GHANA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

(GIMPA)

NAME: Ernest Marfo

INDEX NUMBER: 218029136

PROGRAME: BSc. FINANCE

LEVEL: 400

COURSE: LEADERSHIP

TOPIC: LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT

LECTURER: Dr. KOFI ASARE

Unfortunately, times of crisis are catalysts for growth and change and the Covid-19

pandemic is no exception. Nations worldwide are scrambling to enact measures designed to stem

the spread of the virus as research experts work diligently towards vaccination and effective

remedy. Leadership is playing a key role in the fight against this virus. Nations with effective

leaders are responsibly managing the situation resulting in slowing infection rates and faster

recoveries. Ineffective leaders are enacting halfhearted measures and as such the virus is not

being properly contained. A robust leadership development program is a vital tool this country

can deploy to manage the pandemic.

Before dialogue on a leadership development program can begin, there needs to be a

discussion distinguishing leadership from mere managing. These two concepts are often used

interchangeably and though there are similarities between a leader and a manager, the differences

are stark enough to make each one fundamentally unique. Ner Le’Elef (2004) defines leaders as

people that “…sets a vision and goals, directs the atmosphere towards creative thinking…and

makes drastic changes should the situation so require.” Effective leaders help their followers

envision and achieve their goals, helps the team to function smoothly, and helps the team to

adapt to external forces. Plecas et al. (2018) define management as “...the processes that keep an

organization functioning, such as planning, budgeting, defining roles, and resourcing and

measuring performance.” Management is responsible for maintaining order and control whereas

leaders are required to influence change. According to Nahavandi (2009), “…leaders have long-

term and future-oriented perspectives and provide a vision for their followers that looks beyond

their immediate surroundings, managers take short-term perspectives and focus on routine issues
within their immediate departments or groups.” In summary, some of the key differences

between leadership and management are listed below (Nahavandi, 2009):

Table 1. Leaders vs. Managers

Leaders Managers
 Long term &  Short term focused
future-oriented  Maintains the status quo and
 Provides a stability
vision  Focus on routine issues within
 Create change their immediate scope
 Initiate goals  Implement policies and
and strategies procedures
 Create a Maintain existing structure
culture  Remain aloof to maintain
 Establish an objectivity
emotional link with  Use position power
followers
 Use personal
power 

Through this discussion, one can see that leaders must simultaneously lead and manage

the people that follow them. Leading has more to do with inspiring and influences behavior

while the managerial function ensures that goals are accomplished in the right fashion.

A persons leadership style depends on many factors such as what they learned from role

models, the purpose or goal of the leader, the personality of the leader, the personality and

capabilities of the followers, and/or the situation in which the leader is leading (Kolzow, 2014).

To create this leadership development program, the spotlight will be shown on the situational

and contingency leadership theories which address the last two factors described by Kolzow.

These two theories are subjected to the same treatment as the term’s leadership and management

in the sense that they are often used interchangeably when they are different theories entirely
(Gupta, 2009; Khan & Nawaz, 2016; Peretomode, 2012). However, these theories are closely

related hence they do share some common elements, as described by Peretomode (2012) such as:

 Both are an extension of behavioral leadership models

 They both assert that there is no one right way of leading a group because a

leadership style that is effective in one situation can prove disastrous in another.

 A successful leader in a given situation may become a failure when factors around

the situation change.

 The effectiveness of a leadership style is determined by internal and external

factors in an organization, the skills of the leader, and the maturity levels of

followers.

Situational leadership theory asserts that a leader must adapt his style according to the

situation of the organization. The term situation here refers to the level of competence, skill, and

motivation of the followers (Gupta, 2009). The leader will successfully diagnose the

developmental/maturity level of the followers and adopt the appropriate leadership style to fit the

level. The prevailing theory supporting situational leadership is the Blanchard and Hersey’

Situational Leadership Theory. This theory focuses on the interaction of the leader’s behavior

and follower readiness to determine leader effectiveness (Cairns Thomas D. et al., 1998). Four

basic leadership styles were to be matched with the developmental level of their subordinates.

