There are leaders everywhere. They run countries, schools, businesses, churches, etc. What makes a good leader, one that has good relationship with the employees, exceeds production goals, or a combination of both? Each leader has their own style. It may have started out different than where they are in their current situation. There are a number of leadership theories; however, five will be discussed here.
Path Goal Leadership Theory is a theory that says a leader can reward a follower to achieve the results need for the project or organization (Dewan & Dewan, 2010). There are four styles of leader behaviors in this theory. They are achievement-oriented, directive, participative, and supportive.
Under the achievement-oriented behavior,
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Charisma is a key aspect of a leader, with it, they will inspire and motivate the follower to achieve high expectations in the goals set for them.
Intellectual stimulation encourages the leader to help the follower see problems and increase the follower’s capacity to resolve them. With this style of leadership, the follower can be creative in finding ways to get to their goal without the fear of being reprimanded if it doesn’t work right away.
The final factor in Bass’ Transformational Leadership Theory is individualized consideration. With this concept, the leader focuses on the follower as an individual and will help guide them to gain more confidence and experience to move ahead in their career (Bass & Steidlmeier, 1999).
Any type of sporting coach could use individualized consideration factor of Bass’ Transformational Leadership Theory. While they need the team to work together to achieve a win, they also look at each individual player to help them get better and set higher goals for themselves.
Within the Managerial Grid Model are five different styles of leadership that fall into different points on a grid ranging from concern for people and the other a concern for
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Team management should be the ultimate goal. The employee feels their contributions matter and there is genuine effort to increase the productivity (Blake & Mouton, 1982).
Because the manager in a manufacturing company doesn’t like confrontation, will not pressure the employees to do more than what is necessary to get orders out the door. He is more concerned about befriending the employees rather than increasing the bottom line.
In a situational leadership, the leader should be able to adapt their management style based on the ability of the follower to perform the tasks. There are four styles within the Hershey and Blanchard Situational Leadership Theory based on concern for people and concern for tasks.
The telling style is the leader giving specific directions on how to do task, because the follower can’t or won’t take the initiative. This style is high task, low people concern.
The selling style is the leader giving the follower direction on the task at hand. Also listening and answering any questions of the follower. This style is high task and high people
...-goal theory focuses on the personal characteristics of the follower in addition to factors in the environment that are outside the control of the follower. Environmental factors determine the type of leader behavior required and personal characteristics of the follower determine how the environment and leader behavior are interpreted. Both theories acknowledge the importance of followers and effectively compensating for their ability and motivational limitations. There is never just one way to succeed as an effective leader. It is a continual process of assessing and reevaluating the team and environment while adjusting the leadership style and behavior to maximize the performance and satisfaction of the team.
My impression of leadership is the ability to motivate, inspire, set a visualization, connect, and lead by example. To become a successful leader you have to be able to convince your followers that you are trustworthy of being followed. During this semester, we have learned many, if not all of the major leadership theories and how they play a role in our everyday lives. But personally, a few of these leadership models caught me and intrigued me the whole semester so much that this paper is going to predominately be referenced about them. For example, the proposed framework that organizes leadership theories based on each theory 's focus and approach. Focus is referred to as whether or not leadership is viewed as a set of traits or actions.
Situational leadership is a theory which was designed in 1969 by Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard. The “contingency theories of leadership” states that a leader’s effectiveness is dependent on their behaviours in relation to different situational factors. Thus, situational leadership theory, relates to how a leader 's effectiveness is depend on their ability to adjust their leadership behaviour to the required level of the “followers” capability or if the situation is modified.
The third type of leadership style is described as situational leadership. Situational leaders assess the environment and the readiness of the employee before assigning a task (Giltinane, 2013, Grimm, 2010). Situational leaders provide direction and support based on the need at the time. Thus if an employee needs more direction than others, situational leader is able to identify the employees need and provide support accordingly. According to Giltinane (2013) situational leaders relationship with their subordinates and provide guidance and direction as needed.
