Situational Leadership

Leadership is as much a function of the situation in which the participants find themselves as it is of the characteristic of a leader. (Discuss) The characteristics of a leader be most classical however, one needs to take into consideration that diametrical situations call for different types of leadinghip. Previous look into by Luccier & Achua (2010) states that different situations need different types of leading. Therefore, leadership, presidential termal culture, situational leadership, personality and other traits need to be defined.Furthermore, an exploration of the impact of situations in relation to the characteristics of a leader and/or their leadership title shall be discussed, as will argue how this impacts upon the organisation and its leadership. A discussion of what abilities should be displayed by a leader in different situations, especially in education will ensue. Evidence suggests (Palmer 2011) that leadership careens its meaning, revealing different jud gements as well as different viewpoints. It is the influencing process of leaders and followers to achieve organisational objectives through with(predicate) change (Luccier & Achua 2010, p6. Daft (2005) eminentlights that there is a connection between leaders and followers, and the goals they wish to attain. In other words, leadership affects power or take for, and it takes place amongst volume, and those people wanting critical change (Richard & Andrew, (2009). in a higher place all, leadership is well-nigh motivating confidence and support who are required to realise the objectives of the organisation (Palmer 2011 Dubrin, 2004, p. 3) A fare of writers have defined traits as distinguishing personal characteristics of a leader for event honesty, appearance, intelligence and self-confidence. Luccier & Achua 2010 p 33 Palmer 2011 Samson &Draft 2003) Personality is the mixture (combination) of traits in regards to specific behaviour. In other words, personality is character, and it affects our decisions. (Palmer 2011 Luccier & Achua, 2004, p. 29)Organisation culture relates to a collection of, standards, and understandings overlap by members of an organisation, including new members. (Richard & Andrew 2009) In addition, it is viewed as a shared mental model or social glue that processs an organisation together. (Luccier &Achua 2010 p. 70) The staff at a school, led by a Principal should possess such a model. Situational leadership is a theory identified by Harsey & Blanchard (1969) that purports that effective leaders are those that reflect greater change in their leadership look in respect to projection orientation and directive orientation in support of individual followers abilities and requirements. Fuchs (2007 p. 15) It is also based on the thought that leadership moves between business followers according to the needs of an individual class at a specific time. Sousa 2003) Ministers of Education, Principals and Education Department heads should all acquire this theory, so that they can instigate arrogant development and/or change in their respective organisations. Leadership style is the mixture or combination of personalities, abilities and behaviours leaders use as they relate with followers. (Luccier & Achua 2010) Observations of followers can suggest the favoured approach or forms of behaviour used by different leaders. (Fuchs (2007) Thus, a school leader would need to know their staff reasonably well to be able to do so.Organisational success is non only influenced by leadership, but, also by the organisations vision, cultural mission and support from the public. However, many specialists argue that strong leadership is very important to organisational needs (Richard & Andrew 2009). Above all, effective leaders are ethos or beliefs makers (Luccier & Achua 2010). According to Palmer (2011) leadership is the skill to encourage, impact and inspire staff to achieve excellent work, and states that motivation is measure d as a dominant pecker for employers improvement.It also helps leaders to realise the types of people in their organisation and inspire them to get involved in developing and improving the organisation. A practical example of this is illustrated in the USA study which indicated that about 77 percent of workers or employees were not satisfied at work, mainly because they felt they were not motivated by their leader (Luccier & Achua, 2010. ). New employees need to be motivated by their leader, which in turn leads to greater job satisfaction and a greater likelihood of organisational involvement.A Principal should make professional development school wide and appropriate to the school, it students and educational context. Effective leaders are responsible for direction and support of every(prenominal) worker, and also assist with conflict resolution. They also have to be outstanding speakers to be able to communicate well so that they can pass on information to staff and also to peop le outside the organisation (Palmer 2011 Richard & Andrew 2009). In a school, the Principal/Deputy Principal would need to deal with such conflicts, do sure that they are imparcial and fair, free from bias.Leaders serve as role models for employees and are key motivators. Staff members can model honesty, integrity, commitment and other value demonstrated by their leader. (Luccier & Achua, 2010 Palmer 2011) In addition, they are strategic developers which form the organisations vision in collaboration with staff and other stake holders. Above all, they are policy producers and decision makers for both staff and organisations (Cited in Palmer 2011 Dubrin, 2004). Decisions can either be right or wrong, and can lead to the success or failure of an organisation, unless guided by a learned, insightful leader.An effective leader should demonstrate values like accountability, transparency, professionalism, commitment, innovation and motivation. Above all, an effective leader should be vers atile to be able to cope with global change and new trends in management and leadership. Principals and others in educational leadership roles need to have with-it knowledge and be able to utilise it appropriately. Previous research (Luccier & Achua 2010 Palmer 2011) states that leadership efficiency is learnable. Not all leaders represent leadership hat has been learned. contrastive leadership styles are used under certain conditions according to Dubrin & Dalglish (2001) they draw attention to Malcolm Frasers experience. He changed his leadership style due to influences on his situation. For instance, Fraser as salad days Minister of Australia, he was exercising authority, whilst also acting as chairman of CARE Australia, his profile was low. For this reason, one can highlight that the situation has an impact on which leadership style is most effective.The impact can be influenced by both internal and external situations. Also, it whitethorn be negative or positive depending on h ow favourable or unfavourable the employees or leaders perceptions are (Richard & Andrew 2009). Fiedlers (1967 as cited in Richard & Andrew 2009) point out that leaders have essential features. In the same way he representes the accident theory as a session of behavioural concepts based on the