Leadership theories Exercise

Leadership theories Exercise
Question One
The supervisors’ style of leadership is directing. It involves telling the students what to do, how to do it and when to do it. The supervisor recognizes that the students have low competence in that their skills are limited. He ensures that he is there to instruct the student on what to read, how to tackle assignments amongst other duties. Students have great enthusiasm and commitment to class, which eliminates the need for the supervisor to support in their tasks (Reed N.p). However, the supervisor monitors the students closely since directing requires him to see to it that the tasks are completed as directed. Therefore, the supervisor is a great leader as he responds to consider the students and tailors his leadership to their needs. Consequently, the students enjoy and maximize on their information intake during classes. Nevertheless, the instructor responds to each student differently depending on the situation.
Question 2
In the course of the semester, the supervisors change their leadership style appropriately. For instance, during group works, the supervisors do not use the common directing style. One of the supervisors particularly uses the supporting style. The supervisor has already taught the students the subject under discussion and therefore expects that the students have moderate competence. The student’s knowledge in the topic is, therefore, sufficient for the students to perform the task at hand. However, he is also aware that the students need the necessary support to continue with the assignment.

The support increases the student’s confidence, thereby, increasing their commitment towards the task (Reed N.p). Ultimately, by taking on a supporting leadership style, the supervisor enables the students to do group work without much trouble. The supporting techniques employed in such circumstances shows that the supervisor conforms to the Situational Leadership Model.
Question Three
I would recommend my supervisor to take a seminar training on Fiedler’s Contingency Model. It has a substantial difference from the Situational Model he uses. A person used to the Situational Leadership does not need much training on the Path-Goal model since they work under almost the same principles. In the classroom, the instructor may need to use a different theory other than the situational leadership one. Fiedler’s model gives two types of leadership styles that include task-oriented style and relationship-oriented style. For one to use the theory, he should first determine the task and its requirement. While using the theory, the followers-leader relationship, structuring of the task, power, and the Least Preferred Co-worker (LPC) of the leader are important (Luthans et al. 387). The LPC determines the leadership style of a leader and the tasks that he would perform exemplary.
By understanding the constructions of the theory, the instructor can improve his leadership styles and subsequent success in the classroom. For instance, when giving group projects, the supervisor delegates the head of the group, who assumes the leadership position in the context. The supervisor can use the Fiedler’s Contingency Model to determine the appropriate person to lead the group. To do so, he would need to look at a student’s relationship with the others, whether the task is structured, the control that the student would have on the colleagues (power) and the LPCs of each of them (either high or low). The other two leadership theories cannot help in the identification of an appropriate leader for a group project, hence the importance of learning Fiedler’s contingency theory.
Works Cited
Luthans, F., et al. “Effective Leadership Processes.” Organizational Behavior: An Evidence-based Approach. Information Age Publishing, 2015, pp. 385-389.
Reed, J. “Situational Leadership.” 10 July 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=om2Hq8sZqDI.