Situational Leadership - Assignment Example

The world needs persons that are able to lead the masses and provide guidance and direction. This concept is also true in the business world where companies are always looking for employees that can provide leadership for the organization. Leadership can defined as a special case of interpersonal influence that gets an individual or group to do what the leader wants done (Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, 2003, p.286). There are different types of leadership styles. One of the most effective leader styles due to its flexibility and adaptability to different occurrences is situational leadership. Situational leadership stipulates that leaders must be able to react to their environment in order to determine the best way to lead a group based on the situation. A situational leader is a flexible person that at times can authoritative control, while in other instances plays a supportive role. The ability of a situational leader to transform himself based on situational factors is similar to the adaptive camouflage abilities of a chameleon lizard. The most commonly known situational leadership model was created in the late 1960’s by Ken Blanchard and Paul Hershey (Chimaeraconsulting, 1999). The Blanchard & Hershey situational leadership model is composed of four behavioral options the leader can utilize to exert leadership based on the setting or situation. The four styles are directing, coaching, participating, and delegating (Erven, 2001). Appendix A illustrates a matrix with the four variable styles. The directing style is utilized when the employees are in need of clear direction and are unable to take responsibility for themselves. For example a new employee in an organization needs the immediate supervisor to utilize a directive style during the training period in order to provide guidance until the employee gets comfortable with the organizational culture. The coaching style works well for situation where the leader provides instructions with the inclusion of reinforcement mechanism that provide confidence for the employees. The participating styles give the employee a chance to developed their decision making skills by allowing the group to participate in the decision making process. The delegating style provides employees with empowerment. Empowerment occurs when a leader delegates control to his / her subordinates (Page & Czuba, 1999). Two other contingency theories that explain how situational leadership works are Fielder’s leadership contingency theory and House’s path-goal theory. In Fielder’s theory situational control is the critical factor that determines the leader’s effectiveness. There are three variables that determine situational control. The three variables are leader – member relations, task structure, and position power (Fvcc). The member relations variable determines the level of support the leader has over the individual or group. Task structure determines if the leader has been effective at communicating to group the task goals, guidelines and procedures. Position power determines the ability of the leader to exert power. I have seen first hand the impact task structure can have on the ability of the manager to apply leadership. In a company I worked in the past the lack of task structure caused internal chaos which undermined the ability of the manager to control and motivate the staff and as a consequence the company went out of business within a year. Robert House developed the path goal theory. This theory assumes that a leader’s key function is to adjust his or her behaviors to complement situational contingencies (Schermerhorn, et. al., 2003, p. 293). The primary leadership factors that the leader can use based on the situation are directive, supportive, achievement oriented, and participative. These primary factors are combined with the secondary contingency factors such as work setting or subordinate attributes in order to influence the output of the group. The business world has becoming more complex than ever in the 21st century due to the fast changing environment. Due to these changes organization need leaders that can adapt to these changes and positively influence their staff. Situational leadership is a proven leadership concept that can be utilized by leaders to achieve greater results. This type of leadership is so effective because it requires the leader to adapt his leadership style based on the contingency factors in the workplace. Flexibility and adaptability are two attributes of a successful leader. A manager can no longer utilized traditional inflexible leadership styles in which punishment authority was the customary leadership style. In the new business world a leader that is not able to connect with his / her subordinates be able to lead a team. The proliferation of situational leadership in the corporate world would enhance the performance of the global workforce. Appendix A: Situational Leadership model – Blanchard & Hershey (Chimaeraconsulting, 1999). References Chimaeraconsulting.com (1999). Situational Leadership. Retrieved February 28, 2009 from http://home1.fvcc.edu/~rhalvers/Leadership.htm Erven, B. (2001). Becoming an Effective Leader Through Situational Leadership. Ohio State University. Retrieved February 26, 2009 from http://aede.osu.edu/people/erven.1/HRM/Situaltional_Leadership.pdf Fvcc.edu. Leadership. Flathead Valley Community College. Retrieved February 27, 2009 from http://home1.fvcc.edu/~rhalvers/Leadership.htm Page, N., Czuba, C. (1999). Empowerment: