Theories Of Leadership Essay Example for Free

Theories Of Leadership Essay Introduction Managers and leaders in any organization are expected to influence the actions of their employees through several channels. Some of these include communicating with staff members, stimulating subordinates to work hard and ensuring that all the resources within the company are allocated well. These expectations can either be met successfully or unsuccessfully. Numerous researchers felt the need to come up with theories that govern successful leadership. One of these theories is known as the contingency theory. An analysis of the contingency theory Fielder (1964) came up with this approach to leadership after realizing that leaders could function well if they changed their styles to suit the situation at hand. This is where the name contingency originates. Fielder conducted several studies of effective and ineffective leaders. Thereafter he concluded that the most successful approach would be to match organizational settings with leadership styles. These two parameters form the basis of the contingency theory of leadership. According to Fiedler, leadership style may be defined as the way leaders and employees interact with one another. One cannot claim that a manager’s leadership style changes from time to time. On the contrary, this is a fixed parameter since every leader has a different personality. The latter term largely affects the nature of the leadership style. Since this trait is important, Fielder came up with a method for categorizing leadership styles. He used the Least Preferred Coworker Scale (LPC). The Scale is applied only to leaders; the latter are asked to rate the person they feel has worked very poorly with them. The scale starts from one to eight and may be a classification of a co-worker from the past or the present depending on which worker was the worst. Examples of personality traits that guide the scaling process include; Unfriendly versus friendly workers Hostile versus supportive Guarded versus open Uncooperative versus cooperative (Fiedler, 1964) All the latter traits are in ascending order with number 1 representing the character trait on the left while number 8 represents the character trait on the right. The LPC   scale’s main purpose is to determine whether a particular form of leadership style is task oriented or people oriented. Leaders who score high marks in the scale favor interpersonal relationships. Consequently, those leaders who rate their co-workers in a negative light may be more interested in the task at hand. This also implies that such leaders have poor interpersonal relationships. However, critics have asserted that such traits may not necessarily be accurate. Some individuals may portray their co-workers in a negative light but still be keen on interpersonal relationships. Fielder (1964) felt that those leaders who managed to match the requirements of the task with a dominant personality trait tended to be more successful.   Dominant personality traits largely determine the approach chosen by leaders i.e. either people oriented or task oriented approach. The LPC scale indicates whether or not a certain individual values interpersonal relationships. In case leaders score highly, then they normally consider interpersonal relationships as a crucial part of implementing tasks. However, those who score low marks in the scale value task completion more than anything else does. Consequently, most of them may not bother creating close relationships with their employees. Fielder (1964) was also concerned with the organizational environment or what is also called the situational variable. According to him, the situational variable can be defined as that aspect within the organization that can allow leaders to exert influence within their team. He divided the situational variables as follows; -Task structure -Position power -Leader to member relationships The leader-member structure is defined as the level of acceptance team players have towards their leader. Task structures may be defined as the level of job specificity among subordinates. Lastly, position power is described as the level of authority attributed to a leader as result of his position within the organization. (Fiedler, 1964) In the Leader-member situation, a leader would be more successful if he establishes strong links between himself and the other people within the organization; this is through trusting and respecting members of his organization. Additionally, successful leaders in the task structure situation are those ones that specify job detail well. Powerful leaders in the position power situation are those ones that exercise their right to fire and hire or to reward individuals within the organization. All the latter three situations create eight leadership styles. These are then divided into two important groups known as the relationship or task oriented leaders. Five of the leadership styles fall under the latter category. Fielder (1964) felt that task oriented approach were more appropriate in disasters or extreme situations. In cases where a fire strikes an organization, then leaders would be more efficient if they applied the task oriented approach. At this time, the issue of position power is not very relevant and neither are the relationships of the co-workers. In extreme cases or in disasters, the individuals who direct tasks most efficiently become the leaders. The opposite is true for leaders who try applying a people oriented approach. This would mean considering what people think and this would eventually delay outcomes. Such cases require only the fastest responses for survival. Task oriented relationships are also important in blue collar jobs. This is because such workers normally require direction and job specificity. Therefore, this leadership approach would be most appropriate. On the other hand, such scenarios may still be characterized by strong leader member relationships. The latter situation can be effected when leaders reward worker well for their efforts. Relationship oriented leadership styles may be more favorable in situations where the organizational environment is highly predictable. Some of the most appropriate environments include research institutes. In such circumstances, subordinates would not like it if their leaders interfered with the nature of their task. Here, it would be more appropriate to work on building relationships with subordinates. It should be noted that Fielder’s theory does not cover all the possible factors affecting leadership. Some leaders may be more effective if they undergo training or gain experience on the job. Such factors have not been accounted for by the contingency theory. Conclusion Overly, Fielder was trying to say that leaders are not just successful or unsuccessful. Leaders can either be effective in certain situations and not all of them. Therefore, all individuals can become leaders if they choose the most appropriate situation to apply their leadership styles. Additionally, it is possible to make a leader more effective by altering the following; position power, task structure and leader member relationships. It should also be noted that Fielder’s scale can be quite appropriate in determining leadership styles. Reference: Fiedler, E. (1964): A Contingency Model of Leadership Effectiveness; Journal for Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, Academic Press 1, 12, 149-190

