Semester Syllabus | Fall 2022

MGT1111E: ARTS OF LEADERSHIP

ASSIGNMENT 2 (GROUP)
Review the Chapters 4, 5, and 6 in your textbook, choose ONE of the following questions, identify
to the key issues or matters in the chosen question then discuss with your team and write a 800
words short essay with your personal opinions or perspectives in the real world.
Your team can do additional readings and gather information or data relevant to the issues/topics
from internet, companies you know or any resources. Remember to cite all the recourses and put
them in the References section.
Q1: Should leaders hire only those people who can work with the leader’s leadership style?
Q2: Why wouldn’t the coaching style be effective in every situation? Provide an example to support
your response.
Q3: Apply path-goal theory to a work group you are currently in. How well does the leader’s style
match the follower characteristics and task characteristics of your work group?

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Student’s Writing
Full name: Group 2 Student ID:
1. Do Le Bao Kha 1. 195100356
2. Duong Ngoc Vu 2. 195100269
3. Su Hoang Dan Anh 3. 195100547
4. Phan Le Truc Linh 4. 195100649
5. Pham Minh Trong 5. 195100764
6. Le Thi Tram Anh 6. 195100208

Q1: Should leaders hire only those people who can work with the leader’s leadership style?
Answer:
The purpose of recruiting is to choose the right people to contribute to the organization’s
development. For one organization to run smoothly, leader roles are undeniably important and
leadership styles have certain impacts on hiring decisions. Our team has looked through six typical
leadership styles: autocratic, laissez-faire, democratic, pacesetter, transformational, and ethical
leadership to clarify the relationship of recruiting people and leadership styles.

1. Autocratic leadership

“If you want to make everyone happy, don’t be a leader, sell ice cream.” - Steve Jobs, a typical
successful autocratic leader. Depending on the organization’s context and the purpose of hiring, what
will happen if we only hire people who can work with these authoritarian leaders like Steve Jobs? This
concern leads us to two common cases. First, if our corporation is newly established and lacks direction,
we need an authoritarian leader and subordinates who can work smoothly with him to create consistent
communication, clear direction, and quick decision making. The answer now is “Yes”.

In contrast, when our firm is going to end its life cycle soon and we need a new creative strategy,
new ideas, the answer is “No, we shouldn’t hire people with such obedient attitude towards autocratic
leaders. ”, we should seek and hire “new winds of change” who can confidently give us new
perspectives, avoid the replication of previous patterns and begin a new life cycle for our company.

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 2. Laissez-faire leadership

Laissez-faire leaders are less involved in the strategic planning process, placing a lot of trust in
their employees. This leadership style can lead to higher levels of success because it gives employees
the opportunity to be proactive and creative in the workplace. But they still know what's going on and
give feedback when necessary. Laissez-faire leaders should hire like-minded employees who share their
vision and goals. This makes it easier for leaders to promote the company's image, culture, and values
and create a more successful workplace. In addition, hiring people who also suit a laissez-faire
leadership style can avoid conflicts in the workplace and can work independently to reach common
goals.

3. Democratic leadership

Democratic leadership, which is also commonly known as participative leadership, is about

letting multiple people participate in the decision-making process. Unlike the autocratic, democratic
leaders will always listen to the opinions of all members, always encourage them to confidently share
their personal views and finally the leader will be the one to finalize the opinion. Although the work will
be delayed a bit because of having to listen to everyone's opinions, when the ideas are combined, it can
result in more creative solutions. If in a team there is a democratic leader, and there are a few
conservative members who focus only on their own opinion, they will not be able to work together with
the team, causing discord and the team cannot develop well. Therefore, democratic leaders should hire
employees who always listen and respect the opinions of their colleagues, as well as confidently give
their own opinions to support the development of the project.

4. Pacesetter leadership

The flawless execution of the strategy is the main priority of a pacesetter leader. However, the
disadvantage of this leadership style is the lack of concern for members. So, should leaders hire like-
minded employees to work with them? We believe that there should be the person/leadership style
match because these leaders always push subordinates towards goals and deadlines. Therefore, hiring
the right people who also focus on goals and can work under fast-pace will ensure high working
performance, thereby promoting and developing the company strongly. On the contrary, if employees do
not put work first, there will be conflicts; they will feel shy about sharing their ideas and feel exhausted
by the overload of work.

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 5. Transformational leadership

According to Bass, transformational leadership can be defined based on the impact that it has on
followers. Among the six styles we discuss, transformational one is often viewed as the most effective
leading style. So to know whether to hire individuals that match with or different from this leadership
style, the two main factors are considered: the leader’s traits and the company itself.

With the leader's traits, transformational leaders are usually described as having self-awareness,
creativity, active listening skills and willing to take well-informed risks. Therefore, if only considering
personality traits, these leaders don’t have to seek people with suitable characteristics to bring best
results as pacesetter leaders. Instead they can freely hire anyone because they have charisma and can
inspire others to achieve extraordinary results.

With the firm's situation, transformational leadership can only be effective where trust and
respect are among the followers and the leader. With startups which require a quick development,
building trust at this stage is impossible, so to reach the goals in the fastest pace, leaders at the moment
should consider more about building up a team containing result-oriented individuals.

6. Ethical leadership

A leader with an ethical leadership style is usually a conscientious person and an ethical
administrator. They will put effort into arranging and supporting the development of members and are
very active in motivating members and building cooperative relationships with members. Bringing in
certain characteristics such as honesty, trustworthiness, fairness, etc. an ethical manager is someone who
always tries to influence the behavior of employees and strives to raise standards - organization's ethical
standards.  Therefore, should only employ people that fit this type because it contributes positively to the
workplace atmosphere and builds a solid, reliable company. And ethical leadership can easily prevent
corporate scandals, ethical dilemmas, and ethical issues.

In summary, employing people who suit the leadership styles can bring many benefits for both
the leaders and the company in the short-term, such as easy to create a homogeneous working style,
avoid conflicts among members and leaders, and provide clear visions to achieve common goals in the
predefined deadlines. However, bringing in heterogeneous individuals will help firms to develop in new
ways and be able to face the VUCA situations. Hence, when considering hiring the “obedient" or
“rebellious" types of employees, we should understand both the business health and the leader's
characteristics.

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References:
Moradi Korejan M and Shahbazi H. An analysis of the transformational leadership theory. J. Fundam.
Appl. Sci., 2016, 8(3S), 452-461.
Dr. Radhika Kapur, Ethical Leadership. Retrieved March, 2018 from
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323829602_Ethical_Leadership

https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/10-common-leadership-styles

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