Situational Theory And Situational Leadership

All situations are different and a leadership style applied in one situation will not always work in another. A leader must use judgement to decide the most appropriate style needed for each situation. The ‘Situational Approach’ to leadership identifies four leadership styles which are;

Situational and Authentic leadership are increasingly important skills to possess in today’s era of technological changes and availability and flow of information we have in this day and age. Leaders today must be able to adjust their leadership styles to the whatever situation arises as well as to the people who they are leading. Leaders are not limited to just use one style in one situation, being able to adapt appropriate styles to different situations will influence and help a leader succeed. A leader’s judgement, intelligence, cultural awareness, and self-control plays major roles in helping them choose the proper style and appropriate technique for the task at hand (Lau & Cronin, 1998).

Situational leadership theory is when a leader adapt’s to the situation and the management styles to the behavioral needs of the individual or group. Trait approach leadership gives more credence to the qualities and traits that people are born with that make them natural born leaders.

Herschey and Blanchard developed the Situational Leadership theory in order to identify where a team or individual fit in any particular situation and to match a leadership style most appropriate to that situation.

Situational leadership focuses on adapting your leadership style or approach based on the situation and the amount of direction and support that is needed by followers. As Jesus trained and equipped his disciples from simple fishermen to fishers of men, who carried on his ministry after he ascended to heaven, he integrated different styles and theories of leadership that best served and supported his followers (Blanchard & Hodges, 2003). Depending on the level of competency and commitment of their people, leaders will adjust their style to provide the necessary support and direction. The core competencies of situational leaders are the ability to identify the performance, competence and commitment of others, and to be flexible (Paterson, 2013). From being highly directive, telling their people exactly what to do and how, to delegating, clearly stating the objective and allowing them to complete the task with little direction and support, situational leaders adapt their approach to the needs of their people and the particular situation.

Situational leadership has very little in common with the other models mentioned herein. This model revolves around the leader changing leadership behaviors to meet the needs in relationship to the follower (Kouzes, 2003, p. 111). The difference between situational leadership and charismatic, servant, and transformational leadership is the lack of an organizational vision and the empowerment of the followers. Situational leadership uses followers based on their readiness level that relate to their ability and willingness to complete the task (Wren, 1995, p. 208). This aspect coupled with the leader’s task and relationship behavior is used in relation to the

This paper will address why situational leadership theory is useful and relevant in developing an effective leadership culture. In addition, it will also discuss the three theories of situational leadership and what is considered to be the strengths and weaknesses of each theory when leading staff in the organizational environment.

It is also important for leaders to advance and manage the company movement. From my research, I can safely say there are some pros and cons with situational leadership. Since it is a leadership that can adaptive leaders can easily know which style is right and they can evaluate based on the situation and apply it to the best leadership style to make it comfortable and appropriate which fits best. One the other side of the spectrum situational leadership style can deviate their focus from long-term goals and strategies from the organization. I would say though, that it is a beneficial leadership because it can be hand-picked for the right and most appropriate leadership style for the right employees. However, Goetsch the author for quality Management for Excellence, made it clear that “advocates total quality reject situational leadership as an attempt to apply an approach based on short-term concerns instead of focusing on the solution of long-term problems (Goetsch,

After researching several other leadership styles, I found that situational leadership is the leadership style most effective for myself. Situational leadership is different from most leadership styles because it is adaptable to every circumstance. While other leadership styles are very specific, situational leadership can be used to lead people that are not very knowledgable in a certain area and also people that might know more than you.

Situational Leadership is also called as Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership Theory. Paul Hersey the author of "Situational Leader" and Ken Blanchard the author of " The One Minute Manager" are the one who introduced this theory (Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership Theory, 2010-2015). The principle behind this theory is that every theory is not perfect in itself and the effectiveness of the theory is determined by the situation (Kreitner, 2013, p. 472). One of the important lesson that I have learned till this day is no one can be prepared for the upcoming problems. Problems may have same nature but may be different in the way it has to be solved. For instance: A Leader may motivate an employee by increasing salary but the same tactics may not work for another employee. Another employee may be seeking challenging job which may influence him/her to

Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Leadership Theory (SLT) asserts that a leader’s effectiveness is dependent upon the readiness, or ability and willingness, of the leader’s followers to complete a task. This leadership style is an amalgamation of task-oriented and relationship-oriented characteristics that are employed depending upon the situation and the followers involved. According to the SLT, as followers increase in readiness the leader’s style is to adapt accordingly (Kinicki & Kreitner, 2009).

Situational leadership, developed by professor Paul Hersey and author and consultant Ken Blanchard. Their approach was based off of a 1967 article by W.J. Reddin called The 3-D Management Style Theory. In his article, Reddin discusses the need to have different styles based on the demands of the leader. A leader needs to be flexible in their approach to meet the needs of the job, their superior and their subordinates (1967). Hersey and Blanchard progressed this theory by introducing the Situational Leadership II model. Their model breaks leadership into four different styles, and how a leader must alter their approach in supporting and directing their subordinates based on a given situation. These styles are directing (S1), coaching (S2), supporting (S3) and delegating (S4). The model also focuses on the development level of the subordinates by categorizing them between low (D1), moderate (D2 and D3) and

Hersey and Blanchard proposed situational leadership theory, according to this theory leadership depends on individual situation and no particular leadership can be defined as the best. This theory has two pillars; leadership style and maturity level of the leader.

The situational leadership model was developed by two authors, Ken Blanchard, and Paul Hersey in the year 1969. These authors based this model on the concept that leadership should adapt to different management practices and approaches to fit different situations and surpass any diversity of their encounters (Lussier & Achua, 2010). In particular, this model provides guidance on how to analyze a situation, choose effaceable strategies and adopt the most appropriate leadership style. Apparently, the two developers of the model researched and found that, given some case, leadership may fail to accomplish some goals due to adopting single

It provides a guidelines on how to adapt the leadership style to the needs of the team members. Situational Leadership Model is a model developed by Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard. In an article from the website greeks.cofc.edu, Situational Leadership Model suggest that there is no “one size fits all” approach to leadership. Leaderships depends upon the situation. Leadership styles is categorized into four behavior types. The first one is directing. It means that the leader is the one who is defining the roles of an individual or a team. Next is coaching. This means a two-way communication wherein the leader seeks ideas and suggestion from its employees. Supporting is when the leader is the one who is facilitating and also takes part in the decision but the control is within the