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Support your assessment with two scholarly sources and discuss to what extent they align with your response.
Reply to Neil
Situational Leadership Model
Fundamentally speaking, situational leadership refers to the selection of the appropriate leadership style for the correct occasion, tailored for the specific audience. In layperson’s terms, it means to tailor one’s leadership technique accordingly, to appropriately serve the needs of the team. The situational leadership model is comprised of four leadership responsive styles: telling leadership style, selling leadership style, participating leadership style, and delegating leadership style (Manning et al., 2019).
Telling leadership style: incorporates a high degree of dictating and directing on behalf of the leader towards subordinates. Conversely, the leader does not practice much of an open dialogue with subordinates.
Selling leadership style: the leader exercises high degrees of directing subordinates and welcomes open dialogue with subordinates.
Participating leadership style: follower centric leadership style that advocates for a high level of communication between subordinate(s) and leader, but low degrees of direction for the leader.
Delegating leadership style: follower centric as it preaches power in the hands of the subordinate, as it calls for low levels of both direction and communication with the director.
Personally speaking, I have witnessed a majority of telling leadership and selling leadership in the military. By nature, the military is highly structured with a strict adherence to the chain of command. An open-door policy is also at the discretion of the appointed commander. There was a base-commander that was extremely gregarious with stellar oratorical skills. Nearly every event he spoke at he conducted impromptu with humor interjected to keep the ambience light. He wholeheartedly practiced the selling leadership style in the sense that he was very clear about what his expectations for personnel performance were, but he welcomed, and even encouraged, individuals (both enlisted, officer, and civilian) to speak with him.
Biblical Integration
In regard to biblical application, there are many instances of situational leadership where protagonists dissect and fine-tune their leadership abilities for the particular situation. An example of this is in Matthew 28:18-20 when Jesus selected 12 disciples and tailored them into the church’s first leaders (English Standard Version, 2001). Jesus successfully analyzed the situation and purposefully mentored the 12 apostles, with his teachings being disseminated to their respective congregations. Analytically speaking, Jesus’s innate ability to modify and apply his leadership technique is what allowed for the apostles’ needs to be identified and appropriately addressed. Subsequently, in reflecting on how Jesus conducted his techniques towards the disciples, I believe that tailoring my approach towards appropriately towards my respective team members is paramount. By being clear and concise in my expectations, as well as ensuring my team members are fully briefed on what the expectations are, lays the groundwork for a successful mission. Lastly, I must also remember to be empathetic, as getting angry on the drop of a dime for an honest misunderstanding is not a constructive solution.
Scholarly Resource Analysis
In an article by Kalshoven, et al. (2016), the authors argue that ethical leadership and unethical organizational behavior contrast one another in various tiers of occupational independence or workplace autonomy. The results of their study suggest that ethical leadership directly correlates to workplace recognition. This lends itself to the idea that morally compassed leaders tend to bestow due praise and credit upon deserving employee performance. A leader, in today’s workplace, is someone of supervisory authority that is in charge of both mentoring and managing subordinate employees’ performance. Leaders have the ability to be either a positive force or a negative force within their area of responsibility within the organization. By nature of their position, leaders are tasked with being the forerunner of the pack, as they establish the path towards attainment of operational goals, while creating a workplace environment that fosters comfort, health and appreciates employee efforts.
According to The Veterinary Record’s (2017) article, Management and mindfulness at the SPVS/VMPA congress, mindfulness can be a binding agent that “provides a strong sense of purpose…that binds a business together (p. 186).” This means that mindfulness can create a sense of unity in a common mission. This can also promote in-house friendly competition, which further increases an organization’s level of productivity. This is no different than athletes competing among each other to be the best that they can be. In the case of the workforce, when employees are enjoying their occupation to the point that a job ceases to be “work,” it is both psychologically and physically healthy for employees. With that being said, there are characteristics that successful leaders share in common, including charisma, transparency, interpersonal skills and conflict resolution techniques. By incorporating these techniques, in addition to countless others, into a workplace repertoire, a leader has the alluring ability to create a corporate culture that excels and that is contagious. Poor leaders, on the other hand, create an environment of toxicity, where morale plummets, absenteeism runs rampant, and productivity comes to a standstill.
