Situational Leadership – An Emerging trend of Leadership Style (A Case of Software Industry)

The modern world walks on the principles and theories which have been nurtured and rendered in the past; hence the application of various leadership theories is very critical to drive the positive organization culture with greater productivity and lesser turn over. Leadership in modern era is beyond managing tasks and involves task management, team management, people management there by collectively driving the organizational values. This paper attempts to evaluate the use of Situation Leadership, its effectiveness, primary manager’s flexibility to change the leadership style according to the need of the followers or team members and drive positive. Keywords— Leadership, Situational leadership, Leadership Styles, Interventions, Leadership Theories I. INTRODUTION Over the last five decades Leadership and Management theorist postulated that the leaders has assumptions about humans , their emotions , their nature and these assumption has highly influenced the style of leadership that has been practiced by the leader. In the present literature review it will identify several definitions of leadership and evaluated the leadership theories and models that are appropriate to leadership selection. Leadership theories were compare and distinction in a search for general factors and rational point of view. In addition, techniques of assessing leadership competencies were estimated. At last, in abstract it talks about the significance of categorizing efficient competencies for leadership selection criteria in the service division. The definition of leadership can occasionally appear mysterious and misleading. Among them one of the several reasons is the number of definitions, theories, and investigators that exist. According to Stogdill (1974), who is a famous leadership investigator expressed that there are approximately several different definitions of leadership as there are individuals who have attempted to describe the idea. Even though the theory of leadership can seem mystifying, its different definitions are significant to accepting the concepts and principles of leadership. According to Hollander (1978) leadership is a process of manipulate among a leader and those who are supporters. According to Bennis (1959) Leadership is a procedure by which a negotiator induces a subordinate to act in a required way. As per Robert Kennedy leadership is inspiring individuals to implement their most excellent qualities. According to Chemers (1997) a definition of leadership that would be extensively acknowledged by the majority of philosophers and investigators may express that leadership is a procedure of social control in which one individual is capable to procure the aid and support of others in the achievement of a general mission. The several definitions of leadership explain its different roles. The definition of leadership used by the investigators and authors of dissertation is as a procedure of social control in which one individual is capable to procure the aid and support of others in the achievement of a general mission (Chemers, 1997). This definition will be utilized to revise the leadership competencies of the service departments selected for leadership task. "Leadership is accomplishing things that reach beyond solitary abilities by acting — and getting others to act — with a maturity that surpasses limited self-interest." -John Baker, president of READY Thinking, an organizational and leadership development firm. "To paraphrase Dwight D. Eisenhower, 'leadership is the art of getting others to do things you want done and feel good about it.' I would go so far as to say the goal is to get the person to embrace the "mission" and own it." -Dale Hamby, a former Army major and a teacher at Harrisburg University. "Leadership is getting people to want to follow. That requires engaging them passionately, from the heart, and requires persuading people to change. Management is tactical; leadership is strategic." -Tom Kennedy, a certified management consultant and principal of The Kennedy Group. "Leadership is when you give of yourself for the greater good of others with no expectation of reward. It's that willingness to jump in a ditch with your whole team so that the next time they fall in, everyone understands the best and easiest way to get out. As I deal mostly with military families who need guidance towards a sustainable future, leadership is absolutely concerned with getting down in the trenches to do the dirty work." Roxanne Reed, executive director of the Military Spouse Foundation. "Leadership is a mindset of total personal accountability for the results and outcomes produced without fault, blame, guilt or any manner of finger-pointing when results are bad. Leadership is being personally accountable whether Research Article March 2013 Preethi Rani Page 2 International Journal of Emerging Research in Management &Technology ISSN: 2278-9359 (Volume-2, Issue-3) someone is going to hold you accountable or not." -Linda Galindo, consultant, speaker, educator and author of "The 85% Solution: How Personal Accountability Guarantees Success — No Nonsense, No Excuses" (Jossey-Bass, 2009). "(Leadership is) the ability to make your followers believe that you possess superior knowledge of the situation, greater wisdom to cope with the unknown, or greater moral force. Unless you seem to have more of these things than the average follower does, they won't follow you around the first corner." -Tom Hopkins, author of 14 books, including ―How to Master the Art of Selling" (Business Plus, 2005). "Leadership is self-differentiation. It‘s simply setting yourself apart from others and often times setting an example. It‘s not about being in charge or power, but rather caring for others and helping them achieve a common goal." -Michael Flanigan, vice president at Expressionary. "Leadership is the willingness to speak up when it's easier to stay silent, hold yourself accountable when you have excuses at the ready and inspire without intimidation or the fear another will surpass you. A leader shows more empathy than ego and remains dedicated to the betterment of the whole and not the advancement of one." -Brenda Della Casa, director of online content and community at Preston Bailey Designs. A. Good leaders to demonstrate the leadership skills should have the following characteristics  Balanced commitmentgood leaders are committed to the jobs and the people who must do it  Positive influence – good leaders set positive examples at all times. They practice what they preach. They help people to achieve their goals.  Good communication skills – good leaders communicate effectively. They are good listeners. They are able to understand their followers well. They are able to establish rapport with the followers.  Positive role model good leaders have positive trait. They are always positive in their thinking and action. They are able to form a positive aura around them. They use their hold over the followers in a positive manner. They are dependable and they are able to influence people. They excel and are thus able to make others excel.  Persuasiveness – good leaders are able to use their power and communication skills to good use. They convert their power in to influence. They use this influence to persuade people B.Fatal flaws that derail leaders  Lack of energy and enthusiasm – they see new initiatives as a burden, rarely volunteer and fear being overwhelmed. One such leader was described as having the ability to suck all the energy out of any room  Accept their own mediocre performance – they overstate the difficulty of reaching targets so that they look good when they achieve them. They live by the mantra under promise and over deliver  Lack clear vision and direction – they believe their only job is to execute. Like a hiker who sticks close to the trail, they‘re fine until they come to a fork  Have poor judgementthey make decisions that colleagues and subordinates consider to be not in the organizations best interest  Don‘t collaborate – they avoid peers act independently and view other leaders as competitors. As a result they are set adrift by the very people whose insights and support they need.  Don‘t walk the talk – they set standards of behavior or expectations of performance and then violate them. They are perceived as lacking integrity  Resist new ideas – they reject suggestions from subordinates and peers. Good ideas aren‘t implemented and the organization gets stuck.  Don‘t learn from mistakes – they may make no more mistakes than their peers bu they fail to use setbacks as opportunities for improvement hiding their errors and brooding about them instead  Lack interpersonal skillsthey make sins of both commission (they‘re abrasive and bullying) and omission (they re aloof, unavailable and reluctant to praise)  Fail to develop others – they focus on themselves to the exclusion of developing subordinates causing individuals and teams to disengage. C.Transformational leadership comprises of following  Exposing limited utility of current approaches  Envisioning future  Enlisting others in ̳quest‘  Empowering them to act  Exemplifying by personal action  Encouraging right effort D.The 6 Es of outstanding leadership  Exposing the possibility of moving away from the way things currently exist  Envisioning what sort of future is to be created ahead in time Research Article March 2013 Preethi Rani Page 3 International Journal of Emerging Research in Management &Technology ISSN: 2278-9359 (Volume-2, Issue-3)  Enlisting support of all others in organization  Empowering all those who are willing to work to reach final goal  Exemplifying right actions and behaviors for others to emulate  Encouraging actions of others that support movement forward E.Leadership traits Theories abound to explain what makes an effective leader. The oldest theories attempt to identify the common traits or skills that make an effective leader. Contemporary theorists and theories concentrate on actions of leaders rather than characteristics.A number of traits that appear regularly in leaders include ambition, energy, the desire to lead, selfconfidence, and intelligence. Although certain traits are helpful, these attributes provide no guarantees that a person possessing them is an effective leader. Underlying the trait approach is the assumption that some people are natural leaders and are endowed with certain traits not possessed by other individuals. This research compared successful and unsuccessful leaders to see how they differed in physical characteristics, personality, and ability. A recent published analysis of leadership traits (S.A. Kirkpatrick and E.A. Locke, ―Leadership: Do Traits Really Matter?‖ Academy of Management Executive 5 [1991]) identified six core characteristics that the majority of effective leaders possess:  Drive. Leaders are ambitious and take initiative.  Motivation. Leaders want to lead and are willing to take charge.  Honesty and integrity. Leaders are truthful and do what they say they will do.  Self-confidence. Leaders are assertive and decisive and enjoy taking risks. They admit mistakes and foster trust and commitment to a vision. Leaders are emotionally stable rather than recklessly adventurous.  