Critically Evaluate How the Situational Model of Leadership Can Be Used to Explain the Behaviour of Saddam Hussein
Introduction
Saddam Hussein was the President of Iraq from 1979 to 2003 and during his time in office was responsible for a tumultuous period in Iraqi history. For the purposes of analysis of his leadership style with respect to a Situational model, three areas of his career will be looked at separately; his rise to presidency from Vice-President, during the Iran-Iraq War and post invasion of Kuwait.
Situational model of leadership
A widely recognised situational model is the model developed by Hersey and Blanchard (1969) and the revised model by Blanchard et al. (1985) (Northhouse, 2007). The theory in outline states that one's leadership style should be dictated by the type of situation and the demands of the situation at hand. Thus, a good leader is one who can adapt their style appropriately to the situational demands.
Hersey and Blanchard characterized the situational leadership style in terms of the amount of the direction and the support that the leader provides to followers. The situational leadership styles they described fall into the following four types:
Telling Leaders: The telling leader defines the roles and tasks for each follower, and supervises them very closely. All important decisions are made by the leader and announced to the followers that means communication is predominantly one-way. These leaders tell others what to do.
Selling Leaders: The selling leader defines the rolls and the tasks of each follower, but also seeks ideas and suggestions from followers. Decisions are made predominantly by the leader, but the communication style used is two-way. These leaders are good at "selling" their ideas.
Participating Leaders: A participating leader passes along the day-to-day decisions such as dividing up the workload to the followers. The participating leader will help to facilitate discussion and takes part in the decision-making process, but ultimate control is with the follower.
Delegating Leaders: The
Saddam Hussein was the President of Iraq from 1979 to 2003 and during his time in office was responsible for a tumultuous period in Iraqi history. For the purposes of analysis of his leadership style with respect to a Situational model, three areas of his career will be looked at separately; his rise to presidency from Vice-President, during the Iran-Iraq War and post invasion of Kuwait.
Situational model of leadership
A widely recognised situational model is the model developed by Hersey and Blanchard (1969) and the revised model by Blanchard et al. (1985) (Northhouse, 2007). The theory in outline states that one's leadership style should be dictated by the type of situation and the demands of the situation at hand. Thus, a good leader is one who can adapt their style appropriately to the situational demands.
Hersey and Blanchard characterized the situational leadership style in terms of the amount of the direction and the support that the leader provides to followers. The situational leadership styles they described fall into the following four types:
Telling Leaders: The telling leader defines the roles and tasks for each follower, and supervises them very closely. All important decisions are made by the leader and announced to the followers that means communication is predominantly one-way. These leaders tell others what to do.
Selling Leaders: The selling leader defines the rolls and the tasks of each follower, but also seeks ideas and suggestions from followers. Decisions are made predominantly by the leader, but the communication style used is two-way. These leaders are good at "selling" their ideas.
Participating Leaders: A participating leader passes along the day-to-day decisions such as dividing up the workload to the followers. The participating leader will help to facilitate discussion and takes part in the decision-making process, but ultimate control is with the follower.
Delegating Leaders: The
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