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Leadership Theory Paper & Leadership Identity Paper

Sara M. Munoz

Arizona State University

OGL 200: Introduction to Organizational Leadership

Dr. Kermit Brown

October 20th, 2022

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Leadership Theory Paper & Leadership Identity Paper

The leadership theory that I have selected that best explains my personal leadership style is

Contingency Theory. This form of leadership allows a leader to use the right style to apply to the

situation at hand. According to the article, What Great Leadership and Music Have in Common,

“Make sure everyone is on the same sheet of music.” (Crupi,2016) In this section of the article,

the author explained that making sure everyone is in “harmony and on the same sheet of music”

plays an important role to an organization. (Crupri,2016) I believe a leader who performs using

the Contingency Theory, has to be skilled in awareness of the harmony within the organization.

This form of leadership style will also require a leader to be adaptive. According to the article of

The Major Leadership Theories, “it is about striking the right balance between behaviors, needs,

and context.” (Cherry,2022) Following this line of leadership not only requires to be adaptive,

but it will also require evaluating the situation on hand and adjusting your behavior to address

that situation. This may be considered a strength for this particular leadership style because I

believe that there is no such thing as using just one leadership style to be effective. However, a

weakness to this particular leadership style would be that a leader may not aways have the right

solutions. They may be because of the lack of knowledge in that given scenario, or they may not

be able to remain objective. According to Contingency Theory of Leadership: Definition and

Models, “there will always be a particular situation that will challenge them.” (Indeed Editorial

Team, 2022) The article also stated because of this, the leader will have to find someone who

will be able to handle that challenge effectively. This may be a challenge for an organization to

find someone in a timely manner to delegate the issues to. I recently discovered that following

this form of leadership is important based of a couple experiences from my workplace. I am a

site manager with a self-storage facility. I get to manage my facility independently with the

exception of working with a relief manager and a maintenance person. Recently I was promoted
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Leadership Theory Paper & Leadership Identity Paper

to hold a second title, senior assistance to the vice president. This role expanded my duties to

help other managers within the company. As a self-storage facility, we had made some big

changes to the way we run our business. We performed upgrades to each unit by installing an

electronic latch. This latch obsoleted the traditional lock and key latch by allowing our tenants to

unlock and lock their unit with an app on their smartphone. With this new installation, also came

with new platforms for managers to need training on. This is when I discovered my leadership

style would be considered Contingency. Each one of our managers adapt to this new technology

differently. Some struggled with adjusting and others were pro’s and welcomed the change. I

would consider myself as a pro with this new software. I was able to quickly learn and was even

quick on my feet with troubleshooting when it did not work for me. Managers started reaching

out to me for help, and during this process I had to learn and adapt myself to each managers

learning style. One manager required extra attention with physically showing her how to work

the new software. While others, just requested to watch videos or reading materials. When it

came to troubleshooting, some managers accepted straight to the point step by step instructions,

while others required detailed step by step. This will be why I quickly learned that I cannot be

the same leader to each of my managers as they request specific needs. Because I managed

managers in different states, each manager will need different requests and needs. Another

example to point out is the importance of remaining objective. I witnessed a scenario where my

boss personal feelings influenced how he should have reacted and approached a behavior

problem. This scenario provided what I needed to know what not to do. It is easy to get

influenced because we are all human, but it is important to keep these boundaries to display

successful leadership skills. Remaining objective in tough scenarios will further support the

value behind contingency leadership style.

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Leadership Theory Paper & Leadership Identity Paper

Values that are most important to me are honesty, integrity, dependable, trustworthy, and

authenticity. These to me are important values to hold on to in all aspects of life. Using these

values in your workplace, personal life, or school will always lead you in the right direction.

If time and resources were not a concern, I would spend quality time with family. I

recently took my family on our first big vacation, and it was great seeing everyone having a

blast. After this trip, I made a promise to myself to do this as much as I am able to. So, if

resources were not a concern, I would take my family traveling to different parts of the world. I

would enjoy spending time learning new cultures as well.

The qualities that I would like my team to describe me as are dependable, responsible,

professional, understanding, and ethical. Being known as someone who will always do the right

thing even in tough situations. I would also like my team to describe me as approachable. Being

someone, they can always count on to help resolve issues, or if I did not know how, they can

describe me as someone they trust to find the solutions.

A daily habit that I am challenging myself with is starting my day early. I have no reason

to start early. My workday starts at 9:00 AM every day. I have been inspiring myself to wake up

at 6:00 AM every day. A second habit is performing any kind of chores just to get myself

moving for the day. Living on site as a site manager can put me in a funk. I have created these

habits to try and get out of this funk.

When someone is contributing, I do try to be aware by stating “I appreciate their time.”

One memory that comes to mind, is with my customers. When a customer moves out of their

unit, they are only asked to just leave the unit empty with leaving the door open. But I have

customers who go above that by actually sweeping the unit for me. I always display my

appreciation for them doing that.

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Leadership Theory Paper & Leadership Identity Paper

References

Cherry, K. (2022, May 23). The Major Leadership Theories. Website.

https://www.verywellmind.com/leadership-theories-2795323#toc-contingency

Crupi, J. (2016, October 18). What great leadership and music have in common. Website.

https://ideas.ted.com/what-great-leadership-and-music-have-in-common/

Indeed Editorial Team. (2022, June 1). Contingency Theory of Leadership: Definition and

Models. Website.

https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/contingency-theory-of-

leadership