Mark’s leadership focuses on being an example to his subordinates (Northouse, 2016). His behavior influenced the other employees who have taken up leadership roles, which is seen by Mark first establishing the department then delegates responsibilities to two other employees who should report to him. Mark socializes more with his employees as he is always close to the two-delegated leaders and takes small groups of his workers for an outing on weekly basis to keep a close relationship with the team members, which motivates and encourages the team members (Northouse, 2016).
Mark’s need for his team members to excel is seen when he becomes proud after a team member does a good job and this leadership approach has enabled Mark’s department to be the best in the hospital (Northouse, 2016). The behavior of the employees changed after Mark reorganized the department and put much effort as an example to the other employees who were influenced by his leadership style (Northouse, 2016). After Mark relaxed his style, some workers took responsibilities and had to report to him. As Mark also continued to socialize and create a personal relationship with the employees, the employees also were influenced to be like him and as a result, the performance was improved (Northouse, 2016). Mark is task oriented as well as relationship oriented. The relationship leads to the performance of the task and these aspects work collaboratively (Northouse, 2016).
By Mark being close to the delegated leaders, it has enabled the leaders to improve their performance as well as the other workers who Mark spends time with on weekly basis (Northouse, 2016). Mark likes to work with people and he is proud when a member achieves the goals of the department (Northouse, 2016). Mark would have a score of nine on the concern for people and a nine for the concern of production as Mark believes that his employees are important for the achievement of organizational goals (Northouse, 2016). Mark has a good relationship with his employees as he has empowered the employees, which has led to improved productivity (Northouse, 2016).
One of the strengths of the behavioral approach to leadership includes an opportunity for team members to learn the leadership traits as is in this case (Northouse, 2016). The employees have copied Mark’s leadership traits, which has led to the improved productivity (Northouse, 2016). A weakness of the behavioral approach is even though individuals can learn leadership traits; it does not guarantee they will perform better as there are other important leadership skills like knowledge of the leader, which may influence their performance (Northouse, 2016). Another weakness is that the behavioral leadership style may not always work in all contexts as different scenarios may determine the success of the approach (Northouse, 2016).
References
- Northouse, P.G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice. Los Angeles: Sage.
