Evaluating Contemporary Views Of Leadership Paper

Running head: EVALUATING VIEWS OF LEADERSHIP 1

Evaluating Contemporary Views of Leadership Paper

Ahmed Salman

University of Phoenix

Evaluating Contemporary Views of Leadership Paper

Introduction

There are numerous modern contemporary views of leadership starting from 1910 to the

present period. There have been several stages, which have marked unique perspectives in the

development of leadership theories worldwide. The first period starting around 1910, was

focused on the traits and behaviors of leaders, which set them apart from their followers. This

perspective was focused on leadership qualities as being different from those of the followers,

which covered a period up to World War 2, but was soon found to be faulty. After the traits and

behaviors period, there emerged the contingency approaches to leadership, which contained

several theories on leadership some of which are relevant up to the present. Some contingency

theories focused on leader motivation within two categories, which included task oriented or

relationship oriented (Wren, 1995). Another contingency theory known as the Path Goal theory

deals with the relationship between the leaders and subordinates, while other theories focus on

performance and decision making. There are various commonalities and disparities, which exists

between the contemporary vies of leadership that shall be critically analyzed within this paper.

An evaluation of the same contemporary leadership theories shall also be conducted and

conclusions drawn from the critical evaluation by the use of well-reasoned judgments.

Commonalities and Disparities between Contemporary Views of Leadership

Leadership with Inner Meaning

According to this leadership model, the leader serves a deeper meaning according to the

beliefs of the group, which he is leading. This leadership theory basically applies to religious

groups, where there is strong belief that a leader serves the will of a supreme being. Most

religions such as Christianity and Islam, believe that the founders of the religions were leaders

Commented [AK1]: EXCELLENT– making your

operations FULLy explicit ….

chosen by God to serve a special purpose that founded the religions and that their duty is to

continue to uphold the teachings of the founders of the religion. A commonality between

Christianity and Buddhism is that in both religions the leader is viewed as both a role model and

a leader, which essentially indicates that the followers adopt the behaviors of their leaders. This

similarity is also found within the Muslim religion as well as many other religions in the world.

A major disparity between Christianity and Hinduism is the fact that the core vision of

Christianity is undying love for the creator, while that of Hinduism is liberation from duality

(Kriger & Seng, 2005). This critical difference in principle ensures that the leaders and followers

of these two religions travel on different paths. Therefore, these commonalities and disparities

ensure that the two religions are different in beliefs and actions.

Relational Leadership Theory

The core similarity between the relational and the entity perspective view the leadership

process as a social process. This similarity basically implies that from both perspectives

leadership is developed as a result of the social processes within the society. The two

perspectives are based on the principle that one cannot separate social processes from the

advances in leadership theories and practices. However, there are significant differences between

the entity perspectives, which view the individual as a unique entity with its own mind, which is

essentially different from that of others. The relational perspective states that knowledge is

developed and distributed socially and views leadership as a process based on interdependence.

The difference between the two perspectives is that one is based on individuality, which

basically means independence of entities, while the relational perspective is based on

interdependence between relationships and organizations (Uhl-Bien, 2006). As a social process,

the relational perspective clearly favors the belief that leadership is a social process, which

Commented [AK2]: Again excellent clarity!

reflects the values of the particular society. However, the entity perspective favors the individual

and views leadership as that based on unique individual values as leadership is independent of

society. The two perspectives are similar yet different in core principles.GREAT clear analysis

Situational Leadership Theory

The main commonality between the situational theories of leadership is that the leaders

and followers are engaged in interpersonal relationships, which define the leadership process.

This theory implies that leadership is based on the situations surrounding both leaders or

supervisors and their subordinates or followers. The interpersonal relationships between leaders

and followers define a unique situation whereby the leaders care significantly for the welfare of

their followers and strive to ensure that their followers are well catered for. The two levels of

situational leadership, that is, SLT-1 and SLT-2 are different in their definitions of followers.

SLT-1 defines followers as being of mid-level maturity while SLT-2 defines followers as

beginners and disillusioned workers who are supervised by mature leaders (Thompson &

Vecchio, 2009). These two levels of situational leadership specifically indicate that there are two

levels of followers that exist within situational leadership that a leader needs to take into

consideration if he wants to succeed in a situational leadership system. However, it is crucial to

note that situational leadership is based on the interpersonal relationships between both leaders

and followers, which is not always practical between leaders and followers in large groups, but

might work well within small groups.

Critical Evaluation Criteria and Conclusions

The criteria, which has been applied in evaluation of the contemporary views of

leadership is not uniform, but has been tailored specifically to the different views of the theories

with the main objective of identifying the commonalities and disparities, which exist between the

views. The different contemporary leadership theories have unique commonalities and

disparities, which have been highlighted within the paper, while at the same time identifying the

unique characteristics of each theory. Therefore, we reach the conclusion that leaders should be

well versed in all the theories and should apply the theories that are best suited and most

practical tom their leadership situation. By understanding the commonalities and disparities

between the various leadership theories the leader will be well equipped to face any situations,

which require the knowledge of the theories, for effective leadership (Winkler, 2009). An

effective leader is not one who is well versed in the application of one leadership theory, but

rather one who understands how to apply most of the theories according to the demands of the

particular leadership situation. Although some of the leadership theories such as the traits and

leadership theories mentioned in the introduction have been proven insufficient over time, most

of the other leadership theories have application within present times and are relevant to modern

leaders.You are REALLy nailing this form of critical thinking Ahmed - BRAVO

References

Kriger, M., & Seng, Y. (2005). Leadership with inner meaning: A contingency theory of

leadership based on the worldviews of five religions. Leadership Quarterly, 16(5), 771-

806.

Thompson, G., & Vecchio, R. P. (2009). Situational leadership theory: A test of three versions.

Leadership Quarterly, 20(5), 837-848.

Uhl-Bien, M. (2006). Relational leadership theory: Exploring the social processes of leadership

and organizing. Leadership Quarterly, 17(6), 654-676.

Winkler, I. (2009). Contemporary Leadership Theories. Soenderberg: Springer Link Inc.

Wren, J. T. (1995). The leader's companion: Insights on leadership through the ages. New York,

NY: The Free Press.

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