Unit 2 Assignment
Richard Huang
School of Business, Purdue University Global
GB600: Leadership Strategies for a Changing World
Dr. James Sholes
January 13, 2024
Introduction
An organizational performance goal that I would like to achieve through
leadership at my military unit would be to improve report writing standards and to
complete a Standard Operating Procedure document towards that objective. As the
Reports Officer at the CORPS level, I am responsible for quality assurance and
coordinating reporting activities for subordinating units and their relevant soldiers. Since
I will be leaving the service before the end of the year, I aim to leave my post in a better
state than when I received it. To fulfill this goal, developing characteristics in
transformational leadership would be crucial to creating significant change towards the
improvement of performance standards in subordinate units.
Leadership Theories
Charismatic Leadership
Charisma is a leadership quality where purpose, powers, and extraordinary
determination of the leader distinguishes them from others (DuBrin, 2023). A truly
charismatic leader goes beyond mere impression management, and inspires others with
positive visions for the organization. A charismatic leader influences not only their group
members but also external stakeholders, as the leader becomes representative of the
organization.
There are three types of charismatic leaders. A socialized charismatic leader
restrains the use of power so that he can benefit others (DuBrin, 2023). A personalized
charismatic leader, on the other hand, primarily serves their own interests and exercises
fewer restraints in the use of their power. A celebrity charismatic leader may overlap
with the first two categories and has characteristics of being both socialized and
personalized. A celebrity charismatic leader is involved in both the organizational life as
well as in politics and entertainment.
Charismatic Leadership Organizational Effectiveness
The effectiveness of charismatic leadership is context specific. The effectiveness
of a leadership may be measured by how well the group follows the leader when
pursuing organizational goals. Overall, nevertheless, charismatic leaders can create
positive affect among their constituents. These emotional outcomes manifest as
correlation of a higher level of happiness reported among employees when they have a
charismatic leader. A study showed that firefighters with charismatic leaders reported
higher levels of happiness than firefighters who did not have charismatic leaders
(DuBrin, 2023). However, noncharismatic leaders can still be effective, and leaders who
are charismatic may still make mistakes such as leading their group down an unethical
or devious path. A charismatic leader may be able to inspire others through the
conveyance of their vision. However, charismatic leaders may be overly narcissistic,
which could harm team cohesion if they are too self-promoting and blame others for the
leader’s own mistakes.
The effectiveness of charismatic leadership may depend on the category it falls
under. A socialized charismatic leader provides positive values to the group and may be
able to meet the needs of their followers, and lead to outcomes where employees are
autonomous, empowered, and responsible (DuBrin, 2023). On the other hand, a
personalized charismatic leader is self-serving and may impose their self-serving goals
onto followers. Since those who follow personalized charismatic leaders may be more
obedient, submissive and dependent, a personalized leader could potentially lead the
group down undesirable or even unethical outcomes. A celebrity charismatic leader
exhibits characteristics of both socialized leaders and personalized leaders, so the
outcomes may depend on the balance of traits and specific context of behaviors.
Transformational Leadership
Transformational leadership focuses on the accomplishments of the leader, such
as aiming to bring major positive change for the benefit of the group, the organization,
or society at large (DuBrin, 2023). Transformational leaders motivate people to look
beyond their self-interest and aid group members to seek self-fulfillment through their
work. To motivate people to facilitate the accomplishment of lofty goals that the
transformational leader sets for the group, the leader may instill a sense of urgency in
the mission and adopt the commitment to greatness within the organizational culture.
Transformational leaders share some traits as charismatic leaders, while other
traits may be unique and distinctly different. While transformational leadership focuses
on the leaders’ outcomes, transformational leaders themselves are nevertheless
charismatic. Transformational leaders typically have the respect, confidence, and loyalty
of group members as a result of the leaders’ higher level of emotional intelligence
(DuBrin, 2023). Transformational leaders may also have positive core self-evaluations
and often also convey a vision that is able to motivate employees.
Transformational Leadership Organizational Effectiveness
Transformational leadership can potentially induce a higher level of thinking
among followers (DuBrin, 2023). Transformational leaders may practice supportive
leadership and encourage personal development of staff such as by giving positive
feedback and recognizing personal achievements. This support may help
transformational leaders empower their staff to achieve improved performance
outcomes. Transformational leaders may also listen to and account for the dreams and
goals of their constituents, incorporating those values and objectives into the vision for
the organization. Accounting for these ideals and values of constituents, the leader may
be able to create a more carefully crafted vision that motivates and inspires group
members, leading to constituents to be more invested and personally responsible in the
pursuit of the leader’s lofty goals for the organization.
Contingency Leadership
Contingency leadership adapts the leadership style to the specific situation
(Rizvi, 2022). Leaders that practice a contingency approach to leadership align their
behavior to be contingent with situational forces, such as group member characteristics
(DuBrin, 2023). This is a practical style of leadership that accounts for internal as well
as external environment factors. Contingency leadership entails a level of flexibility to let
of old ideas that no longer match current circumstances, so that the leader can lead the
group to adapt to changing circumstances. The leader needs to account for situational
variables to determine the most effective style of leadership, and also adjust their
behaviors and goals to meet the needs of those variables and changes.
Contingency Leadership Organizational Effectiveness
The environmental factors and circumstances surrounding a leader may affect
the effectiveness of the leadership. Contingency theory asserts the idea that the
effectiveness of a leader is based on how well their leadership style fits a specific
situation (Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, 2019). With these principles in
mind, contingency leadership may have flexibility to adapt to different circumstances in
order to maximize the effectiveness of the leadership to a group. However, it may be
difficult for the leader to identify what style is most fitting for a given situation or group.
