Situational Leadership Model

For this assignment, first review the background materials with a focus on Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Leadership model. Make sure you are familiar with the four leadership styles covered in the situational approach including Directing, Coaching, Supporting, and Delegating and situations where you are supposed to use these four styles.

Also, familiarize yourself with the more complex Path-Goal model and Fiedler’s Contingency model. You don’t need to know these two models in as much detail as the Situational model to complete this assignment, but make sure you understand the main idea of these models as well as some of their main advantages and disadvantages.

Case Assignment
For each of the following situations, explain which of the four leadership styles covered in the Situational model should be used and explain your reasoning with references to Chapter 4 of Avery (2011) and at least one other required reading from the background materials:
You are in charge of a team of architects. They are highly skilled but have strong opinions and do not necessarily follow instructions. These architects are independent thinkers who are used to doing things their own way.
You are in charge of a fast-food restaurant. The employees are all teenagers who have not yet graduated from high school, and this is the first job for most of them.
You are the supervisor of a team of software engineers. They are all highly skilled and highly motivated, and are used to working independently. All of them believe in the mission of the company.
Each of the three models (Situational, Fielder Contingency, Path-Goal) covered in this module involves both “inputs” and “outputs.” For example, Situational Leadership involves taking employee commitment and competency as inputs and then—based on the employee information—choosing Directing, Coaching, Supporting, or Delegating as an output. Create a table comparing and contrasting the three models in terms of inputs and outputs, and include a 1- or 2-paragraph discussion of your table.
Based on your table in Part 2 above and the readings, which of the three models do you think is most useful? Take into consideration both its ability to adapt leadership styles to realistic situations you may face, as well as ease of use of the model.
Assignment Expectations
Follow the assignment instructions closely and follow all steps listed in the instructions.
Stay focused on the precise assignment questions; don’t go off on tangents or devote a lot of space to summarizing general background materials
List supporting references and cite sources in proper format.
Use appropriate writing style in essay form (organization, grammar, and spelling).
Include both a bibliography and in-text citations. See the Student Guide to Writing a High-Quality Academic Paper, including pages 11-14 on in-text citations. Another resource is the “Writing Style Guide,” which is found under “My Resources” in the TLC portal.

Ibarra, H. (2015). Situational leadership. [Books24x7 version]

Evans, M. G. (2002). Chapter 4: Path-Goal theory of leadership. In L. L. Neider & C. A. Schriesheim (Eds.), Leadership. [Books24x7 version]

Ayman, R. (2002). Chapter 7: Contingency model of leadership effectiveness: Challenges and achievements. In L. L. Neider & C. A. Schriesheim (Eds.), Leadership. [Books24x7 version]

Now take a look at the following readings for more detail about the Situational Leadership, Fiedler’s Contingency, and Path-Goal models. Pay close attention to both the “inputs”—such as traits of the employee or the situation—as well as “outputs,” which are the leadership style that you should use for the given situation and type of employees.

Bauer, T., & Erdogan, B. (2012). Chapter 12.4: What is the role of the context? Contingency approaches to leadership. In Organizational behavior. Saylor Academy.

Avery, G. (2011). Contingency theories: Situations matter. In Chapter 4 of Understanding leadership: Paradigms and cases. London: SAGE Publications Ltd. [Available in EBSCO eBook Collection.]
Note: You don’t have to read all of Chapter 4, just the section on contingency theories in the last few pages of the chapter.