Leadership styles and organizational performance: leading in the 21st century

Abstract

The study of various leadership styles exhibited by the organizational leaders and the impacts it has on the overall organizational performance of the organizations has been the subject of various studies with important implications for organizations in both the private and the public sector. This qualitative research places leadership styles of the organizational leaders at the centre of the research framework without neglecting other variables that are common in the organizational diagnostic models, especially the ones that directly or indirectly affect the organizational performance such as the variables of organizational culture, organizational employees, technological innovations and information system, as well as the organizational structure. Seven core leadership theories and twelve dimensions of leadership styles are explored and thoroughly discussed in order to provide a strong background pertaining to understanding the variables and assumptions that affect leadership practices and styles. With the employment of the phenomenology study tradition of the qualitative research design in this research there is the added incentive, likelihood, and plausibility that this study can present readers with fresh insights, richness, and meaning of the lived experiences of the organizational leaders and the subordinates. Data were collected through in-depth interviews. A total of 17 informants were interviewed across 7 organizations. The participants comprised of 7 organizational leaders and 10 employees. It was noted through the findings that there was a high preference for the participative and democratic style of leadership, and both the transactional and the transformational leadership traits were exhibited by the organizational leaders. Additionally, the findings pertaining to the element of organizational performance was also highlighted. It was noted that organizational leaders assessed and evaluated the performance of the organization based on several key indicators and measures such as the financial performance, the market performance, the indicators related to the employees’ wellbeing and satisfaction, the image of the organization, and the learning and growth of the organization’s processes. Significantly, this study provides an in-depth understanding of leadership styles and behavior in Thai organizations that facilitates the understanding of the preferred leadership styles in the Thai organizational context. Moreover, owing to the fact that some ethnic Indian Thais organizational leaders were included in this research, important insights into their leadership styles were also highlighted thereby providing a fresh understanding into the influence of ethnicity on leadership styles of organizational leaders. Furthermore this research links the role of public policy on organizational performance and facilitates the understanding of the role that government public policies have on the performance of organizations as well as understanding how the organizational leaders can cope with various government policies in order to ensure smooth operation and effective performance of their organization.