LEADERSHIP

Leadership

Leadership

Task 1

Current theories and models of leadership and their applicability to different subdivisions, organisations, industries and sectors

The four leadership models that will be presented in this discussion are: Contingency, Normative Decision Model, Self-Leadership Theory, and Social Cognitive Theory. The discussion will compare and contrast the similarities and differences between the models and discuss how the models relate to contemporary leadership issues.

Contingency Theory

There are several ways to approach the relationship between leaders and followers. The first approach to review is the Contingency Theory. The contingency leadership model considers the leader and follower relationship and other variables that may affect leadership performance. The impact that a leaders has on followers is affected by the leader's behavior and characteristics in specific situations.

Fred Fiedler's leadership model is based on a situational theory which states the effect that leaders have in motivating followers. The measure is the “least-preferred coworker scale (LPC), (Navahandi, 2006). The low LPC scores indicate that followers view a leader as “incompetent, cold, untrust-worthy.” A high LPC score suggest the followers feel the leader is “loyal, sincere, warm, and accepting.”

According to Fiedler, the relationship between a leader's LPC score and leadership effectiveness depends on “situational control”. The three aspects that determine the relationship are: “(1) the quality of leader-member relations, (2) the leader's position power, and (3) the task structure.”

Fiedler suggests that the LPC score reflects stable characteristics of the leader and that a consistent leadership style results from the LPC score. He concludes that it is, therefore, ineffective to try to change a person's leadership style.

Fielder's Contingency Model helps leaders to understand their leadership style in a given situation (Navahandi, 2006). The training tool developed for this leadership style is the “Leader Match” which teaches leaders to recognize their style and then evaluate different leadership situations.

Normative Decision Model

The Normative Decision Model engages followers in the decision-making process. However, there are assumptions about leaders who use this leadership model. This model is limited to decision making and does not generalize to other leadership abilities. The model assumes that the leader can adopt different decision-making styles in given situations. The model is deals with the quality of the decision as opposed to the group's performance (Navahandi, 2006).

There are four decision methods. The first is autocratic. This is when the leader makes decisions that do not involve followers. The second decision method is consultation. Here the leader consults with followers but reserves the final decision. The third decision method is the group. This method relies on the group to solve the problem. The fourth method is total delegation to one follower.

When the Normative Decision Model is compared to Fiedler's Contingency Model, the Normative model is focused only on leadership decision making. This model assumes that leaders can change leadership styles based on the needs and reactions of followers.

The Contingency and Normative Decision Models focus on the need to match leader's style in situations to achieve effectiveness (Navahandi, ...