Evolution Of Leadership Theories Essay

The case scenario regarding the Windber demonstrates the pressure facing many small hospitals with long ingrained but increasingly less optimal policies, procedures and operational strategies. The outdated nature of the Windber facilities would call for strong, central and transformative leadership. Using the Situational Leadership Theory, one could make an argument that Jacobs would be exactly the kind of leader demanded by the challenges ahead. According the Blanchard & Hersey (1996), situational leadership requires a leader with the inherent flexibility and versatility to shape strategies according to that which is demanded by both internal and external needs. As Blanchard & Hersey report, "leaders must first identify their most important tasks or priorities. Second, leaders must consider the readiness level of their followers by analyzing the group's ability and willingness. Depending on the level of these variables, leaders must apply the most appropriate leadership style to fit the given situation." (p. 1)

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 at times can be a complex topic to delve into and may appear to be a simple and graspable concept for a certain few. Leadership skills are not simply acquired through position, seniority, pay scale, or the amount of titles an individual holds but is a characteristic acquired or is an innate trait for the fortunate few who possess it. Leadership can be misconstrued with management; a manager “manages” the daily operations of a company’s work while a leader envisions, influences, and empowers the individuals around them.

Johansen, B. P. (1990, Spring). Situational Leadership: A Review of the Research. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 1(1), 73-85.

The belief of leadership is constantly changing, with many theories and frameworks available. Today’s organizations face ever-increasing change, which includes increased patient demands and work needs, which requires a more adaptive flexible leadership that is becoming increasingly important in the 21st century. Leadership theory and philosophy can be divided into several well-known styles. Within this paper, we will discuss the basis of autocratic, democratic, laissez faire, servant, charismatic, transformational, and situational styles of leadership within the nursing profession, then conclude the writer’s personal philosophies of leadership.

The leadership models/theories that will be demonstrated are skills-based leadership, situational leadership, and leader-member exchange theory.

Leadership is, and always has been, a vital aspect of social and economic constructs. It is essential to the survival of societies, industries, organizations, and virtually any group of individuals that come together for a common purpose. However, leadership is difficult to define in a single, definitive sense. As such, theories of leadership, what constitutes a great leader, and how leaders are made have evolved constantly throughout history, and still continue to change today in hopes of improving upon our understanding of leadership, its importance, and how it can be most effective in modern organizational cultures.

A large amount of credit is given to Bass 's transformational leadership theory identifies four aspects of

Situational leadership focuses on adapting your leadership style or approach based on the situation and the amount of direction and support that is needed by followers. As Jesus trained and equipped his disciples from simple fishermen to fishers of men, who carried on his ministry after he ascended to heaven, he integrated different styles and theories of leadership that best served and supported his followers (Blanchard & Hodges, 2003). Depending on the level of competency and commitment of their people, leaders will adjust their style to provide the necessary support and direction. The core competencies of situational leaders are the ability to identify the performance, competence and commitment of others, and to be flexible (Paterson, 2013). From being highly directive, telling their people exactly what to do and how, to delegating, clearly stating the objective and allowing them to complete the task with little direction and support, situational leaders adapt their approach to the needs of their people and the particular situation.

Over the years, scholars and management theorists have cultivated several leadership styles that they have encouraged people to apply and try to implement. However, most of these theories have shown various short comings. Typically, none of these styles has proven to work best in diverse situations. In the late 1960’s, the Situational Leadership Model was developed. In this paper, I will discuss the details about the situational leadership model. In detail, the paper begins with a defined introduction of what the situational leadership model is about and an interpretation of its origination. An outline of the model will follow after which a discussion about the benefits and drawbacks of this model will shortly follow.

Donald McGannon is quoted as saying “Leadership is an action, not a position” (as cited by Walter, 2013, para. 4). Leadership requires thought, action, interaction, and continues reflection. Bolman and Gallos (2011) speak of viewing leadership through four prospective: Structural, Human Resources, and Symbolic. These varying frames of leadership provide differing strengths and insights to leadership. Thompson (2000) categorizes the structural and human resource frames as more “related to managerial effectiveness” and the political and symbolic frames as more “related to leadership effectiveness”(p. 970). While a leadership prospective can be effected by context and personal preference, as Tully and Freeman (2011) identify, in their study they recommend that leaders must use multiple frames to

Leadership has been a topic that has been researched for a long time in many disciplines. Leadership as a personality focuses on the characteristics of an individual that gives them power to act as leaders. There is leadership as an attribution this approach views leadership as phenomenon that causes group of followers to have outcomes.(Wu et al, 2010, 90).Researchers have used the following approaches to study leadership; they are mainly trait, behavior, power influence, situation and integrative approaches. Trait approaches focuses on the characteristics, values, skill and personality of leaders. Behavior approaches is focused on the leaders behaviors, differentiating between the behavior of ineffective and effective leaders. Integrative approach combines all the approaches to have a holistic picture of the process, outcomes and determinants of leadership. The approach that this paper uses is situational approach that is not leader centered but more on the significance of the context as an influence of leadership. Leaders should be able to choose the leadership quality appropriate to a particular situation.

Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Leadership Theory (SLT) asserts that a leader’s effectiveness is dependent upon the readiness, or ability and willingness, of the leader’s followers to complete a task. This leadership style is an amalgamation of task-oriented and relationship-oriented characteristics that are employed depending upon the situation and the followers involved. According to the SLT, as followers increase in readiness the leader’s style is to adapt accordingly (Kinicki & Kreitner, 2009).

O’Connell (2014) suggests the proliferation of theories, research, and explanations has also sparked an ongoing debate among scholars regarding the most appropriate definitions, and the most effective approaches to learning about and engaging in leadership. Leadership as described by Bishop (2013) is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal. However, Smith (2016) strongly believes that leadership is the ability to adapt the setting so everyone feels empowered to contribute creatively to solving the problems. These definitions are accurate descriptions of leadership and the role of leaders within organizations and deals with different types of leadership which differentiates one style from another as well as identify situations and cultures to which they are best suited (Bishop, 2013). O’Connell (2014) suggests using a simplified framework for leader development, structured into webs of belief, and is proposed as a starting point for learning to lead in complex contexts and environments. O’Connell (2014) explains that a framework would provide a simplified belief, set adaptable to changing contexts and conditions, and engages the developing leader in ongoing constructive self and other development practices. Davies et al. (2005) agreed with this argument suggesting that “frameworks provide communicating

Moreover, leadership is constantly changing because of new contexts, tools and concerns, in order to represent by various situational demands on leadership (Kouzmin and Korac-Kakabadse, 2000). In the table 1, we are