The dramatic shifts being experienced in the scope and mode of delivering oral health care and the myriad challenges facing dental practitioners demand new and sustained approaches to develop leaders with the skills and competencies required to guide oral health practice into the future (Kalenderian, Taichman, R, Skoulas, Nadershahi, & Victoroff, 2013). As such, students in dentistry and related oral health disciplines need to be prepared on how to address these changes and challenges using appropriate leadership styles and approaches. In light of this observation, the present paper compares the three approaches to leadership with the view to identifying the most appropriate approach in dental public health contexts.
Available literature groups most of the existing leadership styles into three broad leadership approaches (trait, behavior, and situational), each with its own distinct characteristics and application mechanisms (Longest, 2011). The most traditional of the three is the trait leadership approach, which uses “personality, social, physical, social, physical, or intellectual traits to differentiate leaders from non-leaders” (Derue, Nahrgong, Wellman, & Humphrey, 2011, p. 8). This approach advances the perspective that leaders are born with special traits such as extraversion, conscientiousness, openness and emotional intelligence, which in turn assist them to influence subordinates or followers toward the attainment of set goals and objectives. The behavioral approach to leadership, on the contrary, denies that leaders are born and instead reinforces the perspective that specific behavioral orientations (e.g., task-oriented behaviors and people-oriented behaviors) come into play to differentiate leaders from non-leaders (Derue et al., 2011). Lastly, the situational leadership approach is different from the other two as it is embedded in situational or environmental contexts of leadership. Most situational leadership theories consider the influence of followers and other environmental variables in developing the capacity for individuals to become effective leaders (Longest, 2011).
In my view, the situational leadership approach is the most sensible in dental public health contexts by virtue of its realization that environmental contexts and followers are important components in any leadership activity. Research is consistent that dental public health programs and projects must have the capacity to not only address the needs of communities but also to gain acceptance from community members (followers) and to include them in decision-making processes (Kalenderian et al., 2013). Consequently, leaders of such programs and projects must develop the capacity to lead in different situations and contexts by changing their style of leadership to fit the follower’s (community members) demands, needs and expectations as demonstrated in the cognitive resource theory.
Additionally, the situational leadership approach is the most appropriate in dental public health contexts is it provides leaders with the capacity to assess the willingness and readiness of community members to implement a particular program or project. It is no secret that some dental health programs and projects may experience resistance from community members due to a multiplicity of reasons. In such a situation, leaders can shift their style to fit the community members’ level of readiness to the program and then address their concerns and needs from that perspective. It is also possible for leaders faced with such a situation to use House’s path-goal theory to coach and guide community members to select the best trajectories for realizing their objectives, as opposed to leading from a trait or behavioral perspective (Kalenderian et al., 2013).
Overall, from the comparison of the three leadership approaches, it is evident that situational leadership theories are more applicable in dental public health contexts as they provide leaders with the opportunity to consider environmental contexts and followers.
References
Derue, D.S., Nahrgong, J.D., Wellman, N., & Humphrey, S.E. (2011). Trait and behavioral theories of leadership: An integration and meta-analytic test of their relative validity. Personnel Psychology, 64(2), 7-52.
Kalenderian, E., Taichman, R.S., Skoulas, A., Nadershahi, N., & Victoroff, K.Z. (2013). Developing the next generation of leaders in oral health. Journal of Dental Education, 77(11), 1508-1514.
Longest, B.B. (2011). Managing health programs and projects. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.