The Situational Leadership Model

Was developed over several stages its basic form it was developed in a collaboration between
two Americans namely behavioral researcher Paul Hersey and PhD Kenneth H. Blanchard. They
developed the theory while working on the book management of organizational behavior. The theory
was introduced in 1969 as life cycle theory of leadership. During the mid-1970’s the theory was renamed
situational leadership theory. In the late 1970s early 1980s Hersey and Blanchard both developed their
own slightly divergent versions of the situational leadership theory. Also the two American characterized
leadership style in terms of the amount task behavior and relationship behavior that the leader provides
to their followers.

This situational leadership model is about leadership not management therefore the person in charge in
this theory is called a leader and not a manager. The purpose of the theory is to make it easier for the
leader to choose the right leadership style in relation to the individual employee. Effective leadership
lies in matching the appropriate leadership style to the individual employees need for guidance and
support to achieve a specific goal or solve a task

They categorized all leadership styles into four behavior styles which they named S1 to S4.

Selling/ Directing –

The first is s1 or selling/ directing style of leadership and this style of leadership is associated
with autocratic leadership. A directing leader will make all the decisions without consulting subordinates
they will simply inform their team of the decisions they have made and expect their team to carry out
their instructions feedback from the team is discouraged and the directing leader decides who, what,
how, I am, when.

Telling/ Coaching

Next, we have s2 or telling/ coaching leadership style with this style the leader still defines the
roles tasks but in contrast directing They are more receptive to input and feedback from their
subordinates. Now these leaders sell their ideas and plans to their subordinates to obtain their
cooperation. This leadership style is closely related to the democratic style of leadership. Sports coaches
are often associated with this style of leadership they put the players into position and they rekt the
group as a whole in order to obtain the best performance

Participating/ Supporting

Supporting leader will participate in idea, creation and decision making but most of
decisions will be taken by the team as a whole now. This leader may appear to be quiet because they
lead by example and appear to an equal team member embedded in the team rather than the ruler of
the team

Delegating

Are of course responsible for their team but they provide minimal direction and guidance. It’s a
hands-off style of leadership similar to laissez-faire leadership where the group makes almost all of
decisions. This type of leader is usually more concerned with communicating they’re of the future than
directing day to day activities now they will decide what the next step should be move towards their
vision but its left completely to subordinates to determine how to achieve that next step.

Servant Leadership is the opposite of what we traditionally think of as leadership all too often we
confuse leadership with dictatorship or autocratic leadership but with servant leadership instead of the
team serving the leader the top down hierarchy is turned on its head so with servant leadership the
leaders serve the team. This approach can lead to higher levels of commitment and performance from
the team members to their work. The team and also to their manager. The key point of servant
leadership is

-the servant leader will be a servant first they’ll put the needs of others before themselves especially the
needs of their team. The principles of servant