Situational leadership preferences in Australia: congruity, flexibility and effectiveness

Abstract

Australian managers’ preferences for situational leadership styles and perceived effectiveness were compared, using both “self” and “other” ratings on Blanchard’s latest model. Overall, supervisors and senior/middle managers preferred supportive styles, and avoided delegating and directing. However, they rated themselves as significantly more supportive and less directive than “other” raters indicated. Approximately 50 percent of the sample was able to use more than one style, suggesting that preferences for supportive styles were not simply due to ignorance of alternatives. Subordinates did not consider their managers’ focus on supportive preferences effective (using Blanchard’s definition of effectiveness). Comparison of subordinates’ effectiveness scores awarded to the 50 most effective and 50 least effective managers, found agreement between managers and subordinates only in the effective group. In the low‐effectiveness group, managers and subordinates displayed little agreement on the managers’ effectiveness. Implications of the findings, limitations of the study and suggestions for further research are discussed.

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