Effective Leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Effective Leadership - Essay Example 74-78, 2001). This paper is attempt to look at different types of leadership and the recent developments in the field of leadership by briefly looking at the literature available on Fred Fielder’s Situational Leadership Model, Level 5 Leadership, 360-degree leadership and Charismatic leadership. Discussion Fred Fielder’s Situational Leadership Model Fred Fielder is considered as one of the most notable gurus of leadership. During the mid of the 20th century, when most of the leadership experts were occupied by the discussion that whether leaders are born with certain characteristics which distinguish them from others or whether people can acquire these skills to become leaders. Fielder took the liberty of providing an entirely different perspective to the management and organizational behavior experts by giving his situational leadership theory (Kellerman, pp. 234-238, 2010). He divided the leadership styles into two groups namely relationship motivated and task motivat ed. Relationship motivated leaders are the ones who would place their emotional bonds with their people over the tasks and jobs. These leaders are more concerned about their image, respect, and perception amongst their followers. However, task motivated leaders are the ones who are more interested in numbers, targets, figures and objectives, and in the pursuit of the same, they are ready to sacrifice their image and bonding with their employees (Robbins & Judge, pp. 223-228, 2010). Furthermore, fielder proposed three elements, which have the ability to determine the situational control of the person. These are leader member relations, task structure and position power. Leader member relations refer to the degree to which the leader enjoys the backing, support, and loyalty of his sub ordinates. Second, task structure is high when the job descriptions are clear, structured, and well defined. Third, position power refers to the degree to which the leader enjoys the formal power to hire , recruit, select, reward, punish, or obtain compliance from the employees (Fulmer & Goldsmith, pp. 74-78, 2001). Furthermore, Fielder suggests that when the above-mentioned factors are high, the situational control is high and vice versa. A task-motivated style remains the most favourable option when the situational control is either extremely high or extremely low. Nevertheless, when the situational control is moderate, the leader should opt for a relationship motivated leadership style (Kellerman, pp. 41-49, 1999). 360 Degree Leadership Maxwell (2006) gave one of the most modern and influential concepts in leadership known as the â€Å"360 degree leadership† (pp. 15). Maxwell focuses on the most basic and simplest definitions of leadership, which says, â€Å"Leadership is nothing but the art of influencing people towards the achievement of shared goals† (Maxwell, pp. 84-86, 2008). Quite understandably, one cannot only influence the people who are underneath the indi vidual in the organizational hierarchy but also who lie at the same line or even who are over him in the organizational hierarchy. This means that one cannot only lead his subordinates but also his peers, colleagues, friends, bosses, bosses’ peers, and others. Many leaders fail to view the concept of leadership in a board way of leading down, leading across and leading up but they fall into the trap of leading down