Reflection: Is Leadership Style Situation-Dependent?
Leaders are known to play a vital role in determining the success of an organisation (Zenger, Folkman, Sherwin, & Steel, 2012). Effective leadership is defined as the aptitude of a leader to craft and spread the organisation’s aim among its members as well as support, motivate and direct its members towards the success of the organisation’s aim (de Charon, 2003). The primary purpose of this reflective journal is to examine the inter-relationship between the theories, researches and practices of organisational leadership and also to reflect whether leadership style is situation-dependent or universal across all situations.
Theories of Organisational Leadership
Transformational Leadership
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(Scott, 1981). The theory’s basic assumption is that there is no particular leadership style that suits all situations. The favorableness of the situation decides on the type of leadership style that has got to be adopted (Fiedler, 1967). Fiedler’s Contingency Theory of Leadership (1967), identified three factors that determine the favorableness of the situation and based upon the situation, the type of leadership that has got to be adopted. The first factor is the leader and member relationship which refers to the level of mutual trust and respect between the leader and the memebers. The second factor is task structure which refers to extent to which group tasks are clear and structured. The third factor is the leader’s position power which refers to the power of the leader’s position itself. Based upon the three factors, for favorable situations task-oriented leadership style and for moderately favorable situations relationship-oriented leadership style should be …show more content…
In practice, both the theories are effectively used and are seen to be beneficial for the organisations using them. Hence, both the theories are able to stand up for their own effective leadership styles. However, it questions whether leadership style is situation-dependent or universal across all situations.
According to the contingency theory of leadership, a task-oriented leadership style can be adopted when the relationship between the leader and the member is good, the task is highly structured and the leader is in a strong position, the situation is deemed to be. While, a relationship-oriented leadership style can be adopted when the relationship between the leader and the member is poor and the leader is in a weak position but the task is highly structured, the situation is deemed to be moderately favorable. Hence, this theory suggest that leadership style is
There is a great importance put on business leadership, this is directly due to how a business not only functions but in how fruitful the company can become. A great leader essentially can take a business plan that is weak yet turn it into a success, whereas a poor leader stands a higher chance of ruining the best of business plans. That is why it is essential to develop effective leadership throughout a companies entire management program at all levels. How does one develop or retain strong leadership? Companies must be focused on hiring strategies that encompass very specific parameters, building from within whilst creating a strong foundation for employee development and succession planning. Leadership is essential in any organization. The style and theory embraced determines whether the company will or will not achieve their goals. in all cases theory must be embraced, as a companies theory, style, and strategy is greatly dependent on the industry the company is in (Sadler, 2014). “The behavioral theory is one of the widely used theories of management. It suggests that leaders are made and not born. It gives room for training to install leadership traits in leaders at the expense of denying them a chance. There are various leadership styles embraced by companies (Cyert, & March, 2005).” This paper takes a look at the management styles of two specific
The contingency model of leadership is based upon the relationship between three aspects of leader-follower-situation model. Apart from this contingency model, leaders are assumed to act in a flexible manner.
To ensure leadership effective, several leadership theories are put forward and are adopted by different organizations. Some widely accepted theories include Trait Approach, Style Approach, Situational Approach, New Leadership Approach and Post-charismatic & Post-transformational (Western, 2013). Beyond doubt, they have their pros and cons, and they could play their role to guarantee the effectiveness of leadership as long as they are applied in an appropriate condition.
There have been numerous theories surrounding leadership, which attempt to explain which form is most effective in the workplace. A universalistic approach was once used to rationalize leadership and it was believed that successful leaders possessed certain common abilities and traits. However, today due to external factors such as globalization and advanced technologies, there has been an evolution towards a new paradigm of leadership. Subordinates want to feel empowered and engaged at the workplace and often the behaviors and relationships between leaders and their subordinates become important to understand in order to fully understand effective leadership. Contingency theories have been developed in which people began to look at the behavior of leaders in specific situations. Two such contingency theories are: Path-Goal and Hershey and Blanchard’s Situational Theory.
There are many styles of leadership that have been identified by scholars. For the purpose of this report following will be discussed.
