A month ago I started working back home, Quito, a tiny city famous by its beauty and political and economical problems. I started working in the human resources department at a private university where I have learned new things you can’t learn by siting in a class.
In leadership there are plenty of theories to mold people into leaders. Fiedler’s Contigency theory consists in leaders acting differently towards different followers and situations and choosing the right type of leader for the right job (Northouse, 2013). Some characteristics on the contingency model are that leaders are consistent in they’re behaviors and when a situation surge the right type of leader needs to be assigned for the situation or the situation needs to be change in a way it can fit the leader’s style (Fiedler). This theory is used in a daily basis and most of the leaders who use it don’t even know they are adapting a situation for their benefit.
Another theory that I have seen present in a lot of job related issues is the Katz Three Skills Model. This model is divided into three basic skills every leader needs according to Katz (1955). The first of the skills discussed by Katz are technical skills, which are the basic knowledge and the ability to use tools in an organization; for example leaders who have technical skills handle the fill out of forms in an organization. Additionally there are human skills that are the set of skills that have to do with the relationship with your colleagues and your followers including the skill to help people in the organization reduce they’re stress. Finally, conceptual skills are all about ideas and how to create the mission of an organization. The three components are important to all leaders but for some leaders, depending on their position in the organization, the level of importance for some is bigger than others (Northouse, 2013)
My first week in work I’ve realized these two theories where present in a daily basis. My father is the president of the university and he was little human skill but plenty of conceptual skills. He is the one who needs to keep the organization growing and getting it better. He decides what needs to be fixed and what need to stay the same for the benefit of the organization. In other hand, my supervisor have very good human skills and none conceptual skills because she needs to communicate and teach her interns. Last week she had to create a schedule and a mission for us interns but that was not her forte, she decided to do what she does best, use her human and technical skills to replace for her conceptual skills. She created an activity for us so we can give an opinion about the mission of the university and what will fit best for our schedule. She used both the Three Skills Model by using human and technical skills and Fiedler’s Contingency Theory to adapt the problematic situation she was in and fix it from another point of view.
To conclude I can say of the thousands of leadership theories the majority overlap and people don’t even notice. People go to work every day and think they are doing a good job to create a possible outcome but what they don’t know is all of the existing theories that can help organization reach the maximum potential.
Bibliography
Northouse, P. G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and practice (6th ed.). Thousand Oaks: SAGE.
Validation and extension of the contingency model of leadership effectiveness: A review of empirical findings.
Fiedler, Fred E.
Psychological Bulletin, Vol 76(2), Aug 1971, 128-148. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/h0031454
sam6428 says
Very interesting perspective! Do you think that the adopted theories are learned through their education, by working as the subordinate of a good leader/manager before they became the leader/manager, or because they were chosen specifically for that set of employees due to being able to assess the situation and react according to their followers since they are “like minded”? Contingency theory states that the leader’s effectiveness depends on the fit of the leadership style and the setting (Northouse, 2007).
However, I do believe that skills learned in our education as well as through mentors make leaders/managers more effective. Technical, human, and conceptual are essential in management and the amounts are dependent on the level of management (Northouse, 2016).
Northouse, P. G. (2007). Leadership: Theory and practice (6th ed.). Thousand Oaks: SAGE.
Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice (6th ed.). Thousand Oaks: SAGE.
Morgan Dreisch says
Hi, Carla!
I can appreciate you bringing in the personal experience to relate the three skills to yourself or your life. Do you think that your father and your supervisor have those skills and do not use them, or do you believe that because the skills are not required for every day tasks, that they did not develop them?
Do you believe that their management styles would be better if they had properly developed/used all three? For example, would you rather your manager have those conceptual skills so she can complete tasks such as creating a schedule and mission?
Morgan