Lmx Theory Case Study

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Before proceeding, let me begin by asking what is the difference between a leader and an individual with authority? Both of these people have their own sense of power however a leader could determine the success of an organisation. An authorised individual makes decisions similarly but it does not mean that these decisions are good. On the other hand, a leader makes decisions with the organisation 's benefit and goals in mind. Stan Slap once said, "When you’re a manager, you work for your company. When you’re a leader, your company works for you" which describes the difference between a leader and a merely authorised individual.
As many organisational theorists have acknowledged the impact leaderships possess, there have been many debates over …show more content…

Through the LMX theory, Hannah and Jen are not initially labelled as having two separate styles of leadership but are instead categorised by the relationship they have with their subordinates first, which will later result in a categorisation of their leadership styles to control the situation. As mentioned earlier, these are the in-group and out-group subordinates. When Jen 's subordinates came to her to express their dissatisfaction and stress of the changes made, they did not end up receiving the response they had hoped for. This instance shows just how unfavourable the interaction between Jen and her subordinate is. Jen 's lack of consideration and emotion in her communication with her subordinate lead to a failure of reassuring her subordinate during a dilemma. Based on the LMX theory, the most likely outcome of this instance would be the subordinate turning into an out-group member which could harm their performance. This is however merely an assumption of what might happen, although the outcome strongly depends on how Jen chooses to communicate with her subordinates after this. This could result in Jen having just a supervising style of leadership or readjusting her method of communicating with her subordinates by putting her personal ideologies aside to not end up of affecting the overall performance of the department. Changing her method of communication will strengthen the bond between her …show more content…

Although the model analysed effective leadership within organisation, it neglected the power of dynamic interaction which strongly influences the changes in behaviour and roles in an organisation. Also, Azul (200) stated that organisations need to be aware of the needs of their subordinates in order to better accomplish the organisation 's mission. In later years, the LMX theory was introduced and was proven to have a more accurate insight as it was based on actual on-the-job research which provide a more realistic and practical approach on how leadership functions within organisations, which gives the LMX theory an advantage over the contingency theory when it comes to understanding the impact and effectiveness of leadership within organisations as well as how to utilise methods to improve

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