We would like to inform that about our project topic is about the management styles affect the team’s effective at work. This project aims are to analyze different types of Leadership theories that identified behaviors that differentiated effective leaders from ineffective leaders.
Research on leadership is a subject that has been approached in many different ways. Theories on leadership can be classified according to the type of variable that is emphasized the most. Three types of variables relevant to these theories include (1) characteristics of leaders, (2) characteristics of followers, and (3) characteristics of the situation (Yuri, G., 2010). In the textbook Leadership in Organizations, Yuri, G. classifies these theories into the following five approaches: (1) the trait approach, (2) the behavior approach, (3) the power-influence approach, (4) the situational approach, and (5) the integrative approach. This paper briefly discusses the situational approach of studying leadership.
Both Fiedler’ model and LMX theory have strength and weakness. Fiedler’ model emphasizes the importance of both situation and leader’s characteristics in determining leader effectiveness. It stimulates a great deal of research and inspires the formulation of alternative contingency theory. On the weak side, the Fiedler model sometimes fails to reflect the personality traits that it intends to reflect. It has also gained criticism because of its implications on replacing the leader as the only way to solve the mismatch between leader orientation and unfavorable situation. The method of measuring
The aim of this article is to explore different leadership styles and the way they influence their work outcome.
Copuious research has been organized regarding leadership theories and styles. “The current leadership body of knowledge is a fragmented and “messy landscape” comprising inputs from a variety of contributors including academics, practitioners, and consultants, with numerous self-proclaimed experts and commentators thrown in for good measure.” (Latham, 2014, p.12). Contingent to this week’s assignment I will include four leadership theories, including the founder, the year the theory was introduced, and the key components of the theory. Also, I will include the Leadership Theory Taxonomy in the Apenidx area.
A leader is defined as a person with responsibility to influence one or more followers and directing them to achieve a set objective (Sethuraman, 2014). In order to achieve that set of objectives effortlessly, effectively, and efficiently, the most important and valued trait of a leader is an effective leadership styles. Effective leadership styles are required in every organization at every level to be successful. The success or failure of an organization depends on the quality of leadership particularly on the part of top management. An effective leadership style can be developed on the basis of understanding of the situations (Sethuraman, 2014). Top management should know which leadership style is needed based on the situation to be most effective to gain trust and respect from their employee. There is no single method of influencing the behavior of employees for every situation. The employee’s level of knowledge on the task and can determine which leadership style that will be most effective for the situation. Preparing leaders to lead
The Contingency Theory applied to factors unique to each situation to determine whether specific leader characteristics and behaviors will be effective. Researched findings credit Fiedler 's contingency theory as the first to specify how situational factors interact with leader traits and behavior to influence leadership effectiveness. This theory suggests high interest in the situation determines the effectiveness of task- and person-oriented leader behavior.
The topic of leadership is historically one of the most widely researched when it comes to explorations of organizational behavior. The success of any institution or organization is pegged on the quality of its leadership because it is the determining factor on the pattern and speed at which it achieves its growth goals. Leaders are responsible for steering an organization toward its goal by mobilizing resources (both human and material) and maximizing their efficiency. The key deliverables for many leaders include employee well-being, teamwork, adherence to organizational processes and procedures, innovation, crisis
Leadership has been conceived of in a multitude of different ways varying from Great man theory (Borgatta, Bales and Couch, 1954; Cawthon, 1996), trait theories (), and style theories (). More recent conceptualizations of leadership include contingency theory (), and transformational leadership (). Each of these theoretical models has a contribution to make in forming a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between leadership and
The contingency leadership theory proposed by Fiedler illustrated that the leader’s contribution to organizational performance is highly dependent on situational factors: namely, Leader-Member Relations, Task Structure and Leader’s Power; among which, leader-member relations is prior to other factors in determine leaders’ effectiveness (Ayman, Chemers, & Fiedler, 1995). Leader-Member Relations refers to the degree to which the team achieves cohesiveness and the leader’s willingness to support the team (Ilgen & O 'Brien, 1973). Leader-Member Relations plays a vital role in influencing team performance, because if leader and followers were not in good relations, both parties’ moral would be affected, which indicates a