Module 7: Paper 3

Aaron Quintana
Part 1: Theories of Leadership
Define leadership as you now understand it and identify how leadership impacts
employee performance.
My understanding of leadership is how a person a person is able to influence

others to accomplish a shared goal. A leader is able to grow the follower’s abilities in a

way that it benefits the organization they are part of and also the follower as a person. I

like Burns definition of transitional leadership “leaders as people who tap the motives of

followers in order to better reach the foals of leaders and followers” (Northouse, 2018,

p164).

Describe in detail five leadership theories in the following way:

- Three theories that seemed to resonate in a positive manner with you and your
management style and
The first theory that resonates for me as a leader is Authentic Leadership, the

main reason is that this style “describes leadership that is transparent, morally

grounded, and responsive to people’s needs and values” (Northouse, 2018, p227). This

is appealing to me because I was raised to have strong morals and to be sensitive to

other people’s needs and feelings. Authentic Leadership is also appealing to me

because these leaders are genuine and one can get a clear understanding of who they

are and the way they will direct themselves. These leaders are motivated by doing what

is right and follow their values to help others.

The second theory that resonates with me is Transformational Leadership.

“Transformational leadership is the process whereby a person engages with others and

creates a connection that raises the level of motivation and morality in both the leader
and the follower” (Northouse, 2018, 165). This type of leaders gets to know the

followers to find ways to motive them and to find out what they need, this allows the

leader to help them get what they need to be able to achieve their goals. These leaders

influence followers to achieve the goals of the organization and while motivating the

followers to grow as a person. Transformational leaders create a realistic vision that is

easy to understand and beneficial to all members involved, which motivates followers to

work to achieve the vision.

Situational Leadership Approach is the third theory that resonates with me, this is

because I feel that the situation that a person is placed on has a big influence on

whether a person will become a leader or not. And secondly I believe that different

situations require different types of leadership and a leader should be able to recognize

that and adjust their leadership style accordingly. The Situational model consists of four

leadership styles (directing, coaching, supporting, and delegating) that the leader can

utilize depending on the situation and the development level of the follower. The leader

has to determine the development level of the follower and the nature of the situation

and apply the appropriate leadership style. “Situational Leadership recognizes and

stresses that there is not a one best style of leadership; instead, leaders need to be

flexible and adapt their style to the requirements of the situation” (Northouse, 2018,

p117). Another reason I like Situational leadership is that it is practical and easy to

understand and apply.

- Two leadership theories that did not resonate with you and explain what about the
theories did not appeal to you.
The first leadership theory that did not resonate with me because it is focused

solely on the leader and does not take the followers into account, and negates effect the
situation has on leadership. “The trait approach suggests that organizations will work

better if the people in managerial positions have a designated leadership profile”

(Northouse, 2018, p34). The trait leadership approach focuses on finding a particular

set of traits that a person should have to be a great leader. I believe that a person can

study and train to gain skills to become a great leader, and trait leadership implies that

only certain people have these traits and only they can be good leaders.

The second leadership theory that did not resonate with me is Servant

Leadership. In part this is because the negative perception I get from the name, but it is

mainly due to the fact that this theory “implies that good leaders “put others first”

(Northouse, 2018, p253). I care about others and I want to find ways to help them and

grow as person when working with them, but I think that it is better to find a common

ground that will benefit everyone involved in the situation instead of just looking for the

benefit of others with no regards to my needs. There might be situations that all I care

about is the well being of others, like when volunteering in a charitable organization, but

I do not think this approach is a good fit for plenty of other situations, like at work where

we are all there to make a living and it should benefit everyone equally not just others.

Even though I like parts of this theory like the ten characteristics of a servant leader that

includes; listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization,

foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of people, and building community.

These are great traits for a leader to have and it would help anybody wanting to become

a leader to develop these traits. But as Northouse mentioned in our textbook “servant

leadership does not occur in a vacuum but occurs within a given organizational context

and a particular culture” (Northouse, 2018, p237). If a leadership theory is limited by the
organization and culture, it cannot be universally applied and makes it undesirable in my

eyes.

Identify which of the models seems to fit best with your leadership philosophy and
why?
I believe the leadership model that fits best with my leadership philosophy is

authentic leadership. I believe that one needs to be themselves no matter what

situation they are in. A leader needs to be genuine and lead with commitment to their

values and morals.

