Leadership Theory : Contingency Theories

Leadership is complex and, comprises of many definitions and qualities (Grimm 2010). One definition of leadership is ‘a multifaceted process of identifying a goal, motivating other people to act, and providing support and motivation to achieve mutually negotiated goals’ (porter-O’Grady 2003). Back in 1939 Kurt Lewin researched to identify different styles of leadership. According to his research, there are three major styles of leadership. Authoritarian or autocratic, participative or democratic and delegative or laizzes-fair. These three styles remain influential today. According to educational leaders.govt.NZ, leadership is about empowering, transforming and working together to meet schools and 21st century (www.tki).There are many leadership theories and from leadership theories comes leadership styles. the educational leadership model according to www.educational leaders.govt.nz identifies four qualities that build a leader 's capability to enhance teaching and learning outcomes for the school: manaakitangi- leading with moral purpose, pono- having self-belief, ako- being a learner, awhinatanga -guiding and supporting.

Secondly, Steve Jobs used tyrannical leadership style – hire and fire at will – to ensure that his employees were always delivered products of extremely has high quality. The American author Andrew Keen's wrote “There's not an ounce of democracy at Apple. That's what makes it a paragon of such traditional corporate values as top-down leadership, sharply hierarchical organization and centralized control. It's Steve's company – pursuing his vision, at his pace, with his team, making his products. Without Steve Jobs' authoritarian leadership, Apple would be just another Silicon Valley outfit...” (Keen, 2007). CEO of Enterprise Management Associates, said, “Steve Jobs is a special example of a leader who dominated his company employees and guided them rightly with his authoritarian leadership style and unmatchable vision" (Chaudhuri, 26th April, 2012). Steve Jobs employees were always highly concentrated in work and delivered products of extremely high quality,

For running a successful company, there must have a leader who can lead and direct the employees wisely to achieve the company goals. In Apple, we can observe that Steve Jobs was leading his employees work as a team very well because Steve Jobs always make the instructions very clearly for his employees. This caused his employees trusted him by following his instruction to complete the task given by Steve Jobs without any hesitations. This shows that a clear and distinct instruction and objective is very significant. It helps employees to save time

The leadership module is a very wide and dynamic one. There are several definitions for leadership as Stodgill (1974, p12) states. Seeman (1960, p3) defines leadership as the acts of a person which influence other people towards a shared direction. Influence is a vital aspect of leadership as the person who leads should have the charisma and the ability to influence others, otherwise leadership is non-existent. However that does not mean that leaders are better people than their followers. Hollander (1992, p7) explains that leaders and followers should be understood in relation to each other. Leaders and followers both have a mutual purpose and attention to common goals.

The leadership models/theories that will be demonstrated are skills-based leadership, situational leadership, and leader-member exchange theory.

Though the theories of leadership glorify factors, such as personal significance, timing, special skills, responsiveness, or power, as the qualities of a leader, I believe that neither of those factors are as essential as being personable. I believe being personable is the greatest determinant since a leadership position requires public speaking, either in the form of one-to-one conversations or to an audience. I believe that a leader should create an impression that will motivate and inspire others. Therefore, they should be able to create an impressive and enduring impression. Leaders should speak to others in a way that is respectful, friendly, and relatable. If they are unable to do so, then no matter how powerful or significant the individual, not a single person will follow, admire, or respect them.

I found it scary to think and yet very true when Gandolfi and Stone (2016) discussed in a rather recent article that leadership is so crucial that not only can organization or communities suffer from poor leadership but also even our society as a whole can experience a huge negative impact. The importance of leadership in an organizational setting is to motivate individuals to complete a common goal. There are several leadership styles and it is a good idea that we view various models in order for leaders to get a better understanding how to involve those working alongside other colleagues thus allowing everyone to move forward together and accomplish set goals for an institution (Volckmann, 2012). A few examples include, Behavioral Approach, Path-Goal, and, Situational and thinking

There are many theories that explain leadership. Chapter 10 presents each of the leading theories. Each student will choose one of the theories he/she agrees with, one theory that he/she disagrees with, and one theory he/she finds interesting (pick three different theories). Each student will write a short paragraph for each of the above choices (agree, disagree, interesting). Each student will post his/her three paragraphs as one (1) response to the discussion board entitled “Leadership”.

