John V. Duran
MGT/LDR 380 Leadership for Organizations
Ray Levesque
November 7, 2004 Summary of Leadership for Organizations Leadership for Organizations has been a very interesting and enlightening class for me. I thoroughly enjoyed learning new theories, approaches, styles and ethical concepts on the topic of leadership. My personal leadership perspective, style and approach are derived from several styles and approaches. From a style standpoint they I fall in line with Opportunism, Participative, Situational, Transformational and Laissez-faire styles. From an approach standpoint I fall in line with the psychodynamic approach. From an ethical standpoint I am most likely to fall in line with the utilitarian or servant style. Once leadership styles and approaches were discussed, it was much easier to see them at play in my work place. Assessing my leadership perspective and style was something that I never really paid much attention to from an academic point of view. As I read through the course text books, I began to take a closer look at what that perspective/style is. I arrived at the conclusion that there are many factors that influence this and I think that no one person falls into one category solely. I certainly do not. My perspective is influenced by my experiences and personality. I feel that I incorporate several styles of leadership into my own style. Allow me to explain. Opportunism refers to a leader who uses any combination of the six basic management styles for the purpose of personal advancement. The six basic management styles that are referred to are Authority-Compliance, Country Club, Impoverished, Middle-of-the-Road, Team and Paternalism. Peter Northouse summarizes these styles in his book Leadership Theory and Practice in the following ways. The Authority-Compliance style places heavy emphasis on task and job requirements and less emphasis on people. The Country club style represents a