Leadership And Contingency Theory

Introduction

This essay will be looking at the leadership and management relationship and the role they play in sustainable organizations, with the use of theories and empirical case studies. There has been a lot of research and dispute on the management and leadership issue; this has been taking place since 1997. A lot of investigation has been done by numerous theorists, in the study and practice of leadership but up to this day, there still is not one generally accepted definition of leadership. Some of the main theorists who have argued about this issue are Mintzberge, Bennis and Nanus, Zaleknik and Yukl. The main leadership theories that this essay will focus on are contingency, traits and behavioral leadership.

Yukl (2010) defines leadership

Some leaders need the realization that the best leaders are the ones who see the opportunity to lead and they take control of the situation. The contingency theory tries to calculate which style is best appropriate in which circumstance and situation. The Contingency theory tends to address questions such as; when you need to make quick decisions, which style is the best? When you need your team’s full provision and attention, is there a more effective way to lead? Must a leader be more task or people oriented? As stated by (Manktelow, 2014). An example of contingency theory is the Mid Staffordshire hospital case-study. The healthcare sector in 2009 published that, mortality rates among patients admitted as emergencies at Mid Staffordshire Hospital were high; the reason behind this was lack of communication, blame culture, high targets ahead of care. The staff argued that the Professional managers that were brought in to make productivities around the hospital with a managerial mind-set, which comes from the manufacturing and industrial sector. The managers and leaders shared a language that was more appropriate to a factory and less common to the hospital staff and which formed a separation gap for evaluating and supervising. Managers and the nurses left the management to the administrators and the gap between delivering good healthcare and treating patients became ever wider with time. This is

Kurt Lewin argued that there are three types of leaders. These are the Autocratic leaders, Democratic leaders and the Laissez-fair leaders. The Autocratic leaders are the ones that make decisions on their own without consulting their teams. This leadership style is most effective when quick decisions need to be made and there is no need for input from the team members. Democratic leaders are the ones that allow the team members to give their input before making any important decision. This style is important when all team members agree on the same decision, but it can be very difficult to manage when there are a lot of team members with different opinions. Lastly the Laissez-faire leaders are the ones who allow the team to make all and most of the decisions. This usually works well if the team is motivated and capable. This leadership style can also easily fail due to the leader getting to comfortable and distracted. A great example of behavioural leadership is Tata Motors. Tata motors limited is an Indian international automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. Six years ago, Tata Motors jumped into an extraordinary crisis when demand for its trucks suddenly decreased. This caused Tata Motors a 5 billion rupee equivalent to $110 million loss for the economic year ending March 2001. Drastic action needed to be taken. Ravi Kant being