2 Reflection Blog: Directive and Supportive Behaviors Name OBLD 511 Organizational Leadership

2

Reflection Blog: Directive and Supportive Behaviors

Name

OBLD 511 Organizational Leadership

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Professor

Date

Directive and Supportive Behaviors

Contemporary leaders employ a plethora of leadership styles when managing individuals and working towards realizing organizational goals (Blake & Mouton, 1981). Settling on a leadership style largely relies on the organization’s work environment, employees, and objectives. The blog post delves into my roles as a leader and friend and how I utilize supportive and directive behaviors to influence people and persuade them to share my vision and ideals.

Directive leadership typifies a leader who delegates duties to subordinates, outlining what is expected of them, the means of achieving the task, and strict timelines for completing the tasks (Northouse, 2018). It is widely believed that by explicitly outlining job expectations and defenestrating ambiguity, subordinates have the requisite clarity to focus on their tasks (Hwang et al., 2015). In addition to establishing timeliness and job expectations, a directive leader delimits performance standards and guarantees that their followers understand policies and regulations.

While directive leadership is often shunned in the corporate world since it is perceived to be controlling, aggressive, and dictatorial, I believe I have established a practical way of using this leadership style without coming out as dictatorial. I have achieved this by establishing a delicate balance between being dictatorial and empathetic when dealing with younger employees. Indeed, employees typically want to be engaged in decision-making since it makes them feel appreciated and integral to the organization.

I utilize directive behavior when dealing with new hires learning on the job or when an employee is unfamiliar with the task. This allows me to be more involved and detail how the task should be performed (Hersey & Blanchard, 1982). However, as the employees learn and master the concept behind the task, I become less involved enabling them to enjoy some degree of freedom and become innovative. This approach proved helpful at the onset of coronavirus when the government imposed lockdown measures, effectively compelling employers to allow employees to work remotely. As stated, this leadership style is also useful when dealing with inexperienced employees. About two years when the coronavirus was at its peak, I was privileged to work with a team of inexperienced new hires who were eager to learn and make a mark in the company. Before they mastered the concept, I had to outline what was expected of them to reduce variation in deciphering the directives

Outside the workplace, I use directive behaviors when time is of limiting or dealing with an emergency. One cannot make determinations by committee or by consensus in these circumstances. Perhaps the most consequential time I have had to use directive behaviors is when a teammate developed heart problems and lost consciousness at a football match. I swiftly moved in and administered CPR, which helped save his life. Besides, I routinely use this leadership technique when behind schedule or when confronted with comparatively short deadlines.

In contrast, supportive leadership entails being friendly, empathetic, and approachable. Additionally, supportive leaders attend to the human needs of their employees and create an environment that fosters teamwork and good relations among employees (Bell et al., 2014). I have entrenched this leadership style in my workplace by always being available to my subordinates and demonstrating positive attitudes.

Supportive behavior comes in handy when dealing with employees and individuals who have variable confidence towards a task and need to be nudged a notch (Northouse, 2018). Organizations are almost always a mixture of mediocre, good, and excellent employees. I often employ supportive behavior to motivate employees who are not performing well at their jobs.

References

Bell, C., Chan, M., & Nel, P. (2014). The impact of participative and directive leadership on organizational culture: An organizational development perspective. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 5(23), 1970-1970.

Blake, R. R., & Mouton, J. S. (1981). Management by Grid® principles or situationalism: Which?. Group & Organization Studies, 6(4), 439-455.

Hersey, P., & Blanchard, K. H. (1982). Leadership style: Attitudes and behaviors.

Hwang, S. J., Quast, L. N., Center, B. A., Chung, C. T. N., Hahn, H. J., & Wohkittel, J. (2015). The impact of leadership behaviours on leaders’ perceived job performance across cultures: Comparing the role of charismatic, directive, participative, and supportive leadership behaviours in the US and four Confucian Asian countries. Human Resource Development International, 18(3), 259-277.

Northouse, P. G. (2018). Leadership: Theory and Practice 8thed. Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publishing