Leadership Theory and Practice - Essay Example

?During the contemporary period, it can be d that we are living in times that are characterized by radical changes such as powerful information technology, political changes as well as changing customer demands (Schultz, 2003). The way in which organisations respond to these challenges is tied to the values, attitudes as well as responses of their leaders. As such, this essay seeks to evaluate the significance of leadership especially in response to a challenging scenario. The essay starts by explaining the similarities and differences between the Ohio and Michigan studies on behavioral leadership and how contingency theories of leadership have developed from these studies. The essay also seeks to discuss and evaluate the leadership exercised by Anna Bligh during the 2011 flood crisis in Queensland. The analysis will also seek to explore how leadership theories are related to theoretical concepts in the study of motivation, communication and attitudes, and how Anna Bligh’s leadership style has incorporated these aspects. As a point of departure, it is imperative to begin by defining the term leadership in order to gain a clear understanding of the whole concept. Basically, leadership is defined as the social process of influencing people to work voluntarily and persistently towards the attainment of the group or organisational goal (Kuper, 2006). Of notable concern is that leadership may not be restricted to formal position since any person can influence the others towards the achievement of certain goals. The concept of leadership mainly draws from trait and behavioral theories. Trait theories suggest that leaders are born. However, this theory has been challenged by different critics given that any person can be a leader if given the opportunity since leadership is mainly concerned with influencing the behaviour of others. As such, the aspect of behaviour plays a pivotal role in as much as leadership is concerned where there is need for the leaders to appeal to the people to behave in a certain way for the benefit of the group or organisation. The contemporary approach to leadership proposes a principle centered rather than personality based leadership (Schultz, 2003). The leader serves as a role model to his or her followers and encourages similar values in them. As such, leadership research has changed focus from trait to behaviour approach to leadership. Behavioral theories posit to the effect that there are certain behaviours that are supposed to be displayed by the leaders in order for them to be effective in influencing other members of the group towards the attainment of a common goal. Highly influential studies of leadership were conducted at Ohio State University and the University of Michigan. Recent studies in leadership are attributed to the findings of these studies. Thus, the following section of the essay is going to focus on discussing the similarities and differences between these two studies on behavioral leadership and how contingency theories of leadership have developed from these studies. The research that was conducted at Ohio State University sought to identify independent dimensions of leader behaviour. The two dimensions they came up with are called initiating structure and consideration (Robbins, 2003). Initiating structure refers to the extent to which the leader is likely to define the structure of his or her role and those of the employees in search for goal attainment. This is also concerned with behaviour that attempts to organize work and work relationships and the leader is mainly concerned with assigning tasks and ensuring that workers maintain standards of performance towards the achievement of organisational goals. The other dimension is consideration which is described as the extent to which the person is likely to have work relations that are characterized by mutual trust, respect of employees’ ideas and feelings. In other words, the leader shows concern for the well being of the employees where their grievances are taken into consideration as a way of motivating them to put optimum performance in their day to day operations towards the goal attainment of the organisation. Research has shown that the leaders high in initiating structure and consideration tended to achieve high employee performance and satisfaction more frequently than those who display low characteristic of these dimensions. On the other hand, leadership studies undertaken at the University of Michigan had similar research objectives as the ones by Ohio State University. They sought to locate the behavioral characteristics of leaders that appeared to be related to measures of performance effectiveness (Robbins, 2003). The Michigan group also came up with two dimensions of leadership behaviour that they labeled employee oriented and production oriented. The leaders who are employee oriented are mainly concerned with establishing interpersonal relations among the workers where the needs and interests of the employees are taken into consideration. On the other hand, production oriented leaders are mainly concerned with accomplishing of the group tasks and less emphasis is put on the welfare of the employees. The conclusions drawn by the Michigan researchers strongly favored leaders who were employee oriented in their behaviour as these were associated with higher group productivity and higher job satisfaction. The major similarity between these two studies is that they are concerned with identifying the behavioral characteristics of leaders that appear to be related to measures of performance effectiveness within an organisation. It seems that the behavior of the people as well as that of the leaders play a pivotal role in influencing the performance of the members within a particular organisation. The dimensions proposed in these studies posit to the effect that effective leaders ought to strike a fine balance between the needs of the employees as well as the need to achieve the set organisational goals and these should not be compromised at the expense of the other as this can result in poor performance which leads to loss of production. Though to a lesser extent, the slight difference between these two studies is that of the terminology used in describing the different dimensions but it can be noted that they are somehow related as they are primarily concerned with the behavioral aspect of the leaders in relation to performance effectiveness within the organisation. It can be argued that the behavioral theories have had a modest success in identifying the relationship between leadership behaviour and group performance (Robbins, 2003). However, what seems to be missing is the consideration of situational factors that influence the success or failure of leadership within a given context. As such, the development of the contingency theories is mainly concerned with filling this void that was overlooked by the behavioral theorists in the study of leadership. There are different contingency theories and they specifically focus on the style of the leader and the degree to which the situation obtaining on the ground gives control to the leader. In other words, the leader must be positioned to be able to assess the situation then adopt a leadership style that is compatible with that particular situation. Contingency theories of leadership suggest that leadership styles should keep pace with the changing times whereby there is need to first examine the situation then decide on the most appropriate approach to leadership that can be taken. In view of the theories discussed above, it can be noted that the leadership Bligh displayed is closely related to situational leadership whereby the followers accept her leadership qualities in dealing with the situation. This is complimented by ethical leadership in dealing with the crisis caused by the floods. In this regard, ethics refers to the standards of right or wrong that influence the behaviour of people to act in a certain way (Schultz, 2003). It can be noted that Bligh was very honesty