In-depth Analysis: Written Questions on Leadership Theories

This assignment delves into various leadership theories, including situational, transformational, and servant leadership, exploring their characteristics and importance in organizational functioning. It differentiates between transactional and transformational leadership, highlighting the benefits of the latter for long-term organizational growth and stakeholder engagement. The assessment also covers self-efficacy, its impact on leadership, and methods to enhance it, such as personal attainment, modeling, verbal persuasion, and belief. Furthermore, it outlines essential servant leader qualities like empathy, persuasion, and foresight. The assignment defines key management concepts, including time management, goal setting, work planning, communication, training, and employee evaluation, emphasizing their roles in effective leadership. It concludes by discussing ways to cultivate positive work relationships and identifying the author's entrepreneurial leadership style, referencing relevant research and studies throughout.

Running head: Written Questions Assessment 1
Written Questions Assessment
Name
Institution

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Written Questions Assessment 2
Written Questions Assessment
1. Situational leadership
Situational leadership is a method of management whereby the individual in charge does not
follow a rigid manner of making decisions but rather is guided by the specific scenario in hand.
According to Lerman and Summer (2010), there are factors that determine the manner decisions
will be reached whereby the leader might assess his teams opinion and their competences in
relation to the task they are handling. Additionally, the leader ought to evaluate the situation and
take the most appropriate decisions based on the same.
2. Differences between transactional and transformational leadership
Transactional leadership emphasizes on working towards a specific set goal within a context of
achieving the best result for a task at hand. However, the transformational leadership focuses
more on a long-term achievement by continuously engaging the stakeholders to enhance the
performance of the firm (Dum, Lowe, and Avolio, 2013).
3. Why transformational leadership is important for organization functioning
The leadership approach enhances continuous improvement of the firm since the goals made are
long-term. Consequently, the organization is able to improve the brand name as compared to
others using different approaches. As such, the organization realizes steady growth over time.
Additionally, the stakeholders are engaged and motivated hence increasing their quest to
improve the organization that they identify with.
4. How do Transformational leaders behave?

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Written Questions Assessment 3
A transformational leader engages different stakeholders by demonstrating the goals and the
mission of the organization by putting in place the necessary strategies to realize them (Kanungo,
2001). Apparently, in order to engage in this approach, one must be possess strict ethical and
moral values (Kanungo,2001). Additionally, their interactions with employees should be based
on empowering other than controlling in order to achieve the desired results (Kanungo,2001). As
such, they are able to impact a full individual change for the subordinate in a manner that all the
employees in a firm feel like a part of the entire process.
5. What is self-efficacy?
According to Burnette, Pollack and Hoyt, (2010), Self efficacy refer to the perceptions
individuals have of themselves to handle specific situations in life. As such, based on how much
faith one has on their skills in leadership position may affect their ability to handle difficult
situations and their decisions are determined by the same.
6. As a leader, how can you increase your self-effectiveness?
Personal attainment improves a person’s confidence in carrying out a similar exercise again since
one already has experience of the challenges likely to be encountered (Pillai and Williams,
2004).
According to Pillai and Williams (2004) modeling improves self-efficiency through observing a
person that one considers to have similar intellectual capabilities we are persuaded it is possible
to achieve the same.
Verbal persuasion whereby one is encouraged by others to undertake a certain activity, one
develops courage since people believe in them (Pillai and Williams, 2004)

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Written Questions Assessment 4
Pillai and Williams (2004) insist that some people may increase self-efficiency due to a belief
they hold on to that they are capable of accomplishing certain goals when they set their mind to
them.
7. Servant leader qualities
Empathy
Empathy in leadership is whereby the leader is able to understand specific issue followers are
battling with as if they were experiencing it (Barbuto, J & Wheeler, 2006). As such, a leader is
able to respond to their emotions and needs with greater intelligence than those that lack this
quality.
Persuasion
Persuasion is the ability of the leader to influence others without using force or exerting their
power over them to make them participate in a certain activity (Barbuto, J & Wheeler, 2006).
According to Barbuto, J and Wheeler, (2006) persuasion results in a more positive and motivated
participation than is achieved when other means are used by the leader. As such, servant leaders
are keen to use this strategy to ensure that the followers are enthusiastic participants in order to
maximize the results.
Foresight
According to Barbuto, J and Wheeler, (2006), foresight is the ability to predict the future of an
organization. Apparently, this could be based on familiar trends or the leader instincts.
Consequently, the leader is able to work with the followers to plan on a strategic method of
navigating to deal with the situation.

