Leadership Strategies to Improve Business Performance

Ineffective Leadership Practices in the IT Industry

Ineffective leadership can result in serious workplace problems, including the decline and deterioration of morale, failures in performance, and increases in employee turnover (Verma & Kesari, 2020). Organizations can improve morale and performance while reducing turnover by implementing leadership strategies that resonate with and are viewed positively by workers.

The background on this subject is rooted in the research of industrial organization and leadership studies, fields that have been investigated for more than a century. The connection between leadership and performance, turnover, and morale has been assessed by psychologists like Maslow and by scholars like Kotter, who focused on change management. From education to medicine to business, leadership, morale, and motivation have frequently been linked by researchers (Chen, Li & Zhang, 2021; Hebert, 2019).

When it comes to narrowing in on ineffective leadership practices in the IT industry, scholars have found that leaders who display abusive personalities, little to no social and emotional intelligence, a tendency to micromanage, and an inflexible approach to the workplace environment are most likely to harm morale, diminish performance, and increase turnover (Radek, 2019). Moreover, workers have shown that they do not like to be labeled by leaders, as labeling is a way of marginalizing people and preventing them from having access to power within an organization (Samo, Qazi & Buriro, 2019). Ineffective leadership practices in IT have thus been found to be those that dehumanize individuals, make workers feel small and incapable of working without a supervisor standing over their shoulders, and create a general atmosphere of tyranny and indifference.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, Scrum, and Lean Management Theory

Motivation is a critical aspect of the relationship between leadership and employee performance, and Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory has been found to help explain that relationship (Stefan, Popa & Albu, 2020). The needs hierarchy focuses on physiological needs, safety, love, esteem, and self-actualization. As lower-level needs are met, the individual becomes more self-motivated until reaching the top of the hierarchy, at which point the person is self-actualizing — motivating himself intrinsically from within rather than relying on external factors (Stefan et al., 2020).

Leaders can help their employees become self-actualizing by ensuring that lower-level needs are being met — especially the levels of love and esteem, which are so often ignored by leaders. People like to feel valued and appreciated by their superiors, and this sense of appreciation motivates them to perform well, as Stefan et al. (2020) have shown. This is why Maslow's hierarchy of needs still applies today and why leaders can use it to motivate their workers and improve overall performance.

Another leadership method gaining increasing use today is Scrum. Scrum is an approach that fosters an environment of shared leadership (Spiegler, Heineck & Wagner, 2021). Spiegler et al. (2021) explain that the dedicated Scrum Master is "a leadership enabler who follows the goal to empower a team to work in an agile way and to share leadership" with others (p. 1). Scrum is associated with identifying short-term goals and then focusing meetings on how well everyone is progressing toward those goals. It is a goal-driven approach to leadership that relies heavily on constant communication, trust, and the notion of shared leadership. The Scrum Master is not there to stand over anyone's shoulder; he is simply organizing a meeting of minds and ensuring that everyone understands they are expected to hold themselves accountable. The underlying idea is that everyone must push themselves toward self-actualization, and that this drive can be reinforced through constant awareness of the organization's needs. In this sense, Scrum represents an inversion of Maslow's hierarchy: rather than focusing on the needs of the individual, the Scrum Master focuses on the needs of the job (Spiegler et al., 2021).

Lean Management Theory is another leadership approach that focuses on optimizing resources to enhance customer value by eliminating waste in the production process, emphasizing the need for continuous improvement, and demonstrating respect for people so that teamwork and growth are natural outcomes in the workplace (Miao, Qian & Humphrey, 2019). The ideas underpinning lean management are not fundamentally different from those underpinning Maslow's needs hierarchy or Scrum. In fact, lean management functions like a combination of the two approaches. Lean focuses on teamwork in the way Scrum does, with the goal of serving the customer (i.e., the task), but it also emphasizes respect for people, which underscores Maslow's theory. This combination of respect for others and continuous improvement — aimed at satisfying the customer and creating value by eradicating wasteful practices — forms the foundation of the lean management approach (Miao et al., 2019). Entrepreneurs are drawn to this approach because of its hybrid nature, which simultaneously satisfies both workers and customers (Miao et al., 2019).

Effective and Ineffective Leadership and Job Satisfaction

Effective leadership is linked with job satisfaction, while ineffective leadership tends to be associated with employee job dissatisfaction (Baek, Han & Ryu, 2019). When leaders are authentic and genuine, open and transparent, they are seen as effective leaders who engage with workers, build trust, and help create relationships in which everyone feels valued and happy (Baek et al., 2019). However, when a leader fails to demonstrate this kind of openness and credibility, workers feel detached from the leader and their satisfaction with their job diminishes (Baek et al., 2019).

Ineffective leadership has the inverse effect on job satisfaction: it causes workers to feel unhappy with their role and performance in the workplace (Baek et al., 2019). Such a leader comes across as someone who does not care about workers, does not value them, and does not care about the work — thereby fostering an environment with no real incentive to perform (Stefan et al., 2020). Without that incentive, workers feel unsatisfied with their jobs and look for opportunities elsewhere. Ultimately, this is consistent with the idea that workers want to feel that their work and effort matters and is appreciated by their leader (Stefan et al., 2020). If the leader is engaged, demonstrates appreciation for workers' efforts, and models the kind of commitment he expects from others, workers are more likely to feel engaged as well. They come to recognize that the workplace is one where effort and performance matter, which creates a lasting sense of job satisfaction (Baek et al., 2019).