Evaluation of Follow and Followers of Different Leadership/Management Styles

When the authority and power are in full control of the top leader, it is a characteristic of the autocratic leadership style. Followers and following of the autocratic leadership style are restricted to certain situations where people demonstrate low level of motivations and achievement-oriented performance, and therefore requires clear assistance, and delegation of the roles and responsibilities to underpin the assigned tasks (Gerschewski, 2013; Harms, 2018). Despite the fact that autocratic leadership is deemed the worst of all different leadership styles, this style is followed when people working in team are deprived of a common vision to comprehend the intricacies of the project and hence are reluctant to take up the responsibility in terms of decision-making. In this situation, an autocratic style of leadership is empowered and preferred to take the lead and assign the deliverables to each member of the team to ensure the on-time project execution. Also, autocratic is the best approach for inexperienced team to get the work done without dedicating any time to promote learning through a trial and error process. In the context of organisational system and structure theory as depicted by Butters (2015), autocratic leadership style falls into the egocentric category where power is preferred over collectivistic approach to rule with no limitations on the decision-making process.

However, within my organisation, the followers and the following of the democratic and participative leadership style have led to highest level of employee empowerment and encouragement to promote organisational effectiveness and success at the national and global level. One of the major transformations, as viewed recently with respect to the leadership and management style at OETC, is the principle of inclusion. To promote the overall organisational effectiveness while focusing on the upbuilding the individual growth, encouragement, and empowerment of the employees, the company has decided to send abroad the managers from different sectors of OETC for a major training course (Times News Service, 2018a). This decision reflects the high focus on the empowerment of the employees exhibited by OETC in terms of transforming the skills and development to promote employee performance and productivity. Several managers were selected for a training session to be conducted in the United States of America with respect to job-related programmes offering a competitive edge to the company.

Through the integration of this transformation, the company has positively embraced the change while continuing to deliver exceptional results in lieu of the ever-changing business norms of the electricity sector. On the other hand, there are some drawbacks to this transformation as this approach is negatively pursued by some of the employees which have led to a significant change in the attitude and behaviour of the employees. International training and development program are viewed as wastage of important economic and financial resources of the OETC by some of the employees with respect to the fact that training and development require long hours which is difficult to manage with the daily hectic job requirements. Also, training and development do not always reciprocate the required improvements in the productivity and skill sets of the employees (Silberman and Biech, 2015). Nevertheless, training and development are viewed as beneficial by a large number of OETC who are affirmative that this approach would improve their professional performance while improving the local and global effects of the company. This is due to the fact that employees at OETC have a firm belief in their management which has been developed through the developmental relationships between the managers and the employees.

Employees at OETC follow the participative leadership style adopted by the management as it offers them the opportunity to be heard in the final decision-making process. Also, employee recognition and appreciation through feedback and regular performance monitoring and evaluation have improved the following of the employees of the participative leadership style. Rewards, recognition, training, empowerment, and encouragement are at the forefront to the smooth transition of the participative leadership style at OETC. During the early inception, OETC had adopted a democratic leadership style where shared decisions were preferred to promote organisational effectiveness. However, with the passage of time and changes in the electricity sector, the company timely adopted the participative leadership style to deliver continued success while offering continuous guidance and mentoring to the employees at all levels.

The transformation enabled in building the trust and satisfaction of the employees towards the company while working at their best interest to promote the organisational productivity and local competitiveness. For instance, as part of the organisation’s effort to promote the inculcation of the Omani employees with adequate qualifications and equal opportunities, the company has introduced several job-specific training programs to empower the employees while offering them equal opportunities to improve their professional competencies. OETC selected and offered managers an internationally accredited certificated program in Oman which was conducted by certified agents from the James Madison University, USA in several batches to improve the management, planning, and leadership skills (Oman Grid, 2019d). This transformation reflects the commitment of OETC in fostering the performance capabilities to tune the in-line practices with the best international standards.