Leadership the Term \'Situational Leadership\'

¶ … Leadership

The term 'Situational Leadership' can be applied to any style or model of leadership, but one that also would refer to a recognized and a proven to be useful leadership model. In other words, a Situational Leader is an individual who knows and is capable of adopting various different leadership models according to the particular situation that he is at that time in. this is not as complicated as it sounds; it is a fact that most human beings are in fact capable of adapting themselves to the situation that they find that they are in, like for example, when they are talking to an angry person, they try to soother things down, or if they are talking to a nervous person, they would attempt to bolster his courage, and so on. However, Ken Blanchard, who is also known as the 'management guru', and is the popular leader of the 'One Minute Manager' series, and Paul heresy, an individual who was responsible for creating a model during the 1960's meant for the analysis of Situational Leadership, so that the leadership style that must be adopted for different situations would be made clear. (Famous Models, Situational Leadership)

This particular model has been popular over the ages because of its innate simplicity and also because of the fact that it works well for most individuals in most cases. The model was based on the basic idea of the amount of direction and of support that any leader would give to his followers, and these values are put into a simple grid wherein supportive and directive behavior were delineated on both sides of the grid, and the various functions of a leader, that is, coaching, supporting, delegating, and directing were all arranged on the four spaces on the grid.In the 'directing' function, the leader would generally define the role and the various tasks that he expects the followers to perform, and since the leader is the one person who would state the various functions, it is basically a one way communication. The second function, that of 'coaching', the leader would define the various roles that he wants his followers to play, but would require certain ideas and concepts from the follower. However, the final decision would be that of the leader's, while communication is now largely two ways.

The 'supporting' function means that the leader would pass on the daily humdrum and routine decisions to his followers, and though the primary function of allocating duties rests with the leader, he now becomes the follower because the follower is in charge of the decisions. In the 'delegating' function, the leader is still completely involved in the decision and problem solving process, but the control rests with the follower, who will decide the when and how of the involvement of the leader in the entire process. The idea is that an effective and an efficient leader would be able to move around the various functions that are mentioned in the grid, with relative ease, and this means that there is no actual 'right' or 'wrong' style of functioning, and when utilizing the model of Situational Leadership developed by Paul Hersey and Kenneth Blanchard, if the leader is aware of the best method that would suit him and also the organization that he is working for, then there would be success. (Famous Models, Situational Leadership)

In general, Situational Leadership is based on 'task behavior', which is the amount of direction that must be given to the follower, the 'relationship behavior', which is the amount of social and emotional support that a leader must be able to provide to his follower, and the amount and the levels of 'readiness' of the follower or the groups of followers to follow the instructions that are being given by the leader, in relation to the task at hand. The Situational Leadership Model was actually developed for the managers and leaders of an organization, but it can also be used by anyone who has been placed in the role of a leader, depending on the situation that he is in. 'Task Behavior' is in other words the extent to which the leader goes in delineating and declaring the various duties and the responsibilities of the group of followers in the organization. This includes the following: who must do the task, how to do it, when to do it, why must it be done, and so on. There is a fallacy that when a leader becomes task oriented and tells his followers what to do and how to do it, he will naturally be short tempered and abrupt, but this is nothing but a false belief; the leader can well do this with a smile on his face, because he is only allocating tasks to his followers, and not dictating terms. (Situational Leadership, Balancing Tasks and Relationships)

His main focus is on the fact that the job has to be completed on time, and this is how he would do it better. The leader is expected to indulge in and follow multi-channel communication with all his followers, and the 'relationship behavior' defines the extent to which he is successful in this aspect. The innate behaviors required by the leader in this multi-way communication are those of willingness and a readiness to listen to the opinions and thoughts of his followers, a willingness to encourage and to clarify any doubts that the followers may have, and to explain any concepts to them wherever necessary. He must also be ready to offer social as well as emotional support to his followers wherever needed. The 'readiness level' of a leadership style or method means that the behavior of the leader and the extent of readiness that he followers demonstrate in following his advice would be analyzed. In a situational leadership model, the followers' and the learners' abilities and their willingness to follow their leader in his various instructions is considered, as is the style of the leader. (Situational Leadership, Balancing Tasks and Relationships)

