In situations that required me to demonstrate leadership skills, I used a mixed approach that included the features of coaching, affiliate, and pacesetting leaders. Characteristic features of these leadership styles form a symbiosis that contributes to successful management. Affiliate style creates a favorable corporate atmosphere and a sense of a cohesive team, which increases the group morale. Coaching elements are required to improve group members’ performance, which is much more effective in a coherent environment. Employees are more willing to accept instructions from a leader with affiliative traits.
Finally, the pacesetting leader tends to be “self-motivated, highly skilled, and high-performing,” thereby setting an example of high working competence (Smart, Kimble, Birch, Smith, & Whitaker, 2019, p. 11). It should be noted that all these leadership styles have micromanagement features, and this combined approach was most suitable for managing projects with small-sized teams. This experience is most consistent with the behavioral theory of leadership. All leadership skills I used were not congenital and were acquired during my educational and managerial experience.
In the course of the merger of companies Uwear and Paledenim, it is necessary to apply coaching, democratic, and pacesetting leadership styles. The work process will undergo significant changes for the working staff of both companies due to the merger, and therefore management will have to provide them with the opportunity to learn new skills and knowledge. In addition, the HR department of the newly merged corporation will need to collect feedback from employees.
The company’s leaders will need to take into account the suggestions and proposals of the personnel to come up with a more compromise solution. According to Smart et al. (2019), “such a participative style plays a vital role in empowering members” (p. 13). For instance, it is possible to appoint a new manager who has not worked for either Uwear or Paledenim as the head of the department. This executive will be willing to consider the interests of both parties until they unite. The company’s leaders will have to apply a new style of task performance that is suitable for both teams, and thus play the role of a pacesetting leadership.
References
Smart, L., Kimble, C. A., Birch, J. J., Smith, R., & Whitaker, G. (Eds.). (2019). Leadership and ethical decision making. Schaumburg, IL: Words of Wisdom, LLC.