I do not agree with Fiedler’s belief that people have one dominant leadership style and cannot change styles because as people grow and have more experiences in life and in professional settings, the way they handle situations and approach leadership may vary drastically from when they were younger. Their leadership styles and approaches may not have been the best style for a particular situation which may have led them to adapt and change their leadership styles to their environment. I also agree that time is an important situational factor when selecting a leadership style in a situation because when a person has more time to think through their decision to select the best choice, they have more opportunity to lean on their coworkers for advice or include their employees in the decision. If it is a time-sensitive decision, there may not be enough time to facilitate a meeting to come to a decision. A decision might need to be made executively.
I think the Path-Goal Leadership Theory is best because it emphasizes leadership as a way to motivate employees in order to help them achieve goals. Using this theory, the leader and their subordinates would define the end goal and outline the objectives in how to meet this goal. I believe that this theory is best because I believe leaders should lead through motivation, support and creating a healthy and encouraging work environment. As a leader, I would plan to use the Normative Leadership Theory because I think it is helpful in outlining when it is most appropriate and necessary to make decisions on your own, or to include your employees, or to delegate the task completely to another person. I would do this by following the model questions to determine an appropriate leadership style or create my own set of questions or guidelines that helps me decide depending on the situation. As a leader, I would like to involve my employees because I believe a leader and their followers together should create a healthy team. While there may be instances where it is unnecessary or inappropriate to involve them, I would try my best to involve them as most as I can so they can contribute to the decision making of the agency, etc.