Leadership and subordinate's maturity

A leadership model that has strong acknowledgment and acceptance among management development specialists is called: situational leadership theory (Developed by Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard). Situational leadership is a contingency theory that focuses on the followers. Effective leadership is achieved by selecting the right leadership style, which is contingent on the level of the follower’s maturity or readiness. Before we proceed, we should clarify two points: (1) why focus on followers? And (2) what is meant by the term maturity or readiness?

The emphasis on the followers in leadership effectiveness reflects the reality that it is the followers who accept or reject the leader. Regardless of what the leader does, effectiveness depends on the actions of his or her followers. This is an important dimension that has been overlooked or underemphasized in most leadership theories. Term readiness, as defined by Hersey and Blanchard (H & B), refers to the extent to which people have the ability and willingness to accomplish a specific task. Four stages of follower readiness according to H & B are as follows:

n People who are both unable and either unwilling or too insecure to take responsibility to do something. They are neither competent nor confident. (M 1)

n People who are unable but willing to do necessary job tasks. They are motivated but currently lack of the appropriate skills (M 2)

n People who are able but unwilling or too apprehensive to do what the leader wants (M 3)

n People who are both able and willing to take responsibility and do what is asked of them (M 4)

Situational leadership uses the same two leadership dimensions as we discussed earlier: task and relationship behaviors. However, H&B go a step further by considering each as either high or low and combining them into four specific leadership behaviors: telling, selling, participating, and delegating. They are described as follows:

n TELLING: The leader defines role and tells people what, how, when, and where to do various task. It emphasizes directive behavior

n SELLING: The leader provides both directive behavior and supportive behavior

n PARTICIPATING: The leader and follower share in decision making with the main role of the leader being facilitating and communicating

n DELEGATING: The leader provides little direction or support and delegates most of the jobs to subordinates.

In terms of task and relationship dimension the above behaviors are also referred as the following leader types:

n TELLING : High task – low relationship or S1 type

n SELLING : High task – high relationship or S2 type

n PARTICIPATING : Low task – high relationship or S3 type

n DELEGATING : Low task – low relationship or S4 type

The Exhibit integrates the various components into the situational leadership model. As followers reach high level of readiness, the leader responds by not only continuing to decrease control over activities, but also by continuing to decrease relationship behavior as well. At stage M1, followers need clear and specific directions. So the appropriate style is high-task and low-relationship or Telling (S1). At stage M2, both high-task and high-relationship behavior is needed or Selling (S2). The high-task behavior compensates for the follower’s lack of ability, and the high-relationship behavior tries to get the followers psychologically to “buy into” the leader’s desires. M3 represents motivational problems that are best solved by a supportive, nondirective, participative style. The right approach would be low-task and high-relationship or Participating (S3). Finally, at stage M4, the leader doesn’t have to do much because followers are both willing and able to do the job and take responsibility. The followers need no task directions nor motivational support, thus low-task and low-relationship style or Delegating (S4) work best for this kind of subordinates.