Northouse’s (2013) book presents a case study of a training series at a pharmaceutical company. The training specialist realized his approach with attendees was not effective half through the series. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the training series using the Situational Approach. The attendees’ development level and Jim’s initial leadership style will be identified. Using the leadership perspective, weaknesses in Jim’s approach will be identified and potential changes recommended.
The Situational Approach to leadership focuses on the leader’s ability to assess and adapt to the demands of a situation. Hersey, Blanchard, and Johnson (2009) stated no one leadership style is consistently effective given the diverse individuals and tasks making up each situation (as cited in Ramkissoon, 2013). Thus, the contexts requiring leadership must be assessed for their diversity and an appropriate leadership style selected.
Assessment of the Situation
The situation is a six-week training series on listening and communication skills. The series’ attendees are managers from the research and development department. The managers have some skills in listening and communication but have low levels of commitment for trainings in general. These aspects put the managers in a D3 level of development (Northouse, 2013). The lack of commitment to fully participate in the training shows limited readiness. Readiness is the ability or willingness to take responsibility to direct one’s behaviors (Hersey & Blanchard, 2009 as cited in Ramkissoon, 2013). The lack of readiness is seen in managers’ relaxing attendance over the four weeks.
Jim’s initial leadership is a supporting style. Northouse (2013) included social support and giving control to t...
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...ation and subordinates. Jim initially used a continuous supporting style which did not match the managers’ development level involving little commitment. The mismatch of style to the situation caused the leadership to be ineffective and the training series to be unsuccessful. Jim needs agility to use various and concurrent leadership styles as situations and subordinate’s readiness are complex and consistently changing. The Situational Approach calls leaders to assess, adapt and repeat.
Works Cited
Chamberlin, J. (2013). Situationally speaking. Management Services, 57(2), 42-47.
Northouse, P.G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and practice. (6th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Ramkissoon, A. (2013). A preliminary investigation of the applicability of situational leadership in other cultures. International Journal of Business Strategy, 13(1), 43-48.
Hoy, W. K., & Tarter, C. J. (2010). A Theory of Leadership: A Situational Approach. Retrieved January 28, 2014, from http://www.waynekhoy.com/pdfs/theory_of_leadership.pdf
Sims Jr., H. P., Faraj, S., & Yun, S. (2009). When should a leader be directive or empowering? How to develop your own situational theory of leadership. Business Horizons, 52, 149-158. DOI: 10.1016/j.bushor.2008.10.002
In the context of the Situational model leadership theory, there are three identifiable weaknesses in my leadership practice. These weaknesses represent shortcomings in my role as a leader and might prevent my team from fully executing the organization’s mission. The three weaknesses are:
Jerad Davies is the leader of Learning Team C for Organizational Leadership. Lena Moore, Michael Paulley, Nicole Presser, and Paul Frisbee also exist as members of Learning Team C. All members of Learning Team C have taken a DISC behavioral assessment. Jerad Davies processes a dominance style, with sub-style of a producer (Alessandra, The DISC Platinum Rule Behavioral Style Assessment for Jerad Davies, 1996-2010). Paul Frisbee also has a dominant style, and a sub-style of producer (Alessandra, The DISC Platinum Rule Behavioral Style Assessment for Paul Frisbee, 1996-2010). Lena Moore possesses a predominantly cautious style, with the sub-style of the perfecter (Alessandra, The DISC Platinum Rule Behavioral Style Assessment for Lena Moore, 1996-2010). Nicole Presser has a predominantly interactive style, with the sub-style of the impresser (Alessandra, The DISC Platinum Rule Behavioral Style Assessment for Nicole Presser, 1996-2010). Michael Pau...
In situational leadership theory and path-goal theory, both theories assume that leaders are flexible and can display any or all styles depending on the situation or environment. Situational leadership theory emphasizes the importance of adjusting leadership style based on the needs of the followers. Path-goal theory leaders help followers along their path and are more effective if they adapt their behaviors to the current environment. Each leadership theory describes four different styles or behaviors to use for effective leadership. The style of telling, selling, participating, and delegating are used in STL...
Situational leadership is a theory which was designed in 1969 by Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard. The “contingency theories of leadership” states that a leader’s effectiveness is dependent on their behaviours in relation to different situational factors. Thus, situational leadership theory, relates to how a leader 's effectiveness is depend on their ability to adjust their leadership behaviour to the required level of the “followers” capability or if the situation is modified.
The situational leadership theory states that leaders use different styles and strategies depending on the situation. There are two models that support this theory. The Fiedler’s Contingency Model of Leadership Effectiveness states that an “effective leadership occurs only when there is an ideal match between the leader’s style and the group’s work situation” (pg
Hersey, P. & Blanchard, K. (n.d.) Situational Leadership. In Wren, J.T. (Ed.). (1995). The Leader’s Companion (pp. 207-211). New York: Simon & Schuster.
Peus, C., Braun, S., & Frey, D. (2013). Situation-based measurement of the full range of leadership model—Development and validation of a situational judgment test. The Leadership Quarterly, 24(5), 777-795.
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To elucidate smarter work, author has explained three echelon of situational manager; flexibility, diagnosis and contracting on leadership styles.
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The Situational Theories of leadership explain how leadership style must be tailored to the demands of the task and the qualities of subordinates.