Situational leadership involves the leader, the subordinates and the situation. Leaders, applying situational leadership techniques to their roles involve supplying directive and supportive dimensions from the leader commensurate with where the subordinates are in their development. The four leadership styles; high directive-low supportive; high directive-high supportive; high supportive-low directive and low directive-low supportive aligns with employee development phases from low to high. Employees can move among the development phases based on mastery of the task and their attitude toward it (Northouse 2013).
Employees that are new to a company or position would be in the developing phase and require the leader to be high directive-low supportive. The situational leader in this case focuses communication on goal attainment but performs few supportive behaviors. The style approach also allows leaders to slide between concern for people and concern for results (Northouse 2013). It is the relationship that a leader establishes early on with employees that can help long term goal attainment.
The ability of leaders to achieve goals relies upon the relational attributes of the leader to foster trust. Followers that trust leaders are more able to lead organizations through difficult transitions. It is through “interpersonal exchanges” (Hernandez, Long & Sitkin 2014 p. 1883) that trust between leader and followers is established. The establishment of trust between leaders and followers can then extend to the organization itself. This has implications for leaders using the situational approach.
New motivated employees at the low development level of situational awareness may not be able to quickly build trust in leadership. This is because leaders in this space will be highly directive to achieve goals but have little time for supportive behaviors (Northouse 2013). Taking the time to apply from the style approach, consideration behaviors and supportive behaviors from the situational approach will help employees develop organizational trust. Additionally, “leaders [that] exhibit relational leadership behaviors…may be able to reverse trust eroding effects of formalization” (Hernandez, Long & Sitkin 2014 p. 1883). Maintaining trust is an important aspect of leadership. The style and situational approach to leadership provide approaches to build trust. Workers perform at their best for someone they trust.
References
Hernandez, M., Long, C.P., & Sitkin, S.B. (2014) Cultivating follower trust: Are all leader behaviors equally influential? Organizational Studies. 35(12), 1867-1892, doi: 10.1177/0170840614546152
Northouse, P.G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.
Trust is definitely an integral part of the style approach to leadership. In this approach, one could argue that trust affects the leaders on both continuum. An individual’s concern for relationships is affected by past experience, relationship history, and their ability to trust. For instance, if a supervisor has negative feelings toward trust, or has reason to believe a subordinate is untrustworthy, they may place their concern for relationships lower on the scale. On the other hand, if they have positive feelings toward placing trust and are willing to expend it, they may put relational concerns in a higher point. When looking at the task continuum, individuals that have high levels of trust in their subordinates can loosen their concerns a bit, placing themselves lower on the scale. Those with little trust may need to concern themselves a bit more with task results.
The situational approach is more prescriptive in nature, but does offer us a means of categorizing leadership style. Applying the idea of trust to this approach, one could argue that: regardless of subordinate development level, leader ability and willingness to trust will affect their tendency toward style choice. For instance, lack of trust may force increased tendency to delegate. Increased ability and willingness to trust may trigger more supportive leadership styles. The leader uses a subjective assessment of their subordinate in order to choose what they believe is the best means of leadership.
Trust is a definite component of these approaches regardless of presence within the text. It is also a major mart of transformational leadership and creating a model environment for progress. Trust has to do with predictability and reliability, even in the face of uncertainty (Northouse, 2013). Leaders use their styles to create this certainty.
Reference:
Northouse, Peter G. (2013). Leadership Theory and Practice. 6th ed. Thousand Oaks,California: Sage Publications Inc.
The intriguing aspect of all the leadership approaches to me is the pretense that the follower/subordinate wants to be led. I believe that there are cultural issues and economic issues and various other issues that often time derail leaders in their attempts to gain momentum toward “successfully” moving workers into desired positions and development. And this is not to berate any concepts that we add to our repertoire.
My biggest challenge is not the low performer, they’re easy… they’re obvious, they get it… everybody’s telling them… it’s about the employee or colleague who has a misaligned perspective of themselves. That’s the real challenge.
We all know those people, we have coded language… I’m waiting for us to get to that section.
If I can get to an employee early enough on I can establish a relationship and choose from any of the processes that I deem are appropriate b-day LMX theory, contingency theory, path goal theory … My personal favorite is transformational leadership style but I can tell you sometimes feel like an alchemist try to transform rock into gold.
I appreciate that you brought up the transaction/interpersonal exchanges that establish trust. That’s huge. I found situations where even if the person doesn’t have any organizational affiliation is to have least of personal orientation. They work harder, they’re more committed, and go the extra mile because of the relationship that you’ve developed as the leader. Fascinating component of your post is that you talk about the newly motivated employee and maybe because I have such a high turnover rate we constantly see people from other providers seeking employment. They make interesting new employees based on their approach to the work, there outlook on where trust belongs, the baggage they bring from prior experience…
Solid Blog….
Lots to think about.
Klatánn