Critically evaluate business theory
...situational theory, then in the case of more than one manager at any one level, the general approach needs to be unanimous in practice, otherwise personal characteristics become involved in the decision making, thus enabling the potential for splits within the team framework, which in turn will lead to employees becoming biased in which manager they decide to approach for a decision, dependant upon which result they would expect from whomever they approached. Hersey-Blanchard (1990) does suggest however that leadership style should be matched to the maturity of the subordinates and that maturity is assessed in relation to a specific task and has two parts: • Psychological maturity – Their self –confidence and readiness to accept responsibility. • Job maturity – Their relevant skills and technological knowledge. They go on to say that as the subordinate maturity level increases; leadership should be more relationship-motivated than task motivated. For four degrees of subordinate maturity, from highly mature to highly immature, leadership can consist of: • Delegating to subordinates. • Participating with subordinates. • Selling ideas to subordinates. • Telling subordinates what to do. DJ Waller, SR Smith and JT Warnock (1989) break this down further, they go on to state that: The situational leadership model enables a leader to identify a task, set goals, determine the task maturity of the individual or group, select an appropriate leadership style, and modify the style as change occurs. Pharmacy managers can use this model when implementing clinical pharmacy services. By applying the principles of the situational leadership theory and adapting their managerial styles to specific tasks and levels of follower maturity, the authors were successful in implementing 24-hour pharmacokinetic dosing services provided by staff pharmacists with little previous experience in clinical services. Fred E. Fiedler (1997) argued that effectiveness depends on two interacting factors: leadership style and the degree to which the situation gives the leader control and influence. Three things are important here: • The relationship between the leaders and followers. If leaders are liked and respected they are more likely to have the support of others. • The structure of the task. If the task is clearly spelled out as to goals, methods and standards of performance then it is more likely that leaders will be able to exert influence. • Position power. If an organization or group confers powers on the leader for the purpose of getting the job done, then this may well increase the influence of the leader. BEHAVIOURAL THEORY. There are two main areas to this theory, These are described by Blake and Mouton (1964). A. Concern for task. Here leaders emphasize the achievement of concrete objectives. They look for high levels of productivity, and ways to organize people and activities in order to meet those objectives. B. Concern for people. In this style, leaders look upon their followers as people - their needs, interests, problems, development and so on. They are not simply units of production or means to an end. The main difference within this theory is that A: Results are achieved by a mutual approach whereas B: dictates that results are more likely to be achieved when the decision on ‘how’ to achieve them is made by a singular body. So A, is positive in terms of low staff turn over and morale, as opposed to B, which is positive in terms of productivity and output. The two concerns can work dependant upon the situation in which they are used, e.g. People based business tends to be more productive in an employee type scenario. For instance, if the employee is consulted regularly their ideas are encouraged, and initiative allowed, this will usually lead to a happier workforce and will reduce staff turnover. This method will however decrease productivity due to time spent on ‘analysing’ and consultation. In a task based environment production will tend to run at a higher level if targets are set and employees are directed in how to achieve set tasks. Thus directive is contrasted with participative leadership McGregor’s [1960] portrayal of managers as ‘Theory X’ or ‘Theory Y’. Theory X Assumptions: People inherently dislike work People must be coerced or controlled to do work to achieve objectives People prefer to be directed Theory Y Assumptions: People view work as being as natural as play and rest People will exercise self-direction and -control towards achieving objectives they are committed to. People learn to accept and seek responsibility McGregor realizes that some of the theories he has put forward are unrealizable in practice, but wants managers to put into operation the basic assumption that: staff will contribute more to the organization if they are treated as responsible and valued employees. However, as Sadler (1997) reports, when researchers really got to work on this it didn’t seem to stand up. He went on to state that, it was difficult to say style of leadership was significant in enabling one group to work better than another. TRAIT THEORY It appears that this theory of leadership was based on personal characteristics rather than the skills and abilities of a given individual who ‘leads’, but due to the studies of both Ghiselli and Fiedler (1971) concludes between them that “No trait or combination of traits guarantees a leader to be successful. This is due to the ever-changing environment we live in, which dictates that to continue as a ‘good’ leader you must adapt to the changes and advances around you. Therefore the desired qualities in leadership may be required to vary over time which t...