Leadership Theory Research Paper
Summary of the theory or approach
Hersey-Blanchard situational leadership theory explains that there is no single leadership style that is best. According to the theorists, effective leaders are the individuals with the ability to adapt their styles to the situation by analyzing the nature of group and type of task, among other factors that are likely to cause successful completion of the task. According to Hersey & Blanchard (1997), the leader’s expression of realistic and high expectation often results in high performers amongst the followers while low expectations often lead to low motivation and performance of the followers. Situational leadership theory is founded on the fact that good leaders must develop the commitment and competence of the followers to ensure that they are self-motivated instead of being dependent on the leader’s guidance and direction.
Good Leadership and how One Can Demonstrate it
This leadership theory is considered one of the most influential in that it entails telling, participating, selling, and delegating. According to this theory, the leader tells the followers how and why they should undertake the particular task by selling their message or ideas to the group members while participating while allowing the members to assume active role in establishing decisions and coming up with new ideas (Blanchard, Zigarmi, & Nelson, 1993). It is also characterized by leaders who are less involved due to the adoption of a hands-off approach of leadership whereby the members make the highest decisions and make most of the decisions. Success in this style of leadership is often demonstrated by a high degree of maturity of participating individuals and the ability of leadership to match the most effective style of leadership depending on their efficiency and maturity.
According to this model, good leadership is often demonstrated by understanding individual capabilities and knowing that there is no single leadership style that is good for all employees. As such, leaders understand that the group of members who have the lowest maturity often lack the willingness, knowledge, and skills to execute tasks and should be talked to and shown how to undertake particular activities. Group members who are enthusiastic and willing but lack the ability to execute the tasks should be guided by selling, a strategy that entails the back and forth process between the leaders and their followers whereby the leaders sell their ideas and expect the group members to follow. Employees who show a level three of maturity often display appropriate skills and the ability to complete the tasks, although they lack the willingness. Such a group of individuals are often encouraged to participate in that the leader often provides direction while allowing the members to get involved in active roles in the establishment of new ideas and the implementation of ideas.
On the other hand, employees who show a high level of maturity are classified under M3 (maturity 3) in that they are highly skilled and have the willingness to execute the tasks. Leading such a group of people often entails delegating according to this approach in that such group members show a high capability to make decisions and take responsibility for their actions. As such, this leadership style is considered effective in that the leadership focuses on flexibility such that leaders are able to adapt to the demands of the situation and their followers. Additionally, this style is viable in that it helps leaders to avoid the pitfalls that are often associated with a single style approach by understanding that there are distinct ways of handling problems and that leaders should be able to assess situations and as well as the level of maturity in order to determine the most effective approach. As such, situational theories often provide greater consideration for complex and dynamic situations and the strengths of individuals who contribute to the outcome rather than on the leader’s ability to provide directives and commands.
Ethical Perspective and Emphasis of Situational Leadership Theory
Situational leadership is considered one of the few theories that meet the relevant criteria of ethics of care in that both approaches tend to share a significant emphasis on specificity. This leadership theory establishes the context of the leader’s influential behavior as that of an individual attending to a significant other and the tasks being performed. This is because, situational leaders often demonstrate a high degree of sensitivity and empathy to the other person’s needs of willingness, ability, dependencies in the completion of a particular task. It is also considered ethical in that it demonstrates a responsive action of the leader as one who is caring enough to achieve the willingness needs and ability of a specific task performer in a particular context. This is because the leader matches the behavior of the leader to the readiness level of a particular performer. As 2019 explains, these leaders tend to demonstrate leadership as a consistent and coherent relationship with a specific task performer in a manner that is characterized by sensitivity to the performer’s willingness, ability, and adaptive action to respond to the needs and different changes in needs. Unlike other leadership strategies, the situational leader often emphasizes and sympathizes with the task performer while showing care and concern to their ability and willingness to execute the tasks
Relationship between Leaders and Followers According to this Approach
Situational leadership often views the relationship between the leaders and their followers as one that is founded on a mix of supportive and behavioral behavior such as to match the performer’s readiness level in terms of willingness and ability to the task performer. Rather than focusing on the task, the leader’s focal point of caring influence is the performer’s ability to execute the task as required. As such, individuals who demonstrate low supportive and high directive behaviors are often led in an instructing style while those who show high supportive and high directive are led through a mentoring style. Those who show high supportive and low directive behaviors are led through a reassuring style while those with a low directive and low supportive behaviors are led through an entrusting style. Unlike other styles of leadership where the relationship between the leader and the follower is one of control, the relationship in this style of leadership is one of support and behavioral analysis in terms of maturity levels and willingness to complete particular tasks. The leader often aims at developing the commitment and competence of the followers to ensure that they are self-motivated and not dependent on the leadership.
