Participative Leadership Behaviour

Project Objective and Plan

The project aimed to investigate the impact of participative leadership on the performance of team members. The objective was to determine whether applying the concept in the work environment as a leader in the future will improve the performance of employees.The project involved engaging the team members in making various decisions that affected the group. The plan was two-fold where one of the phases was a control experiment, whereas a leader, I made most of the decisions without involving the team members. The second phase involved engaging the team members through various methods before making a decision.

Methods

The project involved several ways of member participation. For example, I used consultation where I organized for a meeting with the all team members encouraged them to provide their opinions regarding a matter at hand. I tried to make the process a bit informal so that the members could not feel like they were being interrogated. The second method I used was power-sharing and delegation whereI could sometimes allow random team members to lead the team activities in my absence and prepare a report on what transpired. I also used democratic management where I collected and reviewed the views of the team members and made a final decision based on the opinions of team members.

Results and Interpretation        

There was a difference in the level of motivation between the two phases of the project. In the first phase of the project where I made most of the decisions without involving the other teammembers, the members were not motivated to do the group activities allocated to them. On the other hand, the willingness and enthusiasm to complete group activities were high among members in the second phase where I engaged them in making most decisions for the team.

The high level of motivation and willingness to complete group activities in the second phase of the project can be attributed to the involvement of the team members in making decisions affecting the group. In this way, the team members were able to trust me and thus feel that they were entirely part of the part. Consequently, they were responsible for the activities of the team and its outcomes. A study by Newman et al. (9), found that there was improved performance among interns where participative leadership was involved.  According to the study, the improvement was due to the development of trust, which made the interns feel that they are part of the organization. Newman et al. state that participative leadership allows employees to be co-responsible for the realization of organizational goals (11). Similarly, another article by Juneja, adds that involving the employees in most decisions affecting the company gives them a sense of self-worth and encourages them to work hard and derive satisfaction from work. Moreover, participative leadership gives the employees an opportunity to suggest ways of improving their working conditions, which enhance their productivity (Juneja).

Conclusion

Participative leadership is essential in motivating team members and employees to improve productivity. This is because it creates trust and confidence in the leadership of the organization by giving the employees a feeling of belonging and responsibility. The process may be tedious especially when a quick decision has to be made, but it is worth considering given its positive impact on the performance of employees. The project was successful because it allowed me to learn and understand the importance of participative leadership in teamwork and collaboration among team members.

Works Cited

Newman, Alexander, Philip S. Rose, and Stephen TT Teo. “The role of participative leadership and trust‐based mechanisms in eliciting intern performance: Evidence from China.” Human Resource Management 55.1 (2016).

Juneja, Prachi. “Benefits of Participative Management.” Managementstudyguide.Com, 2018, http://managementstudyguide.com/benefits-participative-management.htm. Accessed 5March 2019.

 

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