Situational Leadership Models

The situational leadership models are a subgroup of project management models that are used by professionals deliberately or inherently. The situational leadership models can be used while applying a variety of project management methodologies. The situational leadership models are helpful in understanding how to lead teams in different situations. They can be categorized under models, methods, and artifacts section.

The situational leadership approach can be described as a combination of theories based on the conditions in which events occur. The general assumption that needs to be brought to mind in the situational leadership approach is that different conditions require different leadership styles. So a theory that tries to explain the leadership also has to consider the “conditions” a variable part of the model. 

Situational leadership is one of 5 different leadership models including authentic, holistic, charismatic leadership, and stewardship.

As many other project aspects like, development approaches, processes, methods etc. the project team has to use tailoring processes to tailor the leadership styles according to the needs of human resources and the overall project. Situational leadership models simply provide us a way to tailor leadership styles to generate optimal value delivery at the end of the project.

Situational leadership models are recommended to be used in 

It is very understandable to have the team performance domain here as the leadership notion is directly related to issues about the project team. Project work performance domain is focusing on the execution of the work necessary. So leadership styles, accordingly situational leadership models are used in this performance domain also.

In the period before the intensification of studies on the situational approach, a special emphasis was placed on the study of behavioral models. According to the results of research on behavioral approach models, it was found that the human factor is directly related to environmental factors and organizational factors surrounding organizations. This detection has pushed researchers to do more research on the situational approach.

According to different situational leadership models, there are two factors that affect effective leadership. These factors are;

  • Compatibility level of the current state
  • Characteristics of the leader
Also, there are 4 factors that affect the efficiency of the leadership. These are;

  • The nature of the goal to be achieved
  • Competency and expectations of the followers
  • Characteristics of the organization
  • Former experiences
The situational approach is largely different from the behavioral approach. As we said before, situational leadership models defend that optimal leadership behavior will vary according to circumstances and situations, on the other hand, behavioral models suggest that there is a “one and best” management style in project management.

Commonly used situational leadership models are;