After taking the different quizzes concerning leadership qualities and abilities, it is necessary to compare the findings in the two assessment tools provided with those quizzes. This enables one to identify the areas of his or her leadership strength. Therefore, one may propose how to develop or improve them. Also, it would be relevant to analyze what leadership style the following leaders used: Martin Luther King, Wayne Gretzky, Nelson Mandela, Florence Nightingale, Adolf Hitler, and Margaret Thatcher.
One may also suggest analyzing the consequences of their approach to leadership. Another thing that might be discussed in the given paper is the list of the leaders from Neil Diamond’s song “Done too soon”, and the consistency in their leadership styles.
If referring to Alvin W. Gouldner, the credible scholar in the sphere of sociology, then it appears that “situationist psychologists, the sociologists believe that the structures in which leaders operate compel different forms of leadership behavior…they have constructed typical structures and have attempted to analyze aspects of the behavior of leaders within [the structural analysis of their] responses…” (Gouldner, 2000, p. 53). This might be regarded as a basic explanation of what the common quiz, actually, is.
The results of the first quiz show that the participant, who took it, is a complicated person. According to the scorning, one’s feature to involve his or her dealing with people rather than with task exceeds only on the one point. Thus, it is possible to say that one is a multisided individual, and he or she has the ability to deal successfully and fruitfully with both people and tasks.
But still, the result of the test shows that one is more likely to involve one’s dealing with people, thus he or she is a communicative and sociable person, and is no afraid of unpleasant contacts, as one knows that his or her communication skills would help to resolve it.
Nevertheless, one is capable of handling different types of tasks from the little ones to the huge important projects. He or she has the strategic and organizational skills which help to perform various tasks efficiently. Concluding on this issue, it might be stated that dealing equally good with both: tasks and people enables one to perform his or her leadership duties fruitfully. This person is on the right leadership way, as those two abilities are actually tied together, and the effective performance of one of them implies the effective performance of another one.
In accordance with the second quiz, one’s behavior and deeds are defined by the Participative or, so-called democratic style of leadership. According to Kurt Lewin, the participative or democratic leadership style should be considered as the most efficient and fruitful one.
The given participant of the quiz, as a democratic leader prototype, is likely to offer guidance to the members of his own group (here might be seen as a common feature with the results of the former quiz provided above). Moreover, one tends to be a useful participant in the group. He or she is interested in encouraging input from other members of the given group. If referring to Lewin, the participants “in this group were less productive than the members of the authoritarian group, but their contributions were of a much higher quality” (Lewin, 1939, p. 281).
Concluding on the above-provided information, one can firmly assert that the.
The participative leadership style is the most efficient and fruitful one, as it enables one to encourage the members of the group to participate and to contribute to the team project but to retain the final word over the concluding process.
Analyzing Nelson Mandela – the tenth African President, one may firmly state that he belongs to the participative or democratic leaders. He was the first president to be elected in the free and democratic elections in his country. Mandela was a leader of the movement that fought against the authoritative regime. He tried to engage all of his group’s members in the liberation designing – making strategy, thus those people were more motivated, creative, and committed to their common cause. Such an approach enabled Nelson Mandela to become a president and establish the democratic order in his country (thus, all of his goals were fulfilled).
As well as the above-described leader, Martin Luther King, the head of the successful civil rights movement and one of the greatest orators in the United States history, can also be described as a participative or democratic leader. To achieve his aims, he used the same approach as Nelson Mandela did. The result of his leadership caused the establishment of equal rights between black and white Americans.
Contrasting to those two leaders, Adolf Hitler can be regarded as a bright example of the authoritarian leadership style. According to Donald F. Demoulin, “the Democratic Cooperative leadership pattern builds a ‘team’ effort and serves to wed team members into a single cohesive unit. The Autocratic Submissive pattern serves to provide a technique for goal setting and striving based on means that have promised; means that have worked in similar conditions” (Deumoulin, 1996, p. 348). Therefore, it is possible to say the Hitler, actually, manipulated people but did not listen to their ideas truly. His leadership led to World War II, numerous genocides, and deaths. His main objective to make Germany a super nation failed, moreover, this country maintained divided until 1990.
As well as Hitler, Margaret Thatcher, also called the iron lady, can be ranked among the authoritarian leaders that hide behind the democratic slogans. Her leadership led to the suffrage of the English working class. Surrounded by the cabinet ministers’ members from the upper class, she manipulated them greatly, making them accept her ideas and policies. Fortunately, her leadership did not lead to major global problems.
If describing, the former hockey player and present days hockey coach Wayne Douglas Gretzky, then he can be related to the participative leaders. He achieved great results in hockey, not because of some outstanding physical abilities, but because of his good communication with the team and organization skills.
Commonly to Gretzky, Florence Nightingale, the pioneer of nursing and a first woman – reformer of hospital sanitation methods, the inventor of the polar-area diagram, might be described as a participative or democratic leader, as she used the same communicative skills and techniques as Gretzky did.
Concluding, I can totally agree with Neil Diamond’s list of leaders provided in his song “Done too Soon”, as they are all consistent in their values of participative leadership, and as it has been already proven in this paper, it is the most successful leadership approach. It is also interesting to note that no one of the famous leaders could be described as a delegative one. This fact can be simply explained by that the delegative leaders offer poor or no guidance to their group members, and as a result, they do not succeed.
References
Demoulin, D. F. (1996). Introducing Accountability in the Leadership Training for School Administrators: Leadership Pattern Centered. Education, 116(3), 346-351.
Gouldner, A. W. (Ed.). (2000). Studies in Leadership: Leadership and Democratic Action. New York: Harper & Brothers.
Lewin, K., LIippit, R. and White, R.K. (1939). Patterns of Aggressive Behavior in Experimentally Created Social Climates. Journal of Social Psychology, 10, 271-30.
Diamond N. (1970). Done Too Soon. Song.