Research Project: Presentation

Running head: Understanding Effective and Ineffective Leaders 1

Understanding Effective and Ineffective Leaders 10

Understanding Effective and Ineffective Leaders

Joshua Mebane

Embry Riddle University MGMT 371

Understanding Effective and Ineffective Leaders

Executive Summary

A well-known professor at Harvard Business school emphasized that leaders tend to be more effective role moles when they learn rather than teach. Leaders are not formed by accident but rather circumstance. Leadership development is essential for every organization that desires to achieve success. It is through the process of leadership development where effective leaders are formed. Effective leaders are leaders that will make a significant impact in whatever position or organization that are placed into. However, to truly grasp an understanding of what forms an effective leader we must also examine nan ineffective leader.

Within this research paper we will analyze to different leaders one effective and one ineffective and the many characteristics and traits they possess. The effective leader I have selected that we will be analyzing is Jeff Bezos who was the CEO of Amazon, Jeff Bezos displays a variety of attributes that make up his leadership. Some of these attributes consist of being dependable and open. Although some may view Jeff Bezos in a negative aspect, he is considered to be an ethical effective leader who provides us examples of how influential transformational and charismatics leaders can be.

The ineffective leader we are examining is Martin Winterkorn who provides us examples of how an unethical leader conducts themselves. Through Martin Winterkorn leadership as an authoritarian, he also reveals to us why communication is an essential component for every leader. Communication seemed to be one of the key elements that led to Martin’s downfall. Within this research paper we will also analyze the contingency leadership theory and how it relates to our leaders. Each one of these leaders also shows us how power a leader’s influencing style can be when it comes to impacting an employee’s performance. This paper also reveals how effective leaders tend to contain some of theory Y attributes while ineffective leaders lean more toward theory X. However, we will see that effective leaders can display both attributes.

This research paper is designed to provide a better understanding of how to identify and develop effective leaders. By examining both effective and ineffective leaders this will help reveal what makes a well-rounded leader. This research paper should also allow you to examine your own leadership style and determine where you align and what changes should you make to be more effective within our organization.

Table of Content

Executive summary page 2-3

The Big Five Model of Personality page 5-8

Theory X and Theory Y page 8-10

Ethical and Unethical Leadership page 10-11

Transformational Leader: Jeffery Bezos page 11-13

Authoritarian Leadership Style: Martin Winterkorn page 13-14

Contingency Leadership Theory page 14

Influencing Styles page 14-15

Leadership Communication page 15-18

Charismatic and Transformational Leadership page 18-20

Conclusion page 20

References page 21-23

The Big Five Model of Personality

When we take the time to reflect to every leader, we have encountered throughout our personal lives whether these leaders were effective or ineffective they can all be defined and described through their personalities, traits, and characteristics. It is crucial for organizations and our society as a whole to not only understand but also be able to identify the personalities and traits leaders tend to show and display. Understanding different leadership traits personalities, and characteristics of effective leaders will allow for organizations to be able to select and train individuals who possess the ability to be an effective leader (Lumen Learning, n.d.). Understanding different personalities and traits can also help us as individuals become better leaders because it will allow us to reflect on and improve our weaknesses (Berger, 2019). When it comes to effective leaders’ personalities these personalities tend to be listed into five different categories or personalities which is known as the big five model of personality.

The big five model of personality consist of five different personalities which are surgency, agreeableness, adjustment, conscientiousness, and openness (Lussier and Achua, 2016). This model was believed to originally be developed by D.W. Fiske in 1949. Prior to Fiske concept others had developed theories that identified around 4000 different personalities and traits (Cherry, 2021). However, each one of these five personalities listed are believed to represent the basis of all other personalities and they all contain different leadership traits. To grasp a better understanding of the big five model of personality we will examine each of the personalities and the traits they contain.

Surgency tends to be a positive sociable personality that involves certain traits such as dominance, extraversion, and high energy determination (Lussier and Achua, 2016). The trait known as dominance tends to be important for effective leaders because these kinds of leaders display confidence which is a positive trait. However, dominance can also be viewed as very controlling and aggressive which are often considered to be a negative. Having high energy and being determinate will not only allow leaders to focus in on accomplishing task, but it will also allow them to persuade others which will increase productivity (Hastings, 2008). The next personality listed within the big five model of personality is agreeableness.

