Contrast behavioral approach and situational leadership


Assignment task:

Compare and contrast Behavioral Approach and Situational Leadership. Explain how they are similar, different, and which approach you believe is most effective and why. Please ewad the bellow Behavioral Approach and Situational Leadership then provides your answer based on the reading not from any other source.

The situational approach emphasizes situational leadership. The notion states that leadership styles vary by situation. This view of leadership needs adaptability to varied conditions.

 Blanchard's SLII® approach requires leaders to fit their style to their followers' competence and commitment. Leaders who identify followers' needs and modify their style are effective, which includes leadership style and follower growth. 

Leadership style consists of the behavior pattern of a person who attempts to influence others. It includes both directive behaviors and supportive behaviors. Directive behaviors help individuals and group members accomplish goals by giving directions, establishing goals and methods of evaluation, setting timelines, defining roles, and showing how the goals are to be achieved. Directive behaviors clarify, often with one-way communication, what is to be done, how it is to be done, and who is responsible for doing it. Supportive behaviors help individuals and group members feel comfortable about themselves, their coworkers, and the situation. Supportive behaviors involve two-way communication and responses that show social and emotional support to others. Examples of supportive behaviors include asking for input, solving problems, praising others, sharing information about oneself, and listening. Supportive behaviors are mostly job related.

Particularly for practitioners. The first strength is that it has a history of usefulness in the marketplace. SLII® is well known and frequently used for training leaders within organizations. Hersey and Blanchard (1993) reported that it has been a factor in training programs of more than 400 of the Fortune 500 companies. It is perceived by corporations as offering a useful model for training people to become effective leaders.

SLII® is easy to understand, intuitively sensible, and easily applied in a variety of settings. SLII® provides a straightforward approach that is easily used. Because it is described at a level that is easily grasped, the ideas behind the approach are quickly acquired. Managers can relate to the description of followers as combinations of competence and commitment. In addition, the principles suggested by this approach are easy to apply across a variety of settings, including work, school, and family.

Third strength: It has prescriptive value. Whereas many theories of leadership are descriptive in nature, the SLII® approach is prescriptive. It tells you what you should and should not do in various contexts. For example, if your followers are very low in competence, the approach prescribes a directing style for you as the leader. On the other hand, if your followers appear to be competent but lack confidence, SLII® suggests that you lead with a supporting style. These prescriptions provide leaders with a valuable set of guidelines that can facilitate and enhance leadership. For example, in a recent study, Meirovich and Gu (2015) reported that the closer a leader's style is to the prescribed style, the better the performance and satisfaction of the employees.

A fourth strength of the situational approach to leadership is that it emphasizes leader flexibility (Graeff, 1983; Yukl, 1989). This approach was one of the first contingency theories of leadership, which stated that leader effectiveness depends on situational factors. The approach stresses that leaders need to find out about their followers' needs and then adapt their leadership style accordingly. Leaders cannot lead using a single style: They must be willing to change their style to meet the requirements of the situation. This approach recognizes that followers act differently when working toward different goals, and that they may act differently during different stages of achieving the same goal. Effective leaders are those who can change their own style based on the goal requirements and the followers' needs, even in the middle of a project.

The premise of the situational approach is that different situations demand different kinds of leadership. The SLII® approach provides a model that suggests to leaders how they should behave based on the demands of a particular situation. It has been used extensively in organizational leadership training and development

The behavioural approach implies leaders engage in task and relational behaviours. Behavioural approach focuses on how leaders use these two sorts of behaviours to affect others. This strategy stresses leadership behaviour. This differs from the attribute and skills approaches, which emphasize leader personality.Leadership consists of task and relational behaviours, according to behavioural approach researchers.Task behaviours assist group members attain goals. Relationship behaviours make followers feel comfortable with themselves, each other, and their surroundings. The behavioural approach explains how leaders use these two behaviours to influence those around them to achieve a goal.The behavioural approach is not a developed theory that prescribes good leadership behaviour like many of the other methods. Leaders are assessed as behaviour with task and relational dimensions using the behavioural approach. This method describes leaders' primary behaviours rather than advising them how to behave.

Leaders use the behavioural approach to think about their interactions with others as tasks and relationships. Sometimes leaders must focus on tasks, sometimes on relationships. Others need leaders who nurture and support them, and some need leaders who give them a lot of direction. Leaders must sometimes use both methods.

Leadership behavior consists of task and relationship behaviors. Task-oriented leaders focus on goal accomplishment, organizing work, defining roles, and determining policies. Relationship-oriented leaders prioritize connecting with others, focusing on their well-being and the atmosphere. They value followers' uniqueness and attend to their needs. Both task and relationship leadership behaviors are interconnected, and the behavioral approach examines how leaders engage in these behaviors and how situational factors affect them. Both are crucial for leader effectiveness and success.

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