commandment that there is no one preferred way of leading, and that a similar leadership style does not work in all circumstances.This theory is classifying a managers leadership style as task motivated and relationship motivated. Fiedler (1967) used the least preferred co-worker (LPC) scale to measure the percentage point of leadership style. Fiedlers theory highlights that situations can be placed into three categories, namely high, low and suss out. Fiedler also used the leader come across concept to match leaders to situations. For instance, Fiedler points out that task motivated leaders do better in situations that are high, enabling them to concentrate on building and maintaining r elationships.In contrast, for moderate situations the relationship motivated is better, so is not as much of a focal point, as in low situations. Task motivated leaders may do well, but they may create a sense of misunderstanding, while relationship motivated leaders will seek consultations and support staff emotionally. The contingency theory is the most researched and advantageous, however, it had been established that it is very difficult to make sure that it has a good influence on most leaders. Furthermore, the total amount of control a eader exerts differs depending on the time and situation. It has been argued that from the situational characteristics, there is a negative connection between LPC score and group performance. Also, it is hard to make a summary about a leaders performance, when leaders are always adapting their leadership style according to changing situations they find themselves in. More research needs to be carried out on the contingency leadership so that it can be flexible and meet the desired outcomes of modern globalization tests and organisational requirements.The Situational Leadership model (SLM) was developed by Hersey and Blanchard (1996) as cited in Richard & Andrew (2009). It focuses on followers as beingness the significant component of the situation, and therefore, defines an actual leaders behaviour. Hersey & Blanchard (1996) highlighted the importance of appropriate leadership training, and melodic line the importance of leaders being adaptive in exact situations. In the case of school Principals, many have not received adequate training to be able to do a productive and credible job.However, experience, maturity and impartiality may be evident and are the reasons for a person being chosen for such a position. Hersey and Blanchard (1996) support the earlier theoretical assumptions from the Ohio State study which reveal that behaviour of a leader can be a combination of two points of view, such as having aspects of being democratic and autocratic. (Luccier & Achua 2010) The SLM is based on four groups which are a mixture of the two dimensions delegating, participating, selling and telling (Dubrin & Dalglish 2001, p157. This model focuses on the hardening of group members and states that there is no one best way to influence group members and the most effective leadership style depends on the level of the group members (Dubrin & Dalglish 2001 p. 156) In addition, employees differ in readiness levels. For instance, there are those that omit enthusiasm for a task due to a lack of appropriate training. These employees lack confidence in their abilities. To improve on this, a change of leadership style may be required. much(prenominal) employees are in contrast to those with high levels of task readiness.These employees, thanks to better training, are secure and confident employees who are able to make decisions and contributions to their organisations. Luccier & Achua, (2010) argued that leaders shou ld develop skills and task should be clearly say as evident in MacDonalds Corporation. The leaders in this organisation provide employees with ongoing training, thus constantly upgrading and improving their skills, so that they can be confident when performing tasks. If a teacher/staff member is not well trained in some aspect of their job, i. e. omputer based programs Principals ought to provide assenting to such training, without critical outcomes. The leader has the ability to guide the business to greater success and employee participation by developing better relationships within their organisation (Dubrin & Dalglish. 2001) Such a model would be a good one to be adopted by organisations, especially in Swaziland, where employees are low in their task readiness, due to numerous constraints. This is a situation beyond control and cannot be changed overnight, but, it is a possibility in the future.Therefore, the leadership style can be changed to guinea pig or meet different gro ups. For example, in a classroom situation, a student with impairment cannot change that situation, but a teacher can change teaching methods by differentiating their teaching in order to meet the individuals needs. This model has been demonstrated as being valuable as a foundation for leadership training. (Dubrin & Dalglish 2001) It has been established that before one decides on a leadership style, one has to assess the readiness level of the group members.It also provides leaders with precise guidelines, and not complicated rhetoric unlike the contingency theory. However, Vecchios (1987) research on 300 teachers and their principals, showed mixed results, advising that this model is only good for staff that are confident. More research should be carried out in different cultures and differing contexts so as to provide appropriate examples for differing settings, so as to get results that will be relevant to modern-day issues and global challenges. (Dubrin & Dalglish 2001)In conc lusion, the contingency and path goal theory focus on task, authority and nature of the subordinates while the cognitive resource theory illustrates that stress is vital to how leaders intelligence is related to group performances (Fieldler & Garcia1987 Vecchio 1990 Chemers1997 cited in Dubrin & Dalglish p. 163) Principals have a stressful role, therefore, many draw on such resources to be effective leaders. The SLM focuses on the everyday tasks and the effective applications of behaviours the leader employs. Dubrin & Dalglish 2001). The SLM is a more appropriate model, and has demonstrated its impact by addressing culturally diverse organisations, leadership speciality in the global context and by its correlating leadership styles and follower relationships. (Luccier & Achua, 2010). The writer believes that SLM is still the appropriate and relevant style for a leader, as it can bring change to a leaders behaviour as it is connected with relationships, which is more important to su bordinates for mutual understanding.On another note, culture is very important when leading people, all the situational models originated and were tested in the United States, which may not be appropriate or have the same impact compared to other cultures in Africa, Asia and Europe. Henson and Werner felt (1989) suggest that the culture of an organisation influences how subconscious and conscious decisions are made in it. (Lok & Crawford 2003) Finally, more research needs to be carried out, that will establish an effective leadership style chosen to be appropriate for diverse cultural organisations.