This study has discussed in depth the Situational leadership Style. This leadership style can be practiced or portrayed in any business organization, any Institution, and even in the society at large. The study continued to elaborate further on the limitations, advantages, and disadvantages that can come along as a result of choosing a situational leadership Style. Furthermore, this essay has critically analyzed and evaluated what other sources are saying concerning the situational leadership style compared to other leadership styles such as Transactional leadership and Transformational leadership style.
Introduction
(Adair, 2011) emphasizes that the Situational leadership style is a flexible style of leadership where a leader can use different types of leadership styles depending on the situation and the circumstance. The author continues to point out that this type of leadership is ideal in a business organization, any institution, and society in general. Most importantly the situational leadership style is effective for an organization or business whose employees are familiar with the work environment. This study shows that the Situational leadership style has incorporated other leadership styles; hence this will depend on the circumstance or the situation that the leader needs to address or solve. Henceforth this study has provided a link between the Self-awareness concept with the situational leadership style and what it takes to be this leader. Furthermore, the study has discussed more from different sources about the advantages and the disadvantages of Situational leadership styles. The study continued to touch and explain on other types of leadership styles such as Transactional and transformational leadership styles. Moreover, the study has also brought about the comparison and the differences between Situational leadership Transformational and Transactional leadership.
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The essay continued to further break down the Situational leadership style by bringing up critics and evaluations that relate to this type of leadership style. Other sources continued to clarify on the limitations of choosing to be a situational leadership style and the problems that can be encountered when one chooses to practice situational leadership style. In addition, this study has provided a link between the self-awareness concept with the preferred leadership style which in this case is the Situational Leadership style.
Discussion on the situational leadership style.
(Adair, 2011) clarified that in Situational leadership the leader gets to assess the situation and the circumstance and the leader gets to even identify the employee or the person who is involved, and then choose the type of leadership to use to approach and address the situation... The author emphasized that this style is effective and best used by leaders whose followers or employees are doing well and even familiar with their jobs.
(Murphy & Reichard, 2011) linked the Self-awareness concept with the Situational leadership Style. The leaders are supposed to be Tolerant. The authors point out that in situational leadership the leader must be able to accept the nature and the differences between their employees or followers because they are likely to perform differently and have different traits and characteristics. Moreover, the leader must be confident. The leader must believe and be able to lead followers in the right direction and also he must be able to approach his or her employees without hesitation. Last but not least the author pointed out the leader must be fair. As a leader especially as a situational leader, one must be able to evaluate the leadership style and judge employees fair and justly.
Situational leadership is more advantageous compared to other styles of leadership such as Transactional and transformational leadership. (Murphy & Reichard, 2011) defined the Transformational leadership as the leader who is willing to change and develop followers or employees. So this type of leadership is disadvantageous because it’s not flexible as compared to the situational leadership style. For example, transformational leaders' main objective is to inspire influence, and change the behavior of followers and most importantly they often focus on followers' needs this can be disadvantageous because some followers may tend to be overly comfortable and even end up producing poor results at work. On the other hand, situational leaders are flexible and can tend to evaluate the circumstance and see where necessary to help depending on the situation of the follower hence this reduces and discourages followers from being in their comfort zone hence better results in work.
Moreover, situational leadership continues to have a positive impact than transformational leadership in that transformational leadership has to be consistent and continual communication between the leader and followers hence it puts too much pressure on the leader to always keep up with their followers to satisfy their needs. Whereas in situational leadership, the leader does not have to always be behind the follower but that will only depend on a situation that needs to be addressed. In a nutshell, the evidence and the comparisons given the Transaction leadership it’s a leadership style where a task is supposed to be done or completed by the employees and get rewarded. However, those who do not comply are punished, that being said by (Klenke, 2004). This leadership style has a negative impact because a leader can be insensitive toward followers or employees. After all, in this type of leadership employees' feelings or needs are not recognized at all. As compared to situational leadership, since it allows flexibility of different styles the leader can be sensitive when addressing employees depending on their situation or any circumstance.
The author continues to clarify that Transactional leadership it’s not effective because it does not build or inspire followers or employees. This style of leadership only cares about the work and not about the needs of followers hence this encourages workers to work at their own slow pace and also the work can become boring for the employee since there is no motivation. This leadership style does not influence or encourage creativity in the employee. On the other hand, the situation leadership encourages employees to be creative since the leadership style is flexible and also it encourages employees to be free and work effectively.
Evaluation
(Hartlg, 2010) says that even though situational leadership has some positivity and advantages on the other has it can have disadvantages and have some negative impacts. Situational leaders can confuse or inconvenience their followers because they have different kinds of moods hence this can also make employees afraid to approach their leader if they need or acquire assistance at work. Moreover (Hartlg, 2010) says “Situational leaders will shift their approach to meet the needs of each worker. When direct reports see this change occur, it can leave them with questions. A shift from a delegation style to a telling style might feel like the leader has a growing distrust of the worker. 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. The only fix to this potential disadvantage is to have frequent and transparent communication, which takes time away from the actual work that may need to be done.”
In continuation (Robert & Palestini, 2012) evaluated that situational leadership is disadvantageous because the leader tends to be under a lot of pressure to choose a leadership style to address a particular situation. Moreover, the author continues to clarify that
References
- Adair, J. E. (2011). The Definitive Guide to Leadership Skills and Knowledge. Kogan Page, Limited.
- Hartlg, J. (2010). Leadership for People. Policy Press.
- Klenke, K. (2004). A Contextual Perspective. Springer Publishing Company.
- Murphy, S. E., & Reichard, R. (2011). Building the next generation of leaders. In S. E. Murphy, & R. Reichard, Building the next generation of leaders. Routledge.
- R. E., & Palestini, D. (2012). Commonsense Approach to Educational Leadership. R &L Education.
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