The Situational Leadership - Admission/Application Essay Example

The Situational Leadership Introduction Large numbers of organizations have adopted frameworks such as Herzberg’s Motivation and Hygiene Factors, which can assist an organization to motivate employees and to enhance the level of job satisfaction amid them that in turn increases their level of productivity as well as ensures organizational sustainability in the long-term (Graeff, 1997). In this paper, the objective is to highlight the strengths of ‘situational leadership’ along with the concept of Herzberg’s Motivation theory and Hygiene Factors to highlight upon the effectiveness of combining these frameworks when practicing leadership in an emergency services sector. Moreover, the study will also try to identify the reliability and validity of the feedback of the respondents regarding these concepts as applicable in the emergency services domain. Notably, when conducting data analysis (Feedback of the Respondents), statistical measures have been taken into consideration to attain the determined goals of the study, by implementing mean, standard deviation and skewness for identifying the appropriate outcome of the research study. Discussion and Analysis Situational Leadership The situational leadership model refers to a specific leadership model through which, leaders of an organization can ensure a suitable atmosphere, where everybody can experience uniform treatment facilities in emergency circumstances. In this regard, it can be claimed that leaders have to identify their priorities during the operations of such situations. At the same time, it is also essential to consider the willingness of the team members to deliver utmost care to the patients, analyzing their efficiencies and abilities simultaneously. In this regard, it can be claimed that leaders, when dealing with emergency situations must concentrate on four activities with the aim of ensuring the success of the applied leadership model such as ‘Directing’, ‘Coaching’, ‘Supporting’ and ‘Delegating’ (Graeff, 1997). Applying the situational leadership model, it can be claimed that leadership behavior is the one of the most crucial aspects through which, skills and abilities of the labor can be recognized. Simultaneously, it can also be argued that leaders’ influence on processes is one of the most crucial aspects through which care deliverers in the emergency ward can be motivated. In this regard, it can be claimed that the daily activities of the leaders is one of the most important variables through which, employees’ commitment towards the organization can be enhanced indicating the advantages of situational leadership. On the other hand, concentrating on the attitudinal factors and behaviors of the employees’ leadership decisions can be made more accurately, which may assist the health care unit to enhance its performances and abilities when rendering emergency care services (Graeff, 1997). The concept has further been diagrammatically provided hereunder. Fig. 1: Situational Leadership Attributes (Source: Mississippi College, 2014) In this particular study, a research has been conducted with the aim of identifying the essential aspects of leadership style. Contextually, a varied range of data has been gathered from the respondents that helped in recognizing the essential aspects of the situational leadership. Moreover, in order to determine the reliability of the data gathered, the Cronbach's Alpha statistical approach has been used. Thus, the obtained results indicate that the data gathered is reliable and hence, can be deemed suitable to derive conclusions on the research objectives. Herzberg's Motivation Theory According to the viewpoint of Graeff (1997), Herzberg’s motivation theory suggested certain aspects through which, employees’ needs and expectations can be fulfilled. Besides, the theory also asserts that motivation can influence daily activities of the employees, enhancing the accountability among the members, which is deemed much essential when serving patients with emergency services. Simultaneously, Herzberg’s motivation theory also helps to improve the commitment and engagement of the employees towards the organization. In this regard, it can be claimed that certain factors such as ‘Growth’ ‘Work Itself’, ‘Responsibility’, ‘Achievement’, ‘Advancement’ and ‘Recognition’ are the key motivational elements, which can ensure job satisfaction for the employees. Simultaneously, it may assist an organization to enhance the skills and abilities of the employees and to attain the objectives of the organization more accurately. In this regard, it can be argued that Herzberg’s motivation factors can also be applied in emergency services, which will ensure health and safety related (Graeff, 1997). On the other hand, according to the responses obtained during the test conducted, it is revealed that out of 15 respondents, more than 4 respondents have claimed that growth can motivate employees to enhance their degree of efficiency. Similarly, out of 15 respondents 3 have been claimed that reasonability can motivate employees to enhance their efficiency. Consequently, it can be argued that achievement, advancement and recognition are the most essential aspects of motivation, which also indicates the combination of situational leadership with Herzberg’s Motivation Theory. In this regard, from the feedback obtained, it can be revealed that more than 4 respondents out of overall 15 respondents have claimed that achievement, advancement and recognition can motivate employees, which can also be observed in case of emergency services. Besides, standard deviation and skewness also depicts a positive kind of results to this combination. Herzberg's Hygiene Factors According to the viewpoint of Graeff (1997), Herzberg's Hygiene factors help to understand the attitudes and behaviors of the employees in a work environment. Moreover, these hygiene factors usually suggest identifying the degree of satisfaction or dissatisfaction level of the employees. In this regard, it can be claimed that there are certain factors, which can influence the attitude and behaviour of the employees and also causes dissatisfaction amid the employees, often being dependent to ‘company policy’, ‘supervision’, ‘relation between employees and leaders’, ‘work culture’ and ‘salary’. At the same time, it can be also be claimed that certain factors, which can lead to positive attitude amid employees of an organization, enhancing their satisfaction level through ‘achievements’, ‘recognitions’, ‘independency’, ‘responsibility sharing’, ‘advancements’ and ‘growth’ among others (Graeff, 1997). In this regard, Graeff (1997) argued that according to the ‘Herzberg's hygiene’ factors it will be possible to enhance the motivation level among employees. In this context, it can be claimed that leaders should have to establish a positive environment, where employees can utilize their abilities and skills to reduce the effect of challenges, in order to attain the objectives of the organization. Simultaneously, with the aim of motivating an employee, it is also highly essential to increase the responsibility and accountability of the individual, who has shown the ability of performing better in a difficult circumstance. Additionally, it can be claimed that if an employee is not suitable for a designation due to his/her lack of personal skills or ability, the organization should replace him/her on a different job role for motivating the employee and to utilize the efficiency of the employee better. Based on the understanding, it can be claimed that these factors can influence the behavior and attitude of the employees in case of emergency services (Graeff, 1997). On the other hand, based on the responses obtained, it becomes apparent that ‘company policy’, ‘supervision’, ‘relation between employees and leaders’, ‘work culture’ and ‘salary’ related aspects can adversely motivate employees, which can hamper the environment of an organization and thereafter lead to severe challenges in the emergency services workplace. In this regard, out of 15 respondents; more than 4 respondents have claimed that company policy and supervision can hamper the growth of the business organization, whereas more than 3 respondents argued relation between employees and leaders, work culture and salary related issues can causes dissatisfaction amid the employees. At the same time, the result of standard deviation and skewness also depicts similar conclusions based on which, it can be concluded that combining situational leadership variables with Herzberg’s hygiene theory may also be dependent on various other factors and shall require high degree of managerial skills. Conclusion In this study, interviews were conducted to gather the feedback of the respondents indicating the effectiveness of combining three leadership tactics, i.e. situational leadership, Herzberg’s motivation theory and Herzberg’s hygiene theory. Based on the obtained results, it can be revealed that situational leadership and Herzberg’s motivation theory as well as ‘hygiene’ concept can assist an organization to motivate its employees to ensure job satisfaction amid them. At the same time, it can also be claimed that by applying Herzberg’s Motivation and Hygiene Theory in combination, organizations can accomplish their objective more accurately, especially when operating in the emergency services sector. References Graeff, C. L. (1997). Evolution of situational leadership theory: A critical review. Leadership Quarterly, 8(2), 153-170. Mississippi College, (2014). Situational leadership. Leadership Track, 34-45. Read More