Leadership Styles of Business Entrepreneur rvsd

Leadership Styles of Business Entrepreneur
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Leadership Styles of Business Entrepreneur
Entrepreneurial leadership is a dynamic concept with origins from the combination of the two terms: entrepreneurship and leadership. Yang (2008) asserted that the objective of this combination was the exploration of leadership in and the behavior of entrepreneurs. Gupta et al. (2004) had a contrasting view and argued that the concept was resulted in by the turbulence in increments and competition in the business arena demanding for new styles of leadership. This style of leadership was then coined as entrepreneurial leadership and could deal with the turbulence and competition in commerce at the same time. However, even long before the coining term, authors still wrote about entrepreneurial leadership but in a different context. Schumpeter (1934, retrieved from Cogliser, 2004, p.774) wrote about the need for differentiating managers from entrepreneurs and even went ahead to suggest a new crop of leadership was looming. From then on, writers began engaging and exploiting the topic and made a conclusion that entrepreneurial leadership is distinct from the other forms of leadership and that entrepreneurs differentiate themselves from corporate leaders in handling issues.
Entrepreneurial leadership has thus evolved through the process to bear other styles in it. However, entrepreneurial leadership is not a necessity in the entrepreneurial environment (Ruvio et al.

, 2009). Researchers have identified a research gap in differentiating between the themes and the trends in leadership and entrepreneurship. Both concepts converge, and overlap and it becomes impossible to study one variable independently. However, to get a clearer picture of leadership in entrepreneurship, two contexts must be taken: the general leadership theory in entrepreneurship and distinctive type of leadership. In the entrepreneurial context, Leitch et al., (2013) illustrated that entrepreneurial leadership is the leadership witnessed in the entrepreneurial ventures. It thus means that it can be based on different styles of leadership (Litch et al., 2013). Under the leadership context, Bagheri et al., (2010) alluded to the fact that a leader motivates, directs, influences and leads people to a central goal. It is thus above his traits or characteristics and style of leadership. A peculiar difference between the two contexts exists in that for a contextual leader; special traits will make them fit for the position depending on the business environment. If the environment is turbulent and complex, a leader with specific traits is preferred.
An entrepreneurial leader should possess slightly different attributes from the other leaders. Identification of value is essential, but the entrepreneurial leader has to create a value proposition and then test as a further step. Under their leadership, they are expected to deliver value to the customers and at the same time create a contextual awareness of the organizational strategies and goals. This kind of a leader should be a fast learner, flexible to environmental changes, have high coherence abilities and be able to influence their followers. The decisions made by entrepreneurial leaders are proactive rather than reactive. They seek to understand the situation as their position is more exposed to their customers than the corporate leaders.
One of the major styles of entrepreneurial leadership is the transformational leadership. It is the kind of leadership where the person in charge appeals to the morals and ideals of the people he leads. The leaders achieve this aspect of transforming by inspiring their followers and setting highest goals in the organization. It has a strong correlation to the leader’s creativity. Other terms used to refer to transformational leadership include the visionary leadership (Strubler, 2010; Li et al., 2013). Another style of entrepreneurial leadership is the team-oriented leadership as exhibited by entrepreneurs. Under this style, the leader is always aware of any variations in the operations and happenings of the business environment.
Value-based leadership is another style of leadership under the entrepreneurial leadership, and it entails the leaders integrating a strong mission and vision as a show of self-confidence and belief in the abilities (Hitt, 2011; Ruvio et al. 2009). They are thus personally committed and involved to the mission. They communicate high expectations to their followers and convey confidence to meeting them (Lietch et al., 2013). However, as an entrepreneur, one must have committed followers for success to be assured.
Self-deception and resistance to change can derail a leader’s effectiveness in various ways. A deluded leader portrays destructive behavior due to his perceived personal opinion and is incapable of accepting any other view apart from his (Meuser et al., 2016). Such leaders are insensitive to their follower’s needs. In entrepreneurial leadership, a leader is bound to be sensitive and always looking for new methods of solving his customer problems. A resistant or paranoid mode of leadership can thus not be successful. Paranoid leaders portray high levels of skepticism and tend to avoid risks (Strubber, 2010). Most successful entrepreneurs are risk averse and tend to exploit new ventures. Their influence on their followers is immense as they struggle to impact on them to be on the lookout for new products. The skeptic leaders are always quick to point fingers and play blame games avoid to accept that they may have made bad choices. In entrepreneurial leadership, resistance and self-deception is intolerable. Meuser et al. (2016) concluded that if leaders were to avoid derailment, they should seek and enhance their levels of self-awareness. Hitt (2011) further explained that self-awareness is the ability to think consciously. However, in this process, care should be taken so as not to result in leadership blind spots. They arise when leaders are deaf and unwilling to receive feedback and by extension, criticism.
The evolution of the leadership theories in the last century has shaped the models in the description of the leader’s activities and how they correlate (Bagheri et al., 2010). The models tend to describe the leaders’ style and each style devised explains the behavior of a leader. Some of the models in existence include the democratic/participative style and the autocratic/authoritative style. In a participative form of leadership, the instructor offers his instructions on how to conduct a meeting, but the overall decision is made by the majority. One of the major strengths of this method is incorporating the implementers to instill a sense of ownership into a project (Meuser et al., 2016). However, the decision made must be consultative as opposed to a unilateral choice forced down to the employees.
The authoritarian model of leadership is naturally autocratic, and all the deciding powers centralize on one person or department. Any initiatives or suggestions from the followers are treated as direct threats to the leadership (Meuser et al., 2016). The model derives its strength from the ability to make quick decisions and exploit an opportunity. An entrepreneurial leader has been expected to make quick decisions in running the day to day activities of a firm (Hitt, 2011). They should thus make quick decisions in a dropping loss yielding projects before the loss escalates.
References
Bagheri, A. & Pihie, Z.A.L. (2010). Entrepreneurial Leadership Learning: In Search of Missing Links. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences 7. 470–479
Cogliser, C.C. & Brigham, K.H. The intersection of leadership and entrepreneurship: Mutual lessons to be learned. The Leadership Quarterly, 15, 771–799.
Gupta, V., MacMillan, I.C. & Surie, G. (2004). Entrepreneurial leadership: developing and measuring a cross-cultural construct. Journal of Business Venturing. 19. 241–260.
Hitt, M.A. (2011). Strategic entrepreneurship: creating value for individuals, organizations, and society. Academy of management perspectives, 25,5, 57–75.
Leitch, C.M., McMullan, C. & Harrison, R.T. (2013). The Development of Entrepreneurial Leadership: The Role of Human, Social and Institutional Capital. British Journal of Management, 24, 347–366.
Meuser, J.D., Gardner, W.L. Dinh, J.E., Hu, J., Liden, R.c., & Lord, R.G. (2016). A Network Analysis of Leadership Theory: The Infancy of Integration. Journal of management. Retrieved from http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0149206316647099
Ruvio, A., Rosenblatt, Z. & Hertz- Lazarowitz, R. (2010). Entrepreneurial leadership vision in non-profit vs. for-profit organizations. The Leadership Quarterly, 21, 144–158.
Strubler, D.C. & Redekopp B.W. (2010). Entrepreneurial Human Resource Leadership: A Conversation with Dwight Carlson. Human Resource Management, 49, 4, 793– 804.Yang, C.W. (2008). The Relationships Among Leadership Styles, Entrepreneurial Orientation,
and Business Performance. Managing Global Transitions 6 (3): 257–275.