Reflecting back on the last few weeks I have come to realize how important it is to understand how to be an efficient leader, a good team member, and to understand the dynamics of a group. Everyone wants to achieve their goals. What better way to get there than to share the work? Groups are an effective way to reach your goals. One mind is always better than two. Warren Bennis once said “Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.” I have found this statement very true you need to see and prepare for your goal as a group. Being in a group is not just about leading or participating it is about becoming one. You need to have an equal balance, just like in the first module powerpoint Professor Allan refers to a group like the yin and yang symbol. There must be balance.
During this class, Leading in groups it has come to my knowledge how crucial it is to use all of your resources when being a leader. Many people have thought there is just one good way of leading, but in fact some of the best leaders have used many different styles to guide how they lead. Situational leadership is great because it allows you to view different styles of leading and apply them to the group you have been put in charge of achieving their goals. There are four different types of situational leadership. Counselor, coach, delegator and director. Each type is unique in it’s own way and used to serve different kinds of groups. It is the leaders job to figure out what combination works
The situational approach stresses that leadership is composed of both a directive and a supportive dimension, and that each has to be applied appropriately in a given situation (Northouse, 2016). I recently retired from the Army after doing 20 years of active federal service. I was a sergeant after three years, made staff sergeant after six, and at my 11 year mark I decided to put in a warrant officer packet, in which I got accepted to become Warrant Officer 1. The young men and women that I had the privilege of leading all came from different walks of life, were different age, and had different levels of experience. This is why I identify more with the situational approach.
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;
Leadership has gained the attention of researches across the world there are several terms defining the word Leadership. There is not a set definition of the word leadership it has been changed over the years as the world’s views of leadership have changed. There are numerous leadership theories that studied the different traits or behavior of a leader. Situational Approach is a widely used theory to help leader be effective in different situations. This approach has been revised several times and has been implemented in leadership courses. Leader must be flexible when using the situational approach. The needs of the followers in situations are going to determine how the leader will take their course
Throughout this entire course we have learned many concepts and strategies to synthesize and use leadership as a means of working in a group setting. These concepts allowed us to learn not only how to lead other
Situational leadership has very little in common with the other models mentioned herein. This model revolves around the leader changing leadership behaviors to meet the needs in relationship to the follower (Kouzes, 2003, p. 111). The difference between situational leadership and charismatic, servant, and transformational leadership is the lack of an organizational vision and the empowerment of the followers. Situational leadership uses followers based on their readiness level that relate to their ability and willingness to complete the task (Wren, 1995, p. 208). This aspect coupled with the leader’s task and relationship behavior is used in relation to the
Situational leadership requires a leader to be mature enough to properly assess and execute the best leadership style based on the current situation that faces the organization. In many situations, if the leader can satisfy the
As a teacher, my leadership lens has been as a situational style leader looking at my students “task” and “relationship behavior” and “adapted my leader style according” (Saunders, 2008, p. 36). I evaluate my students and assess their level of development to determine how to motivate and lead them. There are four types of development sectors “include enthusiastic beginner, disillusioned learner, reluctant contributor, and peak performer” (Saunders, 2008, p. 41). The nature of education with the need to satisfy the many stakeholders, I believe that a situational style leader allows you to “adapt your leadership style based, on the situation at hand, to you ensure
Situational leadership theories state that a leader emerges to fit the situation, (Kreitner and Cassidy, 2011, p.399). Different people will take the lead in various circumstances that will subsequently require different skills. Al-Sawai (2013) argues that the ever changing elements present within the healthcare settings would benefit from leaders such as managers encouraging subordinate leaders to develop diverse leadership styles to deal with different conditions.
I have often dreaded group projects, throughout my 4 years at Dalhousie University, I’ve never really had a good experience with them. So going into this class, my expectations were really low. I didn’t expect that I would actually enjoy working on these modules, and so much that I’ve worked with the same team for all 3 modules. This arrangement has allowed us to continue to develop our writing, research and presentations skills, as well as improve upon weaknesses, in our previous modules as well as personal skills that we want to improve. Personally, through these modules I have developed my presentations skills further, and through this particular module, I learned how to approach a problem or project from a different perspective, from different stakeholders.
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
This situational leadership theory is a great assessment to evaluate how people respond to working and being led in groups. The four situational leadership theory are telling, selling, participating, and delegating (Northouse, 2013).
The four styles within the situational leadership mode are directing, coaching, supporting, and delegating. Once a leader has put together the most qualified team for the goals, directing comes in to learn how each member will be the most productive in the task assigned. A leader has to make sure that a task is assigned to the person who will enjoy achieving the task. If not, this could lead to low motivation and low morale, with a chance of failing the task at hand (Griffith & Dunham, 2015). Being a leader means having knowledge in all aspects of the tasks that needs to be done to reach the end goal successful. The leader has to coach each individual to make sure each task is being done correctly. The leader needs to be involved in all
The fundamental underpinning of the Situational Leadership Model is that there is no single "best" style of leadership. Effective leadership is task-relevant, and the most successful leaders are those who adapt their leadership style to the Performance Readiness (ability and willingness) of the individual or group they are attempting to lead or influence. Effective leadership varies, not only with the person or group that is being influenced, but it also depends on the task, job or function that needs to be accomplished.
Since there is no special or one precise type of leader, numerous leadership styles and theories have surfaced. This is because a different situations require different type of leadership styles. In many occasions, leadership theories help to predict the best leadership style to employ in a particular situation. This essay seeks explain why situational leadership theory is useful and relevant in developing an effective leadership culture. It is this writers hope that it can be used as a how to guide to enable managers to be more successful.
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.