Leadership has to do with exercising of influence by the leader over the perspectives, feelings, attitude and actions of subordinates. Leadership influence the behavior of the employees within an organization in relation to fulfilling the goals of the organization. Leaders should master the skill of motivating subordinates so that their knowledge, skills and abilities culminates into much energy and better performance in the organization (Choi, Kim, & Kang, 2017; Hayat et al., 2015). The leader’s central objective is to offer direction, drive intensity and inspire healthy work-related behaviors. This paper explores leadership motivation, contingency leadership and influencing styles as it applies to effective leaders Vis a Vis the ineffective ones, considering directly the leadership of James N. Mattis and Mark T. Esper.
Leadership Motivation
Motivation is goal-focused aspect that enables a leader attain the objectives of the organization by encouraging the team members to be involved in attaining the goals. To demonstrate the fundamental motivational leadership skills, the leader should be aware of the needs of team members (Lussier & Achua, 2016). By caring for the employees, it means that the leaders have a comprehensive knowledge of motivational factors regarding others. Delegation and empowerment, as well as good communication and creativity are critical in being a good motivational leader in an organization (Rawat, 2015). A leader should demonstrate the best behaviors and characteristic to develop good relationship with other employees. The leadership can motivate by either showing concern for production or concern for people. Therefore, the leader should recognize and make deliberate attempts to provide both production and people leadership. The goal is to make employees be focused and pursuing certain outcomes that favor the organization.
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As a leader, James Mattis has strong motivational skills as well as the teammates that are working along with him. He ensures that he facilitates the training and passage of knowledge to all team members to enable them develop and acquire knowledge and skills to do their work with great confidence. He applies hierarchy of needs theory as a model for his leadership (Bachrach & Mullins, 2019). He is motivated to meet the needs of all the employees regardless of their position in the organization. His goal is that each employee would attain his maximum potential and concurrently producing a better output to the organization. He is also recognized for enabling a good working environment for his team members such that they can deliver their best. Hayat et al (2015) reiterate that in such cases, employees have no excuse but to deliver quality as their needs are cared for to the maximum. The undoing of Mattis leadership style is that sometimes he selectively works with some employees while ignoring the rest. This is because it may be difficult to bring all the employees on board at ago. However, a good working environment can be ensured for all the employees.
As for Mark T. Esper, he is known for being an idea generator and a leader who is always convincing but only wants his points to pass. The leader is not always willing to accommodate or even appreciate the thoughts of the team members. As such, they cannot be motivated to give their best. The team members deserve to be motivated to be confident about their decisions and the activities they engage in (Choi, Kim & Kang, 2017). Leadership motivation is not just being a convincing individual but it is about being confident of one’s self and motivating others to be the same (Hayat et al., 2015). The focus of Esper is on the application of two-factor model where the employees are motivated particularly by the maintenance factors. He is interested in providing good working conditions and offering good pay as well as job security providing he gets results he expects. However, he is not strategic in terms of maintaining good relationships with the team members, so that many employees have been laid offs in the process.
Contingency Leadership
Contingency leadership entails a leader being flexible so that he can quickly respond to various circumstances of the organization. He can allow changes to the organization considering the situations at hand by projecting risks or having another way of doing things. Contingency leadership is about the leader being ready to react to both favorable and unfavorable circumstances of the organization (Bachrach & Mullins, 2019). This type of leadership consider leader-subordinates relations. That is, the leader has a way of associating with his followers or team members to help the contingency model of leadership to be successful. It is about providing a work environment that would allow the team members to be confident to make decisions and respond to circumstances in the work place (Hayat et al., 2015). The followers feel recognized between the hierarchies, which enhances their confidence. The organization can attain its goals, as the employees will be encouraged to commit to their work.
In contingency leadership, the leader is clear about the project that needs to be executed. The leader specifies the techniques and instructions to be adhered to attain the goals and the final product. The subordinates can easily keep and adhere to the instructions. The leader can also assess the progress and process of the project (Lussier & Achua, 2016). In this kind of model, the leader is in charge of specific tasks. Confusion about the tasks can prompt unwarranted anxiety among the subordinated, which culminates into inappropriate decisions and failure in the leadership. Proper power is accorded to the leader to spearhead the project and the subordinates should follow up with him (Choi, Kim, & Kang, 2017). The leader to subordinates association should be solid and trust is a good element. Through that, there will be an effective leadership in the organization.
