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.
According to Fiedler (cited in Bolden, Gosling, Marturano & Dennison, 2003)., there is no single characteristic or trait that will create a successful leadership style. Rather, he argues that situations actually shape a general leadership style of a manager. Bolden, Gosling, Marturano and Dennison (2003) have observed that within an environment with repetitive tasks, the most effective leadership style might be a directive one, while a participative leadership style might be required in a dynamic environment. Being an effective leader means to control important specific situations. Taking into account these situations, Fiedler presented three situational components that are considered essential for an effective leadership: leader-member relations, task-structure and position power.
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.
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 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:
Dependent on the individual or situation, an effective leader must be able to adapt their leadership approach (MindTools, 2013). Hersey and Blanchard made a distinction in the levels of maturity that can be engaged in situational leadership; telling, selling, participating, and delegating (MindTools, 2013). Sue validates this understanding with the shift mentioned previously. A new team member still has considerable amount to learn when starting. In this case, Sue shifts between the telling and selling style to be able to provide beneficial instruction and monitor their work. Having the appropriate amount of support and guidance helps to leads to the shift between participating and delegating, which depends on the task that Sue assigns to the team
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...
To elucidate smarter work, author has explained three echelon of situational manager; flexibility, diagnosis and contracting on leadership styles.
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
The goals include training on leadership. The objective is for management to gain the proper skills to effectively lead teams, resolve conflicts, and better their management abilities. The training will address employee turnovers to low wages, effective communication strategies, and effective leadership. Management will become more strategic in selecting the right candidates to fill positions. The knowledge and skills attained will be that managers will become better leaders by becoming more empathetic. Employees will begin to feel appreciated and become more motivated. As a result, the company’s morale will be boosted and there will be less consumer complaints about bad customer service.
Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Leadership Theory (SLT) asserts that a leader’s effectiveness is dependent upon the readiness, or ability and willingness, of the leader’s followers to complete a task. This leadership style is an amalgamation of task-oriented and relationship-oriented characteristics that are employed depending upon the situation and the followers involved. According to the SLT, as followers increase in readiness the leader’s style is to adapt accordingly (Kinicki & Kreitner, 2009).
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.
The contemporary era is the time with constant changes and new demands. In view of this point, we can't put unitary leadership into real work. Accordingly, the term of "contingency leadership theory" (also namely "situational leadership") is given rise to by those situational factors. This theory notes that managers can vary their styles to suit different circumstances.
Matthew R. Fairholm states, “Our leadership perspective defines what we mean when we say "leadership" and shapes how we view successful leadership in ourselves and others.” (Pg. )Therefore, change and modifications of desired behaviors must first stem from leadership, in order to achieve success. Follett does consider the challenges for “old-fashioned employers,” they have a difficult time transitioning and comprehending that training and employee is much different from providing orders. Therefore, these types of employers express their frustration with employees who are unable to complete tasks, when in actuality the employee is at a disadvantaged as they are not trained and new habits were not created and reinforced. Follett affirms that lack of training, is a deficiency in education. Therefore, it is crucial for leaders and employers to develop and plan ahead for modeled behaviors to gain the desired responses. Follett asserts psychology has a significant involvement because depending on the delivery of the order and how it is elicited can be the control of how responses are given
The Situational Theories of leadership explain how leadership style must be tailored to the demands of the task and the qualities of subordinates.