The Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership Theory

There have been numerous theories surrounding leadership, which attempt to explain which form is most effective in the workplace. A universalistic approach was once used to rationalize leadership and it was believed that successful leaders possessed certain common abilities and traits. However, today due to external factors such as globalization and advanced technologies, there has been an evolution towards a new paradigm of leadership. Subordinates want to feel empowered and engaged at the workplace and often the behaviors and relationships between leaders and their subordinates become important to understand in order to fully understand effective leadership. Contingency theories have been developed in which people began to look at the behavior of leaders in specific situations. Two such contingency theories are: Path-Goal and Hershey and Blanchard’s Situational Theory.

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.

Transformational leadership accomplishes many of the same results among followers or subordinates. This style of leadership was first introduced in 1978 by James McGregor Burns. Transformational leadership is about inspiring others to go above and beyond expectations. There are four components of transformational leadership. Idealized influence refers to leaders as role models for followers displaying positive behaviors, including setting ethical standards and considering 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.

Transformational leadership. Burns (1978) is recognized as one of the earliest theorist on transformational leadership, who introduced transformational leadership over 30 years ago. Transformational leaders are perceived as leaders who uplift their employee morale, subsequently uplifting the entire organizational. Transformational leaders are known by their capacity to inspire followers to forgo self-interests in achieving superior results for the organization (Clawson, 2006). Avolio and Yammarino (2002) shared Bass’s explanation of transformational leadership as leaders who act as agents of change that stimulate, and transform followers’ attitudes, beliefs, and motivate from lower to higher level of arousal.

An author that is consistently referred to by Yukl, 2013 is James M. Burns, 1978 on transformational leadership. According to Burns, transforming leadership is a process in which "leaders & followers help each other to advance to a higher level of morale and motivation" (Burns, 1978). Burns (1978) informs the readers that the purported difference between leadership and management is in the character and behavior. Burns’s (1978) perspective on leadership has been used by others to develop leadership theories and influence on followers for positive performance (Yukl, 2013). Burns (1978) is said to have developed the idea that transformational leaders change the behavior and motivations of followers. In other words, influence on followers can be determined by the leadership method, behavior, and style. Transformational leaders strive to motivate and change followers’ mentality to redirect energy into action to complete the goals and mission of the organization (Burns, 1978). The argument is that the character and traits of the leader transforms and motivates subordinates to perform better and better (Yukl, 2013).

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

Transformational leadership is a leadership style that promotes change as well as improves performance in the organization as a whole as well as on the individual employee level (Phaneuf, Boudrias, Rousseau, & Brunelle, 2016). James MacGregor Burns first introduced transformational leadership in his book titled Leadership that he authored in 1978. Burns defined transformational leadership as leadership that stems from one’s core unchanging values and beliefs. Burns believed that transformational leaders not only bring together their followers, but also positively influence their follower’s values and beliefs in a way that brings about positive change (Humphreys & Einstein, 2003).

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

A large amount of credit is given to Bass 's transformational leadership theory identifies four aspects of

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 has been a main factor in development and training programs (Hersey et al., 2001). Situational leadership theory is based on how people respond to working and being led in groups.

Blanchard, Zigarmi, and Zigarmi (1985) developed a leadership model using four leadership styles and four levels of subordinate development.