George Hanbury, Alka Sapat, and Charles Washington

¶ … George Hanbury, Alka Sapat, and Charles Washington and published in the article "Know Yourself and Take Charge of Your Own Destiny: the 'Fit Model' of Leadership," found that there is a direct correlation between the way that those in authority deal with their subordinates. There are different theories and ideas about how the correct leader for a group should be determined. One theory, the "fit model" of leadership states that people who are the best fit for a position of leadership should be the ones who are chosen to fill those roles. Fitness has to do with the knowledge that a person has of an organization or the purposes of that organization. They must have a personality as well as a psychological profile which is complimentary to the general makeup of the employees or subordinates within the given setting. It also refers to their ability to lead in a general sense and the way that they can get others to perform their job efficiently and of suitable quality. This particular research examines fitness and whether or not this fit model of leadership actually produces better or more appropriate leaders.

This research examines the fitness model as it applies to the office of city manager. Ultimately they found six factors which to use in order to determine a manager's fitness for his or her position. These include: his or her leadership style, his or her personality type, his or perception about their fit in the position of leadership, the way that members of the city council view the person's fitness, the demographics which the city council is made up of, and the demographics of the population of the city in which the individual is managing. Leadership style is an important factor in determining fitness because if a person's style does not fit in with the rest of the employees, within the city office in this case, then that leader will not be effective. If he or she is more dictatorial and the employees are used to being cooperative and dynamic, then the manager will not be successful. The opposite is also true; if the employees are used to being micro-managed then they will be unlikely to do well if a new leader is more open and asking the employees to self-start. The individual's personality will have a similar impact on fitness. A person who is more serious will not be as easily accepted in a workplace environment that is used to being lighter and more humorous just as a looser individual will be less likely to fit in an office which has hitherto been all business. Perception will also impact fitness in that the way that an individual presents him or herself will be directly related to the way that he or she views himself. If they believe themselves to have certain characteristics then they will be far more likely to depend on these characteristics in dealing with their employees. The same holds true for the way that the individual is perceived by others, particularly members of the city council or people who are also in positions of authority. The way that they view a city manager will influence the level of freedom that the manager is granted and how much the council acts in opposition or in support to that person. Demographics and their relationship to fitness have a great deal to do with the characteristics of the city in question. Within any environment there is statistical evidence to show that the people who populate the area tend to prefer members of government or other local authority offices where the person looks like them in some way. Whether it is ethnicity, nationality, religion, or gender, there is a tendency to vote in or support the appointment of a person who is representative of the majority civilian population.