Robert Fleming
Lieutenant Colonel Michael G. LaFeve
AS 301
30 October 2015
Midterm Paper Leadership is one of the human traits that are looked up to the most. When a task is at hand many people look around for someone to lead them and take charge. Leadership has been a part of The Air Force since it was created in 1947. Recently more emphasis and researching went into leadership and scholars provided leadership theories. Two of the theories are the Full Range Leadership model and the Situational Leadership model. Both of these theories provide ideas on how to lead and a strategy. The Full Range Leadership model shows many different ways of approaching leadership based on motivation and needs. The Situational Leadership model gives a
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Laissez-faire leadership is a hands off approach. This approach leaves an absence of action or commands at time and leads to a very chaotic environment (Nath). The people in a group with a laissez-faire leader have very little guidance and experience a lot of freedom in their own decision-making abilities. This approach has many different positives and negatives. The benefits of this leadership style are that the group can be very successful when the group is skilled, motivated and capable of working on their own (Lewin). This model is negative when the group lacks their own knowledge in the area. Most people have trouble with setting their own deadlines and sticking to them. This could cause the group to fail and is a downside in laissez-faire leadership (Lewin). Transactional leadership is more involved with the day-to-day workings of the group. It is more contract based rather than inspiring them. This is where the reward systems come in and a leadership gets results by rewards and management of tasks (Nath). The only downfall to this type of leadership is the leader is not involved in their subordinate’s life and doesn’t really find out their driving motivation. Transformational leadership is the opposite, it focus’s on motivating the group and drive them to better themselves. This gives the subordinates to drive to do better and the leader acts more of a role model then a manager of
The word leadership has a lot of meanings, but its meaning is unique to the person who is giving the definition. Leadership is the ability to guide, direct, and motivate others to accomplish a mission or task. It is the ability to make subordinates see their own potential in their abilities and supervisors recognize and respect it. Leaders are entrusted with building up those they lead to ensure the individual can one day assume the responsibility of leading others. It is for this reason that the situational approach style of leadership best describes my leadership style.
Throughout the entire course of this class, I have been asked to fill out different self-assessments related to whatever topic or approach to leadership Peter Northouse (2013) was discussing in his book Leadership Theory and Practice. Each one of these self-assessments were intended to help me in discovering who I was as a person and a leader. Some of the leadership self-assessments included the Least Preferred Coworker Measure from the Contingency Theory chapter, the Leader-Member Exchange Questionnaire from the Leader-Member Exchange Theory chapter, and the Servant Leadership Questionnaire from the chapter that discussed Servant Leadership. Many of these questionnaires I found to be very effective in helping me discover more about my personality traits and leadership style.
I am Joseph Maruska, I am currently a Major in the United States Air Force. This essay will introduce you to my personal command philosophy. It will also summarize and analyze a brief interview recently conducted with a current squadron commander using my own leadership philosophy as a guide. Throughout this essay I will draw upon my own personal experiences and thoughts, lessons discussed throughout the Leadership and Command Course, as well the discussion with a current squadron commander. Leadership and command styles come in many different forms and there is not necessarily a correct or incorrect way to lead depending on your organization or current turn of events. This essay is simply my thoughts after being in the Air Force for the last eleven years.
The situational leadership theory proposes that the leader’s style of leadership should be flexible and contingent on the staff’s developmental level including the willingness and capability to accomplish a task (Walter, 1980). Powell in his role as Secretary of State demonstrated situational leadership by recognizing the deficits of the state office and needs of the troops as well as officials in the office. Providing support to the troops and office staff was critical to making necessary changes. Powell provided clarity on the mission for the troops by being directive about changes needed and empowered staff to move toward career advancement (Harris, 2004) .
