As one of the first medical responders to Haiti, Tamara knew she needed to take on a leadership role for her team and immediately and efficiently bring medical help to the victims of the earthquake
Discuss the three styles of the style theory of leadership and identify which of the three would be most appropriate in this crisis situation.
What will be an ideal response?
Style theory points to three different styles of leadership that are appropriate for different situations. The three styles include authoritarian, democratic, and laissez-fair.
Authoritarian leadership is characterized by a leader who takes charge, makes all the decisions, and dictates strategies and work tasks. Authoritarian leaders are most appropriate in the military, sports, or crisis situations.
In democratic leadership, the leader facilitates group work so that all members provide input in the decision-making process. Democratic leadership works when the group has time to spend on decision making and hearing everyone's opinion and usually leads to higher member satisfaction.
In laissez-faire leadership the leader participates minimally, makes no attempt to evaluate or influence the discussion, and gives the group complete freedom in decision making. This leadership style works well if the stakes are low and the leader wants to encourage creativity.
In the case of the earthquake in Haiti, Tamara should use an authoritarian style to direct activity and help the people immediately. As an earthquake is a crisis situation, group members need to know what they need to do right away and they need clear direction. There is no time for a long discussion and vote as in a democratic leadership style and team members would need more direction than would be provided in a laissez-faire leadership style.
You might also like to view...
Which of the following is a guideline for creating an effective informative speech?
a) Share as much information as you can in the time you have. b) Including more complex information is preferable to making the information too simple. c) Relate new information to old. d) Speakers who have an expertise in a subject need not worry about making the topic relevant to their audiences.
Which is true of conflict in general?
A. There are few cultural differences in how people from other cultures approach conflict. B. Men and women deal with conflict differently. C. Conflict is always viewed as destructive to relationships. D. Conflict is found primarily in individualist cultures.
Trolling, spamming, morphing, and lurking are terms used in ______.
A. cyberspace B. publishing houses C. newsrooms D. photography
Because of its negative historical connotation, the word Nazi is an example of which of the following?
A. Ambiguous language B. Provocative language C. Loaded language D. Controversial language