Cognitive ability. Leaders are intelligent, perceptive, and conceptually skilled, but are not necessarily geniuses. They show analytical ability, good judgment, and the capacity to think strategically.  Business knowledge. Leaders tend to have technical expertise in their businesses. Traits do a better job at predicting that a manger may be an effective leader rather than actually distinguishing between an effective or ineffective leader. Because workplace situations vary, leadership requirements vary. As a result, researchers began to examine what effective leaders do rather than what effective leaders are? F.Theories of leadership In addition, the leadership theories and models were used to evaluate whether the selection process was successfully identifying leadership characteristics and traits, as well as whether these theories and models were used as selection criteria.A common view of leadership is that there is something rare in the personality of an individual who has the unique qualifications to ascend to leadership. Some people refer to these unique qualifications as leadership traits. Because of the various internal and external elements involved in leadership, it remains controversial and continues to be the subject of many studies (Kirkpatrick & Locke, 2000). Nineteenth-century philosopher Thomas Caryle offered the Great Man Theory, which asserted that leadership qualities are inherited and that great men are born, not made. The leader, who is endowed with unique qualities, contributes regardless of the situation. The Great Man Theory is a method used to select individuals who are perceived to be great leaders to transform and inspire individuals and organizations (Bass, 1990). The theory promotes the idea that anyone in a leadership position must deserve to be there by virtue of his or her characteristics or personal traits (Chemers, 1997). One weakness of this theory is that there is little evidence to support the claim that inherited traits are good predictors of leadership effectiveness. Currently, leadership is viewed as a complex interaction between the leader and the social, organizational, and economic environment. This interaction includes the leader‘s ability to successfully integrate situational components while transforming and inspiring individuals and organizations (Fiedler, 1996). Before the 1950s, the study of leadership was based mainly on the Great Man Theory; however, it later was challenged by the trait theory (Goldbach, 1989). Trait refers to a person‘s general characteristics, including his or her capacities, motives, or patterns of behavior. The trait theory is derived from the statistical treatment of large numbers of observations presented as norms. Kirkpatrick & Locke (1991) identified six traits that differentiate leaders from followers. These traits include: (1) drive, (2) integrity, (3) self-confidence, (4) cognitive ability, (5) desire to lead, and (6) knowledge of the job. Jenkins (1947) and Stogdill (1948) found that selecting leaders by means of their traits met with little success. One major weakness of the trait theory is that traits do not explain the complexity and intertwined behavior of the total person (Allen, 1965). Additionally, this theory does not take into account the interaction between the leader and his or her group. Another weakness of the trait theory is that traits often are confused for being skills. A skill is a technical ability, knowledge, or expertness; a trait is a characteristic (Stogdill, 1948). The situational leadership theory suggests that leadership styles should be matched to the maturity of the subordinates (Hersey & Blanchard, 1997). The theory is primarily a model that classifies the subordinate‘s maturity in two dimensions: (a) psychological maturity and (b) job maturity. Research Article March 2013 Preethi Rani Page 4 International Journal of Emerging Research in Management &Technology ISSN: 2278-9359 (Volume-2, Issue-3) Psychological maturity assesses the subordinate‘s commitment, motivation, and willingness to accept responsibility; job maturity examines the subordinate‘s experience, knowledge, and understanding of the job. As the subordinate‘s maturity grows, his or her relationship with the leader should be more relationship-motivated than task-motivated. Little is known about the validity of this theory; however, it has much in common with the path-goal theory. The path-goal theory of leadership suggests that the performance, satisfaction, and motivation of a group of people can be affected by a leader who: (a) offers rewards for achieving performance goals, (b) clarifies paths toward the goals, and (c) removes performance obstacles. The path-goal approach identifies the specific variables that define the motivation, and can adapt the leadership style according to the situation. The leadership style should be conducive to the situation. It can be directive, supportive, participative, or achievement-oriented (Evans, 1970). The Fiedler‘s contingency model assumes that group performance depends on: (a) leadership styles described in terms of task and relationship motivation, and (b) situational favorableness, which is determined by leadership-member relations, the task structure, and the position of power. Fiedler argued that leadership involves social influence and the ease with which a leader is able to influence his or her followers. Fiedler further argued that the quality of interpersonal relations between the leader and his or her follower is such that if the leader is well liked and respected by the followers, his or her ability to influence them is easier and more likely to be successful (Fiedler, 1967).The Cognitive Resource Theory (CRT) suggests that leaders and group members can make effective use of their intellectual abilities, technical knowledge, and experience to contribute to group performance (Fiedler & Garcia, 1987). However, research on the relationship between intelligence, leadership styles, and performance demonstrated that intelligence contributed highly to performance only if the leader was directed and working in a stress-free relationship with his or her supportive group (Fiedler, 1987). The Vroom-Yetton Normative Leadership Decision Theory affects a whole group or team that includes individual subordinates (Vroom, 1964). The theory maintains that one of a leader‘s important prerogatives is controlling the process by which decisions are made. It further suggests that the decision strategies range across the dimension of degree of subordinate participation and fall into three categories—autocratic, consultative, and democratic group. The decision model for groups falls under five strategies: (a) autocratic–1, where the leader makes the decision using information already available (b) autocratic–2, where additional information is obtained from the subordinates but the leader makes the decision alone (c) consultative–1, where the leader discusses the problem with the subordinates individually but preserves the authority to make the decision alone (d) consultative–2, where the problem is discussed with subordinates as a group before the leader decides, and (e) Group–2, where the leader shares the problem with the subordinates as a group and invites them to participate fully and equally in the decision, with the leader acting as the group chair (Chemers, 1997) The Blake-Mouton Managerial Grid Theory is two-dimensional and focuses on the manager‘s concern for: (a) production (b) concern for people. The managerial grid is set up on a horizontal and vertical axis that ranges from zero to nine.Concern for people is on the vertical axis while concern for production is on the horizontal axis. Five managerial styles are formulated from the grid: (a) supportive, (b) delegating, (c) organizing, (d) coaching, and (e) authoritative. The grid represents the various leadership styles recommended, based on the need for concern or a combination of concerns. According to Blake and Mouton (1964), coaching is the most desirable managerial style because it is based on effective integration of the task and the people (Chemers, 1997).  The impoverished style, located at the lower left-hand corner of the grid, point (1, 1), is characterized by low concern for both people and production; its primary objective is for managers to stay out of trouble  The country club style, located at the upper left-hand corner of the grid, point (1, 9), is distinguished by high concern for people and a low concern for production; its primary objective is to create a secure and comfortable atmosphere where managers trust that subordinates will respond positively  The authoritarian style, located at the lower right-hand corner of the grid, point (9,1), is identified by high concern for production and low concern for people; its primary objective is to achieve the organization's goals, and employee needs are not relevant in this process  The middle-of-the-road style, located at the middle of the grid, point (5, 5), maintains a balance between workers' needs and the organization's productivity goals; its primary objective is to maintain employee morale at a level sufficient to get the organization's work done Research Article March 2013 Preethi Rani Page 5 International Journal of Emerging Research in Management &Technology ISSN: 2278-9359 (Volume-2, Issue-3)  The team style, located at the upper right-hand of the grid, point (9, 9), is characterized by high concern for people and production; its primary objective is to establish cohesion and foster a feeling of commitment among workers  The Managerial Grid model suggests that competent leaders should use a style that reflects the highest concern for both people and production—point (9, 9), team-oriented style. Fig.1 Blake-Mouton Managerial Grid. A brief overview of the leadership theories and models, which were useful in identifying leadership traits, suggests the elements that make an effective leader. This study draws upon the leadership theories and models to evaluate whether leadership traits and styles are being identified and used toward the selection of leaders in the fire service. The theories that are used in this study include: (a) the trait theory, (b) the situational theory, and (c) the VroomYetton Normative Leadership Decision Theory. The trait theory is important in identifying individuals who have personal traits that could lead to effective leadership. The situational theory was used to evaluate whether the psychological maturity and job maturity levels are measured in selecting leaders. Maturity is an important characteristic of an effective leader, especially in the dangerous occupation of fire fighting. Finally, the Vroom-Yetton Normative Leadership Decision Theory will be used to evaluate decision-making competencies. To be an effective leader in the fire service, a firefighter must be decisive, especially when human lives are hinging on the leader‘s ability to make sound decisions (Dewey, 1910). Refer Table.1 for Intervention types by leaders Table .1.Type of Interventions By Leader Forming Storming Norming Performing Overview Set objectives Resolve conflicts Facilitate processes Coach Direction High High Low Low Support Low High High Low Leader Focus Individual tasks People interactions Task interactions Team selfdevelopment Persuasion Style Tell/push Sell/Consult Listen/advise Observe/support