Leadership styles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Leadership styles - Essay Example There are numerous leadership styles but this paper will specifically focus on Lewin’s leadership styles namely: democratic/participative, laissez faire, autocratic as well as transactional and transformational leadership styles which are more recent. Kurt Lewin, a psychologist developed a framework of three leadership styles in 1930s and these styles were later to become a benchmark for developing styles of leadership. Lewin’s styles of leadership include the following, autocratic, laissez faire and autocratic (Amos et al., 2008). Autocratic leadership style is usually carried by leaders who make all the decisions in the organization alone (Amos et al, 2008). These leaders use authoritarian rule and they do not bother consult other members of the team when they are making decisions in the organization. The leader who uses this style has the final authority to make any decision in the organization and it can also be noted that the communication channel used is top to bottom where the subordinates are mere takers of instructions from the top. In other words, they just respond to what has been said from the top without any contribution. The subordinates can hardly interact with their leaders. This leadership style is oriente d towards goal attainment of the organization and improving productivity at the expense of the employees who also have their personal goals to achieve outside work. This style leads to demotivation of the employees and can subsequently lead to absenteeism or staff turnover since the workers are not motivated to put optimum performance in their operations. Laisez fair is another leadership style developed by Lewin which emphasises on giving the employees freedom to manage their own affairs (Kleyhnhans, 2007). In other words, the employees work with very little or no supervision at all and they are responsible for setting their own goals

Looking over the varied strands of the American Women's Movement, Essay

Looking over the varied strands of the American Women's Movement, which approaches do you believe were the most successful, an - Essay Example Such movement’s priorities vary among the feminine from one region, nation, state, and continent. Feminine movement began in the western world in the early centuries and took on various forms. The initial form involved and addressed the issues concerning political equality and suffrage; the second form, partly arising because of the civil right’s movement provided forum for addressing and combating private issues such as sexuality, role in society, childcare considerations for working mothers, power inequality, social and cultural inequalities. The third form involved the rejuvenation of women influence in politics. All the issues spearheaded involve of are focused on women’s issues, and such movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equality in terms of the issues addressed. Feminine movements are always geared towards women empowerment and liberation by breaking the ties that bind and suppress their efforts (Macpherson, p.7). Successful approache s The American women movement succeeded in addressing numerous issues that were tying down the efforts of most of the women population in the past years. There were various approaches which pioneered and addressed such issues of ethnicity, regional differences, class, gender, and the transition from radical to electoral politics. Antislavery (Abolitionism) This was the first abolition movement of the American women, which was used for the campaigns to end slavery. The slavery had been in America since the colonial times, and slaves came to America because of the transatlantic trade between the oceanic countries and both the North and South America. The slaves were subjected to hard labor and harsh treatment from their masters and the foremen chosen to supervise their work. Such conditions prompted the formation of antislavery societies whose main agenda was to abolish the existence of slavery and the entire treatment of other persons as slaves. The antislavery society encountered ha rsh conditions and treatment from the slaveholders, who owned and treated slaves unfairly. The approach of abolitionism was successful because it resulted into the freeing of slaves, slave trade was stopped, slavery abolition Act was formed, and most of the enslaved population enjoyed their freedom rights. They started schools and libraries for the free blacks. (Schomp, p.12). Lobbying This refers to influencing the decisions made by government officials by other individuals, legislators, constituents, and other advocacy groups. It is a form of advocacy that is aimed at influencing the government on certain matters that concern a group of individuals or the entire society. The civil rights movement was concerned with the fight for equality Reform movements They were organized to carry out specific reforms in certain areas by changing elements of the system for the better. These were usually organized by reformist American women. Examples include the civil rights movement, women libe ration among other approaches. The civil movement addressed issues pertaining the equality of women in terms of political rights. This resulted in majority of the women gaining political mileage and having a voice within the system that was