Situational Leadership

Ken Blanchard was born on the 6th of May of 1939, in Orange, New Jersey, United States of America, and he is currently a best-selling author (“The One Minute Manager” book series, Whale Done!) and one of the most influential management experts in the world. Together with his wife, Marjorie Blanchard, he founded the firm Ken Blanchard Companies, Inc. in 1979, which conducts leadership training to firms around the world. He has won numerous awards for his contribution to the management field, e.g. The Thought Leadership Award for continued support of work-related learning and performance by ISA—The Association of Learning Providers. He is one of the Amazon’s Top 25 Best-Selling Authors. His academic education started in the New Rochelle High School, which he graduated in 1957, and finished with a PhD degree in Education Administration and Leadership at Cornell University, which he finished in 1967. Ken Blanchard’s seminars, books and theories focus on leadership. His main contribution for management practices is the leadership theory Situational Leadership II. The main fundament of his theory is that there is no single “best” style of leadership, it all depends on the task and on the person/group who is executing that task. According to the Situational Leadership II theory, there are two main concepts that should be analysed by the manager. Those concepts are the subordinate’s level of development and the four different leadership styles. After discovering the subordinate’s level of development, the manager will apply the leadership style that best suits him. The subordinate’s level of development depends on two factors: their competence (which relates to the task, and the subordinate’s knowledge and skills) and their commitment (which relates to their motivation and confidence). The level 1 is the level where the subordinate has low competence, but high commitment. This level is more common with workers that are executing a task for the first time,

References: