Hersey Blanchard Situational Leadership - Research Paper Example

Hersey Blanchard situational leadership Final paper Introduction Global healthcare industry is becoming highly competitive and saturated as demand for advanced and unique healthcare services is significantly increasing among the people arou8nd the globe. In addition to this, constant competitive strategy development and implementation of several healthcare organizations have increased the degree of industry competition in the global healthcare industry. It is true that several leading healthcare organizations are trying to adopt and implement different types of leadership styles in the business operation process in order to maintain sustainability in the workplace performance. Moreover, effective leadership style based on the nature of a particular situation can help an organization to provide effective solutions to the developed issues and challenges. This research paper will evaluate the value of Hersey-Blanchard’s situational leadership theory or model or theory in order to improve the performance of healthcare organizations. Literature Review Healthcare industry can be considered as one of the sensitive industries in this global market place. It is important for the organizations in this particular industry to ensure the implementation of effective leadership style in order to maintain effective workplace environment. The Hersey-Blanchard situational leadership theory can be considered as important theory for the healthcare organizations. This particular theory was introduced and presented by Dr. Paul Hersey (Blanchard, 1983). It is highly important for the healthcare organizations to be prepared for different types of situations. On the other hand, it is important for the management of these healthcare organizations to develop and implement different types of situational leadership styles based on the demand of the situation (Graeff, 1983). According to this leadership theory, an effective leader should have the flexibility to change his or her leadership style and implement change management process in the organization by adopting different types of leadership styles based on the demand and nature of the situation. However, the leadership theory of hersey and Blanchard can be divided into four different styles, such as telling, selling, participating and delegating. Telling can be considered as one of the important situational leadership styles. In this leadership style the leaders used to tell the followers and sub-ordinates what exactly to do and what is the process or procedure to complete the task (Vecchio, 1987). The managers in the healthcare organization can adopt and implement this particular leadership style during the training and development process. Telling leadership style can be considered as an important aspect for the new and young employees as it helps to increase the self-confidence level. Selling also can be considered as one of the important leadership styles. According to the selling leadership style leaders can provide important message, direction and information. But, major objective of this particular leadership style is to communicate with his or her followers. In this, leadership style leaders used to forcefully sell their directions and message to people to make them present on the board. Participating can be considered as one of the most important and significant situational leadership styles comparing to other four leadership styles. It is true that effective and skilled employees can be considered as major assets of the organizations in this competitive business environment (Graeff, 1997). In this participating leadership style, leaders used to focus on the effective relationship with the followers and other sub-ordinates. In this particular leadership style leaders are limited concerned about the direction. In this leadership style, leaders used to set examples in front of the followers and the sub-ordinates by participating in the workplace performances. The leaders used to work with the team members within a group. This particular leadership style can enhance effective knowledge sharing aspect within the workplace. In addition to this, it can be considered as one of the most important and significant leadership style for the managers in healthcare organizations. Delegating leadership style can be considered as the last leadership style under the Hersey-Blanchard situational leadership theory. In this leadership style, leaders used to depend upon the ability and skills of the followers and sub-ordinates. In this leadership style, leaders used to less involve in the decision making processes. Research Methodology and Data Collection It is important for a research work is to adopt and implement effective research method based on the nature of the research work. Research methodology can be categorized into two parts, such as qualitative and quantitative research method. Qualitative research methodology generally deals with the feelings, emotion, motivation, attitude and behavior of the people. On the other hand, quantitative research methodology used to deal with then numerical data in order to provide positive research outcome. Qualitative research methodology can be adopted in the research work based on the exploratory nature of a particular research. Implementation of Hersey-Blanchard situational leadership style in order to improve the performance of healthcare organizations can be considered as exploratory in nature. Therefore, qualitative research methodology has been adopted and implemented in this research based on the exploratory nature of the study. Data analysis can be considered as one of the important aspects in a research work. Data collection process can be categorized into two parts, such as primary and secondary data collection process. Primary data collection process can be defined as the collection of data and information from a live survey work through field work. On the other hand, secondary data collection process can be considered as the sourcing and collection of data from several types of existing database developed by others. There are several advantages and disadvantages of both data collection processes. However, a researcher can source effective data and information through primary6 data collection process. But, it is highly cost and time consuming. On the other hand, secondary data sources are not that much reliable comparing to the primary data and information. But, it is highly time and cost effective. Most importantly, a researcher can source huge number of data and information through secondary data collection process. Looking into the advantages of secondary data collection process, secondary data collection process has been adopted in this study to gain effective research outcome. Data Analysis and Findings Several authors and industry experts have stated that adoption and implementation of situational leadership style is highly essential for the healthcare organizations. Therefore, it is important for the organizations to implement leadership styles based on the demand for specific situations. Several authors have accepted that an effective leader should have the ability to adopt and implement different types of leadership style. An effective leader should be highly flexible in nature. This particular characteristic can help a leader to implement change management process in the business operation process based on the characteristic of situation. In terms of findings, it can be stated that it is highly important for the organizations within the healthcare industry to adopt and implement situational leadership style in the strategy development and business operation process in order to gain potential competitive advantages. In addition to this, this particular leadership style can help the organizations within the healthcare organizations to improve its overall business performances. Conclusion It is clear from above discussion that several organizations in this competitive business environment is trying to implement effective leadership styles in the business operation process. However, an effective leader should have the skill and ability to adopt and implement change management process according to the nature of the situation. He or she should have the flexibility to judge the situation and implement leadership style to improve the performance of healthcare organizations. References Blanchard, K. (1983). “Situational Leadership”. Journal of Leadership, 13(1), 12. Graeff, C. (1983). “The Situational Leadership Theory”. Academy of management Review, 21(1), 23. Graeff, C. (1997). “Evolution of Situational Leadership Theory”. The Leadership Quarterly, 8(1), 4. Vecchio, R. (1987). “Situational Leadership Theory”. Journal of Applied Psychology, 19(1), 5. Read More