Contingency Theories of Leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Contingency Theories of Leadership - Essay Example Fiedler's contingency theory states that the manner in which a leader can be effective is dependent on what he calls as 'situational contingency', or the resultant product arising out of the interspatiality or interaction of leadership style and situational favourableness (or situational control). Fiedler holds that in situations of extreme importance, as during floods, tsunamis, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, a task-orientated style of leadership would be more beneficial than a considerate (relationship-orientated) style. This is so, as because in such an uncertain situation the leader-member relations get strained, due to fear or anxiety, the task becomes haphazard or unstructured, and the subject position of power becomes weak. In such a situation, the task-orientated leader who gets things accomplished proves to be the most successful. On the other hand, Fiedler emphasises that the considerate style of leadership is appropriate when the leader-member relations are good, the task is unstructured, and the locus of power is weak. ... For instance, there is some doubt whether the LPC is a true measure of leadership style. In 1986, Fiedler proposed another contingency model. This was called the Cognitive Resource Theory and attempted to analyse the conditions whereby intelligence, experience, and expertise are predictive indicators of leadership effectiveness. Fiedler stated that the effects of cognitive resources shall be significant only when the leader is able to be direct, when he/ she suffers from little stress, and when the leader has some unique expertise that cannot be performed by other subordinates. The theory formulates the idea that in low-stress situations, the intelligence of the leader has a great impact on the effectivity of the workers, and in high-stress conditions, the leader's expertise gets important. Interestingly, this assumption is not supported by Fiedler's research. An participatory discourse of the contingency theory is Vroom and Yetton's concept of Normative decision theory. Going by this variation, effectiveness of a decision procedure in an organisation is dependent upon various parts of a situation. It emphasises on the significance of the decision quality and acceptance by the people. What is interestingly is the fact that it values the criteria such as the amount of relevant information possessed by the leader and subordinates; under what circumstances would the subordinates accept a decision or try and co-operate in following a decision and the amount of disagreement among subordinates with respect to their preferred alternatives. This variation is definitely preferred over Fiedler's assumptions simple because it takes into account a thorough circumference of problems that the idea of decision making may face. The sheer flexibility, at times

Should Films and Computer Games with Violence be Restricted Essay - 1

Should Films and Computer Games with Violence be Restricted - Essay Example Today this has changed a very large amount when you considers the sorts of computer games and movies that are out now. Games such as Grand Theft Auto are made so users can participate in car theft and murder. Movies like Die Hard show violence as a glorious thing. With these changes in subject matter, a growing amount of people have come to argue that there should be restrictions on computer games and violence. This essay examines this question through an examination of opinions both in favor and against restrictions on film and computer game violence before ultimately arguing that there should be a level of restrictions on violent video games and films. One of the biggest arguments that says restrictions on games and movies should be made is that the violence in these games and films has a desensitizing effects on the viewers and game players. There are lots of different views on this issue. I think probably the most convincing views use psychology in their arguments. For example, Dill (2000) says that people that watch lots of violent movies and play lots of violent games are affected because they â€Å"â€Å"provide a forum for learning and practicing aggressive solutions to conflict situations† and there is the understanding that such violence â€Å"appears to affect aggression by priming aggressive thoughts. Longer-term effects are likely to be longer lasting as well, as the player learns and practices new aggression-related scripts that can become more and more accessible for use when real-life conflict situations arise." If these statements are true then they are very powerful. The argument is saying that by particip ating in violent video games and films, participants are actually able to rehearse how they will act in violent or criminal ways. This perspective is not far-fetched when one considers that violent films often have the viewer to identify with a protagonist who is willing to