Here are the advantages and disadvantages of situational leadership to think about and discuss. A leader is able to delegate the tasks to his followers but accountability of the job still lies with the leader. To be successful, the situational must have high emotional intelligence, be empathetic, and continue to keep an eye on long-term strategies while meeting short-term needs. After that, the engineers willingly voice out their grouses and complaints when Terrill asked them point blank as to why the division was not performing as expected. Terrill’s delegating style can be further identified when he promised to stay off the engineer’s backs and also make sure that top management did the same. First of all, participative leadership promotes a healthy working environment through making each member feel important and needed in the organization. Researchers French and Raven (1959) had studied the sources of power and successfully listed them in five distinct forms. Motivation, focus, and skill are the areas of diagnosis that are focused upon, allowing the leader to determine who the best person for each task will be. With the four strengths of the situational approach, some weaknesses were also identified by Northouse. From simple essay plans, through to full dissertations, you can guarantee we have a service perfectly matched to your needs. A shift in the other direction could make it difficult for workers to know what to do, even if they’re ready to be working on their own. Works to stress the concept of developing leadership skills, rather than focusing on the ones that are already possessed 3. That allows for fires to be put out and morale to be salvaged, but it also creates issues where personal development can be stalled. This leadership style may also be referred to as … However, in male dominated roles, men will appear to be more task oriented (Eagley and Jonhson, 1990). In conclusion, there are differences in leadership styles by gender. and weaknesses for this theory. Empowerment allows for a certain degree of independence which promotes accountability and creativity in individuals. Terrill first demonstrated his legitimate power during his meeting with the engineers. Leadership weaknesses are traits that a leader may have that can result in negative actions and relationships in the workplace. Terrill also exercised his authority when he issued immediate order for reports to be sent to his office instead of the headquarters as warranted by top management. Our academic experts are ready and waiting to assist with any writing project you may have. You can view samples of our professional work here. Leaders are a key human resource in any organisation. The Cons: Weaknesses and Limitations of Transformational Leadership. In some countries, women are even denied access to education, rights to freedom, and in extreme cases are relegated to subordinate status (Bass et al, 1971). Meanwhile, the decisional roles make decision on how to deliver the information to other parties. However, a situational leadership style is not dictated by the leadership skills of the manager. It is a leadership style … Some leaders coach others toward success by encouraging independent skill development while offering moments of teaching. Male leaders, on the other hand, adopted stronger approaches which are consistent with natural dominating and controlling characteristics of men. The organization is using decentralized … Second, the lack of clarity on how employee commitment changes over time. 10. Knowledge and skills of the engineers are highly valued by the organisation, which was why they were never reprimanded for their lack of productivity before. Differences in leadership styles have an impact on the effectiveness and direction of an organization. Transmit information to other via phone calls, memos, notes, etc. The Theory Of Situational Approach Essay 1075 Words | 5 Pages. Using the power vested in his position as the manager of the team coupled with the mandate given by top management to solve the productivity issue, Terrill issued an order which was against the wish of company management. A true leader is always thinking of ways to improve their product … Coercive power is usually associated with authority and can be used as a coercion tool at the workplace. Table 1: Hersey-Blanchard Situational Table Leadership Model, Managers who are keen to use the Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership Model must first fully understand or be able to assess/gauge the level of maturity of its subordinates with reference to their readiness or commitment to perform their job tasks. In contrast, due to the masculine nature of men as perceived by societies, male leaderships tend to be more assertive, aggressive, controlling and confident (Eagley et al., 2000). VAT Registration No: 842417633. He successfully proved his point by showing top management that the high stack of report produced over the last three weeks were not read by anyone because no one asked to look at them. Let’s have a look at the eight major theories, along with their strengths, weaknesses, and examples. Copyright © 2003 - 2020 - UKEssays is a trading name of All Answers Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales. One of those leadership styles was called transactional leadership. Delegating. One of the most significant disadvantages of situational leadership is the fact that people respond in different ways to various leadership styles. The following table highlights the differences in the two types of leadership: [3]. Situational leadership refers to a leadership style where the leader of an organization has to modify his style to fit the progression level of the followers he is trying to influence. Instead of lumping all employees into one generic category, the situational leader looks at individual situations. It is sometimes misunderstood as being biologically determined and solely related to the sexual characteristics of men and women. Leadership is the process of interaction of the leaders to his or her team members. Management will not be willing to pay them highly if they do not possess high level of job maturity, which refers to their job capabilities and confidence in accomplishing their tasks as engineers. Lastly, the appro… Although the theory behind this form of leadership attempts to bring equality into the workplace, there is no substitute for real experience. 