SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP STYLE

Situational leadership style is a leadership model where a leader have to adjust his style to fit
the development level of a team he/she is trying to influence.This leadership model was
unified by Hersey and Blanchard in the year 1969 during development of the book
Management of organizational behavior .

In situational leadership model, a leader uses different behavior styles inoder to attain the
goal of his leadership depending on the situation.He/she can use behaviors like telling where
a leader makes all decision concerning the task and then communicates it to the team.
Aleader can also use behavior of selling. This style is typically applied when the followers/the
leader is unmotivated to perform a job duty.Thirdly,a leader can use a delegating behavioral
style.This counts when the team is potent at the task and requires minimized supervision.

For a leader to implement a situational leadership style and attain a particular needs of the
team and organization,he/she is required to demonstrate some common attributes in the
workplace.This traits includes,direction ,which involves a situational leader giving direcrion
and provide constant supervision effectively.Another attribute is flexibility ,a situational
leader should be adjustable and able to change on regular basis of the tasks.Regular coaching
is another trait required by situational leader.This involves ability of a leader to be able to
coach the team inorder to encourage extension and independence of the
organization.Lastly,the leader has to demonstrate honesty about the situationand adapt their
leadership style.

Situational ledership style do have benefits and also pitfalls to both the leader and the team
or the organization.The advantage is that it is simple as long as the leader and the team have
the ability to adjust with situation.A demerit comes on in this style in that situational
leadership can lead to confusionwithin an organization due to emerging of of different tasks
to be handled.
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