Management of Organizational Behavior, in detail
Management of Organizational Behavior is the textbook that introduced Situational Leadership Theory, the model that argues there is no single best leadership style — only styles that are more or less appropriate to the development level of the person being led. First published in 1969 by Paul Hersey and Kenneth Blanchard, the book has gone through multiple editions and is among the most widely cited leadership frameworks in academic and corporate training programs worldwide.
The central model maps leadership style across two dimensions: task behavior (the degree to which a leader directs what, how, where, and when) and relationship behavior (the degree to which a leader engages in two-way communication and socio-emotional support). Four styles emerge from these two axes: Telling (high task, low relationship), Selling (high task, high relationship), Participating (low task, high relationship), and Delegating (low task, low relationship). The leader's job is to diagnose the follower's development level — a combination of competence and commitment on a specific task — and then match the appropriate style to that level.
The model's appeal is its specificity. Rather than asking "what kind of leader are you," it asks "what does this particular person need for this particular task at this particular moment." A new employee learning a skill needs Telling; a competent employee who has lost motivation needs Participating; a highly capable, self-directed person needs Delegating. Mismatches create predictable problems: over-directing capable people breeds resentment, under-directing beginners breeds confusion.
The book is a management textbook as much as a leadership guide, and it covers motivation theory (Maslow, Herzberg, McClelland), organizational climate, and group development in addition to the leadership style model. The writing is academic and dense in places. Most practitioners encounter the model through corporate training programs rather than the full text, which is a reasonable approach — the core Situational Leadership model is learnable in an hour, even if the theoretical scaffolding takes longer. Readers who want the framework concisely should look at Blanchard's later books; readers who want the behavioral science underpinning should start here.
The big ideas
- 1.
There is no single best leadership style. Effective leadership requires diagnosing the development level of the follower and matching the appropriate style.
- 2.
Development level combines competence (skill and knowledge) with commitment (motivation and confidence) on a specific task, not in general.
- 3.
The four styles — Telling, Selling, Participating, Delegating — match to four development levels. Moving through them is a developmental progression, not a hierarchy of value.
