Situational Leadership is a leadership style that has been developed and studied by Kenneth Blanchard and Paul Hersey (Northouse, 2013). Situational leadership refers to when the leader or manager of an organization must adjust his or her style to fit the development level of the followers he or she is trying to influence (Northouse, 2013). With situational leadership, it is up to the LEADER to change his style, NOT the follower to adapt to the leader’s style. In situational leadership, the leader’s style may change continuously to meet the needs of others in the organization based on the situation (PSU WC, L.5.). In the situational approach, there are four styles of leadership:
<Telling And Directing
In telling/directing, the leader of the organization is the one making the decisions and informing others in the organization of the decision (PSU WC, L.5.). This style of leadership may also be referred to as micro-management as the leader is very involved and closely supervises the people who are working. With this style of leadership, it is a very top-down approach and the employees simply do exactly what they are told. Examples of Telling or Directing can be found in military training, tightly supervised entry-level work or manufacturing assembly.
<Selling And Coaching
With the selling and coaching style of leadership, the leader is still very involved in the day-to-day activities (PSU WC, L.5.). The decisions still ultimately lie with the leader however input is requested from the employees before a decision is implemented. With this style of situational leadership, employees are still supervised but it is in more of a coaching manner rather than a management manner. This style typically works well with those who are inexperienced and still learning. It involves direct praise to increase their confidence and self-esteem. A Selling Style would be a good approach in an internship situation, provided the young person was excited and happy to be on the job.
<Participating and Supporting
The participating and supporting style of situational leadership passes more responsibility to the employers or followers (PSU WC, L.5.). While the leader still provides some direction, the decisions ultimately lie with the follower. The leader is there to provide feedback and to increase their confidence and motivation with praise and feedback for the tasks completed. Those who work well under this style of situational leadership have the necessary skills but lack the confidence or motivation to achieve them. A Participating Style might be used to steer a Board of Directors to develop a new policy for which there is no previous case history or best practices.
<Delegating
Delegating is the situational leadership style where the leader is involved the least amount with the employees (PSU WC, L.5.).. The employees are responsible for choosing the tasks and the directions they will take. Although the leader may still be involved for direction or feedback purposes, it is on a much lower level than with other situational leadership styles. With this style of leadership, the employees know their role and perform it with little supervision required. A Delegating Style might be used to supervise tenured professors, who understand the job requirements but are given freedom to teach in the manner they believe is most effective.
But what does all of this mean if you are a follower? The development level of the follower determines the situational leadership style of the leader. Blanchard and Hersey developed a matrix so that leaders can easily determine the leadership style needed by the employee based on their development level (Northouse, 2013). For those with high needs and little experience, the directing style will be necessary whereas with those with low needs and high competence, the delegating style should be used.
To learn how to identify situational leadership style, please visit the following link to review a brief article: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/identify-situational-leadership-style-30636.html
References
Pennsylvania State University World Campus. (2011). Retrieved February 6, 2013, from PSYCH 485 Lesson 05: Style & Situational Approaches: https://elearning.la.psu.edu/psych485/lesson-5
Lindblad, M. (n.d.). Chron. Retrieved February 6, 2013, from The Houston Chronicle: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/identify-situational-leadership-style-30636.html
Northouse, P. (2013). Leadership Theory and Practice. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, Inc.