Chapter 15
Implementing Situational Leadership®: Making Decisions,
Building Commitments
Chapter Overview
This chapter examines how Situational Leadership® applies to making good decisions.
Chapter Learning Objectives
After studying this chapter, each student should be able to:
1. Describe the four different styles of decision making and how they integrate with
Situational Leadership®
Key Terms and Concepts
Making Effective Decisions
Making the right decisions in areas where one has control and submitting sound
recommendations when requested by one’s supervisor are actions that managers can take
to increase their chances of success and career advancement. Situational Leadership®
provides a simple and logical framework with four basic decision making styles—
authoritative, consultative, facilitative, and delegative.
Authoritative decision making applies in situations where the manager has the
necessary experience and information to reach a conclusion and the followers do
Decision Making and Leader Latitude
Keilty, Goldsmith and Boone adapted the Situational Leadership® Model to a decision-
making approach that combines the leader’s decision-making latitude with follower
Building Commitments
The essential qualities and relationships necessary for successful management can be
explained and understood in terms of commitment, which has been found to be a
Commitment to the Customer. Successful managers strive to provide useful service to
customers. Two primary ways in which managers demonstrate strong commitment to the
Commitment to the Organization. Successful managers project pride in their
organization and instill pride in others. There are three ways in which managers
demonstrate commitment to the organization: building the organization, supporting
higher management, and operating by the basic organizational values.
• Building the organization means presenting the organization in a positive way.
Commitment to the Self. Commitment to the self focuses on the manager personally.
Excellent managers present a strong and positive image of others, act as a positive force
• Demonstrating autonomy is seen by managers who act as though they are running
their own business within their own organizational unit. They take responsibility
and ownership for decisions, stand up for personal beliefs, and are more
Commitment to People. Successful managers focus on the work team and individual
group members and display a dedication to the people who work for them. These
managers use the appropriate leadership style to help individuals succeed in their tasks.
Three activities constitute commitment to people: showing positive concern and
recognition, giving developmental feedback, and encouraging innovative ideas.
• Showing positive concern and recognition is demonstrated by managers focusing
on the positive aspects of making people feel and act like winners by rewarding
Commitment to the Task. This commitment concentrates on the tasks that need to be
done. Managers demonstrate this commitment by providing meaning and relevance to the
tasks people perform. Commitment to the task is achieved by: keeping the right focus,
keeping it simple, being action-oriented, and building task importance.
• Keeping the right focus refers to maintaining the proper perspective on tasks by
concentrating everyone’s attention on what is most important.
Suggested Teaching Approaches
Activities
1. As an in-class activity, you can take the students through the Feedforward
activity developed by Marshall Goldsmith. Provide the students with a copy of the
Here are some basic instructions to supplement the Feedforward directions:
• “This may be difficult at first – we are accustomed to providing feedback.
This will challenge you to keep suggestions on future performance and
behaviors.”
• “Provide them with feedforward, suggesting how they could improve and
change this influence behavior in two ways.”
• “Tell them they are ‘welcome’, when they ‘thank you’.”
• “Find a new partner and repeat the process.”
• Facilitator Note: Some students really like to share their feedforward
suggestions in a large group. Others like to keep their ideas to themselves.
You will need to gauge where the group is to have an effective debrief
after this activity.
2. The written case study for this chapter focuses on various approaches to
establishing and building commitments with others throughout an organization.
Use the case study to help students explore their thought process around this
concept.
Exam Questions
1. Situational Leadership® provides a simple and logical framework with four basic
decision-making styles—authoritative, consultative, facilitative, and delegative.
Briefly describe two of these styles and when they are appropriate to use.
Answer:
The Authoritative style requires directive leader behavior. Followers are usually
not actively involved in determining the course of action. This style of decision
Managers using the Facilitative approach to decision making work together with
followers in deciding how the work should be set up. This decision-making
approach is a cooperative effort in which manager and followers work together to
reach a shared decision. In situations where followers are moderate to high in
readiness (R3), the manager can enlist their help with phrases such as: “Let’s pool
2. Briefly explain three of the five fundamentally similar set of commitments that
managers share.
Answer:
The fundamentally similar set of five commitments that managers share are
commitment to the customer, commitment to the organization, commitment to
self, commitment to people, and commitment to task.
Commitment to the Customer – Successful managers strive to provide useful
service to customers. Two primary ways in which managers demonstrate strong
Commitment to the Self – Commitment to Self focuses on the manager personally.
Excellent managers present strong and positive images of others, act as a positive
force in all situations, and combine strength with a sense of humility. Three
activities demonstrate commitment to self: demonstrating autonomy, building self
as a manager, and accepting constructive criticism.
Commitment to People – Successful managers focus on the work team and