Agreeableness involves individuals who are very cooperative and tends to show compassion for others (Cherry, 2021). This personality involves traits like emotional intelligence and sensitivity (Lussier and Achua, 2016). Leaders who display emotional intelligence will often contribute to providing a less stressful work environment while also enhancing or improving communication. This type of leader or manager is also known to increase work productive and reduce employee turnover. Adjustment is another one of the big five and this type of personality involves individuals who are emotional stable and self-confident. Individuals who are emotionally stable will perform well under stressful situation and these individuals are also very positive in regard to how they interact with others.

Self confidence in my opinion tends to be one of the most important leadership traits because it allows for leaders to reflect and improve their weaknesses. One of the biggest misconceptions about self-confidence is that many people tend to mistake it for arrogance which happens to be negative. Conscientiousness also falls within the big five personalities. Individuals that display the personality of conscientiousness are organized and think ahead (Cherry, 2021). This personality involves traits of dependability and integrity. Both of these traits are considered to be traits that make up ethical leadership. Dependable individuals are known to be loyal and display commitment. These individuals will ensure the task they are assigned get completed while individuals with integrity are trustworthy and honest (Lussier and Achua, 2016). The last of the big five personalities is openness, and individuals who possess this personality are eager to learn and very creative/innovative (Cherry, 2021). This personality contains traits of flexibility and intelligence (Lussier and Achua, 2016).

To fully understand the relevance of the big five model of personality today we can analyze and compare two different leaders and see where they align within these personalities and traits. The two leaders we will examine are Jeffery Bezos the former CEO of Amazon who is considered to be an effective leader. The second leader is Martin Winterkorn who is the former CEO of Volkswagen and many people consider him to be an ineffective leader (Steitz and Schwartz, 2021). The CEO of Amazon Jeff Bezos seems to display three of the five big model personalities which would be surgency, conscientiousness, and openness. Jeff Bezos expresses his openness throughout his role within his organization by seeking out and implementing innovative ideas which tends to enhance his organization (Awodesu, 2018). Innovation is one of the major driving factors behind the success of Jeff’s organization.

Jeff Bezos attempts to incorporate innovation within every process of his organization When it comes to surgency Jeff Bezos seems to display this through his dominance and extraversion. During the coronavirus pandemic Jeff was able to display his dominance by taking charge and steer his organization throughout this difficult time. This resulted in Amazon being one of the few companies that benefited from the pandemic. Lastly, out of all the big five personalities I would say Jeff Bezos reflects conscientiousness the most. According to GOGIG’s personality assessment of Jeff Bezos he ranks high for conscientiousness (Hodges, 2018). As I stated before individuals with contentiousness personalities tend to think ahead and this is nothing new for Jeff Bezos. Jeff planned the success of his company from the start and often encourages others to do the same before they start pouring money into their business.

If we take the time to look and examine Martin Winterkorn’s personalities and traits, we can determine that he also fits the surgency personality. I would consider Martin to fall within this category mainly because of his determination. Martin Winterkorn was well known for his determination which helped Volkswagen become one of the biggest car manufacturers in the world. However, many people also believe his determination contributed to his failure. When it comes to the other big five personalities, I would say that Martin tends to display some traits of a contentiousness because of his mindfulness of details. Winterkorn was considered to be a perfectionist because he would do certain things like measure the gaps between the different car doors ensuring that it would be the perfect fit. I would also argue that he fell short when it comes to contentiousness because of his lack of integrity which was revealed during the Volkswagen scandal (Benjamin, 2018).

Theory X and Theory Y

Along with personalities and traits, attitudes are another creditable element that makes up and distinguishes leaders. Although there are many different leadership attitudes, they can only be perceived in two ways positive or negative. These attitudes tend to reveal how an individual feels about different situations (Lussier and Achua, 2016). In the 1960 and American professor named Douglas McGregor developed a concept that would help identify and explain different leadership attitudes and behaviors at work. This concept became known as theory X and theory Y. Theory X attitudes are often perceived to be more negative. These attitudes suggest that individuals do not like their job and therefore must be closely supervised. Leaders with theory X attitudes will often have a negative view of their employees believing that their employees do not care for their jobs and lack ambition to accomplish their task. These types of leaders will also utilize certain punishments to ensure their employees do their job and tends to fall into the autocratic leadership style (Lussier and Achua, 2016).

An autocratic leadership style is a leadership style where one leader makes majority of the decisions like authoritarianism. Theory Y attitude tends to be more positive and believe that individuals like their job and do not need to be closely monitored. Leaders that displayed theory Y attitudes are more productive and use rewards to influence their employees. These leaders also tend to be more motivational and align more towards a participative Leadership style. A participative leadership style involves leaders encouraging their employees to participate and provide feedback during the decision-making process (Lussier and Achua, 2016).

