When Should a Leader Be Directive or Empowering? How to Develop Your Own Situational Theory of Leadership SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of When Should a Leader Be Directive or Empowering? How to Develop Your Own Situational Theory of Leadership
A situational theory of leadership attempts to match a particular leadership style or type to specific external circumstances. The general idea is that one type of leadership will be effective in one situation, but a different type of leadership will be effective in another situation. Historically, situational theories of leadership have been too abstract to apply to specific situations. Nevertheless, the concept of situational leadership retains considerable intuitive appeal. In this article we draw on our previous research about situational leadership during resuscitation in a trauma center, in order to derive a general strategy of how a leader can best develop his or her own personal theory of leadership which best works for their unique circumstances. The core of the strategic approach involves: (1) defining goals for a specific situation, (2) defining potential leadership types, (3) identifying situational conditions, (4) matching a leadership style to the particular situation, and (5) determining how the match between leadership style and situation will be made. The medical trauma center we profile provided an interesting example of how leaders considered elements of the situation to guide their own leadership.
Authors :: Henry P. Sims Jr., Samer Faraj, Seokhwa Yun
Swot Analysis of "When Should a Leader Be Directive or Empowering? How to Develop Your Own Situational Theory of Leadership" written by Henry P. Sims Jr., Samer Faraj, Seokhwa Yun includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Situational Leadership facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in When Should a Leader Be Directive or Empowering? How to Develop Your Own Situational Theory of Leadership case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Leadership, Leadership development, Motivating people, Risk management and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the When Should a Leader Be Directive or Empowering? How to Develop Your Own Situational Theory of Leadership casestudy better are - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , wage bills are increasing, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing commodity prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
geopolitical disruptions, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of When Should a Leader Be Directive or Empowering? How to Develop Your Own Situational Theory of Leadership
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in When Should a Leader Be Directive or Empowering? How to Develop Your Own Situational Theory of Leadership case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Situational Leadership, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Situational Leadership operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of When Should a Leader Be Directive or Empowering? How to Develop Your Own Situational Theory of Leadership can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in When Should a Leader Be Directive or Empowering? How to Develop Your Own Situational Theory of Leadership case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Situational Leadership
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Leadership & Managing People field.
4. Making a Leadership & Managing People topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Situational Leadership
Strengths When Should a Leader Be Directive or Empowering? How to Develop Your Own Situational Theory of Leadership | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Situational Leadership in When Should a Leader Be Directive or Empowering? How to Develop Your Own Situational Theory of Leadership Harvard Business Review case study are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Situational Leadership has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– When Should a Leader Be Directive or Empowering? How to Develop Your Own Situational Theory of Leadership firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Situational Leadership to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Situational Leadership to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Strong track record of project management
– Situational Leadership is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Innovation driven organization
– Situational Leadership is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in When Should a Leader Be Directive or Empowering? How to Develop Your Own Situational Theory of Leadership Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Situational Leadership digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Situational Leadership has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Situational Leadership in the sector have low bargaining power. When Should a Leader Be Directive or Empowering? How to Develop Your Own Situational Theory of Leadership has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Situational Leadership to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Training and development
– Situational Leadership has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in When Should a Leader Be Directive or Empowering? How to Develop Your Own Situational Theory of Leadership Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Learning organization
- Situational Leadership is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Situational Leadership is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in When Should a Leader Be Directive or Empowering? How to Develop Your Own Situational Theory of Leadership Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Situational Leadership is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in When Should a Leader Be Directive or Empowering? How to Develop Your Own Situational Theory of Leadership case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the When Should a Leader Be Directive or Empowering? How to Develop Your Own Situational Theory of Leadership Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Situational Leadership are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Situational Leadership has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Situational Leadership has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Weaknesses When Should a Leader Be Directive or Empowering? How to Develop Your Own Situational Theory of Leadership | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of When Should a Leader Be Directive or Empowering? How to Develop Your Own Situational Theory of Leadership are -
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Situational Leadership has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Situational Leadership, firm in the HBR case study When Should a Leader Be Directive or Empowering? How to Develop Your Own Situational Theory of Leadership needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study When Should a Leader Be Directive or Empowering? How to Develop Your Own Situational Theory of Leadership has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Situational Leadership 's lucrative customers.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the When Should a Leader Be Directive or Empowering? How to Develop Your Own Situational Theory of Leadership HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Situational Leadership has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Situational Leadership has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Situational Leadership even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study When Should a Leader Be Directive or Empowering? How to Develop Your Own Situational Theory of Leadership, is just above the industry average. Situational Leadership needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Lack of clear differentiation of Situational Leadership products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Situational Leadership needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Situational Leadership is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Situational Leadership needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Situational Leadership to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study When Should a Leader Be Directive or Empowering? How to Develop Your Own Situational Theory of Leadership, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Leadership & Managing People strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Situational Leadership has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Situational Leadership supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - When Should a Leader Be Directive or Empowering? How to Develop Your Own Situational Theory of Leadership, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Situational Leadership vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Opportunities When Should a Leader Be Directive or Empowering? How to Develop Your Own Situational Theory of Leadership | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study When Should a Leader Be Directive or Empowering? How to Develop Your Own Situational Theory of Leadership are -
Developing new processes and practices
– Situational Leadership can develop new processes and procedures in Leadership & Managing People industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Buying journey improvements
– Situational Leadership can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. When Should a Leader Be Directive or Empowering? How to Develop Your Own Situational Theory of Leadership suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Situational Leadership has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study When Should a Leader Be Directive or Empowering? How to Develop Your Own Situational Theory of Leadership - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Situational Leadership to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Situational Leadership is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. When Should a Leader Be Directive or Empowering? How to Develop Your Own Situational Theory of Leadership case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Situational Leadership can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Situational Leadership can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Leadership & Managing People segment.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Situational Leadership has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Situational Leadership to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the When Should a Leader Be Directive or Empowering? How to Develop Your Own Situational Theory of Leadership case study. Situational Leadership can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Situational Leadership can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Leadership & Managing People industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Situational Leadership can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Situational Leadership can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Situational Leadership in the consumer business. Now Situational Leadership can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Situational Leadership can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Situational Leadership to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Situational Leadership can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, When Should a Leader Be Directive or Empowering? How to Develop Your Own Situational Theory of Leadership, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Threats When Should a Leader Be Directive or Empowering? How to Develop Your Own Situational Theory of Leadership External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study When Should a Leader Be Directive or Empowering? How to Develop Your Own Situational Theory of Leadership are -
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Situational Leadership will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Situational Leadership is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Situational Leadership
– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of Situational Leadership.
Regulatory challenges
– Situational Leadership needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Leadership & Managing People industry regulations.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Situational Leadership can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Situational Leadership business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Situational Leadership in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Leadership & Managing People field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Situational Leadership can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Situational Leadership has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Situational Leadership needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Leadership & Managing People sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Situational Leadership high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Environmental challenges
– Situational Leadership needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Situational Leadership can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study When Should a Leader Be Directive or Empowering? How to Develop Your Own Situational Theory of Leadership, Situational Leadership may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Leadership & Managing People .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of When Should a Leader Be Directive or Empowering? How to Develop Your Own Situational Theory of Leadership Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study When Should a Leader Be Directive or Empowering? How to Develop Your Own Situational Theory of Leadership needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study When Should a Leader Be Directive or Empowering? How to Develop Your Own Situational Theory of Leadership is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study When Should a Leader Be Directive or Empowering? How to Develop Your Own Situational Theory of Leadership is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of When Should a Leader Be Directive or Empowering? How to Develop Your Own Situational Theory of Leadership is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Situational Leadership needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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