Hershey-Blanchard Model, Fiedler Contingency Theory, Charismatic Leadership - Assignment Example

LEADERSHIP QUESTIONS By Name Course Instructor Institution City/State Date Leadership Questions Part A Question 1 According to Fiedler Contingency Theory, the situational control of a leader is dictated by three elements; positioning power, leader/member relations, and structure. The important element of Fiedler Contingency theory is that different situations have different styles of leadership. So, the leadership style depends on a certain situation; for instance, if fast decision making is the situation, a leader with high least preferred co-worker (LPC) will succeed. On the other hand, on high production situation, a low LPC leader is can manage this well since the leader cares less concerning whether the workers are comfortable with his or her doings. After the leader has determined his/her style of leadership, there will be need to determine the situational control required for a certain situation. As mentioned by Fiedler, the capability of controlling the group situation is very imperative for a leader, for the reason that only leaders having situational control are assured that their suggestions as well as commands will be executed by their followers. So, leaders who cannot take control of the situation of the group should not be certain that their followers will carry out their orders. Question 2 Hershey-Blanchard model states that there exists no ideal style of leadership, and leaders who are successful change their styles with regard to their ‘follower maturity’. So, follower maturity is established through the confidence and ability of the group they are trying to lead. Therefore, the Hershey-Blanchard model suggests that leaders manage different follower maturity levels through changing their relative focus on relationship behaviour and tasks. As pointed out by the model, these results in four styles of leadership; delegating style is a low-relationship, low-task style, whereby the group is allowed by the leader to be responsible for task decisions. Besides that, participating style is a high-relationship, low-task style stressing on the shared decisions as well as ideas. Selling style is a high-relationship, high-task style, wherein the leader tries to sell his or her ideas through clarifying task directions persuasively. Lastly, telling style is a low-relationship, high-task style whereby explicit directions are offered by the leader to his/her followers, and then monitors the work closely. Question 6 A charismatic leader can be defined as leaders who attract followers through charm and personality. Charismatic leadership is good because the leaders are able to sell the vision successfully, whereby the leaders inspire their followers’ to be the best in the work environment. Such leaders also drive results, in that, they can persuade their followers to pass through hard time so as to achieve certain results, and this enables them to gain results and frequently get things done. On the other hand, charismatic leadership is bad because it promotes group think. Since charismatic leaders are very popular, and as a consequence can make members of the team suppress their own values and beliefs that can be at odds with the leader’s values and beliefs. Besides that, this style of leadership suffers from lack of independence given that teams led by a charismatic leader always struggle to be independent since the identity of the group can become preoccupied with that of the leader together with his/her personality. Question 7 Basically, the Path-Goal Theory was created so as to describe the manner that leaders support as well as encourage their followers in realizing the set goals through the creation of the path. Particularly, leaders illuminate the path in order that the employees understand the path to follow, get rid of barriers that halt then from achieving the set goals, and increasing the rewards. As mentioned by the theory, if the leader desires the goals to be achieved, he/she can utilize: Supportive leadership, which entails increasing the self-esteem of the followers as well as making their job more exciting. This approach is suitable for working environment that is hazardous, boring or stressful. Another approach is directive leadership whereby the followers are told what should be done and where appropriate guidance is offered along the way. Participative leadership is another approach where leaders consult with their followers as well as taking their ideas into consideration when taking certain actions and making decision. The last approach to this theory is achievement-oriented leadership, which involves setting goals that are very challenging, both in self-improvement and in work, or together. In this case, leader exhibits faith in his/her follower’s capabilities to succeed, and so this approach is suitable when the task is multifaceted. Question 8 Essentially, a servant-leader concentrates mainly on the well-being as well as the growth of their followers as well as the society they belong in. Offering a teamwork environment is imperative to servant leadership. This style of leadership is concerned with good business ethics as well as working effectively on the workers behalf. This style of leadership is suitable for an organisation where people feel devalued and demotivated; they do not value their roles, and have low productivity. Servant leadership promotes a trustful environment, wherein employees feel they are cared for, and so they trust their leader because they know he/she cares for their interests. For companies to retain its competitive advantage, its leader must be a good listener, and workers have to