Week 5 - Blog 1: Ch 9—Situational Leadership

Week 5 - Blog 1: Ch 9—Situational Leadership

I found Hersey and Blanchard’s model of effective leadership to be interesting. First of all, it reads from right to left which is a little “off” to me. The “telling, selling, participating, and delegating” part makes total sense (if it only read in that order!). And of course, “task behavior” will go according to what maturity level one is at, ok that makes sense too. What doesn’t make sense it the fact that it doesn’t make room or display the fact that leaders are versatile people who have the ability to adapt in any situation and make something out of nothing, an effective one that is. To me, it seems as though Hersey and Blanchard’s model has a direct correlation to the Blake and Mouton Managerial Grid, except for the fact that it only goes as far as (1,1) and (9,1)—“impoverished management” and “authority-obedience.” It is a poor representation of “leadership,” in all honesty. It is very matter of fact and old fashioned, closely resembling the flexibility and inspirational motivation of that of a scientific management approach. I believe that there is much more to leadership than what has been painted in their model picture here. Blake and Mouton’s Managerial Grid makes more sense.