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Situational Leadership
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The
Situational Leadership Model,
developed by the Center for Leadership Studies (172), can help anyone
who wants to be a more effective leader. It identifies styles of
leadership and levels of readiness of followers. It then matches the
most appropriate leadership style that will positively influence
followers at the various readiness levels. The focus is on the leader to
modify behavior, depending on the followers.
Situational Leadership
starts by identifying leadership styles by the amount of task behavior
(guidance and direction) and relationship behavior (support and
interpersonal skills) present. Effective leader behavior is in four
quadrants in the model:
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S3
High Relationship
And Low Task |
S2
High Task and
High Relationship
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S4
Low Relationship
And Low Task |
S1
High Task and
Low Relationship |
Source: Adapted from Paul
Hersey, Management of Organizational Behavior (Upper Saddle
River: Prentice Hall, 2001), p. 174.
The definition of readiness
of followers is "the extent to which a follower demonstrates the ability
and willingness to accomplish a specific task" (175). Different people
will have varying degrees of readiness depending on how prepared they
are to do something in a particular situation. Readiness is a function
of ability (experience, skills and knowledge) and willingness
(confidence, commitment and motivation). The model charts follower
readiness as:
High Moderate Low
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R4
Able and willing
Or confident |
R3
Able but unwilling
Or insecure |
R2
Unable but
willing
Or confident |
R1
Unable and
Unwilling or
insecure |
Source:
Adapted from Paul Hersey, Management of Organizational Behavior (Upper
Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2001), p. 177.
The beauty of the
Situational Leadership Model is in matching which leadership style is
most effective with each readiness level. For instance, at lower levels
of readiness a leader may be more effective by providing specific
direction with little or no emphasis on relationship building. At the
highest levels of readiness, the leader may be able to turn the employee
lose without worrying about task or relationship because the leader has
faith that the employee is capable and willing. A complete graphic
combining leader behavior and follower readiness is on page 182 in
Management of Organizational Behavior.
Application of the
Situational Leadership Model requires managers to accurately assess the
readiness level of employees. They must then adapt their own style to
fit the situation effectively so the desired behavior results. Although
I was not familiar with Situational Leadership at the time, I applied
the concept in my project thesis. The thesis dealt with communication
issues at my employer. The leadership style of the executive director
and other senior managers had inadvertently damaged the flow of
information within the agency. They used an S3 style with an issue where
the staff had a low readiness level. The thesis recommends increasing
that readiness level through training. It also recommends modifying the
leadership style of management to higher task in the short run. This
should bring their readiness level and the leadership style of
management into synch.
Eileen Tremblay (TNU 2005)
Hersey, Paul, Kenneth H.
Blanchard, and Dewey E. Johnson. Management of Organizational
Behavior. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2001.
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Situational Leadership
By David Kidd, (TNU 2008)
Situational Leadership refers to
different styles of leadership for varied situations. There are four
leadership styles according to this model. Those styles are telling,
selling, participating, and delegating. The most appropriate style for a
leader to use depends on the situation at hand (Hersey, Blanchard, and
Johnson, 268). The leadership style should adapt to meet the
willingness, confidence, and competency of the subordinate. By using a
Leader Behavior Analysis, one can identify much about their leadership.
In addition, a good understanding of Situational Leadership can explain
much about our leaders.
From my own work experience, I can identify my own leadership styles. My
primary leadership style is the participating style. This style is the
most appropriate when the subordinate is able but not confident.
However, my assertion of the subordinate’s knowledge level may be
inaccurate. I have learned that it is important to better understand the
knowledge level of subordinate employees. This is why it is important to
ask technical questions. My secondary leadership style is delegating.
This style is best when the follower has the sufficient knowledge and
motivation. It probably is the most simple leadership style to use. It
involves assigning a task to an employee. Delegation assumes the other
person is capable and willing to accomplish the task.
From my leadership analysis, I should be more aware of when to use the
other two leadership styles. The styles that I least use are telling and
selling. Telling is appropriate when the other person is unable and
unwilling. This requires the leader to tell them how to accomplish their
task. Additionally, this means the other person has little to no
motivation. This could be a result of a larger issue than the required
task. Selling is most appropriate when the other person is willing but
unable. This leadership style requires considerable interaction from the
leader. This requires the leader to help the other person gain
competency. This may require providing them with education and
direction.
We can become more effective as leaders through knowledge. The
Situational Leadership model is a very useful guide in the workplace. We
all have our favorite tools that we use when leading others. Situational
Leadership can help us determine the most appropriate tool for the job.
Using the related Leader Behavior Analysis tool can help us determine
which tools we need to use more often.
