It's not easy to drive a car, it's even harder by plane, but the biggest difficulties arise when trying to lead a team. It is often possible to see leaders who are not leaders, their instructions are often not very readily and consistently followed. But there are people who do not occupy leading positions, but have a very big influence on the team. On what does the leader manifest himself or not? This question has long been of interest to researchers, but modern scholars find the answer in the situational approach to the theory of leadership, the meaning of which is to consider the holistic case with all participants in the interaction, rather than individuals.
Models of situational leadership
Initially, it was assumed that the leader is a person who has a unique set of personal qualities that allow him to be an effective leader. But when trying to describe the qualities that make a person a leader, it turned out that there are too many of them, no person could combine them in themselves. This revealed the inconsistency of this theory, it was replaced by a situational approach to leadership, which drew attention not only to the leader and the subordinate, but also to the overall situation. The formulation of this theory involved a whole group of researchers. Fiedler suggested that each case requires its own management style. But in this case, each manager would have to be placed in the most favorable conditions for him, since the style of behavior is unchanged. Mitchell and House assumed that the head is responsible for motivating employees. In practice, this theory was not fully confirmed.
To date, from the models of situational leadership the most popular is the theory of Hersey and Blanchard, which distinguishes four styles of management:
- Directive - focus on the task, but not on people. The style is characterized by strict control, orders and a clear statement of goals.
- Mentoring is an orientation to both people and the task. Also, instructions and control of their implementation are typical, but the manager explains his decisions and gives the employee the opportunity to express his ideas .
- Supportive - a high focus on people, but not on the task. There is every possible support for employees who make the majority of decisions.
- Delegating - a low focus on people and the task. Characterizing the delegation of rights and responsibilities to other team members.
- The choice of management style is made depending on the level of motivation and development of the staff, which are also singled out by four.
- It can not, but wants - a high motivation of the employee, but unsatisfactory knowledge and skills.
- Can not and does not want - there is no necessary level of knowledge, skills and motivation.
- Maybe, but does not want - good skills and knowledge, but low level of motivation .
- Can and wants - and the level of skills and motivation are at a high level.