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Written Questions Assessment 5
8. Define and describe the following
Management of time and priority setting
Failure to have a schedule that determines which activities to undertake at specific time may lead
to wastage of a lot of time. As such, it is necessary to assign tasks a specific duration to perform
them based on their importance.
Goal and standard setting
Goal and standard setting refers to the company’s ability to define the specific targets they want
to achieve within a given time without compromising on the quality achieved. For instance, in a
production company, if the goal is to have manufactured a ton of a particular product within a
week, the standard of the goods should remain consistent.
Work planning and scheduling
Planning of work refers to handling all the aspects of work from the description to the hazard
awareness and the manner in which it should be conducted while scheduling determines the time
and the person responsible to carry out the job.
Listening and organizing
Listening refers to the ability of a leader to listen to concerns of the followers while organization
is the capability to come up with proper plans of the activities the organization intends to
undertake.
Clarity of communication

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Written Questions Assessment 6
Clarity of communication refers to the process of passing the intended information to the
intended parties in order to realize its objective.
Getting objective information
Getting objective information is receiving information in a manner that is free from prejudice
and hence one can then respond with the right response.
Training, mentoring and delegating
Training the employees sharpens or gives employees a new skill set while mentoring is
continuously guiding them such that their level of capability is improved. Delegating is assigning
of the leaders duties to followers to ensure in case of the manager’s absence the organization still
runs smoothly.
Evaluating employees and performance
Evaluating performance is rating the employees skills and capabilities as well as their input in
the company based on their job description.
Advising and disciplining
In case of misconduct by followers, a leader ought to take measures to correct that vice. The
employee in question might be warned not to repeat the mistake or disciplinary action may be
taken against them guided by the company rules.
Problem identification and solution
Problem identification is the ability to assess when the company is experiencing a difficulty and
the solution is being able to curb or reverse the situation.

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Written Questions Assessment 7
Assessing risks and decision making
Assessing risk refers to determining the liability level of a course of action within an
organization which in turn determines the decision the company takes in regard to that scenario.
Thinking clearly and analytically
Thinking clearly and analytically refers to approaching every situation in a manner that before
embarking on any decisions within a firm they are well thought out and every possible outcome
analyzed.
9. Ways to cultivate work relationships
Motivate each other
Maintain a healthy work ethics within the firm such that any employee derailing is encouraged to
keep up with the pace of the others.
Don’t compete
Employees should develop healthy working relationships such that they aim to work together
instead of against each other. Consequently, unhealthy competitions are eliminated since they are
working towards a common goal.
10. My Leadership style
I exhibit entrepreneur type of leadership (Churchill). Based on the assessment, I would rather
innovate and start a project as I learn how to handle it as opposed to the other two categories.
References

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Written Questions Assessment 8
Barbuto Jr, J. E.,& Wheeler, D. W. (2006). Scale development and construct clarification of
servant leadership. Group & Organizational Management, 31(3), 300-326.
Burnette,J. L., Pollack, J.M., & Hoyt, C. L. (2010). Individual differences in implicit theories of
leadership ability and self-efficacy: Predicting responses to stereotype threat. Journal of
Leadership studies, 3(4), 46-56.
Dumdum, U. R., Lowe, K. B., & Avolio, B. J. (2013). A meta-analysis of transformational and
transactional leadership correlates of effectiveness and satisfaction:An update and
extension. In Transformational and Charismatic leadership: The road ahead 10th
Anniversary edition. Emerald Group Publishing Limited 39(70).
Kanungo, R. N. (2001). Ethical values of of transactional and transformational leaders.
Canadian Journal of administrative sciences 18(4), 257-265.
Lerman, A., & Summer, O. (2010)Situational Leadership Theory.Churchill, W. DEtERMiNiNG
your OwN LEAdERShiP StylE.
Pillai, R., & Williams, E. A. (2004). Transformational leadership, self-efficacy, group
cohesiveness, commitment, and performance. Journal of organizational change
management, 17(2), 144-159.