Page 170 - Managing Change in Organizations

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Leaders and situations
leader–member relations (quality of personal and effective relations between
leader and group members), task structure (structured vs unstructured) and posi-
tion power, as situational variables. Vroom and Yetton (1973) offer a contingency
model of leader decision making. The focus is a positive one. The model offers a
framework by which leaders might improve both the quality and the acceptabil-
ity of decisions. Hersey and Blanchard (1988) offer an outwardly practical
®
approach to Situational Leadership . Little researched, it has become very popu-
lar among practitioners (see Bryman, 1987). These authors identify the ‘readiness’
of followers as a key factor in deciding on an appropriate leadership style. They
believe that the leader’s task behaviour (providing guidance and direction) and
relationship behaviour (team building, providing socio-emotional support)
should accord with the readiness of followers. They define readiness as the will-
ingness and ability of people to take responsibility for defining and directing their
own task behaviour. The theory is set out in Figure 9.2. Four leadership styles are
defined: delegating, participating, selling and telling. Each style represents a dif-
ferent combination of task and relationship behaviour by the leader. The diagram
proposes a particular combination of leadership style and readiness of followers.
A ‘telling’ style is proposed for those of ‘low readiness’, namely for people who are

Situational Leadership ®
LEADER BEHAVIORS
(HIGH)
High High Task
Relationship and High
and Low Task PARTICIPATING SELLING Relationship

SUPPORTIVE BEHAVIOR RELATIONSHIP BEHAVIOR S3 S2 TELLING

S4
S1
DELEGATING

Low High Task
Relationship and Low
(LOW) and Low Task Relationship ®
(LOW) TASK BEHAVIOR (HIGH)
DIRECTIVE BEHAVIOR
(HIGH) FOLLOWER READINESS (LOW)
ABLE AND ABLE BUT UNABLE BUT UNABLE AND
WILLING AND UNWILLING WILLING UNWILLING
CONFIDENT OR INSECURE OR CONFIDENT OR INSECURE
R4 R3 R2 R1
®
Figure 9.2 Situational Leadership theory from Paul Hersey et al, 2000
© Copyright 2006 Reprinted with permission of the Center for
Leadership Studies, Inc., Escondido, CA 92025. All rights reserved.
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