As the Situational Leadership Model suggests, different leadership strategies are appropriate for different situations and depending on those who are being led. To be a successful leader, Wooden understood how his players handle instruction, criticism, and praise; as well as how the team learns best, what level of independence will harbor the most success, and the dynamics of the team with regard to chemistry, diversity, etc. As a famous situational leader, the ability to adapt his coaching style to changing players and circumstances attributed to much of his success. The result of his situational analysis became the foundation in planning the course of action. He believed that it was necessary to change plans to fit the unexpected “call”
Ever since 9/11 the public safety field has been looking for ways to transform themselves a more effective and efficient organization, especially when it comes down to anti- and counter-terrorism efforts. We no longer can depend on up to data from just one organization at a time, so when we were asked to implement key strategies for a new center, we accepted the job. Much to our surprise, it was not just one organization, but many organizations that will be working together in a fusion center. Now that we know what the organization is, we will have to develop key strategies, and implement situational theory to help us to stay up to speed on anti-and counter-terrorism efforts. As leaders for this fusion center it will be our
From a situational leadership standpoint, I generally find myself able to adapt to the specific situation. A strength would be the ability to utilize supportive and directive when it comes to the goal at hand. A weakness that I have would be around which person I’m utilizing it with. I’m very aware of my audience and have a good handle if I should be directive in my communication or need to support that individual. Generally, this is with my immediate team. When it comes to anyone not on my immediate team I tend to always take the directive approach. I’ve always viewed the situation, and in some ways, created an in group and out group for specific tasks. There are the people that will be able to assist me and my team in getting the job done
Comparatively, Laissez-faire leadership is a great contrast to transactional and transformational leadership styles as defined by Cherry, K. (2016) Laissez-faire leadership, also known as delegative leadership, is a type of leadership style in which leaders are hands-off and allow group members to make the decisions. Because of this, researchers have found that this is generally the leadership style that leads to the lowest productivity among group members. Laissez-faire is often characterised by: very little guidance from leaders, complete freedom for followers to make decisions, leaders provide the tools and resources needed, group members are expected to solve problems on their own and finally, power is handed over to followers, yet leaders still take responsibility for the group’s decisions and actions.
After researching several other leadership styles, I found that situational leadership is the leadership style most effective for myself. Situational leadership is different from most leadership styles because it is adaptable to every circumstance. While other leadership styles are very specific, situational leadership can be used to lead people that are not very knowledgable in a certain area and also people that might know more than you.
The Situational Approach is a leadership style that essentially focuses on leadership in different situations. "The premise of the theory is that different situations demand different kinds of leadership" (Northouse, 2015, p. 92). The idea is that in order for a manager to be successful in all situations, he or she must be able to adapt. "Effective [situational leadership} managers provide individual followers with differing amounts of direction and support on different tasks and goals, depending on the follower 's developmental level" (Avery & Ryan, 2002, para. 5). Situational leadership can be broken down into four categories that combine supportive and directive behaviors. They are a high directive-low supportive style (directing approach), high directive-high supportive style (coaching approach), high supportive-low directive style (supportive approach), and low supportive-low directive style (delegating approach) (Northouse, p. 94-95, 2015).
Northouse’s situational leadership exemplifies us four different situations to determine our leadership styles as we respond to different development levels of the team members.
Why are some employees happier and more satisfied with their work environment than others? Why are some teams within the same organization more productive than others? How can you get subordinates to trust your decisions, readily cooperate with others and follow your lead? The answer to these questions boils down to one thing; effective leadership. For our purpose, effective leadership can be defined as the art of influencing individuals and groups to accomplish the goals and objectives of the organization (Plunkett, Allan, and Attner, 2013). Effective leadership has a direct impact on the motivation, or lack thereof, of employees and how they interact with others within the organization. Followers will also act in ways that reflect their leaders example, whether it is positive or negative. It is obvious that the leadership culture within our organization is ineffective and employee productivity and morale has slipped to unacceptable levels. Because of our current situation, the following information is presented to you, as managers and supervisors, as a guide to help you become a more effective leader. There are many theories on how best to lead and motivate employees, however, for our purposes, we will concentrate our study and efforts on the situational leadership theories.
Over the years, scholars and management theorists have cultivated several leadership styles that they have encouraged people to apply and try to implement. However, most of these theories have shown various short comings. Typically, none of these styles has proven to work best in diverse situations. In the late 1960’s, the Situational Leadership Model was developed. In this paper, I will discuss the details about the situational leadership model. In detail, the paper begins with a defined introduction of what the situational leadership model is about and an interpretation of its origination. An outline of the model will follow after which a discussion about the benefits and drawbacks of this model will shortly follow.
Situational leadership theory or model comprises a few key elements. These include four styles of leadership, the maturity level of the subordinates and the developmental models.
Dissatisfaction with behavioral theory of leadership led researchers to search for another solution. This led to the recognition of situational factors as important factors for the success of leadership. The recognition that effective leadership involves matching leadership behaviors and strategies to particular situational contexts was the most important advance in leadership research (Chemers, 1997).