Business 302 – Foundations of Leadership

Description

About this Assignment

Don't use plagiarized sources. Get Your Custom Assignment on
Business 302 – Foundations of Leadership
From as Little as $13/Page

This course highlighted how leaders apply different leadership styles towards different work environments. Each leadership style includes various personal and socially appropriate work behaviors.

In assignment one, you demonstrated your knowledge of leadership styles, including identifying a leader’s roles, responsibilities, and critical decision-making processes during an organization’s difficult time. Now you will expand on your knowledge gained from this leadership analysis. You will choose your leadership style and explain your visualization of how you will implement this style, acknowledge challenges, and communicate effectively with your employees within a virtual world.

Use the prompt, essay structure instructions, and questions below to construct an essay between 1000 -1200 words.

Prompt

You have just been appointed Marketing Director for a large, global consumer products company. While you are excited about the new position, you also anticipate challenges that you will face. You oversee ten global sales offices worldwide, two in South America, four in Europe, and four in Asia. Sales have been good, but not what you believe they should be. You will lead the 10 Divisional Managers, leading each office to increase sales and build the company brand. Aside from the big budget meeting at headquarters that takes place at the end of the year, you will not have face-to-face contact with any of them. Except for a few visits, which the company frowns on because of the expense, communication will be virtual, primarily via email or video conferencing. You know that the key to success will be getting these division managers and their employees to use their creativity to develop ideas that will work in their respective regions.

Essay Structure Instructions:

Introduction: Compose an introduction paragraph assessing the various leadership styles, and determine which leadership style you would choose as a Marketing Director working in a predominantly virtual environment. Explain why you would choose that leadership style. Include at least one additional paragraph that discusses the styles you did not choose and explains why not.

Body: Thoroughly answer each of the following questions, ensuring that you provide at least one paragraph per question response. This will be the body of your essay.

How will you apply your leadership style to remotely support division managers across global regions in the virtual world? Break down how you would implement the traits of a Participative or Democratic Leader who shares and encourages employees or the traits of an Authoritarian or Autocratic leader who likes to hold control in the work environment.
You will also be performing the management functions every day. Which one do you think is the most important to this job, and why?
Based on your leadership style and being in a predominantly virtual environment, what challenges and conflicts could you infer related to your new remote role, and how would you address them?

Conclusion: Complete the essay by providing a succinct closing paragraph that distinguishes your style and management approach based solely on virtual communication versus the physical office environment.

Related Lessons

The following lessons from the course may help you with this assignment:

Leadership Style & Fit in the Workplace
Leadership Philosophies: Types & Examples
The Participative or Democratic Leader
The Authoritarian or Autocratic Leader Effective Management Styles for Virtual Teams
Sources & Formatting

You may refer to the course material for supporting evidence but use at least two credible outside sources and cite them using APA formatting. Please include a mix of primary and secondary sources, with at least one source from a scholarly peer-reviewed journal. If you use any Study.com lessons as sources, please also cite them in APA (including the lesson title and instructor’s name).

Primary sources are first-hand accounts such as interviews, advertisements, speeches, company documents, statements, and press releases published by the company in question.
Secondary sources come from peer-reviewed scholarly journals like the Journal of Management. You may use sites like JSTOR, Google Scholar, and Social Science Research Network to find articles from these journals. Secondary sources may also come from reputable websites with .gov, .edu, or .org in the domain. (Wikipedia is not reputable, though the sources listed in Wikipedia articles may be acceptable.)

If you’re unsure about how to use APA format to cite your sources, please see the following lessons:

