Statement of Understanding
Contingency and Situational Theories of Leadership
Successful organizations have one thing in common that sets them apart: dynamic and effective leadership (Hambleton, 1982). So what is it that makes them dynamic and effective?
Before diving into the different theories of leadership, I decided to spend some time understanding what exactly leadership is. To understand what leadership is I had to start with the root of the word “lead”. The definition of lead according to dictionary.com is to go before or with to show the way. This definition originates from the Anglo – Saxon lad or leadan meaning a path, a way, to lead, or to give a sense of direction (Peretomode, 2012). Nothing in this definition states
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This list took into consideration 16 bipolar adjectives on a scale of 1 to 8. Some examples of the adjectives listed in the study are friendly vs. unfriendly, introvert vs. extrovert, cooperative vs. uncooperative, etc. The answers to the surveys were totaled and converted into averages that represent the LPC scale (Pires da Cruz et al., 2011). Many investigations have been performed over the years to both validate and contest the LPC scale. Before the LPC scale , Fiedler used a measurement called the Assumed Similarity of Opposites or the ASO scale (Armandi, Oppedisano and Sherman, 2003). This measurement consisted for two scales, the Most Preferred Coworker (MPC) and the LPC. Survey participants first described their interaction with those coworkers they found the easiest to work with then the ones they found the most difficult to work with. The MPC scale was found to be very similar in results to the LPC scale so Fiedler (1965) came to adopt the LPC scale going forward (Armandi et al., 2003). Fiedler (1971) found that “task-oriented” leaders are more effective in very favorable and very unfavorable situation where as “relationship-oriented” leaders are more effective in situations of intermediate favorableness.
Fiedler (1972) stated that it is reasonable to classify situations by how much power and influence a particular situation gives to the leader. Most
Leadership is defined in the textbook as someone who “get people to do things they have never done before, to do things that are not routine, and to take risks – and sometimes
Leadership, which is defined as “…The action of leading a group of people or an organization” is used in many different ways. Most people think being a leader is mostly about being the boss, having people work under you and just becoming successful, but it boils down to more than that. Leaders are those individuals that actually utilize their many abilities in leadership and administration to help make a better change for themselves, the people around them and the goal that needs to be achieved. Leadership is not an expertise that can essentially be grabbed from a book or article based on leadership but instead it is one of those initiative abilities that are increased through experience and understanding those real life situations.
Fiedler’s research focused on self-reported interactions with their least preferred co-worker (LPC) and assigning a number value to their responses. Although he indicated over 800 work groups were involved, neither he nor others could develop a correlation between groups scoring high and related leader effectiveness (1967). Although no publication of hers (310) has been cited a tenth as often as Fiedler’s work, beginning in 1988 Dian Hosking has been independently and in collaboration with others a prolific scholarly writer and researcher on this topic. Her early work set forth to disprove Fiedler’s work. Hosking identified four key points of contention, all of which focus on Fiedler placing too much emphasis on one person, the leader, and not enough in the context or environment (Sage Chp 33). In the remainder of the chapter 33 (Sage), Hosking highlights her work and that of others that corroborates her work. Of particular interest is her work on the conversation and it components: the people, the domain (public or private), and the content (verbal and
According to Business Dictionary.com, leadership is defined as the individuals who are the leaders in an organization, regarded collectively. It also can be define as the activity of leading a group of people or an organization or the ability to do this. Leadership involves the establishing of a clear vision, sharing the vision with other so that they will follow willingly, providing the needed information, knowledge, and methods to realize the vision and coordinating and balancing the conflicts interests of all members and stakeholders.
"The action of leading a group of people or an organization, or the ability to do this."
In my opinion the term leadership is a very broad and various definitions are given by authors. One definition of leadership is that it is
According to Webster’s Dictionary, leadership is the power or ability to lead other people, the act or instance of leading. I believe that Leadership is an art, the art to get others to follow and accomplish a common goal or task in a harmonic manner. A leader can be shown in all kinds of shapes and forms. To be a great leader many people believe it consists of modeling the way, inspiring a shared vision, enabling others to act, and encouraging the heart. Over the course of me learning how to become a better leader and being in leadership roles, I’ve learned that all these are very necessary to be a great leader.
Leadership is defined in many different ways by many different academics and professionals. A few words that resonate with the meaning include management, control, guidance, headship, direction and governance. My basic definition for the word describes it as a technique used to manage and guide individuals or groups of individuals in a specific direction to achieve a common goal. However this is a bit too basic for my liking. While conducting the research for this manifesto I found two definitions that I thought were more interesting and quite charming. Tom Landry defines leadership as “getting someone to do what they don’t want to do, to achieve what they want to achieve” (Murphy, 2010). Alternatively Otto Scharmer stated, “at its core, leadership is about shaping and shifting how individuals and groups attend and subsequently respond to a situation” (Scharmer, 2007).
The role of the follower and the quality of the relationship itself are informally negotiated between followers and their leaders over time (Gils, Quaquebeke, & Knippenberg, 2009). Based on the LMX theory, leaders build a special relationship with an inner circle, or “in-group”, of followers, who often get high levels of responsibility and access to resources. The in-group members work harder and are more committed to task objectives. They are also expected to be totally committed and loyal to their leader. Conversely, other followers fall in the “out-group" and are given low levels of choice or influence. Aggression, sarcasm and a self-centered view are qualities seen in the out-group. The quality of the LMX relationship varies and is better when the challenge of the job is extremely high or extremely low (Graen et al., 1982).
The Webster Dictionary defines leadership as an office or position, the capacity to lead, the act or an instance of leading (Merriam-Webster, 2011). Leader is defined as; a person who directs a military force or unit, a person who has commanding authority or influence (Merriam-Webster, 2011). The Army defines leadership as the process of influencing people by
Leadership is defined as the position of a leader, the ability to lead. I assure you it is much more then that. Being a leader is not easy, I have learned from personal experience. Being a captain of a football team is hard work. It takes guts to stand up and be a leader.
Taking a deep further look at the definition, we can consider Leadership as ‘the process of influencing an organized group’, engaging them to maximize group effectiveness, ‘towards the accomplishment of a goal’. (Hughes, Ginnet & Curphy 2015, p. 5)
Leadership does not have one universally accepted definition; it is according me an ever-evolving concept. I firmly believe that even though individuals can be groomed and trained to be leaders, however some leaders could motivate and influence individuals around them more effectively/easily then others and direct an organization into a coherent and cohesive way in order to accomplish objectives and targets. This exact school of thought is actually a common thread or an existing element in various theories and
Leadership is a difficult word to define and according to the Miriam-Webster Dictionary leadership is the “office or position of a leader” (Miriam-Webster, 2010). This definition is definitely not one that I would ascribe to when discussing leadership. My definition of leadership is “the ability someone has to motivate and empower others to achieve a goal.” Some may add to this definition, others may discard it altogether and have a completely different definition. In the end, leadership takes on many different forms depending on who is doing the defining and we end up asking ourselves, what is leadership and why do we care?
The trait leadership theory focuses on the individual leader’s personal characteristics as the basis of its investigations. It is one of the earliest leadership theories upon whose tenets many researches on leadership have been done. Although it is not very coherent, its heuristic nature has contributed to its significance in leadership research. Zaccaro and Klimoski (2002) define traits of reference to leadership as the stable personality characteristics, which result in a consistent leadership performance pattern, given different scenarios and groups. They include individual personalities, temperament, rationale, prowess, as well as cognitive abilities. Initially, the theory explored both physical and psychological characteristics that tell apart leaders from non-leaders.