Hershey and Blanchard's situational leadership theory
One of the most common mistakes in people management is related to the lack of a sufficiently flexible leadership style on the part of the manager to his associates.
In such a situation, the manager manages his subordinates in the same way, regardless of what exactly the subordinates are. For example, the manager can only work with authoritarian methods towards all his employees. Or vice versa - he can only use a democratic style. But going to such extremes is dangerous and does not always lead to positive results, as Kurt Levin's research on leadership styles shows.
To help managers be more flexible and adequate to the situations they find themselves in with various of their associates, management specialists Hersey and Blanchard created the so-called Situational Leadership Theory. It is simple, convincing, and quite logically becomes one of the most popular models of people management in the world.
Situational leadership theory
Situational Leadership Theory was first published by Paul Hershey and Ken Blanchard in 1969. It was originally proposed under the name "Leadership Life Cycle Theory", but later became known as "Theory (Model) for Situational Leadership".
The main thesis of the theory of situational leadership is that there is no "best" style of leadership. The most appropriate leadership style depends on the level of development (maturity) of the followers.
A number of managers who are outspoken supporters of Theory X or Y believe that there is one best style of leadership and that is the authoritarian or democratic style, respectively. Like any other area of life, going to extremes is not the best solution.
Hearsey and Blanchard's situational leadership theory uses two basic leadership behaviors - "Directive Behavior" and "Supportive Behavior":
Directive behavior (task orientation) - the degree to which the leader is willing to set goals for his employees, to organize and structure their work, to train and explain how to do the job in the best way, to control.
Supportive behavior (relationship orientation) - the degree to which the leader is willing to maintain personal relationships with his subordinates, to actively communicate with them, to support them, to predispose them, and to make certain decisions with them.
Both behaviors (also known from leadership studies at the University of Michigan and the University of Ohio), depending on whether they are high or low, form the four main leadership styles according to the rules of situational leadership.
The four leadership styles according to Hershey and Blanchard's situational leadership theory are:
1. Directive style;
2. Mentoring style;
3. Supportive style;
4. Delegating style.
Let's take a closer look at each of the four leadership styles.
1. Directive style
The directive style is a combination of high directive behavior and low supportive behavior. The manager is strongly task-oriented and weakly oriented towards the relationships with his employees. This is the typical authoritarian style of leadership.
The leader who uses directive style:
- Gives specific orders and instructions to employees;
- Organizes the work of employees;
- Train employees
- Controls employees;
2. Mentoring style
The mentoring style is a combination of highly directive behavior and highly supportive behavior. The manager is strongly oriented both to the task and to the relationships with his employees.
The leader who uses a mentoring style:
- Gives guidelines (not orders) to employees;
- Monitors the work of employees closely;
- Explains to employees some of their decisions;
- Hear suggestions from employees;
- Assists employees to make progress in their work.
3. Supportive style
The supportive style is a combination of low directive behavior and high supportive behavior. The manager is weakly task-oriented and strongly oriented towards the relationships with his employees. This is the typical democratic style of leadership.
The leader who uses a democratic style:
- Uses praise to employees;
- Hear suggestions from employees;
- Assists employees where they need them;
- Shares responsibility for making various decisions with employees.
4. Delegating style
Delegation style is a combination of low directive behavior and low supportive behavior. The manager is weakly task-oriented, as well as weakly oriented towards the relationships with his employees.
The leader who uses a delegating style:
- Transferring responsibility for day-to-day decision-making and problem-solving to employees;
- Does not interfere with the operational work of employees;
- Sets the general direction, sets key goals;
- Controls the main stages and deadlines.
Maturity (level of development) of the employee
Hershey and Blanchard's theory of situational management introduces a key concept - the so-called "Maturity of the employee". This is practically the level of employee development and is fundamental to understanding and using the situational management model.
According to Hursey and Blanchard, the concept of "maturity" is not a constant quality of an employee, but rather a characteristic of a specific situation in which a manager is in relation to his employee.
Maturity (situation) is determined by two factors:
1. Competence It is a function of the employee's knowledge and skills, which in turn are a function of his education, training, and experience.
2. Commitment It is a combination of confidence (self-belief) and intrinsic motivation (self-interest and enthusiasm for doing a good job).
The competence and commitment of the employee form his maturity, ie. its level of development. Hershey and Blanchard describe four basic levels of employee development.
The four levels of employee development are:
Level 1 - low competence and high commitment. For example, a newly hired employee often starts his career in a Level 1 company because he knows and can do less, but he is willing to prove himself in the job.
Level 2 - weak/known competence and low commitment. For example, 3-6 months after starting the company, the employee has already gained some knowledge and skills, but he has also realized how much he still has to study, which has called into question his confidence that he will do the job.
Level 3 - medium/high competence and variable commitment. For example, 1-2 years have passed and the employee is already able to work very competently, but as often happens with many people, his motivation is on the ebb and flow.
Level 4 - high competence and high commitment. The employee has excellent competence and is strongly committed to the problems of his work and the company as a whole. Every manager dreams of such employees!
What is the best leadership style?
As I mentioned above, according to Hursey and Blanchard's Theory of Situational Leadership, there is no "best" leadership style. The most appropriate leadership style depends on the situation, ie. from the level of development (maturity) of the followers.
Now that we know that there are four basic levels of development for an employee, let's see in which situation which leadership style is most appropriate.
Or, the big lesson from Hershey and Blanchard's Theory of Situational Leadership is that:
When we have a Level 1 development employee, the most appropriate leadership style is Style 1 - Directive style.
When we have a Level 2 development employee, the most appropriate leadership style is Style 2 - Mentoring style.
When we have a Level 3 development employee, the most appropriate leadership style is Style 3 - Supporting Style.
When we have an employee (employees) from Level 4 of development, the most appropriate leadership style is Style 4 - Delegating style.
In summary:
According to Hershey and Blanchard's situational leadership theory, there are four leadership styles:
1. Directive style;
2. Mentoring style;
3. Supportive style;
4. Delegating style.
Hershey and Blanchard's situational leadership theory shows that people management is good when it is flexible and appropriate to different situations. These situations in turn are formed by the level of development of employees, ie. from their competence and commitment to work.