remain connected to the developments within the industry. Servant leaders are generally aware of the issues and environment negatively impacting employees and the organisation. This style of leadership works well in the environment that employees desire to be persuaded, since servant leaders’ influence their followers through persuasion instead of utilizing coercion or authority. Part B Question 2: Leader as Social Architect The ability of a leader to articulate as well as communicate a persuasive vision that can energize and motivate their followers towards the future is the key function of a leader. As a social architect, the leader makes certain the formulation of a shared vision determining the group’s direction. In this case, a mission is established by the group so as to define their entity bearing in mind that the mission leads to the strategy utilized by the group to reach the vision. Leaders make sure that the vision unites the present stand of the group and the desired position, and must create passion amongst its members so as to work towards that direction. Therefore, members of the group have to feel reinforced, inspired, as well as motivated by the vision. While the vision must be shared by the groups, they will as well share a set of key understandings, assumptions, values, and norms widely acknowledged as their culture. Visibly, culture is manifested through slogans, environments, as well as artefacts, or invisibly by means of beliefs, assumptions, and expressed values. People introduced to the new culture have to be assimilated into the existing systems so as to feel ownership as well as the commitment to the group. In the contemporary working environment, leaders as social architects are prepared and equipped to manage change, which is always met with fierce resistance from workers. There are resources to help leaders in promoting transitions by means of change; however, a leader has to exhibit competence and confidence in the face of changing anticipations to project security and stability on others in the organisation. A social architect, basically, cares more about vision as well as how to make it work, and this model is suitable, since the leader has to embody roles of other individuals so as to be successful in his/her work. The Social Architect role is to bring a vision into the organisations that benefit both the organisation and the people working in them. As a social architect, the leader has two roles, both employees as well as the marketplace. Both are fundamentally comparable because leaders serve everyone regardless if they are employees or customers. In the contemporary business environment, a leader as a social architect comprehends the organisation as well as shapes the way the organisation operates. Moreover, the leader is tasked with defining the organisational culture, and as a result, shapes how employees see, reason, understand, and behave. Social Architects develop useful systems that assist workers handle the intrinsic absurdity between stability and change. Initiatives of change are suggested so as to improve and preserve life quality in the organisations. Therefore, successful change is exhibited by achieving the set goals and moving toward a future that is profitable both to the organisation and the employees. Basically, contemporary leaders as social Architects search for means through which the organisation will work effectively; that is to say, the principles used by the leader to run the company. Leadership principles kin to organisational vision is the foundation of the organisation, and so principles must be stable. Moreover, leaders as social architects use high performance system that is not just proven and valid, but as well measurable. In essence, the collective belief system is reengineered by the social architects so as to open the pathways to Organisational change. Scores of change initiatives devalue as well as dismiss the employees’ influence on the cultural change. However, leaders as social architects acknowledge that enduring change begins by making certain employees understand the significance of change both to the organisation and them. When all people comprehends as well as embraces the vision, self-adoption within the organisation is possible. Even though all persons behave differently, all work towards the same vision. For this reason, leaders in contemporary work environment ensure vision serves to control and direct people their own benefit as well as that of the organisation. In order to endure shared vision, leaders as social architects share their individual visions with their followers as well as motivate them to share ideas for successful future. In consequence, this needs good listening skills, openness, as well as the ability to associate with employees on an emotional level. The definitive responsibility of the leader as a social architect is to have a connection with dreams as well as hopes, which drive workers and gets a way of binding individual dreams into organisation’s shared vision. From this analysis, it is without doubt that a leader is a social architect who understands the organisation and is able to shape the organisation towards the vision. Given that a culture provides a channel through which organisational meaning can be can be interpreted, leaders as social architects make use of it a way of communicating the vision. To sum up, through culture, leaders can communicate the organisational vision to their followers, and persuade them to work towards that vision for successful future. So, a vision that is clear and commanding is communicated to the work groups, as a result, they link the organisation’s future with the current practices. Read More