The Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership Model

Leadership is an important aspect of an organization and is part of the day to day life of any society. Effective leadership requires one to be an effective manager. Although the term leadership and management are often interchanged in an organization setting, the two have different meanings and entail different actions. Management involves understanding the organization’s rules and regulations, and guiding people to strictly follow them. Leadership, on the contrary, involves the integration of creativity and innovation in leading people to achieve goals that are useful for all lives (Hersey & Blanchard, 1988). Therefore, a good manager should be well equipped with human, technical and conceptual skills, to enable the smooth operation and achievement …show more content…
Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard. It is also known as the Hersey-Blanchard Situational leadership model. According to this theory, effective leadership is an outcome of a leader’s ability to adapt their behavior and style of leadership according to the changing situations. Therefore, a good leader should be able to identify changes in situations and environment, and be flexible enough and have necessary skills to vary their behavior (Hersey &Blanchard, 1988). When using the situational leadership model, a leader can either be task-oriented or people-oriented. Therefore, a leader has the freedom to choose any leadership style depending on the situation at hand (McCleskey, …show more content…
The UN has a leadership model under the UN charter, norms, and standards of the Organization known as the UN Leadership Model (UNDG, 2016). The UN Leadership Model has several essential elements; it is norm-based, principled, accountable, multi-dimensional, transformational, collaborative and self-applied. Norm-based leadership means that UN leaders should act in accordance with the norms and standards confined in the declarations, international treaties, and resolutions espoused in the patronages of the organization. Leaders have a duty to protect human rights, gender equality, and environmental stewardship. Secondly, principled leadership entails defending the organization's norms and standards without fear, favor or exclusion. It emphasizes on alleviating suffering, preserving dignity, and preserving the people's source of livelihood, and calls for a leader to be steadfast in upholding the principles. Thirdly, accountability calls for leaders to be transparent and responsible, so as to prevent wastage of funds and resources, corruption and abuse of people's rights. Fourthly, Multi-dimensional calls for leaders to work by integrating the three pillars of the UN, which are peace and security, human rights and development. A leader should, therefore, have diverse skills in problem-solving and decision making. Furthermore, transformational leadership