This paper examines leadership and management theories that support organizational direction, focusing on two primary frameworks: the contingency approach and transformational leadership. The contingency approach — including Hersey and Blanchard's Situational Theory and Fiedler's Contingency Theory — is explored alongside real-world application in a university library setting. The paper then turns to transformational leadership, as defined by Bernard Bass, discussing how it motivates employees and builds organizational cohesion. A case study of a divisional manager illustrates how combining transformational leadership with contingency thinking can elevate organizational performance. The paper concludes by recommending a leadership style that balances employee motivation with clearly defined organizational goals.
This study guide is drawn from PaperDue's library of 130,000+ paper examples across 47 subjects.
Organizations exist to generate profit. That is the primary purpose of corporations and combined companies. Effective organizations are those that are able to adapt to ever-changing forces in the general and task environment. Strategic management therefore plays a vital role in helping organizations achieve the means necessary to gain profits and build customer loyalty.
Strategic management is the set of decisions and subsequent actions taken by management that will provide a competitively superior fit between the organization and its environment. This document focuses on leadership theories based on transformational and contingency approaches, as well as management theories that support the accomplishment of organizational objectives. It reviews different approaches and proposes a leadership style that will guide organizations toward achieving their goals.
Leadership is defined as the ability to influence people toward the attainment of goals (Daft, 2008). This definition captures the idea that leaders are critically involved with other people in order to bring about positive change, maintain productivity, and encourage innovation.
The contingency approach represents a situational approach to leadership that makes use of strategic changes in a manager's leadership style as required by internal and external factors. Hersey and Blanchard's Situational Theory links the leader's behavioral style with the task readiness of subordinates (Daft, 2008). The theory explains that a manager must understand the level of readiness of his or her employees and adopt one of four leadership styles that vary between high relationship behavior with low task behavior, and low relationship behavior with high task behavior.
Fiedler's Contingency Theory, on the other hand, focuses on the situation itself and considers the factors that require a manager to adopt a particular approach (Miner, 2005). Fiedler suggested that a manager's leadership style is relatively rigid and difficult to change, and therefore maintained that the appropriate manager should be assigned according to the demands of a given situation.
A university library made ample use of the contingency approach as a model of practical application. The institution had long been known for its bibliographic and literacy program. As a result, the librarians were well versed in a wide variety of literature — both modern and classical — and were away for roughly a third of the year teaching courses associated with these programs. To fill in for absent librarians, paraprofessional staff members with part-time schedules of fewer than forty hours per week were selected as temporary replacements. These individuals were trained in bibliographic record-keeping and charged with maintaining library records (Kirk Jr., 2004).
In this way, the university library was able to maintain its prestige while also expanding into international scholastic programs. The case illustrates how the contingency approach allows an organization to match available human resources to situational demands without compromising institutional standards or long-term strategic goals.
Managers today must understand the need to adapt to the changing conditions of the environment and the evolving demands of consumers. Which leadership style to adopt is directly tied to what strategic steps the organization must take to attain its management objectives. Motivating employees and keeping suppliers loyal are among the most difficult challenges a manager faces in modern corporations, whether large or small. It is therefore important to maintain a sufficient mix of conceptual, technical, and human skills, ready to be deployed when needed. It is also worth noting that human resources remain the most vital organizational asset available to any manager.
Transformational leadership is a unique style that encompasses both the motivational and relationship-building needs of employees, encouraging them to become more innovative and to take greater ownership of their roles. Bernard Bass defined transformational leadership as a style in which followers grow to respect, trust, and admire the leader (Covey, 2007). At the same time, it is important to maintain — with clarity and consistency — that the goals of the organization take priority, so that employees have a clear and focused path. This provides the subtasks needed to sustain well-defined job descriptions and eliminates responsibility gaps and overlapping duties.
A compelling example of transformational leadership in action is provided by the case of Shri B. K., who was posted as Senior Divisional Manager and managed to convert everyday hurdles and challenges into opportunities. He transformed a low-performing division into a well-disciplined, highly motivated unit capable of achieving high performance standards across all key areas (Balakrishnan, 2007). This case offers a relatively modern illustration of strategic management that combines transformational leadership with the contingency approach, all while maintaining a high-task-oriented relationship between manager and subordinate.
"Recommends blended leadership skills for modern managers"
"Divisional manager transforms performance through transformational leadership"
Always verify citation format against your institution’s current style guide requirements.