INSTRUCTIONS
Write a response in 300 words. This response should be thorough and address all components of the discussion question in detail, include citations of all sources, where needed, according to the APA Style, and demonstrate accurate spelling, grammar, and punctuation
RESPOND TO THE ATTACHED DISCUSSION AND ANSWER BY ADDRESSING THE STEPS BELOW
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Situational leadership is a theory of leadership that is part of a group of theories known as contingency theories of leadership. Contingency theories of leadership hold that a leader's effectiveness is related to the leader's traits or behaviors in relation to differing situational factors.
According to situational leadership theory, a leader's effectiveness is contingent on his ability to modify his management behavior to the level of his subordinates' maturity or sophistication.
The style a leader uses under situational leadership is based upon combining levels of directive behavior and supportive behavior. You can think of directive behavior as an order and supportive behavior as providing support or guidance.
Hersey and Blanchard focused on four different leadership behaviors based on the levels of directive and supportive behavior:
Telling is where the leader demonstrates high directive behavior and low supportive behavior
Selling is where the leader demonstrates high directive behavior and high supportive behavior
Participating is where the leader demonstrates low directive behavior and high supportive behavior
Delegating is where the leader demonstrates low directive behavior and low supportive behavior
It is possible that using either the situation or style approach to leadership will yield positive results for people in the position to lead. But which approach is more practical when applying it to everyday life? I believe that the situational approach to leadership is the optimal way to lead others and allow both yourself and the people around you to learn through new experiences.
There is not a manual on how to lead that fits into any type of situation. The dynamics of everyday life are extremely different based on a variety of external environmental and social factors, such as age, race, religion, or location.