Discuss the difference between the supportive and directive leadership styles

Egypt case: Discuss the difference between the supportive and directive leadership styles.

????Through my previous work in HSBC sales team, I can remember two managers who directed the sales department during my work in the bank, one of them can be described ad the supportive leader?and the other one is a directive manager, also I can remember the results and numbers of the sales revenue during the leadership of the two men, and briefly I can say that the supportive leader win the sales revenue numbers and our friendships as a sales team, he was one of us, like the coach in the football match, he always support us in everything, like the supervisor in the teller department who watched every teller and then close to the monitor and him or her and start to give lessons in a polite way with the beautiful smile, he play at the same level with his team, he support, and direct but with his hands and eyes, look at Mohamed Salah in Liverpool, He described the supportive leadership in a very right way, he leads his team for many winnings, he play in the middle, creates play, create goals, share the team success, support in every situation and much more which makes him deserve the title of the coach, supportive leader provides security to the team members and so everyone of them will raise his confidence and the aggregate results will be more than the planned one, that’s happen in my previous work also, I can remember another manager who we all described as a manager with a directive style, who prefers the centralization style, he wanted to put the plan alone, listen too little to the team members, there is no enough power or ability for employees to select or innovate, he wanted everything comes from his side only, and then in the review for the sales results, the results for the supportive leader was so high, he won the sales and the teams loyalty, on the other hand, the directive manager won a reasonable sales numbers and lose the team members as friends.?

The Leader who considers himself a part of the team, shares his members every moment, so he has the right to celebrate their success when it happens, while the directive manager with his orders maybe reaches a reasonable result in sales and in his connections with his team.

Leader Behavior

The path-goal theory suggests a fourfold classification of leader behaviors. These classifications are the types of leader behavior the leader can adopt and include supportive, directive, achievement-oriented, and participative styles

Supportive leadership involves leader behavior that shows concern for subordinates’ well-being and personal needs. Leadership behavior is open, friendly, and approachable, and the leader creates a team climate and treats subordinates as equals. Supportive leadership is similar to consideration, people-centered, or relationship-oriented leadership

Directive leadership occurs when the leader tells subordinates exactly what they are supposed to do. Leader behavior includes planning, making schedules, setting performance goals and behavior standards, and stressing adherence to rules and regulations. Directive leadership behavior is similar to the initiating-structure, job-centered, or task-oriented leadership style.

Participative leadership means that the leader consults with his or her subordinates about decisions. Leader behavior includes asking for opinions and suggestions, encouraging participation in decision-making, and meeting with subordinates in their workplaces. The participative leader encourages group discussion and written suggestions.

Achievement-oriented leadership occurs when the leader sets clear and challenging goals for subordinates. Leader behavior stresses high-quality performance and improvement over current performance. Achievement-oriented leaders also show confidence in subordinates and assist them in learning how to achieve high goals.?

The four types of leader behavior are not considered ingrained personality traits as in the Fiedler theory; rather, they reflect types of behavior that every leader is able to adopt, depending on the situation

Supportive Leadership

Here are some supportive leadership behaviors:

? Meeting employee needs/preferences

? Showing concern for employee welfare, individual/group needs, and conflict within the group

? Encouraging a supportive work environment

? Providing positive feedback

? Fostering team cohesion and openness

? Inviting employees to be part of the decision-making process

? Promoting positive morale

? Facilitating discussions (as opposed to dominating them)

With a supportive leader, employees are provided more autonomy and encouraged to demonstrate personal initiative and to be individuals within a cohesive group dynamic.

Studies have shown supportive environments can empower and promote positive dependency among team members, despite being open to more potential conflict as a result of open communication and individual expression.

Directive Leadership

Here are some directive leadership behaviors:

? Being task-oriented

? Demonstrating control over subordinates

? Dominating interactions

? Personally, managing the completion of tasks

? Supervising closely

? Pressuring employees to complete targets accurately and efficiently

? Focusing on time management

With a directive leader, employees are placed in a role of dependency – depending on the leader to direct every aspect of their task, including how and when to move forward. Employees under directive leaders often demonstrate little personal initiative.

A number of studies have shown directive leadership often contributes to lesser satisfaction and team cohesion. Moreover, directive leadership unsurprisingly leads to less open communication. However, directive leadership can also result in higher productivity.

Directive and supportive leadership differ in three main ways:

- Directive leaders focus more on developing their team members’ competencies, while supportive leaders focus on developing relationships.

- Directive leaders focus on work tasks and responsibilities, while supportive leaders focus on professional development.

- Directive leaders manage interactions, while supportive leaders facilitate interactions.

References:?

The Exhibit illustrates four examples of how leadership behavior is tailored to the situation. In the first example situation, the subordinate lacks confidence; thus, the supportive leadership style provides the social support with which to encourage the subordinate to undertake the behavior needed to do the work and receive the rewards. In the second situation, the job is ambiguous, and the employee is not performing effectively. Directive leadership behavior is used to give instructions and clarify the task so that the follower will know how to accomplish it and receive rewards. In the third situation, the subordinate is unchallenged by the task; thus, an achievement-oriented behavior is used to set higher goals. In the fourth situation, an incorrect reward is given to a subordinate, and the participative leadership style is used to change this situation. By discussing the subordinates’ needs, the leader is able to identify the correct reward for task accomplishment and help people know how to achieve the reward. In all four cases, the outcome of fitting the leadership behavior to the situation produces greater employee effort by either clarifying how subordinates can receive rewards or changing the rewards to fit their needs.?