After raising my children for the past twenty years, I recently got back into the workforce. But after six months in my most recent position, I decided it was not the right fit for me. Maybe all the leadership information I am learning helped me make my decision.
I am not one to quit, but after six months of trying to work with a leader who referred to his customers as bozos, I decided it was time to move on. Prior to my time at home, I worked for a company for fifteen years. I was a loyal and dedicated employee. I had hoped to do the same in this position, but I did not feel the leadership of this firm had the right stuff.
In his Three-Skill Approach, Katz suggested that “effective leadership depends on three basic personal skills (Northouse, 2013).” The one skill that sticks out in my mind with this leader is the human skill. The human skill is having the ability to work with people. Not only did this leader not treat his customers in a respectful manner, but he also gave a very poor impression to his subordinates. I want to work for someone that I can respect and someone with integrity. I cannot give of my time and effort to a person that treats people poorly. Fortunately, I was able to walk away and not worry about being jobless. I will take my time in finding another job and hopefully doing a better job of finding the right fit.
Northouse, Peter G. (2013) Leadership: Theory and Practice. Sage Publications. Thousand Oaks Ca.
Finding the Right Leader
I do believe that leadership based on the situation would be a good way to look at things. A great leader of one category does not guarantee them a great leader of another. I have seen some football coaches in high school that do make great teachers, but it does not mean that they would be great at a leadership of a whole city. Each of these areas can mean that a person with different characteristics needs to be put in place of these leadership areas.
According to Northouse, (2013) Contingency Theory has been research many times over the years and it shows validity and reliability for its ability to put the correct person in leadership position (pg. 127). This theory is based on using not just situations to pick the correct leader but also concerned with each person’s particular style; stating that in times of duress, the person will revert back to their natural style of leadership which could actually work against them (Northouse, 2013).
I would agree with this reasoning, for in my experience with the coaches at the high school level of sports is that when they are stressed, they have a tendency to be very harsh on the persons that they are leading. This does not always have a positive affect on the subordinates. Instead of this strategy making the subordinates push and work harder, it can cause them to do just the opposite. An example of this would be putting these coaches in charge of running the city. Their forceful behavior that works in the sport arena, can alienate their subordinates in the city. He/She would be looked at as someone that wants to control what everyone says and does and this person would loose the respect of the people around them and cause possible legal problems for the city.
Also, a person that is a great leader of a city and in times of difficulty, their individual leadership style suits these particular situations allows the issues to get resolved in a way that is best suited for the city as a whole. To put this leader on a sports team as a coach may not be such a good idea. This type of leader may not be able to motivate the players and the players may not respect the leader.
By using this theory, an employer that is looking for a leadership position to be filled can have an individual take an easy assessment called the least-preferred-coworker scale (LPC) in order to find out what the prospective leaders style of leading is (Northouse, 2013). By evaluating the scored, the employer can find out what area this prospective leader would be good at and what they would not be good at in a management job. Scores that are high for LCP have a motivation from the relationship they have with their subordinates; persons low in LCP are task oriented; middle of the road scores are basically equal in both areas (Northouse, 2013).
With this information available, the employer can decide what characteristics are most important to them and who will best fit the leadership role they are looking to fill. As with any style, there will always be persons that do not agree with this style of finding a leader, but the evidence is there that this does work. Not all persons are good in all leadership roles. Some that excel in some will not excel in others. It is important for a company to find the best prospect for their individual situation and hence make the best decision for their company and Cognitive Theory does this for them.
Reference:
Northouse, P.G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.
Cognitve theory vs Situational
The contingency theory as discussed by Fielder ( 1967) states that a leader does not change his or her leadership style, but rather discusses how ” a leader is matched with a situation that fits their style”. This means that for a leader who is “consistent with their behavior” (Fielder, 1967) should be selected for a situation they would be successful in or their situation would need to change to apply to their leadership style for the leader to do well and have a relationship with the follower, Although the contingency theory and situation theory both talk about the leader style, the relationship with the follower and the situation, Fielder discuss how the contingency theory is the opposite of the situation theory which talks about a leader being able to adapt to a situation depending on the behavior they have with the follower.
As it may be known that different people have different leadership styles, the situation can affect the success of the person. Fielder ( 1967) discussed the coworker scale of which a leader is rated on their leadership style. This ranks them on a low to high scale where a low scale shows a leader who is more satisfied focusing on the success of completing a task over their relationship with the follower ,a leader who is on the high scale means the focus is more on the importance of the relationship with the follower over the task in order for their success and person who falls in the middle tends to change styles either way. (Northouse, 2013)
While the relationship between the leader and the follower is important with the contingency theory the amount of control they have is also important. If a leader has a “friendly, cooperative “relationship with the follower, the situation will be good compared to a relationship a leader has with a follower that is “hostile and difficult”, the situation can be bad. These types of situations can be seen in an office setting. Another form of success can be seen when a leader feels a specific task is well organized, straight forward and clear operational plan is created to ensure the success of the leader. In this case, the leader will have a task structure and a better relationship with the follower. (Northouse, 2013) This situation has been seen a lot in the military. When a leader demonstrated this tyle of management, it has been observed to be easier to match the better with situations.
