Situational Control and a Dynamic Theory of Leadership - Essay Example

?Leadership Theories and Styles Leadership Leadership is referred to the process through which an individual directs and inspires a group of individual in order to achieve a common set of objective. The goal is to be attained by cohesive behavior and mutual coordination. A leader permeates a sense of accomplishment and directs the group to attain a specified goal. Numerous theories have been proposed by psychologists to determine and elaborate the characteristics of leaders. Some integral traits of leader as listed by researchers include extraversion, intelligence, conscientiousness, self-efficacy, and openness to exposure. It can be inferred that a person possessing these qualities form a good role as a leader. A leader demonstrates high self-esteem and positive attitude. He emphatically works towards the achievement of objective but never gets aggressive for it. A continuous training, self-study, and evaluation in life develop the traits of leader. Situation can never be as per our desire but response to those situations remains under our control. A good leader not only responds in a positive manner but also inspires other members of group to see the brighter side of the situation. Why Leaders Influence Followers Influence and leadership are complementary. It is considered as one of the integral elements of power. A potent leadership cannot sustain without influence because that is the fundamental aspect of leader. Influence forms part of the core components of leader’s traits. Influence is the ability of leader to maintain respect and position of power within an organization. Certainly, influence in a flourishing organization must not be used negatively and should be used positively to influence subordinates and co-workers. Leaders use influence in order to demonstrate their control and autonomy. Leaders need to influence followers to: Alter their schedules and plans Provide timely and relevant information Support and approve proposals and plans Carry out and accept new tasks Control inappropriate behavior How Leaders Influence Followers There are numbers of tactics that are utilized by leaders in order to influence followers. Power Use Model predicts tactics of leaders in terms of hardness and softness. Hard tactics include legitimating, exchange, assertiveness, pressures, coalitions, and upward appeal. Soft tactics include inspirational appeal, personal appeal, ingratiation, consultation, and rational persuasion. Three possible outcomes are revealed as a result of these tactics. They include resistance, compliance, and commitment. A successful leader is the one that understand what tactics will work best for specific group of individual or particular situation. If the anticipated outcomes are not attained, it indicates that an inappropriate tactic has been used. If leaders intend to drive a change, the art of influence must be learnt. 1. Reward Power Reward power comes from the perception of employee that supervisor or leader has the capacity to provide specific reward to deserving individuals. It is the leader’s ability of rewarding those employees, who demonstrate desirable behavior. Some examples of reward power include promotions, pay increase, status symbols, work schedules, bonuses, recognition awards etc. Even a simple privately or publicly admiration for a job done well is considered as reward and can be proved as a beneficial management tool. For instance, if an employee suggested a process enhancement that ultimately saves money of the respective department would be rewarded and in this way, reward power spurs motivation and productivity at workplace. It is human nature to go that ‘extra mile’ for the sake of additive benefits. Many researchers argue that power is usually perceived. One has power only if he really believes he has it. 2. Coercive Power Coercive power is considered as having the perception of fear among employees. It is that power, which comes from the authority of an individual to punish. Leaders demonstrate this type of power by threatening others. According to Brett, Ury, and Goldberg, (1988 p. 7), coercive power is "the ability to coerce someone to do something he would not otherwise do." This fear pertains to being demoted, losing job, having projects taken away, receiving poor review etc. For instance, the Vice President of Sales and Marketing threatens the salesperson to achieve the mentioned target or get replaced. Coercive power is a stern way of meeting the deadlines and achieving goals. Coercive power can produce only short-term results. It depends on intimidation and backfires if used solely for exercising influence. 3. Legitimate Power Legitimate power comes from the position that one holds in the organizational hierarchy. It exists when the subordinates of the person in authority comply with his directives given to them because the subordinates believe that the title or position one holds provides him the right to utilize this power. Legitimate power can be improved by ensuring that the organization has clearly defined organizational structure and chain of command. Example of legitimate power includes job description, that requires subordinates to report to managers and allows managers to assign tasks to their subordinates. Another example is of company’s CEO who holds the legitimate power over the entire organization. Legitimate power is true and fair and is cooperatively accepted by all the members of organization, unlike coercive power from which a large numbers of employees remain disgruntled. 