As the name of the approach implies, the situational approach focuses on leadership in situations. The premise of the theory is that different situations demand different kinds of leadership. From this perspective, to be an effective leader requires that a person adapt his or her style to the demands of different situations. To determine what is needed in a particular situation, a leader must evaluate her or his followers and assess how competent and committed they are to perform a given goal. (Northhouse, 2016, pg.93)
As a store manager, it was important to train everyone so they knew how to positively influence the quarterly profit that the store was producing. The position’s that were often monitored were the commissioned sales positions and how these sales were generated by each employee. It was my responsibility to train and maintain a positive marginal profit. If my coworkers didn’t help the profit goals, I would have to train who was struggling. The way I trained each employee was very similar to the situational approach and how I determined who needed more help than others. In a given situation, the first task for a leader is to determine the nature of the situation. Questions such as the following must be addressed: What goal are followers being asked to achieve? How complex is the goal? Are the followers sufficiently skilled to accomplish the goal? Do they have the desire to complete the job once they start it? (Northhouse, 2016, pg.96)
After these questions are answered I will have a blueprint of who I could consider firing due to a consistent behavior or considering a written/verbal warning. This will give me an understanding if I should start looking for new employment opportunities for this position. The next step would be incorporating a coaching session if I see a chance of improvement. We could practice sales pitches and how we deliver these techniques to the customer or we could completely reconstruct how the employee interacts with customers. There could also be customer complaints that could be specific to the employee’s performance that might not be sales related such as the use of their cell phone and not being accessible by the customer. Each situation would require a different type of approach to leadership and there isn’t one way to handle all situations.
References
Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.
Adam John Swain says
This week brought up the topic of the situational approach, which I unwittingly have been a participant of for many years now. It was interesting to me to read the theory behind something that I had been doing. What really kept in the text was reading about the developmental levels that enable a leader to shift dimensions within the situational spectrum.
Where I work, I frequently deal with D1 individuals, who are low in competency but high in commitment. New personnel are still eager to be a part of the organization and though they don’t necessarily have the skills required, they are hungry to be a part. In fact, at boot camp graduation, many know nothing of their job but are brought to tears when they pass their final test and become a part of the Navy.
I’ve found that after a few years, after the newness of being in the job has vanished, they tend to migrate to the D2 level, where the text describes as “having some competence but low commitment” (Northouse, 2016, pg. 96). I’ve found that this happens because of being in a junior paygrade, many don’t like being acutely managed. They’ve earned proficiency in the basic roles of the job but become disenfranchised.
The people who move into D3 are usually those who started to see success by being promoted or getting recognized for their work. Typically, they have made the decision to stay until retirement and consciously decided to make the best of it. They are relatively good at their jobs now and their commitment level is increasing because of their resolution to stay Navy.
In my experience, the D4 individuals, those who have the highest commitment and competency levels are those who have decided to make the most of their career. In the Navy, they would be our Master Chiefs, the highest enlisted rank of the service. Master Chiefs ultimately mold the Navy because they serve as advisors to senior officers and ensure that they grow, nurture and develop the enlisted ranks. Master Chiefs typically advocate highly for the Navy and, as their name indicates, are the masters of their rating (job). In fact, they are typically the ones who develop training and shape the future of how our Sailors do their jobs.
So, coming back to your post, knowing how to tailor your training program is vital to ensure that you reach people in the way that best suits them. Understanding the developmental levels is a preliminary way to look at the current state of your trainees and can help determine whether you can be more directive or more supportive in each situation. Understanding this can also hep you to develop the program to ensure that you are creating the most efficient process to keep positive profit.
Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.
tfs5137 says
Hello ccb5182,
Situation approach theory is directed towards leadership role which is adaptable to the situational approach style. This adaptation has to occur in order to meet the needs of the people the leaders are leading. This is imperative for a leader to be an effective leader. Circumstances surrounding followers vary for each leader thus, leadership style for one situation may not be the right leadership style for another situation. Situational approach theory implies that “different situations require different kinds of leadership (PSU, 2018, para. 2). In this week lesson 5, chapter 5 you have identified the premises of the situational approach theory according to Northouse.
You have laid out your experience as a store manager and demonstrated how you have adapted your style as the manager to meet the needs of the struggling employee. Did you mean that you have the responsibility to train employees to maintain a positive marginal profit? Or; Did you maintain the positive marginal profit? You used your ability to decipher which coworker/employee needed your assistance because they were not able to reach the profit margin. Was it this obvious? Once you were able to zoom in on the employee who were lacking in the profit domain it seems you had a plan to distinguished their weakness. In so saying, “Effective leaders recognize what employees need and adapt their own style to match those needs” (PSU, 2018, para. 2). You were prepared to adapt your style to help those employees learn the essential skills required to meet the quarterly profit.
These are some really profound question that you have identified for scrutinizing employees getting to the point of reaching and maintaining marginal profit. These questions required solutions. As the leader you had to apply these solutions whilst training employees. Your directive to first finding the cause of the problem was a good place to start. What if these questions you mentioned did not apply to the employee? Where would you divert the problem to? What part did their personality and characteristics play in the sales commission position they occupied? Every individual vary so does their work ethics. Has there ever been any ethical issues with the employees that may have caused them to not meet the marginal goals?
From the situational approach perspective, as a leader it seems that you have a plan to adapt to the situation at hand. Furthermore, you focused on being an effective leader because, “to be an effective leader requires that a person adapt his or her style to the demands of different situations” (Northouse, 2016, p. 93). Either way. Your situational leadership style helped you to determine inconsistent type of behavioral patterns. You have even set the stage to implement new hire and meeting the needs of your customers. You had all bases covered as in the situational approach style and applied this theory according to your leadership style. In ending, you have adapted according to “the situational approach” which “tells us how leaders should adjust their behavior depending on the followers and the situations” (PSU, 2018, para. 1).
References
Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Los Angeles:
Sage Publications.
Pennsylvania State University. (2018). Style and situational approaches.
Description of situational approach. PSYCH 485. Retrieved May 20, 2018 from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1940315/modules/items/24597485