Situational Leadership Role in Enhancing Organizational Performance

during Covid 19 Pandemic among a Sample of Kuwaiti SMEs

SALAH A. A. ALABDULJADER

The Department of Management and Marketing, College of Business Administration, Kuwait University, KUWAIT

Abstract:- COVID 19 hit the world during the end of 2019 and beginnings of 2020, the virus was deadly and

fast to spread which had caused a lot of disturbance among country in terms how to avoid such crisis and make

sure to get out of it with the least losses possible. The current research sought to examine the impact of

of performance among SMEs, in addition to that, it was seen that the directive leadership style of situational

leadership theory was the most influential in running a good and acceptable level of performance during the

pandemic.

Based on such results, current research recommended the need to increase attention to the fact that one of the

defects of situational leadership is its failure to identify the leadership skills required for certain situations, and

thus it is necessary to identify these skills and work on developing them among individuals.

Keywords: COVID 19, Pandemic, Situational Theory, Leadership, Delegation, Collaborative, Directive, SMEs,

Quarantine, Lockdown, Performance.

to human behavior became an essential area of

study, and that the artificial distinction between

formal and informal organizations was treated less

than treating them in an integrated and non-separate

manner. Attention has shifted towards efforts to

understand the multiple roles of leadership and to

identify areas through which management can

effectively intervene to improve the performance of

employees [1], [19].

The subsequent stage of human relations moved the

thought are the school of decision-making,

organizational psychology, open systems theory,

management.

1.1 Problem Statement

[3] Leadership is the cornerstone of an organization

and especially in hard time where the organization

faces sudden and unpredicted events that may

negatively impact its performance. [4] and [5]

argued that during a crisis, leaders do not have to

preserving a good organizational performance

during COVID 19 pandemic among Kuwaiti SMEs.

The study launched its idea from that fact that

many organizations managed to preserve a good

level of performance through the pandemic which

helped in supporting its internal operation and

protect its external share of the market.

It was seen through literature that there are many

leadership strategies and styles a leader can adopt

so as to be more leading in the work environment;

among these strategies and styles is the situational

leadership [5]. This type of leadership style

suggests that a good leader is a person who is able

to adjust their attitudes, behavior, feelings and

thoughts in accordance with the current and present

situation. Situational leadership – [6] - refers to a

leadership approach in which the leader adopts and

present incident [7]. From another perspective,

situational leadership may also be seen in

connection to Situational Leadership Theory which

supports leaders to carry out evaluations to their

team members within the work place [8]; [1]; [2].

Situational leadership is basically built on the fact

that a good leadership has the ability to shift from

one style to another as a response to changing

ability to cope with different situations and

circumstances [10].

what mostly suits the situation that is

happening[11]. Based on that, being a situational

leader means to gather all needed information

regarding the work environment, situation,

incidents and team members, and choose the best

practices that may help in adhering the most

suitable decision making in accordance with

collected data [12].

Situational leadership theory is one of the most

important leadership theories that exist in the

[13].

Situational leadership theory was distinguished for

Fiedler as the type of leadership that is flexible and

dynamic, and it is the type of leadership that adapts

to continuous changes and demands to find

solutions to deal with these changes according to

their different positions [14]. [15] indicates that

Fiedler divided leadership positions according to

the situational leadership theory into two types as

follows:

organization

And it is that which occurs as a result of the

the presence of a situational leadership capable of

helping the organization overcome the crisis and

get out of it with minimal losses.

2.3 Traits of Situational Leaders

Being a situational leadership means to have the

Unpredictable situations require a leader who is

courageous enough to take extreme measurements

and risks. This can only happen if a situational

leader is risky and welling to try new things.

importance of situational leadership appeared as a

response to the breakout of the virus and an answer

[21] Leaders realizing that they are facing a crisis,

The distinctive capabilities of the organization, the

optimal use of its resources, is what determines the

efficiency of the organization in its performance,

[30, 33] in general, there are two types of

performance, which are financial performance, and

[26] aimed to show the impact of situational

leadership proved its worth during the crisis period

and achieved the goal that the organization aspires

to, which is to maintain performance during the

crisis period. It also helped in increasing the

confidence of working individuals in their skills

and abilities, in addition to improving the

foundations of conflict resolution and maintaining a

constructive work environment in the organization.

In addition, situational leadership helped mitigate

the severity of the crisis through a situational leader

approach and the application of a questionnaire to a

that the situational leadership contributed to

changing the leadership style of leaders and

maintaining a high level of organizational

performance, and the evidence for this was the

Study by [5] aimed to identify situational

leadership and its emergence during the period of

the COVID 19 pandemic, which led to situational

leadership being the new style of natural

leadership. By adopting the qualitative approach,

samples of school principals were interviewed

within Bulakan Prefecture in Japan during the year

From above model, following hypotheses were

extracted:

Main Hypothesis:

statistically significant influence on organizational

performance during COVID 19 pandemic in

Kuwaiti SMEs

Sub-Hypotheses:

performance during COVID 19 pandemic in

Kuwaiti SMEs

statistically significant influence on organizational

performance during COVID 19 pandemic in

Kuwaiti SMEs.

4 Methods

4.1 Methodological Approach

4.2 Study Tool

The questionnaire was adopted as a tool for the

study, where the questionnaire was built on the

five-point Likert scale (1) Strongly disagree; (2)

Disagree; (3) Neither agree nor disagree; (4) Agree;

(5) Strongly agree, using previous studies that dealt

with the research idea or part of it, and included

[3]; [27]; [26]. The questionnaire consisted - in its

latest version - of (27) paragraphs, and it was

distributed electronically through Google Forms in

study tool, (344) correctly filled out questionnaires

were obtained and can be analyzed, which

indicated that the response rate was (89.5%), which

is statistically acceptable.

SPSS was used to analyze the primary data and

reach the results of study, Cronbach alpha was used

to test the consistency of the scale, alpha value =

0.951 was accepted since it was greater than

accepted value 0.60 [29]. Other statistical tests

5 Results and Discussion

5.1 Demographic Results

Analyzing demographics of study sample, table 1

below indicated that majority of respondents were

males forming 74.1% of total sample, who were

within age range of more than 48 years old forming

42.4% of the sample. Results also indicated that

educational level of respondents was mostly BA

degree 51.2% and with an experience of more than

17 years forming 57% of total sample.

the highest mean was scored by statement

articulated "Supportive leaders were more able to

preserve good performance in their teams" scoring

4.52/5.00 compared to the least score by the

statement articulated "Situational leader has staff

seen that the dependent variable (organizational

performance) scored the highest mean 4.20/5.00

compared to directive leadership which scored the

lowest mean of 3.79/5.00 but still statistically

positive.

Multiple regression was performed to test the

hypothesis and r = 0.816 was determined to be

significant, indicating a strong link between the

independent and dependent variables. Additionally,

on a quantitative approach, and a questionnaire

respondents among SMEs in Kuwait. SPSS was

used and results of study reached following

significantly to adding A lot of flexibility on the

leadership, which made it smooth and able to

proven through its independent variables that

situational leadership increases productivity

behaviors of leaders in proportion to the different

new situations which agreed with what came along

with [4].

In general, situational leadership is considered one

of the most appropriate types of leadership used in

exceptional circumstances and situations as it is

able to overcome ambiguity and uncertainty, in

addition to being oriented towards relationships

with the team in order for the situation leader to

cooperate with team members and encourage self-

involve the employees in his organizational

aspirations to implement the company's vision

smoothly and voluntarily, especially in exceptional

cases and force majeure circumstances that occur

suddenly and without prior warnings.

After conducting such a study of situational

leadership and its importance for organizations in

exceptional circumstances, the search for such

to deal with the difficult situations it faces.

Therefore, situational leadership is an effective

model for management in the modern business

world, and in order for organizations to be leaders

in this leadership style, they must learn the

mechanism of adapting their leadership style by

finding a balance between directing, delegating,

supporting and strengthening the team, and a

mediator must be found between meeting employee

needs and mission requirements depending on the

situation.

one of the defects of situational leadership

the organization must be suitable for the

application of this type of leadership. The

appropriateness of the environment for

situational leadership is represented in the

presence of effective communication

systems between leaders and subordinates,

the ability to choose leaders with clear

leadership skills, and that the

focused on Subordinates and their needs at

[2] Hawi, R. Hashem, T and Al-Khodary, D.

[3] Islam, Q., Juraybi, M. H., & Alraythi, Y. M.

[6] Walls, E. (2019). The value of situational

[7] Ruslan, R., Lian, B., & Fitria, H. (2020). The

[9] Lynch, B. M., McCance, T., McCormack, B.,

[12] Francisco, C. D., Sagcal, N., & Nuqui, A. V.

[15] Crosby, G. (2021). Lewin’s Democratic Style

[16]Arisman, T. W., & Prihatin, E. (2021,

[18] Solihin, I., & AD, R. M. (2020). Influence of

[20] Chamakiotis, P., Panteli, N., & Davison, R.

[21] Harris, A., & Jones, M. (2020). COVID 19–

[27]Thompson, G., & Glasø, L. (2018). Situational

[28] Nicola, M., Sohrabi, C., Mathew, G., Kerwan,