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Situational Leadership
Organizations use a variety of leadership practices to educate and
prepare employees to accomplish the day's activities. Situational
leadership theories presume that different styles are better in
different situations. Leaders must be flexible enough to adapt their
style to each situation. Ken Blanchard focused mainly on the
relationship between managers and immediate subordinates and established
four different leadership styles to use:
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S3 High Relationship and Low Task
Participating, Encouraging, Collaborating, Committing
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Shared/participative
decision-making
·
Role of leader being
to facilitate and communicate
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High support and low
direction
·
Used when people are
able but are perhaps unwilling or insecure
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S2 High Task & High Relationship
Selling, Explaining, Clarifying, Persuading
·
Sometimes known as a ‘coaching’ approach
·
People
are willing and motivated but lack the required maturity or
ability
·
This
style does not work for people with a lot of experience
·
Many
times people start a new job or task and it is more difficult
than expected, so they simply stop or do not perform. They need
encouragement and support through a tough time |
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S4 Low Relationship and Low Task
Delegating, Observing, Monitoring & Fulfilling
·
The
leader still identifies the problem or issue
·
High
degree of competence and maturity
·
People
know what to do, and are motivated to do it |
S1 High Task and Low Relationship
Telling, Guiding, Directing, Establishing
·
The
directing style is for new hires or inexperienced people
·
Sometimes used when an important decision has to be made very
quickly
·
Involves giving people a great deal of direction and attention
to definite goals and roles |
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Situations in
organization change frequently, as does the employee’s knowledge
base and readiness level.
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High
R4 |
R3 |
R2 |
R1
Low |
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Able,
willing & Confident
Employees have high skill sets and are excited about what they
are doing. |
Able but unwilling
or insecure
Employees have some
to few skills and are not very excited about what they are
doing. |
Unable but willing
or confident
Employees have low
skill sets, but are very excited
about what they are doing. |
Unable, unwilling, insecure
Employees have low skills and are not excited about what they
are doing. |
Donna Steinkamp, TNU 2004
Hersey, Paul, Kenneth H.
Blanchard, and Dewey E. Johnson. Management of Organizational
Behavior. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2001.
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Situational leadership stresses objectivity in its style of
leadership. With this model of leadership, employees soon learn the
cause and effect of their environment. As long as they are producing
agreed-upon, appropriate behavior, management will support and trust
their behavior. If they do not produce appropriate behavior, their
supervisor will likely observe them more closely. This type of
leadership is a tool to improve communication of expected outcomes
between employees and their managers. Depending on the situation,
management may increase or decrease their direction or involvement. The
situational leadership model helps others to visualize and understand
the complexity of different styles of management. This diagram helps
determine one’s primary style of leadership. The model defines the
leadership approach one chooses to use to influence the behavior of
others. The quadrant shaped model offers four basic styles of
leadership. The model measures the amount of flexibility a manager uses
to obtain a desired behavior. The drive and approach of their behavior
and tools used determines the individual's management style.
Labeled counterclockwise the first quadrant is in the bottom
right corner. This area is characterized by leader-made decisions.
Management provides specific instructions and closely supervises the
performance of the employee. The behaviors of management most often
seen are guiding, telling, and establishing direction. This
relationship stresses high task completion and low relationship value.
The employee has very little input and contribution outside of the
assigned task and instructions.
The next quadrant, located in the upper right corner,
stresses both high task and high relationship value. Based on
leader-made decisions, this leadership offers more employee/employer
communication. The behaviors often seen are explaining, selling,
clarifying, and persuading.
The upper left quadrant describes the leader and
follower-made decision. This encourages high relationship value by
cohesive communication and has a lower amount of supervisor guidance.
This style management requires encouraging, participating, and problem
solving.
The last quadrant encourages follower-made decisions. This
type atmosphere allows for a low guidance management style, but also a
low relationship level. Behaviors include delegating,
observing/monitoring when needed, and fulfilling.
Janet Williams (TNU 2006)
Hersey, Paul., Kenneth H. Blanchard, and Dewey E. Johnson. Management of
Organizational Behavior: Leading Human Resources. 8th ed. Upper Saddle
River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2001.
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Typical Names for these styles of leadership.
From this slide we see how a new team or
employee may enter our management jurisdiction. Our style may, and probably
should, change with the maturity level of the team or employee. Which brings us
back to the evolutionary maturity level of people.
The two slides above connect us back to
Chris Argyis' research.
Chris Argyris, “The Individual and Organization:
Some Problems of Mutual Adjustment” The Great Writings In Management and
Organizational Behavior, 2nd Edition, pg........ 139,Boone Bowen, McGraw Hill,
1987
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