6. [1] Follower maturity, which defines the readiness of followers to perform in a given situation, is based on two major factors – the ability and confidence in performing the tasks. In his liaison role, Terrill tried to maintain positive relationship with the engineers and not take sides with the top management by using any form of coercion on his team. For this reason, situational leadership has been advanced as a major theory of leadership. Free resources to assist you with your university studies! Situational leadership is a leadership style in which a leader adapts their style of leading to suit the current work environment and/or needs of a team. This style works best with people who know their limitations and are open to change. That process can cause some leaders to become fixated on the end prize instead of looking at the details required to achieve that goal. This role was demonstrated during his first management meeting with the engineers. They do not focus on the developmental aspect of leader/worker relationships. Leadership styles can also be affected by external factors such as the nature of work, business environment, organizational culture and industry structure. Its guidelines are valuable in guiding situational leadership. However, power is not exclusive to only managers and leaders as opposed to authority which comes with certain legitimate positions. When the situational leader cannot be flexible, then their strengths are taken away from them. Four leadership styles which emerge from this two-by-two matrix model (see Table 1) are Participating, Selling, Telling and Delegating. Even though we can all find common ground with other people at some level, humans are unique individuals. Some leaders prefer to roll up their sleeves and get to work with everyone, coaching as they work to promote equality within their team. When using situational leadership, … [2]. Barclays is listed on the London Stock Exchange and New York Stock Exchange. The participative approach of leadership has numerous strengths. If he successfully gets top management to agree with his plight, he will undoubtedly build his referent power and be admired for his charm and charisma in carrying out his task as their leader. No plagiarism, guaranteed! He used empathy and diplomacy as a leader by exerting his influence to make them follow his instructions. Weaknesses of Fielder's Contingency Model. Normally associated with the formal authority to allocate organisational rewards to employees. Then there is a fifth type of leader: the situational leader. If the situational leader leaves the company and a suitable replacement cannot be found, it could lead to a complete turnover of the team. An individual with referent power is looked upon as a role model by others. For mature followers who have high level of job readiness, this leadership style will give them a great sense of accomplishment which acts as motivator to give their best and increase productivity (Hersey and Blanchard, 1988). As the new boss to a team of highly paid and skilled engineers, it can be assumed that John Terrill himself possessed quality traits which made top management at DGI International very confident that he can turn the non-performing department around. In contrast, men display more traditional leadership characteristics such as assertive, controlling, aggressive and dominating. However, if a leader wrongly gauged the job readiness of his followers and leave it to them to accomplish certain tasks, he may not achieve the desired results at the end of the day. It gives each team member an advantage because their leader is adapting their personal approaches to meet specific needs. These styles involve relationship with followers through understanding of their emotions and building the self-worth through motivation, aspiration and encouragement. All work is written to order. He did not reprimand the engineers for the poor performance of the Technical Services division without first finding out the cause of their low contribution to productivity; instead, he offered to resolve the conflict by trying to get to the root of the problem and find a lasting solution that will help them to increase their output in the organisation. When he found out that the engineers were demotivated by the amount of daily reporting that they had to do instead of focussing on their engineering tasks, Terrill asked the engineers to carry out their engineering duties like they were supposed to and increase the division’s productivity while he took care of the daily report generation problem with top management. He convinced them that he would stay out of their way and get the top management off their backs so that the engineers can accomplish their tasks as expected. The theory behind situational leadership is more closely tied to using the style needed to be successful given the existing work environment, or the specific needs of the business. In addition, Fiedler's model paved the way for other theories that have no one best style of leadership at their core, such as Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership. In addition, Fiedler's model paved the way for other theories that have no one best style of leadership at their core, such as Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership. Women leaders generally tend to adopt a “softer” approach such as democratic and participative. Not Having a Vision for the Future. It is impossible to fully understand a different perspective when it does not apply to you. 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