Although theory X tends to involve negative attitudes and theory Y is more positive each one of these theory attitudes can lead to an effective leader. Even though Douglas McGregor developed the concept of theory X and theory Y over 60 years ago it is considered to be still relevant today. If we examine the same two leader I highlighted before we can see the relevance of McGregor’s theory X and theory Y concepts. The CEO of Amazon Jeff Bezos seems to align towards a theory X attitude. Jeff is often described as having an autocratic leadership style which as I stated earlier falls under the theory X attitude.

I say Jeff’s leadership style tends to cater towards an autocratic style because many employees within his organization have stated that he tends to make all of the decisions regarding his company and considers little to no input from others. Some employees have gone on to say that Jeff Bezos does not really provide a positive work environment which also tends to lean towards theory X attitudes (Moran, 2020). Jeff Bezos organization has also been said to display some theory Y attitudes because the organization encourages their employees to not settle and keep developing which happens to be positive views of their employees (Hadas, 2015). Martin Winterkorn on the other hand seems to align strictly under the theory X attitudes. Winterkorn has been known to be a demanding leader within his organization and there have been numerous testimonies from his employees stating that Winterkorn would be very hands on when it came to inspecting his employee’s product (Cremer and Bergin, 2015).

This hands-on approach seems to be similar as the closely supervised concept within theory X attitudes. I also believe Martin Winterkorn attitude tends to fall into the theory X category because of how he continued to place the blame of the Volkswagen emissions scandal on his employee claiming he did not know which seems to be a negative viewpoint of his employees (Dugar, 2018). A key concept to take away when it pertains to theory X and theory Y is that each can be effective when utilized in the right situation and effective leaders can display or operate in both theory X and theory Y which Jeff Bezos demonstrates.

Ethical and Unethical Leadership

When it comes to the topic of ethical and unethical leaders this same concept does not apply because ethics is what make and effective great leader. Ethics or ethical leadership is simply leaders who demonstrate good actions for the common good whereas unethical leaders tend to do the opposite (Lussier and Achua, 2016). It is also important to understand that ethical leadership and behaviors benefits the overall organization. Ethical leaders are known to enhance employee morale, provide a more positive trustworthy work environment, and mitigate or reduce ethical issues and dilemmas. According to an article from Corporate Compliance Insight Jeff Bezos can be classified as an ethical leader.

This article highlights and discusses how Jeff Bezos takes an ethical approach when he was being extorted and decided to get a head of the situation and be transparent enough to publish the message he was being extorted for. By publishing these messages Jeff displayed honesty and integrity which are true characteristics of ethical leaders (Boehme, 2019). A great example of an unethical leader would be Martin Winterkorn. Martin Winterkorn is mostly known for the unethical scandal that swept through his organization during his watch as CEO. The scandal occurred from a software system that reported false emissions report (Dugar,2018). The results from the scandal led to Winterkorn resigning and Volkswagen having to pay $63 billion (Silverman, 2018).

Transformational Leader: Jeffery Bezos

Jeffery Bezos has been considered one of the most wealthiest men in the world (Awodesu, 2018). Having built a global empire from the bottom up, speaks volumes to his leadership abilities. Nearly 30 years ago, the concept of Amazon.com was birth (Awodesu, 2018). An idea that started on paper soon became a global leader in selling products and services (Hodges, 2018). Not to mention the business opportunities that became available for small businesses and large corporations. What are the key ingredients to creating an empire that has been able to survive the often unpredictable economy of the world? How can one individual infiltrate the e-commerce market to the point where global entities bargain for their share and stake? It’s quite simple; the laws of effective leadership.

Maxwell (1993) states the most effective and impactful leader have influence. In other words, they understand the importance of creating a following that will buy into what they are selling (Maxwell, 1993). Let’s explore Bezos leadership style a little more. According to Awodesu, 2018, Jeffery Bezos ability to make strategic business decisions as think innovatively characterize him as an effective leader. Moreover, such characteristics also correlate to the mentality of “win-win” (Awodesu, 2018). It’s merely impossible to stay within the confines of the traditional organizational ideals and expect exponential growth.

