Practical-Management.

com - Transforming Theories Into Practice

Situational Leadership
Initial leadership research focused primarily on the leaders, their tasks or roles in an
organization, their personalities like natural traits and learned skills, their behavioral approach
to problem solving or style. What they were discounting was the readiness of the people in the
organization which the leader was attempting to influence. The followers are also crucial factor
in outcome of leadership since they accept or reject a leader; they actually determine the
personal power of the leader.
A leader evaluates his or her organization by simply asking the question What is the current
situation of my subordinates or organization? The assessment of the organizations
competence, skills, motivation and general confidence leads to the situation the leader has
to work with in order to successfully lead the organization.
The situational leadership stresses that a leader has to adapt his style according to the
situation of his group or organization. Hence, based on the situational analysis, the leader
must determine which leadership style he must adopt to meet the developmental level of the
organization. The situational approach differentiates itself from style theory by emphasizing on
the need for leader to change his style rather than having a natural dominant style. If the leader
is inflexible, then the organization is forced to be accustomed to his style, which cannot be very
fruitful in a long run.
How is situational leadership different from the opportunistic leadership style? An
opportunistic leader switches his style in order to gain control and for his selfish goals, while
a situational leader adapts his style to aid in the development of others in the organization.
The motive of situational leader is not self interest but the growth and effectiveness of the
organization.
Also, the situational leadership is a model and not a theory; it is based on tested methodologies
and provides a practical guidance to leadership.
Hence the situational leadership can be easily conceptualized as following:Situational Leader = Leadership Grid + Followers Development Level

Organization/Group Development Level

Similar to the styles of a leader task vs people, a group or followers need to be competent as
well as committed to their assigned tasks. The two major components of the developmental
levels are:1. Ability: It is the job related
knowledge, experience and proficiency of individual or
group. Knowledge
represents the theoretical understanding; experience is the
application of
the knowledge to accomplish the task. Proficiency is measure of quality
and timeliness of the task, both knowledge and experience aids
proficiency.
2. Willingness: It is the confidence,
commitment and motivation demonstrated for the
assigned task. Willingness
is not independent of ability but rather closely related, lack
of
experience leads to lack of confidence which in turn might lower the
commitment
level. However, the excitement to do something new might
heighten the motivation.
Based on the two components above, there are four possible developmental levels

Copyright 2008 - 2010 Practical Management. All Rights Reserved.

Phoca PDF

Practical-Management.com - Transforming Theories Into Practice

Low: (low ability & low willingness).The group or individual

are new to the task, they
lack experience, unclear about directions,
unwilling and insecure due to lack of
confidence in completing the task.
Low-Moderate (low ability high willingness). The group or individual have
begun to
be productive, but mostly due to being given proper directions.
Their initial success in
task completion makes them more enthusiastic and
confident. Their dependence on
the leader makes them good listeners who
are eager to seek clarity; they began to
open up with their leader in a
two-way communication.
Moderate-High (high ability- low willingness). The group or individual have attained
sufficient proficiency
in their job, but their willingness towards task accomplishment
reduces
suddenly. Once the followers become productive in their assignments, the
leaders
automatically reduce the amount of directions they generally provide,
putting the burden of taking decisions on the followers. Hence there is a
shift from
leader-directed decisions to self-directed decisions; this
shift results in reduced
confidence and thereby willingness on the part of
followers.
High (high ability-high willingness). The group or individual has attained required
proficiency in
the task and they are able to take decisions independently, they perform
to highest standards and keep the leader informed of their progress.

Situational Leadership Styles

To understand the situational leadership model, consider again the two dimensions of
leadership grid, task vs people concern. However instead of focusing on what leaders do, think
about what leaders should do to enhance the development level of subordinates. If the
developmental level is low, leader must exhibit higher task concern, or should be directing the
subordinates.

The task oriented behavior can be considered as directive, which implies giving directions
on how to proceed with the task, establishing goals, setting timelines etc. Directive behavior
represents a one-way communication, leader directs, followers follow the directions.
Similarly, people oriented behavior can be considered as supportive, it implies a two way
communication with the leader and responses exhibit social and emotional support. The
followers actively participate with leader in discussions, while a leader actively listens and
praises the followers.
If one draws similar analogies, there are four distinct situational leadership styles
1. Directing: (high directive- low supportive).The leader gives instructions
about what and
how task goals are to be achieved by subordinates and
constantly supervises them.
There is little supported behavior exhibited
by the leader, most interactions are
constraint to achieving the task.
This style is similar to that of a parent dealing with a
toddler child.
2. Coaching: (high directive-high supportive). Coaching is an extension of
directive style;
leader still provides detailed directions and takes the
decisions. However he also
focuses on giving encouragement and solicits
inputs from subordinates while
explaining the reasons for decisions taken.
In this style, the leader acts like a teacher
for the followers.
3. Participating: (low directive-high supportive). In
this style, the leader tries to make the
followers more independent in
achieving their task, he lets them take routine
decisions while still tries to facilitates high level problem solving. He
shares the ideas
with the team while refraining from taking final
decisions. However, the leader still
maintains a high level of supportive
behavior by quickly giving recognitions and
provides necessary social
support. In this style, the leader acts as a sincere friend for

Copyright 2008 - 2010 Practical Management. All Rights Reserved.

Phoca PDF

Practical-Management.com - Transforming Theories Into Practice

the followers.
Delegating: (low directive-low
supportive). In this style, the leader lessens his
involvement in the
activities of the followers since the followers have attained
necessary
skills to carry out the assigned tasks independently. Once the details of
the tasks and goals are agreed upon, the leader gives complete freedom to
the
followers on how they want to accomplish and deliver the task. In this
style, both leader
and follows acts as responsible
adults.

Copyright 2008 - 2010 Practical Management. All Rights Reserved.

Phoca PDF