The Situational Leadership Theory was developed in 1969 by Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard. This theory holds that effective leaders are those who adapt their leadership style to the situation. The developers of this theory identified four primary leadership styles that situational leaders can employ: telling, selling, participating, and delegating. Rather than focusing on one best leadership style, the situational theory of leadership focuses on the leadership style that is best suited to the task. As such, the situational leadership model is adaptive and flexible. With this model, a leader can use any leadership style to achieve organizational goals. In this paper, two advantages and two disadvantages of the situational leadership theory will be outlined. Further, the paper will evaluate a familiar leader and his or her response on the Hersey and Blanchard model.
Advantages of Situational Leadership Theory
The Situational Leadership Theory has a number of advantages. Some of these advantages include flexibility, awareness, and an improved working environment (Fernandez et al., 2010). With regard to flexibility, the situational leadership model requires leaders to be flexible. By being flexible, leaders can recognize the potential of each employee in the workplace environment. In this regard, the leader can align the employees to the organizational goals and maximize each employee's productivity. Another advantage of the situational leadership theory is that it requires leaders to have increased awareness. More specifically, this model requires a situational leader to be aware of his or her surroundings. In this way, a leader can evaluate his or her diverse workforce as well as address workplace issues before they become problematic. Most importantly, the Situational Leadership Theory allows leaders to choose the type of leadership that is best suited to the task. Thus, a situational leader can choose any leadership style, and according to Sisk (2018), the leadership approach chosen depends on several factors, such as the maturity of the workforce, the situation, and the task being performed.
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Disadvantages of Situational Leadership Theory
The Situational Leadership approach also has several disadvantages. First, this leadership approach is more suited for short-term situations. Generally, leaders who use this leadership approach tend to focus on immediate problems. In this way, they overlook the future goals of the company. This leadership approach is not suitable in environments that operate at a fast pace (Fernandez et al., 2010). Secondly, this leadership model is not applicable or effective for environments that are task-oriented (Fernandez et al., 2010). When situations arise, situational leaders tend to be less flexible in their approach. This can partly be attributed to the fact that the task that is to be performed ought to be done in a specific way.
Identified Leader
One of the leaders I am familiar with and effectively employs the Situational Leadership Theory is my graduate research advisor. My graduate advisor is mainly responsible for performing several tasks, including applying for and obtaining research funding. Most often, the interest or the focus of the funding organization would change. When this happens, my advisor would adapt and change not only the research focus but also the grant application in order to align it with the funding organization's interests or focus. In this way, I learned the importance of being a situational leader. In the case of my graduate research advisor, only small changes were necessary to make the grant application, as well as the research focus compatible with that of the funding agency. When adapting to these changes, my advisor would often employ the various leadership styles suggested by Hersey and Blanchard (“telling, selling, participating, and delegating”).
References
Fernandez, S., Cho, Y. J., & Perry, J. L. (2010). Exploring the link between integrated leadership and public sector performance. The Leadership Quarterly , 21 (2), 308-323.
Thompson, G., & Glasø, L. (2018). Situational leadership theory: a test from a leader-follower congruence approach. Leadership & Organization Development Journal .
Sisk, A. (2018). Situational leadership pros and cons. https://bizfluent.com/info-7851680-situational-leadership-pro-cons.html