James Mattis’ leadership style was based on integrity, genuineness and humility. He is one individual who believed that he must disciple other leaders to take on his personality and behavior. He has a personality of humility and always endeavoring to be at the frontline of doing things and showing integrity, which is an aspect of contingency leadership. He was relationship motivated so that he was fulfilled by creating and sustaining relationships with followers. He used to encourage other leaders to expect and demonstrate excellence themselves (Bachrach & Mullins, 2019). That is, leaders will be more successful if they serve and engage for the team members. While utilizing the path-goal leadership model, Mattis clarified the path by engaging the followers so that they can recognize and adopt behaviors that amount to achievement and rewards. He has testified of his studying skills, particularly the history to boost his skills as a leader. He always has a way of how to handle any situations arising in the process of completion of goals of the organization. As such, he is supportive for any ideas or decisions that may help to accomplish their goals and equip them for better results.
On the other hand, normative leadership model is dominant in Esper's tenure so that he took charge in terms of balancing between his views and that of the boss’s. He was careful not to be seen to be leaning towards Secretary Mattis or President Trump. However, he affirmed that he held Mattis' views with high regard to promote United States' traditional alliances (Bachrach & Mullins, 2019). Thus, Esper made his decision and announced to the public through forums. He is one leader that has been seen to share the problem with the followers in a group, accept their suggestions and make a determination on what direction to take singly. Considering the situation of Esper, he had to apply normative model because there was a need for making a specific decision even if it contradicted Trump's agenda. The guiding line is the possible US expectations of yearning to fight the Taliban, al-Qaeda and any terrorist groups successfully through his leadership.
Influencing Styles
Influencing in leadership is very critical, as the leader is able to persuade the team members to his way of thinking. Power is fundamental to getting things going, and can operate within either ethical or unethical domains (Bachrach & Mullins, 2019). The dynamics of politics is that the subordinates are manipulated to believe in the leader and commit to a course that would profit the organization that one is leading. Leaders dealing will various team members must convince individuals from different cultural perspectives to engage together to attain a universal goal. The leader uses logic and facts to influence the team members, by establishing a common ground and verifying its credibility (Rawat, 2015). To influence the employees effectively, the leaders uses power and political frameworks to consult and collaborate with colleagues to discuss on the matters of the organization.
James Mattis utilized power to influence his followers by sticking to good code of ethics. With good moral code such as integrity and humility, the followers found it easy to pursue the objectives of the organization because they were under a leader that they could trust (Rawat, 2015). Mattis was able to use legitimate power to appropriate his goals and what he believed to be right for the nation. However, when through consultations he realized that the decisions or impressions of Trump opposed his philosophies of life and leadership, he had to resign from his position. This showed the use of rational persuasion to deal with the president over whom Mattis had no authority.
Mark Esper has been successful in influencing through steering negotiations. He has led the current negotiations with the Taliban, whereby on behalf of the United States he is seeking the confirmation of Afghanistan not to be utilized again as a ground for terrorism against America (Hayat et al., 2015). Specifically, the withdrawal of foreign forces is one part of the negotiations with the Taliban, besides the issue of eliminating violence and making affirmations not to counterattack the United States. Esper uses coercive power to influence the followers such that they are always threatened to work to avoid being sucked. Esper does not entertain idleness and employees that are not able to accomplish their objectives may not work long with him. Coercive power is only essential when used to ensure discipline and not for self-interest (Rawat, 2015). This has been the undoing of Esper, as he promptly suck anyone that is infringing his interests.
Conclusion
Organizations should put systems in place to make sure that they recognize and develop leaders that can positively influence, motivate and demonstrate contingency leadership.
Through comprehensive evaluation and development programs, organizations can develop aggressive leaders that have the capacity to identify loopholes and handle them from the beginning. With good influencing and motivation skills, the leader will be able to manage any talent gaps. They shape team members that have precise skills and qualities, which is essential for sustainable achievement of an organization. With power and demonstrating contingency leadership, the leader can implement company strategies with success and fulfil future demands.
References
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Choi, S. B., Kim, K., & Kang, S. W. (2017). Effects of transformational and shared leadership styles on employees' perception of team effectiveness. Social Behavior and Personality: an international journal , 45 (3), 377-386.
Hayat, A., Maleki Hasanvand, M., Nikakhlag, S., & Dehghani, M. R. (2015). The role of leadership styles in knowledge management processes. Journal of Health Management & Informatics , 2 (2), 41-46.
Lussier, R. N., & Achua, C. F. (2016). Leadership: Theory Application and Skill Development . USA: Cengage Learning.
Rawat, S. R. (2015). Impact of transformational leadership over employee morale and motivation. Indian Journal of Science and Technology , 8 , 25.
