a leadership theory in which the manager chooses a
leadership style to match a particular situation.
The situational leadership theory, is a leadership theory developed byPaul Hersey, professor and author of the
book Situational Leader, and Ken Blanchard, leadership guru and author of
the One Minute
Manager, while
working on the first edition of Management of Organizational Behavior (now in its 9th edition). The theory
was first introduced as "Life Cycle Theory of Leadership". During the mid 1970s, "Life
Cycle Theory of Leadership" was renamed "Situational
Leadership theory".
In
the late 1970s early 1980s, the authors both developed their own models using
the situational leadership theory; Hersey - Situational Leadership Model and
Blanchard et al. Situational Leadership II Model.
The fundamental underpinning of the
situational leadership theory is that there is no single "best" style
of leadership. Effective leadership is task-relevant, and the most successful
leaders are those that adapt their leadership style to the maturity ("the
capacity to set high but attainable goals, willingness and ability to take
responsibility for the task, and relevant education and/or experience of an
individual or a group for the task") of the individual or group they are
attempting to lead or influence. Effective leadership varies, not only with the
person or group that is being influenced, but it also depends on the task, job
or function that needs to be accomplished.
The Hersey-Blanchard Situational
Leadership Model rests on two fundamental concepts; leadership style and the individual or group's maturity level.
Leadership Style
Hersey and Blanchard characterized leadership
style in terms of the amount of Task
Behavior
and Relationship
Behavior
that the leader provides to their followers. They categorized all leadership
styles into four behavior types, which they named S1 to S4:
§ S1: Telling - is characterized by
one-way communication in which the leader defines the roles of the individual
or group and provides the what, how, why, when and where to do the task;
§ S2: Selling - while the leader is
still providing the direction, he or she is now using two-way communication and
providing the socio-emotional support that will allow the individual or group being
influenced to buy into the process;
§ S3: Participating - this is how shared
decision-making about aspects of how the task is accomplished and the leader is
providing less task behaviours while maintaining high relationship behavior;
§ S4: Delegating - the leader is still
involved in decisions; however, the process and responsibility has been passed
to the individual or group. The leader stays involved to monitor progress.
Of these, no one style is considered optimal for
all leaders to use all the time. Effective leaders need to be flexible, and
must adapt themselves according to the situation.
Maturity Levels
According to Hersey and Blanchard,
knowing when to use each style is largely dependent on the maturity of the
person or group you're leading. They break maturity down into four different
levels:
·M1 – People at this level of maturity
are at the bottom level of the scale. They lack the knowledge, skills, or
confidence to work on their own, and they often need to be pushed to take the
task on.
·M2 – At this level, followers might be
willing to work on the task, but they still don't have the skills to do it
successfully.
·M3 – Here, followers are ready and
willing to help with the task. They have more skills than the M2 group, but
they're still not confident in their abilities.
·M4 – These followers are able to work on
their own. They have high confidence and strong skills, and they're committed
to the task.
The Hersey-Blanchard model maps each
leadership style to each maturity level, as shown below.
Maturity Level
|
Most Appropriate Leadership Style
|
M1: Low
maturity
|
S1:
Telling/directing
|
M2:
Medium maturity, limited skills
|
S2:
Selling/coaching
|
M3:
Medium maturity, higher skills but lacking confidence
|
S3:
Participating/supporting
|
M4: High
maturity
|
S4:
Delegating
|
To use this model, reflect on the
maturity of individuals within your team. The table above then shows which
leadership style Hersey and Blanchard consider the most effective for people
with that level of maturity.
Leadership Style Examples
1.You're
about to leave for an extended holiday, and your tasks will be handled by an
experienced colleague. He's very familiar with your responsibilities, and he's
excited to do the job.
2.Instead
of trusting his knowledge and skills to do the work, you spend hours creating a
detailed list of tasks for which he'll be responsible, and instructions on how
to do them.
3.The
result? Your work gets done, but you've damaged the relationship with your
colleague by your lack of trust. He was an M4 in maturity, and yet you used an S1
leadership style instead of an S4, which would have been more appropriate.
2.You've
just been put in charge of leading a new team. It's your first time working
with these people. As far as you can tell, they have some of the necessary
skills to reach the department's goals, but not all of them. The good news is
that they're excited and willing to do the work.
3.You estimate they're at an M3
maturity level, so you use the matching S3 leadership style. You coach them
through the project's goals, pushing and teaching where necessary, but largely
leaving them to make their own decisions. As a result, their relationship with
you is strengthened, and the team's efforts are a success.
: Mosby's
Medical Dictionary, 8th edition. © 2009, Elsevier
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