Situational Leadership Theory Situational Leadership Theory Developed by Hersey and Blanchard ( 1969a) based on Reddin’s ( 1967) 3- D Management Style Theory . *Common in organizational leadership training &development. * Different situations demand different kinds of leadership. * Effective leaders adapts his or her style to different situation Two Crucial Components to Situational Theory Directive dimension (Task ) Supportive dimension (Relationship)

Leaders presented with Situation 1) Evaluate and assess employee competency and commitment 2) Change degree of directive or supportive to meet their needs 3) Match style to the competence and commitment of workers Leadership style - Is the behavior pattern of a person who attempts to influence others.

Establish comfort levels One-way communication Two-way communication Directive Supportive Help accomplish goal Establish comfort levels One-way communication Two-way communication What, how, and who Input, solving problems Evaluation method Praising, Sharing Time-lines Information about self Defining Roles Listening

Four Classifications of Leadership Style 1) Directing Style – High directive-Low Supportive 2) Coaching Style - High directive-High Supportive 3) Supporting Approach - Low directive-High Supportive 4) Delegating Approach – Low Directive – Low Supportive

Development level -is the degree to which subordinates have the competence and commitment necessary to accomplish a given task or activity Leadership Tasks 1) Evaluate the nature of the situation- development level 2) Adapt leadership style 3) High degree of Flexibility required

Strengths 1) frequently used for training in organizations 2) practicality – easy to learn, intuitively sensible 3) prescriptive value– what to do in certain situations 4) flexibility of leader emphasized, findo out about workers Weaknesses 1) few research studies 2) ambiguous conception of worker development levels 3) unclear how confidence & motivation equal commitment 4) difficulty matching leadership style to worker competancy 5) fails to evaluate demographic characteristics influencing the leader 6) evaluative questionaires force categorization