Description of Prominent Leadership Theories - Coursework Example

Leadership Introduction Leadership is a complex task which requires some times skills, sometimes, intelligence and sometimes the backing of scientific principles. It requires intelligence, patience, temperament, analytical skills, management skills, authority, power etc. Historically, leadership is important in human life as we can see the stories like the one of Moses in Old Testament, who successfully leads Israelis towards Canaan. Man is a social animal and it is impossible for a person to lead an isolated life from the mainstreams of social life. Leaders are the ones who guide the followers to a specific target with the help of properly formulated strategies. Some people believe that leaders are born and not made whereas some others believe that leaders arise when there is a need. In organizations, managers are the leaders and the success of the organization depends on the management abilities of the managers in deriving the maximum productivity out of the workers and the judicious utilization of the resources. Managers often adopt different strategies to manage the resources including manpower, material, machine and money. They may use prominent leadership and management theories like Contingency Theory, Situational Leadership Theory, Leader-Member Exchange Theory etc for the effective management of the human resources. Even though these theories are good in dealing many organizational situations related to manpower management, they are not free from drawbacks. This paper is written as a deconstruction paper on leadership focussing y on different prominent leadership theories such as Leader member exchange theory, Contingency theory, Situational leadership theory, Path-Goal theory etc General aspects of leadership According to Harvard professor Abraham Zalensik there are two kinds of leaders; once born and twice born (Gardner, n. d, p.46). In other words, some leaders have inborn traits of leadership whereas some others need to develop the leadership qualities. For example, many Americans believed that the Kennedy family members had inborn leadership qualities and they voted in favour of different persons from this family. But some other prominent leaders developed their leadership qualities through their interaction with the surroundings or the environment. According to Aristotle, “Men acquire a particular quality by constantly acting a particular way... you become just by performing just actions, temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by performing brave actions”(Moncur, 2007). In other words, Aristotle believed that a person develops his personality and leadership qualities through his actions and interactions with the surroundings. According to Gardner (n.d), leaders possess the Nobel factors optimism, faith and hope (Gardner, n. d, p.192). No leaders will think negatively when they need to perform a task through his followers. The belief in the abilities of the subordinates makes a leader successful in his endeavours. “The unique characteristic of superior managers is the ability to create high performances expectations that the subordinates fulfil”(Gardner, n.d, p.193). Leaders should have proper awareness about the abilities of the subordinates before providing a task to them. Only the right task allocated to the right employee will yield the right result. Some leaders fail in their leadership role because of their personal interests or Machiavellianism. Machiavellianism is a term that some social and personality psychologists use to describe a person's tendency to deceive and manipulate others for personal gain (Machiavellianism, n. d). According to Machiavellianism, if a prince wishes to continue ruling his state, he should not bother about the criticisms or praises he may receive. Former American President George W Bush can be cited as a better example for the Machiavellian prince. Even though, he has faced many criticisms, he decided to attack Iraq citing some unbelievable reasons. In fact President Bush was trying to take revenge upon Saddam for the humiliation his father received from Saddam. Moreover, Bush had sights on the immense oil and fresh water resources of Iraq even though he had put forward the theory of weapons of mass destruction possessed by Saddam. In fact Bush failed to convince the even the Americas and the result was the humiliating defeat for the republicans in the latest elections. Leader member exchange theory “Leader member exchange theory or LMX theory works on special unique relationship that leaders can create with others. When these relationships are of highest quality, the goals of the leader, the follower and the organization are all advanced” (Bennis, n.d, p.154). Relationship building is the core of success for everything in the current organizational climate. The relations between the organization and the customers, organization and the employees, employees and the customers etc are important in sustaining the growth of an organization. LMX theory is focussing mainly on the two way relationships between the leader and the subordinates. LMX theory directs our attention towards the importance of communication in leadership and it provides important alerts for the leaders (Bennis, n.d, p.155). Good leaders always have better communication skills. Some leaders communicate to their subordinates or followers verbally whereas some others opt for nonverbal communication means such as actions, gestures etc. In any case mutual communication between the leader and the followers helps the followers to understand the instructions from the leader and the leader also will get the feedbacks about his actions from the followers. The major drawback of LMX theory is that the quality of the relationships depends on the quality of communication and hence it is impossible for the leaders with less communication abilities to develop proper relationships with the subordinates even if they possess all the other leadership qualities. LMX theory of leadership is suitable only when the challenge of the job is extremely high or extremely low. But it is not suitable when the challenges are medium. When challenges are extremely high, the followers will not take much liberties and will wait for the instructions from the leader for everything. Same way, when the challenges are less, followers or subordinates need less support from the leader. In both the above cases, the chances for a conflict between the leader and the followers are less. But when the challenges are medium, the followers may confuse with how much they should depend the leader instructions or the leader may confuse with how much heeds to advice the followers. This confusion often results in conflicts and the relationship between the leader and the followers might be spoiled. Contingency theory Contingency theory depends on three factors; leader member relation, task structure and position power (Bennis, n.d, p.112). As in the case of LMX theory, contingency theory also works on the leader-follower relations. Moreover, this theory also focuses its attention on the power of the leader and the nature of the task. Leaders need power to make the subordinates streamline in the right path. Judicious exercising of power will help the leader to meet the targets without many problems. Only the leader have the better ideas about the targets and the subordinates may often confused by certain decisions of the leader because of their lack of knowledge about the targets or the objectives. Under such circumstances