Based on the contingency theory of leadership there are three strengths I am going to explore. Staying positive is the first. Since contingent management focuses on change and the idea of change, it is highly important to be a leader that withstand that change and show positivity. When faced with adversity being able to see the positive and portray that to a team is a sign of a good leader. In seeing the positive I can take what could be a tough situation and turn it into something good. I believe the glass is half full and that is how I choose to manage. There have been several studies published that state having a positive outlook does in fact increase your odds in almost every situation.

One theory based change that I can make is to reduce the amount of authoritative leadership that I express. As a situational leader, there is a time and place to use the authoritative leadership trait. The situational leadership theory suggests that a coaching approach is best to use with employees that are less motivated but capable of accomplishing a task (Situational leadership theory: providing leadership through flexibility, 2016). There have been many times where a task is assigned but does not get completed or is completed half-way. As an example, I assigned one of my more challenging employees to clean up and sweep a particular area of my warehouse. The employee only accomplished cleaning up the area but did not attempt to sweep. I know that I was clear with my directions and expectation when assigning this person the task. In this situation using a coaching style of leadership would have prevented the task from not being fully completed to my satisfaction. Conducting spot checks to ensure the task is being accomplished and coaching the employee on what remains to be completed would have been the best course of action because the task would have been completed as instructed.

Contingency theory indicates that appropriate leadership relies both on the leading style and the capacity to control a given situation (Williams, Ashill, & Naumann, 2017). It includes categories like the system environment, tasks, behavioralism and organizational integrity that a leader must value. Strategic contingency theory demonstrates the need for appropriate leader-member association and responsibilities with precise

A CEO position includes a variety of roles and high level of responsibility. This will require them to have well-rounded set of personality traits to be able to manage all aspects of their job. Unlike a middle-tier manager that oversees employees, a CEO is the most senior member of organization. Ideally, the CEO will follow the behavioral theory of leadership identified by the University of Michigan as employee oriented, placing a value on building an atmosphere of interpersonal relationships and employee satisfaction (Robbins & Coulter, 2012, p. 462). Leadership trait theories identify seven characteristics; six are desirable in the CEO, but prioritized as followed: Self-confidence, Intelligence, job-relevant knowledge, drive and desire

Leadership has been an emerging topic, where over the last twenty to thirty years research has shown it to be of critical value. According to DeRue (2014), the depth and richness of existing literature has produced an array of important insights about leadership in organizations. While the development of leadership is not just about developing knowledge and skills, it is also about it is also about developing people’s motivation to lead, their awareness concerning the risks and rewards coupled with leadership, as well as their identity as leaders, and thought processes on what it means to participate in the a leadership process. With that being said, the servant leader approach places focus on leadership from the leaders point of view, emphasizing their attentiveness on the followers concerns, empowering them, all the while helping them to grow and develop through encouragement (Northouse, 2013).

Chapter sixteen discusses various leadership theories which can implemented by leaders to achieve success. The choice of leadership theory differs from leader to leader as they possess different vision and way of managing. A theory isn 't always perfect in itself, it is the endless effort of the leaders which makes the theory a perfect one. Two approaches of leadership that I prefer are Situational Leadership Theory and Servant Leadership Theory. Among many theories I prefer these two because I tend to practice those principles most of the time and I assume these are theories that I truly tend to continue in a long run.

I do not believe that there is such thing as a correct leadership theory, there I said it, I’ve been holding it in an jesus does it feel great to get it out. Haha what I do believe in is awesome people, people who treat other people great and treat themselves and their business, foundation or institution great now that’s what I believe in. So in the sake of great leaders I will be taking on prompt number two and constructing my own theory by using 3 examples from the book and 6 sources that I will cite properly in an MLA format.