Readiness also shows the willingness of the follower to perform or to complete a particular task. This does not mean however, that it is the personal characteristic of the follower that is being analyzed; it is the type of job and the willingness of a person to complete the task that is being analyzed. There are four different levels of readiness in a situational leadership model, and these are the following: the follower is unable and also unwilling to complete the task, and this means that he is either totally de-motivated, or that he is unable to follow instructions given by the leader, or that he is completely without confidence. Unable but willing is another trait, and this means that the follower is actually unable because he lacks the capability but he is willing to use his meager ability or capability to finish the task that the leader has set for him. This type of individual would perform well were he to be given the proper direction and motivation. Able but unwilling is another trait of the follower, and this type of person generally has the ability to perform the task but he is unwilling to do it.

The fourth type of follower is the individual who is both able as well as willing to perform the given task, and it is this type of person who loves his work and always performs to the best of his ability. According to the situational leadership model developed by Paul Hersey and Kenneth Blanchard, what is important is that as the followers grow in their readiness to perform and finish the tasks that they have been allocated by their leader, the action that they need from the leader changes automatically; a good and successful leader would be able to adapt his own styles based on these differing levels of readiness demonstrated by his followers. (Situational Leadership, Balancing Tasks and Relationships)

The Delegating, Participating, Selling and Telling management styles of a situational leader are very important to the proper functioning of the organization and to the allocation and the completion of the various tasks within the organization. How is it that certain leaders are able to achieve the best efforts out of their staff while others are not bale to get anything out of their followers? If leadership were to be taken as an attribute and a characteristic of the individual, then most probably, the individual with the maximum number of desirable traits would emerge as the best leader there ever was, and maybe this type of leader would have the best personality traits that are generally associated with leaders, like for example, an agreeableness, an openness, a willingness to listen, and so on. Since it is the duty of a leader to manage an organization with ease and completeness so that all the given tasks are finished on time, he is also expected to be exceptionally intelligent. The Situational Leadership Model developed by Paul Hersey and Kenneth Blanchard is based on the basic assumption that an effective and efficient leader and the model of leadership that he follows is the inevitable result of the interaction between the person, that is, the leader, and the situation that he is using his leadership for. The four important Situational Leadership styles that were created by Paul Hersey and Kenneth Blanchard are those of Delegating, Participating, Selling and Telling. (Chapter 8, Leadership)

This model is significant and important because of the fact that it is basically a contingency theory that has as its primary focus the followers of the instructions that the situational leader gives them. The reality is that the effectiveness of the leader can only be judges by the willingness and ability of the followers to follow the instructions. (Effective Leadership in the 21st Century - Part. 1) the four concepts of Delegating, Participating, Selling and Telling in fact form the basis of the 'maturity curve' that is laid over the 'four box model' that has as its vertical axis the 'Supportive Behavior', and as its horizontal axis the 'Directive Behavior' that must be followed by the situational leader in order to achieve the maximum effort out of his various followers. (Kenneth Blanchard)

Is it possible to match a manager's leadership style to his employees' readiness levels, and how can this be achieved? It is a fact that most organizations have employees with different levels of abilities, capabilities, skills, willingness to learn and to adapt, and the person who is in charge or is the leader os the group of employees must remember this. Situational leadership is a concept that helps these leaders to match the appropriate and exact management style of leadership with the capabilities and skills of their employees. This means that when the leaders use those management styles that would best suit their followers, as would suit each and every individual follower, in fact, a more efficient and an ultimately more productive team would be built. How can the readiness levels of each employee be determined? There are several easy to follow steps recommended for the purpose, and the first one is that the leader must at the outset determine the specific job tasks for each job title that he is in charge of managing, and after this, he must limit the number of tasks for each title to a maximum of three or four very important ones, and then go about assessing and analyzing the readiness levels of each and every employee within the organization.

Since the leader would be already aware of the fact that the readiness of the employee may be assessed by the two most important features of 'willingness' and 'skill' of the employee, he would be able to learn whether the employee has the ability as well as the desire to do the job to the best of his ability. Four specific areas must be evaluated for the purpose of determining whether the employee's skill levels are at the levels that are actually required by the organization. These are: has the employee had sufficient training with which to perform the job well, does he comprehend the job that he is supposed to perform, would he be able to apply the tasks as he is required to, does he have the experience needed to finish the job well, and so on.