the leader might be forced to use his power. Contingency theory is predictive in nature and hence able to predict the type of leadership required for a situation (Bennis, n. d, p.115). For example, when the current president of America Obama put forward the slogan of change, many Americans accepted it with both the hands as they felt that change is inevitable under the current American political and economical situations. They agreed that a leader of Obama’s nature is suitable for America at present. The major drawback of this theory is that leaders may not be effective in all situations (Bennis, n.d, p.114). In other words, a leader excel in one situation need not excel in another situation. For example, it is believed that India was able to overcome the recent recession problems because of the superior leadership of current Prime Minister of India, Dr. Man Mohan Singh. But many people in India believe that Dr. Singh failed in the management of the Mumbai terrorist attack and the Indian Parliament attack as the terrorists responsible for this attack are still living safely in Pakistan. In other words, Dr. Singh excelled in economic management whereas he failed in the defence management according to many people in India. It is difficult for us to explain the failure of Dr. Singh in some cases and the success of Dr. Singh in other cases based on contingency theory. In short, Contingency theory failed to explain that why people are more effective in some situations than in others (Bennis, n.d, p.116). Situational leadership theory The major strength of this theory is that it stood up to the challenges in marketplace till now and more than 400 of the 500 fortune companies using it at present. It is easy to understand and can be applied in a variety of settings. This theory is prescriptive in nature whereas many other theories are descriptive in nature (Bennis, n.d, p. 94). Situational leadership theory is the most popular one in the current business world. Leadership based on the situation is the slogan put forward by this theory. This theory asks the leaders to change their leadership styles based on the situations or the tasks. This theory argues that there is no single best style of leadership as different situations need different types of leadership. Three forces that can lead to the leader's action are; the forces in the situation, the forces in the follower and also forces in the leader (Situational Leadership, 2010). It is difficult for a leader to react in a democratic manner always. In some situations the leader might forced to react in an autocratic manner. In other words, the situation forces a leader to react in a particular manner. Some employees may not perform well if the leader is soft in his approach whereas some others may perform well when the leader adopts a democratic style. In some cases, the leader may adopt a blend of autocratic and democratic approaches in order to derive maximum out of the subordinates. The major drawback of situational leadership theory is that it lacks strong body of research and hence many of its concepts are not proved yet beyond doubts (Bennis, n.d, p.95). Even though situational leadership theory seems to be good on paper, it lacks scientific evidence. The changes in approaches of the same leader in different situations may develop confusion among the subordinates. The subordinates might be confused with the changing leadership styles of the leader. In short, the workers may develop anxiety or stress because of their lack of understanding of the leader behaviour on different situations. Many leaders often failed miserably because of their incorrect evaluation of the situations. Harvard Business School professor, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, describes the role of failed leadership and dysfunctional culture as contributors to the BP oil spill problem. In his opinion, true leaders face facts, presents a situation fully to all stakeholders, and models accountability. Moreover, a true leader does not attempt to minimize the extent of a problem or promise action faster than can be delivered and he will sets appropriate expectations and delivers. He or she does not duck responsibility by shifting the bulk of the blame to someone else (Krigsman, 2010) In other words, the BP leadership failed to assess the situation correctly and failed miserably in reacting to the situation positively. Most of the reports came out after the oil spill pointed towards the leadership failure in reacting to the several IT failures that may have contributed to the problem. Even though man, machine, money and materials are 4 M’s of resources needed for an organization, the man power seems to be the vital one since all the other resources were controlled by the manpower. The top level manpower or the managers or leaders are responsible for taking critical, timely and effective decisions based on the situations, and in the BP oil spill case, the leadership failed miserably in doing so. Path-Goal theory The Path-Goal Theory of Leadership was developed based on three aspects. Leaders should; Clarify the path so subordinates know which way to go, Remove roadblocks that are stopping them going there and Increase the rewards along the route (Path-Goal Theory of Leadership, 2010). According to Harold R. McAlindon “Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail” (Leadership Quotations 2010). The subordinates may often confuse with the path they should taken for completing a task. In some cases, the path in front of them need not guide them to the desired goal. The leader should guide the subordinates through the right path whenever the subordinates have doubt about the path. Conclusions Leadership is a complex task. It might be possible for all the people to become leaders, but it is impossible for all the people to become effective leaders. Some people are born with inborn traits of leadership whereas others develop the leadership qualities because of the h the interactions with the surroundings. There are many theories prevailing in the world with respect to the leadership. But none of them seems to be perfect. The leadership succeeded in one situation may fail in another situation because of the changes or differences in the situations. In short, there are no absolute leadership theories. Effective leaders are always flexible in their approach and select effective methods suitable for a situation in guiding the followers to the target. References 1. Bennis W (n. d) LEADERSHIP Theory and Practice 2. Gardner JW (n. d), On Becoming a Leader 3. Krigsman M, (2010), BP oil spill: Leadership and IT failure Retrieved on 27 June 2010 from http://www.zdnet.com/blog/projectfailures/bp-oil-spill-leadership-and-it-failure/9901 4. Leadership Quotes - Part One, 2007, Retrieved on 27 June 2010 from http://www.winston-churchill-leadership.com/leadership-quote-part1.html 5. Leadership Quotations (2010) Retrieved on 27 June 2010 from http://www.inspirational-quotes.info/leadership.html 6. Machiavellianism,( n. d), Retrieved on 27 June 2010 from http://midasjones.com/html/machiavellianism.htm 7. Moncur M , (2007), Quotations by Author Retrieved on 27 June 2010 from http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Aristotle/ 8. Path-Goal Theory of Leadership, (2010), Retrieved on 27 June 2010 from http://changingminds.org/disciplines/leadership/styles/path_goal_leadership.htm 9. Situational Leadership, (2010), Retrieved on 27 June 2010 from http://changingminds.org/disciplines/leadership/styles/situational_leadership.htm Read More