Action Learning Project Report

On

Literature Review

Impact of leadership style on employee

performance

By

Arindam Ghosh

Word count: 1981

Page 1 of 13
 Index

S. No Chapter
1.0 Abstract
2.0 Background
3.0 Problem statement
4.0 Research objective
5.0 Research Question
6.0 Motivation
7.0 Literature Review
8.0 Gaps in Literature review
9.0 Research Methodology
10.0 References

Page 2 of 13
Abstract

Leadership style is a hugely researched topic of behavioral science, and

different researchers, authors, have different opinions and findings on the

same. Observation of the studies of available works of literature implies that

the leadership styles adopted by various leaders in the insulator

manufacturing industry in India and their impact on employee performance are

unexplored. This paper targets assessing the effects of leadership style in the

Insulator manufacturing industry in the Indian context. The research aims to

articulate findings through systematic literature reviews for a clear

understanding of different leadership styles adopted by managers in the

Insulator industry and examine its impact on the performance of employees. It

will be done through a survey on a sample basis (google forms) of the Hr

management, the middle management, and the frontline staff from Aditya Birla

Insulators. This study will identify the most-suited leadership style for the

insulator industry and the employee performance thereof.

Keywords: Leadership Style; Employee Performance; 

Background

Leadership is key to good performance. Good leaders always motivate

employees, and motivated employees escalate their performance, but their

commitment to the organization also improves. They go beyond the job

Page 3 of 13
requirements; thus organization's general performance improved, and it

became more profitable. Aditya Birla Insulator, the plant I attached with is an

intrinsic manual plant; I have to deal with many people regularly. People

performance and dealing with the team is the key concern for my unit. It is

observed many times that a project and assignment are failed due to

management failure and because many a time as a leader, we couldn't make

our expectations clear. To engage & energize our team, it is the prime

responsibility as a leader to get the best out of our team. 

When we think of standing out of the crowd, leadership plays an essential role

in influencing performance. Leadership is a critical management trait that

involves the ability to motivate employees towards a common goal.

Leadership focuses on the development and needs of their followers

(Nagendra and Farooqui, 2016). Leadership is "the art of influencing people so

that they will strive to willingly contribute towards the achievement of

organizational goals" (Igbaekemen, 2014). Leadership style influences the

organizational culture, and consequently, the leadership style affects

organizational performance (Nanjundeswaraswamy & Swamy 2014).

Problem statement

The leadership style and its impact on employee performance remain

unexplored in our business. A big concern is how the leadership style in the

insulator industry impacted the team's performance. Many researchers study

leadership style and employee performance, but that is not enough to

understand our needs exactly. Also, to deal with a different employee, we may

Page 4 of 13
need to adopt different stances. So, it's most important to analyze the topic as

employee performance directly impacts organizational performance.

Research objective 

The proposed research objective is to understand different leadership styles

through a systematic review, identify the leadership styles adopted by

managers in the manufacturing industry, and examine their impact on the

performance of employees.

Research Question 

Identification of the best-suited leadership style for the insulator industry and

employee performance under different leadership styles

Does leadership style impact the overall employee performance of Insulator

business          

Motivation

To meet the increasing electricity demands for the country's rapid

development, the Government of India has felt an urgency to establish a

substantial number of new power plants and electric grid substations. The

insulator is one of the key components for this. To make the business

profitable and reduce of cost of the product, the quality and production

process need to be robust. And as our plant is man driven, it's more important

to boost up employee performance to meet our objective. As leadership style

is the key resource to improving employee performance, it's the primary

motivating factor for improving employee and organizational performance.

Page 5 of 13
Literature Review

What is leadership

Leadership is stated as the method of nurturing individuals and obtaining

collective efforts to achieve the common objective. Effective leadership

positively motivates followers to develop themselves while achieving

organizational goals (Conchie, 2013). Leadership is an effective process that

enables managers to get their people to work willingly towards what must be

done. Sometimes it's not easy for leaders to misinterpret what followers need.

The confusion is intensified because what leaders get paid to do often is not

what their followers need them to do. To drive an organization effectively,

leaders must strategize, set visions and priorities, build relationships,

influence others, and make things happen. But the expectations of people

under leaders are different. what they need from leaders, the clear statement is

trust, compassion, stability, and hope. (Rath and Conchie 2009).

Leadership style

(Swami, 2017) kept his view and said that the relationship between the

organization culture and factors affecting the leadership should be explored:

charismatic leadership, transformation leadership, and transactional

leadership.

Transactional Leaders

Transactional leadership comprises three major components- contingent

reward, management by exception (active), and management by

Page 6 of 13
exception(passive). Transaction leaders support a contingent reward scheme;

explain the performance execution of the followers, and appreciate good

performances. Transactional leadership is often used in industry. When

employees are flourishing, they get appreciation, and when they fail to execute

tasks, they are criticized. In a nutshell, rewards and punishments are

contingent depend on employee performance. 

Transactional leadership actively monitors the subordinate work, watches

differences, and then corrects the mistakes. In conjunction with management

by limitation, transaction leaders negotiate when the norm doesn't meet.

The subtype of transactional leadership or Laissez-Faire is when juniors get

many chances to make a decision. The leaders who evade deciding on the

group often lack direction. At last transactional leadership emphasis detailing

the short-term goals and standards procedure and rules

Transformational Leadership

Transformational leadership inspires differences and enables leadership to

follow them executively. In most circumstances, transformation leaders seem

to be energetic, passionate, and enthusiastic. James MacGregor Burns initially

proposed the concept of transformational leadership. They said it could be

seen when followers and leaders work together and bring out the higher value

of morale and motivation. 

