amos, J. F., Sewall, S., & Petraeus, D. H. (2008). The US Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual. University of Chicago Press.

Goetsch, D. L., & Davis, S. B. (2014). Quality management for organizational excellence. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Lorinkova, N. M., Pearsall, M. J., & Sims, H. P. (2013). Examining the differential longitudinal performance of directive versus empowering leadership in teams. Academy of Management Journal, 56(2), 573-596.