Contingency Theory And Transformational Leadership Theory

For years, there have been many leadership ideas and theories which has been the source of intensive studies. The three major leadership ideas/theories that I have learned are the Behavioral Theory, the Contingency Theory, and the, Transactional Leadership Theory. The Behavioral theories of leadership focus on the study of the behaviors of a leader. In this theory, a leader’s behavior is a gauge of their leadership influences and as a result, is the best factor of his or her leadership success. There are two important behavioral studies. The first study was conducted in Ohio State University in the 1940’s. This study was created because some leadership studies that were aimed at identifying the appropriate traits didn 't yield any conclusive

This is typically translated to “let it be”. As such, laissez-faire leaders are characterized by their hands-off approach, allowing employees to get on with tasks as they see fit. This can be effective in creative jobs or workplaces where employees are very experienced. However, it is important that leaders monitor performance and effectively communicate expectations to prevent work standards slipping. Researchers have found that this is generally the leadership style that leads to the lowest productivity among group members. Laissez-faire leadership is characterized by very little guidance from leaders. The leaders will provide the tools and resources needed; however, they allow complete freedom for followers to make their own decisions. Group members are expected to solve problems on their own while power is handed over to followers. The leaders will take ultimate responsibility for the group’s decisions and

This theory argues that there is no single way of leading and that every leadership style should be based on certain situations. Humans are not all the same, they do not react the same, nor is any situation the same. There are certain people who perform at the maximum level in certain places; but at minimal performance when taken out of their element. A leader, in order to continue being one, will have to adjust to what happens in the environment, that is, contingencies. The word contingency means depending upon. Those proposing contingency theories realize that a leader must adjust. The hallmark of these theories is context and in a more profound sense, everything is interdependent. To a certain extent contingency leadership theories are extensions of the trait theory, in the sense that human traits are related to the situation in which the leaders exercise their leadership. It is generally accepted within the contingency theories that leader are more likely to express their leadership when they feel that their followers will be