Running head: PUBLIC LEADERSHIP 1 PUBLIC LEADERSHIP 2 Public Leadership Tina Rice Professor Timothy Smith Pad515 July 26, 2014 Public Leadership Defining the public leader A public leader is a person who holds a public office and serves and guides the community as a whole and should be able to inspire and mobilize others to undertake collective action in pursuit of the common good while at the same time using his/her leadership skills to address pressing social, political and economic problems. He or she has to take up the social,administrative and political functions of a public office.As a public leader is concerned with the welfare of the community as a whole he or she expected to set the vision and maintain it while at the same time making sure that the different groups understand the vision and its ideologies and are well organized and planned for, with the right leaders empowered and involved in problem solving as well as decision making while all the time balancing and managing public opinion (Hart & Uhr, 2008). Public leaders are expected to be committed to and understand the values and importance of the principles of public service with public codes of conducts and ethics as their guides. An example of a public leadership role could be the Chief of Staff at the local government. Leadership Theories In chapter three; models and theories of leadership of Bernard and Ruth’s book, a number of leadership theories and models are discussed but those that would best personify a public leader are (Bernard & Bass, 2011). Participative Theories: Participative leadership theories imply that the best leadership style is one that takes the input of others into account allowing the members to feel like they helped to reach a goal or that it was their idea to start with. Situational Theories: Situational theories came up after the realization that there was no one supreme leader and rather different leaders are best suited for different situations. These theories hold that the effectiveness of a leader is related to his or her behavior based on different situations. It is therefore clear that according to situational theories, a leader has to modify his or her leadership behavior to match with that of the subordinates. In addition, as revealed in situational theories, the leader is supposed to change with the situation at hand. This is because a public leader should be dynamic in different situations while addressing the social, administrative and political functions of his office while at the same time allow for participation of the team working with him. As it involves dealing with many people, public leadership should then not be bureaucratic or lazier faire as this could lead to collapse of the systems and eventual anarchy (Julio, 2014). Based on research, situational theories have four leadership behaviors in regard to the supportive team. These include telling, where the leader shows high behavior of directing and low level of suppo.

1. Running head: PUBLIC LEADERSHIP
1
PUBLIC LEADERSHIP
2
Public Leadership
Tina Rice
Professor Timothy Smith
Pad515
July 26, 2014
Public Leadership
Defining the public leader
A public leader is a person who holds a public office and serves
and guides the community as a whole and should be able to
inspire and mobilize others to undertake collective action in
pursuit of the common good while at the same time using
his/her leadership skills to address pressing social, political and
economic problems. He or she has to take up the
social,administrative and political functions of a public
office.As a public leader is concerned with the welfare of the
community as a whole he or she expected to set the vision and
maintain it while at the same time making sure that the different
groups understand the vision and its ideologies and are well
organized and planned for, with the right leaders empowered
and involved in problem solving as well as decision making
while all the time balancing and managing public opinion (Hart
& Uhr, 2008). Public leaders are expected to be committed to

2. and understand the values and importance of the principles of
public service with public codes of conducts and ethics as their
guides. An example of a public leadership role could be the
Chief of Staff at the local government.
Leadership Theories
In chapter three; models and theories of leadership of Bernard
and Ruth’s book, a number of leadership theories and models
are discussed but those that would best personify a public leader
are (Bernard & Bass, 2011).
Participative Theories: Participative leadership theories imply
that the best leadership style is one that takes the input of others
into account allowing the members to feel like they helped to
reach a goal or that it was their idea to start with.
Situational Theories: Situational theories came up after the
realization that there was no one supreme leader and rather
different leaders are best suited for different situations. These
theories hold that the effectiveness of a leader is related to his
or her behavior based on different situations. It is therefore
clear that according to situational theories, a leader has to
modify his or her leadership behavior to match with that of the
subordinates. In addition, as revealed in situational theories, the
leader is supposed to change with the situation at hand. This is
because a public leader should be dynamic in different
situations while addressing the social, administrative and
political functions of his office while at the same time allow for
participation of the team working with him. As it involves
dealing with many people, public leadership should then not be
bureaucratic or lazier faire as this could lead to collapse of the
systems and eventual anarchy (Julio, 2014). Based on research,
situational theories have four leadership behaviors in regard to
the supportive team. These include telling, where the leader
shows high behavior of directing and low level of supporting.
The second is selling, which shows both high directive and
supportive behaviors. The other behaviors are participating and
delegating (Bernard & Bass, 2011).
Leadership Styles

