Summary: Assessment Of Leadership Practice Using Strategic Contingency Leadership Theory

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.

When you consider Fiedler’s Contingency Theory, there are two types of leaders who are effective in different types of situations. There are the task-oriented leaders who are effective in scenarios which need structure and often clarification. These leaders are often found to be most effective in crisis type

I strongly believe that a leader must be adaptable to the situation and therefore prefer the Contingency theories. I shall therefore use two contingency theories to illustrate my ability to fulfil key responsibilities of my leadership role.

The contingency approach, founded in the 1970’s differs from the behavioral approach. “Examining various situational variables is central to understanding leadership in organizations, according to the contingency theorist” (Stojkovic, Klofas & Kalinich, 2012). Fiedler’s Contingency Model is one of those contingency theories.

Microsoft would not have grown in recognition and revenue if Gates stuck solely to an autocratic leadership style. Although autocratic leadership was one of Gates’ dominant leadership traits, he adapted a contingency approach to how he led his company and inspired his employees. The major idea of the contingency-approach is that the leader must adapt to the environmental changes. A contingency-approach to leadership stands as shifting behavior to properly handle situational,

Having strong social communication skills as a Human Resources Manager, Supervisor, Generalist or similar role is necessary when interacting with diverse work populations. It is also salient for these employees ' during times when personal, emotional, topics are being addressed. It has been my experience that having successful communication skills is a quality that is developed amongst leaders and not necessarily an inherent trait. My goal is to help a team of Human Resources low to mid level leaders to develop their social communication skills so that they may build deeper rapport with their subordinates.

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.

Contingency Theory of Leadership posits that successful leaders must be highly adaptable, adjusting their leadership style in accordance with both internal and external factors. If leadership insists on clinging to outdated, ineffectual strategies, failure is virtually imminent. (DuBrin 2013) For instance, for years, management at Abbott County was either oblivious to or unmoved by the rapid innovation and advancement that was implemented at facilities around the country. This lack

It is essential for business leaders to have excellent verbal and non-verbal communication skills, as leaders are often a symbol of a company’s integrity and this affects not only how customers perceive the company, but also impacts the thoughts and actions of lower positioned employees. For example, a leader that speaks using improper grammar, or writes correspondence with spelling errors throughout it, could project a negative image that can be harmful to a company. Customers might conclude that the leader is incompetent and they might decide that they do not wish to purchase goods from a company that hires inept leaders. Furthermore, employees might become less apt to respect an authority that appears to be uneducated, as well as employees might feel that if the leader disregards using proper communication than it is not necessary for them to use it either. Business leaders need to know when to listen, when to talk, and how to share ideas effectively. Clear and concise communication states exactly how, who, what, and when and serves to guide, direct, protect, persuade, and to inform. Communication is essential for decreasing miscommunications and for increasing productivity, motivation, and efficiency. When someone uses effective communication, he or she is more apt to have favorable results and his or her requests will become granted more often. Furthermore, communication builds goodwill. Having excellent communication skills is

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 most popular and extensively researched situational theory of leadership was first proposed by Fred Piedler during the 1960s. Fiedler's model claims that group performance depends on the interaction of the leader style and the favorableness of the situation. Fiedlers major contributions consist of(l) iden-tifying the leadership orientation of the leader and developing a way to measure it, and (2) identifying three situational factors influencing leadership and developing a method of measuring them

The first comprehensive contingency model for leadership was developed by Fred Fiedler. The Fiedler contingency model proposed that effective group performance depended upon properly matching the leader’s style and the amount of control and influence in the situation. The model was based on the premise that a certain leadership style would be most effective in different types of situations. The keys were:

Some Contingency theories relate to decision making which depends on the situational factors. For example, the effectiveness of a decision depends on a number of aspects of the situation. The importance of relevant information possessed by the leader and subordinates, the likelihood that subordinates will accept an autocratic decision, or cooperates in trying to make a good decision if allowed to participate. (Wade & Tomasevic).

The contingency thinking combines ideas about uncertainty in the environment and external factors influencing work with context-specific features of leadership and decision-making. The contingency thinking theory points to various managerial practices, styles, techniques, and functions will vary according to the particular circumstances of the situation.

Although the contingency theory argues completely against Management as being referred to science and especially Taylors ‘one best way’ as contingency theory “takes a situational (rather than a one-best-way) view of organisation structure and managerial activity” (Bowditch, J. and Buono, A (1990)) which means that instead of a singlesolution to way of management there is actually different methods for different