Style Of Leadership: Tannenbaum And Schmidt's Leadership Continuum Model

The second style of leadership that I used was based off of Tannenbaum and Schmidt 's leadership continuum model. This model ranks leaders on a single dimension between autocratic (1), and participative (7), with each increasing number introducing more participation into the decision making process (Lussier & Achua, 2007). Several factors in this model help to determine what level of participation should be employed, and they are the leader, the subordinates, and the situation (Lussier & Achua, 2007). The leader’s style is important in determining which level is appropriate, because an autocratic leader is not going to be able to lead as effectively in a highly participative environment, and vise-versa. Likewise, the followers preferences are a factor, too, for largely the same reasons listed above for the leaders. Lastly, the situational factors such as goals, structure, and most importantly, time also place constraints on …show more content…
Also, the situation in which this type of leadership is effective, and the situation in which I was operating, match up very well. This is best exemplified in the computer work that was done for the project. One of my out of class followers had previous computer experience from a summer job that he held for two years in a row, so he was assigned the task, and was left pretty much to do his thing, as he knew best what needed to be done. I did stop in to check up on him frequently, but this utilized his internal locus of control, and exemplifies my consideration of his relative expertise in the area, and his interest in the job to which I assigned him. All of these three styles are from different models, but they are really very similar, in every one the leader is fairly participative, but reserves decision making authority, and has a high concern for production, and a moderate to high concern for his