SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP IN SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to present a situational leadership model. The model is universal and can be applied in small, medium and large enterprises of various industries. Numerous surveys on U.S. Fortune 500 companies and surveys on other companies around the world have shown its universality, but also the need to improve the model. The aim of this paper is to adapt the model to the needs of the service activity that deals with vehicle servicing. The paper presents the hypothesis that by adapting the situational leadership model in service activities, it will lead to better personnel leadership, increased profits and satisfaction of the demands and requirements of stakeholders. We used quantitative and qualitative methodology in our paper. We collected numerical data based on a situational questionnaire, and we collected qualitative data based on interviews with employees and leaders. The results of the conducted research confirm that by adjusting the situational leadership model, the profit of the organization can be improved. The extension of the model refers to the clear definition of business objectives, and the requirements of the CEO that leaders must have the highest knowledge and skills to effectively manage staff in given situations. The limitation of the research refers to a small sample, because we applied and adjusted the model only to one service organization. The originality of the work refers to the adaptation of the model of situational leadership in a service organization that deals with vehicle servicing. For the first time, the development of leaders is assessed in situational leadership models at the request of the CEO. Based on the results, the CEO analyses the development of leaders and the development of employees. To achieve the defined goals, the CEO requires from leaders to be at the highest level of development. Therefore, the introduction of continuous training of leaders is necessary. There are several ways to assess employee development. For the first time, employees are developed based on their ability to perform jobs. Leaders must be able to adapt their leadership style to all employees, to train employees as quickly as possible to perform tasks independently.