Leadership theories, practices, and organizational impact

Leadership Analysis

The necessity of leadership has determined several experts in the field to study the subject and to identify a series of characteristics that leaders should have in comparison with managers. The importance of leadership and the roles of leaders are reflected in the works of theorists and practitioners in the field. There are several theories that describe leadership styles and the different types of leaders and types of work environments addressed by these leaders.

Fred Fiedler is one of the most important theorists that have addressed the leadership field. Fiedler's theory refers to a contingency model of leadership effectiveness. Although there are several contingency theories regarding leadership, Fiedler's theory is considered to be the most complex.

In Fiedler's opinion, the leader's effectiveness depends on two aspects: leadership style and situational favorableness. When these factors interact, they create situational contingency.

The leadership style of the leader in case is not likely to change, therefore, it will influence the relationship between the leader and his subordinates, and the manner in which the leader manages certain situations.

According to Fiedler's theory, the leadership style is measured by the least preferred co-worker scale. This instrument is used in order to measure leadership orientation. The characteristics that are included in this scale are: unfriendly-friendly, uncooperative-cooperative, hostile-supportive, guarded-open, and others.

There are other characteristics that can be introduced in the measuring scale, in accordance with the area of activity, the type of company that the leader works in, and the situations that must be addressed by the leader.

A high score achieved by the leader subjected to this measuring scale reveals the fact that the leader in case has a human relations orientation. A low score reveals the fact that the leader in case is task oriented.

Fiedler explains how the measuring scale works. In other words, people that are human relations oriented tend to describe co-workers in a more positive manner, which means they will receive a higher LPC score. People that are task oriented tend to describe co-workers in a more negative manner, which means they will receive lower LPC scores.

It is important to understand that the LPC scale system is intended to reveal the orientation of the person taking the test, rather than that of the person being subjected to the test. The system is designed in order to identify the person's type of motivation, and whether the person in case is motivated by human relations or by tasks.

The situational favorableness is determined by the following factors: leader-members relations, task structure, leader position power. The leader-members relations are represented by the trust, respect, and confidence between the leader and his employees. The task structure refers to whether the tasks that must be performed by the group of the leader are clear and structured. The leader position power refers to the power that the leader has outside and within his group.

In Fiedler's opinion, there is no ideal leader. But all leaders can be effective if they implement an orientation that is suitable for the situation in case. This theory faces strong criticism from other specialists in the field that consider Fiedler's contingency theory as lacking the flexibility required in such situations.

2. As mentioned above, different situations require different types of orientation, even if the leader in case is characterized by an orientation style that is not suitable for that situation. In high stress situations it is recommended that leader is more experienced rather than more intelligent. This is because such situations cannot be handled based on instinct only, but mostly based on experience. Leaders that are experienced in a certain type of situations can manage them faster and more efficiently.

Such experienced leaders have the advantage of having experienced similar situations before. Therefore, this means that these leaders know what the phases of the situation are and what outcomes they should expect to take place. In other words, they are aware of the actions and decisions they must make in order to efficiently manage the situation in case.

For example, in the case of a police station with an experienced leader, the teams are confronting with a situation where several burglars tried to steal the money from a corner shop. The salesperson managed to press the alarm button and several police cars arrived at the location of the scene. The burglars are armed and are threatening the salesperson and other clients of the store that have been taken hostages inside the location.

This is obviously a high stress situation that requires an experienced leader. Such a leader should be familiar with hostage situations. The leader in this case knows what decisions he must take. The leader knows what type of behavior the burglars will try to implement.

Therefore, the leader will use his experience in order to manage such a high stress situation.

A low stress planned incidents situations is recommended to be handled by a more intelligent leader rather than an experienced one. This is because such a leader has the abilities required in developing and implementing strategies that must address low stress situations.

In such cases, the leader must possess a series of intellectual abilities hat allow him to elaborate complex plans. For example, the leader in case must have abstract reasoning, numerical, verbal, and other types of general abilities. In addition to this, the leader must express a series of abilities required by his work.

Such a situation can be exemplified by a police division that must organize an intervention in several locations that are suspected of being inhabited by drug dealers. The intervention is a planned action, developed by the leader. The importance and the risks of the action require that the leader in case is an intelligent one.