¶ … leadership capability relation accepted model leadership management. Part 1. 'Situational leadership redundant a task .' As a future leader teams, present arguments statement. Situational leadership

The internal environment within economic agents is suffering dramatic changes within the modern day society and this is the result of numerous pressures from the internal and external environments, such as technology, competition or increasing demands from the various categories of stakeholders. In such a setting, the role of the leaders and managers gradually increases, as these come to portray the link between executives and employees, and they are more essential in ensuring that the firms attain their overall objectives.

As the role of leaders and managers increases, the emphasis placed on the formation of the leaders and managers must also increase. In such a setting then, the current project sets out to discuss the situational leadership model through the lenses of its applicability within the context of a specific task. As this step is completed, the project moves on to the analysis of the leadership model for the individual, in the context of the feedback received from their peers. Last, an action plan is developed to support the future development of the forming leader.

2. Situational leadership in the context of tasks

In a generic formulation, situational leadership is understood as a managerial style in which the leader changes their approach in order to better serve the needs of their followers (Tool INGU). The term was coined by Kenneth Blanchard and Paul Hersey and it is more and more popular within the specialized literature due to the innovative approach to leadership (Oster). The definitions available in the literature vary from one source to the other, yet the differences are mostly common at the level of terminology used, whereas the essence of the explanations remains the same. In such a setting, a pertinent and relevant definition is represented by the one offered by Leigh Anthony, as revealed below:

"Situational leadership refers to when the leader or manager of an organization must adjust his style to fit the development level of the followers he is trying to influence. With situational leadership, it is up to the leader to change his style, not the follower to adapt to the leader's style. In situational leadership, the style may change continually to meet the needs of others in the organization based on the situation" (Anthony).

In the general formulation, the situational leadership model states that the manager will change their managerial style based on the features of the followers, revealing how important the transformational side is for managers relative to the employees (Wofford, Whittington and Goodwin, 2001). In practice however, the traits of the followers represent one dimension of the changes implemented in the managerial style. Within the context of the company then, situational leadership might demand changes to be implemented as a result of the action of various forces outside the employees, such as the evolution of technologies, the emergence of a business change or the need to implement an emergency plan. In such instances, rapid change is often required, and the employees would be expected to feel reticence and resistance towards the change. In order to reduce or even eliminate this resistance, the situational leader will focus on good communications (Oster); in attaining this objective, the situational leader will make use of charisma (Humphreys, Zhao, Ingram, Gladstone and Basham, 2010).

In the context of tasks, the role of situational leadership is questionable, and it is even sometimes argued that situational leadership is redundant when there is a task to be performed. In order to discuss this statement, it is necessary to state that situational leadership, as coined by its two creators -- Kenneth Blanchard and Paul Hersey -- is perceived as a combination of two sets of behavioural norms, namely the task behaviour and the relational behaviour. In other words, situational leadership pertains to both the relationship of the manager with the subalterns, as well as the features of the task at hand (Ireh and Bailey, 1999).

"Task Behavior is the extent to which leaders are likely to organize and define the roles of the members of their group (followers) by explaining what activities each is to do and when, where, and how tasks are to be accomplished; characterized by endeavoring to establish well-defined patterns of organization, channels of communication, and ways of getting jobs accomplished . . . Relationship Behavior is the extent to which leaders are likely to maintain personal relationships between themselves and members of their group (followers) by opening up channels of communication, providing social...

This is due to the ability of situational leadership to adapt the managerial model not only to the features of the employees and the relationships, but also the tasks engaged in by the manager and the team.
3. Situation leadership model feedback

Feedback is simply understood as information received from secondary parties regarding the performance of the individual in a specific context, with emphasis on the strengths and weaknesses of the individual, the situation and so on (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, 2012). In the case of peer feedback, this represents the same information, offered in a manner of constructive criticism by the peers of the individual being evaluated.

There are numerous benefits to peer feedback, generally derived from the fact that the peers know the individual, their past and their evolution, their strengths and weaknesses, as well as the topic and the dimensions against which the evaluation is being conducted. In such a setting then, peer review can lead to an improvement in the learning abilities of the individual and will further support their development (The University of Edinburgh).

In the current scenario, the feedback from the peers was collected face-to-face, and the findings are revealed in the annex section. In short, it was identified that my primary strength was the ability to micro manage tasks and resources, whereas my most important weakness was represented by the inability to communicate with people in an objective manner, and to motivate them.

Based on these findings, retrieved from the people who know me both as an individual, as well as a future manager in a professional context, it becomes obvious that I will need to focus more on developing my people skills. This would be achieved through the plan presented throughout the following section.

4. Action planning for improvement

As it has been revealed throughout the previous section, an analysis was conducted among the peers and it has revealed that my primary skills revolve around practical aspects of management, such as resource allocation, delegation and so on. On the other hand, my primary weaknesses belong to the category of poor people skills, which include negative personal traits, such as becoming angry, holding grudges or not being open to communications when aggravated. Additionally, aside from the personal weaknesses, I also possess shortages in terms of the relationships with the colleagues. In other words then, while I am a good and practical manager, I am a poor leader. This virtually means that I will have to work on my personal and people skills. In doing so, emphasis would be placed on the following:

The generation of enthusiasm regarding the work performed, which would change my perception of the task, but also the professional image I reflect upon others. The expectation is that of people responding more positively to the new passion and dedication to work (White).

The focus on critical thinking and cool judgement, without the perception of personal attacks. In this stance, emphasis would be placed on the acceptation of different opinions and the tolerance towards ambiguity, uncertainty; it will also be important to allow time for conflicts to be resolved and for solutions to be found. It is important to know when to intervene and when to step aside.

The improvement of the people skills through the commitment to better listen to what they have to say, to inspire them and to function better as part of a team (Haydon, 2007).

Aside from these commitments, emphasis would also be placed on the continuous development of my practical and theoretical skills, namely the development of the managerial side. As for the changes previously mentioned, their nature is complex and qualitative, rather than quantitative, meaning that it is difficult to provide a clear timeline for their competition. In essence, they constitute an ongoing process of personal change and development.

5. Conclusions

In the continually changing and challenging business environment of today, the role of organizational managers is becoming increasingly important, and their tasks become increasingly complex. In order to be able to cope with the new pressures, organizational leaders must engage in sustained and continued processes of personal development. This conclusion was reached after both sustained review of the literature, as well as a personal and reflective analysis. At the level of the individual, future…