Leadership approaches and generational transitions in organizational contexts

Business Class Organizational Behavior

Team Member's Names

Leadership: The affects of retiring baby boomers and the attributes of next generations

Leadership itself is the act or activity of leading a group, while a leader is defined as the individual that influences that cluster of people and achieves a certain objective. There has been much debate and research on the said phenomenon and related aspects.

Theories of Leadership: For understanding, below are the summarized versions of famous leadership theories;

Authoritarian Leadership: An approach of leadership in which an individual uses strong, instructive and strict actions to enforce the regulations, set of laws, actions and relations in the work place. (Organizational Behavior, Nelson & Quick)

Democratic Leadership: An approach of leadership in which the leaders values and utilizes mutual, sociable and participative measures with the group to motivate and get the best out of them in the work place. (Organizational Behavior, Nelson & Quick)

3. Laissez-Faire: An approach of leadership in which an individual leader fails to accept and play his role instead he uses distortion methods to disrupt the team. (Organizational Behavior, Nelson & Quick)

4. The Michigan Leadership Study:

The Michigan leadership study was the basis of more leadership theories to come. It highlighted two basic leadership approaches:

a. Priority to Production: A system where human feeling is secondary and primary concern is quantity and quality of the production.

b. Employee oriented: An approach that encourages and prioritizes human feeling above all other factors such as profitability and production.

5. Ohio State Leadership Studies:

Identified two dimensions

a. Consideration

b. Initiating Structure

6. Theory X and Theory Y:

Identified two approaches to supervision:

Theory X: As defined by Theory X, Supervisors believe that employees are not concerned nor lie their work, only under strict monitoring would they work efficiently.

Theory Y: On the other hand Theory Y explains that supervisors believe that people love their work and enjoy the resulting satisfaction with increase in responsibility.

7. Blake and McCanse's Leadership Grid

Also known as Managerial grid highlights different communication approaches from leaders to workers.

1,1 - Impoverished Management

9,1 - Authority-Compliance

5,5 - Middle of the Road Management

1,9 - Country Club Management

9,9 - Team Management

8. Traits Approach to Leadership

The Trait theory believes that leaders are born with certain qualities that make them different from others and hence they lead due to their inherited qualities.

Numerous studies have been conducted but so far there has been no conclusive proof of certain traits that a good leader is born with:

tallness heaviness look intellect character

Inconsistent findings

The fields or arenas in which these leaders generally exist are;

1. Political Leaders (leaders in national politics)

2. Civic Leaders (leaders in social and public services)

Work Attitudes

Baby Boomers believed in good old fashioned Hard Work and staying late on their jobs to impress their superiors. To them workplace was a second home when it came to meeting deadlines.

Gen X believes in working smart and Personal Satisfaction taking off early when they can and delegating work to complete the task more efficiently.

2

Loyal to employers, baby boomers saw a life time career with one employer as an achievement and switching jobs was a big deal. They respected their employers and valued promotions.

Loyal to skills, Gen X gives importance to their careers but more importance to learning new skills and with it resulting satisfaction on job otherwise switching jobs becomes switching lanes.

3

Baby boomers believed in specialization and they Preferred to work alone, for them a team meant wasting time on either teaching possessed skills or learning new skills from team members. They believed in closed cabins and less sharing of work.

Gen X believes in Team Work, every success or failure is a group success or a group failure. They celebrate in teams, believe in sharing work and open environment. They cherish diversity and encourage socializing within teams.

4

Baby boomers followed chain of command, to them obeying orders from superiors was a priority and leaders / managers were followed blindly.

Individual skills matter the most to Gen X they want to be candid and for them a candid and inspiring leader is more important to then a commanding leader.

5

Believed in manual, traditional processes and are technically challenged.

Gen X is Tech savvy and wants telecommuting to play a great role in their lives.

1

Work Attitudes

Baby boomers preferred balance between work and family.

Gen X believes in quality of life doing much more than just working and spending time with family.

2

Baby boomers were slow and steady; taking risk required a lot of deliberation. They were slow and hesitant decision makers and preferred routine lives.

Gen X is dynamic and are innovative. They tend to have more sources at their disposal hence quick and decisive. Any change in routine is seen by them as opportunity.

3

Baby boomers were acceptors of commitment.

Gen X prefers negotiating and leveraging it to their advantage.

4

They were monitored skeptically hence never saw themselves as more then employees being paid for the work they have performed.

Gen X does not want to be monitored hence owning work and completing it independently is cherished.

1

Work Expectations

Baby boomers valued rewards in terms of money and recognition.

Gen X is more inclined towards celebrations and extrinsic rewards such as educational awards.

2

Job security meant a great deal for baby boomers. Knowledge about work and possessed skills was not shared.

Gen X believes in learning new things irrespective of the source. They want to challenge others and see themselves challenged.

3

With promotions Baby boomers claimed a sense of entitlement and a power to control strictly and punish those who work under them.

With promotions Gen X becomes more independent, more candid and better entrepreneurs.

Leading Gen X requires people who have similar attributes to the upcoming workforce of that age group while Gen X leaders adapting to the technological changes, independence at work and dynamism will have to adjust their work characteristics in order to manage the Gen Y breed in a more effective way.

Successful leaders are adaptive to their subordinates needs and specific senarios.

A large percentage of the working class is under the age of 35. The Gen X leaders of today are quite aware of the changes in market, values and new lifestyle trends that shape the attitude of this workforce.

Therefore it is important to gain respet as knowledge-based leader rather than one defined by authority or position because employees produce more when they are perceived as associates.

Thus collaboration with leadership is more important than being managed.

References:

Debra L. Nelson and James Campbell Quick, Organizational Behavior (Ohio: Thomson, 2006) 148-177.

Michael Z. Hackman and Craig E. Johnson, Leadership (Illinois: Waveland Press, 2004) 35-87.

Paton, N. (22 October 2007), "The baby-boomer leadership vacuum," Retrieved from http://www.management-issues.com/2007/10/22/research/the-baby-boomer- leadership-vacuum.asp

Richard L. Daft, The Leadership Experience (Ohio, Thomson, 2008) 45-71.

Simms, D. (2010), "Report: Finding Leaders for America's Nonprofits" Retrieved from http://www.bridgespan.org/LearningCenter/ResourceDetail.aspx?id=3794&tcode=1

"Definition of Leadership."

Retrieved from www.businessdictionary.com/definition/leadership.html