Part 2: Followership questionnaire

Do you agree with the follower classification that corresponds with your results?
My results of the questionnaire classified me as a Exemplary Followership Style,

I scored high on both Independent Thinking and Active Engagement. According to the

definition of exemplary followers they are followers “who are active and positive and

offer independent constructive criticism” (Northouse, 2018, p298). I feel that the way I

behave as a follower matches the definition since I am always trying to get involved in

projects to help and I give my sincere opinion on subjects.

What does the score mean in terms of your followership ability?

As I mention above, I am always trying to help the team accomplish our goals

and I look for good leaders to follow. When there are new projects at work I try and

understand the project to be able to give my opinion on who would be the best leader to

run the project. I like working for leaders that have the same work ethic I have and

whose values align with mine. This does not mean that I will go along with the leader

on everything he/she wants, I will challenge the leader whenever I see fit and especially

if I deem it necessary for the well being of the organization.

Which leadership style do you think best develops exemplary followers? Is it Servant
Leadership, Situational Leadership, Authentic Leadership, Adaptive Leadership, or
some other approach?
I think that the leadership style that is best to develop exemplary followers is the

Authentic Leadership model. I think that followers like to follow someone that they feel

is genuine and that is in that position to try and improve the environment of the followers

as well as for the organization. Another reason is that an Authentic Leader leads by

example and lives what he/she preaches, this is something that followers appreciate

and makes them want to follow. Followers feel like they know the leader and his/her

values and trust that if they decide to follow they will achieve their personal goals as

well as the organization’s goals.

How can followers effectively change leaders?

The way that followers can effectively change leaders is by “being engaged,

active, and challenging are characteristics of effective followers” (Northouse, 2018,

p315). When a follower is active in the organization and is familiar with the way the

organization is ran, the follower can help the leader see different ways to handle

situations. The follower is also in a position to provide support to the leader when the

leader might not be knowledgeable on certain organizational procedures. The follower

can also become an asset for the leader, as the leader can delegate some leadership

responsibilities on to the follower.

Part 3: Simulation recap

How did the team lead itself? Was leadership shared? If so, how?
I feel that our team led itself with a distributed leadership style. Team members

would step up and lead the team at different stages of the simulation. For example,

someone stepped up to get the team going at the beginning of the simulation when we
had to select our positions and characters. Then when we lost one of the team

members another member stepped up and contacted the professor to find a solution to

the problem. Also, during the different simulation crises each team member took the

responsibilities of the character and made decisions accordingly. “Such distributed

leadership involves the sharing of influence by team members” (Northouse, 2018, p374)

thru the different stages of the simulation our team members influence the team to help

us accomplish our goals.

What are the most important things you learned from the simulation?
The most important thing that I learned from the simulation exercise was that

communication is the key to success. Our team did a good job judging by our final

satisfaction scores being higher than the average word scores, but if we had

communicated more I feel it our scores would had been higher. We had situations that

two different team members would be going in different directions, and communication

would have had us all making decision that aligned to each other.

Did you find the simulation to be realistic? What differences are there between the
simulation and “real life”? Is there a way to prepare oneself for the sort of challenges
faced in the simulation (or in “real life”)?
In some aspects I found the simulation to be realistic, but not in others. For

instance the different crises situations seemed like something that can happen in real

life. What I did not find realistic was that the CEO had no real power to make changes

like override the decisions of other team members. In real life a CEO would be able to

make those kinds of changes or at the very least would be able to persuade other

members to change their decisions.

Did you make decisions as you personally would have made them or as your character
would have made them?
When making decision in the simulation I tried to make the decisions as if I was

the character, I tried to be myself and made the decision according to my values. I

would think to myself, like I always do, would I be embarrassed if anybody found out

what I did or allowed to happen.

If you could play the simulation again, would you change your decisions? Why or why
not?
If I had the opportunity to play the simulation again I might change some of my

decisions. When I made some of my decisions I made them according to my values,

but I also picked the chose that I thought aligned with the team’s goals or direction. If I

had a chance to re-do the simulation I would have more communication with the team

members on the way I was leaning on my decisions and share my reasoning behind it.

This way we would be able to have come to an agreement on what decision better

pointed us to achieving our common goal for the simulation.

References:
Northouse, P., 2019. Leadership: Theory and Practice. 8th ed (PERUSALL).