Introduction
Strong leadership encompasses a set of crucial requirements, including directing, guiding, and influencing the employees’ behavior and work ethic toward achieving target goals in a given situation. Leadership styles have significant effects both in small enterprises and in the largest global corporations. According to Iqbal, Anwar & Haider (2015), they facilitate the corporate culture that impacts the organization and employees’ output in complying with the deadline projects. In addition, leadership satisfaction is expected to have a positive direct effect on employees’ involvement and professional development (Book, Gatling, & Kim, 2019). Current research about the critical effect of the leadership strategies on employee engagement and overall work performance examines the issue in terms of different leadership styles and professional anticipations from the personnel.
Effects of Transformational and Shared Leadership
The diversity of work situations requires the company’s leaders to implement different leadership styles. Transformational leadership style can stimulate and motivate subordinates to help them develop and achieve performance at a high level. Nurhuda et al. (2018) examine the effects of transformational leadership style on employee motivation and work performance. The researchers conclude that while no significant influence effects of the leadership strategies are discovered, the main aspects of work discipline and work motivation have a major impact on employees’ performance and motivation level. However, Choi, Kim & Kang (2017) state that transformational leadership can be enhanced by adopting the shared leadership strategy. The study emphasizes the positive effect of collaborative use of transformational and shared leadership to reach “output effectiveness,” as well as “organizing and planning effectiveness” (Choi et al., 2017, p. 384). Two leadership styles are considered essential determinants of the overall team effectiveness.
Servant Leadership and Cognitive Style
One of the most fundamental approaches to leading implies servant leadership based on a leader’s integrity and a particular focus on the followers’ needs, organizational spirit, and a genuine will to serve others. Servant leadership covers seven distinct leader behaviors, including ethical behavior, emotional support, prioritizing subordinates’ needs, helping them grow and succeed, empowering others, creating value for the community, and possessing conceptual skills. Piccolo, Buengeler & Judge (2018) examined that servant leadership has a positive influence on both “individual- and team-level organizational citizenship behaviors” (p. 303). Employees guided by a servant leader are motivated to exert additional effort for their leaders as they receive the proper support. Another research conducted by Busari (2018) defines the cognitive style as part of the servant leadership approach and intuition-analytical dimensions towards understanding individual differences concerning leadership effects. According to the study, analysis of the influence of cognitive style upon transformational and transactional leadership methods can improve leadership effectiveness and employees’ performance by monitoring the employment and leaders’ selection.
Conclusion
Being an effective leader within a professional environment is key to coherent teamwork and successful organizational performance. Leadership has a strong correlation with employees’ engagement in the workflow determined by their relationship with the managers. Based on the current literature analysis, it is crucial to choose the most adequate leadership style that meets the objectives of the organization and helps balance the interest of the leader’s followers, namely employees. With that said, efficient leadership strategy contributes to the increased employee motivation, improved decision-making process, and promotes a culture of transparency between the team members. An effective leader provides vast opportunities for his company in terms of accomplishing target goals and business objectives, as well as reaching the maximum benefit of the employees’ performance.
References
Book, L., Gatling, A., & Kim, J. S. (2019). The effects of leadership satisfaction on employee engagement, loyalty, and retention in the hospitality industry, Journal of Human Resources in Hospitality & Tourism, 18(1), 1–26.
Busari, A. H. (2018). Cognitive style: Decision making. In M. Y. Hayat, & K. Shahid (Eds.), servant leadership styles and strategic decision making (pp. 1–20). IGI Global.
Choi, S. B., Kim, K., & Kang, S.-W. (2017). Effects of transformational and shared leadership styles on employees’ perception of team effectiveness. Social Behavior and Personality: An International Journal, 45(3), 377–386.
Iqbal, N., Anwar, S., & Haider, N. (2015). Effect of leadership style on employee performance. Arabian Journal of Business and Management Review, 5(5), 1–6.
Nurhuda, A., Purnamasari, W., Irawan, N., Nurhidayati, F., Mahmudah, S., Anshori, M., Ngibad, K., Rodli, A. F., Hidayatullah, S., & Yahya, D. (2018). Effect of transformational leadership style, work-discipline, work environment on employee motivation and performance. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 1175, 1–6.
Piccolo, R. F., Buengeler, C., & Judge, T. A. (2018). Leadership is organizational citizenship behavior: Review of a self-evident link. In P. M. Podsakoff, S. B. MacKenzie, & N. P. Podsakoff (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of organizational citizenship behavior (pp. 297–316). Oxford University Press.