SITUATIONAL THEORY

Situational leadership theory, also known as Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership Theory,"

suggest that leaders should pick out the best course of action based upon conditional variables.
Leaders or managers of the various institution should therefore adjust their leadership styles to fit
and accommodate all the followers they are trying to influence. For instance, in case a leader is
the most knowledgeable and experienced member in the organization, an authoritarian style
might be most appropriate.
According to Hershey and Blanchard, tasks are different, and each type of task requires a
different leadership style. The leader should therefore adapt his or her leadership skills to the
goals and objectives of the organization or institution.
Therefore, Hershey and Blanchard suggested that there are four primary leadership styles
namely:
a)

Telling (S1) in this style, the leader tells people what to do and how to do it.

b) Selling (S2) telling involves more back-and-forth between leaders and followers. The
leaders "sell" their ideas to get group members to buy into the process.
c) Participating (S3) in participating, the leaders gives no direction and allows the group
members to take a more active task of coming up with eligible ideas and decision-making.
d) Delegating (S4) In delegating, group members tend to make most of the decisions and
take most of the responsibility for what happens.