Student’s Name: Nguyen Thi Lan Chi

Student ID: 2105000091

Class: F-UON-M3-A
Module: Leadership and Management
Lecturer: Ms. Vu Thi Huong Giang

BONUS SCORE EXERCISE

1. Pros and cons of each leadership behaviors (Iowa Studies). Give Explanation.

Autocratic Democratic Lassez-fair

Both leader and

Make Decision Leader Employees
employees
Employees
Both leader and
Use power Leader
employees
Self-direction
Employees have
complete freedom
to decide and
Leader supervises High spirits,
complete their
Supervise followers strictly by encourage
tasks.
followers authority and control employees to share
all decisions opinions
Do not need
supervision from
leader
Participate, discuss High engagement.
Follow and obey the and contribute Innovation, be
Require followers rules and the enthusiastically active and
decisions of leader
responsibility
Leadership Style Pros
- Drive people to work under the
pressure to increase productivity,
especially with theory X employees
(poor skills and dislike to work)
- Making fast decisions: When only
leader makes decisions, the decision-
making process proceeds more
quickly. This can free up time for
other important tasks and keep teams
moving forward without getting
Autocratic
stuck by difficult decisions.
- High pressure for leader: In
autocratic environments, leaders take patterns that do not create a creative
the brunt of the pressure when
making decisions. This can cause
them stress, pressure, and
overwhelm because they are both
supervisor and decision-maker.
Democratic _ Increase collaboration: Member in
a team will participate in the process
of making decisions and share
responsibility for executing and
evaluating the outcomes of those
decisions. As a result, this style
values collaboration and encourages
open communication among team
members.
- Innovation and Creativity:
Democratic Leadership may
stimulate innovation and creativity
by enhancing team member’s
Cons
- Low engagement: Under the
autocratic leadership style,
feedback from subordinate may be
discouraged, which can result in
less motivation and creativity and
affect directly the input.
- Sometimes create toxic culture:
lower motivation, higher stress,
decrease morale and disinterested
employees because of strict rules.
- Lack of creativity: Restricting
ideas results in predictable work
culture in the company. A lack of
originality and innovation can
sometimes lead to slower business
growth.
- Time-consuming: this style
requires input from all team
members and may involve multiple
rounds of discussion and decision-
making. It can sometimes be
difficult to obtain agreement among
team members, especially if there
are sharp disagreements.
_ Requires employees with certain
skill or educational level:
Employees that do not have the
needed skills or education are going
to be less likely to offer creative
 participation and commitment,
capitalizing on their collective
knowledge and skills, and
developing more varied and
innovative ideas.
- Increased Job Satisfaction: Leaders
who follow democratic style tend to
listen to their employees concerns.
Therefore, employees will feel
respected and their contributions are
valuable in the teams.
- Offers Independence : Employees
under laissez-faire leadership may be
more inclined to take initiative
because this management style
allows more freedom. Employees
working under this management
style can become self-disciplined
enough to work without a manager
needing to make constant decisions
for them or give them reminders
about their work.
- Employee Motivation: This
Lassez-faire leadership style provides opportunity
for the subordinates to explore their
skills and abilities. It also helps to
increase creativity and develop
decision making power. Therefore,
employees are positively motivated
which leads to increase in the job
satisfaction.
solutions or meaningful feedback
during each discussion.
_ Lack of discipline: In this style,
employees are treated like friends,
in this situation it will be difficult
for the managers to control them. It
becomes complicated to maintain
proper discipline in the
organization.
- Employees may feel confused:
Employees may not always know
what to do if there is no clear
direction and guidance from a
visible leader or management.
Their employment description or
the specific activities expected of
them may not be immediately clear,
and there is unlikely to be someone
accessible to provide them help or
direction when they need it.
- Lacks of Control: lacks proper
supervision, monitoring and
controlling because of the freedom
given to the employees. Therefore,
it is difficult to maintain discipline
which may reduce the performance
and the output.
2. What are factors influencing the choice of leadership behavior? Give explanation
and take example.

From my perspective, there are 3 main factors that affect the choice of leadership style:
The situation, the leader, and employees.

2.1. The situation:

The situation related to clarity of tasks, procedures, and other variables all falls in this
categories. Depend on each specific circumstances, leader will choose suitable leadership
style to adapt with the current work environment, which is also called “Situational
Leadership Theory”

Based on the knowledge in the Unit 5: Contingency Theories of Effective Leadership,

(SLT) creates four leadership styles:

 Telling (high task–low relationship): The leader defines roles and tells people what,
how, when, and where to do various tasks.

 Selling (high task–high relationship): The leader provides both directive and
supportive behavior.

 Participating (low task–high relationship): The leader and followers share in

decision making; the main role of the leader is facilitating and communicating.

 Delegating (low task–low relationship): The leader provides little direction or

support

In addition, there are 4 stages of followers readiness:

 R1: both unable and unwilling
 R2: unable but willing
 R3: able but unwilling
 R4: both able and willing

Example of SLT:
During the Covid-19, all the businesses worldwide was locked-down in reality, both
leader and followers had to work from home. In this case, The S2 Selling is one of the
most effective leadership style. Because of lacking interaction among people and it was
difficult to communicate and collaborate, employees may feel somewhat demotivated.
As a result, it was seen that the directive and supportive leadership style of situational
leadership theory was the most influential in running a good and acceptable level of
performance during the pandemic.

2.2. The leader: The personality traits of the leader may affect the choice of leadership
style. Leader himself, his abilities, values, beliefs, vision, inclinations, goals, and
aspirations affect his behavior with his subordinates. If he respects his subordinates, takes
into account their feelings and trusts them, that means he tend to follow the Democratic
way of leading. A positive relationship between both personality traits openness and
extraversion with a more transformational leadership style. A positive relationship
between both personality traits conscientiousness and neuroticism with a more autocratic
leadership style was also expected.

Example: The INFJ Leader, who is introverted, Intuitive, Feeling, and Judging
personality traits. They tend to approach life with deep thoughtfulness and imagination.
Their inner vision, personal values, and a quiet, principled version of humanism guide
them in all things.

Nelson Mandela – a first Prime Minister of South Africa is one of the successful INFJ
Leader. Mandela was a great leader by using Democratic Leadership Style because he
was able to see the world in terms of possibilities, not limitations. He believed in the
power of education and worked tirelessly to promote peace and reconciliation.

By contrast, the Prime Minister of Britain, Margaret Thatcher belongs to ENTJ

Personality. A ENTJ person is described with common features: Leaders, Confident,
Curious, Decisive, Stubborn and Impatient. As a result, Margaret Thatcher is an
Autocratic Leader because she can dominate in nature of authority and power and she
makes decision with little or no input from others.

2.3. The employees

Theory X and Theory Y

+ Theory X: Theory X describes employees who are naturally lazy, want to avoid work
as much as possible, do not wish to take responsibility, have no ambition and prefer to be
supervised. As a result, the authoritarian or autocratic leadership style is the most
appropriate leadership style in the Theory X approach.
+ Theory Y: Unlike in Theory X, Theory Y management assumes that people are
inherently happy to work, they want to exert themselves in the decision making process
and they are motivated to pursue objectives and reach a higher level. They want to get the
most out of their work through satisfaction, appreciation and motivation. They seek
responsibility, unlike Theory X that avoids responsibility. Therefore, leaders can apply
democratic or Lassez-faire leadership style with this approach.