Some leadership theories discuss the qualities of a leader, such as the Trait Approach, and Psychodynamic Approach. Others, such as the Situational approach focus on how leadership is dynamic and success is dependent on correctly responding to the unique needs of the people involved or the uniqueness of a situation. Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) provides us with a model of leadership which identifies how successful leadership creates reciprocal, dyadic communication between the leader and followers (Northouse, 2013). The pinnacle of LMX is a “mature partnership” which includes a “high degree of mutual trust, respect, and obligation toward each other” (Northouse, 2013, p.167). Lacking prescriptive detail for achieving such a relationship, LMX could be applied on top of other leadership models and used to describe what makes those processes successful. In other words, LMX doesn’t describe the path to take, it describes the outcome. Yet the limitation of the theory appears to be a failure to address some of the common obstacles to achieving such a high quality relationship. Bias, favoritism, and leaders or employees motivated by their own self-interests will hinder the function of the dyad and thus prevent the relationship from developing to full maturity. Lacking a prescription for dealing with these challenges it would seem that LMX is a theory may only be applicable when things are already going right.
References
Northouse, P.G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.