Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Theory

After working for Allied Global Marketing for three weeks, I have a greater understanding of the relationships between team members and their supervisors. To evaluate the leadership styles within the team, I will focus on situational theories, especially considering the COVID-19 pandemic has drastically changed the situation in which the team and their leaders function. The basic assumption that guides situational theories is that leadership is not just about the people or the situation, but the combination of both. Hersey and Blanchard’s situational theory links leadership to specific leadership styles including task and relational. According to this theory, there are four types of leadership styles and four types of followers’ readiness for the situation. The leader styles include: directing, coaching, supporting and delegating. S1: The directing method is highly directive and low supportive. S2: The coaching style is highly directive and highly supportive. S3: The supporting style is low directive and highly supportive and S4: the delegating style is low directing and low supportive. In terms of followers’ readiness, R1: the followers are unable, insecure and unwilling. R1 is matched with the S1: directing style of leadership. R2: the followers are unable but increasingly confident, willing and motivated. R2 is matched with S2: coaching. R3: the followers are able but have increased insecurity and a loss of motivation. R3 is matched with S3: supporting. Finally, R4: the followers are able, confident and willing. R4 is matched with S4: delegating. 

After analyzing the different styles of leadership and how they match with follower readiness, I have determined two different relationships which require differing styles of leadership. For example, as an intern, I am willing and excited, but somewhat unable because I am entering a new field with little experience. In response to my follower readiness, my supervisor has taken a coaching leadership approach for the relationship between supervisor and intern. For example, she sends me tasks such as creating an email pitch to send out to potential influencer partners. I have little to no experience with this task, but I did my best to complete it with the knowledge I had. After receiving my first attempt, my supervisor edited my work and sent me helpful feedback for what I could do differently next time. She was very direct in giving me this task and highly supportive with encouraging feedback.

In addition to the intern-supervisor relationship, the team in which I work has four account executives and a director. As the director, Melissa is the leader for the team. All of the account executives are experienced, able, confident and willing, and thus fall into the R4 category of follower readiness. In response to their ability and willingness, Melissa employs the S4: delegating style of leadership. She oversees the work of the account executives and trusts them to handle their own accounts. After observing these relationships, Hersey and Blanchard’s situational theory best explains the leadership dynamics of the company.