4. Expert Power Expert power comes from possessing expertise and knowledge over a specific area. People having expert power are highly valued because of their problem solving skills. Individuals having this type of power are deemed indispensable because of their ability of performing critical tasks. The decisions, ideas, and opinions of people having expert power are regarded as more valuable than other employees, which ultimately influence their actions. Owning expert power is considered as a stepping-stone for other types of power such legitimate power. For instance, a person having expert power can be promoted to the position of senior manager, thereby possessing legitimate power. Expert power allows a person to maintain credibility, act decisively, and confidently in crisis, and to promote the image of expert. 5. Personal Referent Power This type of power comes when the person cultivates interpersonal relationships with other people in organization. Individuals tend to possess the power of reference when others like and respect them. Reference power ascends from charisma. A charismatic person has the ability to influence others through respect, admiration, and trust that others have for them. Personal referent power is also derived from the connections that an individual has with key personnel of the hierarchy of an organization such as CEO. It is the perception that others hold for an individual due to his personal relationships and it gives them power over others. Referent power can be used when the subordinate see the manager as having confidence, fair in dealing and easily approachable. Smart managers, who are aware of using referent power, can create an environment to motivate subordinates in order to enhance productivity. Leadership Theory Leadership is an important and vast subject, yet full of perplexed terminologies and ideas, open to broadly different explanations. Leadership can be found in every walk of life regardless of scale and official or financial authority. In order to best explore leadership, help of theories, philosophies, and models are utilized. Leadership is considered as immensely intricate and affects how the groups of individuals are organized and act. Some of the most renowned leadership theories that aid in getting insights to leadership include: Trait Theory Behavior Theory Situational Theory 1. Trait Theory Trait theory emphasizes that effective leaders share a wide range of common traits or characteristics. Trait theory focuses on the leadership traits of a person and due to these specific traits, it becomes easier for a leader to influence. Many people argue that leadership characteristics come naturally that allow people to lead. Many researches have been conducted in order to determine the traits of a successful leader. Some of them include: Accepting responsibility Intelligence Self-confident Trustworthy Understanding requirements of followers Able to motivate Good decision-maker Need for power Flexible Assertive This theory assumes that a leader needs to have these set of traits whether he intends to lead a company, a war, or a classroom. However, it also depends on situations that require leader to behave in a certain way in order to deal with that specific situation. For this reason, situational leadership comes into picture. 2. Situational Theory This style of leadership has been studied and developed by Paul Hersey and Kenneth Blanchard. Situational leadership requires leaders to of an organization to adjust their style in order to fit the developmental level of group of followers that he is trying to influence. In situational leadership, it is the responsibility of leader to change his style as per the requirement of followers, and followers are not obliged to fit the style of leader. Under this approach, there is no concept such as “one size fits all.” Just having the situational leadership is not enough, one must be able to implement where required. In order to do so, a three-step situational leadership process is implemented. Step 1: Determine the Important Priorities and Tasks. Step 2: Identify Follower’s Willingness and Readiness Level Step 3: Decide the Appropriate Leadership Style that Matches Some issues pertaining to this model include beliefs, culture, perception of people towards relationships and work between workers and leaders. Other issues relate to whether the leader is female or male. Generally, female emphasize more on relationships while men are more task-oriented. 3. Behavior Theory Behavior theory is classified in a way that they focus on the behavioral aspects of a leader. For behavioral theorists, the best predictor of leadership is his behavior that influences the followers and as a result, proves to be an integral determinant in the success or failure of a leader. Despite of number of important aspects of leader’s behavior, four important aspects are considered under this theory. They include: Concern for people; this aspect focuses on leader’s concern on looking for the problems, interests, needs, and development of their followers. Concern for task; under this aspect, leaders emphasize on the attainment of concrete objectives. They look for wars to organize activities and people in order to meet goals. They further look for ways of high-level productivity. Directive leadership; this aspect focuses on leader’s ability to take decision for others and expecting their subordinates or followers to comply with the instructions. Participative leadership; here, leaders tend to share decision-making process with followers or subordinates. Leadership Approaches Leadership approaches refer to the style of leadership that leader usually opt. the basic styles can be classified into four major types. They include: Charismatic