Contingency leadership may have difficulty replicating success as well, since the style
depends on the situation (Rizvi, 2022). Contingency leadership may also create
inconsistency in the leader’s behavior, leading to loss of trust among employees.
Situational Leadership
Situational leadership is similarly to contingency leadership. DuBrin (2023)
discusses contingency leadership and situational leadership as the same concept. On
the other hand, Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (2019) claims that situational
leadership follows the idea that leadership style can be changed and adapted, while
contingency theory does not, and instead claims that contingency theory is based on
the idea that the effectiveness of a leader is dependent on how well their style matches
the situation. According to Indeed (2023), situational leadership is a leadership style in
which leaders adapt their style of leading to the work environment and the needs of the
group.
Situational Leadership Organizational Effectiveness
There may be some pitfalls to the effectiveness of situational leadership.
According to Indeed (2023), situational leadership can cause confusion within an
organization from the constant changes, can over-focus on short-term goals and
overlook long-term goals, may not fit repetitive tasks, and may be dependent on how
well a leader can judge the level of maturity of an employee. According to Rizvi (2022),
situational leadership focuses on specific situations that a team or group is in, whereas
contingency leadership focuses on generalities. Effectiveness of situational leadership
can also depend on the leader having strong interpersonal relationships within the
group, and would benefit from the leader communicating clear expectations to
employees (Rizvi, 2022).
Accomplishing Goals (use citations to reference research)
Theory 1: Transformational Leadership
Since I would be pursuing a change in the organization, transformational
leadership may be a suitable choice for my objective. In sharing my vision to my fellow
soldiers who conduct reporting activities, I can create a common purpose and
potentially inspire those soldiers to proactively pursue improvement in their reporting,
and seek fulfillment through conducting their duties. In my quality assurance tasks, I can
generate positive and constructive feedback to facilitate the development and growth of
my fellow soldiers’ reporting skills. Recognizing personal achievements could further the
commitment of those soldiers towards the goal of improving operational standards.
This theory could be beneficial to achieve my goal. The reason is because
transformational leadership focuses on the accomplishments of the leader (DuBrin,
2023). If I can seek input from soldiers on their values and goals in our shared mission,
then I could potentially inspire proactive improvement through a tailored vision that
accounts for the personal values of soldiers. In selling the vision, I would be adopting
elements of charismatic leadership as well, to help soldiers look beyond self-interest
and pursue a higher purpose.
Theory 2: Situational Leadership
Situational leadership could be another leadership style that could facilitate my
objectives being met. Situational leadership focuses on adjusting to specific situations
rather than generalizations (Rizvi, 2022). Since I conduct quality assurance on
individual reporting products, situational leadership may be suitable to meet the needs
of the specific circumstances.
This theory could be beneficial to achieve the goal because of the quantity of
scenarios I may encounter in my duties. I can also apply my personal strengths in
communication and leverage my strong relationships with those fellow soldiers to
maximize the effectiveness of this leadership style. With a clear and specific vision that
is communicated effectively to team members, and with clear expectations for each
individual established, I could potentially benefit the organization by practicing a
situational leadership style to pursue higher performance quality in reporting operations.
Recommendations
Theory Selected: Transformational Leadership
All in all, transformational leadership would be most relevant, in my opinion, to
the goals of setting higher operational standards and improving reporting quality. The
definition of transformational leadership itself aligns specifically towards those purposes.
Nevertheless, transformational leadership could still adopt elements of charismatic
leadership, contingency leadership, and situational leadership styles in order to pursue
objectives with high efficiency.
Reason for Selection
The reason I selected the transformational leadership style as being most
suitable for my pursuit of improving standards and reporting quality is that I would be
pursuing a significant change within the organization. Transformational leadership could
potentially change the way subordinating soldiers work by inducing a higher level of
thinking. In providing personalized feedback and support to soldiers as a part of this
leadership style, I could encourage personal development and inspire confidence.
Implementation Plan
There are some things that I can do as a transformational leader to improve the
effectiveness of my leadership style and improve the performance outcomes to meet my
objectives as a whole. I could raise people’s awareness in the importance of our
common mission and how it could potentially affect policy making in the government as
well as military activity. I could help people look beyond self-interest as well by
conveying how important our mission would be to the nation as a whole. I could also get
people on board by communicating the reasons why there is a need for change.
Specific things I could do to execute this style of leadership could include gathering
input and feedback from team members and encouraging their development in their
respective military careers. Ultimately, helping those soldiers in being more dedicated
towards the mission could make them better soldiers as well as benefit the mission
itself.
Conclusion
Transformational leadership may be the most suitable option to pursue my goal of
improving reporting quality and raising operational standards in the unit. Charismatic
leadership is leadership that influences others through purpose, powers, and
extraordinary determination (DuBrin, 2023). Transformational leadership focuses on the
accomplishments of the leader. Contingency leadership requires the leader to fit their
style to the overall situation and circumstances. Situational leadership is a more specific
approach than contingency leadership, and entails that a leader adjusts their style to the
specific tasks and individuals in the team. Transformational leadership would be most
relevant to accomplishing my goals.
References
Dubrin, A. J. (2023). Leadership: Research Findings, Practice, and Skills (10th ed.).
Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy . (2019, July). Contingency Theory &
Situational leadership . Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy Leadership
Education and Development.
https://digitalcommons.imsa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1016&context=core#
:~:text=The%20main%20difference%20between%20situational,while%20conting
ency%20theory%20does%20not.
What is situational leadership? (4 styles and examples). Indeed. (2023, March 10).
https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/situational-leadership
Rizvi, H. (2022, December 28). Contingency leadership vs Situational Leadership, the
big differences. Hidayat Rizvi. https://hidayatrizvi.com/contingency-leadership-vssituational-leadership/