To me, the interesting development in this (as a step beyond the Trait Model [ch

Question

To me, the interesting development in this (as a step beyond the Trait Model [chapter 2]), is that we are now saying that leadership may not exactly be “who you are” but more “what you do.” Incumbent in this are some important implications for leaders.

Northouse states: “Whenever leadership occurs, the leader is acting out both task and relationship behaviors…” Fred Fielder would disagree, as we will see in chapter five. His feelings are that each leader has one predominant “strength” and there is no way to change that.

Question #1:

Can a leader “learn” these behaviors and apply them when and where needed? Would that leader run the danger of seeming to be two-faced, insincere, and/or wishy-washy? Meaning: One kind of leader to one person; and a totally different kind of leader to another follower.

On page 111, of his book: Introduction to Leadership: Concepts and Practice, Professor Northouse nails it on the head: “In our fast-paced and very diverse society, the challenge for a leader is finding the time and energy to listen to all followers and do what is required to build effective relationships with each of them.” In chapter 7 we will explore Leader-Member Exchange Theory. The problem is that it takes a considerable amount of our scarce managerial resources of “time” to get to know each individual follower. The greater the number of followers you have, and the more diverse the followers are, the more difficult it becomes to really get to know them. And, if you really aren't a “people-person” to begin with, this becomes exceptionally difficult.

Professor Northouse offers a reference to Blake and Mouton. It provides an interesting visualization of the dichotomy between Task Leadership and Relationship Leadership.

Question #2:

Is this really a theory about the relationship between the leader and the follower, or is it more about the relationship between the leader and the situation? Support your assertion.

Explanation / Answer

1. We can say that leadership needs to be based on the situation more than the relationship with another individual. With that in mind, there is a need to understand that a greater number of individuals that we need to manage creates a bigger challenge for us and in this respect, a single approach may not be the best approach. Therefore, even when one might appear two-faced to the others, there is a need to realize that the matter at hand is of much greater importance than appearances. There needs to be a clear distinction between actions of a leader and how they appear to their followers and therefore, a leader actually needs to be good at communicating and be empathetic to the situation rather than follow a single state of mind and approach to justify the action they take.

2. Leadership is about the relationship a leader has with the followers more than the situational aspect. Firstly, assuming a leader has a good relationship with their followers, they can actually change their approach from situation to situation without the need for an elaborate change in the dynamics of their relationship with the employee. Secondly, when we consider how this is affected by the situation, we can say that a relationship based on mutual thoughtfulness and understanding can allow us to develop better communication as well as allow us to implement better ways to tackle a given situation. Thus, based on the above facts, we can say that even though there needs to be a situational aspect of behavior in a leader, the relationship they have with their followers would prevail when we consider the order of preference.

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