Situational Leadership Theory

The fundamental underpinning of the situational leadership is that there is no prevalent style of leadership. Hersey and Blanchard (1969) propose that effective leadership is task-relevant and that the most successful leaders are those that adapt their leadership style to the maturity of the individual or group they are attempting to lead/influence.

It follows, therefore, that effective leadership fluctuates, not only with the person or group that is being influenced, but it will also depend on the task, job or function that needs to be accomplished.

Hersey and Blanchard define individuals into four main categories and this is separated by the amount of commitment and competence, a different style of leadership is therefore required for each:-

• D1 - Low competence and low commitment
• D2 - Low competence and high commitment
• D3 - High competence and low/variable commitment
• D4 - High competence and high commitment

Hersey and Blanchard also 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 now shared decision making about aspects of how the task is accomplished and the leader is providing less task behaviors 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.