1. Discuss the contrasting styles and skills used by the two leaders.
My current leader allows myself and my team to work without being micromanaged and
entrusts us to treat our individual teams as our own businesses. My worst manager was over
the top with micromanagement to the point of it being a hinderance in our day-to-day
activities by the amount of status updates and stop and talks he wanted to have.
My current leader cares about our individual goals and career growth and development,
she conducts one on one meetings each month to go over these factors to ensure we stay on
track with our overall career objective. My worst manager did not believe he was responsible
for career development and told us that if we wanted to talk about career development this
indicated to him that we were not passionate enough about the roles we currently held.
These two mentions allowed me to notice that there is truly a difference between a
manager and a leader, a leader inspires and develops talent to see growth and development for
their reports, and managers seem to only care about the factors in which we serve them
2. Explain the relevant human behavior theories.
My current manager demonstrates the Supportive Model where she is very trusting in us
and supportive of our individual goals and harbors a mindset of she works for us and our
needs and not the other way around, "Through leadership, management provides a climate to
help employees grow and accomplish in the interests of the organization the things of which
they are capable." (Newstorm, 2014). My worst manager demonstrated the Autocratic Model
where he was very dependent on the obedience of his employees and us understanding that he
was in power, "Under autocratic conditions, the employee orientation is obedience to a boss.
not respect for a manager. The psychological result for employees is dependence on their
boss, whose power to hire, fire, and "perspire" them is almost absolute" (Newstorm, 2014).
3. How did you respond to each leadership style?
With my current leader I can be open and transparent with my wants and needs of the role
and if I do not think an objective is feasible, I feel confident and comfortable bringing the
mismatch up without fear of repercussions or being looked at as insignificant within my role
With my worst manager I had to hold a lot of information back, and it felt like a sink or swim
situation, but heavy on the swim part. We were forced into situations that were not exactly
ideal or even feasible at the time, but we had to cut corners and potentially break some
boundaries to get the things he wanted us to do done, at whatever price and even if the
outcome was unfavorable for us, he was satisfied as long as his outcome was favorable
4. What could the leaders have done differently in their approach to leadership?
My current leader would not need any improvement.