Practical Applications of this Approach
During my internship, I experienced this leadership approach and considered it one of the most influential leadership tactics. Upon my arrival, the leader in charge realized that I was an enthusiastic beginner who had high commitment but low competence. As such, the leader provided specific instructions on how I would perform the task as a result of limited knowledge. He started by “telling” which progressed to “selling” as I developed some competence in the tasks but had low motivation owing to setbacks in the organization. At this, the leader offered direction while delving to explain the purpose and benefit of remaining motivated and executing the tasks as expected. By the end of the internship period, I had achieved a higher degree of competence although my commitment was still lagging behind owing to other academic commitments. With this, the leader engaged me in “participating” by ensuring that I participated in making decisions on how tasks were to be executed in the organization. At this, my supervisor was less directive and instead focused on supporting my decisions and attempts. Although I never achieved high commitment and competence such as to be delegated particular tasks, I could see that my seniors were given opportunities to execute their tasks with least supervision and were given accountability and responsibility for an array of tasks.
Situational Leader Knowledge and Abilities and how to Develop Them
Any leader applying this leadership mechanism should understand that effective leadership is dependent on the behaviors of directing and supporting. The leader must develop directing abilities which entails the provision of specific instructions and directions while showcasing their supportive behaviors to encourage the subordinates by listening and providing feedback and recognition.
In order to develop their knowledge and abilities, the leader should consider the relationship with the followers in order to implement various interpersonal and social factors. For instance, a leader in charge of a group that lacks productivity and efficiency must insist on styles that emphasize on the rules, order, and roles. On the other hand, a group with workers who are highly skilled can be given freedom through delegation and participation to offer input in essential organizational decisions (McCleskey, 2014). Another method of developing the abilities is to take the task into consideration in that tasks are likely to vary from simple to complicated. In such a scenario, the leader must develop a clear plan of the essential aspects of the task in order to determine how it can be accomplished competently and successfully.
Personal Assessment of Situational Leadership
I consider this approach one of the most effective in that unlike other styles of leadership, situational leadership often recognizes the importance of flexibility and the need to create a comfortable environment for workers. Leaders who choose this approach often understand that people are unique individuals who have diverse perspectives and experiences that can create diversity. Leaders often avoid insisting on particular rules and instead, they focus on the creation of an environment where individuals are encouraged to share to create the anticipated level of success. The leaders often create an environment that is founded on the degree of readiness and willingness of the team such as to create an environment that enables them to complete their tasks effectively (Lacey, 2019). Additionally, this approach takes diverse developmental approaches into consideration while increasing the leader’s awareness of the workers to ensure that they remain productive. This is often done by developing empathy since leaders understand that the most effective way to and understand workers is by getting in their shoes.
However, situational leadership is limiting in that it tends to focus more on short-term needs rather than long-term needs. As Hersey & Blanchard (1997) explains, situational leadership is often based on the need to need exact and actual needs in the moment, an aspect that can cause delays in personal development. This approach is ineffective when undertaking task-orientated settings where the leaders are required to adhere to particular policies, rules, and regulations that could be inflexible. Most of the time, it can deem difficult to define the level of maturity in employees as well as the degree of job maturity that can be compared to employee experience. This is because the people who appear emotionally mature may lack the anticipated degree of maturity in their job responsibilities.
Conclusion
Situational leadership theory is founded on the fact that good leaders must develop the commitment and competence of the followers to ensure that they are self-motivated instead of being dependent on the leader’s guidance and direction. This leadership theory is considered by most employers as an effective approach to build employee competence and motivation through telling, selling, participating, and delegating. The efficient application of this theory often results in higher productivity owing to increased flexibility, cooperation, and reduced conflicts due to increased cooperation between the leader and followers. However, it is difficult to administer in environments that are task-oriented and may result in reduced motivation especially where the leader fails to understand the level of maturity efficiently.
References
Blanchard, K. H., Zigarmi, D., & Nelson, R. B. (1993). Situational Leadership® after 25 years: A retrospective. Journal of Leadership Studies, 1(1), 21-36.
Hersey, P., & Blanchard, K. H. (1997). Situational leadership. In DEAN’S FORUM (Vol. 12, No. 2, p. 5).]
Lacey, J. M. (2019). Student Development and Studio Management in Applied Music Teaching through Implementation of the Situational Leadership Model. http://purl.flvc.org/fsu/fd/2019_Spring_Lacey_fsu_0071E_15154
McCleskey, J. A. (2014). Situational, transformational, and transactional leadership and leadership development. Journal of business studies quarterly, 5(4), 117.
Thompson, G., & Glasø, L. (2018). Situational leadership theory: a test from a leader-follower congruence approach. Leadership & Organization Development Journal.