Question

Leadership Theories Matrix

Leadership Theories Grading Guide

As a leader, you often need to display or clarify a concept. A matrix is a grid that contains information and offers a visual model of ideas. For this assignment, you will create a matrix that explains leadership theories.

Research the following five leadership theories and include these in your matrix (use the matrix template provided):

Trait theories of leadership

Behavioral theories of leadership

Contingency models of leadership

Skills approaches to leadership

Situational methods of leadership

Develop the definition and characteristics of various leadership theories and approaches to leadership (trait leadership, behavioral leadership, contingency leadership, skills leadership and situational leadership).

Provide one or more examples to support the definition or characteristics of each form of leadership.

Answer 1

Trait theories of leadership assume that leaders have certain inborn characteristics which make them suitable for being a leader.These are certain habitual patterns of behavior,thought and emotions. Trait theory assumes that behavioral patterns or traits are relatively stable over time, differ across individuals, relatively consistent and influence human behavior.

For example, few of the people have inborn characteristics like they have good personality, intellectual ability, imagination, flexibility, emotional stability, initiative,honesty, sincerity and integrity. Thus it is being studied the traits of a successful leader and people who possess the required traits have the potential to become effective leaders.

Behavioral theory of leadership studies about the actual behavior and actions of the leaders. It states that strong leaders are due to their effective behavior. Strong leaders basically use three behaviors to lead their followers : technical(it refers to person's knowledge of a particular technique), human ( refers to how does a person interact with other people) and conceptual ( refers to how does a manager set up models and design plans).

For example, certain behavior of a manager like determining goals, effective communication and motivating the employees to achieve goals, interact effectively with other employees and building team spirits are certain behavior of a manager which would make other people to accept him as a leader and the others who do not possess are discarded by the subordinates.

Contingency Leadership tehory assumes that there is no universal way to organize a corporation, lead a company or to make decisions. It varies from situation to situation and leadership decision in one situation might not be effective in other situations. A contingent leader effectively applies his appropriate characteristics as per the situation and achieves success. A manager who is able to perfectly match his leadership attribute with the appropriate situation is always successful whereas others do not succeed.

For example,when a manager has to determine goals and motivate the employees to achieve the same goals, he has to be strong and tough whereas if an employee has some family and personal issues and is not able to focus on his career, then a manager has to apply certain emotional behavior.

Skills Leadership is similar to Trait theory and tried to overcome the flaws of the Trait Theory. It states that certain traits are required for being a leader.But over due course of time, the skills can be learned and thus a person can become a good and effective leader. Certain skills which are required to be a good and effective leader are : Communication skills, motivation skills, problem solving skills, social judgement skills and overall knowledge skills. These skills can be developed over a period of time and thus a person can become effective leader. These skills also differ from leader to leader. For example, higher level leaders require more of conceptual skills whereas a hands-on leader require more of conceptual skills.

Situational methods of Leadership says that the leadership attribute required changes fromsituation to situation. A leadership characteristic which is required in one situation might not be effective in other situation. The leaders who are able to match their skills with the situation appropriately are always successful whereas others are not.

For example, Winston Churchillleadership skills were very effective during the time of World War and was appreciated but his skills were not much appreciated after the war got over and was much criticized.

Leadership Matrix

Supportive Behavior - Directive Behavior	LOW	HIGH
HIGH	Supporting (High Levelof Support with Low levelof direction)	Coaching (High Level of Support with High Levelof Direction)
LOW	Delegating (Low levelof Support and Low level of Direction)	Directing (Low level of support and high level of direction)