Leadership has been a study that has encompassed over 100 years of research into not only understanding leadership but also to define it (McCleskey, 2014). However, during these studies an understanding is concluded that leadership cannot be singled down to a definitive point, however, “the correct definition of leadership depends on the specific aspect of leadership of interest to the individual,” (McCleskey, 2014, p. 118). Thus, with an understanding that leadership cannot be defined as a single point, multiple theories and styles of leadership have developed in the attempts to have a clearer and categorized understanding of leadership into different styles and theories. One particular theory of leadership is situational leadership, which takes an understanding of leadership and ever-changing variables.
In situational leadership, the element of adaptability is stressed and focused, to account for situations that are outside of traditional models of leadership. For example, in the traditional Great Man theory of leadership, leaders are only born and not made, which can bring up controversies in regards to understating different contexts of understanding leadership (Cawthon, 1996).
The situational leadership approaches leadership as the ability to adapt styles of leadership to best accommodate situations, thus, an approach that is not fixated on one particular model of leadership and flexible with its environment (“The Situational Leadership Model,” 2017). From the situational leadership model, there are four types of models based upon the followers’ willingness and ability, referred to as directing, coaching, supporting, and delegating (“The Situational Leadership Model,” 2017). In directing the followers have a low willingness and ability to accomplish a goal, thus, one-way directive communication is given to drive the task to completion, most particularly in situations of serious consequences (“The Situational Leadership Model,” 2017). In coaching the followers have a high willingness, however, have low ability for accomplishing the goal, thus, communication begins to open up as a two-way dialogue with direction and supervision while giving support and praise due to inexperienced followers (“The Situational Leadership Model,” 2017). With the supporting model, followers have a low willingness; however, with a high ability to accomplish the goal, thus, motivating with confidence building through listening and praising is essential to create actions (“The Situational Leadership Model,” 2017). With delegating the followers’ have a high willingness and a high ability to accomplish the goal, thus, trust is high and little support or supervision is needed, however, independence still needs to follow up through communicating with the leader during the processes (“The Situational Leadership Model,” 2017). From these four models of the situational leadership a three-step process is derived to understand which model is appropriate for the situation, “identify the most important tasks or priorities, diagnosis the readiness level of the followers, decide the matching leadership style,” (The, 2017, p. 1).In the application of using the three steps to identify the appropriate leadership model for the situation a strategy can become effective in delivering motivation to the followers.’ Therefore, situational leadership requires an understanding of its four foundational models and their situational application in applying the three-step process to become an effective tool for organizations.
In the understanding of situational leadership, its’ practicality towards real-world applications has shown to be effective outside the restrictions of being just theories without applications for usage. For example, in a study conducted to measure productiveness with the usage of situational leadership in an organization four areas were tested (Silverthorne, 2000). These four areas of evaluating situational leadership in productivity were employee absentee rate, employee turnover rate, profit measures, and quality rating (Silverthorne, 2000). In the results of the study, the employee absentee rate and the turnover rate decreased, while profits and quality ratings increased when using situational leadership style in managers (Silverthorne, 2000). In another study situational leadership has also shown to increase job satisfaction in employees, thus, creating a higher performance work environment resulting in higher productivity (McCleskey, 2014). Therefore, the importance of understanding situational leadership as a strategic approach to motivate workers in an organization is crucial to increasing the success rate of that organization. Thus, managers and leaders who understand the concepts and take practical applications towards the usage of the situational leadership approach, allows leadership to become adaptive and creative in establishing a culture of success.
Having this general understanding and being able to become a leader of influence and guidance within your organization, an assessment of the team and leadership is necessary to create and implement strategies for success. Here at Strategiez LLC. unique leadership assessment tools help you and your team to understand areas to help increase the impact of leadership to create an environment of high productivity and an increased positive work environment. Therefore, as every great organization goes through the trial and tribulations of growth, being able to know where the leadership stands and how the influence is projected is essential to taking the next step towards success. Let us here at Strategiez LLC. help you and your organization achieve the goals that they want.
References
Cawthon, D. L. (1996). Leadership: The great man theory revisited. Business Horizons, 39(3), 1. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/195363641?accountid=14375
The Situational Leadership model (2017). Retrieved from: http://greeks.cofc.edu/documents/The%20Situational%20Leadership%20Model.pdf
Silverthorne, C. (2000). Situational leadership theory in Taiwan: A different cultural perspective. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 21(1), 68-74. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/226919655?accountid=14375
McCleskey, J. A. (2014). Situational, transformational, and transactional leadership and leadership development. Journal of Business Studies Quarterly, 5(4), 117-130. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/1548766781?accountid=14375