Understanding Leadership Styles

1587 Words7 Pages
Cobham Management Certification Programme ILM Level 3 Award in Leadership and Management Understanding Leadership Styles Factors that Influence Leadership Styles in the workplace There are many factors that influence the choice of leadership style and behaviours that team leaders and managers may decide to use in the workplace but may include factors such as: * The Task – Is it routine or business critical, must a decision be made immediately or is there time to consider the options and the impact on the business? * The Team – What skills and experience are available, are they willing and are they used to making decisions? * History – What has happened in the past and what knowledge do we have? The best managers can adapt their leadership styles appropriate to the situation or task in hand and this may well change during the project’s duration to ensure a successful outcome. The Hersey Blanchard Situational Leadership Theory was created by Dr Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard in their book “Management of Organizational Behaviour” (Hersey, Blanchard & Johnson 2007). They suggested that the most effective leaders change and adapt their styles to not only the situation but also to the maturity of the person or group they’re leading and the details of the task. Using this theory, in order to complete a task or job successfully, leaders place more or less emphasis on the task depending on the maturity of the person or group they’re leading. Hersey and Blanchard identified four maturity levels and aligned this with four leadership styles that would be appropriate to the person or group’s maturity level. You can see each of these maturity levels aligned to leadership styles in figure 1 of the appendix. In the workplace the senior leadership team of a business may want to develop a technological roadmap that gives the whole organisation clear direction
Open Document