in communicating with regards to the developments taking place in response to the flood crisis. She managed to display the essential leadership styles with regards to communication by virtue of telling people the truth about the situation obtaining on the ground. For instance, she was honest to tell the people about the available resources as well as the contingency plans that could be implemented to avert the danger posed by the floods such as early evacuation rather than waiting until it was too late. During times of disasters, it is always important for the leaders to be exemplary by displaying leadership styles that are not meant to take people for granted such that they will believe that the situation is under control whilst it would not be. The character displayed by Bligh is plausible in this case in that she tirelessly worked with responsible authorities such as police, Australian Defence Force, government departments and others in co-ordinating emergency services. As the floods intensified in Queensland, she worked for longer hours a day to make sure that necessary steps were being implemented to mitigate the threats posed to humanity by the menacing floods. The concept of leadership goes hand in hand with communication especially during the periods of crisis. Basically, communication is about giving people the right information with regards to a particular situation such that they are alert and better positioned to respond positively to the threatening situation. New information and communication technology such as the internet has brought about various changes in the communication landscape whereby social sites such as twitter can be used to disseminate information to different people in different locations. Various communication channels were used to disseminate information to different people and this immensely contributed in resolving the disaster that was a result of the floods. A good example of effective communication is where Blight told the people about the available resources as well as the measures that were put in place by the responsible authorities to deal with the crisis without distorting the facts about what was happening on the ground. More importantly, communication plays a pivotal role in our daily lives as it enables us to exchange information that is vital in shaping our behaviour as well as responding to particular situations. By virtue of being truthful, a leader will be in a better position to create trust among the followers which is very important in dealing with challenging situations. It can be noted that Bligh played a very important role in listening to different people in a bid to come up with an amicable solution to the disaster caused by the floods. The concept of motivation is also closely related to leadership as it also plays a role in influencing the behaviour of the people. The effort exerted by an individual in response to something is dependent upon motivation. Motivation is the combination of the value of rewards expected to be gained by an individual from performing a particular task (Amos, 2008). The knowledge of this concept assists the leaders in understanding the thought process of the individuals at work and the way these influence individual behaviour. In this particular case, Bligh displayed charismatic leadership qualities by appealing to all the citizens in Queensland that the disaster caused by the floods was everyone’s responsibility hence their generous contributions were called for. Through coordinated efforts, measures were put in place to ensure that the lives of the people were not severely impacted upon. For instance, Bligh’s email in-boxes were overloaded by messages of support as she put measures to appeal to the feelings of the people which in turn motivated them to respond positively. She also held many press conferences in a bid to appeal for community co-operation in resolving the disaster caused by the floods. If people are positively motivated, they respond positively to a particular situation and they will pull their efforts towards the attainment of set goals. Effective leaders ought to be good in motivating their followers towards the attainment of certain goals for the betterment of the majority of the people as shown by Blight in her approach to the disaster caused by floods in Queensland. On the other hand, it can also be noted that attitudes have a bearing on the way leaders behave towards influencing the behaviour of the other people in doing something. Basically, attitudes are learned throughout life and they are linked to values, beliefs and they form an intrinsic part of personality and they influence an individual’s response to people, objects, as well as different situations (Amos, 2008). People have attitudes towards their leaders as well as government and the way they perceive these has a bearing on their behaviour towards certain policies as well as regulations. In this case, Bligh displayed a high degree of honesty in dealing with the disastrous situation caused by the floods in Queensland and this greatly helped to develop a positive attitude among the people towards dealing with the situation in a collective manner. It can be seen that through Bligh’s leadership, people changed their behaviour by showing benevolence which is about providing care for the others in time of need. The approach taken by the leader was calculated in such a way that people would positively change their attitude towards the situation so as to coordinate their efforts towards finding a lasting solution to the disaster. By virtue of appealing to the emotions of the people, the leader is in a position to change their attitude and ensure that different individuals are responsive to a particular situation. The mechanisms that were put in place in response to the disaster under the leadership of Bligh showed that people shared a unity of purpose towards finding a common ground in dealing with the catastrophic situation that was a major threat to many people who were living in the disaster prone area. Basically, people have thoughts, ideas, information about other people as well as situations and this the way they respond to these is a representation of their beliefs and attitudes towards something. It is the role of the leader to ensure that he or she appeals to the attitude of the people especially in times of crisis so as to be able to gain the people’s commitment and support in dealing with a challenging situation. In the case of Bligh’s leadership, it can be noted that she took a positive stance that appealed to many people to think and act in the same direction towards finding a common solution to the crisis caused by the floods. Over and above, it can be noted that leadership is mainly concerned with influencing the other people to act in a certain way towards the attainment of a common goal. Recent studies in leadership have paid particular focus on behavioral approach to leading and the studies conducted at Ohio State University and Michigan University are very influential in this area. The major similarity between these two studies is that they are concerned with identifying the behavioral characteristics of leaders that appear to be related to measures of performance effectiveness within an organisation. A critical analysis of the case involving Bligh in her approach to the disaster caused by the floods in Queensland mainly draws from the contingency theories of leadership where she carefully analysed the situation to come up with effective leadership styles. References Amos, TL et al 2008,. Human Resources Management, 3rd Edition, JUTA, CT. Franklin, Matthew & Kerr, Christian, The Australian January 15, 2011. Griffin, R 2005, Management, Google books, viewed 20 April, 2011, Humphreys, T 2006, The mature manager: Managing from inside out, Newleaf Gift & McMillan Ltd, Dublin. Leggie, K 1995, Human resource management: Rhetoric& realities, McMillan, London. Kleynhans, R et al 2007, Human Resource Management: fresh perspectives, Prentice Hall, CT. 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