Job Description

An example of a mid-level leadership position in an organization is a warehouse manager.

Some Of the main responsibilities of this leadership position includes hiring and training new employees, overseeing operations and employees at the warehouse, dealing with conflicts and ethical issues in the workplace as well as monitoring the quality of services provided by employees.

Another major responsibility of this leadership position is making work schedules for the employees and accommodating to last minute changes in the schedule. The warehouse managers main goal is to make sure operations at the warehouse run smoothly and efficiently.

Defining Leadership-Member Exchange (LMX) Theory

Leadership-Member Exchange Theory explains the different interpersonal exchanges between a leader/manager and their subordinates, characterized by physical/mental effort and amount of support received (Liden).

The theory observes the relationship of leaders and members as an exchange consisting of two types: the first type was a relationship was the internal group involving certain responsibilities, particular treatment, and additional roles; and the second type of relationship was the external group classified with more formality, such as defined roles and employment contracts, and structure within its relationship (Erdeji, 2016).

The distinguishing factor between the internal and external group is an initiative factor, whether a member is willing to take the initiative to go the extra mile to carry out a task and build further mutual trust or only willing to stay within their bounds of employment and responsibilities (Erdeji, 2016). Roles on the job are not always set in stone, leaders are able to mold a member to fit a job description or develop roles through the leader-member exchange (Liden).

In order to further understand the LMX theories two models were created by Liden and Diensech. In the first model, verbatim, the initial interaction between leader and member is the first step in their model, the characteristics of both leader and member will influence the reaction; the second step involves the leader testing the member through work-related assignments; next a member makes attributions regarding the assignment and performance; lastly, the leader make evaluated attributions regarding member work and behavior (Liden).

The second model was presented by Graen and Scandura, and is much more simplistic, defining the developmental process in three stages: role taking - leader assigns task to member, where the member responds, and then is evaluated by leader; role making - leader-member relationship is defined in an informal structure, however leader and member must exchange resource valued by the opposite party; and role routinization - the final phase where leader and member relationship becomes set in stone and a stable mutual understanding is reached (Liden).

The leader-member exchange is a great predictor of job satisfaction, particularly in the case study conducted with a cruise tourism organization it was found that members with a greater LMX with their leaders portrayed greater job satisfaction because they had a greater sense of trust, affection, and respect, which increased member commitment to the organization (Erdeji, 2016).

Other research on LMX has exhibited that 90% of organizations/businesses are separated by LMX theories, and 10% of leaders have an exact same exchange between two different members, more often than not most leader-member exchanges are unique to each individual member and their leader (Liden).

Having a good LMX between a leader and member is great, however under the circumstance a member has a bad LMX with a leader and is placed in the out-group, that members performance will not be as high, the member will not feel a sense of belonging and will observe certain biases against him, and the overall work outcome is low (Le Blanc).

Overall, the LMX theory is used by all leader whether consciously or unconsciously because leaders interact with members daily, but in order to use the LMX theory to its full potential leaders must strive to decrease the number of members in the external group, and strive to increase the number of people in the internal group, because as a result effectiveness and efficiency in work output and performance will increase.

Question: Identify 3 challenges that the leader faces in his/her position (Provide challenges detail, basic on theory)