3. There are four major leadership styles but those that would best
suit a public officer are.
Bureaucratic leadership: very slow in getting results and is
characterized by the strict adherence to organizational rules and
policies. It ensures quality, increases security and reduces
corruption but discourages creativity and hence robs employees
the feeling of having made positive contribution.
Democratic/Participative leadership style: The leader invites
and encourages input from all members but reserves the right of
making the final decision. This leads to a very involved and
satisfied team (Julio, 2014).
This is because when dealing with the public especially with
large amounts of funds for example a grant to a local
government office, all measures need to be taken to prevent
corruption and the bureaucratic style of leadership has best
checks in place to prevent this while the participative leadership
style allows for the needs of all participants to be presented
(Hart & Uhr, 2008).
The Bureaucratic leader’s effectiveness is high on reduction of
corruption and blocking of any loopholes that could be used to
mismanage public funds or distort the official process and
procedures to be followed in a public office by the officer
during the carrying out of his duties and therefore the public
can be assured of transparency from the already laid down
procedural codes and also no discrepancies will arise as there is
already well laid down footprint of what to do and when and
how (Bernard & Bass, 2011). This leadership style is however
very slow in getting results because of all the procedures and
steps involved and where quick decisions are needed and quick
results this leadership style would be ill-fitted to achieve them.
It however pays in the long run as the results are unquestionable
where procedure was followed. For example as the chief of staff

4. and I needed to get reading material over and above what is
already provided for and I followed the right procedure,
wherein there must be a rule on how to go about the same, it
would not bring up questions of mismanagement as I would
have gotten the authorization from the system created for such
situations and thus I as the leader would be protected (Hart &
Uhr, 2008).
The democratic or Participative leadership style just as the
bureaucratic leadership style not only covers the leader but is
very effective in that for starters it is faster and is owned by
everyone and no one can claim later that they were not
consulted (Julio, 2014). Its effectiveness is seen also in the
commitment of the members of the team as they have a sense of
ownership of the decisions reached and even if changes occur
they bear them easily because they feel they played a part, this
may leave some disgruntled members but where the decisions
were reached democratically the few who lose out will at least
have been part of the process and their dissent can be quelled by
the majority voice (Bernard & Bass, 2011). This leadership
style also allows for the best solution to be employed from the
many suggestions. For example in a case where as the chief of
staff I would want to implement a project to benefit those who
would be attending leadership classes, it would be prudent to
hear them out on how they would want it done eventually
choosing the best fit that does not alienate the students and at
the same time remains procedural. The effectiveness of this
leadership style can be seen in that the whole process could be
carried out in one sitting for example a discussion among us and
the decision implemented right away.
References
Bernard, M. & Bass, R. (2011). The Bass Handbook of
Leadership: Theory, Research, and
Managerial Applications, chapter 3, pages 47-64.
Hart, P. ., & Uhr, J. (2008). Public leadership pespectives and
practices. Acton, A.C.T: ANU E

5. Press.
Julio, W. (2014). Types of Leadership styles
Retrieved from
http://www.academia.edu/474807/Types_of_Leadership_styles
Running Head: LEADERSHIP THEORIES AND STYLES
1
LEADERSHIP THEORIES AND STYLES
2
Leadership Theories and Styles
Tina Rice
Strayer University
Professor Timothy Smith
Pad 515
Leadership Theories and Styles
Based on the response to an earlier question on leadership
theories and styles, I have decided to analyze the effectiveness
of both the theories and styles by a brief discussion about two
renowned public leaders, John Quincy Adams and Betty
Williams.
To begin with, John Quincy Adams is a leader who had essayed
many other roles in the field of public service even before
becoming the sixth president of the United States of America.
He is known as a man who portrayed both participative and
situational theories of leadership as well as bureaucratic and
democratic leadership styles. Despite the fact that patriotism
was in blood, he was also a man of extraordinary intellect
whose personality was that of recluse making him not to
socialize much. He is well known for his strong spirit of never
giving up in anything and his statement, “try and fail but don’t

