Author: Dr. David Ackah, PhD.
Senior Faculty Member, Akamia University
Community Development Department
Abstract
John Adair has a long pedigree in the world of leadership emanating from his time in the military. The Adair model is that the action-centred. The Leader gets the job done through the work team and relationships with fellow managers and staff. According to Adair’s explanation an action-centred leader must: Direct the job to be undertaken in terms of Structuring the Task (task structuring), Support and review the individual people carrying out the tasks, and Co-ordinate and foster the working team as a whole. His famous three circle diagram is a simplification of the variability of human interaction, but is a useful tool for thinking about what constitutes an effective leader/manager in relation to the job he/she has to do. The effective leader/manager carries out the functions and exhibits the behaviours depicted by the three circles. Situational and contingent elements call for different responses by the leader. Hence imagine that the various circles may be bigger or smaller as the situation varies i.e. the leader will give more or less emphasis to the functionally-oriented behaviours according to what the actual situation involves.
Keywords: Models of Leadership and Teamwork
