Situational Leadership Theory - Overview

317 Words2 Pages
Can a leader act the same way in every situation? Is a single leadership approach effective in leading diverse groups of followers? Come see what Situational Leadership Theory has to say about this! This theory is easy to follow and understand, and has a commonsense approach to a leader's ability and need to be flexible in light of different situations. It is very useful in pointing out that leadership effectiveness is somewhat dependent on the leader being flexible in light of the different needs of followers. The approach is broken down into 4 easy to recognize patterns. Come visit the page and let's learn together! Hersey, P, & Blanchard, K. (1969). Life cycle theory of leadership. Training and Development Journal, 23(5),26-34. This was the journal article that first presented the theory. The Situational Leadership Theory is based on previous studies of leader behavior; it belongs to the family of behavioral contingency theories of leadership. The theory focuses on the leader’s supervisory behaviors, the leader's ability to adjust and act in various situations, and the leader's ability to identify and work with a range of levels of follower task and psychological maturity. Although the Situational Leadership Theory is popular, it has received limited empirical examination, and the results have been mixed at best (Bass, 1990; Vecchio, 1997 as cited in Goethals, Sorenson, & Burns, 2004). Hersey and Blanchard (1969) identified four leadership behaviors: telling, selling, participating, and delegating. These four behaviors are measured by the LEAD instrument (Leadership Effectiveness and Adaptability Description Instrument). The theory predicts that the effectiveness of the four leadership behaviors is dependent on subordinates’ (followers’): 1) task maturity, and 2) psychological maturity. References: Goethals, G. R., Sorenson, G. J., & Burns, J. M. (2004).

More about Situational Leadership Theory - Overview

Open Document