The maturity levels refer to the ability and willingness of the subordinates to complete an

assigned task. The range and pairings are presented in Table 2.

Table 2. Leadership Style Matches

Developmental Level Leadership Style

leadership style with the right situation. The contingency theory is based on the premise that

leadership styles are rigid, they are behaviors that are extremely difficult to modify (Gupta, 2009;

Peretomode, 2012; Sinha, 2015). Instead, a situation must first be assessed and the leader with

the most suitable style will be matched with the situation. Contingency leadership asserts that

leadership effectiveness depends on the diverse situational factors (Khan & Nawaz, 2016). What

works for a leader in one situation may not work in another situation. Contingency theories

continue to differ from situational theories in the definition of what a “situation” is. Under

situational leadership, a situation referred to the development of the organization/subordinates,

however, under contingency theory, a situation is a combination of three factors: leader-member

relation, task structure, and positional power. Depending on the level of the various factors, three

situations can arise: very favorable situations, intermediate favorable situations, and unfavorable

situations. The earliest and most research contingency approach is the Least Preferred Coworker

(LPC) Scale which was developed by Fred Fiedler to determine the style of a leader (Arenas et

al., 2017). This scale indicates whether a leader has a task-oriented or people-oriented style and

further goes to try to match the leadership style with the situation as described above. Task-

oriented leaders are more effective in highly favorable and unfavorable situations, while people-

oriented leaders are better matches for intermediate situations (Peretomode, 2012).
 Creating a robust leadership development to guide the country through the Covid-19

pandemic requires a merging of the principles of both situational and contingency leadership

theories. Choosing one theory over the other would be ineffective, especially given how the two

are closely related. Entrants into the program could take the LPC test to identify if the person is a

task or a people-oriented leader. Once identified, this information is to be stored in a database for

use in assigning leaders to situations that match their leadership style. Participants in the

leadership development program must also undergo training to teach them how to adapt their

leadership style depending on the maturity/development of the individuals that will be

subordinate to them. Using the Situational Leadership Theory as an example, participants should

be taught the four leadership styles (telling, selling, participating, and delegating), how to

appropriately diagnose the maturity of their subordinates, and which style is most suitable for a

maturity level. According to Deitchman (2017), whose research centered on enhancing crisis

leadership skills in health leaders, there are key attributes leaders must possess in a public health

crisis which are as follows: “…competence in public health science; decisiveness with

flexibility; ability to maintain situational awareness and provide situational assessment; ability to

coordinate diverse participants across very different disciplines; communication skills; and the

ability to inspire trust.” A leadership development program that teaches the principles of

situational and contingency leadership will produce leaders that will have many of the key

attributes identified by Deitchman.

By merging the principles of the two theories, the country will be able to train individuals

that can lead in any situation and can lead any group of individuals. The right leaders will be

placed in the right situations armed with the flexibility to inspire and influence the team to tackle

any problem arising from the pandemic.

Arenas, F. J., Connelly, D., & Williams, M. D. (2017). Developing Your Full Range of Leadership:

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Deitchman, S. (2013). Enhancing Crisis Leadership in Public Health Emergencies. Disaster Medicine

and Public Health Preparedness, 7(5), 534–540. Cambridge Core.

[Link]

Gupta, A. (2009, March 19). Situational Leadership. Practical Management: Designing a Better

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REVIEW. Gomal University Journal of Research [GUJR] ISSN: 1019-8180, 34, 21–31.

Kolzow, D. R. (2014). Leading From Within: Building Organizational Leadership Capacity.

Le’Elef, N. (2004). Leadership & Management.

Nahavandi, A. (2009). The Art and Science of Leadership (5th ed.). Pearson/Prentice Hall.

Peretomode, D. (Mrs. ) O. (2012). Situational And Contingency Theories Of Leadership: Are They

The Same? IOSR Journal of Business and Management (IOSR-JBM), 4(3), 13–17.

Plecas, D., Squires, C., & Garis, L. (2018). The Essentials of Leadership in Government (2nd ed.).

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