As a transformational leader, it’s first essential to recognize what you bring to the table, make decisions that are well-thought out and executed, and follow through with clearly defined goals (Hodges, 2018). While such characteristics are at the core of being a transformational leader, there is also the importance of staying on a trajectory of reward versus risk (Hodges, 2018). Are you willing to take the risk, and believe there’s also a reward.

Transformational leaders have an instinct that relies on breaking the mold of tradition (Maxwell, 2013). The success of a transformational leader is dependent upon their strategy of moving and navigating through the niche of their market (Maxwell, 2013). Furthermore, they assess the needs and hone in on the gap or inconsistency (Maxwell, 2013). Transformational leaders explore the bigger picture and put action behind their vision, while others may simply envision (Maxwell, 2013).

When Bezos started Amazon.com he pinned a letter of motivation to his employees. In this letter he shared a simple yet complex concept that’s based on perception. Bezos stated, whenever there is development and creation, there will always be loss. However, having the knowledge that this may happen prepares you to view product and service development from a different angle (Maxwell, 2013). The strategy of motivating and inspiriting his employees caused a sense of belongingness. Early on, the culture of the organization was centered on having confidence in the abilities, gifts and talents of his employees (Maxwell, 2013). The disbursement of power throughout the organization provides employees with a sense of not only taking value in the integrity of the organization, but also feeling appreciated and respected (Maxwell, 2013).

Nearly twenty years after starting Amazon, continued to empower and motivate his employees by introducing a concept that allowed employees to engage in decisions for the company (Hodges, 2018). While there were some guidelines to this decision- making process, employees feel a sense of power and belongingness. Moreover, creating an ongoing environment of productivity, creativity, and commitment (Hodges, 2018). Transformational and successful leaders are constantly thinking of ways to keep employees enthused and driven, this has been Bezos leadership style from the beginning.

Bezos’ success as an effective leader was based on being unrestricted, understanding the value of utilizing the ideas and concepts of his employees as being critical to company growth, being pioneering, and unafraid to explore options regardless of the outcome (Hodges, 2018).

Authoritarian Leadership Style: Martin Winterkorn

The next leader I have chosen to discuss is Martin Winterkorn, former CEO of Volkswagen. Martin Winterkorn as known for infamous emissions scandal where his integrity was questioned. Prior to this scandal, Volkswagen was on the track to making history in the financial market (Clark & Eddy, 2015). Winterkorn had a goal of making Volkswagen the leader in the auto industry. Unfortunately, the ambition of his goals as well as his drive, ultimately lead to a well-known scandal that will likely forever taint his image.

Martin Winterkorn is known for being a domineering and controlling boss who didn’t believe in failure (Clark & Eddy, 2015). Many have coined Winterkorn as being a fearful leader who was very intimidating (Clark & Eddy, 2015). The organizational climate has be defined as cold, harsh and unrelenting (Clark & Eddy, 2015). Input from employees were virtually non-existent. As a matter of fact, employees weren’t privy to the key happenings within the company. According to Winterkorn’s goal was to become the leader in the auto industry; his target was growth and recognition from the public sector.

Under the authoritative leaders, decisions are made at the top, there is little to no input from those outside of the key stakeholders (What is Autocratic leadership, n.d). Generally employees are paid well but undervalued and appreciated (What is Autocratic leadership, n.d). Authoritative leaders rely on their intellect and resources to carry the company (What is Autocratic leadership, n.d). Any suggestions or feedback from outside of upper-level management are disregarded. Winterkorn was aware of the issues regarding lack of motivation of employees, low work ethic and poor communication. As a result, he was in the process of changing the hierarchal structure of the organization. Despite this change, Winterkorn’s leadership style motivated him to want more, to be the best of the best, regardless who was impacted (Clark & Eddy, 2015). As an authoritative leader, and the culture it’s speculated his “get it done” mentality didn’t condone any potential illegal activities.

Contingency Leadership Theory

According to the Contingency Leadership Theory, there’s no one size fits all approach According to this leadership theory, the manner in which you lead an organization is based on situations. In other words, one’s leadership response and position were based on the actual situation. This often dictates the morals, values, and ethical behavior of a leader (Benjamin, 2018). The desire to be a global leader cause you pursue and engage in unethical behavior or will motivate you to constantly find better solutions. I believe this was the difference between Bezos and Winterkorn. While both were considered great leaders, the trajectory of their career and the organizations were quite different.