What is APA Format? Definition & Style
How To Format APA Citations


Unformatted Attachment Preview

12/18/23, 7:01 PM
Autocratic Leadership | Overview & Examples – Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com
MLA
Bibliography:
“Autocratic Leadership | Overview & Examples.” Study.com, 17 September 2012, study.com/learn/lesson/autocraticleadership-overview-examples.html
Copy to clipboard
In-text citation:
(Autocratic Leadership | Overview & Examples)
Copy to clipboard
APA
Bibliography:
Autocratic Leadership | Overview & Examples. (2012, September 17). Retrieved from
https://study.com/learn/lesson/autocratic-leadership-overview-examples.html.
Copy to clipboard
In-text citation:
(Autocratic Leadership | Overview & Examples, 2012)
Copy to clipboard
Chicago
Bibliography:
“Autocratic Leadership | Overview & Examples.” Study.com. September 17, 2012.
https://study.com/learn/lesson/autocratic-leadership-overview-examples.html.
Copy to clipboard
In-text citation:
(Autocratic Leadership | Overview & Examples, 2012)
Copy to clipboard
https://study.com/learn/lesson/autocratic-leadership-overview-examples.html
1/1
12/18/23, 7:01 PM
Autocratic Leadership | Overview & Examples – Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com
Instructor: Sherri Hartzell
Cite this lesson
Sherri has taught college business and communication courses. She also holds three
degrees including communications, business, educational leadership/technology.
Discover autocratic leadership via an overview. Find out its pros and cons and how it differs from authoritarianism.
See famous autocratic leader examples.
Control Freaks
‘It’s my way or the highway.’ ‘If you want something done right you have to do it yourself.’ ‘Anything you can do I can
do better.’ Perhaps you have heard someone say one of these phrases before or maybe you have said one of them
yourself. They all encompass this idea of control. Often regarded as control freaks, these people try to dictate
anything and everything in their lives, and sometimes in the lives of others. They are often perfectionists and
demand excellence from themselves and others. In management, control freaks can really cause anguish for their
followers and often result in micromanagement. They tend to regard themselves as superior to others and feel that it
is necessary for them to intervene continuously in the works of their subordinates to ensure that things are completed
to their standards. This often leaves subordinates who resent their leader and regard them as being bossy,
controlling, and dictatorial.
The Authoritarian or Autocratic Leader
Control freaks often emerge in the business environment as the authoritarian or autocratic leader. The two terms
are one and the same and describe a leadership style where managers have complete control over decision making,
which is the opposite of democratic leadership, where subordinates are encouraged to participate in decision
making by providing their opinions, insights, and suggestions, all of which are not welcomed by the authoritarian
leader. Decisions on things such as what work needs to be done, how that work will be completed and by whom are
made according to what the autocratic leader believes is best.
Their decisions should not be questioned by followers; rather, they expect them to take them as the golden rule.
Authoritarian leaders are meticulous planners and expect that their subordinates will trust that they have come to the
best possible decision on their own without needing insight from others. Famous autocratic leaders include Martha
Stewart, Saddam Hussein, Joseph Stalin, and Howell Raines.
The Benefits of the Authoritarian or Autocratic Leader
While some of you might be thinking that you know exactly where you would tell a boss who practiced this style of
leadership to stuff it, you should know that there are some benefits to autocratic leadership. For example, the
authoritarian leadership style is extremely useful when decisions need to be made quickly. There are certainly many
decisions in business that need to be made on the fly and without the input of others. This is where the autocratic
leader’s ability to make decisions on their own is a valuable asset to an organization.
Additionally, there are projects that mandate strong leadership that is focused on excellence. Just think back to the
last time you worked on a project with your coworkers that was unorganized and lacked effective leadership; such
circumstances can be extremely frustrating to have to deal with and often result in the demise of those working on
the project. In this type of situation, the autocratic leader can quickly turn what appears to be a hopeless situation
into one that has structure, guidance and expectations. Likewise, there are certain decisions that carry a heavy
burden, making the authoritarian leader a welcomed one, allowing subordinates to defer such difficulties to their
https://study.com/learn/lesson/autocratic-leadership-overview-examples.html
1/2
12/18/23, 7:01 PM
Autocratic Leadership | Overview & Examples – Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com
manager. Finally, the autocratic leader is especially beneficial during times of crisis, emergency, or high stress; while
everyone else is running around confused from the chaos, the autocratic leader is calm and busy making necessary
decisions to help get the organization where it needs to go.
Lesson Summary
Let’s review. Control freaks often emerge in the business environment as the authoritarian or autocratic leader.
These leaders have complete control over decision making and expect their subordinates to trust that they have
come to the best possible decision on their own without needing insight from others. Their decisions should not be
questioned by followers, rather they should be accepted as the golden rule. Drawbacks of this style of leadership
include causing anguish to their followers, who are often micromanaged, regarding themselves as superior to others,
which causes resentment in followers who often consider the autocratic leader as bossy, controlling, and dictatorial.
However, the authoritarian leader can also prove useful in situations where decisions need to be made quickly,
during times of crisis, and when excellence is the expectation, as well as when decisions carry a heavy burden.
Famous autocratic leaders include Martha Stewart, Saddam Hussein, Joseph Stalin, and Howell Raines.
Lesson Objective
After watching this lesson, you should be able to:
Define the authoritarian or autocratic leadership style
Explain the drawbacks of the authoritarian leadership style
Understand when an authoritarian leader can be beneficial
https://study.com/learn/lesson/autocratic-leadership-overview-examples.html
2/2
12/18/23, 6:54 PM
Leadership Philosophies | Overview, Types & Examples – Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com
Instructor: Lucinda Stanley
