What does the Situational Theory say?

The situational theory It is a model originally described as the Life Cycle Theory of Leadership and was created by Ken Blanchard and Paul Hersey. This model originated through some investigations that were carried out in order to confirm the different models of the business structure.

It highlights that business efficiency cannot be achieved, if specific business models are followed, it confirms that the structure of complex companies depends on their relationship with the external environment, which have differences and need the practice of efficient relationships to achieve benefits and a better efficiency.

The development of the situational theory in business management, is developed through both internal and external observation of the company, where the environment and the demands on the fundamental processes of the company are highlighted.

This theory maintains that the leadership with greater efficiency includes variations according to the disposition and responsibility of the workers. Its creators define the disposition and responsibility as a purpose of overcoming, the way to accept the abilities, capacities and experiences to execute their activities.

Characteristics of situational theory

The characteristics of situational theory are classified as follows:

• External factors are classified into specific influences that are composed of certain aspects that can lead to affect the company and in general conditions that represent various economic, political, technological and legal.
• It has two fundamental elements such as technology and the environment, which constitute the general conditions. These elements, when exchanged with the internal factors of the company, allow it to adopt some forms of structure and behavior so that there is an optimal adaptation with the environment external.
• It focuses its attention on the external environment of the organization and gives it priority before investigating the internal factors of the structure of the same. This approach looks for a way to balance the different contexts, where the company tries to acquire many more benefits from its environment and thus guarantee the greatest success.
• This situational theory maintains that the structure of the company together with the administrative system depends on the environment, activity and technology.
• The internal factors are constituted by the environment and technology, since it allows the company to acquire new structures and behaviors with respect to the external environment, which is made up of situations that could affect the company.
• There is a favorable relationship between dependent administrative techniques and independent environmental conditions, which allow the company's objectives to be adequately achieved.

Objectives of situational theory

Among the main objectives of the situational theory of business administration are the following:

• Seek to define efficiency.
• Include a situational vision of the company, in terms of the employees and the participating environment that demonstrate that there is no single way to manage, organize and act.
• Confirm the levels of the company and the relationship they have with technology and the environment.
• Offer a technological vision to companies and their different approaches that characterize it.
• Define the complexity of the human being and the situational model of leadership, motivation and expectations.
• Incorporate the situational approach into the design of the company.

Types of leadership

According to this model, the leader must take into account the different leaderships based on the types of situational theory, where they highlight the behavior of activities related to productivity and the behavior of relationships focused on the interest of employees. The four types of leadership are:

Managerial leadership

This leadership reduces the possible concerns that arise in the development of activities and the lack of interest in interpersonal relationships on the part of the workers. This style indicates specific directions regarding when and how activities should be carried out.

For this, the most appropriate thing is for the leader to put into practice the behaviors that belong to the execution of the activities and thus indicate the most indicated directions. In this sense, the workers are in the duty to abide by the orders established by the company. A manager who does not know how to direct, tends to confuse his workers.

Persuasive leadership

He seeks to lean on the interests of the workers and on production actions. With this determination, the decisions are explained and made, in the same way it gives your employees the opportunity to discuss how to better understand the decisions about their activities.

Participatory leadership

It is the combination of high interest from employees and their relationships and low interest in production activities. The leader has to share his ideas with the workers and give him the opportunity to participate in decisions actively.

In this way, workers will feel more empowered and motivated to fulfill their responsibilities and improve themselves within the company. The leader should not be inflexible in approaching employees for rapport and showing support to increase their interest.

Delegated leadership

It is a leadership that shows disinterest in the execution of activities and in interpersonal relationships. It has a low level of support and direction, since the leader delegates to the workers the responsibility in decision-making and execution thereof, being only then the representative of the decisions of the business.

In this type of leadership, workers do not need direction or supervision of their work, because the leader tries to reduce the level of support in decisions. For their part, employees acquire much more experience, self-management and confidence, which will make them more autonomous in the process of their activities.

The situational theory in business administration, focuses mainly on the characteristics of the workers, these determine the efficient behavior of the leader. Therefore, directed employees with good leadership have greater disposition, skills, discipline and confidence to perform their work in a good way.