Leadership and One Minute Manager - Essay Example

Blanchard, Zigarmi and Drea categorized the different types of people in four classes, according to their level of competence and commitment. The categorization is as follows:
C1: These employees show low levels of skills but a high level of commitment. These individuals are highly motivated therefore they cooperate and show eagerness to improve their skills. They take directions in a very positive and productive manner.

C2: These employees possess a reasonable level of skills, however, not enough to take responsibility for the task independently. It might be a new task or nature of work for them but they show a willingness to do the work.

C3: Such employees possess high levels of skills and are very experienced in their line of work. However, they lack the confidence to take responsibility for the task independently.
C4: These types of employees are very skilled and confident enough to take the whole responsibility of tasks on their own shoulders.
It is a difficult task to place an individual in one of the classes so that they can be managed according to manner. In the beginning, the authors stress the non-existence of any one form of leadership that could be applied to any setup or situation. Therefore they described four styles of leadership for the management of different types of individuals (depending on their level of commitment and expertise):

Directing: The roles are defined for the subordinates by the leader and the tasks are explained to them. The tasks are monitored very closely for their precision and accuracy. The leader has full power to make decisions therefore minimal suggestions are taken from the subordinates.
Coaching: The leader is responsible for the definition of roles and tasks. However, the leader takes suggestions from the subordinates in the decision-making process.
Supporting: The decisions are made with mutual consent (between the subordinates and the leader) about the approaches that should be followed in the execution of tasks. More control is with the individuals who actually perform the task.

Delegating: The leader participates in the decision-making processes, however, the extent and time of his participation are decided by the subordinate. The subordinates (who are assigned the work) have full control over the tasks.

The book highlights an important aspect of leadership that is often ignored in organizations; the match between the leadership style of the leader with the maturity level of his group members. Productivity can only be witnessed if the tasks and roles that are assigned by the leader fall under the competence level of the subordinates. The reader of the book gains useful knowledge about the different styles of leadership that seem to be simple enough to be practiced in real life. The authors have given simple explanations and details about the situational leadership theory that can be grasped and adapted by readers in an effective manner.

The first step in the application of this theory should be to identify the competence, maturity and commitment level of the members in a team or group. It is very common for employees not to be open about their levels of expertise. They might accept the task willingly and promise great results. However, they might begin to feel lost when the time arrives for actual execution. This results in the loss of time since the task could have been assigned to a more capable employee who would have possessed the required expertise for the work. If the leader could have identified his level of competence and commitment in the first place then he would have adapted an appropriate leadership style like directing and coaching.

It has also been learned from the book that leadership styles should be transformed from one type to the other with the growth of the employees (in terms of their level of maturity and commitment), for example, if the low skilled employee improves his level of competence then the leadership style should be changed from directing to participating or delegating. The main aim of any leader should be to increase the competence level of his employees so that they prove themselves to be reliable enough to handle the execution of tasks on their own, with minimal supervision. Close supervision is not advised if the employees are competent since it does not give the employees the freedom to be creative with their endeavors. Read More