Topic 5: Contingency Leadership Theory

 Weekly Reflection

Week 6

21 November 2021

    Assalamualaikum and bismillah. To begin my reflection on this week’s group presentation, I would like to start with a story of Walter Elias Disney. I believe everyone knows him. We even grew up with all his masterpieces. Walter Elias Disney is most famous for being the creator of the Walt Disney Company. Did you know he was also a visionary, an innovator, and a remarkable leader? Disney's adaptive leadership approach enabled the company to grow into one of the world's most profitable entertainment empires. Disney was a believer in involving his employees in decision-making. He would sometimes gather everyone in the studio and recreate scenes to show his ideas. He hoped that his staff share his enthusiasm as well. The leadership style used by Disney is a part of the larger 

Contingency Leadership Theory. 

    Well today, I would like to discuss Contingency Theory in my blog. What the group presenters have discussed in their PPT slides was very clear cut. The definition and the types of Contingency Leadership Theory. So what are those? 

 

 

    From the above image, when it comes to identifying distinctive leadership styles, contingency theory emphasises three critical variables. They include the following: traits, behaviour, and situation. From my point of view, the efficacy of a leader is not contingent on their talents only. External elements such as the environment, culture, and interpersonal interactions all affect the leadership process. Regardless of how good leaders they are, there will be moments they certainly struggle to satisfy expectations at some level. As an example recently our country Malaysian was and is still hit by the pandemic of Covid 19. Many successful leaders of companies need to shut down their businesses no matter how established they were before. For example chains of hotels in Penang have been closed due to Covid 19 such as Hotel Equatorial Penang, Holiday Inn, etc. That is the contingency action taken by the manager/leader to cease the operations although it’s a difficult decision to make. 

            The other crucial part to discuss in Contingency Leadership Theory is the types of its theory. Back to the school context, I've seen several school principals in school apply the same type of leadership style to all scenarios, which is ineffective since all situations are unique and must be addressed individually. When they apply comparable styles to all scenarios, it may result in poor outcomes and performance from the teachers since a default style will not operate efficiently in all situations. 

    There are two types of Leadership Models in Contingency Leadership; prescriptive and descriptive. But I’m very much interested to reflect on the prescriptive type of leadership. ‘Prescriptive tells users exactly which style to use in a given situation. It guides or directs the activities and behaviours of others toward goals, opportunities’. Without reading attentively, you may conclude that prescriptive leadership functions by prescription, telling others what to do. That is just false. As you continue reading, you'll see that prescriptive leadership requires the leader to follow a prescription from the book when deciding how to consult with his or her team. I have encountered a few school principals who are ‘by the book’; by following the official rules very strictly and insist on doing everything by the book. The funny thing is, many teachers will run away screaming when they bump into the prescriptive type of leadership. They will imagine a nasty principal pointing finger giving instructions on what to do. But actually, it’s not that bad. It just means the leader is following the rules and deciding how to make it work with his team members that’s all. 

            Last but not least, another issue I would like to reflect on is about Normative Decision Model. It was talked over during the open discussion session. A normative decision-making model is a leadership approach that enables leaders to choose the extent to which their team members should engage in decision-making. Victor Vroom, in collaboration with Philip Yetton and Arthur G. Jago, developed this model, which is frequently referred to as the Vroom-Yetton-Jago model. My first reaction to this approach is that we make hundreds of choices every day. Some are little, such as what to prepare for lunch, while others are major, such as whether to purchase a new car or home. Often, before a choice can be made, we must first decide how the decision will be made. Are you the one who decides what to prepare or do you consult your family first? My decision is always decided by my children. Having three grown-up daughters makes me less decision-maker. The Normative Decision model defines five distinct management techniques characterised by differing degrees of leader and team members’ involvement. Imagine that I am the project leader, my family is my team members, and tonight's dinner is my ultimate project. Here are the decision-making styles I may use, ranging from the most autocratic, in which the management makes the choice, to the most democratic, in which the team makes the decision.

            In conclusion, people are hard to be managed. Managing team members are even difficult. The leader has the same objective - to encourage and interact with team members - but not every team member responds to the same approach, type and style. However, if the leader treats each team member differently, this might be seen as partiality, resulting in conflict. Perhaps in the school context, a teacher gets special treatment compared to other teachers. probably the teacher has a problem adapting to a certain style of leadership approach.  Thus, the issue is: How can a leader encourage and apply theories and styles successfully with his or her team members while simultaneously being and seeming fair?