Leadership Theories/Behaviours. Paper Example

There are various theories or approaches that are applied in leadership and also helps us to understand it in a broader way. These theories include the behavioural, influence, relational, trait, great man and contingency theories (Meuser,2016). Contingency and behavioural theories are further discussed in this paper clearly showing how supervisors in various organizations apply them to be able to solve issues as well as lead people. At the work place leaders encouraged teamwork's in which success was not attributed to leaders and supervisors only, but also to the employees.

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In leadership, a master is one, who doesn't only talk but acts. A leader who governs, is not easily noticeable and he or she is loved. If a leader is feared, there is a high likelihood that he is despised by those he leads. This illustrates the behavioural theory which stipulates that as a leader, there are some behaviours that one is supposed to have towards the followers so as to deliver good work.

A leader should act as an example to his or her followers and lead them towards achieving the set goals and achievements. A leader should not expect his or her followers to act magic on an issue while it requires his effort to accomplish a task. A good leader is one who shows his followers the right behaviours at their workplace and advocates for good performance. The strength of the organization community is known to influence the acquisition of organizational identity which is as a result of the employees embracing the models of work and interactions.

A leader should have various traits that help them work and mobilize their followers. These traits may include; first, have a vision and not be satisfied with current situation. This in turn increases the morale towards achieving higher than the expectations as there is more zeal and enthusiasms towards better results (Meuser,2016). Secondly, a leader should also have the ability to get people in board. This is in that he or she should recruit and train other who are needed to make the business or an event a success?

A leader should be flexible, open to feedback and be a fast learner. This will in turn help him or her to adapt to any changing situation and because one does not always have all the knowledge then they are meant to share it with those who aren't aware. Lastly, a good leader is one who is persistent and willing to struggle before success is achieved.

Supervisors in an organization should apply the behavioral theory in ways that would help in setting the behaviour standards of their workers in the organization. There is need to have a good set of behaviours as that would create an impact in the expected results from the workers and leaders (Ruben,2017). Leaders should also create a conducive environment in which their followers can feel comfortable working in. They should be friendly an accommodating in all ways and solve the conflicts among their followers in the right way without being judgemental and harsh. Followers should also be disciplined when need be to ensure they work as expected and in a harmonious way.

The contingency theory of leadership implies that leaders have to analyse the situations they find themselves in and tailor their behaviours so as to improve the effectiveness of their leadership (Meuser,2016). Situations come in different forms and they thus require different approaches in how they are dealt with. It's up to the leaders to figure out how and when to respond to these situations. Not everything that affects the workflow is worth responding to, sometimes issues are left to prevent wastage of time while trying to solve them.

A leader should always be ready to work with different kinds of people who exhibit different traits and they all expect to be treated right. Leaders are more open to situation involving their followers and they should easily adjust when need be (Meuser,2016). Contingency theories also stress that leadership cannot be understood in a vacuum and thus need for other elements in the organization which includes the workers.

The two theories discussed above are tied in that to be able to apply the behavioural theory in a leadership set up ,then there is need to apply some elements of the contingency theory (Ford,2018).This in turn helps the leaders to identify themselves with their followers and be able to achieve their organizational set goals and work together towards achieving them. They also happen to have a difference as the behavioural theory cannot be fully applied in situations that need contingency theory applied.it thus remains that either of them can be applied solely or they can be tied for better results to ne achieved. The situation being solved determines the theory to be applied.

Reference

Ford, J., & Harding, N. (2018). Followers in leadership theory: Fiction, fantasy and illusion. Leadership, 14(1), 3-24.

Meuser, J. D., Gardner, W. L., Dinh, J. E., Hu, J., Liden, R. C., & Lord, R. G. (2016). Anetwork analysis of leadership theory: The infancy of integration. Journal of Management, 42(5), 1374-1403.

Ruben, B. D., & Gigliotti, R. A. (2017). Communication: Sine qua non of organizational leadership theory and practice. International Journal of Business Communication, 54(1), 12-30.