Willa Cathers O Pioneers! and Charlotte Perkins Gilmans Mr. Peebles

Willa Cather's O Pioneers! and Charlotte Perkins Gilman's Mr. Peebles' Heart In both Willa Cather’s novel O Pioneers! and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story "Mr. Peebles’ Heart" present the reader with strong, successful female characters. Alexandra Bergson, the heroine of O Pioneers!, becomes the manager and proprietor of a prosperous farm on the Nebraska frontier while Joan R. Bascom of "Mr. Peebles’ Heart" is a successful doctor. Cather and Gilman create competent, independent female characters that do not conform to the perceived societal standards for women in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century. Both women must struggle against society’s perception of what they should be and how they should behave, however, Alexandra’s struggle leaves her emotionally distant while Joan’s struggle does not hinder her emotional attachments. Throughout the nineteenth century, gender roles were increasingly characterized by a division of activity into separate spheres for men and women. Men moved freely between home and the outside world, however, women were largely restricted to the home and remained financially dependent upon a man. While this situation offered women more power within the home, that power was very limited in scope. As the twentieth century neared, more and more women began to challenge the societal expectations placed upon them. Many Americans began to fear that the family was disintegrating due to "a declining birth rate, a rising divorce rate, and efforts of a growing number of women to break out of their separate sphere of domesticity by obtaining a higher education, joining women’s organizations, and taking jobs outside the home" (Kellogg and Mintz 1937). As this progressive movement gained momentu... ...ifestyle as the manager of a profitable farm. But while Joan has thrived in her professional and her social life, Alexandra is emotionally stunted as a result of her struggle against societal norms. Works Cited Cather, Willa. O Pioneers! New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1993. Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. "Mr. Peebles’ Heart." "The Yellow Wallpaper" and Other Stories. Ed. Paul Negri. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1997. 63-70. Kellogg, Susan and Steven Mintz. "Family Structures." Encyclopedia of American Social History. Ed. by Mary Kupiec Cayton, Elliott J. Gorn and Peter W. Williams). New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1993. 1925-1945. Pleck, Elizabeth H. "Gender Roles and Relation." Encyclopedia of American Social History. Ed. by Mary Kupiec Cayton, Elliott J. Gorn and Peter W. Williams). New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1993. 1945-1961.

Philip Crosby Essay

Philip Crosby was born on June 18th, 1926. He was a successful businessman and a famous author who added so much to the practice of quality management and also the management theory. Philip Crosby started the Zero defect plan at the company in Orlando Florida which was the Martin Company. As manager of Quality control at a program of Pershing Missile, Philip Crosby was accredited with a 25% decline in the general rate of rejection and a 30% rate of decline in the costs of scrap. After working at ITT, Philip opened a management consultancy firm in 1979 and naming it Philip Crosby Association. His consultancy firm offered quality management educational courses at the head office in Winter Park, Florida and also at 8 overseas locations. Later in 1979 Philip Crosby published his very first book based on business, Quality is free. This book became an instant hit due to the severe problems in the North American Quality.   Through out the 1970s and 80s the manufacturers of North America were losing ground on the market share to the products of Japan only because the quality of the japenese products were much better then the North American Products. The reply to the quality problem by Philip Crosby was the rule of DIRFT (doing it right the first time). Later he added 4 more essential principles Conformance to neccessities is the true meaning of quality Avoidance is the structure of quality Zero defects is the standard of performance The cost of nonconformance is the size of quality (SkyMark, 2007) The recommendation of improving quality by Philip Crosby was a program of fourteen steps. His conviction was that a corporation which initiates a quality maintaining program will definitely see more saving rather than paying off the quality program cost. Fourteen Steps to Improve Quality The organization is dedicated to maintain quality Make teams who improve quality. Bring all senior managers from different departments. Evaluate processes to decide potential and current issues of quality. Evaluate the price of poor quality Lift the awareness of quality among all of the employees Take necessary action to correct the issues of quality Check quality improvement progress. Make a committee to check zero defects. Teach the managers in improving quality Have days of zero defects Support the workers to initiate their own goals of improving quality Support the communication among employees with the senior managers about the barriers to quality Be familiar with the effort of the participants Make councils of quality Do it again. Improving quality never stops. The Approach of Philip Crosby widened as he included new improvement ideals. He talks about the 5 different traits of a successful company Normally people do things correctly the first time Change is predictable and is used as a benefit Growth is steady and beneficial Fresh services and products emerge when required All of the workers are pleased to work. (Philip Crosby, 1995) In the approach of Philip Crosby, the message of Quality Improvement needs to be spread by making a hub of quality experts in the organization. He strongly emphasized on the approach of top-down, as he thought that the upper management is mainly responsible to improve and maintain quality.   The main aim is to teach the staff and offer them the quality improving tools and to apply the fundamental principle of Prevention Management in each and every part. He Died on August 18, 2001. (Winter Park Public Library) Bibliography SkyMark (2007) Philip Crosby: The Fun Uncle of the Quality Revolution. http://www.skymark.com/resources/leaders/crosby.asp Philip Crosby (1995) Philip Crosby’s Reflections on Quality: 295 Inspirations from the World’s Foremost Quality Guru, Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition Winter Park Public Library, the Philip Crosby Collection. http://www.wppl.org/wphistory/PhilipCrosby/index.html =

My Career Choices Within The Nutrition Field Essay

During this semester in the Introduction to Human Science class we have done several career exploration papers within our degree field and to explore the careers within the human sciences. The discussion of this paper will include three values that I find important, three career choices within the nutrition field, and three long term goals. I will also discuss how I will reach my long term goals and how my career choices and values tie into one another. According to KatoElias (2015), â€Å"Personal values create beliefs, actions, and behaviors that are important in your personal life† (p. 259). Personal values are also influenced by life experiences and family. Just as a person has a set of personal values, one might have a set of work values. My personal values can also apply to work values. Throughout my life, I have valued health, respect and harmony, and unity. I value health; without health you cannot move forward in either your personal or work life. I value respect and harmony. 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