Yukl Model

In today’s tough economy, the success of a company is often determined by the quality of the leadership team. Quite different from many of the traditional models that focus on the traits of the leader, the Yukl contingency model focuses on the leader’s behavior. The model is both complex and comprehensive but based in the practical realities faced by leaders daily. As an integrated conceptual framework, the Yukl model has both strengths and weaknesses.
First, in addition to the strength of being practical in concept and integration, it is a flexible model. Inherent traits, movement toward a vision, and past successes all contribute to leader power which is dynamic rather than static. The definitive results of past success empowers behavior supported by empirical results. Additionally, the continually developing behavioral change of the effective leader maximizes the effectiveness of his power in both tasks and relationships. Second, there is a positive effectiveness (OB, page 328) to the relationship between the leader’s behavior and the Variables of the model. Their interrelatedness indicates adaptability and accessibility as the leader learns from experience and feedback. The construct of this model allows for the give and take of data, understanding the ongoing development of the organization, and buy-in to the mission. In this model, the intervening variables, in my opinion, are the short term reality based internal and external elements which must be dealt with as they exist on a short term basis. The economy, competition, and regulation are examples of external Intervening variables. Culture, environment, education, history, and experience are representative samples of internal intervening variables. Situational Variables are those long-term initiatives that the leader sets forth as aspirations including vision, motivation, and innovation to match the organizations strengths.
Third, the relation of the variables to the success criteria indicates a