Understanding leadership

Have a go at the following multiple choice questions to see how well you have understood traditional approaches to leadership

Question 1: What are the main functions of a good manager? (tick all that apply)

Organising
Motivating
Communicating

Controlling
Negotiating

Planning
Influencing

A good manager takes in all of these attributes. A good manager also needs to be a good leader and possess both hard and soft skills.

Question 2: What are the main attributes of a 'great man' leader? (tick all that apply)

Physically inactive
Male
Female

Healthy
Intelligent

Taller than average
Working class

The main attributes of a 'great man' leader are being taller than average, intelligent, male, and healthy.

Question 3: Which of the below statements best describes a laissez-faire leader?

Someone who is lazy and lets the team make their own decisions because the leader can't be bothered.

Someone who is too busy doing other things and just leaves the team to their own devices.

Someone who has built confidence and trust into their team so the team knows they are capable of making their own decisions with the leader's help and support when required.

A laissez-faire leader is one who has built confidence and trust into their team so the team knows they are capable of making their own decisions with the leader's help and support when required.

Question 4: Which of these statements best describes the functional/group leader approach?

The leader must focus on getting the job done and make sure the team and the individuals do this in whatever way necessary.

The leader needs to consider what is most important in each situation and adapt their behaviour accordingly.

The leader must be team focussed at all times - even at the expense of getting the task done.

In the functional/group leader approach the leader needs to consider what is most important in each situation and adapt their behaviour accordingly.

Question 5: Which statement best describes a contingency approach to leadership?

The leader needs to consider their personality, the needs of the task and the needs of the team when making decisions.

There is always a best and one way to make decisions and one should always stick to this.

A leader should think about themselves first when making a decision.

A good leader should ignore their own personality characteristics and focus on the task and the group needs.

In the contingency approach to leadership the leader needs to consider their personality, the needs of the task and the needs of the team when making decisions.

This resource was developed as part of an Erasmus+ project, funded with support from the European Commission under grant agreement 2016-1-SE01-KA203-22064.

The project was a collaboration between:

The University of Borås, Sweden
The University of the Highlands and Islands, Scotland
The University of Alcalá, Spain
Digital Connections, Scotland

This resource has been released under Creative Commons license CC-BY-SA 4.0.

If you would like more information on this resource please contact:

Academic content – The University of the Highlands and Islands (www.uhi.ac.uk)
Technical resource development – The University of the Highlands and Islands Educational Development Unit - EDU (edu@uhi.ac.uk)

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Understanding leadership

Contingency approaches

Contingency approaches

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