Leadership And Ethics

Leadership is about inspiring people to change direction or become a part of a larger effort; it's not about who is the boss and who makes all the decisions. One of the many styles of leadership used to accomplish this is situational leadership. Situational leadership is a term that can be applied generically to a style of leadership, but it also refers to a recognized, and sometimes useful, leadership model. A situation leader is one who can incorporate different leadership styles relative to the situation and the person(s) they are trying to lead. This style can be used in the family dynamic as well as in the workplace.

Ken Blanchard, best known for "One Minute Manager", and Paul Hersey created a model for situational leadership in the late 1960s that allows for analyzing the needs of the situation being addressed and then incorporating the most appropriate leadership style. It is simple to understand and works with most people in most situations. They created a simple grid based on leadership in terms of direction and support the leader gives to his/her followers. (For the remainder of this paper, where "his" appears, it is understood that gender can be male or female.)

S1: Directing leadership is about structure, control and supervision of the employee. The follower has low competency and high commitment on his side. The leader makes decisions and communication is largely one way.

S2: Coaching leaders define roles and tasks, direction, and support, but they do seek ideas and suggestions from their followers. Communication is more two-way and there is some competence and some commitment with the follower.

S3: Supporting leaders praise, listen and facilitate. They pass on day-to-day decisions to followers who have high competence and variable commitment. Control is more with the follower although the leader still takes part in decisions.

S4: Delegating leaders turn over the responsibility for day-to-day decision making to highly competent and highly commited followers. The follower decides how and when the leader will be involved while the leader remains involved in decisions and problem-solving.

Blanchard and Hersey believed that development levels are situational and that leadership style must correspond to the development level of the follower. They suggest that the leader's style should be driven by competence and commitment of the follower. They came up with four levels:

D4: High