Positive Leadership Model

Leadership has a history that in all likelihood goes back farther than human civilization. Leadership can be thought of as the act of leading a group of people, an organization, or even an entire country. From an industrial and organizational (I/O) psychological viewpoint, the definition of leadership may shift slightly since a psychologist would try to understand what factors have the greatest significance in creating positive leadership. One of the issues that arise when trying to define leadership is the wide variety of models for leadership, as well as leadership styles. Choosing one, or more specifically choosing the right one, can be a challenge. Demonstrating the right style and model in the right environment may be the key to a successful …show more content…
Congruence between a leader and the society that supports them, is necessary for a leader to be followed (Mustafa & Lines, 2013). This can be demonstrated in individual versus collective societies in which different values will give rise to different types of leaders. Individualistic societies tend to associate a higher degree of significance to personal versus group interest (Mustafa & Lines, 2013). The opposite is generally true of collectivist, with greater emphasis put on group interests. These societal variations are likely to be seen within an organization also, and play a part in how a leader would be expected to lead. Depending on the situation, there are times when an organization may find shared leadership and group performance an alternative to more traditional leadership behavior (Drescher, Korsgaard, Welpe, Picot, & Wigand, …show more content…
Instilling a sense of leadership into a team can bring about many of the positive features of a group, like pooling resources, security, and shared goals (Markman, 2012). The focus then becomes one of minimizing the potential negative aspects of a group, while maximizing the positive potential. How a group sees itself can influence its views, which in turn can impact the decisions that are made; a leader can directly help to increase self-awareness, while also creating a safe environment for a group. Creating a culture in which information, even unfavorable information, can be shared without fear of reprisal, will help to keep a group from experiencing such things as group polarization and groupthink (Aamodt, 2016; Wu & Wang, 2014). The productivity of groups and teams can also be improved, particularly when a transformational style of leadership is used. In a study by Wu and Wang (2014), it was shown that transformational leadership positively influenced the group affective tone, which allowed for a team to become strengthened and be more proactive in its general approach to