Page 7 of 13
Later (Bass 1990) expanded the ideas of transformational leadership described

the influence of tasks on the followers. Leaders with idealized influence exhibit

a high level of self-actualization, self-esteem, and self-sacrifice to achieve the

organization's objective over self-interest. (Cumming 2010) justified regardless

of leadership style, an organization that practices transformation leadership

had better outcomes than a democratic practicing organization. To extend the

relationship between transactional and transformational leadership.

Charismatic Leadership

Charismatic leadership is characterized by those leaders who use their

communication skills, charm, and knowledge to influence others. Charismatic

leadership encourages the leaders to connect with the people in deep,

especially those who are valuable assets for the company. 

Charismatic leaders know for bringing change and influencing people's

thinking on common. People make members feel heard and recognized. But it

has also been seen seldom their judgment is based on bias and affects

innovation.

Laissez-Faire Leadership Styles

Laissez-Faire leadership is immediately opposite to autocratic leadership, in

which leaders are returning off allow a group member to participate in group

settlement building. This leadership needs a great deal of support. It provides

faster decision-making personal growth and encourages innovation. 

Autocratic Leadership 

In management style, autocratic leaders regulate every role of the team. They

make the decision based on their own belief and also don't involve other

members in decision-making.
Page 8 of 13
Autocratic leadership can be advantageous when an organization needs

instant decision-making rather than deep analysis.

Democratic Leadership

Democratic leadership is based on common interest because it is based on

collaboration between people and teammates. Accepted by researchers,

democratic leadership difficulty would not be possible outwardly for the team

members and leaders. 

Theories of Leadership

The Great Man Theory

Over a century ago, the effort towards exploring leadership characteristics

was described and defined by (Thomas Carlyle 1847). Carlyle declared leaders

are born and endowed with leadership qualities since their birth. He also

announced a hero is one who accomplished the goals besides the unusual

events. 

Trait Theory

The first theorists further defined born leaders are provided with specific traits

and self qualities that set them aside from the non-leaders. The most

significant revolutionary force capable of producing a radically new

introduction and comprehensive personal commitment to the leaders.

Situational Theories

As per this theory, there is no particular path to lead the follower; in fact, the

leader should be directed on the leader and subordinate associations. In

common knowledge, it is the theory of theorized unsuppressed leadership.

Behaviour And Style Theory

Page 9 of 13
The style theory recognizes the necessary skills that leaders must possess

and works as enablers for them. The person working under the democratic

leadership displays a high degree of cooperation, support, and creativity as

per this theory.

Process Leadership Theory

This theory developed as a work of the leaders should be converged on the

well-being of their subordinates and continuous growth. Leaders tend to

straighten themselves with the vision of their associates. 

Leadership style and Employee performance

Getting work done and achieving the objectives of an organization is called

performance. The performance of organizations mainly depends on the

leaders and their culture set (zakeer nawaj, 2016). The leadership styles

adopted by various leaders affect employee motivation, performance, and

organizational commitments. Studies on various sectors to establish the

relationship between leadership style and employee performance show the

mediating role of culture in deciding on the leadership style. There is a strong

relationship (either positive or negative) between leadership style and

organizational performance (Nagendra and Farooqui, 2016). In a

transformational and democratic leadership style, employees experience more

sense of belongingness, thus improving organizational efficiency (Nagendra

and Farooqui, 2016). 

Gaps in the Literature review 

Page 10 of 13
It is evident from the literature review that there is a scope of research to

understand the leadership styles embraced by leaders in the Insulator

manufacturing sector. The mediating role of culture and the employee

perception of the leadership style in the insulator manufacturing industry are a

grey area, and there is a need for drill down further. A detailed analysis of this

area will help to develop leaders to achieve better employee performance.

Research Methodology

A research design is a model for collecting and analyzing data for how the

research study is conducted. A study will be undertaken by surveying

employees associated with my organization to validate the use of their

leadership styles. The survey will be done through a google form. A link will be

shared with the employee with structured questionaries' assessing the various

leadership behaviors and the corresponding performance of the employees.

Participants responded either in1 to 10 scales or a scale of strongly agree –

strongly disagree.

***End of Report***

Page 11 of 13
10.References:

What Followers Want from Leaders

RELEASE DATE: 1/8/2009 SOURCE: http://gmj.gallup.com CONTACT: The Gallup

Management Journal INFORMATION: Editorial and Executive Offices 1251 Avenue

of the Americas, Suite 2350 New York, NY 10020

Nanjundeswaraswamy, T.S & Swamy, D R. (2014). Leadership styles. Advances In

Management, E-ISSN No.: 2278-4551. 7.

Ahmed, Zakeer & Nawaz, Allah & Khan, Irfan. (2016). Leadership Theories and
Styles: A Literature Review. Journal of Resources Development and Management.
16.

Nanjundeswaraswamy, Dr & Swamy, D R. (2014). Leadership styles. Advances In

Management, E-ISSN No.: 2278-4551. 7.

Leithwood, K., & Jantzi, D. (2005). Transformational leadership. The essentials of

school leadership, 31-43.

STU (2020). What is Democratic/Participative Leadership? How Collaboration Can

Boost Morale. Data Accessed on 09 nov, 2021]

Van Engen, M. L., Van der Leeden, R., & Willemsen, T. M. (2001). Gender, context
and leadership styles: A field study. Journal of occupational and organizational
psychology, 74(5), 581-598.

Nagendra, A., & Farooqui, S. (2016). Role of Leadership Style on Organizational

Performance. CLEAR International Journal of Research in Commerce &

Management, 7(4), 65–67.

Page 12 of 13
Page 13 of 13