Reflective Leadership
The Reflective Leadership Paper
Mark West
Leadership for Organizations: MGT 380
Instructor: Stacey Taylor
January 27, 2011
The Reflective Leadership Paper Leadership, Wow, I can’t say that I have ever studied about a word with so much meaning and diversity. Considering that there are many definitions of leadership and no one in particular is right or wrong. I want to explain what I believe is the key theories of leadership success within profit and non-profit organizations, which are the contingency theories of Situational Leadership and Transformational Leadership. As with all leadership theories, the behaviors and attributes of the leader will directly influence the satisfaction and performance of subordinates, therefore it is essential that we discuss what makes these two theories most effective in terms of leadership success. The way I came to this realization about these two theories is really quite simple, they both relate to the needs of the subordinate in reference to their ability to effectively carry out task. I have seen first-hand how each theory is used to influence team members and in an attempt to reflect back on what I think effective leadership is, I want to start with the situational leadership theory and how it relates to the situational variables of everyday life. “Basically not everyone shares the same heredity in terms of natural traits and tendencies, nor the same upbringing, community, or life experiences. Heritable tendencies, including different learning styles, mixed with life experiences, form an inner core on which all future experiences are built layer by layer (Belasen & Frank, 2008)”. For instance, with situational leadership, comes the need for appropriate types of leadership behaviors required for different levels of subordinate “maturity” in relation to the work being performed. For example as stated in our text, “a high-maturity subordinate has both the ability and confidence to do a task, whereas a
Mark West
Leadership for Organizations: MGT 380
Instructor: Stacey Taylor
January 27, 2011
The Reflective Leadership Paper Leadership, Wow, I can’t say that I have ever studied about a word with so much meaning and diversity. Considering that there are many definitions of leadership and no one in particular is right or wrong. I want to explain what I believe is the key theories of leadership success within profit and non-profit organizations, which are the contingency theories of Situational Leadership and Transformational Leadership. As with all leadership theories, the behaviors and attributes of the leader will directly influence the satisfaction and performance of subordinates, therefore it is essential that we discuss what makes these two theories most effective in terms of leadership success. The way I came to this realization about these two theories is really quite simple, they both relate to the needs of the subordinate in reference to their ability to effectively carry out task. I have seen first-hand how each theory is used to influence team members and in an attempt to reflect back on what I think effective leadership is, I want to start with the situational leadership theory and how it relates to the situational variables of everyday life. “Basically not everyone shares the same heredity in terms of natural traits and tendencies, nor the same upbringing, community, or life experiences. Heritable tendencies, including different learning styles, mixed with life experiences, form an inner core on which all future experiences are built layer by layer (Belasen & Frank, 2008)”. For instance, with situational leadership, comes the need for appropriate types of leadership behaviors required for different levels of subordinate “maturity” in relation to the work being performed. For example as stated in our text, “a high-maturity subordinate has both the ability and confidence to do a task, whereas a
References: Erven, B. L. (2001). Becoming an Effective Leader through Situational Leadership. Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Development Economics. Yukl, G. (Dec 31, 2008). Leadership for Organizations Seventh Edition. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Belasen, A., & Frank, N. (2008). Competing values leadership: quadrant roles and personality traits. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 29(2), 127-143. Covey, S. (2007). The Transformational Leadership Report. Retrieved Jan. 30, 2011, from Developing Tomorrows Transformational Leaders Today: http://www.transformationalleadership.net/products/TransformationalLeadershipReport.pdf