When deciding on what type of leader to select, it is important to know about the three components that help to select the right person for the right situation. (Northouse, 2013) has talked about a favorable situation for a leader which includes establishing a good relationship between the leader and the follower, a strong leader position power and a defined focus on the task. A unfavorable relationship is when these components are demonstrated.
As it can be understood that not every person can fit every situation, it is important that time is taken to uncover the strengths and weaknesses and how well this leader will be able to be productive and motivated to achieve success in their role.
References
Northouse, P.G.(2013. Leadership: Theory and practice. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.
Fielder, F.E (1967). Cognitive resources and leadership performance. Applied Psychology: An Interventional review 44(1), 5-28
Tiffany-Kay McCartney
Ender’s Game
Being in school full time and working full time, I don’t have much time to watch television or movies. However, the other day I caught part of a movie that my husband was watching while I studied. The move was Ender’s Game, which is based on a based on a novel by Orson Scott Card (Pritzkger, et al., 2013). The movie is a science fiction film in which gifted children are being trained to initiate an attack on an alien race. While watching the movie I was easily able to relate two of the characters to some of the lessons we are discussing.
The first character that caught my attention was Colonel Graff. He was in charge of the fleet and directing them to perform at their best. Colonel Graff’s approach to leadership closely resembles the situational approach. He is able to adjust his approach based on the situation presented to him and guide his fleet accordingly. There are times where his approach needs to be directing and times where he needs to be supporting or even delegating (PSU, n.d.). Because he is able to approach each situation accordingly, he is very successful in his leadership of the fleet.
The main character is Cadet Andrew “Ender” Wiggin. Ender is moved around between several different squads. In one squad, he is picked on and beaten up. In another squad, the leader is intimidated by him and treats him terribly. At that point, the Colonel removes Ender from both squads and makes him the leader of a new squad that is comprised of other misfits. The colonel is able to see the leadership qualities that Ender possesses and knows having him manage a squad of people like him he will be successful. Which the colonel’s actions, I am able to see Fiedler’s Contingency Model put into play (PSU, n.d.). In this model, it is characteristic to place a leader in a certain situation that is determined based on that leader’s strengths. Colo
nel knows that Ender is a leader and by placing him in this situation, he is able to lead the squad to successfully destroy the alien homeland.
There were many situations in this movie that follow lessons for this class, but in just the short period of watching the movie I was able to see classic examples of two specific lessons.
Gigi Pritzker, Linda McDonough, Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Robert Chartoff, Lynn Hendee, Orson Scott Card, Ed Ulbrich. (Producers), & Gavin Hood. (Director). October, 2013. Ender’s Game. [Motion picture]. United States: Summit Entertainment Lionsgate.
Pennsylvania State University. (n. d.). Leadership in Work Settings—PSYCH 485. Online course lesson, Penn State World Campus, The Pennsylvania State University. Retrieved September, 2014 from: https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/fa14/psych485/001/content/05_lesson/04_topic/03_page.html
The Effect of Participative Leadership in Small Business
The Effect of Participative Leadership in Small Business
I work for a Home Health Company based in Delaware County. When individuals decide to sit down and make a business they have a lot to think about. These thoughts could destroy their lives if not careful, is there enough money to start it, is there enough money to keep it up, are there backers that will support you, do you have clients, do you have employees, do you have enough time in a day to survive? What happens after all of that is decided that the business is a thing?
I came on board to this business after its doors have been open about 4 years, this business is up and running and it was looking like nothing could stop it. How can you derail a business once it’s already on track? I was a receptionist at this business and I will tell you my thought on how to derail this train, the rules. The employees did not have any sort of structure for what they were supposed to do, sure there were rules like:
- If sick you need a doctor’s note
- You have to show up for work on a normal basis
- You must do this, this, and that if you want to be paid
But there were no in-depth rules to abide by. I sat down with the owners and asked them to think about this, to think about what guidelines should be in place for the employees so that they don’t take advantage of the business. The owners and I sat down and listened to my ideas about changing their policy and procedure manual, I was invited to help in the changing process.
This is a tale of how Participative Leadership benefited me. Thanks to my ideas and the willingness of my bosses to listen to me and put my ideas into effect I was promoted to an Office Manager. My ideas have made the process of recording hours easier, pay roll became easier, documentation and discipline has also become easier and a lot more manageable. I am now an active member in the discussion that goes on around the office and the business have benefited from it all, the willingness of the owners and the thoughts brought by me.
Reference
Northouse, P.G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Los Angeles: Sage
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