Ldr 531 Situational Leadership

All situations are different and a leadership style applied in one situation will not always work in another. A leader must use judgement to decide the most appropriate style needed for each situation. The ‘Situational Approach’ to leadership identifies four leadership styles which are;

Situational and Authentic leadership are increasingly important skills to possess in today’s era of technological changes and availability and flow of information we have in this day and age. Leaders today must be able to adjust their leadership styles to the whatever situation arises as well as to the people who they are leading. Leaders are not limited to just use one style in one situation, being able to adapt appropriate styles to different situations will influence and help a leader succeed. A leader’s judgement, intelligence, cultural awareness, and self-control plays major roles in helping them choose the proper style and appropriate technique for the task at hand (Lau & Cronin, 1998).

This paper will address why situational leadership theory is useful and relevant in developing an effective leadership culture. In addition, it will also discuss the three theories of situational leadership and what is considered to be the strengths and weaknesses of each theory when leading staff in the organizational environment.

Leadership can be defined as the process of influencing the activities of an individual or group towards goal achievement in any situation. Different leadership models focus on different aspects that can define how effective a leader can be in guiding the team or individual towards a goal. A support model was used to explore group or individual development based on situational leadership. The leadership support model was introduced

I found the situational leadership model much different from the model in the previous model. I find this model extremely resourceful because it gives a closer look at what the leader in a group is supposed to do. In contrast with that it also allows the followers to understand their leaders techniques and everything that they are responsible for. Like in pervious DBA’s i am going to use my past job as a manger to relate how i would use the situation leadership model in a group. I could see myself using this model to train other managers as well as team leaders. I think it teaches us that using more than one technique to be a leader is a very great decision. We should be more open to using our resources. to find effective way to create a group that produces results. At work I can see myself using the model to be a leader. I would be a delegator in the morning when i walked in and am assigning everyone’s tasks for the day. I would be a coach when training a new employee. I think the coaching technique is a great one because more people respond to a encouraging leader rather than a scary and intimidating one. In the power point for this module i liked the quote “It is a delicate balance between giving direction and providing support”(situational leadership slide 43) I would use the counselor technique to help correct someone, in my example if an employee wasn't

Lussier and Achua (2016) define leadership as “the influencing process between leaders and followers to achieve organizational objectives through change” (p. 5). There are many different ways to categorize the dimensions of leadership. This section considers two groups of traits: transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire, as well as democratic, autocratic, and situational. The method that the leader utilizes to motivate followers can include transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire. The amount of input the leader seeks from the group can be categorized as democratic, autocratic, or situational.

Situational leadership, developed by professor Paul Hersey and author and consultant Ken Blanchard. Their approach was based off of a 1967 article by W.J. Reddin called The 3-D Management Style Theory. In his article, Reddin discusses the need to have different styles based on the demands of the leader. A leader needs to be flexible in their approach to meet the needs of the job, their superior and their subordinates (1967). Hersey and Blanchard progressed this theory by introducing the Situational Leadership II model. Their model breaks leadership into four different styles, and how a leader must alter their approach in supporting and directing their subordinates based on a given situation. These styles are directing (S1), coaching (S2), supporting (S3) and delegating (S4). The model also focuses on the development level of the subordinates by categorizing them between low (D1), moderate (D2 and D3) and

Vroom, V. H., & Jago, A. G. (2007). The role of the situation in leadership. American Psychologist,

Situational Approach Theory is a leadership model that was developed by Hersey and Blanchard in 1969 based on Reddin’s (1967) management model (Northouse, 2015). The model focuses on various leadership styles based upon the situation at that time. Leadership is viewed as being composed of directive and supportive dimensions that is applied according to the situation (Northouse, 2015). The leadership styles include: Directing (high directive-low supportive), Coaching (high directive-high supportive), Supporting (high supportive-low directive), and Delegating (low supportive-low directive). Using SLII model will determine leadership styles based upon Situational Approach Case 5.2 and how these skills are applied when leading followers at various developmental levels.

Beginning in about 1950, the emphasis in leadership research shifted from the trait approach to the situational approach. In 1948, Ralph Stogdill survey of trait research concluded there were no universal leadership traits. In 1949, J.K. Hemphill published a book focusing completely on the situational factors in leadership. Thus, a new emphasis came into leadership research, not on whom or what the leader is, but on where leadership occurs and the condition under which it occurs. A corresponding de-emphasis on personality variables accompanied the new emphasis on situational factor.

Situational leadership is fitting the leadership style to the person. Leadership situations differ in circumstances and with people, which calls for different kinds of leadership.

The situational leadership model was developed by two authors, Ken Blanchard, and Paul Hersey in the year 1969. These authors based this model on the concept that leadership should adapt to different management practices and approaches to fit different situations and surpass any diversity of their encounters (Lussier & Achua, 2010). In particular, this model provides guidance on how to analyze a situation, choose effaceable strategies and adopt the most appropriate leadership style. Apparently, the two developers of the model researched and found that, given some case, leadership may fail to accomplish some goals due to adopting single

The most popular and extensively researched situational theory of leadership was first proposed by Fred Piedler during the 1960s. Fiedler's model claims that group performance depends on the interaction of the leader style and the favorableness of the situation. Fiedlers major contributions consist of(l) iden-tifying the leadership orientation of the leader and developing a way to measure it, and (2) identifying three situational factors influencing leadership and developing a method of measuring them

The situational leadership theory focuses on the best leadership styles to address organization changes even in small business environment. This theory said that a leader must select the right styles and the follower must mature to accept responsible for their behavior while the organization is going through changes. This theory has two variables that will help to address the changes in the organization.

❖ Situational – this approach argues that there is no universally appropriate style of leadership. But that a particular style will be effective in some circumstances.