Leadership Transformational Leadership Servant Leadership Authentic Leadership Charismatic Leadership Displaying charisma is one of the most effective ways to upsurge everything from creativity to motivation to productivity. Whether it stems from high anxiety at home, low morale at office, lack of direction etc., it is the job of manager to get the workers rowing again. Charismatic leaders have the ability to fill the gap between organizations’ demands and offering of followers. The most renowned example of Charismatic leader is John Kennedy. He came from a powerful family and blessed with charismatic personality. Situational leadership attributes are important factor in determining the success or failure of leader. When given particular condition, charismatic leaders have the ability to transform the organization. Transformational Leadership A transformational leader goes beyond the daily operations and formulation of strategies for taking the company to next level of success and performance. This style of leadership focuses on motivation, team-building, collaboration with employees at different stratum of organization to attain change for better. These types of leaders set incentives and goals to push their followers to higher level of performance, at the same time, offering opportunities for professional and personal growth of every subordinate. An example of founder of Wal-Mart, Sam Walton can be taken here. Walton often visit stores of Wal-Mart across the country in order meet the associates and show gratefulness for their efforts for the company. In his autobiography, he gave rule for success, one of which was appreciating and praising associates for their efforts (Walton, 1996). This approach of leadership is linked with behavior theory because in this example, Walton is concerned for people as well as for organization. Servant Leadership According to a Chinese Philosopher Laozi, a best leader is one about whom people hardly know that he exists; when he gets the work done and gets his aim fulfilled; people say that we did it by our own self. Under servant leadership, usually the followers serve the leader, rather than a leader serving his followers. Servant leader puts the well-being of the people ahead of goals. Servant leader has following traits: He develops a culture of trust He admires diverse opinions He helps in developing other leaders He helps not only in work related issues, but also in life issues Encourages Thinking is inclined towards ‘you’ and not ‘me’ Persuades instead of commanding Acts with modesty Thinks long-term These attributes of servant leader can be fit in trait leadership that entirely focuses on the traits and attributes of leader. Servant leaders are considered as most influential in driving workforce. Servant leader has unique traits but is less prevalent than other styles of leaderships. The most common reason of scarcity of servant leaders is shortage of required skills and traits in people. Authentic Leadership The concept of authentic leadership was introduced by Bill George in his book ‘Authentic Leadership’. George described authentic leadership as style that is aligned and consistent with the core values and personality of leader. It can be ethical, honest, and practical approaches of leaders. An authentic leader is not afraid of making mistakes and work to overcome his weaknesses. They develop their own leadership style and are not overly rigid. An authentic leader adapts to changing situations and circumstances. These aspects of this approach related to situational theory of leadership where the leader needs to fit as per the changing circumstances. Therefore, it can be inferred that in case of situational leadership, the most suitable leader can be an authentic leader. A renowned example of authentic leader can be Howard Schultz, who was inspired by the struggles of his father having poor health condition to make Starbucks the first company to provide the options of health care even to its part-time employee. Schultz determinedly used the experiences of his life to build a company that reflects his own personal values. Conclusion After reviewing all the theories and approaches to leadership, it can be inferred that when it comes to leadership, there is no one best approach. Leadership styles and approaches vary from situation to situation and person to person. Leaders are not just born with leadership attributes but by substantial time and effort, these traits can be cultivated depending upon the personality that one possesses. The crux of the leadership theories and styles lies on appropriate and effective utilization of these principles. If right style is implemented in wrong situation, then it is of no avail. For managers and leader pertaining to varying fields, implementing correct style of leadership- that is consistent with the needs of followers and organizations- can bring phenomenal change in performance. Works Cited Barbuto, J. and Scholl, R., 1999. Leaders’ motivation and perception of followers’ motivation as predictors of influence tactics used. Psychological Reports, 84, p. 1087-1098. Fiedler, F. E., 1997. ‘Situational control and a dynamic theory of leadership’ in K. Grint (ed.) (1997) Leadership. Classical, contemporary and critical approaches, Oxford: Oxford University Press. French, J.P.R. and Raven, B., 1959. The bases of social power. In D. Cartwright (Ed.), Studies in social power (7th ed.). Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, Institute for Social Research. 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Yukl, G.A., 1998. Leadership in organizations (4th ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Read More