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Situational Leadership Approach

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Situational leadership created by Dr. Paul Hersey and author Ken Blanchard in 1969 by, “…combining a range of managerial styles to cater to different people within the same organization” (May, 2011). This style of leadership allows a company to use different types of leadership approaches while adjusting to the needs of employee working styles throughout the company.

Types of Situational Leadership Styles

According to Gupta (2009) there are four types of situational leadership styles: Directing, Coaching, Participating, and Delegating.
• Directing – This style is very task driven where the employee is under constant supervision. This style is like, “…a parent dealing with a toddler child” (Gupta, 2009).
• Coaching – In this style the employee is given tasks to complete along with details and decisions are made by the supervisor, but the supervisor wants to hear feedback and receive input from the employee. This style is like, “…a teacher for the followers” (Gupta, 2009)
• Participating – In this style the employee taking on the decisions on how the task is to be completed with the leader helping with the higher level issues. The employee is not making the final decisions the leader is there to help and mentor the employee. This style is like, “…the leader acts as a sincere friend for the followers” (Gupta, 2009)
• Delegating – Once the employee is given the details of the task the employee has complete control on how to complete the task. This style is like, “…both leader and followers acts as responsible adults” (Gupta, 2009).

Strengths and Weaknesses

Situational leadership style has strengths according to Lydamore (2013) in that it is easy to use and simplicity in implementation. It allows the leader to be flexible when dealing with employees adjusting the leadership style to the employee skill level and job coaching needed. Lydamore

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