Influencing Styles

Maxwell (2013) says that without influence it’s impossible to be a great leader. The best leaders influence people through power politics, networking or negotiations. This level of influence is based solely on the style of in which one leads. Jeff Bezos was a powerful leader. He had the position of power as he was well known for capitalizing off the input from his employees. There was no top-down management approach (Lussier & Achua, 2016). Both Bezos and Winterkorn had legitimate power, however it’s the approach and exercise of this influence that sets both apart.

Leadership is not innate. Leaders are not born they are trained and positioned. The two leaders I have discussed in this paper had different style of leading their company. One chose an approach that incorporated more input from their employees while the other chose a more take-charge approach. It just so happens that Bezos’ approach was more effective. His decisions were based on ethical decisions that catapulted the organization to be a global leader in e-commerce.

Winterkorn on the other hand, his style caused the potential downfall and demise of his career. This had a negative impact as well on the culture of the company and overall output and production. The same can be said for Bezos.

Leadership Communication

Great communication skills undoubtedly translate to great leadership abilities. Communication is hence a factor that cannot be ignored when it comes to leadership. Jeff Bezos is seen to be an effective leader and his communication skills definitely played a part in that. Bezos understands that communication is not effective until all parties understand the information from the same perspective (Lussier and Achua, 2016). We see him using both written and verbal means of communication. When Bezos started Amazon, he wrote a letter of motivation to his employees. His message was clear and concise. He kept the message short and was writing to communicate and not to impress. His message was simply meant to motivate the employees. Bezos stated that development and creation goes hand in hand with loss. He went ahead to state that having knowledge of this assists in viewing product and service development from a different angle.

This message definitely hit home and as a result, not only motivated the employees but gave them a sense of belonging. Bezos leadership style includes making employees feel driven and included. Bezos encourages his employees to voice their opinion and views as well as feel free to criticize ideas respectfully. He is ready to commit to someone else’s idea if they are strongly convicted about it. Allowing criticism gives his employees the courage to give feedback which is important as feedback assists in having a mutual understanding. Jeff Bezos also gives various motivational speeches which helps in boosting and maintaining performance. Great life lessons and professional tips are learned from his speeches. Jeff Bezos body language and posture also suggests strong leadership skills and speaks confidence. This improves his message delivery and makes it more effective.

Jeff Bezos also introduced the term two-pizza team rule which simply means that a team should not have more people that two pizzas can feed. Bezos states that it is impossible to have a meaningful conversation and effective meeting in large groups. In bigger groups people tend to clump into little clusters each with their own agenda. Jeff Bezos also remarks that there is no right form of communication. Communication greatly depends on the situation at hand and the measures that should be taken regarding the situation. Jeff Bezos also responded to a manager’s request for more communication by stating that more communication cannot solve communication problems. He went ahead to state that breakthrough in communication problems lays on how communication is carried out. Bezos also adapts the 360 degree feedback model where feedback is based on receiving feedback from all stakeholders.

Winterkorn on the other hand is known to be a domineering and controlling boss who does not allow room for failure. This instills fear in the employees hence making communication within the company ineffective. Communication under conditions of fear does not result in a mutual understanding (Lussier and Achua, 2016) Input from employees was nonexistent during his leadership period. This hence means that feedback was rarely sought hence the objectives of the information might not be clearly communicated. Frequent feedback also increases motivation. Since this was lacking employees under Winterkorn at Volkswagen were unmotivated. Decision making under Winterkorn’s leadership was strictly from the top with little or no input from those outside the key stakeholders. This led to a strong feeling among the employees that they are undervalued despite receiving good payment. Disregarding input from outside upper level management is also a great contributor to the lack of motivation that was experienced by employees under Winterkorn.

It is quite evident that Winterkorn did not adopt the 360-degree feedback model where feedback is allowed from all stakeholders including employees. The VW crisis in 2015 brought to the limelight communication faults and will forever be used in business. Volkswagen was using illegal software to manipulate emissions data. Shareholders and investors complained of not being in the know of the illegal activities going on. Some of the employees admitted to being kept in the dark concerning this particular issue. The situation VW found themselves in put them in a conflict situation. This was a broken contract conflict where VW failed to communicate and ask about expectations.

Their conflict management approach was also not effective. They took an avoiding conflict style to manage the conflict. This as a result led to some faults in communication. Winterkorn adopted an image restoration technique during his speeches. This includes denial, evasion of responsibility, reduction of offensiveness and downplaying the nature of the offense (Omilion, 2017). Volkswagen largely downplayed the damage by making references such as how the vehicles still “comply with legal specifications and emphasizing the relatively small effects of their actions. There is little effort put towards an agreement for change and specific actions that would be taken. It would have been beneficial if VW had made proper communication from the onset. They would have avoided most of the issues brought out and that would have been a positive step towards salvaging their reputation.