Cite this lesson
Lucinda has taught business and information technology courses, has a PhD in Education,
and a master’s degree in business education.
Learn about types of leadership philosophies. Examine the importance of choosing a leadership style, and discover
common leadership philosophy examples.
Leadership Philosophies
‘We are all going to wear orange on Friday.’
‘Friday is Save the Whales Day, and I would like us all to wear orange in support of this great cause.’
Which of these leadership approaches do you practice? Which would you prefer to hear from a supervisor?
Leadership philosophies are based on what individuals value and what they expect from their subordinates and
constituents. The personalities of the leaders, as well as the situations and types of followers, can also affect
leadership philosophies. There are a variety of leadership philosophies. However, the most commonly recognized
styles are authoritarian, democratic, and laissez-faire. Let’s look at each of these in more detail.
Authoritarian leaders, also known as autocratic leaders, make decisions without input from their subordinates.
They are highly-disciplined and have a clear view of where they, and their constituents, are headed. They often tell
their subordinates what to do and how to do it without an explanation. Sometimes this is necessary, particularly in
restaurants, manufacturing, or military situations. An authoritarian leader is the type of leader who would say
something like ‘We are all going to wear orange on Friday.’
Democratic leaders, also known as participative leaders, seek out input from their subordinates. They consider
meeting the goals of the organization to be a collaborative effort from all participants. They have a clear vision of
where everyone should be and incorporate the ideas of their subordinates to make that vision happen. A democratic
leader is the type of leader who might say something like ‘Friday is Save the Whales Day, and I would like us all to
wear orange in support of this great cause.’
Laissez-faire leaders, also known as delegative leaders, consider their subordinates to be fully capable of doing
their jobs without direction and allow a high degree of autonomy on the part of their subordinates. Laissez-faire
leaders work to build a strong team and let the team do their jobs. This style of leadership is most often found in
areas where there is a high degree of creativity, such as advertising agencies or businesses with a large amount of
research and development. Social media work places are often led by a laissez-faire leader.
Other Leadership Approaches
Within these three basic leadership philosophies are approaches to leadership that are more specific:
The servant leader makes service to others as a priority. It is predominantly a democratic leadership philosophy and
is often found in situations where the leader is elected by constituents. A servant leader includes constituents in the
decision-making process.
The charismatic leader often exhibits an authoritarian leadership style. He or she leads through the power of their
personality. The charismatic leader can excite constituents and move quickly to enact an organization’s vision.
The transformational leader often follows a laissez-faire leadership philosophy. Transformational leaders expect
everyone on the team to give more than 100% to meet a goal and are generally looking to make big changes.
https://study.com/academy/lesson/leadership-philosophies-types-examples.html
1/2
12/18/23, 6:54 PM
Leadership Philosophies | Overview, Types & Examples – Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com
The situational leader uses a leadership philosophy that changes with the current state of an organization. When an
authoritarian leadership style is needed, situational leaders fill that role. When a more laissez-faire approach will
work, that is the leadership style they use. Often, they are using different leadership styles at the same time
depending on the specific situation they find themselves in at any given moment.
The innovative leader often uses a laissez-faire leadership style. The innovative leader encourages free expression
of ideas and is able to see the whole picture.
The continuous improvement leadership philosophy can be any one of the basic leadership philosophies. The
goal of continuous improvement leaders, whether though an authoritarian, democratic, or laissez-faire approach, is to
improve the outcomes in every situation.
The Best Leadership Philosophy
Which one leadership philosophy is best? That is the million-dollar question! Each of these leadership styles has
their place. Generally, the more capable the followers, the less authoritarian the leader needs to be. But in the end, it
may all depend on the situation. If a decision needs to be made quickly, even a laissez-faire leader may take on an
autocratic approach in order to get things done.
Lesson Summary
In this lesson, you learned that the three basic leadership styles or philosophies are authoritarian, democratic, and
laissez-faire. Authoritarian leaders make decisions without input from their subordinates. Democratic leaders seek
out input from their subordinates. Laissez-faire leaders consider their subordinates to be fully capable of doing their
jobs without direction and allow a high degree of autonomy. Additional leadership philosophies can include servant,
charismatic, transformational, situational, innovative, and continuous improvement approaches. No one leadership
style is the best, and each situation requires a specific type of leader. The best leaders are those who can adapt to
situations and use the leadership philosophy that is appropriate to the situation.
https://study.com/academy/lesson/leadership-philosophies-types-examples.html
2/2
12/18/23, 6:56 PM
Leadership Philosophies | Overview, Types & Examples – Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com
MLA
Bibliography:
“Leadership Philosophies | Overview, Types & Examples.” Study.com, 20 March 2017,
study.com/academy/lesson/leadership-philosophies-types-examples.html
Copy to clipboard
In-text citation:
(Leadership Philosophies | Overview, Types & Examples)
Copy to clipboard
APA
Bibliography:
Leadership Philosophies | Overview, Types & Examples. (2017, March 20). Retrieved from
https://study.com/academy/lesson/leadership-philosophies-types-examples.html.
Copy to clipboard
In-text citation:
(Leadership Philosophies | Overview, Types & Examples, 2017)
Copy to clipboard
Chicago
Bibliography:
“Leadership Philosophies | Overview, Types & Examples.” Study.com. March 20, 2017.
https://study.com/academy/lesson/leadership-philosophies-types-examples.html.
Copy to clipboard
In-text citation:
(Leadership Philosophies | Overview, Types & Examples, 2017)
Copy to clipboard
https://study.com/academy/lesson/leadership-philosophies-types-examples.html
1/1

Purchase answer to see full
attachment