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…show more content… The coercive leader is most effective in situations where the company or group requires a complete turnaround. It is also effective during disasters or dealing with under performing employees - usually as a last resort.
Saddam's Leadership style when becoming President
For years Saddam was Vice-President to President Ahmad Hassan al-Bakr, a generous, encouraging mentor and kinsman who was the most important influence in Saddam's life and career (Coughlin, 2002). For years Saddam was patiently plotting, murdering betraying and assassinating his way towards the position of President. His hard work paid off on the 16 July 1979 when the Presidency was handed over to Saddam Hussein. Almost immediately Saddam became the extreme coercive leader and stamped his rule. The former President Bakr was killed by Saddam's doctors and many more were killed, executed or assassinated in a purge of rivals so great that it made Stalin's great purges seem constrained and small scale. Although being coercive to the extreme, Saddam also displayed elements of authoritative leadership with the establishment of torture cells. Initially he coerced senior members of his party to carry out killings and torture as a ploy to ostracise them from their tribal roots and increase their dependency on the Presidency, but he eventually left the running of the cells to his subordinates and they began to flourish. By adopting an authoritative stance as opposed to a coercive stance with