Charismatic and Transformational Leadership

Jeffery Bezos in my view portrays both charismatic and transformational leadership. Charismatic leadership is when a leader uses communication and persuasiveness to convince followers. Jeff uses his charisma for a greater good which has seen Amazon rise as it serves a large population ethically. He portrays positive charisma hence is a socialized charismatic leader. This is because his charisma transcends the self and is for the greater good of others. The characteristics that place Bezos as a charismatic leader include his strong communication skills. He is also confident which is portrayed by his aura and his body language. He is motivational not only to his employees but to a lot of individuals who aim to be successful especially in business.

Bezos optimism also portrays him as a charismatic leader. He is not afraid of failure and takes it as a learning opportunity making him highly optimistic. Finally, his ability to engage all stake holders at his company makes him a charismatic leader. Charismatic leaders tend to use their own skill set and power to move their followers to action which is a step Bezos takes when necessary. Jeff Bezos is also a transformational leader. Transformational leaders rely on a shared vision to create change. Transformational leaders tend to be charismatic as observed with Jeff Bezos but not all charismatic leaders are transformational (Gandolfi, 2018). He is a transformational leader as he inspires people to achieve extra ordinary results and gives workers autonomy over specific jobs. Bezos is an inspirational motivator where he inspires his employees to achieve. His approach towards leadership where he includes everyone makes it easier for his employees to have a shared vision and work towards a common goal that is high but achievable.

Jeff Bezos also has idealized influence which is another characteristic of a transformational leader. This means that he sets an example for his employees to follow. Employees feel proud been associated with him by working at his company. These types of leaders are charismatic and very ethical both of which Bezos portrays. Bezos ability to take risks with new ideas is also a characteristic of a transformative leader. This is proven by the fact that he embraces ideas he does not necessarily agree with if the other party is highly convinced it will work. Another quality that he portrays that is of a transformational leader is his ability to inspire trust (Gandolfi, 2018). His employees trust his leadership as he appears to be moral and transparent since he makes sure to communicate. His ability to empower followers and his leadership approach where he involves employees as much as possible also makes the employees trust him more.

Martin Winterkorn is also a charismatic leader. This is proven by the fact that he used his own intellect and persuasiveness in order to drive his followers to action. The difference between Winterkorn and Bezos is that Winterkorn is a personalized charismatic leader. This means that he possesses a self-centered and narcissistic personality and uses charisma for self-glorification. There is clear proof of this by the way he handles things at his company. Firstly, he allows little or no input from his employees concerning matters and instills fear in them. Winterkorn demonstrates a great inability to connect to his employees emotionally hence ignoring them and the issues facing them such as lack of motivation.

Winterkorn had great determination which assisted Volkswagen in becoming one of the world’s largest car manufacturers in the world. It is however believed that this motivation is also the reason for his downfall. His goal to make Volkswagen the leader in auto industry led to a well-known scandal that tainted his image and is remembered to date. This negative charisma made him a controlling boss who wanted everything to go his way. He is seen as harsh and unrelenting. The scandal of 2015 that led to his resignation also brought out some aspects of his personality as a leader. During his resignation he mentioned that he was standing down “in the interest of the company, although I am not aware of any wrongdoing on my part. This statement painted him as a narcissist who is not ready to take responsibility for his faults.

His personalized charismatic leadership style is seen as the reason for the unethical dealings at VW. This is because he was termed as a perfectionist who did not allow any room for failure. The work environment he created for his subordinates was strenuous. This approach leads to employees having the mentality that success is paramount no matter the costs (Omilion, 2017). They received the impression that they had to do anything to reach their goal. Winterkorn is not associated with transformation leadership as he does not portray any of its characteristics. Despite setting high goals for his employees, he did not motivate them to achieve but ruled through fear.

Conclusion

It is every important to understand the key difference between effective leaders and ineffective leaders. Effective leader will generally display ethical actions and tend to have a positive interaction with their employees. While ineffective leader tends to commit unethical actions lack communication and have a negative view towards their employees. Although these two leaders display distinctive differences, they also have some similarities in regards to their influencing tactics. Understanding effective and ineffective leader will ultimately assist us in not only identifying these leaders but also developing more effective leaders as well.

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