Leadership Case Study

Ashley can use contingency leadership theories to become a more effective team
leader in her professional position. Contingency leadership theories differ from the trait and
behavioral leadership theories. The latter represented attempts to identify the single best
leadership style suitable for all situations (Lussier & Achua, 2016). However, by the late
1960s, it became clear that there is no single best leadership style for all situations, hence
contingency leadership theories. The essence of contingency leadership theories is that
leadership happens in a given situation, so leaders need to change their behaviors and
approaches to meet the specific situation. Among the contingency leadership theories, the
path-goal leadership theory would be particularly suited to Ashley’s situation given the target
set for her team: to improve customer service by streamlining sales, underwriting, and claims.
In line with the path-goal leadership model, Ashley can do two things to get her team
to be more interested in working as a team. First, on behalf of her team, Ashley can negotiate
with her boss James for rewards for the team should the team meet the goal set for it. Ideally,
the reward should be monetary, say bonuses at the end of the year. This is because it is clear
from some of the team members’ comments that they value and expect a monetary reward in
return for the increased workloads. Secondly, Ashley can make it clear to her team that to
meet the target and enjoy the rewards, they must work as a team.
Based on my evaluation and subscription to the second viewpoint on the locus of
charisma, Ashley’s charisma is wanting. There are two viewpoints on the locus or basis of
charismatic leadership. On the one hand are those who believe that charismatic leadership
cannot take place unless a team, an organization, or a society is in a crisis (DuBrin, 2018).
For those subscribing to this viewpoint, the charismatic leader is simply an opportunist who
seizes a crisis. On the other hand are those who argue that charisma need not be born out of a

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crisis. Rather, charisma is mainly the result of a leader’s inborn attributes as perceived by
their followers. These attributes include a strong sense of vision, being proactive, high
energy, intelligence, high self-confidence, trustworthiness, strong conviction, and excellent
communication skills (Lussier & Achua, 2016).
To become a more effective team leader, Ashley can set for herself the goal of
improving her charisma by working on the attributes outlined above. To increase her sense of
vision, she can set an additional goal for her team, say becoming the best team in the
company. To improve her self-confidence and communication skills, she can convene more
frequent team meetings to review progress and aim to communicate with greater clarity in
those meetings and in her written communications. She can demonstrate her trustworthiness
and strong conviction by faithfully fulfilling her commitments to the team.
This case study has emphasized what I have known all along: that generally, people
will be skeptical about and resistant to change, instead preferring to continue to do things the
way they have been doing them. Many of Ashley’s teammates found repulsive the idea of
combining in their jobs a bit of sales, underwriting, and claims; they preferred to continue in
their compartmentalized roles. The case study, therefore, challenges me to be charismatic
enough to overcome such obstacles to team performance.

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References

DuBrin, A. J. (2018). Leadership: Research Findings, Practice, and Skills (9 th ed.). Boston:
Cengage Learning.
Lussier, R. N., & Achua, C. F. (2016). Leadership: Theory, Application & Skill Development
(6 th ed.). Boston: CENGAGE Learning.