References
English Standard Version Bible. (2001). ESV Online. https://esv.literalword.com/
Kalshoven, Karianne & van Dijk, Hans & Boon, Corine. (2016). Why and when does ethical leadership evoke unethical follower behavior?. Journal of Managerial Psychology. 31. 500-515.
Manning, G., & Curtis, K. (2019). The art of leadership. McGraw-Hill Education.
The Veterinary Record. (2017). Management and mindfulness at the SPVS/VPMA congress, 174(8), 186.
Reply to Michelle
Professor and Class,
Situational leadership is one of the most important and effective leadership approaches that focus on contingency-based leadership models. The four styles of situation and leadership are style one which is characterized by directing, telling, and guiding, style two which is characterized by explaining your coaching and selling, style three which is characterized by collaborating, facilitating, and participating, and style four which is characterized by monitoring, empowering and delegating. In one of my past organizations, when our team leader was promoted to the technical division as a supervisor. I found that the team leader was more responsive to style three of situation or leadership that is characterized by participating, facilitating, and collaborating (Leadership Studies, Inc, 2021). With adequate knowledge of the technical aspects of the team leader was highly supportive who would always come up with the necessary support for every member of his team in resolving any kind of technical issue. He also supported his previous team where I was one of the members. Whenever any of the members face any technical or non-technical issues, he would be the person to help us and support us in overcoming the challenges. We had the opportunity to learn a lot from our team leader. He was not only an excellent technical person but also an excellent leader who would always participate in group projects and support every member as much as possible. His actions were adequate not only for resolving technical issues but also for non-technical issues. Since he had adequate knowledge and experience in the technical ground, he was highly successful in achieving the target and objective. His team performed very well and he was a successful leader.
Situation a leadership approach was used by the apostle Paul who was one of the disciples of Jesus. Paul observed Jesus on the road to Damascus and understood the significance of midcourse correction. His passion to oversee people reconciled to God had created his willingness to deal with every situation in a specific manner. He believed in demonstrating his actions to his people so that his followers could become genuinely committed and devoted to the broader cause. He was one of the situational leaders believing in exhibiting situation authority and leading his people effectively (Merida & Platt, 2015).
From the leadership style adopted by apostle Paul, I have understood that as a leader it is important to influence followers by both verbal and nonverbal directions. Ethical leadership is also equally important because a leader is never supposed to exhibit any unethical action and expect the same from the subordinates. It is also important to verbally and nonverbal communication with the subordinates to make them understand the required actions and behaviors as expected of them (Manning & Curtis, 2019).
Ghazzawi, Osta, and Choughri (2007), has mentioned that situational leadership has a significant influence on employees’ motivational levels in business organizations. Situational leadership is also important in impacting the productivity of employees positively. The researcher has identified a positive and direct connection between employee productivity and situation and leadership (Ghazzawi, Osta, & Choughri, 2017). On the other hand, Thompson and Vecchio (2009), have identified that both situation and leaders and followers should diagnose the competence levels in the followers alongside their commitment. The determination level of the commitment and competence of the followers should be analyzed by the situational leaders. Situational leaders are capable of directing the followers and supporting them appropriately (Thompson & Vecchio, 2009).
References
Ghazzawi, K., Osta, B. E., & Choughri, R. (2017). Situational Leadership and Its Effectiveness in Rising Employee Productivity: A Study on North Lebanon Organization. Human Resource Management Research, 7(3), 102-110.
Leadership Studies, Inc. (2021). The Four Leadership Styles of Situational Leadership. Retrieved from situational: https://situational.com/blog/the-four-leadership-styles-of-situational-leadership/
Manning, G., & Curtis, K. (2019). The Art of Leadership. McGraw-Hill Education.
Merida, T., & Platt, D. (2015). Exalting Jesus in 1 & 2 Kings (Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary) . Paperback.
Thompson, G., & Vecchio, R. P. (2009). Situational Leadership Theory: A Test of Three Versions. The Leadership Quarterly 20(5), 837-848.