Critical Theory Approach: Leadership and Decision Making

This assignment explores the critical theory approach to leadership, examining its impact on decision-making and organizational dynamics. The student analyzes the core principles of critical theory, emphasizing the importance of critiquing social and historical assumptions to reimagine conceptual frameworks. The assignment delves into a personal leadership experience within a team context, highlighting the qualities of an effective leader, such as being dominant, influential, steady, and compliant. It emphasizes the significance of data-driven decision-making and transparency in leadership, aligning with the critical theory approach. The paper also references relevant literature, providing a comprehensive overview of the subject matter.

Running head: CRITICAL THEORY APPROACH
CRITICAL THEORY APPROACH
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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CRITICAL THEORY APPROACH
Table of Contents
Question 1........................................................................................................................................2
Question 2........................................................................................................................................2
Question 3........................................................................................................................................3
References........................................................................................................................................5

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Question 1
Critical theory is mainly focused on dealing with the social world from a contemporary
point of view. The main aspect that is considered is that positive implication of social actions.
This theory is based on proper critiquing of the historical as well as social assumptions that can
be made and hence wise this helps in performing re-imagining of the conceptual framework. The
main prospect of this conceptual framework is to analyze the strengths, weaknesses. These
analysis enhances the process of performing arguments in a more logical manner. The aspect that
is to be considered important for performing better decision making and hence wise perform a
stronger argument (Pendakur & Furr 2016). This approach helps in understanding of the
fundamental challenges that might be faced in the decided goal of the project. This ensures that
critical theory helps in developing an insight to the underlying features that influences the
organizational life and hence wise this enhances the role that is played by the leader gets affected
in a positive manner. This theory is based on critical thinking. This ensures that leadership
decisions are taken as per the analysis that is made via the critique. This leads to high accuracy in
the decision making process. The main principle that is to be considered in the process is namely
having a normative, formal as well as experimental (Price 2018). The main aim of the critical
theory approach is not only to have a proper categorization but also perform proper analysis of
the categorization. This ensures that the categorization that is made will help in performing better
analysis of the entire situation.
Question 2
As per work experience the leadership context that have been experienced is namely
Team Context. As per experience, it can be stated that there is a huge difference in between
leading a team and leading a group. There are certain skill sets that are required for performing

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the better organization of a team. It have been seen that there are several instances that a self
leader gets promoted as a team leader and this creates a negative effect. In this process, the main
aspect that is considered is that knowing the attributes of every single team member acts
important. The 4 major characteristics that are to be present among the leaders are namely being
dominant, influential, steady and compliant. These were the qualities that were present in the
leader in the organization where I was working in (Western 2019). These qualities made the
leader an efficient leader. The benefit that was received was that my leader not only performed
his duties accurately but also stepped up in cases which was not even his duties and guided us.
He was highly influential as he helped in establishing proper communication and hence wise
motivate others to perform their duties in a better manner. Being steady also made my team
leader a reliable team player and with inheriting the characteristics of compliance, made him
good with data and hence wise making him more precise (Jian & Fairhurst 2017). The main
aspect that is considered is that proper assessment of leadership acted important in performing
better functioning. These were the major aspects that were benefitting the entire operational
process of the leaders. This is the reason that I was enjoying my work experience in the previous
organization. Another aspect that is to be considered is that my team leader had proper
knowledge regarding the subject and hence he was capable of helping me out whenever I faced
any kind of problem in the operational area. Even if there was any kind of problem that was
faced, the issue was resolved with ultimate concern.
Question 3
In today’s society, being critical in leadership acts important. The fact that data has been
acting as a major prospect that helps in performing decision making. Hence wise the decision
making that is to be made by the leader’s gets dependent on the data that are stored (Bracken,

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Dean & Gowdie 2016). Hence with proper understanding of the data that are gathered and
performing proper critique to the entire system help in proper assessing of the project on which
the working is being made. Again with the help of the Critical Theory Approach, the main
benefit that is received is that transparency is maintained and this ensures that decision making
which is an important prospect of a leader is performed in a better manner (Dugan 2017). With
this presence of transparency, better analysis of the data will help the leader to understand the
work load taken by each employee.

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References
Bracken, T., Dean, A., & Gowdie, J. (2016, October). Critical leadership challenge: Spiritual
formation in the contemporary context. In Compass (Vol. 50, No. 3, p. 7). Compass.
Dugan, J. P. (2017). Leadership theory: Cultivating critical perspectives. John Wiley & Sons.
Jian, G., & Fairhurst, G. T. (2017). Leadership in organizations. The international encyclopedia
of organizational communication, 1-20.
Pendakur, V., & Furr, S. C. (2016). Critical leadership pedagogy: Engaging power, identity, and
culture in leadership education for college students of color. New Directions for Higher
Education, 2016(174), 45-55.
Price, T. L. (2018). A “critical leadership ethics” approach to the Ethical Leadership
construct. Leadership, 14(6), 687-706.
Western, S. (2019). Leadership: A critical text. SAGE Publications Limited.