Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Leadership is one of the main tenants of being an officer in the army. The first step in learning about
leadership is to define it. The army defines leadership as influencing people by providing purpose, direction, and
motivation. Gary Yukl was an organizational researcher who created the overarching model. This was one of the
first model focused on leadership. Leadership trait theory is the idea that people are born with certain character
traits or qualities. Since certain traits are associated with proficient leadership, it assumes that if you could identify
people with the correct traits, you will be able to identify leaders and people with leadership potential. Most of the
time the traits are considered to be naturally part of a person¶s personality from birth. From this standpoint,
leadership trait theory tends to assume that people are born as leaders or not as leaders. A famous series of studies
on leadership were done in Michigan University, starting in the 1950s. They found three critical characteristics of
effective leaders. Effective managers studied did not do the same kind work as their subordinates. Their tasks were
different, and included planning and scheduling work, coordinating activities and providing necessary resources.
They also spent time guiding subordinates in setting task goals that were both challenging and achievable. Effective
managers not only concentrated on the task, but also on their relationship with their subordinates. They were more
considerate, helpful and supportive of subordinates, including helping them with their career and personal problems.
They recognized effort with intrinsic as well as extrinsic reward, thanking people for effort. Overall, the effective
preferred a general and hands-off form of supervision rather than close control. They set goals and provided
guidelines, but then gave their subordinates plenty of leeway as to how the goals would be achieved. Effective
leaders use a style, managing at the group level as well as individually, for example using team meetings to share
ideas and involve the team in group decisions and problem-solving. By their actions, such leaders model good team-
oriented behavior. The role of the manager is more facilitative than directive, guiding the conversation and helping
to resolve differences. The manager, however, is responsible for results and is not absolved of responsibility. As
such, they may make final decisions that take recommendations from the team into account. The effect of
participative leadership is to build a cohesive team which works together rather than a set of individuals.
Transformational leadership is defined as a leadership approach that causes change in individuals and social
systems. In its ideal form, it creates valuable and positive change in the followers with the end goal of developing
followers into leaders. Enacted in its authentic form, transformational leadership enhances the motivation, morale
and performance of his followers through a variety of mechanisms. Transformational leadership is based on several
assumptions. The first is that soldiers are most willing to follow a leader who inspires them. The second is that
soldiers are motivated when they understand the importance of the task. Collaboration and teamwork are always
better in the short term and long term than working just as a group of individuals. The last assumption is that
working towards a greater good gives individuals a sense of pride in their organization. Transactional leadership
says that soldiers are motivated only by rewards and punishment. Unlike transformational leadership this model fails
to recognize the value of morals or the individual characteristics and motivations of people. Contingency theory
says that there is no one best way to lead, what works in one situation may not work in another. Situational
leadership says that there is no one best way to influence and lead people, the leadership style depends also upon the
group. leadership is also one of the most complex human behaviors. Therfore, there is no one universal theory for
developing and learning leadership. Army leadership is not just about issuing orders and making plans. A huge part
of army leadership is about seeing that your those plans are executed. Behavioral theory is a theory that focuses on
analyzing the observable actions and reactions of both leaders and followers in different situations. Behaviors are
observable and thus are much easier to quantify and measure than personality traits. This theory assumes that there
are certain traits that a person can be born with that create great leaders. But the theory also states that one can learn
to become a good leader through learning and experience. The most important lesson from this theory is that one¶s
leadership ability is not defined by traits but by what one does. R. R. Blake and J. S. Mouton classify leadership
using a task versus people focus of leadership style. The first is country club management which has a high concern
for people but a low concern for getting the job done. Middle-of-the-road management just focus on getting the
minimal of tasks completed. While they may serve to maintain the status quo, it is doubtful that their team or
organization truly floursish. The leadership style of team management produces the most effective leaders. These
leaders are able to focus both on people and task management, allowing them to raise the bar of performance for