Theories Of Leadership : Cognitive Resource 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.

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.

Herschey and Blanchard, in their Situational Leadership theory, recommend that a leader adapts their leadership style on the basis of the maturity of the group or individual in dealing with specific situations. If an individual is new to the organisation and have a low level of expertise but a high level of motivation then a directing leadership style is likely to be most suitable, whereas an employee that has a higher level of skills but variable commitment may respond to a supportive style in order to build confidence.

Leaders have a “the ability to influence a group toward the achievement of a vision or set of goals” (Robbins & Judge, 2007, p. 402). In the past leaders have been described by certain traits or characteristics. These traits can help an organization identify potential candidates who may be strong leaders. Later behavior approaches of leaders were identified that could be taught. In short, leaders could be made. Situations have an impact on which leader behaviors will be most effect at any given time. Several contingency theories have been formulated over the years to identify how situations influence leadership behavior. Each style has strengths and

Situational leadership focuses on adapting your leadership style or approach based on the situation and the amount of direction and support that is needed by followers. As Jesus trained and equipped his disciples from simple fishermen to fishers of men, who carried on his ministry after he ascended to heaven, he integrated different styles and theories of leadership that best served and supported his followers (Blanchard & Hodges, 2003). Depending on the level of competency and commitment of their people, leaders will adjust their style to provide the necessary support and direction. The core competencies of situational leaders are the ability to identify the performance, competence and commitment of others, and to be flexible (Paterson, 2013). From being highly directive, telling their people exactly what to do and how, to delegating, clearly stating the objective and allowing them to complete the task with little direction and support, situational leaders adapt their approach to the needs of their people and the particular situation.

Personality, experience, general operating style and learning of leadership are all contributors in determining what style of leadership an individual will adopt. To be a leader and decide upon a style, one must know their self and have an understanding of their own abilities, as well as having a knowledge base on their prospective followers (Sellgren, Ekvall, & Tomson, 2006). I will be discussing two leadership styles, situational and authoritarian. Situational leadership is a style of leadership developed by Dr. Paul Hersey, which is categorised under the core theory of contingency. This theory was first introduced as “Life Cycle Theory of Leadership”, which was renamed to “Situational Leadership” in the mid 1970s. This style teaches that there is no one particular style that is efficient for every situation and effective leaders adapt their style to accommodate the range of individuals within a group. An effective leader must have the ability to diagnose, adapt and communicate based on the readiness of followers and other situational variables. Dr. Paul Hersey describes the “an individual’s readiness level as their willingness and ability to complete a particular task. He proposes that a situational leader is able to change their leadership style depending on the situation and a follower’s readiness level. This is a significant element in ensuring the task gets completed successfully (Mujtaba & Sungkhawan, 2011). According to this style, there are four readiness levels. Style one is when the followers are unable and unwilling to perform the task. Upon identifying this, the leader is able to explain to followers what, where, how and when to do this particular task. This particular style is also known as “telling” and is optimal when attempting to influence followers with low readiness levels. Style two, also called “selling” is described as when

Situational leadership has very little in common with the other models mentioned herein. This model revolves around the leader changing leadership behaviors to meet the needs in relationship to the follower (Kouzes, 2003, p. 111). The difference between situational leadership and charismatic, servant, and transformational leadership is the lack of an organizational vision and the empowerment of the followers. Situational leadership uses followers based on their readiness level that relate to their ability and willingness to complete the task (Wren, 1995, p. 208). This aspect coupled with the leader’s task and relationship behavior is used in relation to the

3) Contingency approach to leadership-this theory refers to the group atmosphere and to the degree of confidence, loyalty, and attraction the followers feel about their leader. If certain favourable situations occur then there has been a positive relationship between the followers and the leader which means that the task was clearly defined and there is a clear leader position power.

Situational leadership requires a leader to be mature enough to properly assess and execute the best leadership style based on the current situation that faces the organization. In many situations, if the leader can satisfy the

There are different leadership theories developed throughout the history. Most popular ones are trait theories, behavioral theories, contingency theories, and leader-member exchange (LMX) theory. The author of the post will briefly discuss two theories, Fiedler contingency theory and Leader-Member Exchange (LMX), and compare and contrast their strengths and weakness.

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.

Situational Leadership is also called as Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership Theory. Paul Hersey the author of "Situational Leader" and Ken Blanchard the author of " The One Minute Manager" are the one who introduced this theory (Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership Theory, 2010-2015). The principle behind this theory is that every theory is not perfect in itself and the effectiveness of the theory is determined by the situation (Kreitner, 2013, p. 472). One of the important lesson that I have learned till this day is no one can be prepared for the upcoming problems. Problems may have same nature but may be different in the way it has to be solved. For instance: A Leader may motivate an employee by increasing salary but the same tactics may not work for another employee. Another employee may be seeking challenging job which may influence him/her to

Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Leadership Theory (SLT) asserts that a leader’s effectiveness is dependent upon the readiness, or ability and willingness, of the leader’s followers to complete a task. This leadership style is an amalgamation of task-oriented and relationship-oriented characteristics that are employed depending upon the situation and the followers involved. According to the SLT, as followers increase in readiness the leader’s style is to adapt accordingly (Kinicki & Kreitner, 2009).

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.

Building on the idea of Behavior Theories, Contingency Models of Leadership take in to account mitigating circumstances