Contingency Theories Leadership • Situational Approach (Chapter Essay

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Contingency Theories Leadership • Situational Approach (chapter 5) • Contingency Theory (chapter 6) • Path-Goal Theory (chapter 7) Behavioral Learning Objectives: Students explore contingency theories leadership identify theory employ .

Contingency Theories of Leadership

Leadership is the process in which a person influences others towards achievement of a common goal. It is a social influence process and can only exist where there is a leader and some followers Waldman et al. 823

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Leadership theories have been developed to explain some of the concepts and practice of leadership. Some of the early theories focused on behaviors and characteristics of successful leaders while the later theories consider the role of the followers and the nature of leadership.

Situational Leadership approach

Situational approach sees leadership as being specific to the situation at hand. Some situations may lead to an autocratic leadership style while others require a participative approach. Situational leadership shows that different leadership styles may be employed at different places in the same organization Elenkov, Judge and Wright 667.

Leadership styles depend on the task and development level of the employees. Situational approach focuses on observed behavior of leadership. It emphasizes on the behaviors of leaders, their followers and certain situations. Situational leadership involves influencing the follower or group towards a common goal in a given situation. It is more of a reactive approach to leadership where the leader reacts to the situation at hand that in most cases is unplanned for Hill 46()

Contingency theory

Contingency theories of leadership focus on certain variables that are related to the environment.

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These variables determine which style of leadership is the most appropriate for a given situation. They are a class of behavioral theory that states that there is no best way of leading a company or organizing corporations. The success of the company will depend on leadership style, qualities of the followers and certain aspects of the situation. This theory was developed by Fielder who studied certain leaders in contexts which are different. Situations defined by contingency theory include leader-member relation, task structure and Leader power position. Leader-member relation proposes that a good relationship between the leader and the followers enables the leader to be able to influence the group positively Herold et al. 354.

Task structure measures the guidelines which have to be followed in order to achieve a task. Positional power measures the amount of authority that the leader has so as to influence the productivity of the employees.

Path goal theory

Path goal theory was developed by Robert House. It describes how leaders support and encourage their followers towards the achievement of their goal. Leaders help their followers to select a style that will motivate them. Some of the leadership styles they can select include directive, participative, supportive or achievement oriented styles. Path-goal theory predicts the interaction between leadership style and the needs of….....

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