The situational leadership theory states that leaders use different styles and strategies depending on the situation. There are two models that support this theory. The Fiedler’s Contingency Model of Leadership Effectiveness states that an “effective leadership occurs only when there is an ideal match between the leader’s style and the group’s work situation” (pg
Transformational leadership theory conceptualized in the late 1970’s, proposed that leaders could motivate followers through shared vision and mutual interest to uplift the entire organization to a higher morality (Burns, 1978). Morality was defined as leaders and followers working together to fulfill organizational goals and achieve higher performances within a context of change and innovation. Leaders would surpass their own self-interest, in order to, foresee, foster, and indoctrinate a new organizational vision to their followers. Bass operationalized Burns’ seminal work into a leadership model to better indentify transformational leadership characteristics. The model emphasized four dimensions such as idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and individualized consideration in order to achieve success.
Path-goal theory deals with the leader's style to motivate followers, to accomplish set goals (Northouse, 2010). The path-goal theory is simply the implication that a leader works with an individual to establish a goal. The leader does this by individual motivation to achieve the proposed goal, while working through obstacles that may hinder achieving that goal (Whitener, 2007). The basic assumption of path-goal theory is that the following motivates subordinates: the capability to perform the work, their efforts will result in a certain outcome, and the payoff will be worthwhile (Whitener, 2007). The path-goal theory is a pragmatic approach that the leader uses to motivate the followers to achieve the set goals.
Transformational leaders want individuals to make a positive change in their lives and try to help people apply a positive change on a daily basis. The leaders do this by implementing individual considerations which, according to Kendrick (2011), “treats each follower as a unique contributor and provides coaching, mentoring, feedback and growth opportunities.” This makes such an impact on people because each individual is getting different mentoring, feedback, and growth opportunities due to their unique personality. It is very important for each person to have this because everyone has a different learning ability and motivation. This helps each individual with their own distinctive endeavor.
The concept I found most important was the interpersonal consideration aspect of transformational leadership. This concept focuses on team members understanding they are not just part of a larger organization, but instead they are individuals that are valued. Leaders that adopt interpersonal consideration make personal connections with their team members. They use coaching, compassion, praise and encouragement to empower their peers, subordinates and supervisors. Applying this concept enhances each team member’s morale, trust, loyalty and mutual respect.
To reflect back on my original question; although the degree of charisma may continue to be on the radar for the selection and evaluation of leaders, in many ways this trait can add to the effectiveness of leaders and I believe will continue to a valued trait.
When we work together in a team, or in a broader sense as a society, the leader takes on the most important role. It is the leader that helps prioritize activities and direct people’s thought process in the right direction. They are the ones who have the ability to bring the group together as a whole. Because of this, not anyone can be a leader. Only people with certain qualities and abilities are able to fill this role. So what makes a good leader? There is a defined path and specific characteristics that makes someone a good leader.
In conclusion, transactional and transformational leadership can be merged or used individually depending on various circumstances. However, they are partially correlated. In order to make the best use and get the desirable results out of these principles, leaders should attain a deep understanding of each theory as they are dissimilar in conducting. Moreover, an appropriate balance should be considered if leaders aim to integrate them together. In my point of view, either stand alone or combination usage would benefit to any organizations if the application of leaders was taken in proper situations.
Dubrin, A. J. (2007). Charismatic and transformational leadership. In Leadership: Research findings, practice, and skills (5th ed., pp. 83-98). Boston, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company.
What does it take to be an effective leader? This is something that has been asked many times over the course of human history. Some might say that having a strong personality and a commanding presence is needed in order to be a strong leader. Others might say that someone who stays on top of everything and keeps order is more effective as a leader. Everyone has their own opinion on this subject and in many regards, they are not wrong. Good quality leadership is something that is hard to possess and is not something everyone can do. Leadership is something that has been studied and analyzed many times, and from these studies, many theories have emerged from them. Each of these theories of leadership has their own benefits and can be useful
There are many different types of theories on leadership. There is Fiedler’s contingency theory, situational theories of leadership and House’s path-goal theory. These theories are used to make an individual or manager a more effective leader. They can be used as a guide for individuals and help them achieve whatever goal is set out by their organization or group.