Leadership and Strategic Management MN7185. Leadership as Situations Informational/ Charismatic Leadership (4/5)

Situational Approach

This is the situational or prescriptive approach focus on Leadership style. Situational Approach developed by Hersey and Blanchchart in 1969 based on Reddin’s 3-D management style theory. Situational Approach is one of the most recognized approaches to Leadership (Northouse, 2016)

According to Hersey and Blanchart (1969), there are four basic leadership styles identified.

1. Telling        –  High concern for Task and low concern for Relationship
2. Selling        –  High concern for both Task and Relationship, where the leader provides task                               instructions and personal support, explain decisions, followers have a chance to ask  questions
3. Participating – High Relationship and low Task behaviour, where leader encourages                                            participation, consults with followers, facilitates decision making
4. Delegating   –  Low concern for both Task and Relationship, where the leader provides minor direction or support to followers.

Situational Approach is a combination of both directions and supportive behaviours (Northouse, 2016)

Figure 1: Situational Approach

1. Directive Behavior  – helps members to achieve goals by directions, evaluation methods, set                                         timelines, defining roles and it’s a one-way communication
2. Supportive Behavior – feels comfortable for members, two-way communication, support social and emotional aspects, ask inputs, solving problems, showing how to achieve goals.

Situational Approach having four different styles

1. S1 – High directive and Low supportive
2. S2 – High directive and High supportive
3. S3 – Low directive and Low supportive
4. S4 – Low directive and High supportive

How each of these styles applies to followers,

D1 – Low competence and High commitment

D2 – Low competence and low commitments

D3 – moderate competence and lacking commitments

D4 – Great competence and high commitments

What are the strengths and weaknesses of Situational approach leadership (Fernandez and Vecchio, 1997)

Strengths	Weaknesses
1. Used to train the leaders within the organizations	1. Only a few studies conducted so far on this approach
2. Easy to understand, sensible and easy to apply	2. Ambiguous conceptualization in developing followers
3. Gives a guideline to leaders what should and not do in various situations	3. Haven’t explained how competence and commitment with the weighted different development levels
4. Emphasizes leader flexibility according to the situation	4. How this model matches Leader style with follower development methods
5. Remind leaders to treat followers differently on goals and skills

Example with Sri Lankan Leaders.

This leadership approach applies to the Sri Lankan context. We have seen that large organizations and small companies are using this style from the CEO level to Middle management and Head of department or Team leader levels.  The former CEO MAS Holdings (Pvt) Ltd., Mr Dian Gomes is one of the best examples of situational Approach Leadership and I have attached one of his videos as an example.

ASK ME - Dian Gomes

Reference

Fernandez Cameran and Vecchio Robert, (1997). Situational leadership theory revisited: A test of an across-jobs perspective. Elsevier, 8(1), pp. 67-84.

Northouse, P., (2016). Leadership. 7th ed. Los Angeles: SAGE.

Hersey, P., Blanchard, K.H. and Johnson, D.E., (2007). Management of organizational behaviour (Vol. 9). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice hall