Butler & Reese,1991, bring out the Situational Leadership Model as illustrated by Hersey and Blanchard. Situational Leadership Model (SLM) revolves around four leadership components namely, task, behavior and relationship behavior. Despite high criticism of the SLM and the Leader Effectiveness and Adaptability Description (LEAD) theory, it is often used and has been used in this article. The article brings out two case studies based on hypothesis formulated from these models (Butler & Reese, 1991). The study involved 47 managers from the insurance industry. The managers answered 12 hypothetical questions based on LEAD theory.
Situational leadership model stresses on workers’ readiness to meet organizational goals and objective, which in turn rely on the employee’s skills, knowledge, and abilities. Since employee’s capabilities to handle various task, differ, as a leader, it is important to change leadership style to facilitate employees’ willingness to work towards organizational goals irrespective of the existing situation. Work direction and leader-subordinate relationships are two major factors that can be presented differently as more directive behavior and less supportive behavior (S1), more direction and less supportive (S2), less directive and more supportive behavior S3 and less directive behavior and less supportive (S4).
From the study, it was evident that all leadership change models to the staff readiness are not always efficient. From the case studies, the hypothesis of S2 leadership style showed positive effects and was most effective since it used more directive and supportive leadership style. From the article, the only leadership approach that was effective was the S1 style that is more directive and less supportive. From the case studies, the sales workers did exemplary work when more directional and less supportive leadership style was applied. From the case study, sales outcome when the S2 style is employed is significantly small as compared to the use of S1 style (Butler & Reese, 1991). S2 style involved more relationship and more task style.
From the article, it is evident that leader’s behaviors play a significant role in determining the performance of his or her followers, and achievement of the set goals and objectives. The primary reason behind this is that they profoundly influence behaviors of his followers or team (Butler & Reese, 1991). SLM is a representation of the self-drive and readiness of the juniors and their capability to align their goals to the organizational goals and work towards them.
There are various variables that influence leadership practices. Such variables include but not limited to age, expertise level, gender. On the other hand, leadership behavior is highly influenced by organizational behaviors such as culture, size, structural prototype and organization type (Butler & Reese, 1991). According to the article, it is evident that the degree of management is proportional to leadership style. If the degree of management is high, then the command and control method is also high. Top managers often give orders, thoughts, and recommendation to the low-level managers for implementation instead of being directive (Ray, & Goppelt, 2011). However, lower manager and supervisors tend to be more directive to ensure that the junior staff does what is required of them.
From (Butler, & Reese, 1991) arguments, the leadership style of a manager depends on the employees’ readiness and confidence. To determine organizational goals, as a leader, it is important to build a good rapport with the employees or subordinates and be familiar with the prototype of the task that needs to be completed. In this regard, flexibility is a key success factor for leaders at all levels (Butler & Reese, 1991). This ensures the leaders make efficient and appropriate decisions in various situation that they find themselves in.
From the article, it is evident that effective leadership is a key element of developing standards for managers in the world today. This can be developed from political and social alteration witnessed in the current environment promoting individualism in contrast to the conventional management styles. Additionally, effective leadership is developed from the need of a federal organization than monolithic one (Butler & Reese, 1991). Besides, with the rapid changing world, the need for new management styles and leadership to suit various situation are appropriate. Situational Leadership has been used to eradicate various challenges faced by organizations today. For instance, situational leadership has been an effective tool in managing various organizational activities such as control of the subordinates, creating teams, employee evaluation and appraisal and lastly induction of new employees (Butler & Reese, 1991).
Many renown organizational leaders such as Bill Gates employed this technique and yielded organizational success. He highly encouraged participation of junior staff in all organizational activities and endowed them. He believed in creativity and innovation and viewed the organization as a platform to understand their strengths and focus on them (Ray, & Goppelt, 2011). Additionally, he recognized the need for employee involvement in goal setting to create a sense of belongingness and satisfaction among the employees.
From (Butler & Reese, 1991) arguments, it is evident that irrespective of the positive aspects of the situational leadership style, leaders also encounter various challenges and pressure while applying it. The biggest problems arise when a leader is analyzing the existing problem and the best course of action. One of the major problems is a situation where leaders focus only on the short-term effects rather than both short and long term effects of his or her decisions (Butler & Reese, 1991). Regarding this leadership approach, there are various traits that define an effective leader namely, anticipative, self-confidence and emotional solidity and reliability. This will minimize loss of trust from the subordinate/follower and embrace leader’s direction.
From the article, the empirical effectiveness of SLM and its rationality of its evaluation tools LEAD are unreliable and unpredictable, and companies should, therefore, employ SLM with a lot of carefulness and at the same time assess other leadership approaches before using SLM (Butler & Reese, 1991). Based on the article, it is evident that for leaders whose juniors need more direction but less support, Situation Model Leadership is the best approach to use.
