Management of Organizational Behavior. Leadership Essay

Management of Organizational Behavior. Leadership - Essay Example A situational leadership is comprised upon an art of observing and dealing people to make effective changes according to the behavior, situations and sensitivity of a task (Patricia Zigarmi, 2000). In short, a successful leader has to be versatile with his leadership styles and should act according to the maturity level of his team workers. HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT: The topic of leadership is under constant growth and grooming in the organizational sciences since 1920’s and amendments or new theories are being laid continuously to bring the best of the option. Before, situational leadership by Hersey and Blanchard was introduced; different leadership theories were given like Great Man Theory, Trait Theories, Contingency Theory, Situational Theory and Behavioral Theories in which leaders were asked to follow different traits or behavior to get the tasks done (Yi-Hsuan Lee, 2007). Mouton and Blake laid a theory of behavioral leadership with a Managerial Grid, which emphasis on the concerns for people and productions can be done in different ratios which are more workable for a successful leadership. In 1970’s, Paul Hersey and Kenneth H. Blanchard introduced a new concept of leadership which was based on practical approaches within any organization. Later on different leadership styles were introduced but none fits as best as Situatio nal Leadership by Hersey and Blanchard (Robert D. Cecil, 2006). ... Task behavior could be dealt with complete guidance from when, how, where and with what to begin and relationship behavior allows followers or managers to be involved in discussions for different decisive issues. In other words, Relationship behavior offers a freedom for followers. Leaders can follow four leadership styles which were introduced by Hersey and Blanchard as guidance to act and demand according to a situation (Hersey, P. 1977). S1 (telling): Style 1 refers to the high task and low relationship behavior in which each and every task as how, when, where to be done is explained. S2 (selling): Style 2 refers to a balance of both task and relationship behavior in which followers are asked to communicate with the leader before starting any new task. S3 (participating): Style 3 refers to a low task and high relationship behavior in which followers are trusted for their endless efforts and dedication towards an organization. S4 (delegating): Style 4 refers to a low profile with b oth low task and low relationship behaviors in which the maturity level of the followers are completely incompatible with the work requirements and the leader has to delegate from top to bottom to get the work done. All these styles are adopted according to the maturity level of the followers. RESPONSE TO BLAKE AND MOUTON: In response to Blake and Mouton’s article â€Å"How to choose leadership style† published in February, 1982, Hersey and Blanchard appreciated the effort made by Blake and Mouton but Hersey and Blanchard responded well to this controversy by redefining that Grid talks about attitudinal dimensions and Hersey and Blanchard are more towards observed behaviors. In short, Grid interprets the values and attitudes of the followers and predicts to work with