What Is It? Journal of Extension, 37(5). Retrieved February 28, 2009 from http://www.joe.org/joe/1999october/comm1.php Schermerhorn, J., Hunt, J.,Osborn, R. (2003). Organizational Behavior (8th ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons. Leadership is an important element of a business operation that positively impacts the human resources of an organization. When a person is able to captivate the interest of large groups of people with his charisma, intellect, and personality this person is most probably utilizing transformational leadership. Transformational leadership is needed for individuals that hold positions of high level of responsibility such as senators, chief executive officers, presidents among other important positions. The application of transformational leadership will allow the leaders to influence the actions of large groups of people. Transformational leadership occurs when a person is able to broaden and elevate the followers interest and makes these persons look beyond their own personal interest for the benefit the whole (Boje, 2002). Transformational leadership can be divided into four dimensional aspects. These four dimensions are inspiration, intellectual stimulation, charisma, and individualized consideration. Inspiration works as motivational factor that allows employee within a company to get things done and achieve things they otherwise would not without the assistance of the leader. The insight of the transformational leader could inspire an employee to visualize how to improve the production line of a manufacturing firm. Charisma is an innate trait that captivates employees and makes believe in the strategies, ideas, and vision the leader has for the company. The transformational leader goes out of his way to connect with each of his employees to make them feel they are an important part of the corporation. Transformational leaders are energetic and enthusiastic persons, these traits allow them to inspire their subordinates or followers. A transformational leader has a vision which focuses on the big picture (Changingminds, 2009). This quality makes them effective at dealing with strategic planning decisions. The quality sometimes can be detrimental to the leader because this person fails to pay attention to detail which can cause problems in the short and long term. For example a transformational leader could create a great plan for international expansion, but his inability to pay attention to detail may not be able that the company is having internal human resource issues such as a lack of motivation among the domestic workers. A transformational leader can impact an organization in ways other leaders can’t due to their ability to connect with people and effectively implement change management. They are Jperson in a power position that is humble enough to connect with the average worker is someone that is trustworthy. Becoming an effective transformational leader requires that the person develop certain core competencies. Four core strengths that the transformational leader must develop are self-mastery, transformational mindset, influence and skills development (Johannsen, 2009). In order to develop their skills the transformational leader makes a concerted effort to improve their competencies and skill set by taking seminars, specialized training, and by applying the things they learn in the workplace. James MacGregor Burns viewed transformational leaders in the following manner “I define leadership as leaders inducing followers to act for certain goals that represent the values and the motivations – the wants and needs, the aspirations and expectations – of both leaders and followers” (Homrig, 2001). The perspective of this scholar clearly shows that the transformational leader can impact the people at their most basic level by fulfilling their primary psychological needs. One of the most important aspects of the mission of all transformational leaders is to align the views of management and workers so they are on the same page working toward common organizational goals. The ability to inspire people is also another aspect of the transformational leader’s capabilities that adds value to an organization. As business organizations become larger and more complex there is a greater need to hire individuals that can motivate the employees to perform at their optimal level. Transformational leaders are the people that can provide the assistance company need to guide and inspire their human resources. It is important to recognize that human capital represent the most value asset of a firm. An effective motivated workforce is the factor that differentiates successful and unsuccessful companies. The more transformational leader a company is able to recruit will allow a firm to build a flexible and adaptable organizational structure that is able to deal with the challenges and fast changing business environment of the 21st century. References Boje, D. (2000). Transformational Leadership. Retrieved February 14, 2009 from http://cbae.nmsu.edu/~dboje/teaching/338/transformational_leadership.htm Changingminds.org (2009). Transformational Leadership. Retrieved March 1, 2009 from http://changingminds.org/disciplines/leadership/styles/transformational_leadership.htm Homrig, M. (2001). Tranformational Leadership. Retrieved February 28, 2009 from http://leadership.au.af.mil/documents/homrig.htm Johannsen, M. (2009). Transformational Leadership Primer. Retrieved March 1, 2009 from http://www.legacee.com/Info/Leadership/LeaderResources.html Read More