6. fail to try” has been a motivation to many upcoming young
public leaders (Northouse, 2012).
On the other hand, Betty Williams, a female leader is renowned
for her endless effort and dedication in trying to bring harmony
and promote peace all over the world. Nothing could prevent
her from raising her voice and denouncing all the evils of the
society and increasing menace of terrorism in the world not
even the fact that she did not have a strong political background
or even was she a political figure. The theories and styles of
leadership portrayed in her are very important for any person
entrusted with leadership by people. This is based on the
statement that, “real leadership is when everyone else feels in
charge (Northouse, 2012).”
The two leaders have similarities in leadership goals. As a
president, Adams was a very great diplomat and he fought
against the expansion of slavery with the aim of making every
person feel free, live and experience peace and harmony.
Similarly, Betty Williams is a very strong female leader known
for her quest in promoting peace and harmony in the world
through condemning the evils among the society and all kind of
terrorism in general. The only slight difference between the two
leaders is that Adams served the people while in office as a
president while on the other hand, betty served with no political
powers connections whatsoever because even in her personality,
she was not a political figure (Rahim, 2011).
However, the two characters seem to have patriotism in their
blood since political power was not the only driving force
behind their leadership since Adams continued being a public
leader even after his presidency term was over. Therefore, they
both manifested a true leadership by birth in that they were born
leaders, not made leaders. They portrayed leadership not out of
opportunity but out of duty and there was no way they could
betray the trust people had for them. They had strong sense of
leadership despite the difference in them in terms of gender.
They sought and gave advice from their elders and to their
juniors hence their supervisors and subordinates viewed each of

7. the as a good and responsible leader (Rahim, 2011).
It has not been an easy task for researchers to evaluate the
presidency of John Adams and one of his greatest achievements
had been making peace with France. He was a very strong
president who had the ability of mediating between competing
interests and this quality enabled him to endure the violent
political passions of the time. His view of the office and his
destination of parties and factions rendered him incompetent of
bridging the constitutional separation of powers through party
leadership. On the other hand, Betty’s strength mostly lied in
the powerful believes she had. She made people realize the
importance of effective leadership when she quoted that it takes
wisdom to know that while we cannot singlehandedly change
the world, we can all make a dent in the universe if only we are
prepared to step up and be leaders (Carter, D'Souza, Simkins,
& Simpson, 2010).
Being prepared for challenges was one of the strengths of Betty
Williams in that she understood that despite the work done, the
road to peace was going to be long and painful, with sufferings
alongside it, and violence would still be continually experienced
for some time before peace is achieved. Dedication in her dream
inspired her and she knew she had had witnessed enough of the
senseless deaths and she could no longer simply accept the
constant random violence of life something which made her
determined to do something about it. She however confessed
that she was in shock most of the times she moved around
motivating people to second her peace petition (Nagel, Rudick,
Abramowitch, Spring, Moalli, Al Snih, & Black, 2011).
Being granted the honor of leadership is being entrusted with a
responsibility. Generally, the times we live require a wise
choice in terms of leadership. Before becoming a leader one
needs to have a high self discipline and respect for ones self and
other people always. Some of the strengths of leaders lie in the
good qualities they have, for instance, courage to make hard
decisions, recognition of ones accountability to people, a clear
vision for the future, the ability to see things, not simply as they

8. are but as they ought to be and above all, flexibility. There are
lots of factors that can impact my ability of becoming a public
leader. The greatest strength that I possess is being flexible.
Flexibility to learn, improve as well adjusting within a
convenient time in the event of any change is a strong factor
that I think can influence my ability of becoming a public leader
(Böhm, Collen, Baillie, Bowles, Chanson, Cox, & Cheylan,
2013).
However, flexibility does not most of the times depend on itself
but it is greatly supported by the ability to communicate, and
both qualities sum up my strength which makes me believe that
I can make it to be a public leader. This is because I have
learned and realized that leadership without good
communication is not always effective. A leader has to be ready
to welcome the different peoples ideas since people from
different cultures want to be listened to and their problems
solved. Therefore, good communication skills and flexibility
will in turn lead to good and acceptable leadership. Personally,
I suggest that my flexibility character, which is empowered by
the ability to communicate as well as the willingness to listen,
is the overall strength that can influence my ability to become
an effective and a reputable public leader (Carter, D'Souza,
Simkins & Simpson, 2010).
References
Böhm, M., Collen, B., Baillie, J. E., Bowles, P., Chanson, J.,
Cox, N., ... & Cheylan, M. (2013). The conservation status of
the world’s reptiles. Biological Conservation, 157, 372-385.
Carter, D. A., D'Souza, F., Simkins, B. J., & Simpson, W. G.
(2010). The gender and ethnic diversity of US boards and board
committees and firm financial performance. Corporate
Governance: An International Review, 18(5), 396-414.
Nagel, J. D., Rudick, J., Abramowitch, S., Spring, J., Moalli, P.,
Al Snih, S., ... & Black, A. R. (2011). Abstracts from the NIH
Office of Research on Women's Health Eighth Annual
Interdisciplinary Women's Health Research Symposium

9. November 17, 2011: Eighth Annual NIH Interdisciplinary
Women's Health Research Symposium November 17, 2011.
Journal of Women's Health, 20(10), 1382-1413.
Northouse, P. G. (2012). Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage
Publications.
Rahim, M. A. (2011). Managing conflict in organizations. New
Brunswick [NJ: Transaction.