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

Provide substantive comments by contributing new, relevant information from course readings, Web sites, or other sources; building on the remarks or questions of others; orsharing practical examples of key concepts from your professional or personal experiences

Respond to feedback on your posting and provide feedback to other students on their ideas.

Make sure your writingis clear, concise, and organized;

demonstrates ethical scholarship in accurate representation and attribution of sources; anddisplays accurate spelling, grammar, and punctuation.

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.